A Couple Things [emoji] Japanese is going good so far. I would say it's been maybe 3 weeks? I'm still not understanding individual words but I've been practicing and I've been able to recognize more hiragana and remember the sound they make! which is definitely a step in the right direction. that makes me feel like some progress is being made!:) on the other hand, I'm stepping into some basic katakana and the characters dont translate to hiragana too well. I know a lot of debate if I actually need to learn kanji but if Duolingo says I should then I will. anyways I should practice more hiragana and I probably will once I get done learning what I can on Duolingo.

Japanese issues with L So here's a little question that may seem mean or stereotypical but why is the letter L so difficult for Japanese speakers? I've seen a lot of videos where people talk English but have some trouble with L? Is it the lack of using it for so long that causes the problem? This is a serious question that can help me understand why this issue occurs. After all if we don't ask questions we won't learn.

Just some thought about Japanese. So I've been using the Duolingo app, before to learn some Italian and now for Japanese. I watch a lot of anime so I want to just watch without subtitles. I feel it would give better insight to some more casual way of speaking. Except the way Duolingo teaches is hiragana, some basics, katakana, more basics, and so on. My issue being is it doesn't explain a few things I feel is important. For example, why does は make a "ha" sounds sometimes and why does it make a "wah" sound other times? Or why do some words like もちろんです need desu at the end. Doesn't that mean "it is" or "I am" like a state of being? Maybe to learn languages it's better to have more than a few teaching guides? Thanks for allowing me to blabber on and for reading this if you stumbled on to this! :)

Is Duolingo a good way to learn Japanese? Has anyone had success in learning (reading and writing comprehension) and speaking in Japanese with Duolingo? I've had some issues (maybe?) with "drink" (nomu - のむ) whereas sometimes its spelled (飲む)? Is either more correct or incorrect?

When writing in Japanese, is the style important? I'm wondering if I have to make the slashes at the end of the Hiragana characters. Also is there a correct way to draw the characters? Will i be burned at the stake for making the dash before the hook in い for example?

こんいちは! American male learning Japanese!

Hello I'm looking to learn Japanese and willing to help with English as best as I could! If anyone can help me whether native speaker or not would be any help. I'm a beginner so any help would be appreciated! :)

Preferably texting through WhatsApp or any other form of text app. Thanks!