For those completely new to Japanese summary

For those completely new to Japanese

summary

the writing system

"most words are written in kanji. You need to learn about 2,000 characters to be able to read most of Japanese. makes things easier in a sense. Let me explain. learning a language is memorizing the 20,000 some words. English memorize the spelling and definition of 20,000 separate wordsWith Japanese, if you learn how to read and recognize just 2,000 characters.

japanese grammar

change essentially the way you think in order to naturally express yourself in Japanese. In Japanese, the subject is usually left out (unless there is no way the listener could know what the subject is. )“less-is-more” philosophy 

Politeness levels

But even people above you will be referred to in the humble form if you are addressing somebody who is above them.

Pronounciation

pitches are so important that sometimes Japanese people will look at you with a puzzled expression and finally say, “Oh, you’re saying that word!” and say essentially the same word you were saying all along.

You may be wondering, “Can I ever really sound like a Japanese?” It depends to some extent on how old you are and how good your ear is.

-summary by ***** ********
original fucking text fromhttp://www.guidetojapanese.org/blog/2006/01/30/for-the-complete-beginner/