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/jp/ - Otaku Culture


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13795052 No.13795052 [Reply] [Original]

when did you start learning Japanese and how much progress have you made since then?

>> No.13795060
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13795060

>> No.13795095

2009. Learned all the kanas in a week and never forgot them.

Never got past 1nen kanjis though. The kanas are useful for finding engrish hints around japanee websites, though.

>> No.13795153

>>13795052
Began learning when I started college back in 2005. Stopped actively learning after I graduated, then started again in 2012. Just took the N1 earlier this month.

>> No.13795166

3-4 years ago
I think I finally got all the basic kana down

>> No.13795213

I first started during the summer vacation between 8th and 9th grades, about 8 years ago. Now I can hold conversations in Japanese pretty well, though I'm not fluent, and if I have a dictionary on hand I can understand almost everything I read.

>> No.13795273
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13795273

>>13795052

I've been living in Japan for some years, so I'm pretty good at speaking and listening. My kanji are at around N2-N1 level I think.

>> No.13795310

2012. I almost know all of the hirigana,

>> No.13795318

>>13795310
>hirigana

>> No.13795436

>>13795318
yeah, y'know, like あ and ん and shit.

>> No.13795497
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13795497

>>13795436

>> No.13795520

>>13795497
yeah
ok
is this a new meme?

>> No.13795532

>>13795520
Jesus Christ, lurk moar.

>> No.13795540

Maybe 3 years. I know hiragana but i prefer romanji

>> No.13795545

日本語を本当にできる奴は前に出ろ

>> No.13795546

>>13795532
sorry i don't know your cool oldfag memes
i mean, めめs

>> No.13795552

>>13795545
オリャァ!! ( ´Д`)ノ )><)

>> No.13795654

>>13795532
>lurk moar
>moar
more* idiot.

>> No.13795671
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13795671

>>13795310
>>13795436
>>13795520
>>13795546
>>13795654
>

>> No.13795673

>>13795671
epic a reaction image!!!!

>> No.13795676

>>13795673
reaction picture*

>> No.13795694
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13795694

2013

I haven't taken a JLPT or anything, but I can read a lot of manga and VN. I have to use the dictionary a lot though, and I still do reps every day. I enjoy Japanese so much, my only regret is not starting sooner.

The DJT on /a/ was nice when I started, but lately it seems like it's nothing but arguments over nothing.

>> No.13795713

I've only studied for about a year and I can read stuff at the JPLT N3 level in textbooks fine.
However, when it comes to actual Japanese in shit like VNs, I feel mentally challenged and have zero fucking comprehension whatsoever.
It's such a massive difficulty gap that I don't feel like I'll ever be able to handle "real" Japanese.
Anyone else go through this phase?
How long did it take before you started to get actual comprehension?

>> No.13795736

I started about 10 months ago with rosetta stone. I'm halfway through the second disk now (out of three) and bought genki earlier today because Rosetta stone isn't enough for obvious reasons. Starting with anki soon as well.

>> No.13795953

November of 2011 immediately followed by a year of dicking around. In that year I read about 40 pages of Tae Kim and sort of learned the kana and about 20 or so words. Buckled down and finished reading Tae Kim at the end of 2012. Finished Kanji Damage at the beginning of 2013 immediately followed by 4 months off from burnout then started again July 2013 memorizing vocab this time and re-going through kanji damage because I forgot a lot of it. Been going steady ever since. And can read pretty much any moege and easy story titles like Eustia, and the Blade Dance LNs. I took the reading portion of the N1 sample a few weeks back and only got 1 wrong. I'm happy with my progress given my slacking.

>> No.13797195
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13797195

I'm looking to start learning, but I am intimidated by the massive walls of cuneiform. How do you even go about learning something that has literally hundreds of symbols?

>> No.13797308

>>13795052
Never.

Why bother?

I'm black so all I need to do is go to Japan and find a Japanese girlfriend / wife who will translate everything for me while I'll get ez dosh as an ALT for doing literally nothing.

Japan is made for African-American unemployed men.

>> No.13797374

I started learning a year ago and stopped sixmonsth after because i am shit

>> No.13797391

1 month ago and i already can read the first chapter of the quran.

اَللّٰهُ أَكْبَر

>> No.13797580

Around 2012. Took N3 a couple weeks ago and it was really easy for me, so I guess I'll try N2 in winter.

>> No.13797603 [DELETED] 

kuso thread

>> No.13797877
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13797877

I've done shit on and off around 2012 - 2013 (anki, tae kim).

