I want to learn Japanese

[GinRei]

After that pick up a book called Genki I once you finish that book move on to Genki II if by then you still don't know Japanese please stop all efforts, cause, you PHAIL!!!

Confirming the awesomeness of Genki.  It's what our college uses, and it works great.  I'm currently on Chapter 7, could probably finish it by the end of September if I tried really hard.  But I'm lazy when it comes to that.  Hell, I haven't even done the Homework that's due on Wednesday for another class and I've had it since Tuesday.  >_>

[rajhaziel]

Genki is awesome. I got my books from a cute Asian girl which I wont name... Haha she is also the one who started teaching me Japanese... lol

[cocomonk22]

Pimsleur is a great way to learn phonetically since it uses audio CDs with Japanese conversations so that you can work on proper pronunciation to speak Japanese closer to a Japanese accent.

[Sere]

I can recommend "Minna no Nihongo". A good text book which explains alot about grammar.

[x64_02]

I like Genki for it's thorough approach.  Some people who need a quick crash course would have extreme difficulty finding it useful in that setting.  It is the book my college uses, also.  After the first two courses, I have a rich appreciation of the basics of Japanese, but absolutely no practical ability should I find myself in that country.  I have since supplemented my readings with the website, Mangolanguages.com.

The first step to mastery of Japanese from an American perspective should be the rental of Return of the Jedi.  It contains examples of English words arranged in Japanese grammar.  (The force strong with you is)
Rant:

Spoiler:

I have one large problem with Genki.  For example, ohayou gozaimasu is translated by Genki as a polite way to say good morning.  ohayou means 'early'.  gozaimasu means '(it) is'.  ohayou is a less polite way of saying good morning, but directly translates just as 'early'.  Genki, instead of just teaching the literal translations, causes 'mislearning'.  To a new student, making ohayou polite by adding goziamasu is most similar to the English 'good morning' being made more polite by adding 'sir or madame'.  Inspiring a leap to misunderstanding gozaimasu to mean 'sir or madame' or similar when its meaning is implied to begin with, thus adding no extra symantic value.  So, my problem is this: Genki teaches grammar and effectual translations of words and phrases for practical memorization rather than the ability to create language that native speakers possess.  I am speaking of the logical process that allows native speakers to decipher word meanings from the meanings of words they know due to the knowledge of the true meaning of root words.  The only way I know to illustrate my point is this: I have never heard the word symantic before, but as a native English speaker, knew of the the study of symantics and the root of that word which describes the meaning of words.  In order to create an adjective out of that idea, I used my creative language ability that is possessed by all native English speakers.  (and all other speakers for all languages that they have acquired as native speakers or through academic effort proportionate to that level of proficiency)  That same ability is disallowed by Genki's method of instruction, imho.

[GinRei]

After the first two courses, I have a rich appreciation of the basics of Japanese, but absolutely no practical ability should I find myself in that country.

You'd be surprised.  When I went to Japan in May, I only had two semesters in and did just fine talking to people.  You don't realize you can converse well with it since the book doesn't practice it that often, but you have enough to get by with basic conversation.

[rajhaziel]

I got bored with the book... Never got past chapter "Insert Chapter" ^_^;; Instead I just learn new words ^_^;;

[kirite]

After the first two courses, I have a rich appreciation of the basics of Japanese, but absolutely no practical ability should I find myself in that country.

You'd be surprised.  When I went to Japan in May, I only had two semesters in and did just fine talking to people.  You don't realize you can converse well with it since the book doesn't practice it that often, but you have enough to get by with basic conversation.

That's the thing about languages, it's just so much easier to learn when you're immerse in the language.  Of course in some cases, it's practically impossible to learn the language unless you're in the country (like Cantonese which is 99% slang xD).