The Like/Hate Thread

[Super Buu]

Katakana is used for foreign words, road signs, and for emphasis sometimes.

And kind of, Tyr. In the case you just gave, the kanji used is '判' for 'Waka'. 判ru is to understand (casual form) 判rimasu is to understand (polite form) 判tta is 'understood' (past tense) 判rimashita is 'understood' (polite past tense) 判reru is 'Can understand' (potential form) 判reba is 'If understands' (provisional form). And there are lots more. Using romaji here for easiness, but of course the 'ru', the 'tta' etc would all be written in hiragana.

判った？

I have a bunch of learning resources if you want them. I recommend starting off with something like pimsleur (they are ridiculously expensive though so ...) because you get used to forming sentences without having to rack your brain. Then accompany it with 'manual' learning where you're actually looking up the words you're learning and the other meanings and usage. Tae Kim (http://www.guidetojapanese.org/) has probably the best and most comprehensive grammar guide on the internet, but he's also pretty long-winded and insists on doing some things like writing solely in kanji and kana which makes it difficult to learn unless you already know a bit. To begin with I used simpler sites like http://www.freejapaneselessons.com/ for quick reference to words, grammar and hiragana/katakana. Finally namasensei (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9987A659670D60E0) is great because he is funny although he fucks up a lot. I find you remember something easier when it's fun. When I'm more comfortable with the language I'm thinking of doing a 'quick n dirty' guide myself with lots of references to other learning material, but just something that allows people to get a grip on the grammar quickly without it being so long and torturous as Tae Kim's guide.