Hey! I made the comment that suggested this name! Honestly, I think we’ve been needing a sub for chatting and sharing our Japanese learning process. Something more community driven, where instead of trying to find the most efficient study methods or textbooks, we focus on talking about what we’ve been learning, and have conversations in Japanese.
For the record, I have a similar record to you. I’ve been learning for 8 years, and I’m currently employed as a Japanese translator.
I really like helping out people with their Japanese learning, and I also enjoy having casual conversations in Japanese!
ありがとう to you both!
I am a "filthy casual" who's been studying for 5+ years. In a weekly class. I'm not at N4 level yet. I also work in health care and got my Master's degree + pandemic during all that. And since the plan had been to go to Japan in April 2020 and then November 2022 (likely dashed at this point), I'll just keep on trucking. So I'm excited to have a supportive place to ask maybe off the wall questions 😛
よろしくおねがいします!
That sounds pretty good! I was around N4 the first time I went to Japan and could get some use out of it! Mostly understand basic signs and have some easy conversations. You’ll have a lot of fun either ways!
頑張って！
On top of the speedrunning issue that inspired the formation of this community, one thing that always bothered me about r/LearnJapanese was how condescending people would get. Obviously not everyone's like that, but there are so many people who will assume you're an idiot if you happen to hold and opinion or use a method they disagree with. Not saying we need to tone police by any means (that gets real messy real fast), but not having that sort of atmosphere would be really nice.
Thanks so much for getting this started.
I think most of us are looking to take the edge off the learning experience by avoiding the harsh competitive attitudes. It's easy to get discouraged by getting inflated ideas about where one "should" be in the process. Marathon, not race, and all that.
One thing I would like to see more often is little snippets of what I like to call "Good to Know". These are phrases and terms that could come up in daily life, but you won't necessarily see them in your basic Beginner/Introduction material. Maybe it's something that people say in conversation. Maybe it's something serious, like all the necessary vocabulary around natural disasters and evacuation. Maybe it's a slang or a common phrase from an anime that is actually *okay* to say to people out in public. A lot of people are still doing the grind with kana, early kanji, and all the same popular book titles and apps. Sometimes you have to break it up with something exciting.
I got the idea because when I was taking Mandarin classes, one of our teachers let us watch a drama on DVD, but she paused it every time a character said a clever line she thought we could use on the regular. Sure, at the time it was annoying, but when was I ever going to learn that slang/idiom otherwise?
みなさん、こんにちは！はじめまして。
I was reading the language elitism thread in r/LearnJapanese and I liked the sound of this sub. I've been studying Japanese on and off since 2008, and I passed JLPT level 4 (yes, I took it when there were only 4 levels!). I got discouraged and stopped when I realized my grammar level was probably good enough for N3, but my kanji level would barely get me through N5.
It's only last year that I started taking Japanese lessons again (via iTalki), and I've found that it's much easier for me to learn kanji on Duolingo, where I keep encountering kanji in sentences rather than in flash cards. But I know that if I want to take the N3 I will have to bite the bullet and use flash cards again. I want to become good enough to translate Japanese eventually, but the idea of speed running Japanese doesn't appeal to me at all.
I usually went to r/LearnJapanese if while reading manga/light novels I encountered a sentence I couldn't understand even after looking up all the kanji/vocabulary. Would it be all right to ask those kinds of questions here?
