Do you read the example sentences?

WaniKani
#9

i mostly read the example sentences to gather information about koichi. i have learned so much about him, like that he farts very loudly.

just kidding, i do read the sentences for the context, although sometimes they confuse me more. i can’t think of any specific examples right now but the ones where the definition is one thing and then the sentence has nothing to do with the literal definition. i can definitely appreciate those though because i think they show how the language works. i just haven’t figured it out yet.

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#10

I am ignoring them too mostly because i didn’t study grammer that much(or motivated to do it)

#11

I have started reading them more. Initially I could only recognize one or two kanji in any sentence so my effort was about finding the kanji. As I’ve done this more often over time, I see more of the sentence structure as there are more kanji I can read. There’s zero grammar knowledge for me so far. That’s next! Still, I get a wee thrill from being able to read more and more over time.

#12

Yes, I read them! As much I can stomach. Majority is super difficult (as compared to the one I read in Genki textbook), but I hope one day I would understand them.

I have two scripts, one to hide English translation, the other one to highlight all kanji and link to google translate audio. Sometimes google is confused by furigana and reads vocab entry wrong.

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#13

I find that my recall becomes worse when I read the sentences on the initial lesson. I usually don’t read them until Guru review or later, once I feel I’ve internalized the core meaning and can appreciate the nuances more.

In many cases, I’ve then found the examples to be either meaningless* or to contain nuances I’ve already inferred.

*修辞学

私は修辞学の先生に恋をしています。
I have a crush on the rhetoric teacher.

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#14

Maybe this link would help to make it seem less meaningless?

https://clas.uiowa.edu/rhetoric/about/why-is-rhetoric-required

Rhetoric is not just empty words or fine political speeches. Rhetoric is the study and art of writing and speaking well, being persuasive, and knowing how to compose successful writing and presentations. Rhetoric teaches us the essential skills of advanced learning and higher education. In Rhetoric classes, students learn to think logically, to discover wrong or weak arguments, to build a good case on a controversial topic, and to overcome the all-too-common fear of speaking in public so that they can deliver crisp and well-prepared speeches.

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#15

I find them utterly useless in general and often either offensive or worthy of an eye-roll at best. The structure is generally not appropriate for the level I am at. I find it much more helpful to use the Todai app on the very easy level, or Bunpo or (gasp) Duolingo, where the kanji I have learned often appear in sentences that are relevant and are not apparently designed to be just weird or sensational. I almost never even look at them any more.

#16

On a somewhat unrelated note, this is interesting, I’ve never really considered what rhetoric is before. Thanks for sharing.

#17

It’s not that I don’t know what rhetoric means, it’s the fact that you can slot in any college course into that sentence and it wouldn’t change anything.

It doesn’t tell me what rhetoric means other than that it’s a branch of study like History or Math.

A much better example: I didn’t want to join the Volleyball Club, but I was swayed by the Captain’s rhetoric when he explained how much fun it would be.

In any case, it may be a moot point since I’d bet most people would just say レトリック instead. :wink:

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#18

Yea, adding 学 doesn’t even make it the same word.

Honestly, I’ve never even heard someone say ethology in English. I had to look up the meaning.

#19

Nice! Do you have the names of the scripts you are using? Those would probably help me a bit. I do get distracted by the english translation while I’m trying to read them.

#20

and

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#21

Hi! Bumping this thread because after level 20 sometimes there’s only one complex, long-winded sentence.

People who are above level 20: how do/did you use these sentences? I’m finding myself less and less inclined to actually read them – I’m kind of just skipping to the English translation to check the word in context (like Cathm2 mentioned earlier in the thread)… But even then sometimes the translations aren’t helping…

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#22

I always have a look at them, at least at the easier ones :slight_smile: I often write them down in my notebook too because in my still early stage of learning japanese it’s really helpful to have the basic sentence patterns available.

The longer sentences are usually too complex for me, so I skip them.

#23

Not paying pay much attention, or to the mnemonics, unless I am having a hard time with new Kanji. If you speak to the Death Star it will admonish you, that makes sense.
What I do look at is the vocabulary. It is much easier to learn new Kanji if I
know a word it is in. I have been studying Japanese a long time.
I knew the word for flood for ages, I never knew the character 洪.
That really helps.

#24

It’s okay to bump an old thread right?

I try to read each sentence at least once, even though I usually don’t understand 70% of it. I can read aloud the characters slightly faster now.

#25

I’ve just entered a 2 week mandatory quarantine after returning to Australia. Can’t leave the hotel room. I’m seriously considering going back and reading all the example sentences.

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#27

Just curious - does this refer to zoning out in airplane cockpits? Given the only people who really go in there are pilots, this sounds like a bad idea…

#29

I’m pretty sure they still do have an enormous array of thingamabobbins, but as I understand it, that’s at least partly due to overregulation which prevents them from replacing many vetted components with newer electronic alternatives. It’s not like analog stuff never breaks, and you can always have backups for the really important things, if you ask me.

#30

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