Learning a new language

[Berd]

I'm learning Swedish, does anybody else that I could talk to? Pm me!

 

[Myachii]

does anybody else that I could talk to?

You might wanna master English before learning a different language

I'm practicing Spanish and French, and just started learning Dutch.

Please check out my most recent thread in this category I know you're not a native but you would be a great help

 

[PJKCuber]

Ok, so I'm done with Hiragana and almost done with Katakana, should I learn Grammar + Vocab first or learn Kanji? or learn all of them at the same time?

 

[Dene]

I wouldn't worry too much about Kanji. Just pick some up as you go along. You simply can't learn all of them; most Japanese people would only know the more common ones.

I'd focus on learning basic grammar and filling up your vocabulary.

 

[PJKCuber]

I wouldn't worry too much about Kanji. Just pick some up as you go along. You simply can't learn all of them; most Japanese people would only know the more common ones.

I'd focus on learning basic grammar and filling up your vocabulary.

There's no way anybody can learn all the kanji, there are like 50,000 of them. I only meant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C5%8Dy%C5%8D_kanji
the standard 2136 kanji.

 

[OkinawaSolver]

I just start with the most commonly used and the basic ones that make up others

 

[pjk]

Good to hear you're learning another language. I'm quite interested in exploring languages now, though still in the early stages. I dabbled in Spanish for years growing up but never really practiced outside of school, and as a result, didn't learn it. I studied German a bit 6 years ago, but never completed. Over the last 3 years though I've taken much more interest in learning language. There is a pretty big community online of polyglots and some of the stuff people are doing today is really impressive. It is fair to say there has never been a better and easier day to learn a language than today. So many resources to get connected.

Anki (http://ankisrs.net/) works great for spaced recognition. I use it almost everyday. It has a good desktop app and mobile app which sync. Normally I use the desktop app to add words and sentences, and then study on my mobile while waiting. If you build a habit out of it the results are really good.

 

[Dene]

There's no way anybody can learn all the kanji, there are like 50,000 of them.

There would certainly be people who know the vast majority of kanji, but given new ones keep coming along it's not exactly a matter of memorising every last one...

But anyway, trying to learn 2000+ characters before moving into grammar and vocabulary would be a silly waste of time and very demotivating . Learn kanji as you learn vocabulary, that will make it more interesting as you learn how words are formed, and a bit of the etymology of Japanese.

 

[PJKCuber]

There would certainly be people who know the vast majority of kanji, but given new ones keep coming along it's not exactly a matter of memorising every last one...

But anyway, trying to learn 2000+ characters before moving into grammar and vocabulary would be a silly waste of time and very demotivating . Learn kanji as you learn vocabulary, that will make it more interesting as you learn how words are formed, and a bit of the etymology of Japanese.

Since there's no way that I can buy Japanese grammar books, is this a good resource?
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/

 

[CuBouz]

Since there's no way that I can buy Japanese grammar books, is this a good resource?
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/

Wow, quite an amazing site! I can't really tell whether the site is effective or not but for something provided for free, it looks really good. I think I'll read through the articles as it might actually help me improve my English.

 

[Dene]

Since there's no way that I can buy Japanese grammar books, is this a good resource?
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/

I didn't look around too much, but it certainly looks good, and the video guides will be super handy. I must say though, the guy sounds really boring >.<

 

[Godmil]

One of the best things I found about japanese is the Japanese Language Proficiency Tests (JLPT), which is an official grading system for foreign learners, as it provides a clear guide to what is the most important things to know (like the most popular words and phrases), so JLPT 5 starts with ~600 words and ~20 Kanji, which is totally manageable... Then when you think you're comfortable with those, you move up to JLPT 4 which adds so many words and kanji.... then if you can get up to JLPT 2 then you should essentially be comfortable living and working in Japan (JLPT 1 is supposed to be exceptionally hard and only really required if you wanted to go to a Japanese university).
There are some great apps for drilling words and Kanji... I found these ones to be brilliant:
Scribe Origins (for kanji - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scribe-origins-learn-kanji/id616678052?mt=8 - in a couple of months of playing with this I was comfortable recognizing and having a basic/rough idea of the meaning of like a thousand kanji)
Scribe Japanese ( for words - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scribe-japanese-master-vocabulary/id640052740?mt=8 - this is great for learning new words, I'd recommend turning off the Romaji as soon as you can to help practice your hiragana)
There is another in that series for grammar, but it's not quite as fun to use.

The thing I like about Katakana is that once you know it you can instantly read some japanese words, because a lot of the words that would be spelt in katakana are of English origins so are relatively easy to understand in context... like if you see a big building with ホテル written on it.. you go ho te ru... hoteru.... Hotel! It feels great when you pull off a few of those

 

[PJKCuber]

One of the best things I found about japanese is the Japanese Language Proficiency Tests (JLPT), which is an official grading system for foreign learners, as it provides a clear guide to what is the most important things to know (like the most popular words and phrases), so JLPT 5 starts with ~600 words and ~20 Kanji, which is totally manageable... Then when you think you're comfortable with those, you move up to JLPT 4 which adds so many words and kanji.... then if you can get up to JLPT 2 then you should essentially be comfortable living and working in Japan (JLPT 1 is supposed to be exceptionally hard and only really required if you wanted to go to a Japanese university).
There are some great apps for drilling words and Kanji... I found these ones to be brilliant:
Scribe Origins (for kanji - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scribe-origins-learn-kanji/id616678052?mt=8 - in a couple of months of playing with this I was comfortable recognizing and having a basic/rough idea of the meaning of like a thousand kanji)
Scribe Japanese ( for words - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scribe-japanese-master-vocabulary/id640052740?mt=8 - this is great for learning new words, I'd recommend turning off the Romaji as soon as you can to help practice your hiragana)
There is another in that series for grammar, but it's not quite as fun to use.

