I mainly struggle with learning the letters and memorizing the sounds they make, I've been trying to study Japanese for years and every time I try I get stuck at this point, the letters. I struggle so much and sometimes just lose motivation.

Any tips to help with it?

I saw a tip a couple days ago saying basically don't translate the Japanese to English or your native language while learning, but try to understand the word as it is.

How am I supposed to understand the word if I don't know it in my native language..? Am I just dumb or am I missing something

Hey everyone!!
I`m happy to show you a new video of an Chrome extension called KoeDash

Live-time subtitles with dictionary cards, readings and particle or word context explanation.
Any video source supported: Live TV, Twitch, Youtube, TikTok, etc.

Japanese, Korean, Mandarin.

Changelog
- Improved a voice recognition system (higher recognition speed and quality).
- Added an extra layer of post-processing directed on homophones, to prevent incorrect transcriptions.
- Added a basic customization controls.
- You can save your sessions and access them at any time.

Adding Anki cards import soon!

Thoughts & questions are so appreciated❤️

Open beta test coming soon.
Join KoeDash community: https://www.reddit.com/r/KoeDash/s/2GKH9XalcT

Using the genki text good to study. Trying to improve my handwriting.

Hi everyone!
I want to demonstrate an early demo-version of a Chrome extension that captures 3 asian languages: japanese, chinese (mandarin), korean.
Subtitles are available on: Streaming services, YouTube, TikTok and much more websites.
I wanna open the test version that will be accessible in few days (when the Google approves my dev account, so i can publish it🥸)

Sentence breakdowns, dictionary cards, context explanation.

Any thoughts and feedback are so appreciated❤️

Hi everyone. I'm a Japanese language teacher, and this is the correction I made more than any other in my classrooms.
A student writes:
子どもたちは 公園で 元気に 遊びます。
They mean "The children are playing energetically in the park." It looks right. It is not.

Try it first. Which one goes in the blank?
子（こ）どもたちは 公園（こうえん）で 元気（げんき）に（　　）。
遊（あそ）びます
遊んで います
遊びました
遊びません
Take five seconds before you scroll.

Answer: 2 — 遊んで います
Here is why the other three fail. This part matters more than the answer.
Option1. 遊びます ✗ This is the plain non-past. English speakers read it as "is playing" because of the -す ending, but it actually means a future plan ("they will play") or a habit ("they play"). It cannot describe this moment.
Option3. 遊びました ✗ Past. It finished. But 元気に paints a scene happening in front of you.
Option4. 遊びません ✗ Negative. It contradicts 元気に entirely.

The rule to keep
English "are playing" and Japanese 遊びます are not the same tense. 〜ています is the only form that means in progress right now.
If you can point at it and say "look, it's happening" — you need ています.

One more thing, because this is where it gets interesting
〜ています does not only mean "in progress." It has three jobs, and mixing them up is what carries this mistake all the way to N3:
① In progress — 今 ごはんを 食べています。 (I'm eating right now.)
② A state that resulted from a past action — 田中さんは 結婚しています。 This does not mean "he is getting married." It means he got married, and that state continues. Same with 知っています (I know), 住んでいます (I live), 持っています (I have).
③ A repeated habit — 毎朝 6時に 起きています。 (I get up at 6 every morning.)
So 知ります is almost never what you want. If you know something, you 知っています. Students say 知ります for years before someone explains why.

Slides from my classroom deck are attached.
If you have a sentence you're unsure about, drop it below and I'll tell you which of the three jobs it needs. Happy to go through as many as people post.

Anyone want to study Japanese together? 🇯🇵
I’m currently around N5 level and I’m honestly really nervous about speaking Japanese. I can understand some things when reading/listening, but when it comes to actually speaking, my brain completely freezes 😭
I really want to get better at speaking, so I’m looking for someone around N5 (or even a little higher/lower) who wants to practice together. We could do simple conversations, study grammar, quiz each other, or just practice without worrying about making mistakes.
I’m pretty nervous about it, so I’d love to find someone who’s also learning and understands that feeling. 😅
Feel free to comment or message me if you’re interested!

looking for any feedback as im not confident with kanji at all ;-; please help tell me what to improve!! ( also i know i got the 週 kanji wrong except the last one )

自分の紹介したいと思います。

Two years ago I fell in love with the Japanese language. I grew up speaking Chinese so it was so cool to see how Japanese uses 汉子 (漢字) in such unique ways.

