Is Duolingo Really a Good Way to Study Japanese? | A Japanese Man Reacts to Duolingo

there we go what you really should be careful using these kind of very casual broken Japanese really [Music] yeah and welcome to let's ask shogo so recently I have announced that I actually have a new dream a new goal and it is to become a qualified Japanese language instructor I'm aiming to try to get the license to become an official instructor right now of Japanese and I have a Kobe page if you guys remember that video explain that I have a new platform to receive donations for me to go to school to get the license so right now I am very eager to learn more about ways of studying Japanese and I've actually received a lot of DMS and comments about it too like what's the best way to study Japanese so today I like to start off from Duolingo which is one of the probably the most famous application website to study language they have a Japanese course as well so today I'm going to be trying it out and letting you know how it's like and by the way I have plans to do the same video series for other applications and websites too but if you have any requests if you'd like to hear my opinions on a certain website or application or something please let me know in the comments I'll definitely try to make a video of it as well in this channel we can take closer look at Jack traditional culture tips on traveling Kyoto and social problems in Japan so Learners lovers of Japanese culture be sure to subscribe to enjoy more content so then here we are Duolingo I actually do not have an account so I have to get started from making an account actually I want to learn here we go Japanese 12.9 million Learners has a lot of people and what else do they have Spanish French Korean German Italian Hindi Chinese Russian English Arabic oh my gosh that's a lot of languages oh and it seems Japanese is actually number three number of uh people studying it it comes in third in place that's really interesting okay let's get started then let me press it oh okay how did you hear about Duolingo um I guess YouTube why are you learning a language because I'm filming a video I guess job opportunities then in a way oh so you get to choose how much time you can you can study per day oh it's really cool you can actually start from five minutes a day too oh and you can get a daily reminder to meet your goal perfect you can connect it to your Facebook account or Google account so you can get um more messages probably yeah to keep going and choose your path learning Japanese pro for the first time already know some Japanese oh okay okay so there's two different levels so then how about this time if I start from scratch the problems might be the questions that dueling will be asking but might be a little bit too easy so how about I say that I already know some Japanese and I'll press this one over here let's assess your level this short test is a simple and accurate way to make sure you start from the right place oh okay okay let's start taking the test then write this in Japanese it says six here okay oh hi have a really really big beard okay so this six would be a Roku look right whoa look that's a big voice though okay let's check oh so I got it correct then I press continue okay write this in Japanese one okay okay so this is as I said earlier I think the other hiragan are you okay that's very different I think this is probably one of the most easy questions I think awesome correct next one write this in Japanese a pencil okay okay so that will be an M Pizza in the beginning is a bone so that'll be in Pizza excellent let's make it a bit tougher okay so it gets more difficult I really like how they adjust the level for you can you actually hear the Japanese as well if you press this button okay then this would absolutely mean that that I am American there we go okay okay okay oh so this is you hear something you listen to the audio and you put in the words correct words it said okay which means I will not go to school the other leftward words would be otati mayasa every morning would be to eat yeah so it's completely unrelated and probably this turtle one next to this bigger button is probably a slower pronunciation yeah it pronounces it much slower for you for you so if you can't hear it with the regular speed you can press a turtle to speak it slower for you I think this is probably pretty already difficult isn't it okay I do not go to school it says all right okay Square would be table or Q would be nine and other means there is so that would mean there are nine desks [Music] the leftover words 3 8 Pat or seven have like there's absolutely no way that these words would be chosen if you understand each word in the sentence it's not something that you would like have a hard time deciding which word to choose I think are they sisters I'm probably sure they're asking are they sisters there we go are they sisters okay okay very good very good all right let's keep on going then so this is the day of the week and so you'll be is actually Wednesday it's very interesting how um the Japanese day of the week are expressed by the elements Monday is the moon Tuesday is fire Wednesday is water Thursday is wood Friday is gold will be Saturday is ground or Earth and Sunday is the Sun so I think that's really interesting if you memorize it it's it's really cool I think yeah so that's a Wednesday no the Bear's like oh yeah not bad not bad you're doing okay kind of thing okay so I get to skip some of the beginner Concepts interesting or then from here let me just do all of the first few tests and move on to the main part of Duolingo then the monkey is climbing the tree oh it's time to put in the Japanese again the monkey is climbing a tree probably okay this one's really really difficult though if I were to translate the monkey is climbing the tree I might say but you know these parts are the really difficult part are they in Japanese because if you use wa in this sentence it's like you're generalizing this this uh the monkey monkeys like in general will be climbing trees kind of thing I guess maybe officially if you take a look at the grammars really strictly maybe this is the right way to say it but I wouldn't say it this way though personally my grandfather and grandmother are climbing up the mountain oh very energetic oh this is so much more difficult now so this is correct and I haven't started studying for the languages language and structured license yet but I don't know maybe this is correct if you take a look at the grammar you know very strictly again but I would say sounds very very awkward for me I think if you set that to a Japanese person that person probably fix you and say that Yama will this the more it gets