Let's Learn Japanese!

Off-Topic
#42

Got myself a copy of RTK 1. Let’s see how well this works out.

#43

I’ve just managed to memorise all the hiragana, but realised since I memorised them according to aiueo, when trying to read hiragana, I have to go down the order of aiueo in my mind to find the sound that matches the hiragana. I guess reading more might help, are there any interesting text available that comprises mostly of hiragana? :slight_smile:

#44

What I used to memorize hiragana back then was to put random japanese songs on my music player on shuffle, then try to read the titles XD

#45

Yep just keep reading and reading and reading etc…

All you have to do is convince yourself that if you just keep reading more and more, it’ll keep getting easier. Right now you may have to sit and think for several seconds just to remember one character. But after awhile, the hiragana will become equal to their reading in you’re mind, and you will just know them.

Also, you’ll recognize patterns, and not even have to always think about each character.

#46

I’m following a plan… but sometimes I’ve do what I want. In example, I learn one radical or learn to conjugate the TE form.

This guy created a few useful videos to know how to conjugate verbs, I feel like I’m a japanese native (it’s a lie of course, you have to practice and practice) But, I really find it motivating. HTH

#47

Obviously, whenever you are learning any language you need to find a method that is well suited to YOU. The only way to find this is by experimenting with different methods and trying to find what works. If anyone is looking for a starting point, what I found works for me is using the aforementioned Michel Thomas method (which is entirely auditory and focuses on core foundations) supplemented with Genki 1 for the written aspect of the language, and RTK 1 using an Anki deck. I’m still having trouble with vocabulary though, so if anyone can recommend a good way to review basic vocab of various parts of speech, that would help me a lot.

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#48

I’ve managed to finish memorising all the hiragana and katakana without procrastinating! Now I need to get some practice. Does anyone have a easy to read book or manga to recommend? I’m looking for one with furigana (so I can learn kanji in the process), and also one with a context that is easy to understand. ^^
I just bought two children’s storybook in Japanese - Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood, its mostly in hiragana with the occasional kanji accompanied by furigana so I hope its easy to read.

Also, one question, why do some books have furigana (e.g. To Love-ru darkness manga) when their target audience is clearly not children?

#49

it’s shounen manga; shounen manga also has furigana

#50

I would highly recommend Yotsuba& :smiley: simple words and it has furigana, too. Though some of it is very casual speech, which you may have to get used to

#51

Plenty of manga aimed at an even older audience has furigana too - it’s really up to the author/publisher’s discretion.

#52

While the idea of furigana is indeed to help younger audiences learn kanji, there is no real rule to its usage and as jda95 said, is more an arbitrary decision by the author/publisher. Oftentimes books have furigana only for “harder” words, but even this is really just up to the author’s discretion and has no rules. As an example of this, when I first read the Mahoyo VN, the vast majority had no furigana (other than for special readings, like magic spells being read in engrish but written in complex kanji).

BUT for some unexplainable reason, there were very rare instances of furigana appearing for REALLY SIMPLE words. I don’t recall the exact words but it was something as simple as like 見る with furigana of み like wait, this is a super basic kanji why…I don’t know. It’s weird but yeah there’s just no rules as to when to use furigana.

#53

glad I’m not the only one who found it, this guide is absolutely amazing! I don’t speak Japanese yet but I’m getting there thanks to this guide. It teaches you the tools to construct phrases instead of just learning a few phrases here and there, so if you’re interested in learning the language and not just learn a few phrases for when you go over there for a holiday, this is the guide for you!

#54

Tae Kim’s guide is usually the first free online grammar resource I hear brought up for beginners. Heck, even I started there. Don’t use it anymore but it’s got that beginner friendliness down pretty well. I will say that he does generalize stuff to make it more beginner friendly, so you should try and keep an open mind about the meanings of things like particles that he teaches you as he kinda glosses over some useage nuance and stuff.

I’d say if you have the money Genki is probably a preferrable alternative but they’re both great. I use IMABI for grammar personally but that’s really not beginner friendly unless you like massive info dumps.

Glad it’s working out for you, though! Tae Kim’s guide is pretty sweet. Really helped ease me into things.

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#55

You can also learn using the google playstore free app Obenkyo.
You can practice some Kanjis on the bus or in a boring class.
I am using this and I learned aroungd 600 Kanjis in a month, most of them aren’t very useful because I’m using the learn by chapter and not by JLPT, but I think that using this app like 10-30 min a day I’ll get to learn 2500 kanjis in 6 months more.

#56

I’m learning Japanese language since last year, I’m not very well at this language but I still wanna try.

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#57

I started this August! I belive in ~5 years we’ll both be like native speakers :smiley:

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#58

Yeah, I hope so, thank.:smile:

#59

I studied Japanese around a year ago too! I kinda get the grasp of the language, but I am still struggling with the existence of kanjis :sweat:

I’m wondering if there’s an easier way to study them since my memorizing skill isn’t so good :pensive:

#60

Download an app called “kanji stories”
it helps a lot, don’t depend on it though

1 Like
#61

Hey guys, so I promised a Japanese friend of mine I’d send her a letter. Thinking I’d have plenty of time to get my head around a translation I said I’d write it in Japanese. I was wrong…

I tried basically writing a letter in simple English to make the translation easier but even with a lot of reference material my Japanese is pitiful. Would anyone be able to help me with a rough translation? I’d gladly gift you some line stickers or something similar in exchange!

1 Like