Word! I knew that the half-sized ‘tsu’ meant a paired consonant, but it never occurred to me to just, you know, … type a pair of consonants.
My favorite learning tool is the LingoDeer app. I think it does a much better job than Duolingo at grammar, at introducing new vocabulary; at everything, really. It also gives you the option of learning with kana alone, or with kana & kanji combined. I just started using Duolingo a couple of weeks ago, and I don’t find it all that impressive. I had Memrise for about a week and decided it was a waste of my phones’ memory. Drops is good for vocabulary, but I haven’t seen anything about sentences yet.
I started with Dr. Moku’s kana, and thought they were fabulous- I literally knew the basic hiragana within 2 days. Learn Japanese by Howard Peebles is very good too.
I’ve been trying to learn kanji on my own for several months. I’ve made more progress this week using the Tsurukame app than I had in all the previous months. Tsurukame seems to be integrated with the WaniKani website, too.
Those are some baller resources, thank you Anetsu! I am downloading LingoDeer over lunch today, excited to see how it compares. Duolingo was all I had used until last week when I started WK, so, I am in definite need of exposure to more learning opportunities. Ten (jyuu) confused me SO BAD as I kept typing it as Ji Yu U. Slowly but surely, I feel less dumb and more interested. It’s AWESOME lol
This is a bit off topic, but I would suggest using Bunpro.com for grammar It’s free for about a month, and then paid, but it’s really cheap (About $30 a year I think)
You can use Jisho.org as a dictionary it has slang and vocabulary, as well as kanji! (And it’s free!) If you can’t find a word because it’s really obscure/new, you could also ask Japanese people on Hinative.com
I’d say subscribe whenever you feel most comfortable doing so. The first three levels can be completed pretty quickly (in a couple weeks-ish), so it’s mostly a matter of whether you care that you’ve paid for those technically free weeks, if you get a monthly or yearly subscription.
I will say that once you’re getting a lot of vocab in the next few levels, it helps to try to pace yourself, rather than doing all lessons immediately. That’ll ensure you don’t have MASSIVE piles of reviews slamming you all at once (something that often leads to people feeling overwhelmed or quitting). Of course, I know some people prefer massive review piles too, but I find that a more steady pace helps me in my learning here.
I have some friends using Duolinguo; they’ve said it doesn’t really work that well… I have used it for japanese, and FOR ME, it was really boring…
If you’re a Native English speaker, then I would recommend Japanesepod101. This is no advertising… it has a lot of several real situation conversation and helps develop your listening skills. It also has a section for learning kanji, but WK is way better. Give it a try, i think they have a free version to try out their method.
That is SOLID advice since I tend to overcommit and get overwhelmed with ease. Saying yes to learning will feel easy these first weeks so I will just see about getting whatever is in the trial done at my ‘me’ pace. I totally know I am going to stay obsessed with this and get a month as soon as I am done with the 3.
Man just do the first three levels without paying anything and I assure you you will see this thing works (WK) I’ve been using it for like two years, but the first year was like I was doing almost nothing really. This last year has been what has helped me a lot. I recently started using other japanese-learning resources (being level 19 in WK) and that’s where I realized it has helped me a lot. I now think the most important part of learning japanese is knowing kanji…
I am practicing patience. I will await the sub until I am level 3 and such, but, boy-howdy do I wish I could just pay to have a thousand things to do on WK compared to the zero.
I’m thinking, based on what you said, I’ll just focus on WK until I feel confident and then I will add other Japanese-learning resources.
Yeah, trust me, that’s a good idea. Even WK sent me an email the other day recommending to start studying with a Textbook once you reach level 20 or so. Take a look at what they say:
Quote:
" Level 20:
Ideally, this is where you pick up your first Japanese textbook. And actually, because of your kanji and vocabulary knowledge, it’s going to matter less which textbook you end up choosing. Without the distraction and difficulty that not knowing kanji/vocabulary creates, you should find that learning grammar is quite a bit easier! Don’t let up on your WaniKani studies, but between Levels 20 and 30 see if you can get all the way through a beginner level textbook of Japanese so you can start intermediate level grammar on Level 30."
Telling me “squiggle line hour” again like a meany. I’ll squiggle-line you in one hour, Crabigator. Give me more lessons, less squiggle lines followed by the word hour. Harumph.
Hey @Corbayne, welcome to WaniKani! Don’t worry about not having much to do here at first; believe me, it’ll keep you quite busy before you know it.
I second the advice that LingoDeer is probably superior to DuoLingo for learning Japanese.
There’s another app call Human Japanese that I’d recommend if you’re starting Japanese from scratch or close to it. It explains the concepts way better than DuoLingo or LingoDeer which use the learn-by-doing concept. Human Japanese is more like a patient textbook where they explain how everything works, and there are some quizzes and audio as well. The full app costs (not too much) money, but you can do the first few chapters for free to see if you like it.
Thank you so very much! I am excited to test out that app and see if I can have two trusty resources! Also appreciate the comfort that I should appreciate the momentum I have and go with the flow. I’ve learned from you and others that it can catch up to a user real quick and become nearly unmanageable lol so, I will be patient and just love the process.
It went pretty well I can’t really tell if it was harder or not, but my grammar is really good However, because I put so much focus into grammar my vocabulary and kanji are really lacking. My grammar’s at a JLPT 3-2ish level, but I only know 5-4’s kanji and vocab
I think it’s fine to start learning grammar first, but I think it needs to be balanced (By that I mean learning grammar and kanji). Since there’s so many parts of learning a language it’s not good to focus on one area. That’s my view anyway! For all I know I took the long way around I guess I’ll never know.
It’s free for about a month, and then paid, but it’s really cheap (About $30 a year I think)
Is there a resource for underground vocabulary/slang in modern Japan?
I actually learned grammar first and now I just have to focus on learning Kanji!
However, because I put so much focus into grammar my vocabulary and kanji are really lacking. My grammar’s at a JLPT 3-2ish level, but I only know 5-4’s kanji and vocab
I guess I’ll never know.