General Learning Japanese?

[Haku]

Hi, I am Haku and recently pick up learning Japanese again, this time I have really decided that I will learn once and for all. It has been a hard road; because I almost never used it and I tend to forget details and words along the way. I thought about creating this thread in case there are people here that are currently learning as well so that we can help each other and share what we have learned during the day or week or people already learned that could help us who are starting.

Books:
I have bee using Genki 1 textbook and the Genki 1 Workbook $70 for both
There is even a bundle with the whole Genki series (Without the Workbooks) for $130

Other books that I have been recommended are:

Kanji Look and learn by the same author and publisher than Genki for $34

Mina no Nihongo series (みなの日本語) from $30 to $39

(All prices from Amazon)

Apps I have been using:
Duolingo: Works pretty well for refreshing the memory and from some time learn something new

Italki and Hello Talk: Both pretty good to practice, I used to used them a lot and recently started once again. These two apps allow you to communicate and share with native speakers of all types of languages so they can correct you or teach something new. Really useful to test what you learn from the textbooks or practice your pronunciation.

Any recommendation of books or apps please let me know!!
If you want to share your progress or start learning with me and whoever else is learning or has already learned:

Welcome!!! Let us Learn Japanse together!! ようこそ!!　日本語を学びましょう!!

Spoiler

Sike

​

 

[Trafalgar Law]

Yup I've start learning Japanese too...
Doing it by myself...don't know how to start it..
So started it with learning Kanji's.
First goal is to learn 2k Kanji's...
Since I'm good at drawing , I'm adapting fast...
Don't have any idea about how to learn talk or make sentence..
We don't have Japanese language classes nearby..
[automerge]1575477749[/automerge]
I will try those apps tho

 

[stala_dynar]

I started learning japanese multiple times and I know really only a few basics of grammar and a couple of words but since I always change mind and interests I only keep going for two weeks and then stop again. I did some training with Duolingo as well but not really a lot.

For now I know hiragana, katakana and I would assume maybe around 50 kanji and some words to write with them. But I am just bad at keeping up with it. Good luck and I hope you can do it!

What I can recommend in terms of grammar is also this site: guidetojapanese
and an online dictionary jisho

The grammar site has different sections has a complete guide and a grammar guide, I read through most of the articles I think and they also have a lot of examples. It helped me get into the thing.

 

[Haku]

Yup I've start learning Japanese too...
Doing it by myself...don't know how to start it..
So started it with learning Kanji's.
First goal is to learn 2k Kanji's...
Since I'm good at drawing , I'm adapting fast...
Don't have any idea about how to learn talk or make sentence..
We don't have Japanese language classes nearby..
[automerge]1575477749[/automerge]
I will try those apps tho

If you know how to draw yo will learn kanji easy. Drawing them is really hard for me and some Kanji require a lot of detail for my level of skills

Btw I will recommend you start by learning Hiragana and Katakana. As for these are the actual alphabets Kanji will represent. Specially Hiragana that would be the basic Japanese alphabet, while Katakana is used mostly for foreign words. I have reach the conclusion that Japanese use Kanji to complicate their lives. I would recommend you learn Kanji, after you learn Hiragana, Katakana and basic Japanese grammar. After you learn that Kanji is just for words and don't really affect the sytax of senteces (no that I have found yet) you will just need to substituted some hiragana for the kanjis. For most part if you use a phone or computer you can get by by knowing Hiragana and Katakana since is mots likely the phone or computer will give you the right kanji to put.

Hiragana Alphabet:

Katakana Alphabet

Ps. Once you learn this you can used apps like Duolingo as a form of review or refreshment, I would recommend you to buy a book or download it for free, so you can learn how to structure sentences and then I would practice it on apps like Italki, HelloTalk, HiNative, where native and other Japanese students will give you advice and will have real conversations with you so you can practice with some real conversations.

http://gen.lib.rus.ec/ <---- here you can find almost any book for free, try and download Genki 1 and Genki 2. If you prefere the actual books you can buy them through amazon.
[automerge]1575570072[/automerge]

I started learning japanese multiple times and I know really only a few basics of grammar and a couple of words but since I always change mind and interests I only keep going for two weeks and then stop again. I did some training with Duolingo as well but not really a lot.

