Wahaha OP wrote on March 12, 2021 at 2:54 PM

Reply to comment by awdrifter in The Worst Alphabet Book Ever™ by Wahaha

Yeah, I also had this during formal education. It's just that I never paid attention. At least not in the languages. Was more of a math guy. That half a year I learned English privately was still during my schooldays, so my English teachers were somewhat surprised.

The only way I learned Japanese was by watching anime with subtitles. That has been enough to get at least 60-80% of movies watching them RAW. Still can't write or read, though. If only there was a way to look up Kanji within half a second, while being deprived of the copy/paste ability.

Then I'd just switch to Japanese subtitles, give it another half a year and would be fluent in Japanese, too. Well, maybe not fluent, but it would be enough.

I tried buying Kanji cards to memorize them, but this type of learning doesn't work for me. If there's no immediate use like understanding a movie, I won't bother to keep up the effort.

awdrifter wrote on March 12, 2021 at 3:32 PM

I feel like watching anime with dual language sub helps (though that's hard to come by). I have forgotten a lot of the Japanese grammar rules now, due to not using it for many years. If only I had tried to go to Japan right after graduating college and live there for a year or 2, that probably would've improved my Japanese and cemented the skills.

For learning kanji, I think the only way is to be exposed to it constantly, which is not easy if you don't live in Japan. Maybe there are some language learning apps that helps? Writing it out (even on a touch screen) should help with memorization.

Wahaha OP wrote on March 12, 2021 at 7:43 PM

There's no shortage of apps, but I can't stay motivated. Worse, if I learn these without context, it's less effective. I'd need to play a game that doesn't have too much Japanese and then look up things as I go, but alas, looking up Kanji is a pain in the butt.

awdrifter wrote on March 13, 2021 at 2:03 AM

That's true, it's hard to get motivated to keep learning/practicing a language.