I think the way it teaches you Hiragana and Katakana is quite good and nice to learn but for Kanji it feels like they are just thrown into the lessons and you have to just know them after a bit.
Since I am not that far into it I wanted to know if there will be a better way to learn Kanji in Duolingo or if it stays the same?
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I found Duolingo didn’t help much when trying to learn kanji. the best approach I’ve found is to take any kanji you find (from Duolingo or other sources) and pop them into a flashcard deck!
Then, as an example using a deck of flashcards for kanji from Duolingo, you can go over the vocabulary they give you separately from the lessons, and reinforce what they’ve shown you 🙂
EDIT: if you’re using an android phone, I recommend AnkiDroid (for flash cards) and Akebi (a dictionary which links to AnkiDroid)
I heard they updated duolingo to focus less on kanji and more on phrases that a tourist would need.
>How to learn Kanji with Duolingo?
Step 1: You don’t
What do they put in that app that makes people so addicted ? Everyone says it’s garbage, they realise it’s garbage but they can’t let it go.
Even people who stopped learning the language are still doing it every day.
I started learning Japanese with duolingo. I gave up after three weeks of doing 2/3 hours a day because I realised… I understood nothing of the language, very few things actually stuck and there was a lot of grammar that I did not understand despite reading the short grammar points.
I have restarted with genki textbooks and anki for vocabulary, and the progress are just not comparable (I am almost at the end of genki 2,about to get started with quartet).
My point is, from my own experience :
If you are adament on using duolingo, then don’t bother with kanji because it’s not teaching you Japanese. Rather some catch phrases and you’ll get an idea of what the language is like. That is about it.
If you want to learn japanese and kanjis, get a good textbook and get anki for vocab and kanjis. You’ll find many resources on the internet / you tube on how to go about it. Good luck!
You don’t. I agree that the Kana track is nice and gentle though. I’m on day 112 of a streak I started since before my recent trip to visit family; about a month ago the curriculum was rejiggered to get rid of all but the baseline Grade 1 kanji where I am. Pre-reorganization I was on Unit 14, now a month later I’m in S2U6 retreading old content but more slowly due to the removal most kanji at this level. I had been getting some pretty okay practice peppered in to complement this other [Kanji study app that I adore](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=en_US&gl=US), but now I feel like I’ve been kicked back a few years in the track. It’s quite depressing. I enjoy Duolingo’s gamification but I agree with most of the sentiments here
* The TTS is now worse, with incorrect or misleading audio
* Japanese isn’t a great language for Duolingo’s trial-and-error quiz approach. There’s a dire need for coaching on voice, usage, and pitch accent and Duolingo offers none of it
* Reading in straight kana is a hindrance now and I’d rather be learning kanji + vocab since it’s a much better way to solidify both. Staying on mostly kana this far into the course is not helpful at all.
Personally I feel like Duolingo used to be solid bones for a lesson plan for self-guided study; a jumping off point to go find other resources while you track your progress in Duolingo. It’s less so these days, for sure.
This is why I’m torn recommending Duolingo for new Japanese learners.
Its fine if you have enough of a kanji background that you’re already picking them up easily, but if you’re new to Kanji then there’s not enough to grasp on to.
Try Wanikani, RTK, or Kanji Damage.
I struggle with Kanji aswell and i don’t want to quit the course because of the streak and the daily reminder to practice. The best way i faced this mess was:
1. installing Yomichan Addon so i could instantly lookup the meaning in the dictionary (beacuse Duolingo only throws the Kanji at you without any meaning)
2. Leaning the Kanji Radicals via Anki so you can guess the meaning of new Kanji or build mnemonics of it.
In the beta they’ve added a kanji section next to the hiragana and katakana, but it only had like 80 kanji last I checked