I dont know if this is the right catagory but I think it should fit.
I am learning Kanji and I’m doing a good job at it with WaniKani. It seems when I try to learn non kanji words that are super long, I have a hard time learning it. Im stuck learning basic phrases like Nice to meet you. What would the best method be to learn this. Ive tried using anki but it hasn’t worked out to well. Should I get my vocabulary up in WaniKani before I start to tackle these non Kanji words?
I think it can be tough to learn words in a vacuum, or without any context, because then it’s sort of this abstract Japanese -> English mapping that’s floating in the void. In my opinion the easiest way to further cement vocab words, especially non-kanji ones, is to encounter them during reading where you have the surrounding context to help improve your comprehension of them.
Granted, if you can’t read yet, that’s going to be a little frustrating, but even parsing basic example sentences can help. I’d recommend studying some grammar alongside WK to ensure you can read beginner texts and help improve both reading and vocab.
Thank! Ive started to study some grammer from tae kim and im doing fine with that. Im still on basic grammer but if i can translate words for the setence i can put them in the right order.
Sounds like a good start! Once you feel a little more comfortable with grammar, you can tackle some simple texts, like graded readers or textbook passages, if you have any.
I’m a former high school English teacher and middle school German teacher. It is very, very difficult to learn new vocabulary words from a list and remember them well. It’s even harder when you are trying to learn long expressions. Everything doubles in difficulty when it’s happening in a foreign language you don’t yet know well. Here are some ideas for making it easier to do.
Choose a theme. The theme can be anything you’re interested in, food, music, pets, cars, travel, etc.
Write down 5-10 English words that fit your theme. I’ll take music for an example. piano, listen, music, play, practice, lesson, concert, ticket, teacher, compose
Look up the words in Japanese. piano = ピアノ、listen = きく、music = おんがく、play = ひく、
practice = れんしゅうする、lesson = レッスン、concert = コンサート、ticket = きっぷ、teacher = せんせい、compose (music) = さっきょくする
Start using the words to create things you want to be able to say. Keep it simple. I like the piano. ピアノがすきです。I listen to the piano. わたしはピアノをききます。Please play the piano. ピアノをひいてください。My piano teacher is very skillful. わたしのピアノせんせいはとてもじょうずです。Because I like music, I go to a concert every month. わたしはおんがくがすきですから、まい月コンサートにいきます。
I’ve given you some very useful sentence forms that can be used for anything you want.
As you learn new words, put them into your sentence models. As you learn new ways to say things, use the words you know in different ways. I hope this helps.
This is a very good idea im going to try it.
Thank!