SPECTRA

[delicate holly]

I am planning to branch out into other sources, this is honestly to get me started with ground knowledge of words and phrases

[cobalt cipher]

in that case yeah, it's a fine starter

it did teach me hiragana very well, i'll give it that

[delicate holly]

Yeah the hiragana practice is pretty good there

Im remembering characters well

Not too far into learning hiragana, like I only have about 15% of the characters fully learned

Its remembering how they are written which I do struggle with on occasion

[cobalt cipher]

that's pretty good for starters. it tends to move a bit sluggish on duolingo but it's for your benefit as it drills in the characters. as you go on with your learning journey though they'll just become ingrained anyway. like i can recognize one instantly now

[cobalt cipher]

very fair. it's such a different writing system than english so no wonder, i was the same. luckily though, the only have around 2-3 strokes on average. writing kanji is where the real challenge starts though lol, i still can't remember how to write a few for the life of me as some of them are just super abstract and complex

i'd recommend learning kanji radicals, as it makes them a bit easier to remember

[delicate holly]

There are some that I know off by heart like the early ones, but im starting to remember more of them now like 'ma' being ま

Its those little long term memory notes which feel quite satisfying to me

[cobalt cipher]

right, keep on going with your practice and it'll naturally get easier, especially if you immerse more in just reading sentences. you can probably buy some kind of note papers that have little individual boxes for practice, which will get you better at writing. i can personally buy them at local japanese memorabilia shops and i reckon they'd be in most places

[delicate holly]

I dont mind the slow learning process with these things thankfully, I know a few people who tried to learn a language and got impatient very early on but its about persistence

[cobalt cipher]

agreed, very much so. you also (probably) have to actually like it. learning a language just because you want to without real passion won't really work i don't think

[delicate holly]

Ive always been interested in Japanese from watching a lot of anime and stuff and reading novels set in Japan, I just decided to take on the challenge of learning the language at this point in my life since I am in a much better place in terms of mental state these days

[cobalt cipher]

well good luck on your language learning journey! keep me updated and stuff as i'd like to know how it goes. also, if you have any questions and/or stuff you're unsure about, i've pretty much got all the basics of the language down and i'd be very happy to do my best at answering any questions you have if you'd like :)

[delicate holly]

The only question I had at this stage was if there were any textbooks in particular you recommend

But yeah thanks man

[cobalt cipher]

i personally used both the genki 1 and 2 books

i thought they were exceptional

[delicate holly]

Ill look into it, gotta head out shopping though

[cobalt cipher]

all cool. was a nice chat