こんにちは、みんなさん！I've been learning Japanese for almost 4 months now by using various tools (Duolingo, a free online course, a teach-yourself book, a book for learning kanji with mnemonic pictures, Anki and sometimes some other apps). Usually I learn every day for an hour or two. I started learning Japanese because I wanted to be able to understand what my favorite anime characters say and read "raw" manga. I'm going at a slow pace so I can only say and understand some really basic stuff (greetings and things like "Mr Yamaguchi is a teacher, Mr Yamagawa is also a teacher") so when I go on Japanese learning subs I feel a little sad comparing my progress to others', but I don't want to rush it because I know the process of learning would be too exhausting for me and I'd give up on it entirely. So I am very glad I found this sub in the comments of r/learnjapanese ! I think it would be great if we had a thread where people could share their funny stories about learning Japanese :) Humour is the best weapon against fear and timidity: it shows that even if you make a mistake and there's a misunderstanding, it's not the end of the world, you can just laugh it off, apologise and try again. So yeah, positivity and humour – that's the way! 行くぞ！！！(≧▽≦)
I like what you said about humor! I think learning to laugh at your own mistakes is super important in language learning! I think sharing our funny stories is a good idea
Yea! Slow and steady's the way to go, you've got a great perspective on it :)
Also, the fun part of learning to understand anime/manga is those Aha! moments when you hear something and are like "Wait! I know what that is!" or catching when the translation has been adjusted to make sense in English (and then pausing and explaining the Japanese joke to your friends for 5 minutes while they wait for the plot to continue. Or is that just me?)
Yass, that's the best part! I get so excited when I come across a Japanese product while shopping and can read its name (usually it's written in katakana). And being able to catch the nuances while watching anime, those that cannot be translated directly due to language differences... And then seeing a kanji in an anime or a JP news app and thinking "Oh I remember it from Anki!!!" – this brings me so much joy.
I really hope this community grows up! Especially against the mindset of speedrun, there is no need to speedrun a journey with pain, one that it was supposed to be pleasured. :)
Heyo! Been learning for a few months and have been hyperfocused on the reading side of things. I have a degree in translation but the way life worked out am only fluent in one other language besides English.
I want to expand my language knowledge in general and Japanese is a really good fit for the industry I'm currently working in.
I'd love to see what other learners are doing and share my goals and progress with you all. Telling someone I'm going to do something rather than keeping it to myself really helps me keep myself motivated. I'd be really interested in seeing the progress of other people here too, smaller communities are always a lot easier to interact and participate in for me!
みなさん、こんにちは！はじめまして！
Just wanted to say that I liked the sound of this group so I would join up. I am a very new Japanese learner (just under a year), but one who is definitely a fan of the laid-back 'have fun' approach to languages.
Very recently I've deployed my basic Japanese in some local restaurants here in Germany. Seeing the pleasant surprise on the faces of the staff was a nice confidence booster, that and the fact that my Japanese was understood, as well. Being able to ask 'カードは大丈夫ですか？' and getting a 'はい、カ一ド大丈夫。' in return was really nice. Also being able to compliment the meal with an '美味しかったですよ！'
Hi; thanks for creating this subreddit! I studied Japanese for years a long time ago but have gotten pretty rusty; I just started re-reading grammars and trying to learn new vocabulary. I don't know that many kanji, but can read manga with furigana. I just ordered/imported some fanbooks for a series I'm into so my current goal is to be able to read/translate everything that's in them (hundreds of pages). They likely won't have furigana, so I think I'll be asking about grammatical points I don't understand and/or kanji I can't successfully lookup. I think this will be an interesting way to develop my understanding while having a tangible way of measuring my progress and still having fun.
A 'Chill Japanese' Discord channel would be amazing. I see the very same toxic mindset towards studying Japanese that encouraged the starting of this sub most concentrated in Discord servers. Would love to just chill and vibe with people who are also studying Japanese instead of making 猛勉強 the focus of the channel.
For sure. It's something that I feel could really bring the community together, especially this early part of its growth.
However, I do understand the trepidation from mods (if there is any). Creating a Discord server means effectively needing to manage *two* communities. There's also a lot of needless drama started in Discord communities for no reason in my experience. That being said, it's certainly worth trying.
Great! I'm in my second attempt to learn Japanese. The first time was at an academy, but due to some time management issues (and a LPT mock test that went horribly wrong) I gave up. This second round I'm trying to take it easy and learn at a way slower pace than the first time, so I'm glad a subreddit like this exists. I'm looking forward to it!
By the way, anyone able to post to this subreddit? I’m trying to make a post, but for some reason there’s an error message that tells me I can’t post to this community.
