I cracked it open and dove into the first lesson. It seems pretty straightforward (I mean, it’s the very first lesson) and some of the lessons from WakiKani came back to me, but if I’m being honest, for me, learning another language is most effective when I’m practicing with other people. I’ve already posted a question (in Japanese, though I hate using the translator, hah) on Twitter, asking if there are any Japanese people who wouldn’t mind helping me practice. WaniKani is an option, sure, but actual live interaction (i.e. chats or practicing in person) works much better for me than posting on forums.
I learned a lot of Spanish practicing with friends, so I already know this is the best approach for me. Also, I’m apartment hunting in Flagstaff and it seems I’ll likely find something suitable before long. I haven’t forgotten about Northern Arizona University, it’d be a great avenue to this end.
In the meantime, I’m limited to Twitter and possibly WaniKani, so I was just wondering if anyone has any other suggestions. WK focuses on vocabulary and kanji, but not grammar as far as I know.
Awesome! I just finished Genki II yesterday. It took me 3 months to not only go through both Genki I and II, but to also absorb, retain and actually learn all of the lessons (which is the most important).
They’re indeed very straightforward to go through but you might get overwhelmed if you try to advance too fast without retaining or repeating anything you’ve learned.
Also, if you’re pursuing WaniKani on the side, you don’t really need to bother with the kanji learning section in Genki, since you’ll learn all of them with WaniKani in the long run anyway. Though you should still give those pages a peep every time you start a new lesson.
@dunlewy Let’s just say that Flagstaff–or rather, the forest and wilderness around it–is a sacred place for me, due to past events. Canada is nice (environment-wise, anyway), but it’s not a place I can call “home.”
@Anime_gasuki It’s @SylvaretBotanis. I don’t do too well if I spend a lot of time on social media for personal reasons, and in fact I decided a few moments ago to take a hiatus for a few days.
@EliotHyenne It’s taking me much longer than that, but at the same time I’m also dealing with a lot of personal issues. Part of the reason I want to practice with friends is because it helps immensely to reiterate and reinforce my lessons. It’s far more effective than just reading or trying to learn in a classroom (not to mention a lot less expensive than schooling). Even WaniKani is ineffective for me without being able to connect with other people.
…So thinking now, perhaps it’s not the right time for me to start learning Japanese. I still haven’t found a community I fit into or a place to plant my roots, after all.
You may want to consider an app like HelloTalk. No cost, lets you do language exchange with native speakers. They can help you with your Japanese (including corrections, etc) and you can do the same for their English, or whatever your native language may be.
Yeah, thanks everyone. I don’t think right now is the time to study Japanese…and I do have to admit I have a tendency to push myself harder than necessary to make up for lost time. To put it into perspective, past events basically robbed me of 25 years of my life, starting from when I was born, and altered my development in such a way that there’s really no person, society, or culture that can help–as of this post, I’m 30. I’ve lost a lot of my time along with countless opportunities. This also the reason I’m self-teaching so many different things; it’s literally my only option.
While it’s true that I’ve wanted to learn Japanese for a long time and have always been drawn to their culture, it’s probably best that I focus on create my own system, culture, and place in the world–something that works specifically for me and my needs. So, I’ll put my studies on hold and focus on creating what I need, then build bridges to Japan from there. That includes learning Japanese.
I have to agree with the sacredness of the area around Flagstaff. I had the same feeling about it and even more so further north in Arizona. There’s just something about the place that speaks to me.
For me, it’s because the forest around there is where nature stepped in and pretty much gave me a second chance at life after a lifetime of extreme trauma. It did mean that I’ve had to start life from the ground up, but had that divine intervention not happened, I doubt I’d still be alive. So basically, the wild is where I come from, even though I probably seem “normal” to most, and I learned to live by very different rules from most people.
As far as a starting point goes, where else to begin but Flagstaff? I think returning from whence I came would be the best way to go. Japanese can wait a bit.
Do you know https://lang-8.com? You can write texts there and native speakers correct them for you. You’ll have to correct texts too to earn points, I think. I haven’t used it in a while, though, so I don’t remember exactly how it worked.
It’s not the same as interacting with friends, but comes pretty close, and I think you can also connect with people to interact through other channels.
It’s a good resource to have a real person, for sure. Riding the bus with a co-worker everyday who is a native Japanese speaker lets me know some words WK teaches aren’t useful for everyday conversation (but for reading, sure). Plus, using what I learn daily helps me remember things.
Thanks for the feedback, everyone. Unfortunately, I think I need to just leave the site and keep to myself for a good while–I’m dealing with far too much right now, and I admit that I haven’t been helping by pushing myself as hard as I have been. It’s become impossible for me to be on any social sites or even around people in general without feeling some distress, though I guess I do a pretty good job keeping that under control.
This is a very serious issue, and is a lot more important to address than Japanese. Now I’m really glad I bought a lifetime WK subscription, because I really don’t know when I’ll be coming back. Also, I apologize if I’ve made things awkward here with my posts. I never did learn how to communicate with other people or socialize and sadly have had too many experiences with people taking things the wrong way.
It seems that some user’s of Lang-8 don’t know this as it occasionally gets recommended as a resource on the WK forum, but registration for new users has been suspended for at least a couple years now. I just clicked on the link to check again and came across this:
Lang-8 was a great service, but new sign ups have been suspended indefinitely for months now as they launched their new, and arguably inferior, service HiNative.
