こんにちは! So, I've finished the Japanese tree on Duolingo, but I feel like those were just the basics, and was wondering what else I could do to learn the language. I read that doing the reverse tree and learning English was the next step, but when I tried it seemed a bit too advanced for me. I also read that Memrise has a lot of exercises. Do any of you guys have any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

If the reverse tree feels too advanced for you, don’t feel obligated to do it! Memrise is definitely a helpful tool. At this point, assuming you’ve memorized hiragana and katakana and know a few words, I think it’d be best to focus on learning Japanese grammar and sentence construction. You can find good lessons on YouTube, but I would also recommend picking up a few books on this as well. One particular YouTuber that I like is named ‘Learn Japanese From Zero!’. Check out his lessons, he’s a really fun and informative tutor. And of course, if you have any other questions, I’d be more than willing to help you out! がんばれ！

Thank you, I'll definitely check him out!

According to noriyaro, Let's Learn Japanese (video series from the 90s) is actually pretty helpful. I haven't watched any myself so I can't say for sure, but you can try.

You can also try http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/
or http://imabi.net/ if you want something more detailed.

Also, don't forget Namasensei's Japanese Lessons (heavy cursing warning) if you want something comedic (don't expect high quality lessons, though)

お前はもう死んでいる

I believe Duolingo is meant to teach Japanese text, mainly. After all, that *is* the most difficult part of the language for many. The rest is simple language stuff: Learn the words and grammar structure, and you're good. I've tried the Japanese stuff on Duolingo (enough to know what you said at the beginning of your post, I guess that's a start), and the text is the most difficult to do so far.

WolfCat67 wrote:

I believe Duolingo is meant to teach Japanese text, mainly. After all, that *is* the most difficult part of the language for many. The rest is simple language stuff: Learn the words and grammar structure, and you're good. I've tried the Japanese stuff on Duolingo (enough to know what you said at the beginning of your post, I guess that's a start), and the text is the most difficult to do so far.

I haven't done much on duo, but form what I've seen they mainly teach you how to recognize the kana and the basic kanji, but nothing about writing and stroke order.

SunsethProductions wrote:

I haven't done much on duo, but form what I've seen they mainly teach you how to recognize the kana and the basic kanji, but nothing about writing and stroke order.

Writing and stroke order usually follows a certain order, and by that I mean orders such as “horizontal first, then vertical etc”. If you can nail that down then you should be good to go.

Yeeah, I cant even get past the first part of japanese test out on duo. Can you give me the answers plz i already know the skills just that I cant figure it out. But for you, Maybe write emails with a japanese penpal.

Hex4Nova wrote:

SunsethProductions wrote:

I haven't done much on duo, but form what I've seen they mainly teach you how to recognize the kana and the basic kanji, but nothing about writing and stroke order.

Writing and stroke order usually follows a certain order, and by that I mean orders such as “horizontal first, then vertical etc”. If you can nail that down then you should be good to go.

yeah but there are still some e x c e p t i o n b o y e s

You might consider doing WaniKani. It'll teach you a lot of kanji and vocab. Not so much grammar etc., but they also have a very supportive community forum there. I'm currently doing two book clubs (one manga, one junior novel) with them, and it's been really helpful.

Oh yeah, and when it comes to grammar, I'm going to give you a secret weapon! Most people don't know about this, but it makes learning verb conjugations (which are pretty much the only tricky thing in Japanese grammar) really easy.

The secret is: whenever you learn a verb, memorize its three canonical forms: dictionary (-u or -ru) form; -te form; and plain negative (-nai) form. Always put them that way in your review deck, and always think of them that way. “To go” is “iku/itte/ikanai” (行く/行って/行かない), and that's just how you learn it. Same for all other verbs.

The reason you do this is that (1) these are very useful forms in their own right that you will often see, hear, and use; and (2) all other verb forms can be made from these following very simple rules. Oh, and there is no reliable way to derive any of these three from the other two; you have to memorize all three. (It's also a way to uniquely identify otherwise very confusing verbs; for example, “to be” is “iru/ite/inai” but “to need” is “iru/itte/iranai”.)

Note that the usual way this stuff is taught is to divide verbs into two groups (variously and confusingly called “Class 1/2” or “Group 1/5” or “-U/-RU verbs”) plus a handful of exceptions that don't fall into either group; memorize which group every verb is in; and then memorize some far more complicated rules (particularly when figuring out the -te form from the verb and class). It's all way more complicated than it needs to be, and much harder to learn, because unlike the three canonical forms, you don't actually use the verb classes in speech, reading, or writing.

So there you go. You have this secret weapon at the start of your Japanese journey, and if you use it, it will save you a lot of grief!

Thank you all! I haven't been on scratch in a while so I just saw this, but thank you!

-reiny wrote:

こんにちは! So, I've finished the Japanese tree on Duolingo, but I feel like those were just the basics, and was wondering what else I could do to learn the language. I read that doing the reverse tree and learning English was the next step, but when I tried it seemed a bit too advanced for me. I also read that Memrise has a lot of exercises. Do any of you guys have any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

Watch 11 anime episodes everyday.

Honestly tho Kanji is a bootleg Chinese. Even some pronunciations are really similar.

EG: Reason
Japanese: Lee you
Chinese: Lǐ yóu

My suggestion? Either watch 11 anime episodes a day or just learn Chinese instead.