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How we invented new ways to teach Japanese

making.duolingo.com

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Re: How we invented new ways to teach Japanese

#11

Post by tallanvor »

wst_ wrote: post #7

How can you measure which language is most difficult to learn? It is not an universal fact. It depends on many factors. Title is click bait obviously.

It certainly is subjective, but it seems that Duolingo focuses on reading the language, so from that perspective, Japanese (and related languages such as Chinese and Korean) will be more difficult.

Unfortunately, I find learning the written portion of languages to be the easy part - learning to speak and hear the language is much harder.

Re: How we invented new ways to teach Japanese

#12

Post by purplethinking »

wst_ wrote: post #7

How can you measure which language is most difficult to learn? It is not an universal fact. It depends on many factors. Title is click bait obviously.

The study they cite is for monolingual English speakers. They concluded that the easiest language to learn was Swedish/Norwegian IIRC, and the hardest was Japanese by a factor 10.

Re: How we invented new ways to teach Japanese

#13

Post by Nickerchen »

wst_ wrote: post #7

How can you measure which language is most difficult to learn? It is not an universal fact. It depends on many factors. Title is click bait obviously.

Some of the ways to determine how difficult it is to learn a language is to compare how different the motherlanguage of the learner is to the language which is learned. In addition, you can compare how long it takes a person on average to reach a general ability to speak and write in a given language. The Foreign Service Institue publishes a ranked list if you are interested. http://www.effectivelanguagelearning.com/language-guide/lang...

Re: How we invented new ways to teach Japanese

#14

Post by shawnps »

I started learning Japanese around 8 years ago, and I've never been a fan of saying it's "the most difficult language to learn." It's like learning anything else, if you enjoy learning it and are motivated enough, you'll get better. Also I'm surprised when people assume the grammar is difficult - to me, the "flexible grammatical structures" as mentioned in the article are a good thing because it gives you more leeway to make "mistakes."

If you're learning Japanese in school, or even if you're learning it on your own, I recommend the Genki I and Genki II books, and the corresponding workbooks. If you really enjoy it and want to come to Japan to use your newly acquired language skills, I'm confident that after getting through those 2 books you'll have enough Japanese to get by and you can have fun wandering around, reading signs, chatting with strangers, etc. Don't be discouraged by people saying that Japanese is so difficult to learn.

Edit: also, I hope this comment didn't come off as too negative. I think it's great that Duolingo is doing this, and if it gets more people to enjoy learning Japanese then that's fantastic.

Re: How we invented new ways to teach Japanese

#15

Post by cantrevealname »

I'm not criticizing Duolingo, but I'm wondering if language apps are like gym memberships -- people sign up enthusiastically but after the first month, 90% don't or can't continue.

Learning a new language as an adult is an incredibly difficult undertaking; much more so than persevering with the gym. The dropout rate must be huge.

Re: How we invented new ways to teach Japanese

#17

Post by Tepix »

When I was learning to read and write Japanese, I used the iOS app "Learn Japanese with Tako" by Grogshot games. They use gamification to make it fun. Very cute, check it out! (I'm not affiliated with them)

To improve your vocabulary while on the go (hands free) I heartily recommand the "Nemo" apps by Nemo Apps (e.g. "Nemo japanese"). They're available for both iOS and Android and for many languages. You can usually train the first 200 words for free.

Re: How we invented new ways to teach Japanese

#18

Post by shawnps »

Tepix wrote: post #17

When I was learning to read and write Japanese, I used the iOS app "Learn Japanese with Tako" by Grogshot games. They use gamification to make it fun. Very cute, check it out! (I'm not affiliated with them) To improve your vocabulary while on the go (hands free) I heartily recommand the "Nemo" apps by Nemo Apps (e.g. "Nemo japanese"). They're available for both iOS and Android and for many languages. You can usually…

I'm a fan of the "Japanese" app on iOS for studying vocabulary - they have lists for each JLPT level. It's a great dictionary as well.
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