There are two types of learners in this sub

29 comments

1. 😂

2. There have been a lot of questions regarding hiragana and katakana lately lol. But honestly, I don’t mind it. The reality is everyone starts somewhere and they’re going to ask questions. And no matter how long you speak a language you’ll always wonder if you’re really that good at it. I mean, I’ve spoken English my whole life and I still don’t know when you’re supposed to use “who” vs “whom”. There’s always something else you’ve got to learn no matter how long you’ve already spent.

3. no it’s mostly the former and the other remainder are the “i went from zero to passing the N1 with a perfect score in 1 year and if you subscribe to this service you can too” type

   😉

4. “Do I really need to learn Kanji?”
   “Yes, probably at some point”
   “Really though??”

5. “Why do you need to learn all those kanji? Can’t you just write everything in hiragana?”

6. “I just learned hiragana and katakana and tried to read <insert name>, but I don’t understand much of it. Do you have any tips?”

7. Most in between people like me are just lurking

8. Is that the experience of someone who doesn’t frequent the daily question thread?

   Because a lot of the questions there seem to come from intermediate people.

9. You can add me as the exception! I started learning maybe 6 months ago but have been dragging my feet because it’s very difficult for me to learn, but I do my reviews every day at the very least so it doesn’t all fall out of my head. It might take me the next 20 years to learn anything, but.. I’m doing something every day. Fortunately, hiragana and katakana are pretty much solid now, and random kanji are there too.

   It’s a long road but even if I only stay where I’m at, I’m pleased with how things are going, because I haven’t given up like I expected to.

10. I guess I’m a level 1.1. I’ve been learning on my off days for a few years. I probably know 600 kanji and try to read things way above my level. I’m about 150 pages through Genki because I write out EVERY exercise. I watch a lot of anime and read a lot of manga with furigana and I’m really excited anytime I can understand a full sentence, even a very short one. I think there are lots of us lurkers on here, who either feel we don’t know enough to post about it or don’t need to ask the “why is nobody saying ‘deSU’ on my anime” basic types of questions. Or we were trashed by one of the “comprehensible input” bros enough that we don’t bother posting.

11. don’t forget the half-assed polyglot, that knows how to ask for the bathroom or where the nearest hospital is in six different languages and can’t actually speak any of them. (there’s gotta be more than me out there, right?)

12. And they’re both at 0 upvotes lmao

13. 3 I’ve started learning Japanese last week. Reached 4k characters on Anki, and read Natsume Soseki as a beginner’s lecture. Still I feel my progress is not where it is supposed to be.

14. 3. uWu Sensei-Chan I’m learning Japanese but ItS SuPeR dIfFIcUlT! Anyway I like anime and manga and Ecci and OMG I love that super small phone/bag/normal item so Kawaii ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) anyway what’s the fastest way to impress Senpai over there …. And … and …. And ………..

15. Considering 90% of people quit within 6 months (not just Japanese, languages in general), followed by the people that take it more seriously with heads-down studying for a longer period and start to comprehend the complexity (again not just Japanese), I think these things can be pretty well explained, though I’d argue there’s a lot of common themes between those two points

16. lol, that’s what it seems like!

17. **drinks concoction I brewed late yester night** Behold! A potion that shall give thee fluency in mere moons!

18. I just lurk most of the time. I am majoring in Eastern Asian History and that requires 4 classes of Japanese or Chinese (I chose Japanese). They offer 5 classes so I’ll take all 5 of course. I don’t study every single day, but I study most days. I didn’t ask if I needed to learn hiragana and katakana (of course I needed to, duh). I don’t have a multi step plan to learning. I just learn as it comes to me and look for more chances to read/write/speak where I can.

19. I’m in that stage of in between and its at a point where I don’t have many questions about how I should be learning something since I’ve already found the answers. It’s like why would I browse this sub when I could be watching another jp YouTube video or anime episode, I think that’s why u don’t see the “in between” people here.

20. I’m a half that only knows conversational Japanese but had to teach myself writing. Is there a spot for me?

21. Disagree. There are also those wandering the intermediate plateau.

22. Yea, I really wished there would be a ban against the “do I really need to learn hiragana or katakana” post. If you haven’t learned that and are already asking if you really need to learn that then that’s cause you don’t want to. Idk that’s just my opinion.

23. I think there are a lot like me, wandering aimlessly in intermediate limbo and never surfacing

24. I’ve been lurking here for years

25. I just want to learn some Japanese for my solo trip next year.

26. I’m in-between!!! 😀

27. hi, second year in uni majoring in japanese, i suck but im trying my best to not suck

28. It’s tough. Japanese is a language which takes a lot of time and effort. People who are in the very beginning of their journey, pre N5-N4 range, might very well feel intimidated by what they see as tough questions well beyond them, but those questions are, most of the time, simple early intermediate level or even Genki questions. Occasionally there is a tough question or congratulatory post about self achievement/improvement, which again may intimidate someone who’s only putting in 10 minutes a day, but that’s what it takes to progress in a reasonable time.

29. 3. I’m monolingual and have never studied Japanese. Here’s how I’m going to reach N1 in six months.