Already posted to r/LearningJapanese but the post didn’t get any responses so I’m posting it here too. Hopefully the mods are cool with that.
​
I’d like you guys to rate my learning strategy. Thank you in advance for taking the time out of your day to read this somewhat lengthy post.
Currently I use Duolingo, Kanji Garden, and Youtube for learning Japanese.
I use Duolingo for general learning, basic sentences, and hiragana/katakana. I’m still pretty early on in the course but from the looks of it, when you reach level 114 (what is currently the final level) you should be able to take a trip to Japan and have little to no trouble effectively using the language (i.e talking to people, ordering food, asking for directions, and all the other stuff you’d need to do). Obviously you won’t become fluent using Duolingo alone, but it does look pretty good. (especially compared to what it used to be a few years ago).
I also write down everything I learn from Duolingo in a notebook. I format the notes as seen below (hopefully the table doesn’t cause issues for mobile users)
​
|Hiragana/Katakana|English translation (sometimes useful info about the word like whether it’s casual or formal, what the word can be shortened to for casual use, etc.)|
|:-|:-|
|Romaji (one line below the kana)||
I’ve written down the kana in the same way it appears on the standard kana chart. If I can figure out how to do it, I’ll attach pictures to this post using imgur.
Kanji Garden is my resource for, you guessed it, learning kanji. I write down what I learn here as well. It’s formatted the same as the table above except the kana is replaced with kanji and romaji is replaced with the kun-yomi and on-yomi
Now, I don’t rely too heavily on Youtube. It’s really just to help with grammar, the particles, and overall sentence structure as well as understanding/using keigo.
I only occasionally practice writing the characters over and over again, but I’ve memorized hiragana. I don’t always recognize a couple of characters as soon as I see them, but I can sound out most words (even if I don’t necessarily know what they mean). As for katakana, I am still having a little trouble remembering all of them. Especially the characters for tsu and shi along with so and n as they’re very similar looking.
I plan to buy a few books eventually (hopefully sooner rather than later) but right now I’m sort of limited to what’s free.
All tips and comments are appreciated. Again, thank you for reading my post.
ありがとうございます!
2 comments
I’m still a beginner but here is some advice that made studying a little more fun for me and less stressful.
1. Your current strategy is pretty good for starting out, let’s get that out of the way. Just make sure you dont abandon grammar. I learned how to make basic sentences and used the vocabulary I learn to help it stick.
2. Don’t stress too much over the on and kun readings for kanji; it’ll give you a headache. As you learn new words and how to pronounce them, you won’t need to worry about that and will be able to read them as they are. I personally like to learn a couple of words alongside new kanji.
3. To help hiragana and katakana stick, I wrote all of my notes using the characters. Romaji is good for beginning, but it won’t always be there for you. I suggest taking about 5 minutes a day with flashcards or writing a couple words in hiragana or katakana so you can get used to seeing them.
This is just my insight and advice for a fellow beginner. I haven’t used Duolingo but I hear good things about it so keep it up! Last night, I wrote a conversation between two people to help my grammar points stick so if you ever feel like practicing, maybe that’s something to try?
[Some advice here](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/s5mtva/comment/ht1lo0x/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3). Also there’s the [starters guide here](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/wiki/index/startersguide/).