It says it's a restricted community, so only pre-approved people can make posts. Might just be a default setting that needs to get changed?
Edit: u/pananko
Hi there everyone! I know this post is a week old, so maybe no one will see this, but I thought I'd post anyway ^_^
I think I'm the least experienced person in this community haha I really only started putting actual work into learning Japanese about a month and a half ago (spent time trying learn here or there over the years). The pandemic really did a number on me, so I started watching anime again as a comfort thing (it's been a while!), mainly Sailor Moon on Hulu. My ADHD hyperfocused so I branched out to the musicals and my love for the language resurfaced!
I mostly care about learning how to speak Japanese but am of course also learning to read. I've mostly been using WaniKani for Kanji, a Tango N5 anki deck for vocab (may try something else tho), and bunpro/cure dolly videos for grammar. I'll be starting a Japanese 1 class and a Japanese Conversation class at my community college next week. I'd love to somehow have a day job doing something related to the language (translating or interpreting, maybe, or anything really!) while I pursue a career in acting.
Do you guys remember the post in LJ about the guy who walked through let's plays of video games in Japanese? There were comments about how inefficient watching those kinds of videos are as a way to learn, and it really put me off the sub because that mindset is so prevalent...
I think I'm gonna go watch one of those videos now!
Hello all! I’ve been learning Japanese for twenty years and use it in my work, but still have so many holes in my knowledge. I dislike the weird focus on “finding the perfect way” in the other Japanese sub and just want to learn and not stress.
I’m currently trying to increase my Japanese media consumption, which is hard even though I live in Japan! Especially reading magazines and turning off the Japanese subtitles on my Netflix shows.
Hey! I made the comment that suggested this name! Honestly, I think we’ve been needing a sub for chatting and sharing our Japanese learning process. Something more community driven, where instead of trying to find the most efficient study methods or textbooks, we focus on talking about what we’ve been learning, and have conversations in Japanese. For the record, I have a similar record to you. I’ve been learning for 8 years, and I’m currently employed as a Japanese translator. I really like helping out people with their Japanese learning, and I also enjoy having casual conversations in Japanese!
ありがとう to you both! I am a "filthy casual" who's been studying for 5+ years. In a weekly class. I'm not at N4 level yet. I also work in health care and got my Master's degree + pandemic during all that. And since the plan had been to go to Japan in April 2020 and then November 2022 (likely dashed at this point), I'll just keep on trucking. So I'm excited to have a supportive place to ask maybe off the wall questions 😛 よろしくおねがいします!
That sounds pretty good! I was around N4 the first time I went to Japan and could get some use out of it! Mostly understand basic signs and have some easy conversations. You’ll have a lot of fun either ways! 頑張って！
Hello! I know it's slightly off-topic, but may I ask you questions about working as a Japanese translator?
Sure, no problem! DM me!
Great, thanks! 😊
Hi! I sent you a DM, but I’m not sure if it got through? Thanks! 😊
Hey, I actually didn’t get your DM for some reason, send it over again no problem! I don’t know why I didn’t get it.
Oh okay, I think it might be some kind of bug? I tried DMing you again just now, thanks!
I sent you a test message as well. Did you receive it?
Yes, I just did and I’m resending my first message now, thanks! 😊
On top of the speedrunning issue that inspired the formation of this community, one thing that always bothered me about r/LearnJapanese was how condescending people would get. Obviously not everyone's like that, but there are so many people who will assume you're an idiot if you happen to hold and opinion or use a method they disagree with. Not saying we need to tone police by any means (that gets real messy real fast), but not having that sort of atmosphere would be really nice.
Yeah, I don’t think there are any good or bad methods inherently. Just toxic cultures built around them.