difficult the more it's starting to feel a little bit strange thank you foreign I think all the other characters are okay but the way this bear speaks is very strange it would probably be more natural so please press that button not bad right bear [Music] the accent is weird again probably the regular way of saying it I'm sorry I was born in Kyoto and I grew up in Hiroshima so maybe my Japanese has some not regular accents or something to intonations to it but I would say maybe you shouldn't use what you hear as a good example of how to pronounce the Japanese but anyways let's take a look at this sentence good it was correct oh my gosh this is a really really difficult one this is talking about the rock paper scissors right and in Japanese we say that is rock scissors paper so you need to understand that to be able to answer this one this is difficult okay there we go rock loses the paper this is a really difficult one would you ever learn in Texas rock paper scissors this is definitely an advanced level excuse me could I have more water well this is a really practical one when I press this it's saying as the uh the pronunciation but [Music] you know it's more squishy so again this pronunciation is not correct either it's very very strange is probably the correct way of saying it but if this was a proper sentence though you would need a comma in between is not the right way to pronounce it it would be yeah and stop in between there there is no commas here so I couldn't put that in but yeah I got it correct and I think that would be the last question wouldn't it and now it's going to be deciding My Level I believe I've reached my daily goal there we go and I got this treasure box I wonder what happens [Music] you've earned three lingards nice job reaching your daily goal okay thank you very much oh and one of the really amazing features of Duolingo is that they actually teach you how many days in a row you've been able to continue studying which keeps you motivated right see it says but your strike will reset if you don't practice tomorrow watch out and I've heard that the more you connect with other people through Duolingo you'll be able to see if your friends or family how long have they been able to study how much they've achieved in such and you'll be able to see that yeah on the applications or websites so you feel even more motivated to continue studying pick your strike gold okay three days seven days 14 days and 30 days wow again depends on your schedule or how much you're in a hurry to study the language I guess you jumped ahead to unit 19 oh my gosh I already jumped the unit 19. okay oh so you can make a profile here here too again it's almost like a social media right you get to share with your friends and family and such I get to connect and you could make a profile but for now I'll just press later interesting here we go this is it this is the page for you to start taking the lessons oh my gosh oh and I actually started off immediately from unit 19 but it's if you go back oh my gosh it was unit 1413 it goes all the way back to unit one use hiragana okay unit to use hiragana say hello and goodbye use Katakana it does everything for you step by step order food ask for the time but these sounds really really um useful when you actually come to Japan talk about your day describe your home and I think it's really important that what you learn is practical through these websites so as far as what it's expressed here on the descriptions under the units I think they look pretty useful and I went all the way to unit 19 and it starts from here so what are the other units unit 2021 oh unit 90 is the end oh and it says there is a way to jump to here as well okay how about I go back to the first units and take a look at what they're like and try to take unit 90 and if I can pass or not okay so I'm back to unit one let's take a look at these God books here this is interesting ah so you've opened up these guidebooks it lets you know about the content of that unit oh and it even gives you the tips what is hiragana and explains to you how hiragana are structured now this is very very clear exclamations let me just press these lessons here which one is red oh okay okay it says this is so very very kind it says red and the colors are already written in the picture so it's obviously this one oh and it pronounces it for you too oh and this again is listening to it so okay so this again is a hiragana lesson so which one of these is four oh okay so this isn't like an exam yet so this is still the lessons for you to learn so it gives you a lot of hints obviously this is the four and it says so you'll be able to know that this is obviously the fourth oh my gosh this is a really fun way to study it especially because it's all broken down into small questions and you get to answer it and every time it tells you great job and you feel really satisfied I think now let's try a little bit of unit three as well let me try one of the lessons you need three maybe just uh choose a random stage here hey yeah okay okay it's gonna be turning into an actual noun now heya is room select the matching pairs ah oh okay okay this is fun Sue is this okay so this is much more difficult now it doesn't tell you it doesn't give you the the English anymore so you would absolutely be able to master hiragana if you take these lessons over and over especially and unit 6 especially looks interesting order food ask for the time sounds really useful when you ever whenever if you actually come to Japan for traveling and such for example let's start from this lesson here select the correct characters for Watashi oh my gosh the level jumped so much this is gonna be really difficult all of a sudden okay well yeah of course the Japanese person I know it's this one Watashi is something that you would see a lot absolutely so it's something that you would definitely need to know oh my gosh I like The Conjuring characters for book oh my gosh this is really really difficult too this by the way is would mean like um a sin actually it would be a different way of saying me yeah or I Watashi is what we said earlier ODI is more of a masculine way of saying it I'm pretty sure you've heard a lot of Anime characters saying it but in this case it's Boku here oh and again we get to match the pairs but it's really difficult oh my gosh it has hiragana it has Katakana it has the kanji characters and also the Conch characters in hiragana combined together too once the kanji characters are combined together with other kanji characters or with hiragana the pronunciations changes depending on the kuniyomi or Umi ride so this is absolutely much more difficult okay then now I think it's my turn to go all the way down to the most