Hi kanatsumoto,
The tse - te ‘problem’ is indeed fixed on the web-app, but still persistent in the adroid one (and maybe for iOs too).
1 Like
こんにちは Kanatsumoto!
Here is some more feedback as requested (sorry, writing in romanji for ease)
Japanese 2
these are prompts which I think have more than one correct answer:
- JUST - dake / tada
- HOUSE, HOME - ie / uchi
- HUSBAND - otto, shujin
- WIFE - tsuma, kanai, okusan
- WHY - naze, doshite
- HERE IT IS - koko ni arimasu, koko desu, douzo
- ADULT - seijin, otona
- KISS - kisusuru, chuusuru/shimasu
- THAT’S MY FAVOURITE - are, sore?
- TRAIN STATION - denshanoeki, eki
then there are some questionable answers:
- PAST - sugi? it should at least have (telling time) in brackets
- DOCTOR - isha is far more common than ishi, isn’t it?
- IS IT VEGETARIAN? - if the answer is koreha… - then the prompt should be: IS THIS…
- the same with WHAT A SHAME - if the answer is soreha… - then the EN should be THAT’S…
- TO CALL SOMEONE - not clear it’s a phone call!
- shouldn’t MUM be haha e DAD be chichi, then MOTHER okaasan and FATHER otousan?
and finally, there’s an A missing in this sentence:
" he doesn’t have girlfriend, so he’s a little sad "
Japanese 3
- SUBJECT - kamoku - this is a new word for me, but I learn nothing from this. Subject in what sense? In what context?
- YET (more) yet (another) - kore ijyou - how about: beyond that, moreover? - this is the sort of expression I don’t think it makes sense to learn separate from a sentence
- DAMN - I wrote shimatta and it accepted it as correct even thought the voice says chikushou
and these are prompts which I think have more than one correct answer:
- WAY - michi, kata
- SOMETIMES - tokidoki, tamaniha
- ALREADY - sudeni, mou
- DON’T WORRY - shinpai shinaide, ki ni shinaide
- TO STOP - tomarimasu, tomeru…
- ACTUALLY (FACT iS) - jissai, jitsuha
I could not find the place to put this question, so I created a new post. But, I will presume it will end up in the right place anyway 
Ok, so on to the question… Why is it written in this course, Hanashimasu, and Hanase masu. The space in between Hanase and masu, yet there is no space for Hanashimasu. I find this odd.
Is it supposed to be this way, if so, this is even more odd. An option should be available to write this in either way, Hanashimasu or Hanashi masu, and the same for Hanasemasu or Hanase masu.
And before I go, I am confused with Sukoshi desu, Sukoshi already means “a little” why add desu to it. Or is this something to do with politeness, which I may add is not really needed either way. Just an observation.
Great course, Enjoyed Japanese #1 and enjoying #2 as well. Suteki desu
Same course, different question.
watashi wa eigo o hanase masu - I speak English
Hmmm, Hanasemasu. - can speak… So, in all that we have learned, or will learn on this course is that Watashi wa eigo o hanase masu actually means… I can speak English.
Please confirm this. Seems redundant to teach us Hanashimasu means “to speak” when we use Hanasemasu anyways,
Please tell me this is right, and it makes sense. Because to me, it does not translate in to English for me very well at all.
Maria san wa nihon go ga jōzu desu - Ms. Maria, you speak Japanese well.
To me is should be - Maria san wa Nihon go o jozu hanashimasu
I understand Nihon go means Japanese language, so would this make the above phrase, casual ??? And, as a result, not look, sound or feel right to me.
Well in Japanese, there are no spaces to begin with. But I feel Hansemasu as one word seems better too.
Yes ‘desu’ is just to add a tone of politeness in sentences (like masu) and can be omitted an place. But I do not find it unneeded, for the polite tone is an essential part of Japanese speech. And it is still dominant in usage when talking to strangers or fellow colleagues.
To help you understand this sentence, I would say its literal translation is: "As for Maria-san (Maria-san wa) the Japanese is proficient (go ga jōzu desu).
And no, the sentence you gave is still polite, for it has “masu”, the polite form of verbs.
After a long hard look at the Maria san wa part of the post I can see what this sentence is really trying to say, although I still prefer my version.
The “Ga” in the sentence makes it stand out. Got to admit I sometimes forget what Wa and Ga do to a sentence. In this instance the Ga is on Nihon Go, putting this the forefront of the sentence.
As for Suteki desu, I see your point, Desu is more than just a politeness particle, it means all the little words we use in English, so Desu can become “Is” making Suteki desu as "Is a little"
Oh, and yes, no spaces in Japanese, but that is only when it is written in Katakana, Hirogana and Kanji. The Roman writing has spaces in it to help make learning Japanese easier, just like we have spaces in English. It is a bridge between languages.
Hi @88Timothy,
Kanji can sometimes scare people with its supposed complexity, but other people enjoy exploring the Kanji world… I’m guessing you are the latter. Just out of curiosity, how do you think you would feel if Furigana was constantly shown for all the items on Memrise?
