#would 水曜日 すいようび suiyoubi have been more appropriate? probably. you live and you learn.

[1ore]

me again (insert man standing emoji here)

A) my previous ask asking for reading materials really proved useful in my course actually! ive been very busy but it was interesting to compare outside knowledge with what we've been learning about in class c:

B) I've noticed the little Japanese notes sometimes in your post and I'm also attempting to learn - I've got hiragana down, but I was wondering what you/who you learn from :o? I've found the tofugo (think I spelled that right) website n have been just goin through it.

Thank you! ^u^

🕴️

A.) I’m so happy to hear that it was enriching : D I hope the class makes good conversation with those articles!

B.) I’m taking a Japanese class at my college, this semester. I did self-study about 2 years ago using duolingo, toucan, and whatever activities I could scrounge up from the internet, but I fell off the wagon for a while. The difference between self-study and a structured course is night and day for me, but I’m also in my last semester… So… I still have the same questions you do LOL. I want to talk to my professor about how to keep going without the classroom structure. When I do, I’ll share anything that I haven't already. (I have also heard good things about wanikani and sometimes refer to Tofugu for grammar weirdness. I want to check them out more!)

Anyway, the textbooks that we’re using are good ‘ole Genki and Kanji Look & Learn. They come with workbooks that are pretty good for giving you a variety of writing and listening activities to do. I also use the Renshuu app, which is kinda like Duolingo, but beefier and more customizable. I set it up to be very writing- and kanji-focused, so any time I do text input, I have to write it out. This works great for learning vocabulary and kanji, but I haven’t used it as much for grammar.

Apart from that, I have my friend @soulfullofold who speaks Mandarin Chinese at a much higher level than I do Japanese. I find it helpful to vex and haunt her talk about kanji with her. The characters are mostly the same, but the readings, the meanings, the pronunciations—it’s a complete tossup, we’re lucky if they sound even a little alike. Still, learning the characters is more intuitive if I have a memory attached to them, even if that memory is “oh, snoodles hates 自転車 because it’s pronounced じてんしゃ ji ten sha and not zi xing che.”

(this Does create situations where I know 口 as “kou” first and not “くち / kuchi,” so. you win some, you lose some.)

We also get together on Mizu Mondays to learn and teach one another about a quirk in our respective language. Some of our prompts have been “terms of endearment,” “things you can’t do in english,” “learn a new character with this radical,” etc. Maybe a more generalizable activity to do with someone you know who is learning any second language. Keeps you accountable and lets you learn something new+fun with a friend.

頑張って！！　がんばって！！ ganbatte!