I’ve been doing duolingo on and off for a couple years and I still don’t feel now where as fluent as I should be. I feel like if I had an actual person to teach me I’d be doing much better, any recommendations?
First of all, yeah, there is a starter guide on the sub, you can check this out.
2) Duolingo generally gets hate here, but I think it boils down to what you expect to get from it. It’s fine for basics imo, but overall it’s not what you should use as a main resource, especially on such a long run as a couple of years you mentioned.
3) Consistency is very important. Even if it is Duolingo. If you feel overwhelmed by your study, it is better to cut some of it down, if it means you can keep with the rest of it consistently.
4) Personally, when I was a beginner, I would use a textbook (Marugoto series) + Anki for mining the words from it + KanjiDamage deck for kanji, worked out great for me, but I guess to everyone it’s own.
5) The only thing I absolutely wouldn’t recommend is hardcore immersion right from the start without learning basics, but nobody stops you from trying
Edit: and yes, you can get a real person to teach you. I believe there is a service called ITalki where you can find a paid tutor, but I guess even with a tutor you would have to use some kind of a material (textbook for example)
2 comments
this sub has a handy-dandy [starter guide](https://old.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/wiki/index/startersguide)
First of all, yeah, there is a starter guide on the sub, you can check this out.
2) Duolingo generally gets hate here, but I think it boils down to what you expect to get from it. It’s fine for basics imo, but overall it’s not what you should use as a main resource, especially on such a long run as a couple of years you mentioned.
3) Consistency is very important. Even if it is Duolingo. If you feel overwhelmed by your study, it is better to cut some of it down, if it means you can keep with the rest of it consistently.
4) Personally, when I was a beginner, I would use a textbook (Marugoto series) + Anki for mining the words from it + KanjiDamage deck for kanji, worked out great for me, but I guess to everyone it’s own.
5) The only thing I absolutely wouldn’t recommend is hardcore immersion right from the start without learning basics, but nobody stops you from trying
Edit: and yes, you can get a real person to teach you. I believe there is a service called ITalki where you can find a paid tutor, but I guess even with a tutor you would have to use some kind of a material (textbook for example)