So I will be in Japan for the first time in late October/early November. I have been learning some basic Japanese words and grammar.
First of all, it is a LOT different than english, both words and grammar. In some languages, there are similarities, like with spanish. You can use similar words in Spain, portugal, mexico and I would guess, most countries in South America. They can probably understand you if you said 'como esta'.
To assist my learning of words, I've been using the Google Translator page and phone app. You just type in a word or sentence and choose the language that you want it translated to.
There is an option to have the translated word spoken so you can listen to it. (It is often that the spoken word sounds different than the way it is spelled in Japanese. The letters that you see is Romaji, so it is english letters attempting to write japanese).
Translating a sentence:
A few English to Japanese words:
Hello - Konichiwa
See you later - Matane
Good Morning - Ohayo Gozaimasu
Good Evening - Kombanwa
Delicious - Oishi
Eat - Tabaru
Another useful site for learning another language is Quizlet, they also have an app for your phone.
You can do a search for flashcards which have a word in your base language, then the word translated to the language that you are learning on the 'back'. (With a click of your mouse). There is also an option to have the word spoken.
There are a lot of other options to assist you with learning, and best of all, it's free!