WaniKani + Bunpro +?

Yes, it took quite a lot of time. However, at that point, I already know grammar until N3, so it was quite easy to do. I was just curious what I would get after A1, then disappointed. Not as advertised and seemed to be hyped up (at least for Japanese).

I also use DeerPlus, BunPro + BunPo, and iKnow for my everyday apps.

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I’m currently starting to use an own program to get recommendation for texts based on different “learnables” (not only for Japanese, but for all languages I learn). Currently, the learnables are vocabulary or in case of Japanese kanji. In theory it could also be grammer, but that’s much harder to achieve.

E.g. for Japanese the program fetches my kanji from the Wanikani API. It also collects texts from NHK Easy from time to time. Then it matches my Wanikani kanji knowledge to the kanji from NHK Easy texts and recommends those text to me which I might be able to read.

I’m currently working on a public website for it, but it’s still in ugly shape. However, the idea as outlined above is extremely simple (fetch texts from some web site, fetch kanji from Wanikani, search texts with few missing kanji), so the programmers among you might just re-implement it :slight_smile:

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I luckily picked up both LingoDeer and DeerPlus lifetime subscriptions, and if Busuu really goes downhill as you say I’ll probably switch back to that (it’s better than Duolingo; it’s just not having an on-site forum or way of communicating with people is a drag).

I’m sure it’ll be great. Best of luck to you! :slight_smile:

I got LingoDeer + LD Plus and love them both so far. I’ve been hyper focused on WaniKani & KaniWani + life and haven’t gotten very far.

The sentence writing in Duolingo worked well for me in terms of repetition and mastering the vocab via mistakes. The key is to be typing out everything once a Skill is at level 3. And practice practice until you get through it. Duolingo is so excellent for that.

The biggest problem I have now with it is the artificial voices (after using LingoDeer) - and the sentence translations. I have to kind of memorize or figure out what the app wants me to type. It’s not that I don’t know how to write it, I just don’t know what they are asking for:

“There is a desk” vs “A desk is there”; 机かあります vs 机はそこです
I’d understand if it was written “A desk exists”.
Aside from frustrating stuff like that, I’ve learned a lot of vocab and sentences in a relatively short time.

I have a Bluetooth keyboard that I have set up like a Japanese keyboard to where I just press 1 key at it is the kana (Q = た、W = て… etc) and I taped tiny pieces of paper onto each key with the hiragana to sight type until I memorized the location - which surprisingly didn’t take long to do :smiley:

I know LingoDeer is the better at but the typing doesn’t work well with this set up, AND the app wants the answers in hiragana only! Even katanaka apple: リンゴ isn’t accepted. Duolingo taught in Katanaka, so I’m not even sure this is correct to write it this way. Anyone know?

Does this hiragana type only eventually change? Maybe it’s a setting? Anyone else typing with this sort of set up and got it to cooperate?

“There is a desk” is a much better translation of that sentence for usage and meaning. “A desk exists” may be grammatically correct English, but isn’t a common usage. If someone asks “What is in the room?” you would say “There is a desk”, not “a desk exists”

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Any idea how often LingoDeer has sales on the lifetime subscription? I just checked it out for the first time and oh-so-coincidentally it happens to be steeply on sale for the next 23 hours. Feels suspiciously like a high pressure sales tactic. It is, in theory, a good deal if I’m going to be using the app a lot, but I haven’t had a chance to try it (and likely won’t have much time at it before this sale is up)

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You know you could just install a Japanese IME and then type standard romaji to get your Japanese. It’s actually very common for even Japanese people to do this. You’d type neko and it’d come up ねこ, and then from a tab-selectable list you could pick ネコ or 猫 (even convert entire sentences into the appropriate hiragana, katakana and kanji).

Here’s a link for that if you wanna try: How to Install Japanese Keyboard on Everything

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They might actually have it on sale most of the time. It’s supposed to be $200-$300 but was down to $100, and then I found a coupon code on the 'net that brought me down to $85. I figured for lifetime that’s not bad, especially since I also want to learn Mandarin and Spanish sometime, and it covers all languages on the platform.

You’re right that it could very well be a marketing tactic, and the price is never actually that high for the platform. I know Rocket Japanese does this (they always give you a percentage off by default, so you never pay full price; and their discount price matches the full price they sell on other sites like Amazon). I still think something like $85 is for sure worth it for LingoDeer. :slight_smile:

I’m actually seeing a summer sale for $85 (supposedly down from $160), here: https://blog.lingodeer.com/midyear-15-off-lifetime/

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The price they offered me was $120, so that’s way better, thanks!

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If you’re going to get it, that link I provided should get it down to $85 for you. Same price I paid like half a year ago. Bit better than $120. :slight_smile:

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I alway nod off when I break out my Genki textbook, and I feel like I don’t retain much that I read. Bunpro has been the most helpful thing for me when it comes to grammar. Progress has been verrrrry slow for me personally, but so many of the N5 level lessons instantly illuminate things I see on NHK Easy, and it’s so gratifying. I also enjoy LingoDeer from time to time, but if I try to juggle that, Bunpro, and WaniKani every day I start to feel overwhelmed, not to mention daily reading practice, etc. I know I’m on a path that will take several years to get where I want to be with the Japanese language, so I’m just taking my time. I’m in no particular hurry.

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I picked it up a week ago at the $119 price, Summer sale 65% off.
Man I wish I’d waited now. I managed to get LingoDeer Plus for $35 though, so that’s a win.

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The copy on that ad is a little vague- it says 2020 in a couple places. I’m going to assume someone just did a bad job of copy editing (I mean, 2020 did seem like it was never going to end, so, understandable)

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I’m going to guess they re-use the same text for each recurring sale, which seems to be a theme, and they might’ve missed updating all of it. I’d still see if that code works, and maybe let us know!

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I actually think DeerPlus is probably underrated. It has all kinds of exercises (most of which I didn’t try, I only used it for a little while), such as actually doing all of the different kinds of conjugation. That practice has to be invaluable.

I’m not sure if I got it at a discount, but I’m a sucker for lifetime subscriptions (so that I don’t feel pressured by time) so I usually pick those up lol. I’m just waiting for the winter WaniKani promotion so I can grab this too, because $300 is just too much…

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What are those apps? and what are they called if I wanna download 1 of them?

VERY underrated.

Me too.

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I have to say I agree with what you said, the material provided past A1 and very very little, it is not worth it at all. I’d encourage everyone to save their money for something more useful. :slight_smile:

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Because watching that number go from 669 to 0 is gonna lead to a sad day. It stopped being about that achievement a long time ago (Actually I totally forgot there were streak achievements…)

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It’s just called Todai. If you look that up, it should show up as “EASY JAPANESE NEWS”.

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