2 Likes
Hi @ton4755,
Apologies, I forgot to tell you this, but once you log out and back in again, you will see all the changes made on your mobile app as well:slight_smile:
2 Likes
Hi @Helena_Poly,
Wow, thank you for this list! It is very thorough! I’ll use it when I make the fixes 
I’ll probably have some questions for you later as well, but out of curiosity… what do you think of teaching the various words for HUSBAND each as different items? They all have different nuances and suitable context to be used in, do you think you will find it useful to learn all of them separately or would you find that confusing or too much information?
Context is something that is lacking from the current teaching approach and is something I am working on now…
2 Likes
Arigato, kanatsumoto-san!
I think showing furigana would be very nice! During learning it can help to improve the connection between the kanji and the reading, and during review it will not make things easier, since it prompts with English.
Hello again,
That’s exactly what I’ve been saying: context. I really like the jumbled words feature and the short native videos too - those teach the words within a sentence (it’s a shame they don’t appear as review as well!). That’s the best way, or rather, it’s the only way for words without a literal translation or usage. I also find it much easier to learn new words when applied, rather than in abstract. And with a language as different as Japanese, I have no confidence at all in using new words I learned in isolation. And what we don’t use we tend to forget, isn’t it?
HUSBAND:
Yes, that’s what I was hinting at with mum and dad. I think we should learn the most common/formal/can’t offend anyone version as a beginner and then learn the variants (and when/how to use them) at a higher level.
Other courses do that, for example: to eat (polite) - taberu ; to eat (vulgar) - kuu and often (honorific) versions as well.
But I haven’t found any courses that teach context - one more reason why the official ones should focus on that.
Ask away!
1 Like
Hello,
I’m really enjoying the course, but there are a couple of things that have been bothering me for a while.
Certain words, phrases and symbols appear way more frequently than others. For example, in English-to-Japanese multiple choice questions, 助け, 必要 and 幸運 appear as options way too frequently. This makes words such as 選択肢 very hard to remember, since they never appear as possible answers to a question, and when those words are the focus, they can be picked out with simple deduction instead of knowing the word in question (because the other 3 are so frequent).
Also, it’s not uncommon to be presented with a complex English sentence while the choices for the answer consist of 3 simple words and one proper sentence. The answer becomes obvious without even reading the answers. This isn’t as big of a problem as the previous one though. There is a fair amount of occasions where the presented answers are sentences with a reasonable length difference and the bad questions might just be random chance. My first complaint though, happens so frequently that I’m convinced it’s a flaw in the algorithm.
Hi,
I have started learning Hiragana with the help of Japanese 1 but I feel like there is something missing between course 4 (more sounds of the natives) and 5 (test run your hiragana).
There is a couple of kana in course 5 that have not been introduced in previous courses and that are not being introduced in course 5. You just get confronted with a word that has new kana or what I assume to be Kanji (e.g. Kanpai 乾杯). There also is the word kudasai ください and I am quite sure that the kana く has not been introduced in any of the courses before. Is this intended?
I am also wondering if you have to draw the letters at some point? How else are we supposed to learn how to write? Is there a special writing course of should I use a different website/app for that?
I am quite sure that these questions have been asked a 100 times before but I have not been able to find the answers. so apologies in advance.
Being relatively new to memrise, I wanted to also use this opportunity to say thank you to everyone involved making the app and the courses! I never had that much fun learning languages. Thanks a ton!
1 Like
For writing, I can recommend the app Obenkyo (http://obenkyo.fr/). Also practice writing on paper now and then, but this is a convenient way to learn the stroke order.
1 Like
This new version with hiragana buttons isn’t working properly: a lot of the time the extra buttons aren’t displaying (basically giving you the answer) and when you mistype the answer, the “You wrote” part isn’t displaying anything at all!
I like that when we finish typing the full correct answer, it immediately lights up, but this isn’t always working either.
The idea of having buttons isn’t bad, but I think it needs to have more extra buttons or even all of them in a fixed position, like a keyboard. I was doing the lesson on a different computer the other day so I used the buttons and it took me all the time available to find them and put them in order! However, with only a few to choose from, I often look at them to check if my answer is correct, which is kind of cheating!
That is a general issue not related to just these courses, see e.g. Memrise Release Notes - 28 Nov 2017 (Update on changes to typing test)
Hi @dangerdustin,
Thank you for your request!
Hiragana sessions are what we are working on at the moment, and we are hoping to launch them in the near future. You are right that quite a few hiragana and katakana are missing from the current course. It has been on our radar for some time and we are taking action now.
The writing sessions may take a bit more time as it requires some technical aids as well. But hopefully we will have good news soon!
2 Likes
I saw this issue in other topics, but the only response seemed to be to link here. I also looked in here and could not find it, but apologies if this has already been addressed.
In Japanese Level 3 lesson 38, 押す(おす)is marked as “pull (on a door)” and 引く(ひく) is marked as “push (on a door)” - I believe the translations are switched.