Started religiously studying by the end of 2013. WaniKani, Anki, Memrise (Dictionary or Japanese Grammar Deck), Tae Kim, Imabi, and a few other things I've dropped. I've dropped Imabi after about 100 lessons in favor of reading more eroge.

About 6 months ago or so I started reading eroge in Japanese with a text hooker.

Comprehension has shot up dramatically and I now don't have to rely on the text hooker that much. Anyone who was discouraged by comprehension at first, just keep reading even if you don't fully grasp every concept.
I still do kanji reps every day though in addition to reading.

>> No.13798359

>>13795166

This

>> No.13798410

Started 2010 got pretty good then around 2012 decided to become an alcoholic shut-in until around a month ago. Getting back to the ol Nihongo now whilst detoxing and I struggle constructing basic sentences. I can still understand the gist of most spoken dialogue but it's discouraging as fuck to be stumbling on babby's first ABC when once upon a time I could *whip out kanji* with ease. I could've been so good by now, fucking drinking sapped my brain juice. Oh well, onwards and downwards.

>> No.13798676

2005.

Embarrassingly little progress despite daily study for the past 7 years. I get overwhelmed very easily.

I don't think I know more than a few thousand words and I only know about 1300 kanji, some of which are non-standard.

I'd give up if it wasn't for the fact this is the one thing I've ever made any progress in, so if I stop, I have nothing.

>> No.13799150

>>13797195
>hundreds
Closer to tens of thousands.
You start like everyone else: from hiragana and katakana, learn some grammar and vocab, and then throw kanji into the mix.

>> No.13799154

>>13797580
Just FYI, the difficulty gets dramatically higher between N3 and N2.

>> No.13800009 [DELETED] 

>>13797308
fucking nigger

>> No.13800062

>>13795052

Two years ago today.

I know hiragana and katakana.

I-I know kanji... ;; O-one kanji...

>> No.13800117

What is you are favorite kanji, /jp/?

Mine is 穃.

>> No.13800153

>>13795052
6-7 years ago. I can hold a conversation pretty easily and I currently live in Japan in the middle of nowhere.

>> No.13800180

>>13800062
一 means 1
二 means 2
三 means 3
congrats you know more than one kanji

>> No.13800209
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13800209

Hamburger Delicious

I think nearly 10 years ago. I don't even remember all the hiragana.

>> No.13800210

>>13800117

夢(む); Dream

Can also be said as gen

>> No.13800299

>>13800117
>no known meaning; S&H uses jabberwocky words

What on Earth am I reading?

>> No.13800322
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>>13800117
thats scary, man

>> No.13800340

>>13795095
This, really. Progress progression fell immensely after learning kana.

>> No.13800364

>>13795052
2-3 years ago, but I kept having breaks like every second week so I got to around 300 kanji in that timespan. By some unfathomable miracle I've started doing it in earnest a couple of months ago and I'm somewhere around 1100 kanji at this moment, it feels great to spot all the ones I know. Progress is slow, but in a couple of years I'll get the hang of it and if I can do it, anyone can.

>> No.13800386
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13800386

>>13795520

>> No.13800410

>>13800009
Whitey mad that I am fucking cute Japanese girls in the future while he is fucking his left hand.

>> No.13800694

>>13800410
YOU'LL BE OLD AND DEAD SOON ENOUGH

>> No.13800705
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13800705

Unko thread.

>> No.13800740
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>>13800705
I want a thick, creamy mass of Chinatsu's unko to slowly crackle into my mouth.

>> No.13800904
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13800904

4-5 years ago. I started by challenging myself to play unlocalised games and hung around a lot on Japanese speaking sites like futaba. I'd just go through the text with a kanji radical identifying tool and google translate and piece together what was being said.
A significant amount of this study was done with eroge, where I'd stop mid-fap to translate what was in the text window, then return to fapping again.

I got to the point where I could understand the gist of most casual written Japanese. Those habits gradually fell by the wayside a few years ago for some reason.

>> No.13800972

>>13800705
>>13800740
Swedish ppl get out pls

>> No.13801371
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13801371

>>13795052
I never did anything but I was playing with the idea of starting for a while now.

Is it really possible to learn such a complex language by yourself with the help of the internet and some ebooks/audiobooks (Heard Genki is good)?

I could try to get into a language course at my university but it would take away the flexibility and I don't know if I can do that beside the rest of my schedule. Also there are 4 times more applicants than actual places.

I'm 26 now so if I really would want to do that I should start before I turn 30, after that it just seems useless.

>> No.13801643

>>13801371
I'm 27 and I just can't cope with those feels about how I'm too old to start something new. Wasted half of my life on learning shit I was never interested in and now I think it's pointless to even save myself from my boring existence.

