I paid a stupid ammount of money for a computer program that supposedly teaches you all you need to know about speaking/communicating efficiently in japanese. it was essentially a write-off, lol. In theory it can work, if you perservere, but only to a certain extent- you need some one to talk WITH, so you can check your pronounciation, your understanding, ability to react and have an active conversation instead of just memorising phrases (which is what my stupid program does - i paid like $180 and it has yet to even hint at the basic gramatical structure of a japanese sentence goshdarnit >_<. all it does is makes me say stuff like 'hello' 'good evening' 'excuse me' 'i'm fine, and you?' phrases- WHAT DO I DO WHEN I DON"T UNDERSTAND THE ANSWER?)