Question

Is it possible to learn french or japanese without books or a teacher?

Answer 1

Yes. Especially if you're motivated enough, you can learn /a lot/ on your own.

Answer 2

With the help of the Internet!

See here for some nice resources.
http://openstudy.com/study#/updates/4fae7f7de4b059b524f9b662

Answer 3

Thanks again! You seem to be a nice help :)

Answer 4

It's possible to learn a language without books or a teacher if you are highly motivated and use internet resources WHILE in an actual language-immersion setting. Otherwise, no; you will never fully grasp the language if you don't practice speaking or hearing it, or have somebody to explain points of grammar, etc; by only using internet resources, you will never learn to speak fluently or understand spoken language. It'll be hard to hear the difference between formal and informal language, the latter of which changes often. A teacher will correct you as soon as you make a mistake, which helps in the long run. A tutor would be even better.
When kma230 says you learn a lot on your own, they fail to acknowledge that most people who learn alone also visit the country or have somebody who speaks the language to practice with, and use books.
Of course, the internet provides some books in digital form so you wouldn't be technically ignoring books, either.
If you really want to learn a language, and you actually are motivated, you would not be against using books or seeking a teacher.

Answer 5

Those are great points. Ideally, you /should/ have a teacher or a tutor. But assuming you're in a situation where this is not possible, I recommend checking out sharedtalk.com for a nice community of people (foreign language learners), some of whom are actually willing to teach you their language for free. I've had good experiences with that site, though maybe I just got lucky with who I managed to find.

Answer 6

i've been learning japanese in the university for two years and only now i start realising that it is one of the languages where you do not need a teacher. basically, where i study the teacher only gives us homework and tells what to do next. japanese words are not hard to pronounce, also you can find native speakers' videos and audios, watch japanese movies or anime (if you like them) and thats how you know how the words are supposed to be pronounced. firstly, it might be difficult not to get confused with hiragana, katakana and kanji. but if you practice a lot, it won't be that hard. personally for me, kanji (those japanese symbols) are still the most difficult part of studying but no teachers will help you to memorize them unless you study a lot. good luck!
p.s. it is good to start learning with "minna no nihongo" books.