You Better Be Studying

[mochayoubi]

vocab from today's 会話テーブル ! we were learning about common vocab about sickness

[adhd-languages]

Found a new language practice app!

Polygloss has you describe an image in your target language so another player can guess it. It encourages creative answers. The game works for people of all levels — you can describe simple pictures or try your hand at wordplay.

It has plenty of options and will let you add any language you’d like — tho it’ll probably be more difficult to find people to play with.

[dokushoclub]

Thanks for the recommendation! I started using it and absolutely agree with what you said about it.

If you are also learning Japanese and would like more practice for writing and reading in Japanese, this app is really nice! You yourself can decide how complex your sentences are (though you will get more points the longer they are) and even if your matched partner uses some words you don't know, it's usually still possible to tell which picture they are talking about. Which is exactly how you will improve your overall reading comprehension actually!!

Please join so I can send you some rambling sentences in Japanese ( •̀ ω •́ )✧

[luckydoeslanguage]

Jp learners, how do you guys go about using a notebook? How do you practice writing? I bought a new notebook recently to practice writing in Japanese, but I don't really know how to start. I can already output a little digitally and recognize a fair ammount of kanji, but I've never really taken notes before.

I do immersion learning, so I'm thinking of attempting like, a semi daily diary for writing simple stuff? Idk I'd like to hear what other people are doing for writing practice!

[tokidokitokyo]

Personally, I use notebooks for taking notes on kanji. Lately I don't use notebooks as much as I used to, but when I was in my notebook phase I would do the following:

Separate the notebook into about equal sections for kanji, vocabulary, and writing sentences (although the kanji and vocabulary sections eventually became intermingled since most new vocab was also new kanji!). I would use little sticky tabs to mark the divisions, but sometimes I would just have two or three separate notebooks.

Take down notes on new kanji and vocab: for kanji, I would write the meaning of the kanji, and the on'yomi and kun'yomi, plus any relevant vocab; and then for purely vocab it would be kanji, then reading, then meaning.

Write down example sentences for grammar, kanji, or vocab. At the end of the notebook, in the writing section, I had a collection of sentences from textbooks or other sources with the translation below each sentence.

I did try to keep a diary but I found that it was easier to do online. If I had more time, I'd love to do a handwritten notebook! But you can just start off writing a few sentences daily or every other day and see how much time you can devote for journaling.

I hope this gives you some ideas @luckydoeslanguage ! Best of luck!

[dokushoclub]

Japanese Reading Resources for Absolute Beginners

A question I encounter often is "How much Japanese should I study before I can begin reading in Japanese?"

From my experience as a learner and reader myself and from managing a Japanese book club for other learners I can honestly say that you can start way earlier than you probably think!

There are many resources that only require knowing hiragana. Those texts usually teach vocabulary through pictures and only use basic grammar.

Some are even simpler than that: The Japan Foundation's Hiragana Books are great for those, who are still remembering hiragana characters. Every short book introduces only 1-2 new characters, so it's a great reading exercise for those who've just started.

The free graded reader 「どうぞ、どうも」 by the NPO Tagengo Tadoku only uses the words 「どうぞ」 and 「どうも」 to write an entire story. Again, this makes for a great exercise in reading hiragana and understanding context. Another "level 0" recommendation by the same NPO would definitely be 「しろい？くろい？」. This book uses the full range of hiragana characters but the grammar is simple and all used vocabulary is illustrated.

Another site with great resources for absolute beginners is Nihongo Tadoku Dōjō. If you have memorized both hiragana and katakana and know how the particles を and で work you will be able to read this text about stationary (ぶんぼうぐ) and understand everything by looking at the pictures!

The resources linked so far can all be accessed completely free on the linked websites. If you have the money to spare, please also have a look at the box 「スタート」 from the series reberubetsu nihongo tadoku raiburarī published by the NPO Tagengo Tadoku and ASK (affiliate link). This box includes 8 little books in very simple Japanese.

