Why can’t I have romaji above the characters? It would help me understand and learn characters and also help me understand what words sound like if I say them. It would also help me answer questions correctly, there should be an option to turn romaji on, right?
"Can I view the Japanese on renshuu using romaji (ABCs)?
Romaji is only present on renshuu when learning the two alphabets: hiragana and katakana. All words, sentences, and kanji information will use these two alphabets.
Mastering these two alphabets is essential to understanding and learning Japanese. While learning them can be intimidating, not using romaji for words and sentences is the fastest path to learning Japanese over the long term.
In addition to the mastery schedules for these alphabets, please try our game Quick Draw if you need more practice in memorizing these characters. You can do it!"
No, it wouldn't. Of course my point is not to just be harsh about this, so let me clarify. When I first started studying on Renshuu and launched the early vocab quizzes, I looked for the option to disable the furiganas (readings above kanjis). The thing is, I realised that as long as they were there, my eyes would just focus on those and prevent me from memorising and actually trying to read them. It's kinda like writing the name of musical notes instead of learning where they're placed: you'll just end up reading the names instead.
Same thing goes for hira and kata. It is tough, it's a whole new group of arbitrary symbols you just have to know. We're all different and some you'll memorise on the spot, others will take longer. It's okay. But being forced to read them the way they are, as already said by way more experienced users, will be great on the long term. Being forced to read Japanese will improve your reading skills, as being forced to speak a foreign language will make you better at said language. There's nothing better.
When I take my notes about grammar or stuff, I have a rule to never use romajis for anything Japanese. Of course since you're learning these alphabets for the first time it's okay to write the pronunciation in your notes, but leaving those out of the quizzes is key.
Hope this helps!
Extra: When learning hira and kata, don't learn them in sequence (e.g.: a i u e o, ra ri ru re ro) because then you'll learn the sequence instead of the characters themselves. Trust me!
Whether or not to supply romaji is one of those ideological divides that people tend to come down strongly on one side or the other. For several decades, the romaji faction held the lead, but there were significant pedagogical problems, and when Unicode came out, the pendulum swung rather decisively the other way.
Most likely, the original poster does not have the hiragana / katakana schedules on their dashboard, which would give them the boost they need to tackle new vocabulary.
If you do not have them, tap the "Manage your Schedules" link under your current schedules, then go to All Schedules. You should find them in there. They will give you everything you need to get the characters under your control!
I will probably practice characters elsewhere then, before diving in here - I’m a real beginner to this language and I feel that this learning tool is less beginner friendly than I would like. I do understand why there is no romaji, clearly this is for experts! Which means not me, lol
I will probably practice characters elsewhere then, before diving in here - I’m a real beginner to this language and I feel that this learning tool is less beginner friendly than I would like. I do understand why there is no romaji, clearly this is for experts! Which means not me, lol
Silly question, do you have these schedules active?
You can see the readings when studying them or seeing their contents. Just not in quizzes, but that's fair.
Again, struggling at first it's okay. Embrace it, don't hate it and find joy in the early achievements. When I started studying Japanese in Uni 12 years ago I had to learn hira and kata in one week cause we used Minna no Nihongo as textbook and the temptation to give up was strong. But you don't have a deadline, so learn at your own pace and don't overthink it.
When you use romaji to learn kanji, you end up just reading the kana and ignoring the kanji. It's a behavioral thing our brains do and it's not really feasible to avoid. It's much faster and more worth it to learn the kanji as they are, even if it is harder.
Also, your goal shouldn't' necessarily be just "answer questions right", but be able to memorize and use words outside of questions. Treat the flashcards mentally like a quiz rather than a game/trivia, it helps with retrieval a lot.
Just keep practicing everyday, trust me it gets easier :)