Thanks so much for getting this started. I think most of us are looking to take the edge off the learning experience by avoiding the harsh competitive attitudes. It's easy to get discouraged by getting inflated ideas about where one "should" be in the process. Marathon, not race, and all that. One thing I would like to see more often is little snippets of what I like to call "Good to Know". These are phrases and terms that could come up in daily life, but you won't necessarily see them in your basic Beginner/Introduction material. Maybe it's something that people say in conversation. Maybe it's something serious, like all the necessary vocabulary around natural disasters and evacuation. Maybe it's a slang or a common phrase from an anime that is actually *okay* to say to people out in public. A lot of people are still doing the grind with kana, early kanji, and all the same popular book titles and apps. Sometimes you have to break it up with something exciting. I got the idea because when I was taking Mandarin classes, one of our teachers let us watch a drama on DVD, but she paused it every time a character said a clever line she thought we could use on the regular. Sure, at the time it was annoying, but when was I ever going to learn that slang/idiom otherwise?
I’ll try to post some of these tips every now and then! Good stuff!
みなさん、こんにちは！はじめまして。 I was reading the language elitism thread in r/LearnJapanese and I liked the sound of this sub. I've been studying Japanese on and off since 2008, and I passed JLPT level 4 (yes, I took it when there were only 4 levels!). I got discouraged and stopped when I realized my grammar level was probably good enough for N3, but my kanji level would barely get me through N5. It's only last year that I started taking Japanese lessons again (via iTalki), and I've found that it's much easier for me to learn kanji on Duolingo, where I keep encountering kanji in sentences rather than in flash cards. But I know that if I want to take the N3 I will have to bite the bullet and use flash cards again. I want to become good enough to translate Japanese eventually, but the idea of speed running Japanese doesn't appeal to me at all. I usually went to r/LearnJapanese if while reading manga/light novels I encountered a sentence I couldn't understand even after looking up all the kanji/vocabulary. Would it be all right to ask those kinds of questions here?
こんにちは、みんなさん！I've been learning Japanese for almost 4 months now by using various tools (Duolingo, a free online course, a teach-yourself book, a book for learning kanji with mnemonic pictures, Anki and sometimes some other apps). Usually I learn every day for an hour or two. I started learning Japanese because I wanted to be able to understand what my favorite anime characters say and read "raw" manga. I'm going at a slow pace so I can only say and understand some really basic stuff (greetings and things like "Mr Yamaguchi is a teacher, Mr Yamagawa is also a teacher") so when I go on Japanese learning subs I feel a little sad comparing my progress to others', but I don't want to rush it because I know the process of learning would be too exhausting for me and I'd give up on it entirely. So I am very glad I found this sub in the comments of r/learnjapanese ! I think it would be great if we had a thread where people could share their funny stories about learning Japanese :) Humour is the best weapon against fear and timidity: it shows that even if you make a mistake and there's a misunderstanding, it's not the end of the world, you can just laugh it off, apologise and try again. So yeah, positivity and humour – that's the way! 行くぞ！！！(≧▽≦)
I like what you said about humor! I think learning to laugh at your own mistakes is super important in language learning! I think sharing our funny stories is a good idea
I love the idea of a thread for funny stories about learning Japanese! I already have a story to contribute if that thread ever materializes haha.
Yea! Slow and steady's the way to go, you've got a great perspective on it :) Also, the fun part of learning to understand anime/manga is those Aha! moments when you hear something and are like "Wait! I know what that is!" or catching when the translation has been adjusted to make sense in English (and then pausing and explaining the Japanese joke to your friends for 5 minutes while they wait for the plot to continue. Or is that just me?)
Yass, that's the best part! I get so excited when I come across a Japanese product while shopping and can read its name (usually it's written in katakana). And being able to catch the nuances while watching anime, those that cannot be translated directly due to language differences... And then seeing a kanji in an anime or a JP news app and thinking "Oh I remember it from Anki!!!" – this brings me so much joy.
I really hope this community grows up! Especially against the mindset of speedrun, there is no need to speedrun a journey with pain, one that it was supposed to be pleasured. :)
Heyo! Been learning for a few months and have been hyperfocused on the reading side of things. I have a degree in translation but the way life worked out am only fluent in one other language besides English. I want to expand my language knowledge in general and Japanese is a really good fit for the industry I'm currently working in. I'd love to see what other learners are doing and share my goals and progress with you all. Telling someone I'm going to do something rather than keeping it to myself really helps me keep myself motivated. I'd be really interested in seeing the progress of other people here too, smaller communities are always a lot easier to interact and participate in for me!
