So lets start with lesson 1 review for me
Duolingo first module review
Hiragana:
San 3 さん
ichi 1 いち
ni 2 に
chi ち
n ん
I い
sa さ
yo よ
pretty simple right this app relays on repetition, so you get to match pairs and identify each symbol over and over and over again.
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Lingo deer Lesson 1 (Apparently I Did the Alphabets with this one too, but since I am reviewing it says I don't need to do that)
Nationality: You get 4 pictures ..chose American
Katakana
Choices are -アメリカ人 (uncle sam top hat), 日本人(kimono), イギリス人(beefeater hat), and 中国人 (t-shirt with dragon waving red flag)
American, Japanese, British and Chinese.
人 the end indicates person not country and in this instance the 人 symbol is pronounced “Jin”(other times it sounds like hito (hee-toe) but thats much much later)
So we choose American because that’s what it wants. And then do the same for Japanese and American again.
Next is listening skill
It says "nihonjin" and I am to chose out of the same choices as previously given 日本人 this time I am given the hiragana to compare にほんじん
Pictures again and I am to chose British イギリス人 and then Chinese 中国人
It repeats with pictures and sound only then for the last 4 it has you pick from character cards and you build the 4 words.
This program has a huge learning curve, so I recommend pairing this with another app.
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Mondly languages
This one throws pictures and kanji at you for 7-9 “lessons” not as useful and I don’t use it every day
Lesson one Teaches you sister as Imoto when more correct would be younger sister, haha for mother, Ototo for brother (younger brother), and chi chi
Konichiwa. (こんにちは)-hello
This is my mother. 之女は私の母です
this is my father. 之 は私の父です
this is my (younger)sister. 之 は私の妹です
This is my (younger) brother 之は私の弟です
Ok great you taught me stuff more advanced than my brain could grasp in lesson one..thanks app. (But because of this app elementary kanji level 1 was a bit easier)
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Memrise
Koこ nん niに chiち ha;waは sa さ yoよ uう naな raら soそ
Hello- こんにちは
welcome ようこそ
good byeさようなら
This one is a good beginner app too as it starts with hiragana AND it adds “sounds of the natives” where a sound clip of someone actually speaking what you learned comes on and you have to chose what they said. It is good reinforcement..
i did break down and pay for this one when it was 90% off
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Drops
shows you pictures for 5 minutes and tell you the word…only issue with this is its not just the word, it adds things to the word for example “my” is taught as watashino. Which is correct but watashi is polite and female I while the “no” is the indicator of possession like an English “ ‘s”. It bothers me a little
First lesson was
Hiragana alphabet: (so this would be good to pair with duolingo in the beginning) gives you the pronunciation with the character
あいうえおかきくけこ
A あ Iい uう eえ oお kaか kiき kuく keけ koこ
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I also us an app “ Hiragana and Katakana” lets you chose how many to learn at a time and it is multiple choice /flash card style. It has everything in it to burn 2 of the three sets of “lettering” The Japanese use.
“Write it- Japanese” teaches you stroke order and you can use any touch screen to use this and practice.
Last but definitely not least is “Kanji study”
80 for elementary 1, 160 for elementary 2, and 200 for elementary 3 (I am barely on 3).
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Kanji for lesson 1 is:
八 -Hachi -8
ON(ハチ) --I really don't know what this is but it is provided with each kanji---
KUN (や·ya · や.つyatsu · やっ.つyatutsu ·よう) --this is what I have observed as "normal" yatsu and yatutsu being like 8th and .8