Immersion is definitely (in my opinion) the best way to learn a language. That way you learn twice when the teacher explains something, once by the explanation and second because it's in the language. Constant exposure is really the best.

Only you need a basic understanding for starting with this approach. So in the beginning teachers should explain almost everything in the learners language and gradually after one or two courses almost all explanations can then be partly or completely in the learned language.

I learned english mostly by reading books and watching movies but less in school... because I was too lazy. Then I shortly tried french, but for some reason I lost my interest in the language. Then I started chinese, which I regard to be quite difficult because the intonation is a very important and active part of the language and the characters are really complex and many syllables somehow sound very similar to me. Should be the same for japanese.

Also the teaching method was from the medieval ages. We repeated everything ten times together with our teacher with the result that I always lost attention already at the second repetition. I guess the aim was to hammer the message down, but it wasn't working.

Now I learn spanish for a while and I really like it. Grammar is existing but genders are more easy than in german (verbs are more difficult though). Pronounciation is easy and many words are similar. Nevertheless I constantly need to motivate myself and devote more time to it, because otherwise I won't become better. I start to read spanish children's books now, because this is one of my highly successful ways to enhance my abilities.

And then.. maybe arabian for a change. But if I hadn't learnt german in the first three years of my life, I would also hate the grammar and the genders. :)

Roughly 2/3 of the music I listen to is German. I read Bild and go to ntv.de. I'm translating a document from German since it covers something I can't find in English. I lived in Germany for 2 years. I have books (Not Manga) in Japanese for when I start learning that again after this term.

My gripe isn't having trouble learning it as a whole, it's having trouble understanding key points when they are taught in another language because the department head thinks it's the best way. Like todays lesson of the Reflexive verb. I didn't understand a word my teacher said because none of it made any sense. But when I went on the internet and googled it, I found the answer and it was easy to understand. Then I could participate in the class discussion.

In 100 level German, all we learned was basic sentence structure, modal verbs, etc. Each 200 level term we have had to learn new grammar each term. Each time it is explained entirely in German. All handouts explaining it are in German. Examples are rarely shown.

Japanese was 20x worse than German in this fact. Not because of the grammar, but because of the lack of teaching it. PSU's Japanese program was designed for linguists, which is why most people drop out of it after 101.

Maybe the teacher is just not able to convey the message no matter the language, if it is that easy to understand the matter from googling. For my spanish it's kind of similar, I understand the grammer rules better from a grammar book than from my teachers explanations. However I still have to memorize all the rules and learn to apply them quickly when they are needed.

Agreed, memorizing the rules is important, and once you do, and you continually use it, it gets much easier. But theres a good way and bad way to convey the rules. Allow me to give you an example:

In Japanese, the use of "ka" at the end of a sentence conveys a question. Example: Nan desu ka? The JSL book we used in class devoted a third of a page to defining what it is, how to use it, and put it in linguistic terms.

The Genki textbook I bought for my personal use? It sums it up in one sentence, that adding it to the end makes the sentence a question.

Now imagine how it gets with more difficult grammar.

EDIT: Also, JSL changed the romaji, rejecting Hepburn-style and making its own. According the JSL, it's not Mount Fuji, it's Mount Huzi.

Language is hard. I was actually formally trained as an interpreter and linguist (before I realized that yes, language is hard, and doing that job for five years is enough), so I truly do feel your pain. There are two solid rules that you cannot avoid when learning a foreign language: 1) If you do not know your own language, you're boned. Corollary: No matter what you think, you do not know your own language. Look up the excellent series of handbooks "English Grammar for Students of _(German, in your case)____ " and devote time to it. 2) Unless you're that rare kind of prodigy, it will take you five to ten thousand hours of actual practice to get good at a new language. Not five thousand hours of sitting passive in class. Five thousand actual, active vocabulary-using, honest-to-god, dammit-why-can't-I-remember-how-to-decline-that-word practice.

If it's worth it to you - and being from the USA it's *easy* to feel like it isn't worth it, with English the only language you need to know for a thousand miles in any direction - then you need to accept that language is hard, and you need to keep practicing.

Also, getting a girlfriend/boyfriend who speaks the language is enormously helpful >.> I've....heard. PLATONICALLY!

>.>

When I lived in Brussels (during three years before high school) I had a British teacher for English and a Belgian teacher (or French, dunno, she barely spoke a word of English anyhow) for French. Since Swedish is my main language, obviously none of them spoke my mother tongue. This was very good for English since I had to use what knowledge I had already acquired, but it was very tough for French since I barely knew a word (though I suspect learning would've been slower if I had been able to use English or Swedish during French class).

Putting a "ka" at the end of sentences sounds not too difficult. Probably your Genki textbook is much, much better suited (unless you want to become a professional linguist). I have a short but very useful grammar book (not more than 60 pages) for my spanish and I like to have all the basic rules. But the rest of a language, I really like to learn in practical circumstances - mostly with books because then I have enough time and I can stop and continue as I want. After some time the rules are replaced by feelings.