ive taken japanese before and would recomend real conversation to learn. japanese doesnt translate well in chat using our letters. and noone from japan is going to want to chat with you in japanese like that.
learn your katakana and hiragana characters and get a japanese keyboard and software, if you want to learn that way. kanji is mostly unessecary for beginers.
and if you meet a hot niponjin, just say "okashite".
日本語を読むことが出来る。
I can write what I understand as well you don't need a separate keyboard just download software and switch. I also know around 1600 kanji atm... I'm not some american tard who would seriously try to communicate in romaji. I'm learning real japanese.
Americans think they have some exclusive rights on Japan because they nuked the country twice, while at the same time being oblivious about the fact they are one of the most hated/disliked groups of foreigners. I feel sorry when I see ruddy, bloated americans in khakishorts and their "koh-niiiii-chii-waaaahhh" style traveling blogs... Blueh.
Americans also suck at pronouncing japanese. Swedes, finns etc have a slight advantage because of sounds like "uu" and double "kk", double "tt" as well as short vowels being common in those languages too. The choppy sounds and the "uu" sound all exist in swedish and finnish too.