'Textbook Taught Me the Basics' #learnjapanese

[EmmaSenshi]

It's crazy how non-Japanese people in the comments want to correct you, a native Japanese, on how to "correctly" speak the language.

[amanosatoshitranslates]

"See? Japanese text books don't mention about 3 stages of matter. Those are not real"

[maplmage]

it seems clear that the guy who posted that comment themselves didn't learn Japanese, either from a textbook or from alternative resources.
textbooks, or more precisely grammar books, will absolutely teach you the basics. Things like how to conjugate verbs and adjective, how to count, and other basic grammatical structure and expressions. Having said that, grammar is only maybe 10% of the language, and you need to acquire vocabulary from consuming Japanese using a variety of sources including books, podcasts, movies, and what have you. Acquiring vocabulary is arguably the hardest part in Japanese and probably most other languages. Acquiring a vocabulary entails knowing what it means, how to pronounce it, it's kanji representation, how to use it in various contexts, its nuance and how it differs from similar words. just knowing A means B is not enough. also, vocabulary is not limited to things like nouns, verbs and adjectives - it also encompasses things like 四字熟語、ことわざ、故事成語 and other forms of expression.

[KaoruMzk]

That sentence is word for word in any decent textbook printed within the last 14 years so I don't know what the heck the OP was talking about.

[tenchfroast]

I'm curious how they learned to say that phrase grammatically then, or if they just meant that because anime was never mentioned in class or in a book, they'd never say it. I'm pretty sure that's one of the ways things were said when I studied it, so I'm not sure what the issue is.

Anyway, here's why I subscribed to your channel! I studied Japanese in school for 7 years. 3 in high school and 4 in university. By then, it was advanced enough that we didn't write or speak English at all in class unless there was a serious need, and I was deemed good enough to participate in the teaching program abroad (I didn't).

Fast forward many, many, many years later and I can barely remember katakana let alone anything else. I'm back to square one because after I graduated, I lost touch with all of the Japanese speakers I knew, stopped reading and writing it, and wasn't watching as much Japanese media anymore. When I did, I used subtitles.

I didn't lose the language all at once. It happened gradually where I started mixing up Japanese with other languages I speak. Then the ability to read went, then the writing, then speech and pronunciation. No one who meets me now would ever believe that I spoke or read Japanese as fluently as I once did. Use it or lose it is real, and those 7 years that got me where I was is time I'll never get back.

The only upside is that being sad about losing something so important finally motivated me to relearn, and while I know I won't regain anywhere near that level of fluency again without the structure and immersion I used to have, I hope that some of what's buried in my brain will resurface.

So I've been refreshing on the basics, which textbooks and even apps absolutely do teach you. But I also committed to subbing to channels like yours and going back to reading, writing, and watching Japanese again.

I'm excited every time I stumble across something I do remember, and it motivates me even more to know that stuff is still in there somewhere waiting to be revived.

ETA: Even being in the dark now, my gut tells me that Duolingo, which I started using just to refresh on kana, isn't great in its actual lessons. I don't remember enough to be able to say why I think some of it's wrong but I remember enough to feel it in my bones 🤣

[DimiDzi]

I thought only subjects end in wa and the objects are always with ga unless it is a negative sentence, so far my teacher haven't corrected me or any of my classmates about using ga in the questions as well

[foxmccloud]

I think it gets confusing, because you were taught that this way is correct, but actually see how it use...That is strange...Why is it like this? ''Oh, this is use for only this situation'' Then see the contrary...I do understand the confusion, but sometimes, stuffs like that is normal...But...I did see typos in Spanish, FF7...Or words don't match what is happening. But you need to be pretty advance to really tell if it is a typo or not...

[sourgummiescureyourpain]

I learned that 好き is always used with が.

So it'd be アニメが好きですか？

Is that wrong? Or does the meaning change between the same sentence/question with が versus は?

Thanks in advance!:)

[name]

Yuta, is it true that a mistranslation of "mokusatsu" was the cause of the atomic bombings during World War II?