Competitive Learning: Japanese Language Group

Wow, superb stuff guys! Can't wait to follow you guys on stream!
In the mean time:
まずは打て、激しく打て、慈悲はいらない！

 

I had a few hiccups in the beginning but seemed to have found my groove. I'm currently on a 31 day streak using Duolingo and put in about 30 minutes a day with the app. While it's not much, I do like the app a lot. It could be much better, but overall it does a good job of exposing me to the language and keeping me engaged. My only gripe with the app is its lacking some pretty simple and basic functionality. Things such as the ability to highlight words you are unfamiliar with and add them to a study list. Along with that, it would be great if the app had a built in dictionary so when you highlight a word you can get it's definition and more so some background on it. There are way to many lessons where Duolingo introduces a word to you that you are expected to know, but you have never come across the word since using the app.

Anyway, gonna keep on pushing forward until something clicks. Speaking is next to impossible for me, but reading, pronunciation and translating the things I've learned is so much easier. I'm sure it's probably the same for everyone else.

 

Hey everyone! How are you guys doing? Is everyone still studying? Some days, it’s hard to find the time, but I do whatever I can to at least try and complete the daily minimum.

I noticed last night that our group got disbanded. I can only assume it was due to lack of activity, since none of us were communicating with each other.

Is anyone still interested? Should I remake the group or should we just continue to give updates here from time to time and share resources?

Although, we didn’t do much with the group, I really think it could be an amazing tool for all interested if we could just try a little harder to be a bit more active a few times a week. I don’t know whatever people’s reasons for being silent are, but I know for me it’s simply fear of being grammatically incorrect and coming off as a complete moron. If you share this fear then let’s help each other out by push each other to just try anyway. It’s not my native language, so I need to be realistic and understand that it will be impossible for me to get things right all the time, if not ever. Beside, the only thing that beats a failure is a try!

Anyway, at my current level I find that reading and translating in my head is so much easier than attempting to speak out loud or come up with things to say on the fly. I know it’s just a lack of practice, but nonetheless I have a long way to go. I’m currently on a 99 day streak, which is nothing in comparison with Monti’s 124 day streak as of last night. Great job @Oioron !


Best,

Rodney

 

I'm still going, but Duolingo is not my main app right now and settle for one lesson a day.

My current main app/program is Wanikani for building up my kanji reading comprehension and vocabulary. I review around 120 items throughout the day with this app and recently just reached level 10 out of 60. This equates to about 301 kanji and 848 vocabs learned. Those numbers feel like a lot but not enough at the same time. Supposedly, the next 30 levels would be the hardest!

Found a thread on Duolingo and clubs. Our club may still be there and it may be a glitch on their end.

But as for participation, I have similar problem and also don't know what to talk about at times. Maybe we can have a thread here for practice and talk about anything. Perhaps watch a movie/read a book in Japanese and talk about it in Japanese with our limited vocab. This would also expose our conversation to Japanese speakers here and maybe give us tips or corrections.

 

That's not a bad idea! I guess starting something here only makes sense.

You've piqued by interest in WaniKani. Is there an app for it or is it strictly web based?

 

There's an official app and various third party apps for it. I tried three and really like the つるかめ app. First 3 levels are free and you'll learn 86 kanji and 191 vocabulary words.

The other neat thing is that it forces you to type your answer in かな instead of multiple choice. You also learn the おんよみ and くんよみ using かな and not ロマジ.

 

I totally forgot about this. I'm slacking

 

Bros I fell off bigtime. Haven't been practicing since before Beat Tribe. One excuse is I've been pretty busy. The other is I've had a dumb change of heart. I got used to how easy it is to get by with English not only in Japan but with the use of Google Translate or just conversing with Japanese people in English on apps, twitter etc. I blame technology with making it so easy. Thinking forwardly it felt like I may be wasting my time.

But alas I have gotten back into it a bit. I'll try to find more time to learn here and there and not completely write it off anymore.

But from a quick brush up on Duolingo I found that my mental muscle memory is pretty strong or stronger than I remember. And I should have a good foundation for putting it all together. I'll report back here when I feel I'm up for bigger challenges. I feel really low level still and I want to get to Monty levels with writing sentences at the very least. I'm only decent at reading and definitely not formulating sentences verbally or understanding someone speaking it.

 

You guys are learning Japanese? Cool!

 

How's everyone doing with their Japanese learning? Still at it? Have goals changed? Any new tips or tools that you've been using and can share?

It has been crazy for me since my wife and I just had a baby last year so it's been hard to keep up. I'm currently taking a break with Duolingo but kept up with my kanji/vocab learning with Wanikani, albeit at a slower pace. I'm currently at level 11 with the the program and my accuracy and success rate with the lessons and reviews has dipped to 85% from 95%.

I did not take the JLPT exam last year, not sure I will take it this year. But my goal this year is to make sure to learn all that's needed to pass the JLPT N5 exam even if I decide not to take it. From my Wanikani study, it looks like I already know 98% of the kanji and vocab that I need for the N5 exam. So I'm well on my way. Maybe I'll eventually try for the N4 level since I already know about 75% of the kanji and vocab needed for that level. But, I only know about 0.57%! of the N1 (highest) level of proficiency. Haha.

I will probably go back to Duolingo sometime in the next few months again. It will be very challenging now since I decided to get back into playing the guitar too. Also, starting to become more active with the local VF scene here in Columbus, OH (all 3 of us!). But I think i can do it!

Recently found a Japanese show that I can watch with my daughter: Rock Fujiyama. It was only on air for about a year or so. She seems to enjoy it, I can practice Japanese listening, and watch some awesome guitar playing. So it's a win-win! It's co-hosted by former Megadeth lead guitarist Marty Friedman. He's fluent in Japanese! すごいですね。Here's an interview with him about his Japanese learning and decision to move to Japan: https://www.tofugu.com/interviews/marty-friedman-japan/

 

I was now going to ask that. I hope everyone is doing well in learning Japanese. And with this nasty virus going around, everyone has a good amount of spare time to do so.

Update: My Japanese learning is at 0.1%.