For now I know hiragana, katakana and I would assume maybe around 50 kanji and some words to write with them. But I am just bad at keeping up with it. Good luck and I hope you can do it!

What I can recommend in terms of grammar is also this site: guidetojapanese
and an online dictionary jisho

The grammar site has different sections has a complete guide and a grammar guide, I read through most of the articles I think and they also have a lot of examples. It helped me get into the thing.

Thanks will check those pages didn't knew about them. I was on the same boat as you until I took a class, taking a class really gives you direction as you have other people to practice with and know what to actually you need to practice and purpose (Not lowering your GPA)

 

[stala_dynar]

Thanks will check those pages didn't knew about them. I was on the same boat as you until I took a class, taking a class really gives you direction as you have other people to practice with and know what to actually you need to practice and purpose (Not lowering your GPA)

Yeah I thought about taking classes as well but never did it and nowadays I am busy so probably not anytime soon.

 

[Trafalgar Law]

If you know how to draw yo will learn kanji easy. Drawing them is really hard for me and some Kanji require a lot of detail for my level of skills

Btw I will recommend you start by learning Hiragana and Katakana. As for these are the actual alphabets Kanji will represent. Specially Hiragana that would be the basic Japanese alphabet, while Katakana is used mostly for foreign words. I have reach the conclusion that Japanese use Kanji to complicate their lives. I would recommend you learn Kanji, after you learn Hiragana, Katakana and basic Japanese grammar. After you learn that Kanji is just for words and don't really affect the sytax of senteces (no that I have found yet) you will just need to substituted some hiragana for the kanjis. For most part if you use a phone or computer you can get by by knowing Hiragana and Katakana since is mots likely the phone or computer will give you the right kanji to put.

Hiragana Alphabet:

Katakana Alphabet

Ps. Once you learn this you can used apps like Duolingo as a form of review or refreshment, I would recommend you to buy a book or download it for free, so you can learn how to structure sentences and then I would practice it on apps like Italki, HelloTalk, HiNative, where native and other Japanese students will give you advice and will have real conversations with you so you can practice with some real conversations.

http://gen.lib.rus.ec/ <---- here you can find almost any book for free, try and download Genki 1 and Genki 2. If you prefere the actual books you can buy them through amazon.
[automerge]1575570072[/automerge]

Thanks will check those pages didn't knew about them. I was on the same boat as you until I took a class, taking a class really gives you direction as you have other people to practice with and know what to actually you need to practice and purpose (Not lowering your GPA)

Oh....thank you for the guidance !!

 

[Haku]

Oh....thank you for the guidance !!

頑張って！！ Do your best !!

let me know if you want to practices or have any doubts!!

 

[Trafalgar Law]

Hmmm...it's kinda similar to my mother toung (Marathi also Hindi)
But we have more Hiragana 26 compared to 16 japanese..
Also it based on sound , so no problem pronouncing e ,i ,o etc...
[automerge]1575639679[/automerge]
Exam will start in July , so I've 6 months . I think i can crack G5 for sure...
My only concern is listening test , which is always hard for me

 

[Haku]

Hmmm...it's kinda similar to my mother toung (Marathi also Hindi)
But we have more Hiragana 26 compared to 16 japanese..
Also it based on sound , so no problem pronouncing e ,i ,o etc...
[automerge]1575639679[/automerge]
Exam will start in July , so I've 6 months . I think i can crack G5 for sure...
My only concern is listening test , which is always hard for me

Nice, for my pronunciation is fairly easy because must hiraganas are prounounce as you would in Spanish. Yet writing is whole different business hahahahaha
You are taking the test this summer? Good Luck!!!
You mean N5?
There is this app called "My Test" and it has practice sections of the JLPT you can choose any level from N5 to N1 and has reading, grammar and listening quizzes. You can use that to practice some.

