10 comments

1. which is better to learn: english shows in japanese or japanese shows in japanese/subbed?

   i watch a lot of anime, and while i think it’d be fun to rewatch some i have seen subbed, maybe it’d be easier to rewatch english/american specific shows dubbed in japanese

   which is better/easier/more helpful?

2. I recently finished Learning Hiragana and Katakana. I’ve watched alot of Youtube videos on what to do next. The answer that I’ve recived was to start immersing my self with the language and using anki. So I downloaded anki deck 2k/6k and althought its only been day 2 I’ve been struggling. I would see a kanji word mean “shi” but also “yon”, So I was wondering how can mutiple kanji have to diferent sounds but same meaning and how would I tell the different. I started immersing my self by watching anime and podcast but I realizedd very quickly that I didn’t understand what they were even saying. So im just confused should I continue to immerse my self when I dont undertstand what they are talking about and if Im using the right kanji deck and when to start reading Tae Kim book Grammer guide.

3. I tried searching this sub but can’t find the answer directly related so hoping this is OK to ask 🙂

   I often speak Spanish with a few friends or when someone is primarily a Spanish speaker but I’m not great…so, I typically say to them (in Spanish): Hey, I’m not very good at Spanish but I like to learn and practice.

   My question: How can I say something similar in Japanese?

   For example, I was out at an Izakaya the other night with my girlfriend and the wait staff all spoke fluent Japanese (I live in Canada so this isn’t super common). I would have loved to try and speak *some* Japanese with them if they were willing but I didn’t know quite how to ask appropriately. Something like “**I don’t know a lot of Japanese but I’d like to try a little if that’s OK”**.

   How could I go about saying this?

   Thanks so much in advance!

4. Recently I had a chance to speak with a Japanese language teacher at a nearby school, they were very helpful with me and I want to write them an email in Japanese to thank them. But I have no idea what kanjis they write their name with. Do you think it would be rude if I just wrote their name in English while the rest of the email is in Japanese?
   (Ex: Tanaka先生、こんにちは！)

5. In English (and most other European languages that I know) counting really big numbers, like ”quintillion”, can be infered by adding -illion (and sometimes -illiard) to a latin number. However, in Japanese there doesn’t seem to be any logic to the really big numbers (at least none that I can see). Does the average Japanese know how much a 穣 is?

6. Been studying since late October, in that time I have:

   – Finished Genki I and the exercises with it
   – Started WaniKani (about to hit lvl 10)
   – Downloaded and nearly completed Kashi 1.5k
   – I play JRPGs/ watch anime with jp voices and eng subs (though I get it doesn’t do much) and listen to 15-30 mins of N5ish YT content with no subs.

   My daily study routine is about 1.5-2.5 split between WaniKani, Anki, Bunpro, N5 YT content. My thought is to get close to N3 level and then just do immersion/sentence mining and continue to supplement with WK/BP/Anki. While I love WK/Anki – grammar is killing me. I have about 90% of N5 down (based on bunpro) and a little N4 but my progress has slowed down. My question is as I start Genki II should I stress over every little grammar point or just bolt to the finish line so I can focus more on the immersive aspect and hope to fill in any blanks from there?

7. Hi! I haven’t posted here before so my apologies if this post is messy!

   My girlfriend is Japanese and her birthday is coming up. We’re both artists so I really wanted to make her a classical painting with a short poem on the side like you see in traditional Japanese art.

   This is where I need help! I do not speak Japanese but I really wanted a sentence that is indirectly calling her beautiful. Her name is Natsuki (菜月) so I was thinking something about how beautiful the moon is, but I’m not sure how obvious that is- I want her to be able to tell I am complimenting her. I don’t speak Japanese well enough to do this without Google translate, so I thought I’d go here first!

   If anyone has any suggestions or places I could look to come up with something please let me know! Thank you so much in advance!!

8. I have been learning for some time (since June Ih, have wasted many months with duolingo) and have seen 300-400 cards out of the Kaishi 1.5k. I have seen Core 2k 6k get recommended a lot. Should I do both of them? 

9. 新完全N4 Question Ch15:

   Why is 「ケーキを作るんですか。作ったら私にもくださいね。」correct but not 「ケーキを作るんですか。手伝いましょうか。」?

   My understanding is that ~たら is used to emphasise the consequence, not the condition. Surely you want to emphasise that you can help the person you’re talking to, if they are going to make a cake?

10. Hi everyone I was researching numbers, and I found what looks like two different kanji for zero. I’m still in the beginning stages of writing in Japanese, and from what I’ve seen, fonts can change the look of a character. Is this what’s going on here? Are these just two different fonts for zero? I think the difference may be a lot for me because I’m still learning. Thanks!

    https://preview.redd.it/srf08vhqcaee1.png?width=362&format=png&auto=webp&s=077e98f1827b7cd08ec8c7c275c56583ed078cc4