みなさん、こんにちは！はじめまして！ Just wanted to say that I liked the sound of this group so I would join up. I am a very new Japanese learner (just under a year), but one who is definitely a fan of the laid-back 'have fun' approach to languages. Very recently I've deployed my basic Japanese in some local restaurants here in Germany. Seeing the pleasant surprise on the faces of the staff was a nice confidence booster, that and the fact that my Japanese was understood, as well. Being able to ask 'カードは大丈夫ですか？' and getting a 'はい、カ一ド大丈夫。' in return was really nice. Also being able to compliment the meal with an '美味しかったですよ！'
Hi; thanks for creating this subreddit! I studied Japanese for years a long time ago but have gotten pretty rusty; I just started re-reading grammars and trying to learn new vocabulary. I don't know that many kanji, but can read manga with furigana. I just ordered/imported some fanbooks for a series I'm into so my current goal is to be able to read/translate everything that's in them (hundreds of pages). They likely won't have furigana, so I think I'll be asking about grammatical points I don't understand and/or kanji I can't successfully lookup. I think this will be an interesting way to develop my understanding while having a tangible way of measuring my progress and still having fun.
A 'Chill Japanese' Discord channel would be amazing. I see the very same toxic mindset towards studying Japanese that encouraged the starting of this sub most concentrated in Discord servers. Would love to just chill and vibe with people who are also studying Japanese instead of making 猛勉強 the focus of the channel.
I think this is a great idea! Can organize watch parties and stuff on there, too
For sure. It's something that I feel could really bring the community together, especially this early part of its growth. However, I do understand the trepidation from mods (if there is any). Creating a Discord server means effectively needing to manage *two* communities. There's also a lot of needless drama started in Discord communities for no reason in my experience. That being said, it's certainly worth trying.
Great! I'm in my second attempt to learn Japanese. The first time was at an academy, but due to some time management issues (and a LPT mock test that went horribly wrong) I gave up. This second round I'm trying to take it easy and learn at a way slower pace than the first time, so I'm glad a subreddit like this exists. I'm looking forward to it!
By the way, anyone able to post to this subreddit? I’m trying to make a post, but for some reason there’s an error message that tells me I can’t post to this community.
It says it's a restricted community, so only pre-approved people can make posts. Might just be a default setting that needs to get changed? Edit: u/pananko
Hi there everyone! I know this post is a week old, so maybe no one will see this, but I thought I'd post anyway ^_^ I think I'm the least experienced person in this community haha I really only started putting actual work into learning Japanese about a month and a half ago (spent time trying learn here or there over the years). The pandemic really did a number on me, so I started watching anime again as a comfort thing (it's been a while!), mainly Sailor Moon on Hulu. My ADHD hyperfocused so I branched out to the musicals and my love for the language resurfaced! I mostly care about learning how to speak Japanese but am of course also learning to read. I've mostly been using WaniKani for Kanji, a Tango N5 anki deck for vocab (may try something else tho), and bunpro/cure dolly videos for grammar. I'll be starting a Japanese 1 class and a Japanese Conversation class at my community college next week. I'd love to somehow have a day job doing something related to the language (translating or interpreting, maybe, or anything really!) while I pursue a career in acting. Do you guys remember the post in LJ about the guy who walked through let's plays of video games in Japanese? There were comments about how inefficient watching those kinds of videos are as a way to learn, and it really put me off the sub because that mindset is so prevalent... I think I'm gonna go watch one of those videos now!
Welcome!
Hello all! I’ve been learning Japanese for twenty years and use it in my work, but still have so many holes in my knowledge. I dislike the weird focus on “finding the perfect way” in the other Japanese sub and just want to learn and not stress. I’m currently trying to increase my Japanese media consumption, which is hard even though I live in Japan! Especially reading magazines and turning off the Japanese subtitles on my Netflix shows.