I started a little open source web tool for dedicated training of verb type/transitivity. I have read some discussions here and I also myself have some difficulties remembering it, because English is a bit weak in transitivity. What I thought it could do:
Show you a verb from your WK learning history.
Let you select if it’s transitive or intransitive.
Show additional information after selection (e.g., does it fit into one of the rules, maybe examples).
Go to 1. (with similar SRS mechanism as WK).
My questions:
Would such a tool make sense to you?
Is there an existing tool for this?
If a new tool for this makes sense, what should it do?
The second thing that I was wondering about is: WK shows you example sentences with the vocabulary. Sometimes I look at them, sometimes not, but I do not really use them to the extent they would be probably useful. Would a tool around using the examples in a better way be useful? What should it do?
Hey! I think a verb’s transitivity is already shown when you’re learning the verb. So maybe just examples would be more helpful? Of course one should know if it’s transitive or not but I don’t think extra emphasis on that is required. I think if it’s shown in examples it’ll be clearer. Also yes I don’t read wankikani’s example sentences that much either. That’s my two cents All the best
I always check transitivity when I learn the vocab or get a review wrong but I tend to forget it again pretty quickly. A tool to quiz/review purely on verb transitivity would be useful for me
doesn’t Wanikani already show you if a verb is transitive or not? I feel like the meaning can usually tell you too. I could probably use this a little bit on the side for reviews though.
As for already existing programs, Wanikani’s sister app Bunpro teaches you how to distinguish when to use the transitive or intransitive form, but I don’t think it teaches you which form of the verb is which.
I went through about 3/4 of bunpro, and overall there is a lot to learn (for me at least). Yet I can’t recommend it. I think it’s focused on the wrong things at the wrong times. If you need to practice structuring grammar or conjugation, it won’t help you at all, it’s not even designed to attempt to do that. It might help reinforce grammar you already know when you also know all the vocab in the (imo, poor and often unnatural) example sentences.
Ah, that’s a helpful summary. Reinforcement may be a good thing. I have regular classes and am about halfway through the second Minna no Nihongo. I find it quite challenging to recall all the constructs. So maybe iterating them in another way helps.
Wait, there isn’t? My mistake. I could’ve sworn I got billed by Tofugu when I signed up.
Anyways, I like Bunpro a lot because I need the extra help in drilling grammar, and I was completely lost prior to it. I had done Genki in my college course but it wasn’t until actually going over those points in Bunpro did they stick. It and Wanikani have been my saviors since I started them.
But if you don’t need that extra help I guess it’s fine to go without it.
I’m not a fan of WK examples, so I’d like a tool that could show more sentences used on news websites or books/manga.
Maybe an example of tool that shows WK words in context is Japanese.io.
There’s an app called Todai, which uses articles in Japanese from several sources (NHK, Asahi, CNN, etc) and shows underlined words with five different colors, each color indicates its corresponding JLPT level. Users can translate the entire article and make decks from those underlined words. It’s simple to use and the user can learn verbs and vocabulary in context while reading daily news.
All the best
