Is it right this is the first post at this group? Im just wondering which language you guys are learning.
I realize I am quite late to the party XD studying Japanese when I get the time, watch a lot of anime to keep the words I've learned, and learn new ones. (even if it is not usually recommended) For example, this week through one piece, I learned the words, Mi and Funa, which is fruit and Boat. I also regained my knowledge after hearing Nami (Which made me think of wave immediately) Overall, I still have a long way to go. I can read some Hiragana and some Kanji, but I am not focusing on reading but rather learning vocabulary. Specifically, for the past few years, I've been studying particles, nouns and verbs. My native languages are English and Afrikaans XD so it was interesting to hear that the pronunciation of vowels in Japanese is actually a mixture of the two languages. (roughly) what was also cool, is that our grammar is very similar in Afrikaans! Ons (we) gan more (tomorrow) gaan (go) (we will go tomorrow) Watatachi (we) ga ashita (tomorrow) ni ikimasu (go) (we will go tomorrow) Watse een (which one) will (want) jy (do you) eet? (to eat?) (which one do you want to eat?) dotshi ga (which one) tabetai (want to eat) desu ka? (?) (Which one do you want to eat?) it's only slightly different in some cases I studied the particles, wa, ga, ka, no, de, e, ni, ne, mo, ja nai (nai) and to, while studying some verbs. I started with the basic and most important ones: Taberu = to eat, Nomu = to drink, Yonderu (to read), Deru (to go out), Iku (to come or go), Kaki (to write), Shaberu (to chat), Hashiru (to run), suwaru (to sit), shinu (to die) ikiru (to live), Hajimeru/hajimaru (to start), Makeru (to lose), katsu (to win), neru (to sleep), okoru (to become mad), Naru (to become) etc. (many more XD still learning) While learning the verbs, I also concentrated on learning the pattern for different verbs (I don't know nearly all of them yet)m The ones I know how to use pretty well right now are: Masu (present formal), Mashita (present past formal), Deshita (present past informal), Tekudasai (polite way of demanding, asking), Nasai (rude way of demanding something) Te Imasu (to do something right now). (studying more when I have time.) Then, I started studying more nouns, such as: ki (tree), tori (bird), mushi (bug), densha (train), jitensha (bycycle), josei (girl), dansei (boy), otoko (man), ona (woman), mizu (water) hi (fire or day), Yuki (snow, courage, bravery), kuruma (car), hito (people), hfku (clothes), furo (bath), natsu (summer), etc. Then I learned, that hey, Japanese does not have just verbs, but verbs that aren't verbs in the normal sense XD so I started learning those, such as: kawai (to be scared), urushii (to be happy), hazukashii (to be embarased), itaiii (in pain/it hurts), hoshii (to want) etc, with their negative form of kunai, so like hoshkunai (Don't want) kawaikunai (to not be afraid) etc. ...and yeah XD after a few years, I can understand about 50-55% of Japanese in Anime by now so that's nice. Music is a bit harder, as they sometimes use words that aren't commonly used, such as doro, which means doll, where instead most of the time people use Ninggjo (doll, mannequin etc) I really enjoy learning the language when I have time or listening to it when I need a break. I would love to go to Japan one day, but first I need to graduate from my college. I hope everyone is doing well I would love to hear about everyone's progress, and how they are feeling! It's always nice hearing how everyone else's progress is going! Also XD if there are native Japanese speakers on here that would like to talk to a learner, hit me up XD