Hey Marty,

I recently enrolled in a Japanese Language class at Harvard. My instructor is Japanese, so she can't really answer this: do you have any good tips for as an English speaking person who is starting to learn Japanese? Since Japanese is my instructor's native language, her answer would be quite different than yours. Thanks for any help.

There is nothing better than putting yourself in the situation, i.e. being in Japan and having to survive by your language skills. Exactly the same as being in music. Practice means little, playing in real situations means all...