Learning Japanese Update
To start with, Anki grows on me. I don't love it. But it is definitely more useful than I gave it credit for originally. Firstly, when you start using it you don't really get a sense for how well the algorithms are at managing the decks. It isn't perfect, to be sure. And there are probably a ton of things they could do better. But, the longer I immerse myself in learning the language the more things like Kanji and listening to native speech become valuable. And I had no plans for audio in my app and Kanji was looking to be a pain in the butt. But, the app was great for practicing things like Hiragana, Katakana, numbers and early words and phrases. It just got clunky once too much was added.
I'll keep the code around for now. I may convert it into something later. Given the weakness as the content grows it might be better suited as a tool for practicing phrases in a phrase book or, as I used it, as a tool to get started learning.
That being said, I hate native speech. I have one deck of cards and I swear there is no difference between how they pronounce kaimashita and kaemashita (not to mention that there are 2 kaeru verbs [to return and to change]). That's not entirely true, but the difference is so subtle for this speaker that it really drove home the fact that I need to get used to interpreting whole sentences that someone is speaking. It is OK if one or two words in a sentence you only mostly hear. If you get the bulk of the sentence and the bulk of the remaining words, you're likely to end up at the exact translation or something close enough. But, if you're struggling to identify each little word, you'll get thrown off the second something isn't 100% perfectly enunciated or you mis-hear it.
I think I've hit the first plateau. But so far I'm not having any issues sticking with it. I know I'm picking up stuff slowly still. But no longer making the sort of leaps I did in the beginning. Of course, the areas left are basically; increase vocabulary, learn a few thousand Kanji and acclimate myself to listening to native Japanese speakers. The first two are just rote memorization and the latter is a labour of sorts.
At this point, I generally know how Japanese sentences are formed. I know a bunch of very common words. I can read a few very common Kanji and most of the time I can pick up most of what is said (even if I don't understand it) in a full sentence. A long string of sentences will still mess me up properly.
I'll keep the code around for now. I may convert it into something later. Given the weakness as the content grows it might be better suited as a tool for practicing phrases in a phrase book or, as I used it, as a tool to get started learning.
That being said, I hate native speech. I have one deck of cards and I swear there is no difference between how they pronounce kaimashita and kaemashita (not to mention that there are 2 kaeru verbs [to return and to change]). That's not entirely true, but the difference is so subtle for this speaker that it really drove home the fact that I need to get used to interpreting whole sentences that someone is speaking. It is OK if one or two words in a sentence you only mostly hear. If you get the bulk of the sentence and the bulk of the remaining words, you're likely to end up at the exact translation or something close enough. But, if you're struggling to identify each little word, you'll get thrown off the second something isn't 100% perfectly enunciated or you mis-hear it.
I think I've hit the first plateau. But so far I'm not having any issues sticking with it. I know I'm picking up stuff slowly still. But no longer making the sort of leaps I did in the beginning. Of course, the areas left are basically; increase vocabulary, learn a few thousand Kanji and acclimate myself to listening to native Japanese speakers. The first two are just rote memorization and the latter is a labour of sorts.
At this point, I generally know how Japanese sentences are formed. I know a bunch of very common words. I can read a few very common Kanji and most of the time I can pick up most of what is said (even if I don't understand it) in a full sentence. A long string of sentences will still mess me up properly.
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