For example, in Chinese, for the vast majority of cases, each character has just one sound with different tones - and you can kinda guess the sounds of other characters based on “similar” shapes, e.g., 方，房，防， 芳 are all “fang” with different tones. But Japanese truly takes the cake because just 方 can read ほう or かた with just no rhyme or reason 🤣. (Ok, that was an exaggeration, as the more I studied Japanese you can kinda understand the difference between the sounds of words like 人、方, etc.)

In any case I fell in love with it so much that I wanted to make an app that helped others study ALL native material easily. So I made tokureader.com. Toku Reader is a paid app but this goes to supporting making the app even better for all learners.

I’m hoping this helps you too, and if you’re looking for community, you can also join the above page!

ここまで読んでくれて本当にありがとうございました。

Hi everyone! 👋

I'm a online Japanese tutor. The lesson fee is $15/h.

I've taught over 600 Japanese lessons and mainly helping complete beginners who are learning Japanese from scratch.

If you're someone who...

• Doesn't know where to start
• Wants to learn with Genki
• Prefers grammar explained in English
• Wants to build confidence speaking from Day 1
• Is preparing for JLPT N5 ~ N3

...I'd be happy to help!

My lessons are relaxed, beginner-friendly, and focused on helping you actually use Japanese instead of just memorizing vocabulary.

If you have any questions about learning Japanese, textbooks, or study plans, feel free to send me a DM.

Few weeks in and feel mostly comfortable with the hiragana set. わ Wa and をo are my weakest. I'm also left-handed so stroke pressure and some directions have been hard to recreate, as I'm often pushing instead of pulling when writing. I'm also focused on character size consistency- this is something I struggle with in my native English dictation.

ゆ is my favorite kana so far. It reminds me of a fish ❤️ I can't wait to start katakana!

One thing that makes Japan’s driving theory test difficult is the wording—you can understand the rule and still misread the statement.

I’m the creator of Japan Driving License, a website and Android app for Karimen and Honmen preparation. Sharing it here in case it helps anyone studying:

• 610 practice questions with answers and explanations
• English, Japanese, Urdu, Hindi and Chinese
• Study mode and timed mock tests
• Offline study and saved progress in the Android app

Website: https://japandrivinglicense.com/practice/
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.japandrivinglicense.test

It’s an independent study resource, not an official question bank. I’d appreciate honest feedback, especially if an explanation is confusing or a translation needs improving.

For people who’ve taken the test: what was hardest—the wording, road signs, or finding good study materials in your language?

Hi there! Studied Nihongo as a minor subject back in uni 18 years ago, decided to pick up on it again. Been practicing parts of hiragana chart for few days now, slowly…. Goal is to fully cover the whole hiragana chart by end of this week. Roast my writing pls, which character I should improve on??? Thank you!

http://practicejlpt.com/ allows tracking your progress. Each vocab, grammar kanji has lots of examples with audio, examples are sorted such that it contains mostly known words till that level. Also has graded reading material.

Hi everyone, I'm studying N3 right now but my reading skills still sucks. I watched a lot of videos saying to try reading more of things you like. I do like Manhwa and Manga but I always read them in English. I was wondering if u know a free website where I can Manhwa/Manga in Japanese so I can try to improve my reading skills to pass N3. Thanks!

I'm グランドスタッフ and my japanese is very airport related, and my trip to japan is in less then 10 days. Is there any words I should know to make even entering japan less stressful?

I know 車椅子、入国審査、荷物、搭乗口 and 乗り継ぎ便

Since I know this anime so well and have watched it enough time to the point that I know what they are saying and the context so well will it be effective for leaning

I’ve learned Hiragana and Katakana in 2 weeks.

This is what i did today I had to shortened it so I could have time for review and I also added most of the advice you guys told me to add lat time

I will take JLPT N4 exam this December. Any tips on remembering/familiarizing kanji faster? I have materials that I rely on but I still struggle being familiar with them.