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Are you learning another language? How far along are you? (lemmy.ca)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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Μαθαίνω ελληνικά. - I am learning Greek.

I am at the point of being able to read Greek, introduce myself, ask and respond to "how are you" and how to say "I am still learning Greek can we speak English". haha

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[–] 8 points 1 year ago (6 children)

I've been learning Japanese for a long time now. The funny thing is that I started at the wrong end by learning kanji first and then moving onto grammar and vocabulary in that order. Avoid what I did unless you want to be proficient at reading it without understanding it!

Although not all is lost, because I'm getting used to reading news and Wikipedia articles without much aid or effort anymore, and spoken Japanese is slowly getting easier. Understanding it is still proving to be a bitch from time to time but that's on me!

Btw, does anyone know of great websites to read Japanese? I browse Gigazine.net quite a bit and many news outlets, but I'd like to mix it up and move away from politics and news in general. I'm still a bit shy about online forums, but maybe I should do that next.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    Kanji first sounds pretty good to me. You didn't feel like it worked well?

    I went through Genki I with Kanji mostly sidelined, and I felt like I wished I'd known Kanji better first. Having to look up how to write every character is a drag, and I don't think using kana is a much better alternative.

    You say you could read but not understand... I feel like that's a step up from the reverse! (That being, "I'd totally understand thus if I could read it") And I find that learning Kanji now is making it way faster to remember vocab.

    I guess the lesson is just that it's all important, skipping or putting off any of it doesn't work so well.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I know you said transition away from news sites but Easynhk.com is always a staple

    Twitter is honestly great since there's so much variety, not to mention there's a lot of artists who'll post full chapters of manga. You just have to curate who you follow to avoid musk stuff.

    I'd also say just watch some YouTube videos. It's a good way to practice listening and most YouTubers will personally subtitle their videos as well so you can follow along while reading. A particular favorite way for me is to watch videos of Japanese people travelling/living in America/English speaking places. It's fun seeing their experiences with everyday stuff for us; a channel I watch a lot is called Kira Kira USA. They post videos frequently, use a lot of day to day Japanese, and get to see viewpoints from the various family members.

    Good luck!

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