Japanese Self-Study: where should I start?

I figured this would probably be the best place to ask a question like this so here goes.

I've decided to try and teach myself Japanese. Only problem is, I don't know where to start. Should I start with learning how read and write, or should I just leave writing alone until I can listen and understand? If you've been in my place please share your strategies. Or if you took a course at school what was the curriculum like?

many thanks

Ipswich67 said:
I figured this would probably be the best place to ask a question like this so here goes.

It's not

Yeah, not really Danbooru related. Try this, though.

Rosetta Stone could help. I bought all 3 levels of Japanese, although I haven't used them yet. the pack with all 3 levels costs a little over $500 though.

Ah sorry. But thanks for the help anyway. My college doesn't have a Japanese course so I just have to make do with what I have.

You could also just get a text book and work through that. Here's a list of recommendations . The guy who compiled that list also wrote a textbook of his own that's available online .

There are also open courses online that might be helpful:

I've found smart.fm useful in the past, though it will be transitioning from a free to a paid model shortly.

Ipswich67 said:
Ah sorry. But thanks for the help anyway. My college doesn't have a Japanese course so I just have to make do with what I have.

Be warned if you take an actual course, there will be the worst type of anime and manga fans there.