japanese for an 8 year old

[ernest]

hi, my ds1 is soon to be 8. Goes through obsessive little phases, most recent is he's desperate to learn Japanese?! Don't ask me why. But not a bad thing to want to do.

But what I'm asking is how do I help him? Looked on amazon and couldn't see anything suitable. Or do I beat him with a wet kipper and tell him to pull himself together?

I don't know any Japanese people, so no ideas other than Amazon

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If you have access to London, there is a very good japanese bookshop near picadilly circus.

oh, I was just in london last week but won't be again for long time. Even drove (by accident!) around picadilly circus. shame. don't think I've got much chance for access to helpful Japanese students, but both great ideas. DO you now the name of that picture dictionary? Might me just the thing,

actually pruners, ta, I did a new search and found one that looks good and ordered, so search over, thanks a lot. Will keep an eye out for and Japanese students too!

Hi earnest!

I'm Japanese and live in West London. I'd get some Japanese books with lots of pictures in it or maybe DVDs for children. this shop has good selections of books and DVDs. They sell food and other stuff so it'd be fun to visit too!

Good luck.

Ernest, I am being lazy - would you mind linking to the one you have found ? DD is also 8 and going through a Japenese obsession, she'd love something like this. Many thanks.

Ooops, sorry, the shop doesn't sell DVDs any more. You can try HMV/Virgin for Japanese manga (cartoon animation) DVDs but watch out, some are quite violent. Studio Ghibli films are mostly very entertaining for all.

hi chocolate teapot, I got this one www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/279005/-/Product.html?searchstring=thousand+words+japanese&searchsource= 0

I really like heather amery books, so thought would give him a good start, and we can take it from there. also always been very happy with play.com. Just seen link is in euros, just click on the union jack to turn it back to pounds

thanks sushimummy, I'll be sure to look out for that shop next time we visit london

Thank you Ernest

Spoken Japanese is quite easy as is very phonetic and logical - I learned by lessons with a native speaker - don't worry about the written lanauage at this stage as there are three 'alphabets' and not necessary unitl he visits . I found a native speaker via the School of African and Oriental Studies (part of london University), where they have lots of students happy to earn extra cash through tuition.

There are childrens lessons in Birmingham at Brasshouse on saturdays