Oh lord - going through a rough patch at the moment.
Which i think has at least partially being cultivated by the following vocab -
友好 - friendship
仲良く - friendly
親友 - close friend
人格 - Character
性格 - personality.
ALL COMING ROUND AND ROUND, incessantly taunting me. (maybe i should just learn them properly ey? )
Also there are so many different (seemingly random) different readings of 人 at the moment (inevitably i put the opposite to what is required)
Either this level is particularly hard, or i’m burning out :s
The words which have really stuck all the way through WANIKANI are ones which i have encountered during Japanese class - any tips on how i can ‘encounter’ / use more words? i would like to be able to read more - but in terms of grammar, i’m not really at a great level yet. should i just get really basic reading material and give it a go?
any tips appreciated.
I shall now go and finally learn the above VOCAB properly.
Notice how the one that starts with 人 doesn’t actually mean “personality”.
The 良く comes from 良い (adjective) and it’s an adverb. Adverbs are words like slowly, nicely and beautifully that end with “-ly”. In Japanese, i-adjectives become adverbs by removing the last い and adding く. Notice the meaning of 仲良く - friendly.
Close friends are like family… like your parents.
This is the one left.
EDIT: When friends (友) like (好) each other, people tend to (friend)ship them.
Do you have a textbook or grammar source that you’re consistently using? As a beginner, being able to read the practice sentences there is extremely helpful because it helps reinforce grammar points, while also giving you a chance to learn new vocabulary and its context. Once you have some basic grammar under your belt, you’ll feel better about reading sentences in the real world.
Also, you mention a Japanese class. I often hear that classes can be much slower in teaching useful grammar since it’s an entire class full of people trying to learn together. If that’s the case, it’s likely worth doing additional studying on your own time with your own materials (besides WK of course).
Both 性格 and 人格 mean character and personality. Do you know more about the differences in usage? A brief search says that 人格 is more about an individual’s values, so maybe 性格 is about what people can more visibly see in your behavior?
It’s definitely important to come up with extra mnemonics for this level. The words are just too abstract. T_T Perhaps it might also help to think of people in your life who have strong characters/personalities, and a spectrum of your friends to make it more concrete.
I’ve literally just leveled up to level 16 and saw this thread on dashboard. So the level is especially hard because of itens of previous levels? I’m relieved, somehow, hahaha
I have the same issue with forgetting kanji and vocabulary I don’t run into out of WaniKani, but I think the answer for that is to use your Japanese and you most likely won’t be able to do that if you don’t understand grammar. You can read trying to understand the general concept only, by spotting kanji and words you know, without trying to understand who’s doing what to who and where.
It’ll be tough, but if you read without understanding grammar, you’ll begin to notice some patterns and, when context suffices, understand what does what. You probably won’t get too far like that, without having someone to translate the sentence properly to you, but if you’re already familiar with some words and have a faint idea of what they’re used for, it can even ease your way of learning grammar. It was like that for me, at least.
I think Twitter offers good exercise. People use the most unexpected words there.
I have Genki 1, and in classes we work from Japanese for busy people. Genki i’m hopwing to work though independently, when i have time (in fairness maybe WANIKANI is consuming too much of my time).
I also have Tae Kim in book form - found it a bit heavy going on first attempt, but will keep going with it.
YES ! i would tend to aggree when it comes to the speed of progression. I think with the amount of time i put in it feels fairly slow. I think you are right about the studying in my own time (besides wanikani), I’m thinking i might take a break at level 20 and consolidate, and try make some progress with Genki 1. This will be difficult (maybe i’m addicted to levelling up? ), but maybe my study is currently a bit lobsided.
Yeah, it’s pretty easy to get caught up in wanting to level in WK, but if it’s eating too much of your time then there’s certainly nothing wrong with slowing down. Kanji’s important for reading, but it’s not exactly a savior if you don’t know the vocab and grammar that’s used to string it all together.
I used Genki as well, and I quite liked the structure of it. They give plenty of good readings and vocab to accompany the lessons, so it could be well worth it for you.
The reason why I think I lost steam on wanikani my first time was because I could look at the kanji and know the reading and meaning, but I didn’t have good recall in the other direction. When forming a sentence I’d freeze up and try to envision the kanji. The only exceptions were the words I learned in class.
Now that I’m on my own with my learning, there’s no class to supplement wanikani. So what I do is try to learn the words themselves, apart from the kanji. I make flashcards of hiragana/meaning to prevent myself from only knowing the word when I know the kanji. Saying the words out loud is super helpful too. This is so weird to say, but it’s like the words become muscle memory for your tongue. Certain readings just feel wrong to say, when you’ve said it the proper way a few dozen times.
I personally wouldn’t add both synonyms to these words because it might be confusing. From what I read at the time, 人格 is more related to moral values while 性格 is more about how someone behaves. Moral values definitely seem more closer to someone’s character while the behavior relates more to one’s personality.
Take this with a grain of salt though, as I never asked a native about this.
Some great replies have already been given, but I’m just going to go through all of them neatly.
友好 - Not particular sure why this one is problematic, sorry.
仲良く - Almost every time I hear this it’s used with suru to mean along the lines of “To Get Along.” If you watch anime, this phrase pops up all the time. For example, parents say it to their young children who refuse behave around other children 「仲良くしなさい」, and high schoolers (especially females) use it to try to loosen up a classmate who is giving a cold shoulder or picking a fight [仲良くしようよ」. It’s a “good relationship” as an adverb, hence “friendLY.”
親友 - Another one found in anime a lot as well as VNs. Take a quick look at most harem series and you’re bound to find the obligatory 元気 male friend who wants in on the harem attention and the typical line that follows when a popular girl says something cute to the MC or makes a cute expression: 「親友ですね？」. If I remember correctly, Matoi uses 親友 to the MC of Fate/Extra Last Encore in episode 1 to justify stabbing him.
人格 - As other replies have mentioned, this is “character” in the meaning of having a particular set of traits. “He’s a man of good character.” It describes how they are 「格」as a person 「人」.
性格 - This is a person’s natural disposition: it’s how they are 「格」 by nature 「性」. Unlike character, which is developed by how you are raised and the experiences you go through, this is your innate set of attributes that control how your character develops.
For example, the rich guys in a lot of stories (Japanese or otherwise), especially those in arranged marriages with main females, often exhibit very great character: they are polite, mannered, and patient gentlemen by whom every female wants to be courted. They have a good 人格. However, the inevitable plot reveals they are actually a scheming rat who only wants to inherit the influence of the girl’s family after her father dies. He has a terrible 性格. Ultimately, of course, this character is completely bad, but 人格 can only be determined by a persons statements and actions and thus can be faked much more easily. 性格 is your base personality, and faking it requires much more effort to not be seen through.
Chiming in here with more Level ~16 horror stories.
I apparently burned out on Level 18, but when I finally came back I had to reset to 15 because I remembered so little of the last levels. And even now, many of my worst leeches are from that period.
There’s some good advice in this thread already. Slow down, take a breather. Don’t go on a massive hiatus.
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i feel your pain.