The thing I like about Katakana is that once you know it you can instantly read some japanese words, because a lot of the words that would be spelt in katakana are of English origins so are relatively easy to understand in context... like if you see a big building with ホテル written on it.. you go ho te ru... hoteru.... Hotel! It feels great when you pull off a few of those

Wait, then are there any specific guides for the exam. I probably won't give the exam, but for the sake of studying.

 

[Godmil]

Wait, then are there any specific guides for the exam. I probably won't give the exam, but for the sake of studying.

I'm not sure, I'm sure there must be, but I'm like you, I'm not that interested in sitting it, but the fact the Japanese government has come out and said "This is the most essential 600 words for everday use.... and then after that these are the next most important...." Makes it super convenient for knowing where to start
It's like have you heard of Basic English? It's like a super stripped down version of the language (<1000 words) for easy learning (as a second language). I like to think of JLPT 5 & 4 as being like that.
Having said that though... I'm essentially still a beginner with Japanese so I'm not an authority on the subject.

 

[Filipe Teixeira]

(I know it's an old thread but I decided it would be better to continue this instead of creating a new one)

I'm practicing japanese, spanish and english at the same time.

I'm using duolingo, and that's what I do: 2 timed english lessons, 2 spanish stories, 2 japanese normal lessons

By september I'll be done with all duolingo achievements and will move to another method

I have other apps that I want to use too, and reading/watching random stuff mainly in spanish but I want to imerse myself in japanese too when I'm more proficient

I'm happy with my english even though I make some dumb mistakes now and then.

But I'd say my languages from strongest to weakest at the moment are: english > brazilian sign language > spanish > japanese

I really recommend for everyone to use duolingo, I want to keep using it forever because it's a good use of time, instead of wasting time i'm investing in a language

And you guys? Are you currently learning a language? which one and how?

 

[Imsoosm]

And you guys? Are you currently learning a language? which one and how?

I know Chinese and English and I'm taking a French elective next year to prepare for high school language classes (which I'll probably also pick French)

 

[abunickabhi]

Learning a new language just for the sake of having more letter quads for your BLD memo prep is cool.

I do it a lot.

 

[Filipe Teixeira]

Learning a new language just for the sake of having more letter quads for your BLD memo prep is cool.

I do it a lot.

I'm still practicing spanish and japanese daily

I have a 450+ days streak in duolingo

For japanese I like to dedicate 1 hour a day

I do duolingo japanese script training, done with katakana for a long time, now I'm finishing hiragana. my reading improved a lot
I started a while back with graded readers. done with level 0 of tadoku now I'm reading a chapter a day of a book that has excerpts of bible stories. the vocabulary is pretty basic but I have to look up words and I'm putting them on anki for revision

also I'm doing renshuu for jlpt n5 vocab and kanji revision

I'm doing pretty great and my goal is to get past n5 and getting into n4

for spanish I'm doing babbel app, I got 6 months subscription and I do 1 or 2 lessons daily, with a goal of 9 lessons in a week
and some duolingo lessons
for immersion I'm watching netflix, I'm watching sonic boom and I'm yet to decide what to watch afterwards but I'm thinking in lost space, a show that I love to death

spanish is pretty easy for portuguese speakers but I have a hard time creating phrases. for japanese my goal is to get good at reading and in a distant future get better at conversation, my main goal is to immerse the most I can.

I try to dedicate 1 hour for each language but I'm not achieving that for spanish, I get bored. But I love to study and read in japanese, that's why I tend to study more than 1 hour a day, but I want to improve my spanish faster

 

[Filipe Teixeira]

I want to share that I finished the hiragana course today.
I've 100% the duolingo characters drill
so proud of it!

 

[Filipe Teixeira]

Okay so a quick update, I quit from duolingo. here's why:

it was fun for a while, it kept me studying everyday until it became unpractical and toxic
it is a game after all and they are excellent at making you stay. I got a 460 days streak before giving up, and here are some reasons:
1. I don't care for some of the phrases it teaches.
2. after the update it became a mess. maybe they will fix it but I was at the middle of finishin the course and now it put me on lesson 79 of 211 that's extremely demotivating and I was doing pretty boring lessons I had finished before (mr tanaka's team lost, I win at rock paper scissor, rocks beats paper, our team won the last match... things like that, that I don't give a damn)
3. making mistakes is discouraged - This is important. When you're learning a language, you are expected to make mistakes, but duo want you to be nearly perfect. as english is my second language I make even more dumb mistakes and that is pretty frustrating. if you are talking with someone in their language and you say something weird he will possibly understand it anyway and that will encourage you of keeping trying, if he corrects you, that's great. but duolingo penalizes you by removing one out of three hearts. if you lose all of them you can't study anymore at less you wait for a time or do some practices. that is pretty harsh because it demotivates you from learning, making you want to be perfect

Now I'm continuing to read that book I said before and using other apps, mainly ninohoari (an open source mobile app to practice the script) migii jlpt (to practice for the proficiency exam, I'm practicing for jlpt n5 and I'm doing great, I want to subscribe for a year after trying it out but I'm pretty positive with its results) and renshuu (for vocabulary and kanji studying. I'm studying jlpt n5 vocab and jlpt n5/n4 kanji) also I got the kanji study kanji in sentence pack and i'm doing it sparingly.

for spanish I'm not doing it often but I want to finish lost in space and sonic boom on netflix, in spanish