I’m curious: do you prefer having your learning materials online, or do you want to have ‘‘something to touch, something physical’’? For example, Tae Kim’s Grammar Guide can be found online for free but there’s also the physical copy that you can buy.
Would you buy the book/something else just because you preferences? Do you buy other material or do you have it all online?
I personally prefer sort of… both. Having the material online is neat and it stays in order. On the other hand, I enjoy books and writing down things. I have bought a few years ago two Japanese textbooks and that’s about it. Now I’m making my Kanji cards and practicing how to write them. I’m still thinking about buying the grammar book thought, I feel it’s easier for me to read it if I had the physical copy of it. Then on the other hand… you can find the information you need, by googling it.
I’m really interested in hearing what are your opinions!
i use the japanese from zero online course, because i like to study a bit when i’m bored at work and i can’t very well just open a physical book, lol, but when i’m home i write down everything i learned into my own notebook. same when using bunpro.
If I can easily, I prefer having a hard copy. It’s easier to mark/save pages, compare things, and for me it’s easy to carry around. Like at school, it’s easier to get Genki out of my bag and read that for a bit rather than get my laptop out and find stuff there.
I use both… But I actual prefer books. Less strain on eyes and nicer to read. For studying and research, its easier to flick through and to go places.
Sure you can set up bookmarks and that on electronic books where its on an ebook reader like kindle or the internet, but it isn’t the same (feels slow and clunky). I would also be tempted to use an add-on to look up words on revision parts (Dictionary on ebook reader/or browser plugin).
I actual have Tae Kim book, I don’t use it for my main study, its just there as a grammer guide to polish or quickly lookup a grammer point. For the price you can’t go wrong. I’m not sure if it exactly the same as the website (as website could have been updated and changed a little) but it still a good resource to have.
I also like physically owning something… Maybe i’m old fashioned.
If I had a big enough screen that lets me write on the ebook’s pages, I’d choose it. Physical copies gives you the pleasure of writing on it and sticking notes. The down side is clutter.
If it’s anything of any length, I much prefer a physical copy. I don’t know what it is about reading on a screen, but my attention wanders after about 2 seconds, and I feel like I don’t retain as much. I think having a physical interaction with something (by writing, highlighting, etc.) is really helpful for focus and retention while I’m reading. I do prefer electronic resources for dictionaries, though. It’s also convenient to have study apps for vocab (ie, Wanikani, iKnow), because I spend a lot of time on public transit and it’s a major pain to try and study physical materials on a crowded train. But another problem I have with electronic materials is that I’m very “out of sight, out of mind” - I’ll bookmark and download a billion things onto my laptop and then completely forget I have them if they aren’t literally staring me in the face.
I really like WK, Anki and how easy is to get a everything right away. But then, for reading I really enjoy not having to look at any screen, as my eyes get really tired after some hours of computer work (which japanese learning has incresed a lot).
I’m only considering going wiht a kindle like device insted of the hard copies if that means having both the easiness on the eyes and the readily to export vocab / phrases factor as well. Meanwhile I quite enjoy underlining words, side notes and overall the palpable feeling to progressing, while reading a book, that the hard copy has.
I prefer a mix of both. For like text book or grammar type resources I vastly prefer physical materials. I want to be able to page through things and what not. There’s something about the nature of physical books that is comforting to me and I find paging through them an easier thing to manage than ctrl+f’ing through e-books. I also vastly prefer physical copies of things like books and manga. Since it’s much easier to acquire and tote around digital copies of these things though I do tend towards digital books now. I do try and keep stores of the things at home though.
For things like flash cards, I prefer online things because I can automate most of the process. Things like making the flash cards, setting up timers, and what not are the most soul draining things to me so I take what I can in terms of offloading that onto an app or a computer program.
For like writing practice though I prefer paper and pen. I want to actually remember what characters to write and I find that IME just kind of…doesn’t help me recall the things when I do need to physically write. I know I can use apps to do writing practice too, but I don’t have a tablet and don’t like drawing things with mice. My journals and what not I do by hand.
I think there’s a place for both as that both options have its own benefits and drawbacks.
Physical books help me with remembering and comprehension. I can make notes, put in bookmarks, and do variety of things to ingrain things to memory. However books are more expensive, plus I have a tendency hang on to books that I have no legitimate use for anymore.
Electronic materials are portable and convenient, provided that you’re always connected. There’s an over-abundance of resources at my disposal, such as video, audio, and other media. However, with the abundance of good there’s an abundance of inaccurate stuff posing as an authority online. Also if offline access is not possible, it’s useless when you don’t have the internet. Reading on screens is not good for the eyes.
For a textbook, nothing beats a Physical book. When flipping back and forth, it is nice to insert fingers physically in between pages. An online book or Kindle book doesn’t give you a sense of random access that a physical book gives. Or even the ability to flip rapidly through pages while glancing very quickly. E-books are more searchable, but you loose that tactile sense.
I like online for testing and reviews. But I like real books for reading practice and learning new things. I can mark or underline important points in a book. Also I like the pictures when I am just reading.
References: electronic. Rapid access to the thing I want, text search, accessible anywhere (by comparison), don’t have to bring it with me, no physical space in my house required.
Sequential reading: physical copy. I do a lot of back referencing and re-reading certain parts, and the scroll-back, scroll-forward thing is a big distraction. (1000 x worse, non-scrollable page forward, page back in electronic media)
But another problem I have with electronic materials is that I’m very “out of sight, out of mind” - I’ll bookmark and download a billion things onto my laptop and then completely forget I have them if they aren’t literally staring me in the face.