All these texts for absolute beginners will get you started reading in Japanese with very little knowledge of characters and vocabulary.

Reading in Japanese is a skill that requires practice. But once you get used to it, it can be such a valuable tool to reinforce new vocabulary and grammar. So please don't wait until you're "ready" before you start reading - start early at your own level!

[hannijp]

Something I REALLY struggle with is particles, I’ve tried so many resources and practice but nothing seems to work so langblr do you have any recs for how to remember Japanese particles? 😭

[dokushoclub]

For grammar I like the explanations on Bunpro. They explain the grammar point in detail and give a lot of example sentences as well.

I will link you some of their explanations on particles:

は

も

の

が

を

で

に

Note: Do not worry about the differences between は and が in the beginning. The more contexts you will see these two particles in, the clearer their nuances will get.

[tokidokitokyo]

Natively - Japanese Book Tracking

What is Natively?

It’s like Goodreads, but for Japanese language learners reading books/manga/etc. in Japanese. You can track books you’ve read, and mark books that you want to read using Read and Want to Read lists. You can follow other users and select books to browse by level and type. This way you will know before you even pick it up if the book will be suitable for your own level. If you don’t know your level, find a book that you’ve already read and check it’s level, then find books with the same level. You can also find suggestions for books that you might never have heard of, and see a book’s ratings from other users (and sometimes a review).

Grading Books by Level

When you add books that you have read, you can grade them with a qualitative grading system. You compare two books that you have read at a time and assign them a relative difficulty. The system will then use these ratings from all users to give the book a relative level.

This is very useful because even as a relative system, you can get a feel for whether or not a book is going to suit your current level. And while there are many manga suggestions to choose from, there are also actual books, as well as light novels and even textbooks.

How I Use Natively

I have been trying to use it to keep track of my reading (like I do with Goodreads) as I have been reading more manga, and then grading the manga I read to help populate the level database on Natively. I also would like to use it to find a novel that suits my level that I can read when I have more time, and write reviews on books I’ve already read. If you would like you can follow me, and you can also follow your friends who have accounts.

Check it out!

[pinbones]

Wanted to write stories, wrote a bunch, learned how to write. In that order.

Wanted to crochet toys, crocheted a bunch, learned to crochet. In that order.

Want to learn a language... try to learn that language... struggle and quit.

What's the "do" that comes before the "learn" in languages?

[benkyoutobentou]

It's listening to music, it's reading a page in a book and only understanding three words, it's watching a show and excitedly repeating the one word you could pick out of the dialogue, it's saying the only phrase you know because it's the only thing you can say, it's copying that meme you saw in your target language until you can say it by heart

[tealingual]

THIS LANGBLR STANDS WITH PALESTINE 🇵🇸

[hanaflorbloom]

why cant kanji just get like... downloaded into my brain

like im just a girl. why must i learn kanji 😞

[inkichan]

いろどり · irodori - Japanese for life in Japan

(⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧ resources

IRODORI is a useful website made by The Japan Foundation. It is a series of 3 textbooks, with audios and materials completely free, focusing on developing skills useful for life in Japan.

Whether you are planning to come to Japan in the future and want to learn what you should be able to do before you arrive, or whether you are already living in Japan and wish to check your Japanese ability and increase the number of things you can do, we sincerely hope that this textbook will help you achieve your goals. - "what is irodori" website page.

The textbooks are super organized, divided in: starter (A1), elementary 1 and elementary 2. Finishing elementary 2 means having an A2 level [At A2 level, you can hold short, basic everyday conversations on familiar topics.]

I recommend styling your learning method with the goal you have in mind. You can understand more about it reading the post I made.

Hope it was helpful! Let me know and let's share resources~

またね～@inkichan

꒰ა ˚₊ ✧・┈・╴﹕꒰ ᐢ｡- ༝ -｡ᐢ ꒱﹕╴・┈・𐑺 ‧₊˚໒꒱