Learning Japanese Through Visual Novels?

[Martic]

Alright, so I finally decided to start learning Japanese through the ITH method. I downloaded it, followed some guides, got everything I needed installed, and hyped the hell out of myself. I was SO ready to get started.

Then I get some crackpot error and ITH can't attach to any visual novel I own. I looked into the issue and saw it was because of a .net framework update or something like that. So I followed instructions and disabled/uninstalled that update. Still doesn't work. I tried using ITHVNR, AGTH, and even the translation aggregator's internal hook, none of them can attach to anything.

So obviously text hook is out of the question for me. Does this mean that I will need to learn to read Japanese the correct way, and learn each kanji? I was trying to avoid doing that because who knows if I'll even be reading visual novels in a few years time when I learn enough Kanji to actually read a VN?

Anyone know of any other method?

Edited July 2, 2017 by Shioxus

[Zakamutt]

Honestly I'd try to talk to someone who'd be willing to help you troubleshoot the problems you're having rather than foregoing text hooking. It's an incredibly useful tool and anything else is going to be like ten times slower. Hell, contact me on discord (Zakamutt#8430) or Skype (zakamutt, mention you you are in your contact request) in the next few hours and I'll try to help you.

[Norleas]

You could try use chiitrans lite, i don't know in details how he work and how good he was but is worth a shot.

I think that even with the ith method you should study some kanji at least with something like anki

 

[Zakamutt]

I managed to help Shioxus fix the issue; his antivirus was keeping a crucial hooking dll file from ITHVNR in quarantine.

[Martic]

42 minutes ago, Zakamutt said:

Honestly I'd try to talk to someone who'd be willing to help you troubleshoot the problems you're having rather than foregoing text hooking. It's an incredibly useful tool and anything else is going to be like ten times slower. Hell, contact me on discord (Zakamutt#8430) or Skype (zakamutt, mention you you are in your contact request) in the next few hours and I'll try to help you.

Zakamutt saved my life, you should all worship Zakamutt.

 

8 minutes ago, Norleas said:

You could try use chiitrans lite, i don't know in details how he work and how good he was but is worth a shot.

I think that even with the ith method you should study some kanji at least with something like anki

 

We got it figured out, but chiitrans probably would have been my next step. I absolutely plan on learning kanji as I go, but I wanted to be able to make faster progress (because I'm impatient).

 

Thank you both for the help, problem solved.

[ittaku]

It's still an incredibly difficult process trying to learn by reading but the one thing it has in its favour is that you have something motivating your learning. I seriously suggest learning some grammar on the side though through some formal process, either through online guides or buying yourself an old fashioned textbook and working your way through it. Vocab is the easiest part of learning Japanese if you can just look it up on a dictionary. Grammar is the cornerstone of learning the language, especially since its grammar is wildly different from English. What's worse is that the casual +/- slang you encounter in visual novels, anime and manga isn't really taught well anywhere in particular but once you get the grammar you can start learning how casual speech and slang deviates. Text hookers will fail a lot on casual grammar and slang.

[Zakamutt]

While it wasn't exactly comprehensive, the principles that Tae Kim laid out for slang in his guide were actually pretty decent imo; they helped me get into the right mindset. I definitely do recommend reading up on grammar.

[Vokoca]

8 hours ago, ittaku said:

It's still an incredibly difficult process trying to learn by reading but the one thing it has in its favour is that you have something motivating your learning. I seriously suggest learning some grammar on the side though through some formal process, either through online guides or buying yourself an old fashioned textbook and working your way through it. Vocab is the easiest part of learning Japanese if you can just look it up on a dictionary. Grammar is the cornerstone of learning the language, especially since its grammar is wildly different from English. What's worse is that the casual +/- slang you encounter in visual novels, anime and manga isn't really taught well anywhere in particular but once you get the grammar you can start learning how casual speech and slang deviates. Text hookers will fail a lot on casual grammar and slang.

I agree with this, you definitely need some sort of a foundation to work with. That said, reading (or using the language in any other way) is just as important, so doing both is the best way - even if reading is really hard and/or confusing at first.

[Norleas]

It is really impossible to learn a language fully without knowing grammar, it's like building a house without the pillars, especially for Japanese, which have a structure different from the usual of most Western languages, i not mentioned this before cuz is really obvious that is necessary.

[Martic]

On 7/3/2017 at 8:44 AM, Norleas said:

It is really impossible to learn a language fully without knowing grammar, it's like building a house without the pillars, especially for Japanese, which have a structure different from the usual of most Western languages, i not mentioned this before cuz is really obvious that is necessary.

Yeah I agree, I've been using Tae Kim's guide.