Having a few issues in regards to grammar, some help\advice\even just conversation would be great

Maybe what I said was confusing because you haven’t done the て form yet, but it’s called the て form because it’s usually… て. But verbs that end with those endings I mentioned don’t end in て in their て form, so you have to remember those.

BTW, I checked bunpro just now and て form is in N5 Lesson 4, while てもいい is in N5 Lesson 5. So, I’m not sure if they changed it since you went through but it’s in the “proper” order currently.

Thanks for the suggestions, I’ll check them out tomorrow when the suns up :stuck_out_tongue: I’d gladly pay for a teacher but to be honest I’d rather keep saving as I’m actually going to 日本 in 六月, seriously cannot wait for that.

Yeah, no worries! :slight_smile: You don’t need a teacher. It’s harder if you’re self-study only, but that doesn’t mean that it’s worse. You learn a lot about how you learn and you end up doing things better.

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Just to clarify, Tae-Kim has two guides: The Grammar Guide and the Complete Guide. I was referring to The Grammar Guide which gets to the nitty-gritty of grammar. Not a wikipedia of grammar, but doesn’t swiftly go over things without explaining how they are formed.

I think like people suggested, I just need to find a program\formula that suits me and stick with it, I feel like I’ve been haphazardly stabbing in the dark so to speak.

Can’t build a building without a foundation first am I right?

I’d suggest Genki 1, which is what I used when I first started. It’s easily digestible an offers a gradual pacing which is great for starting out. It also offers a ton of writing practice, which you should do! Writing out my answers and then reading them out loud helps me remember how to actually use that grammar point I just learned. Genki also has a companion workbook you can get on amazon for cheap ^___^ The nice thing about Genki is that it continues with a second volume, which helps you bridge over to Intermediate level really comfortably. I also agree with @syphus-- I think you need structure to succeed, just like I do Building that for yourself is hard, though, I know.

Tae Kim is also a good resource, but I’d break that down into 2-5 grammar points a day (I like to learn in “chapters”—don’t overload). I’d also suggest writing practice sentences from each point in a lil’ journal and also speaking them out loud to yourself. Then it’s like an act of grammar, it’s in motion, you know? It feels more real that way (like Koichi says when you are learning a mnemonic—it has to be you, really there it, for it to work best).

It’s like when you work out, even; if you overload, you’re gonna have a bad time. You want a certain type of exercise on a given day (arm day, leg day) and lots of reps on the same area to tone it, versus doing a full body workout all at once that makes you ultra sore!

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I totally agree, just need to find “My thing” and stick with it.

When it came to Grammar I remember being at level 1, having freshly learned Hiragana and Katakana and thinking “Grammar? I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it”, now I’m standing at the river, but theres no bridge, have to build one first :stuck_out_tongue:

Learning a language feels to me like equal parts learning and “working out”, it’s just when it comes to the “working out” the whole self study lack of motivation hits me and well…yeah.

Sigh I so wish I wasn’t told to “stop that” whenever I type\speak anything, it’s a bit of a downer at times.

Only way is up I guess :smiley:

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Yeah, that’s the one I always checked. I still feel like it’s incomplete =/ Taking the example of the OP, I felt that he gave an entry of the て form out of nowhere without much explanation. Nevertheless, I do believe that it’s a good resource as a first approach.

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If you want a friend to babble about language to at your own pace, I’d gladly fill that role! Do you have LINE? Let’s be language buddies!

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There’s no need to apologize for “the wall of text”. I think many of us have been where you are at some point or another. From the way it sounds, the current resources you are using aren’t really helping you understand the concepts the way you’re supposed to learn them. You should take the time to invest in a beginner textbook that suits your needs the best; not everyone conceptualizes things in the same way so what might work for one person may not been effective for another. Although going the free route might serve you better due to financial constraints, if learning Japanese is a priority for you, then I would recommend purchasing a textbook that will help you. One thing I’ve learned during my studies in Japanese (and other languages for that matter) is that learning another language doesn’t require one to be “smart” but to think about the world and the conceptualize things differently. This can be quite difficult because people want things to equate to the way they have learned in their native language. Some books do a good job at making this transition easier for those who need the extra support. Please refer to the recommendations made by the other users and take a minute to look at the resources for grammar studies in the following threads here and here (There’s some overlap, but just to make sure that you’re not missing anything).

Since you’re new here, you probably don’t know that posting unauthorized download sites of copyrighted material is against the terms of service for this forum. So I suggest that you edit your post so that those who run this forum don’t suspend your account for breaching the rules here.

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I know you said you’re hesitant to use Genki, but it truly does sound like you need a beginner’s textbook to help you form a solid foundation, so you shouldn’t let your fear of commitment hinder you in such a way. See if you can find Genki (or another recommended textbook) at a local library to get an idea of its contents and whether it would be good for you.

Genki starts from zero and does a good job of explaining grammar points to create building blocks for you to begin understanding sentences. As far as I remember, its sentences will only contain grammar that it’s already taught you, so you won’t be stuck completely unable to comprehend something. It has an accompanying workbook and answer key as well for practice, to help solidify what you’ve learned so you can apply it elsewhere.

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As much as I realise Genki is still very much copyrighted, does Archive.org actually host illicit materials?

I cannot confirm whether or not that is the case because I’ve never heard of the site before, but according to the FAQ of this forum:

Post Only Your Own Stuff
You may not post anything digital that belongs to someone else without permission. You may not post descriptions of, links to, or methods for stealing someone’s intellectual property (software, video, audio, images), or for breaking any other law.

So based on this alone, regardless of what kind of site Archive.org is, I’m pretty sure publisher of Genki is not on-board with it allowing people to download it’s property without people paying for it. For that reason, I’m not really sure about the point of your post.

The point of my post was to get an understanding of whether or not I might find illicit/pirated material on Archive.org.

As you’ve answered my question, it seems like the point of my post was clear enough for at least your subconscious to grasp it. I’m not sure where that sass came from!

Apparently, people can post stuff to Archive.org without any review. That’s kind of troubling. (Archive.org is a fairly trusted site, in internet history!)

I suppose I was wrong to assume there was some sort of agreement between the publisher and a .org—removed it for y’all.

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I’ve never really heard of LINE but I’ll have a look, it’d be great to be able to say “this is fun/hard/amazing” to someone and they totally understand what I’m on about :stuck_out_tongue:

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Thank you everyone, I’ll definitely check everything you’ve mentioned out. (Along with WaniKani as well obviously, level 7 is really kicking my behind as well) :open_mouth:

This is probably one of the better forums out there, I’m too used to trolls and being told to “git gud”.

My username there is also riverpuppy if you decide to get it!

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My intent wasn’t to “sass” at you, I was just clarifying the relation to the link @kit5un3 posted and with the policies. So if you felt attacked, it wasn’t my intention. However I really didn’t get the point of your message because it seemed as though you were asking a question you already had an answer to based on my response to them and the beginning of your own response to me.

@kit5un3 no real harm done; or at least I hope so. Since this thread is searchable from Google, we have to be very careful about sites providing free access to things that are currently for sale elsewhere.

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