Hey! I’m very interested in learning how to speak and write Japanese! For those who have...

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Hey! I've been learning japanese for about 7 years now. I did try to learn on my own first, but personally it was much easier for me to pick up the language after i started official classes at school. i think learning on your own is doable if you're determined and committed! :) I would suggest taking a look at Tae Kim's Complete Guide to Japanese--it's pretty thorough in terms of the basics and slightly more advanced grammar forms: http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/complete/

The first thing I suggest doing is learning hiragana and katakana! And also tackle learning how to talk about very basic things, such as yourself (age, grade, hobbies, interests, family) or ordering at a restaurant, etc. Also, I highly suggest you learn how to speak teineigo first, which is what you would most often use (i.e. ending your sentences with desu and masu). Casual and business formal japanese can be quite complex and confusing, so tackling those before basic polite form can be overwhelming.

Also, don't be afraid to use online Q&A forums like lang-8 and hinative if you want to ask questions or have someone native look over any japanese you've written

Hope i helped!

I've been studying it for about 8 years and I learned the most with textbooks/manga. I recommend the Genki series since it's used in classrooms and it does a decent job of explaining grammar points. But of course this isn't 100% necessary. When classes/textbooks didn't explain stuff well, I took to the internet! I liked this site ( https://www.learn-japanese-adventure.com/). It's free and easy to understand.

When there was a specific grammar point I didn't understand, I also used Maggie sensei's website ( http://maggiesensei.com/). She does an excellent job of explaining very minute details of Japanese.

After you think you've grasped the basics I really suggest reading/watching actual Japanese material. It can be easy stuff like manga (that's targeted toward children) or kid shows.

Now to get more personal, I studied best with reading material unlike listening material (textbooks/manga/novels, unlike japanese movies/shows). But this is because I'm not very talkative and I only really studied Japanese to read it (instead of talking to Japanese people). So I naturally became good at kanji and vocabulary. But on the downside, I don't know how to use the vocab! (lol). But if you're the opposite of me, and are more interested in the spoken/listening aspects of Japanese, I suggest watching Japanese shows and such. And even getting a pen pal!

And of course if you, TAKE CLASSES. Especially if you want to improve your speaking and listening.

A good tip would be uhhh uhhhh watch Kdramas, they'll help you learn Spanish!!