We all love to study kanji, right? Who remembers those dreaded (but necessary) exercise books? (Image courtesy of Photo AC)
Do you have any tips that other students of the language - young and old - might find useful? Please share.
I have been doing this for over 38 years (and counting) and I still learn something new almost every day. In case you missed it, here are some of my suggestions for learning Japanese:
Thank you for the studying tips! I think that after finding the studying methods that work for you, it is very important to keep practicing them. When finding new tools, it is very easy to get carried away, use everything intensively, and then get tired and bored, since you are still at the beginner level, have loads of e.g. unreviewed Anki cards, and are overwhelmed by the sheer to-do list.
Since I'm more concentrated on reading Japanese than actively speaking it, I like to study some Japanese texts in detail with their English translations (https://mainichi.jp/editorial/ editorials sometimes have their English versions), converting them to (kanji, vocab, and bilingual sentence) Anki cards. Plus, I am trying to extensively read other kinds of Japanese online texts [10ten reader is a must-have plugin :), it works even on mobile devices], but that is easier said than done, since by the time I finally get to that, it's already evening after busy working day.
Thank you for suggesting kanshudo.com, I'll have to try it out :) It is quite a problem to find reading materials that are within the range between too easy and too difficult, and kanshudo.com seems to be a way to solve it :)
As a beginner, I find teachers' emphasis on reading and writing Japanese an annoying distraction. I just want to learn basic conversational Japanese. The rest can come later, if I live that long!
Has anyone ever heard a valid justification for the existence of katakana? What does katakana do that hiragana or - better still, romaji! - can't do?!
I recently discovered the Duolingo app. Although it's quite childish, it seems to be easy to use and quite effective.
My teachers use Marugoto textbooks, which I really don't like. Maybe they work better in a class situation rather than one-to-one?
I thought "three women" might mean "ruin"! But "noisy" works, too :)
You have, as usual, given me food for thought, Mark. It's why I'm a subscriber!
Thanks again.
Thank you for the studying tips! I think that after finding the studying methods that work for you, it is very important to keep practicing them. When finding new tools, it is very easy to get carried away, use everything intensively, and then get tired and bored, since you are still at the beginner level, have loads of e.g. unreviewed Anki cards, and are overwhelmed by the sheer to-do list.
Since I'm more concentrated on reading Japanese than actively speaking it, I like to study some Japanese texts in detail with their English translations (https://mainichi.jp/editorial/ editorials sometimes have their English versions), converting them to (kanji, vocab, and bilingual sentence) Anki cards. Plus, I am trying to extensively read other kinds of Japanese online texts [10ten reader is a must-have plugin :), it works even on mobile devices], but that is easier said than done, since by the time I finally get to that, it's already evening after busy working day.
Thank you for suggesting kanshudo.com, I'll have to try it out :) It is quite a problem to find reading materials that are within the range between too easy and too difficult, and kanshudo.com seems to be a way to solve it :)
Three tips: pitch accent, pitch accent and pitch accent.
It really is that important. Get it down and you'll save yourself decades. I didn't. Still regret it.
And an ancillary suggestion: don't automatically adopt "standard" Japanese accent if you are not living in Tokyo/Kanto.
As a beginner, I find teachers' emphasis on reading and writing Japanese an annoying distraction. I just want to learn basic conversational Japanese. The rest can come later, if I live that long!
Has anyone ever heard a valid justification for the existence of katakana? What does katakana do that hiragana or - better still, romaji! - can't do?!
I recently discovered the Duolingo app. Although it's quite childish, it seems to be easy to use and quite effective.
My teachers use Marugoto textbooks, which I really don't like. Maybe they work better in a class situation rather than one-to-one?