How long would it take to learn Japanese well enough ...

[jmc]

... to read the novels? If I have to wait, I might becomce desperate enough to try this.

[jmc]

*deep sigh*

Oh well. Thanks!

[anna467]

I think it may because there are some acient words and many issues from Chinese stroy.The Gov and the coutry is based on Empire Zhou 4000 years ago ,and most of the special thing like Tenti Kirin..is used from the acient BOOK,espically from 山海经（a book about the geo,in Chines it means the study of the enverinment)

[Chaotic_reign]

Being Chinese helps a bit, a guess

I won't claim to understand absolutely everything...but with a basic understanding of Japanese, knowledge of a few common words, and reading the kanji, I was at least able to get the general gist of Tasogare no Kishi, Akatsuki no Sora. Though at the same time I'm missing out on a lot of the powerful writing style that adds so much to the novel itself. So I can't really recommend whether to try or not...

[YuRei]

I think it may because there are some acient words and many issues from Chinese stroy.The Gov and the coutry is based on Empire Zhou 4000 years ago ,and most of the special thing like Tenti Kirin..is used from the acient BOOK,espically from 山海经（a book about the geo,in Chines it means the study of the enverinment)

Ahmm... just an irrelevant sidenote: Zhou Dynasty is only ard 3000years ago ~1066BC - 211BC.

[f.sai]

depends if u know chinese or not

if yes....i'd say 1 year (under very intensive study)

if no.....maybe 10 years or more?

[Shinkun]

You don't really need to know chinese to read the novels.
You do not have to be a native japanese either.

A decent knowledge of the japanese language and a good kanji dictionary will suffice.

Umm... As for the question of how long it would take to learn... that really depends on your determination and method of learning ^_^

[_tsunami]

I'm in it for 4 yrs and going.. and im not even good enough yet.

[Catwiesel]

Hi,

I'm German, and I started learning japanese a few weeks ago. Well, at the moment I try to learn Kanjis. Maybe someone could just answer me some questions (maybe someone who is German, too) - I will start studying japanese at university 2004 -

is it very(!?) difficult to learn decent japanese (so you can read novels and listen anime without subtitles)? Of course you will need a dictionary sometimes and won't understand everything... I am talking about a normal japanese for everyday use, not a perfect one... - how long do you need to study it (if you study something else and not japanese alone) ?

And what about the Hiragana and Katakana? Do I need them? Which are more common? Aren't Kanji sufficient?

Thanx for now

[Ahiru]

Reading without knowing hiragana and only knowing kanji would be something like:

"###, ## name ## #####. ##### a## ##### ##oi#####. Yesterday I ##### ### Nagoya ###."

While Kanji are the main part of many words and most verbs, all declinations, particles and other grammar are written in hiragana. Also in the case of complicated kanji or names, the pronunciations will be given in hiragana as well most of the times (in novels for kids and manga up to certain supposed readership age levels, they do this with all kanji, which really helps).

So basically, YES you really need to know your hiragana (and katakana to a slightly lesser extent) if you want to read any type of Japanese.

After one year of Japanese you should be able to speak a lot of basic (normal/polite) Japanese.

Ahiru

[Shushou719]

I read the books and for me and I find the books difficult. Even though I have been to a Japanese school for a long time the level of the book is hard. There are lots of kanjis in the books.

There are some Japanese adults who also finds the book difficult. So if you guys want to read the books you have to be really into reading Japanese.

Just to tell you.

[rakucho]

This is why I fear that they'll never adapt the novels to English, too much work for what might not be enough profit to cover for adaptation costs (publishers are still businesses afterall).