>> No.13801710

3 years ago. Gave up after 1 1/2 years of self learning and getting no where.
January this year, gave up after 2 months.
I don't have what it takes to teach myself.

>> No.13802384

Catching up shit from anime, 2009.
Studying seriously, 2012.

I can ask for stuff and tell stuff, you know, have some conversation. Reading is still a bummer, I'm on 300 kanji or so.

>> No.13802581

>>13802384
When reading VNs I stop every time I run into a kanji I don't know and look it up and write it 50 times as well as all of its readings (thanks, namasensei). That's on top of the more average supplemental study with flash cards and such.

I can do fine with most VNs now at this point, though I still struggle with stuff like scientific or medical terms. Thankfully, if it's voiced, it usually clicks in my head.

There's just no easy way but to grind it out and read and write every day.

>> No.13802672

Just finished RTK book one today

>> No.13803178

>>13795052
Started when I was 25. All you people who complain or let age get in the way of learning things have a defeatist attitude and are just making bullshit excuses to keep you away from actually working towards something.

Took two year of Japanese at a community college with a native Japanese teacher. Had to memorize all Hiragana and Katakana characters in two weeks. Classmates bitched about it but that's just memorizing roughly 10 characters a day. There were actually some pussies that couldn't even handle that. Anyhow, 2 years learned particles/grammar and a handful of Kanji. Wasn't happy with the amount I learned in those 2 years but the most important thing I got out of it was "I learned how to learn Japanese." Meaning I now knew what I would have to work on in the future.

So out of school now and working. I study Japanese on my own time focusing on grammar, building up vocab, and tons and tons of Kanji (aiming to recognize at least 2000 Kanji and their various readings but I want 5000). Currently I'm confident I can translate anything I see accurately as long as I have access to a Kanji Dictionary and maybe a Japanese Dictionary. As time goes on I'm finding I'm having to look up things less and less though. Shit takes time and effort anon but anything that is worthwhile takes that. I'm just glad I can now play Japanese games and actually enjoy the story instead of just the gameplay.

>> No.13803307

>>13803178

I think the main problem is that few understand how much work is required.

They don't understand that reading their book, or listening to a cassette once a week isn't enough. They have to review every single day, and add more every day. A certain amount more, too, or it has a timescale of literally decades, if not centuries.

They don't understand that they have to do it every day for literally years with as few interruptions as possible.

Most people haven't really studied since school, either, if they even did then, so their brain is completely untrained to do it and offers strong resistance after mere minutes of concentration.

They misinterpret this as being too old, and not deluded and out of practice.

>> No.13803455

I started watching anime and consuming various Japanese media in 2005.
Through absorbing information at some point I became able to read stuff like VNs. Kanji I had to grind separately, obviously.
I'll take JLPT N1 next year.
I can't speak for shit, though, as I have literally zero practice in expressing thoughts in the language.

>> No.13806236

>>13803178

It's not like I'm too old to learn a new language. I think it's just pointless because I'm almost 30. There's no reason for me to know japanese at all. I don't even have enough free time to play translated games, leave aside untranslated ones.

>> No.13807465

Black bull here, I go to Japan with no knowledge of Japan and Barely any knowledge of English straight from Africa.

OOGA BOOGA

>> No.13807556

First attempt in 2007, dropped after finishing some shitty japanese grammar book full of romanji. Second attempt in 2010, completed all of rosetta stone then stopped. Third attempt in 2014 grinding aniki for an entire year yet not retaining much of anything beyond the basics, working through Genki now and will force myself to read VN's everyday when I complete it no matter how hard it is.

>> No.13808179

>>13807556

Your problem seems to be with commitment.

You need something to ensure you don't stop working towards it.

Make an anki deck and add something to it every day, and do your reps every day.

It won't be possible to accidentally do nothing without realising for weeks, that way.

>> No.13810036

>>13795052
>learning japanese

LOL

>> No.13810439

>>13800117
Probably 心

>> No.13810466
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13810466

I only really started learning two years ago.
I'm hoping to take N3 in December.
I had no idea you only need to get like 40% per section to pass. I don't want to sound cocky, but that seems ridiculously easy tbh.

>> No.13810474

>>13797195
HEISIG.

>B-but that's not *really* Japanese. My professor said that--

SHUT UP NERD JUST DO IT.

>> No.13810479

>>13797195
genetickanji

>> No.13810498

>>13810474
Who are you quoting?

>> No.13810517

>>13810498
I'm quoting nerds.

