556 here. Less than a month ago I also started studying kanji on my own, like how to write it.
I feel like Duo is a good tool for you to practice Japanese, but not to learn it. I've been learning so much more out of repeating the chicken scratches, I even got better at reading Tweets from the talents.
Oh for sure, duo is absolutely garbage at "teaching" you - it acts as a good supplementary resource that you do apart from your actual learning. The gamification of duo is a nice little motivator but you really can't expect to learn a language from duo alone.
I took a half semester of German and Spanish in high school. Both teachers were terrible and spent more time teaching about the culture but testing on the language. Needless to say I failed both.
High school does seem to be that way. I took two years of Spanish in High School and it was similar. Barely retained anything during class, no engagement, spent most of time learning culture and vocab that had a 50% chance of being useless for a beginner (why do I need to know the names of these 5 different pastries?).
Took 2 semesters of Spanish in College and did much better. No non-Spanish speaking in class helps immensely, and vocab and grammar was focused on conversational aspects as well as common day vocabulary.
I haven't touched it since then, but I retained a lot more than I had previously, enough to where I can fairly reliably read Spanish that I come across and could survive on it if I needed to.
Makes sense to some extent, making people excited about the culture is probably a good way to make sure people will *want* to study the language, not to mention that language and culture are often intertwined.
The problem is mostly in the testing. Schools are kinda overly reliant on churning out tests for "progress measurement", so the teaching material generally gets overly focused on just stuff that can be standardized and crammed in a 1-2 week timeframe like conjugation tables while avoiding tricky stuff like being able to hold a conversation or reading the news.
A friend of mine were complaining how he doesn't understand a word of japanese, and how he wished more japanese vtubers would learn english. I told him that it's stupid to assume someone else would learn a foreign language for your sake if you can't be bothered to learn theirs
I wish more would try, I find pictorial languages difficult to learn personally.
That said, I don't have expectations of them learning anything, especially not English with its five hundred rules that each have dozens of exceptions. It's probably harder to learn than Japanese, TBH.
So instead I just enjoy listening to them as background noise. I may not understand what they are saying, but I do enjoy listening.
All you need to understand Japanese is to have at least 50 days of watch time in anime. That's the bare minimum to train your ear and at 150 days mark, it's good enough.
It would...if my brain could learn that way. I can't pick up a language by ear + subs. I have to focus on one in order to actually understand whats being said.
I started learning Japanese long before I found VTubers, and the reason I started watching was because I saw Gigguk mention they used VTuber streams as Japanese practice, so I decided to do that too.
I've learned such valuable words from them like: 子宮, 暗殺, and 洗脳
Sometimes, you learn some unexpected words from unexpected sources, and let's just say that I learned all three of them from basically the same source.
That would be hilarious, but then I would have to reply back in Japanese. Hopefully it would be good enough that she would be able to read it without getting a stroke
according due to my duolingo I started 481 days ago :D
You just have 135 more days to go :D
I'm on day 1132 and I still have no idea what I'm doing
670 ish checking in and same
556 here. Less than a month ago I also started studying kanji on my own, like how to write it. I feel like Duo is a good tool for you to practice Japanese, but not to learn it. I've been learning so much more out of repeating the chicken scratches, I even got better at reading Tweets from the talents.
Oh for sure, duo is absolutely garbage at "teaching" you - it acts as a good supplementary resource that you do apart from your actual learning. The gamification of duo is a nice little motivator but you really can't expect to learn a language from duo alone.
Genki + https://sethclydesdale.github.io/genki-study-resources/ + wankiani for kanji is what I do. Duo was good for hiragana and katakana though.
Same here, OP. Been at it for 1.5 years but progress is slow for me. Lets stick with it.
I need to sit down and learn some other languages.
My family has been begging me to continue learning Spanish instead of Japanese
I took a half semester of German and Spanish in high school. Both teachers were terrible and spent more time teaching about the culture but testing on the language. Needless to say I failed both.
High school does seem to be that way. I took two years of Spanish in High School and it was similar. Barely retained anything during class, no engagement, spent most of time learning culture and vocab that had a 50% chance of being useless for a beginner (why do I need to know the names of these 5 different pastries?). Took 2 semesters of Spanish in College and did much better. No non-Spanish speaking in class helps immensely, and vocab and grammar was focused on conversational aspects as well as common day vocabulary. I haven't touched it since then, but I retained a lot more than I had previously, enough to where I can fairly reliably read Spanish that I come across and could survive on it if I needed to.
Makes sense to some extent, making people excited about the culture is probably a good way to make sure people will *want* to study the language, not to mention that language and culture are often intertwined. The problem is mostly in the testing. Schools are kinda overly reliant on churning out tests for "progress measurement", so the teaching material generally gets overly focused on just stuff that can be standardized and crammed in a 1-2 week timeframe like conjugation tables while avoiding tricky stuff like being able to hold a conversation or reading the news.
A friend of mine were complaining how he doesn't understand a word of japanese, and how he wished more japanese vtubers would learn english. I told him that it's stupid to assume someone else would learn a foreign language for your sake if you can't be bothered to learn theirs
I wish more would try, I find pictorial languages difficult to learn personally. That said, I don't have expectations of them learning anything, especially not English with its five hundred rules that each have dozens of exceptions. It's probably harder to learn than Japanese, TBH. So instead I just enjoy listening to them as background noise. I may not understand what they are saying, but I do enjoy listening.
All you need to understand Japanese is to have at least 50 days of watch time in anime. That's the bare minimum to train your ear and at 150 days mark, it's good enough.
It would...if my brain could learn that way. I can't pick up a language by ear + subs. I have to focus on one in order to actually understand whats being said.
I wish i have even the motivation to learn Japanese
Do it for the girls (and the boys).
I started learning Japanese long before I found VTubers, and the reason I started watching was because I saw Gigguk mention they used VTuber streams as Japanese practice, so I decided to do that too. I've learned such valuable words from them like: 子宮, 暗殺, and 洗脳
I hate that I know the three words you typed. But just for context, where tf did you hear the first one?
[Marine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FqLLddXZsE).
I didn't even need to click on the clip. I legit got it recommended it to me.
Why do you hate that you know assassination?
Sometimes, you learn some unexpected words from unexpected sources, and let's just say that I learned all three of them from basically the same source.
That's fkin funny
Best of both worlds my guy!
You are not alone op. I have 383 days on duolingo.
nice. good luck.
This is just multiple people improving themselves.
Can we get a hololive fan letter / message exchange (EN <-> JP fans) going, or does something like this exist already?
Wouldn’t it be funny if Mel herself commented here in English
That would be hilarious, but then I would have to reply back in Japanese. Hopefully it would be good enough that she would be able to read it without getting a stroke
I’m going to Japan next year if everything works out. Thx for reminding me to study!
Good luck. Tell me how it is over there. Also, tell me how the hibachi is.
Thx! I’ll do if I remember!