There this other app which is fairly new is called "Satori Reader" that lets you read books in japanses, there are three levels that you can choose from, Hiragana and Katakana, Hiragana Katakana and Kanji with the Hiragana on top, and lastly Hiragana Katakana and Kanji without the Hiragana on top. You can uses this to practice reading, and listening since each sentence you can play and a native speaker will read it, if you click each sentence it will give you the translation to English.

Both this apps are free, at least on android.

 

[Trafalgar Law]

Why they use similar katakana when they have Hiragana
It's challenging to remember both...
Need to do more practice..

 

[Haku]

Why they use similar katakana when they have Hiragana
It's challenging to remember both...
Need to do more practice..

Hahahahaha I am telling you they, could literally just use Hiragana. With hiragana alone you can said everything there is to say. But no they had to create katakana and use Kanji as well... they just want a complicated language, there is not other reason not that I know of.

Basically Katakana is mainly for foreign words that they have adopted and names like Halloween ハロウィン（harooin), Christmas クリスマス (Kurisumasu), Computer コンピューター（konpyuta) etc. It is used as well for some words they like to said like English rather than Japanese for example Cake ケーキ (Keeki), Ice cream アイスクリーム (aisukuriimu), Camera カメラ (Kamera) and Degital camera デジカメ (Dejikame) or デジタルカメラ (Dejitaru-Kamera) . The names of foreign countries will be written for the most part with katakana as well unless is China 中国 (Chuugoku) or Korea 韓国 (Kankoku) but almost every other country name will be in katakana the same with foreign names. Why they do it with Katakana when they could just do it with hiragana is beyond me.

 

[Waindo]

I would but I'm a racist.

 

[Trafalgar Law]

Going to register for Nptel tomorrow , exam is in April.
Hopefully will crack it in the first attempt

 

[Haku]

Going to register for Nptel tomorrow , exam is in April.
Hopefully will crack it in the first attempt

Good luck and success!!! You can do it!!

 

[Akiyousei]

Hahahahaha I am telling you they, could literally just use Hiragana. With hiragana alone you can said everything there is to say. But no they had to create katakana and use Kanji as well... they just want a complicated language, there is not other reason not that I know of.

Basically Katakana is mainly for foreign words that they have adopted and names like Halloween ハロウィン（harooin), Christmas クリスマス (Kurisumasu), Computer コンピューター（konpyuta) etc. It is used as well for some words they like to said like English rather than Japanese for example Cake ケーキ (Keeki), Ice cream アイスクリーム (aisukuriimu), Camera カメラ (Kamera) and Degital camera デジカメ (Dejikame) or デジタルカメラ (Dejitaru-Kamera) . The names of foreign countries will be written for the most part with katakana as well unless is China 中国 (Chuugoku) or Korea 韓国 (Kankoku) but almost every other country name will be in katakana the same with foreign names. Why they do it with Katakana when they could just do it with hiragana is beyond me.

ie, they have kanji for other countries as well~

also it's exactly like how you described it, but long ago they have very different use of hiragana and katakana. You mentioned why they had to create katakana as well, but in fact katakana and hiragana was born from around the same time as a simplified form of manyogana, and even according to what I heard, katakana was created before hiragana. Katakana was used to write official letters and books, and was kinda the official writing style. Meanwhile Hiragana was used for mostly poems and was identified as woman's kana because only women would use that kana (since it has a smoother and arguably more beautiful form than Katakana). They only changed to the way you mentioned above during the meiji restoration period circa the 19th century alright.

cmiiw
[automerge]1583592384[/automerge]

Why they use similar katakana when they have Hiragana
It's challenging to remember both...
Need to do more practice..

ne it's not that hard though, I mastered them after only few weeks~

but kanji, no, even until now I can only recognized a few bunch. Furigana exists so I never actually bothered to learn, since I won't do any official writings in Japanese anyway.