>> No.13810591

>>13810474
Indeed. Just do Heisig (FIRST), but make sure you understand what you are actually achieving by doing it; the goal is to be able to tell the kanji apart from each other so a 'wall of cuneiform' is not intimidating and actually readable after you know the words. No more no less.
You will associate a single keyword to each kanji and be able to identify the building blocks of kanji easily (good skill for dictionary search too). The keyword will be in your native language and will only cover the most common meaning when the kanji its on its own, so don't rely on it for reading. You won't learn the phonetic readings.
Considering this, you won't know all you need about kanji by the end of the book. But your vocab picking abilities will skyrocket after it, and you can learn the readings along the way, or using other methods (I'm unsure about RTK2, never tried it; it's for readings but that one has mixed reviews).
Listen to the other anon and just do it. It's also quite fun if you enjoy using your imagination (something I'd expect from a /jp/sie). I think it's the best first step toward kanji. If you have enough free time and dedication you can do 50 new per day and be done in two months, then just mantain your reps daily and pursue other ways to improve your kanji, depending on your goals. For JLPT I'd guess you would want to drill them in order and with all the readings (unsure because I'm not aiming for it), but I'd bet you would have a really big advantage over someone who can't tell kanji apart.

>> No.13810602

>>13810591
So what did you do to learn the readings, post RTK volume 1?

I'm not too keen on volume 2, but I'm also wondering if there is a logical, systematic way to go about learning readings, or if it's all grinding from here on out.

>> No.13810613

>>13810602
You will pick up the readings automatically as you learn vocabulary

>> No.13810643

>>13810602

You don't remember every possible sound a kanji makes.

It is pointless.

>> No.13810729
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13810729

>>13810466
Roughly 32% per section, and 53% total. Even so, you get pass rates like these.

Good luck, anyway.

>> No.13810734
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13810734

>>13810643
Kanji are not creatures, they don't make sounds....

>> No.13810756

>>13795310
>hirigana

Yeah, it seems clear why you haven't made much progress in three years.

>> No.13813356

I started a few years ago, taking some basic japanese courses. Bought some books a few months ago and started going through them. I can now read Japanese manga if they have the little hiragana beside the Kanji.

>> No.13813383

what does the JLPT even do if you take it?

>> No.13813416

>>13813383
Gives you a certification to put on your resume.

>> No.13813420

>>13813383
Nothing it's not an animate object.

>> No.13814772

>>13810734
>>13813420

Which is cuter, Kanji-tan or JLPT-tan?

>> No.13816586
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13816586

What are your reasons for learning Japanese guys?

>> No.13816636

>>13816586
You should know, since you're here.

>> No.13816697

>>13816586
Boredom mostly.

>> No.13817053

>>13816586

I started watching anime and thought "I should learn this language" and then just carried on with it. It happens to be one of the most useful languages to know on the internet and I use it daily, but that's just luck.

I was looking for another language to learn anyway, and had considered Korean because I knew a Korean. Thank god I didn't go through with that.

>> No.13817060

>>13816586
I don't :^)

>> No.13817086

>>13816586
My niche fetish visual novels are never going to get translated
So learn I must

>> No.13817434

>>13816586
I like languages and have studied several over the years. Japanese is my favorite thus far and has stuck the best.

>> No.13819517

one and a half years ago and i still struggle with easy mangas but it's my fault for spending to little time learning

>> No.13819614

4 months, but It's been on and off so I only got to memorizing katakana and hiragana

>> No.13819731

>>13795052
Late 2009. I could make better progress if I went outside my comfort zone of VNs and LNs.

I never speak, so that's my weakest point.

Been reviewing my RTK deck unironically since 2010.

>> No.13819740

I've memorized all the hiragana and katakana. And pick up basic phrases. All I really want to do with japanese is be able to understand it and read it. And translate it back to english. Where should I start.

>> No.13819744

>>13819740
With English.

>> No.13819903

I started in sep 2014 with genki but for some reason gave up.

Started again ~2 months ago ,started making myself an anki deck using Kanjidamage (the mnemonics might be retarded but they actually help) these past 15 days and the Kanji sections of genki and just adding phrases and vocab I come across too often. I think I know around 120 kanjis so far.

Anki is a fucking godsent actually, I have serious commitment issues generally but somehow i've managed to do my reps religiously and add around 10 new cards daily.
Although it's a bit too early to say if I'll really stick with it.

Still missing lots of crucial grammar though, I think I need to do the 2nd Genki book before I'm able to tell what's happening in actual text.

I should note that I'm not following Kanjidamage's kanji order because its stupid.

>> No.13819983

凸凹 Best word. My autism loves it.

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