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JA Sensei Learn Japanese?
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This app was mentioned in 12 comments, with an average of 2.42 upvotes
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>fast-food
Fast-food will be more the less the same as ordering anywhere else. The only vocab that are different are 店内でお召し上がり and 持ち帰り, but even then most Japanese people will see a foreign face and just ask you, "テーク・アウト？"
> are there any resources that cover a wide range of "set phrases"
Not to be cheeky, but what you're describing is a phrasebook.
Electronic phrasebooks are good because they are searchable. Even if you can't find the exact phrase you need, you can likely adapt the phrases in the book to fit your situation. I like the electronic phrase book in the JA Sensei app for android, but I haven't been in the market for one for like three years now, so there might be a much better app out there by now.
This course on Udemy has a guy and his wife basically going over phrases used in different contexts in Japan. I wouldn't get it unless you can get it discounted--it looks like Udemy is having a $15 dollar sale until 6/9, so if it is worth it to you maybe try that?
It's an app called JA Sensei and it's fantastic. From memory I paid about $10 a few years ago to unlock all features and I don't regret it.
I use this app (android), and it really helped me alot - especially if you get the premium (1 time purchase). I find that they're a mile better than other apps. Although this is based on my subjective experience.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.japanactivator.android.jasensei
In my opinion this app is the best one for starters it has lectures and even without purchasing the full version (which is not even that expensive given the quality) you can learn quite a lot!
Definitely start by learning Hiragana and Katakana!
As far as apps go I use one called JA sensei, which is on the play store.. possibly IOS store too.
It has a fairly good teaching and lesson plan and essential vocabulary, It explains about the different verbs and adjective types and makes sure you properly understand before suggesting moving on.
The only downside I see is it is paid, however for £10 ( at the time ) it has been a most ideal purchase for learning the language. ( its a free app but to unlock it all you need to pay)
Also their is a sibling app Called JAAudiobook Which ranges from kids books to more adult diary entries etc, it displays the written along side audio, as well as various quizzes and such to test knowledge
( I am not affiliated with this, if you are on about Apps to learn I recommend using this ).
Edits: Formatting
> should I even bother starting to learn katakana and hiragana written scripts?
Probably not, but if you do decide to learn one of them stick to katakana. People learning Japanese usually learn hiragana first, but for your purposes katakana will be more useful. Things written in menus, for example, will be mostly kanji and katakana.
> All around central Japan; to Kyoto as well and Hiroshima. Then the Okinawan islands.
Okay. You're going to places that get lots of tourists, so there'll probably be enough English on signs for you to get by so long as you don't go off the beaten path much.
Get an electronic searchable phrasebook with native audio that can be accessed offline via your smartphone. I've always used the paid version of the JA Sensei app, but something like this Learn Japanese Pro Phrasebook app might be more directly applicable to your situation.
Don't try to pronounce the romaji (Japanese written in English characters), because if you haven't actually learned how to pronounce Japanese properly, a lot of phrases won't be recognizable. Instead, listen to audio and pronounce things the way they sound in the audio.
Some essential kanji and symbols.
For bathrooms: 男 (men), 女 (women)
入口 - entrance, 出口, exit
非常口 - emergency exit, 立入禁止 - do not enter/off limits
♨ - This mark means "onsen" or a public bath. It isn't kanji, but it is good to know.
卍 - This isn't a swastika, it's a symbol which designates a buddhist temple.
Honestly there's probably not much by way of kanji that is worth learning at this point. If you look up "travel kanji" you'll get some decent lists, but a lot of things will be evident from context. You might not know how to read 危ない (dangerous), but you probably know not to jump out on train tracks.
Some essential phrases.
I think these would come in handy. If there is anything in particular that you feel like you're going to want to say, you can look that up in advance (for example, "I don't eat meat or fish").
I'm including recordings of me saying these not because I think my pronunciation is great, but because it's easier than thinking of tricks to explain sounds ("saifu" is "sai" like Raphael's weapon and "fu" like "kung fu") and it means I don't have to explain weird quirks of writing Japanese ("It's written 'wo' but you pronounce it 'o"), but generally speaking you should try to copy audio from native speakers.
I've also tried to simplify things. For example, it'd probably be better to say "Please call an ambulance" rather than just "Ambulance please," but it gets the job done.
sumimasen - Excuse me / I'm sorry
This is probably one of the most used Japanese phrases period. If you need to get someone's attention, you say, "sumimasen." If you want to apologize for inconveniencing someone (if its something small) you say "sumimasen."
toire wa doko desu ka? - Where is the toilet?
