Is duolingo good for learning basic japanese?(don´t know if I had already post this)

8 comments

1. Learning a language is a long term commitment, duo lingo is a fine starting place for some kana but after that there are significantly better resources.

   Check out Tae Kim’s grammer guide for basic grammar, or take the more common route of picking up genki.

   Use the website JPDB for vocabulary flash cards as you can use it for vocab from certain anime or novels.

2. You’re probably looking at 3-5 years of study to get to a point where you don’t need translations for anime

3. I use lingo because it helps with putting sentences together and what particles to use. For vocab it sucks HARD! And forget about learning any difference between polite and casual forms because it teaches both randomly without explaining when or why.

   I use anki flash cards for vocab and kanji, I use Japanese a lot through friends in Japan, I have been to Japan 4 times, I only watch Japanese television with no subs. 6 years in and I still suck at it. English > Japanese is one of the hardest to do and really only gets easier if you live their while you study.

4. I got started with Duolingo. It’s probably not enough to get you to that level of fluency but everyone has to start somewhere. Good luck!

5. DuoLingo is kind of meh for language learning in general. You get good at the game aspects, but maybe not the actual language aspect. It’s better to take classes.

   To get to the point you can read manga or watch anime in Japanese, you need to build those skills to a level beyond what DuoLingo has to offer.

6. Imo, chatgpt is far better tool for language learning than duolingo. Ask what’s the difference between よう and そう ask clarifying questions and ask it to give you 5 different sentences using each. Then make sentences yourself and ask if they’re correct.

7. Im only a beginner, but b2 (working on c1) in Spanish. I’ve been using Duolingo for like 5 years and I think it makes for a fun daily game/drill but I don’t think it is something that fa teach you language more than the absolute basics.

8. not so much. cure dolly + wanikani + graded readers + language exchange + anki finally culminated in me seeing way faster results than tae kim, jlpt, duolingo, & genki ever did & a lot more fun as well.