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RE: Learning Japanese #3 - Reading (like a child) in < 1 week
Following -- This is a great post and super useful. I've been using Duolingo for around 2 months and have both pretty memorized, but it does a poor job (like it just flat out doesn't) explain the subtleties like the different wa's. Now I know!
If you don't mind me asking a question I've had.. Your Kata example wasメール. It seems there are a lot of words like it with the ー in between Kata that don't seem to get pronounced (example プール - Pūru = Pool). How do you determine how the ー will be pronounced?
Oh, I didn't think that Duolingo had released their Japanese program yet... New information to me.
The two Kata examples you quoted seem to be pronounced more or less the same to me... With just an elongated vowel. It was something I was going to cover in a bit more depth next lesson, but if you have something more to add or another example I'd be happy to figure it out with you.
Yup, Duo released it towards the end of May. Only reason I caught it was they had a release event at our local amusement park (their company HQ is in my hometown)
And no, I think that makes sense, and I'll definitely be looking out for the next lesson then, sorry for jumping the gun :) I misread the Me (e) as an e sound and didn't put 2 and 2 together that it was just emphasizing the previous vowel. Makes much more sense if I look at Pūru elongating the u. Thanks for the response too, hugely appreciated
Wow cool. I will have to check it out because I have used Duolingo before for Spanish and it's a pretty cool program.
Yeah. I definitely don't know everything, but I've been studying the language for a while and I've spent a lot of time drudging through information to get to where I'm at. What sort of stuff have you learned so far? Have you gotten into the Kanji at all or are you focusing on functional spoken Japanese?
Your time put in clearly shows and has already helped me, so I appreciate it.
I visited Japan in late May/June so before that I picked up just a little functional spoken "survival phrases" from JapanesePod 101 podcasts. Nothing really in depth, but enough to get around ok. It was beautiful and would like to go back one day not feeling as much like an ignorant tourist so since then I started Duo and its really all 3. It starts you off with Hirigana as a basis and slowly replaces them with Kata and Kanji where applicable. It starts with functional basics - intros, telling time, family, foods, greetings etc. Where it struggles are points of emphasis and particles I would say. Still a complete beginner, but slowly trying to improve :)
You know, I was actually in Japan around the same time as you... Basically may 15th-31st. Funny.
Sounds like they built a pretty cool program on duo... You'll improve no matter what if you get into a habit of doing at least a little bit every day, but no doubt you'll need other resources to complete your studies.