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Learning Japanese, any got any tips?


ThatCrazySwede

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I'd personally recommend Flyable heart if you want an easy read Japanese VN. But you probably at least need to know the grammar, some vocabulary and a few kanji before trying out VNs untranslated. But like Nosebleed has said if you wonder about the difficulty of a VN ask Clephas, he has an impressive vn-list.

 

I started out using text-hookers so to look up the kanji or words I didn't know in a dictionary, but you won't get away without basic grammar.

 

Out of learning Japanese books, I've used two, Genki-series and Japanese for bussy people. unless you think attorney is among the twenty most important words choose the first one.

 

PS Kanji is best learnt in their context, learn words and their kanji, not just a bunch of kanji.

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Kinda depends on how much you know and how long you've been studying, which you haven't mentioned. No matter the VN, I think a solid grasp of the grammar is required at the very least, even for slice of life. There are easier VNs and harder ones, of course, but they weren't designed for someone who's only been taking Japanese classes for, say.. 3-4 weeks. So make sure you know your grammar before you attempt one, otherwise even an easier VN might give you problems. Once you have the grammar down you can easily look up vocab with a program like ITH, as mentioned above.

 

Genki books are a decent start, I'd also recommend that. The conversations and letters you can read in those should be okay for a beginner, since that's what they were designed for. As for learning kanji, I shared my own experiences and thoughts on the matter in a blog post I wrote a while back, so I won't repeat it here.

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You should ask Clephas for a vn or check his posts out.

 

With my experience with vn's I recommend choosing a vn that you find interesting -making you want to read it. Choosing a vn you don't really want to read is worse choice compared to choosing a hard VN imo. Also it should be moderatly hard for you. Hook the vn up with TA + ITH. Also you should know atleast some grammar. If you got almost no knowledge beforehand I'd recommend you read Ixrec's guide, it's very short and highly compact.

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Vocabulary is always my biggest block, personally. Syntax-wise there are always a few tricks and things that may come up, but eventually most of the common forms of speaking and writing can be gotten down pat.

 

Vocab, though.... *shudder.* Above suggestions apply. Always increase your vocab and practice practice practice!

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I think vns are a great learning tool for japanese but I think it's not something good to start with. If you want to practice reading your hiragana and katakana you could read through one for a bit. For some easy practice these links aren't very intimidating.

http://www.textfugu.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/it-is-a-worksheet.pdf

http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/sheaa/projects/genki/hiragana-timer.html

 

Learn some grammar.

Tae Kim, Genki, Imabi, Ixrec's Guide.

 

Learn some Kanji and Vocabulary.

WaniKani, Remembering the Kanji, Anki, Memrise(not much material but nice UI if you want an alternative to Anki), KanKen 3 DS(intermediate, good writing practice as well)

 

As for reading practice try out Yotsuba(manga) and for vns just pick something you've already read in english to start out with.

When you've internalized about 1000 kanji along with with vocabulary. Just start reading everyday vns, novels, etc (That's about where I'm at currently).

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Thanks for all the advice.
I've been reading some easy school related stuff and even started a bit on VN's, seems ive got a knack for languages.

Seems i can remember languages easier then i can anyother information, i total suck at math and stuff but for some reason languages just sticks in my head. 

I'll keep working.
:D

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I dunno, I tried it and it was SO. GODDAMN. BORING.

 

Well Roseta is an app made so that even a kids can use it so it might not be entertaining to a grown up person but it definitely is efficient. And if you think that there is too much repetitive, you can skip some lessons if you don't need them and jump to ones that learn your new stuff.

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