When two kanji are paired together, sometimes the first letters change (jukogo/rendaku?) and other times, no letters change.
I’ve been trying to figure out if there is a way to tell that letters are going to change just by looking at the word/ phrase. So far i’ve been pretty much trusting my instinct and guessing based on what sounds right which works 75% of the time, but i’m sure this practice wont be sustainable in the future.
A little bit of reading up about it should give you a better understanding. Tofugu has lots of great articles, not just about his but also other handy things to know about Japanese. I highly recommend browsing their archive for a bit when you have the time.
As for guessing, you can, but as always, there are exceptions to keep track off. I suggest looking up words on Jisho at least once, to double-check, when they’re completely new to you. WK will teach you some of non-rendaku words as well (vocab when you expect it).
It’s helpful to read about the patterns and “rules,” but beware that there are lots of exceptions to every “rule.”
But I really don’t recommend trying too hard to memorize or apply the rules, just consider it background information and let it soak in without undue effort.
The human brain has evolved an uncanny ability to detect patterns. I strongly recommend just letting the WK SRS train your brain to recognize the patterns. It may seem inefficient to just rote memorize each pronunciation rather than trying to apply the rules, but I promise you that it works better in the long run. MUCH better:
Eventually, you’ll subconsciously recognize and anticipate how to pronounce things, applying “rules” you didn’t even realize you knew. It’s ridiculously satisfying when this starts to happen more and more often. I often see 熟語 that I can read fairly confidently without having a clear idea of what it means. This shocked me the first few times it happened. This even happens with individual kanji as you learn the “rules” of phonetic composition!
You’ll actually be able to use the vocabulary words in conversation. Rote recall is much faster than applying rules. There simply isn’t time during a conversation to use anything other than rote recall.
Haha good point. Clearly I didn’t think this through . I was thinking of specific sounds, mostly “o” and “a”, but I forgot about all the words with “e” and a rendaku after.
Yea I’ve begun to subconsciously recognize patterns and allow my brain to fill in the blanks and anticipate how a word or vocab will sound/ work. It’s kind of like giving your frontal lobe the wheel and trusting that it’s smarter than the doubtful side of the brain. Often I’ll find myself typing an answer that I’m barely confident with but most times when I instinctually allow myself to go with the first thing that comes to mind and its right. It’s kind of what got me addicted to this website in the first place.
I’ll still definitely read up on what the Tof team has put together as not to be ignorant but I agree with your point good sir, thank you.
Thank you, I will certainly be reading up on this Tof article, and their archived stuff. As for Jisho, I’ve never used it before… would you suggest just diving into it and figuring it out as I go? Or is there a good resource you would suggest to better navigate that website?
Just dive into it and use it like any online thesarus.
They do have some search functions as well, though I rarely use them myself. You can find them under their Search options-page:
But, usually, I use it for quick look ups for words. It can help you with certain expressions as well. it’s also handy for double-checking conjugation forms for verbs. Also, tells you alternative spellings and readings for words.
I’m sure you’ll quickly get the hang of it and learn how to make best use of it after a while.
I suggest looking up words on Jisho at least once, to double-check, when they’re completely new to you. WK will teach you some of non-rendaku words as well (vocab when you expect it).
. I was thinking of specific sounds, mostly “o” and “a”, but I forgot about all the words with “e” and a rendaku after.
