名無しさん＠日本語勉強中: "The only advice I can give you is this: don't take any advice from someone who only knows some hiragana/katakana and 1 kanji."

Great piece of advice, because even for a beginner of 3 weeks I can already lay claim to knowing a lot more kanji than just one :)

Firstly, I'd like to distinguish myself from a common Wapanese.

1) I am not a big fan of anime, although I do like manga and read them occasionally. Neither am I interested that much in the otaku subculture -- furthermore, as being an 'otaku' has serious connotations of social ineptness in Japanese culture (at least, as far as I've read and heard) I'm not so willing to be herded in that category.

2) I do not quote Japanese phrases out of the blue just because I think it's cool, which is what most people 'learning' Japanese seem to do or want to do.

3) Thirdly, I have a genuine interest in Japan and Japanese culture, history, and people, and knowing Japanese would allow me access to all that with greater ease.

It's just that I haven't really had the time to begin with the language until now. So, now that I HAVE begun studying, I am going to (and I am willing to do as much as I can to) try and master the language.

To rephrase my question above then, how long would it take one to achieve good fluency, at least, being able to read newspapers?

Of course, it'd be nice to have the ability to read mangas and watch shows/TV and anime unaided by any language tools (e.g. dictionaries, etc), but rather, I want to read novels and Japanese books and speak with natives -- that's what would allow me to soak in Japanese culture.

To 名無しさん＠日本語勉強中: Could you please give a description as to how fluent you are? As in, can you speak fluently? How many kanjis do you know? Can you read/write well? How long did it take you to get there? I'd just like to know.

Thanks in advance!