learning a language through audio

[Oscar]

Very interesting read, Vic. Looking forward to your upcoming adventures.

[Victory]

Lesson 3:

Due to the late review, caused by a pestering social life, I'm not going to go into such detail with this review, and it's not entirely necessary. I realize that I might be a little insincere since it's difficult to remember exactly what happened throughout the lesson one day after the fact, but this lesson was mostly repetition and variations.

On a brief side note, I forgot to include that you learned the phrase "Nice weather, isn't it?" last time, but it's such filler dialogue that I honestly forgot I learned it. Again, for those interested it is "Ii otenki desune", and you also learn its counterpart during this lesson which is "Yana otenki desune" which I won't translate since it should be obvious what it means. Notice how the "ne" at the end changes the sentence, asking of the listener to agree with the statement.

The rest of the lesson was pretty much variations of terms we've already learned. They bring up "konnichiha" (Spelled with an H even though it's pronounced like a W), as opposed to "Ohayou Gozaimasu", meaning Good day, or Good afternoon.

They bring up "Yoku" which - like "Jyouzu" means skill full - which is used to exemplify skill when used with other verbs in a sentence. Like so "Yoku wakarimasu," which means "I understand well."

Part from that, there's very little to bring into detail. There's a few more vocabulary words that gets mentioned, but none of them are of any interest in a review such as this. This lesson was mostly standard, and probably sets a mark in the program for when we're actually moving past just learning phrases, and beginning to study the actual language. I'll try my best to give the 4th lesson a go during the day, but alcohol seems to be involved on this particular date for some reason so we'll see.

Jya Mata.

Edit:

Lesson 4,5 & 6.

Yup, a lot's been going on and I've been generally unavailable to leave my impression on the lessons. Like I commented above, the program has started to enter a stage where we're actually learning how to speak Japanese instead of just memorizing one note comments. We're now hearing more about particles (FINALLY) and so far they've been pretty sneaky in how they learn basic grammar, but in certain cases they don't make it clear why or when to use certain words/particles over others. For instance, they don't properly define the difference between these:

Yoku and Jyouzu - both mean skilled and they're both used in similar contexts.


Yoku is used as "Yoku warakimasu" which means "I understand well." It's a word that offers a degree to the verb and we established not only that you understand or know something, but that you do so well or not well, depending on the conjugation of the web.

Jyozu, is used - for example - "Jyouzu ni hanashimasu," which is a sentence you're instructed to say in these resent lessons. It means "you're skilled at speaking," and in this phrase it's the word "skilled" that is in focused. You're describing a talent, or lack thereof, which is more in focus than saying that you speak well.

This distinction is my own understanding since I have yet to find a conclusive answer, having had no teacher I've had to learn through often inconclusive text books and whatnot, but I think it's accurate. Feel free to correct me, if I'm wrong.

We're also starting to delve into a very Japanese custom of using phrases and words that mean one thing for a different effect depending on context. Certain examples that we've been offered so far are:

Doumo
Sou desu ne
Wakirmasu/wakarimasen

All of these have a specific translation but can be used in different contexts to different effects. It's very good that they at least introduce this concept early, or it'll probably confuse most students later.

Lesson 7:

More basic conversation. We're starting to learn basic, first lesson verbs such as eat and drink, and the narrator continues to sneak in as much subliminal grammar lessons as possible by repeating words with similar or noticeably different particles. It's good that he does, but without any kind of explanation it still leaves a little confusion. With the grammar learned so far, we can't exactly piece together our own sentences, beyond basic, present statements like "I'm going to eat babies," which I won't translate for the sake of good taste.

This review has come to a point where long walls of text are no longer appropriate. Not because I'm lazy, but there's that, but because the words picked and chosen at this point in the course is chosen to teach us grammar. It's difficult to analyze and summarize what we're learning now since the narrator is just repeating words in order to demonstrate grammatical rules.

Lesson 8:

More conversation and more grammar. I feel as if the course has slowed down a bit. We're no longer rehearsing like crazy, but we're still learning about as much in each lesson as we did in the beginning. One thing that's worth noting is that we're only now learning how to address other people, which is a pretty big thing, but we still don't have any kind of introduction material so far. It's seems weird that after 8 days I still can't introduce myself and tell people my name - if I had no previous knowledge besides this course.

Lesson 9:

Numbers.... I hate numbers.... Why are we only learning numbers 1, 2, 8 and 9? How fucking random is that? I don't care what the fucking time is! Ugh, as much as I find the Japanese numeric system just plain confusing, I do appreciate the grammar points though, and the extra bonus lessons continue to inspire and motivate and is easily my favorite part of this language program so far. For instance:

Japanese people will always try to avoid saying "no," because it's considered presumptuous and rude, so instead they'll resort to conversational tactics that give you a chance to alter your statement. If you propose something to a Japanese person and they respond with silence, they do so because they don't want to offend you and decline your invitation, instead hoping you will alter the conditions. This is a bit contradictory to western society where answering someone with silence will result in the completely opposite result.

Lesson 10:

This lessons starts off with a sentence that they never break down or let you practice. In fact, they barely even translate it, which is incredibly confusing. I had to go back and listen to it several times before I realized what it was supposed to be. For the past 10 lessons the narrator has been saying "listen to the following conversation," at the start and this time he translates it in Japanese after saying it without any indication that it's supposed to be a translation. Throughout the entire lesson I kept waiting for the sentence to be brought up again, which they never do. Just plain confusing.

The rest of the lessons is about... ugh.... More numbers. More grammar, which is always nice, and some verb conjugations. It's funny how the adds claim that you don't have to struggle with complicated grammar, when almost all of what we've learned so far is exclusively taught to teach you grammar and how to conjugate and adapt words for different contexts. Which is as it should be, learning grammar is the only way to learn a language and anyone who says otherwise is just discouraged by its potential difficulty.

After 10 days I'm still not convinced that this is worth 64 dollars a month... In fact, I'm almost positive it isn't. It's almost been 2 weeks and so far all I've learned is how to ask for directions, set up dinner plans and have arguments over what time and at what place we're going to eat lunch.

Like I said, the course is trying to sneak as much grammar into your skull as possible, with mixed success. I already know most of this stuff, but it's introduced well, but through a very limited scope. There's plenty of confusing stuff, and there's been one or two times when I felt the pacing was inappropriate, be it slow or fast, but this is a very minor happenstance. It's competently done, with interesting information about the Japanese culture, and it's certainly above average.

Now, do I know Japanese after 10 days? No, but I know how to say this:

Konnichiha, watashi wa Nihongo ga skoshi wakarimasu, demo mada jyouzu jya arimasen, and that ain't no lie. Swear to it.

[Akisame]

Sounds like an alright program but it sounds like a rip off to me, considering I've had courses that run for months that would be cheaper than that. You'd probably be better off buying a few textbooks, dictionaries and teaching yourself if a course wasn't available. Not that this is a bad sounding program, it seems to have the lessons right, reminds me of my early lessons in Japanese.

However I would advise you get another else cheaper or at least investigate options cause that sounds like a rip off to me.

[Victory]

For those who doesn't want to read all that - here's my verdict:

After 10 days I'm still not impressed. It's a good language course with some clever methods, but it can't possibly make up for its insane price point and it's not a magic shortcut that will instantly teach you a new language in no time at all, like the advertisement would lead you to believe, if you were stupid. The entire course is 6 months long, per language, with one lesson per day, and you're probably not going to be fluent by the end of it.

I wouldn't buy it, personally. There's cheaper ways to learn a new language, all you need is the motivation - and that's absolutely free.