difficult unit probably unit 90. here we are let me try to challenge this most difficult uh lesson here what sound does this make you're off to a good start thank you I really love it that it keeps on encouraging you to study you know a train is coming so please step back a bit this is absolutely really difficult wow this is really difficult oh and I just noticed now that you have three hearts here on the side so that's probably the number of mistakes you can make if you probably made the third mistake I think you are kicked out of the exam oh my gosh look at all these kanji characters they look so difficult it's this one though and now you actually have to even type the English too all right let's do this WOW please enjoy your meal please eat is one of the Kegel the respectful Japanese that you use and even Japanese people tend to misuse the Kegel because there's different types of cake we might have heard of this before there are these songs they are the kenjogo so it's the for example if it's a verb if someone else is doing it and you want to respect them it changes a certain form if it's you doing it and you're trying to be respectful by saying that oh it's just me doing it trying to go lower than other people there's a different way of saying it but sometimes even Japanese people tend to use it the opposite way and everything gets really confused and awkward but so this is really really difficult I think okay how am I supposed to answer Kapa monkey is it okay if I just write couple monkey because it's the sushi the roll sushi with cucumbers in it right oh okay I don't eat Cabo Maki so you could put a space there you don't have to have a space so okay okay so it does kind of uh should I say a little bit flexible too my answers that's a good thing if it tells you like there's like only one way to answer the sentence it's not a really good way to study a language I think so this is good too good job Duolingo no it's not gross okay really kimoy is actually an abbreviation of so kimoi is like a slang almost that we use in in Japan I didn't even expect that you would be able to learn this on Duolingo but this is a really high level though yeah you should first of all memorize kimochari and then understand what kimoy or Kimo kunai is yeah oh this is something you would absolutely see or hear at a zoo please don't give any food to the animals or it would be easier to say please don't feed the animals there we go what oh I finally got it wrong please don't please don't the feed the animals great job Coco I was able to show you guys finally how what it looks like when you make a mistake I should have double checked my sentence before I pressed it it's so embarrassing but as you can see you lose a heart and the bottom part turns red completely it's the first time making a mistake Duolingo even teaches you yeah bye too yavai again is another slang kind of Japanese that you would say I mean if you watch anime you might hear the characters saying it but it's something that you would absolutely say only among very close people like your friends and family yeah bye wait how would you say this in English though all I'll say was oh no okay okay okay okay yeah be careful when you use yabai though if it's someone that you just met that are not friends you shouldn't use your body though if I take all the lessons they might teach you that this is a slang so you shouldn't use it to certain people but maybe it's written somewhere in the guidance as we saw right next to the units maybe they have it there but otherwise you really should be careful use in these kind of very casual broken Japanese yeah it's seriously annoying okay what must you do who's I is this the right answer oh oh I need to include the um okay okay but Mother's Day inside part was correct though another super super casual Japanese uzai I wouldn't even say uzai anymore like I would say oozai would be maybe teenagers using it maybe University students could use it too but I don't use uzai anymore I mean it's just way too slangy kind of I guess maybe some people in my Generations could use it but I don't use it anymore this is a really really difficult one [Music] okay whatever it is something that you wouldn't usually say that often either yeah see these are the parts that's really difficult to learn from these websites or applications the Nuance of what I want it is such a super formal way you'd say I have never ever said wanted before so these are the parts that you would absolutely need to learn from an actual teacher that knows Japanese yeah fluently you know did you wipe these glasses oh polish oh no one more mistake and it's over it's telling me the questions where you actually have to type in the English is so difficult it's not just a Japanese it's a English has probably be really difficult for you too profits dropped last month it's probably okay sales I got the English wrong and I failed I could not unlock unit 90. I was not able to pass the exam due to my very poor English skills so that's it for today thank you very much for watching this was my first time actually using these websites to try to learn Japanese of course because I'm Japanese but it was really really fun especially I've heard a lot of people are using duolingual tool learn a lot of other languages and they told me about how fun it is and such but I think the best part as I said during the video too they encourage you to continue studying and continuing to study is really really important when you try to master a language so keeping maintain the same Rhythm to try to learn is I think is really really important but also at the same time of course Duolingo is probably not saying um itself either but it's not completely enough to be able to speak Japanese with other Japanese people and such so you would absolutely need on some other uh content to study maybe you might need a Japanese um teacher to teach you Japanese if you want to be actually be able to speak with someone but it would be in perfect exercise during your free time to kind of uh reinforce your studying I think I think rolling would probably be a really really good option so then once again everyone if there's any other applications or websites you'd like me to react or try out uh using be great if you can let me know in the comments I will keep on my studyings and research so I can become a better language instructor in the future and I'll see you in my next video thank you very much for watching guys bye foreign [Music]

Channel: Let's ask Shogo | Your Japanese friend in Kyoto

Views: 2,727,814

Keywords: japan, japanese, kyoto, history, culture, let's ask shogo, duolingo

Id: j1fNAA8mdFY

Length: 24min 32sec (1472 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 30 2022