Luckily, the word for "toilet" is "toire." You can ask where other things are by placing the name of the thing before "wa doko desu ka?" For example, "Eki wa doko desu ka?" means "Where is the train station?"
eigo ga wakarimasu ka? - Do you understand English?
hai - Yes
iie - No
wakarimasen - I don't understand.
wakarimasu - I do understand.
arigatou gozaimasu - Thank you
Don't forget to say "gozaimasu." Omitting it can be seen as disrespectful unless you're talking to a friend, although honestly so many tourists do people are probably used to it.
kore wo kudasai - This please.
"Kore" means "this." If you happen to learn any other words, you can place them into this phrase to ask for things. "Mizu wo kudasai," means "Water please." "Biiru wo kudasai," means "Beer please."
oishii desu - Delicious!
suki desu - I like it.
suki ja nai desu - I don't like it.
kyuukyuusha wo kudasai - Ambulance please.
byouin - hospital
saifu wo nakushite shimaimashita - I've lost my wallet.
Wallet is "saifu," so you can replace saifu with whatever you've lost. (edit: Perhaps more helpful: "keitai" (kei: like in "Agent Kay" - tai: like in "necktie") is the word for phone. "keitai wo nakushite shimaimashita").
keisatsu - Police
Emergency Phone Numbers
110 - Emergency call to police
119 - Fire emergency
I have found the (Android) app JA Sensei very useful. Especially the kanji quiz part of it.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.japanactivator.android.jasensei
The free version of this:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.japanactivator.android.jasensei
It has no ads whatsoever, and still offers vastly more content than some "pro" apps.
You could "borrow" a PDF copy of the Genki textbooks from somewhere, then use this site to do all the exercises:
https://sethclydesdale.github.io/genki-study-resources/
There are also plenty of great free apps an Android for Kanji, etc. too:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.japanactivator.android.jasensei
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.asji.kanjitree
A little late to the party but I use this App ( it's a free app with basics on it, but It costs to unlock everything fully (£10) when I did it). JASensei
For me this App has been THE best help in learning Japanese. it's starts off at a very basic level and goes up to (what I can tell) a secondary level of education.
There are multiple menu options and plenty of content to let you learn.
Lessons - 29 as of this moment, each one covers a different topic and some grammar. It starts off with a coversation giving examples of how things are used then it will allow you to hear it spoken, Read it in Full Kanji, Kana only, Romaji and English. After this it highlights key phrases used and what they mean, goes over some Grammar points and then goes on to explain other things. All of this is done over 29 lessons in the app.
Kana and Kanji - This app lets you read both Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji you can view stroke orders, Readings and Pronunciations and Example words they may appear in. Once you get comfortable you can do the Quiz option which allows you to test Writing or Recognition. What you get right it will slowly phase out and what you get wrong it will make appear more often. ( it starts out phasing for 3 days and goes up to 1 month, where it will come back in so you can refresh yourself ). For the Kanji part is it split up into different sections from Elementary all the way up to Secondary education levels. ( the addition here is a Kanji extractor so you can COPY/PASTE anything you don't know and it will find and explain it for you. ( I didnt count but there is 2000+ Kanji available))
Vocabulary studying - This app has a huge list of words ranging from Colours, Time, Animals, Food and more. Again it comes with a quiz which makes remembering much easier. I haven't counted but in total its close to 1000+ words.
It includes Help on Verbs teaching all the different forms, Adjectives, Numbers, Counters, Grammar rules, and the different particles.
It doesn't do it in the specific order you requested but.
The drawing feature is in this app and is great at tracking your finger. it sometimes 100% slightly incorrect drawings ( as finger writing is not always neat) but as long as you did the correct stroke order and somewhat the correct shape it will mark it as correct.
This app has a companion app called JAaudiobook Coming in at £4.99 however features Writing on screen accompanied by the Audio, Furigana, and a quiz again to show you understood it, from there there are options you can choose to make the reading easier or difficult. It highlights all Kanji Marking them from JLPT 5-1 so you can bring them up in the other app and study them.
The stories range from Kids books to Adult diary entries so there should be something for everyone.
I don't have any affiliation with this APP but While on the Subject I thought it would be good to share what I use because it helps tremendously.
I will be happy to explain anything more if you need any clarifications.
I can recommend Ja Sensei - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.japanactivator.android.jasensei