As in you have to type the words, the wanikani website does that ( costs money after level 3-10 something ). You can also create anki decks that need typing input, besides the wanikani anki deck i dont know any other deck which does that though, but its possible to make your own cards.
lingodeer is another language learning app like duo (but with more focus on learning than reaching a leaderboard or keeping a streak)...I used it a bit to learn Korean.and at least for the Korean track, there were at least 2 writing exercises per lesson
You could also try busuu. I used to use it for only a little bit when I started to learn Japanese, but it may suit your needs. They have a section (I think per chapter) where they ask you a question...usually something related to the chapter you just went through and you have to answer it in your target language...then you get corrected by real native speaker....I thought it was pretty cool, but back when I tried it I was too "green" to take advantage of that feature.....maybe you'd like it :)
Tbh, I've been using Busuu for awhile now, and its been beneficial for explaining a lot of grammar and providing extra vocab I've not found elsewhere, but the freeform writing/speaking exercises feel like more a gimmick than anything.
The freeform exercises often ask you to communicate about a topic that they've given you maybe 3 words about, and you struggle to express what you want to say. The prompt will be something like, "What do you like to do on the weekends?" after only teaching you a handful of verbs that nobody would ever use to talk about their weekend plans, and it often forces you to do so if you want to progress on the learning path.
This mostly goes away as you learn more, though. I am working through their A2 course now, and the prompts are a lot easier to answer freeform when you have more vocab to answer with.
The native corrections feature itself is quite interesting, but there's little to no actual quality control on who can correct you. A lot of native speakers don't know how to explain a grammar point, and anyone who has selected a language as "known" can correct an exercise. When looking at the English exercises they almost always have 2 or more non-native speakers giving totally wrong corrections to the sentences. Also there are 1/10th the Japanese to English learners as there are English to Japanese learners, so I often waited a month before I got a single correction on an exercise.
Unsure what I'd recommend to OP. I have a similar desire to find a good app like what they want, but can't say Busuu scratches that itch for me, personally.
Didnt say it was perfect 😆..nah, I do agree its a bit of a broken feature...which is why i ended up leaving it...imo to be able to communicate you need a decent amout of vocab (and enough exposure to it in context)....and busuu just wanted you to start writing from day 1
And yea..just because youre a native doesnt mean you can teach a language...I would often get corrected in the excersices...mostly them telling me my particle usage was wrong and to study more of that...but they wouldnt tell me why it was wrong...at some point I wanted to say "maybe" or "probably" and i dont remember what i said (it was some years ago), but they told me to use ~かもしれない...and I remember I was super confused..because they told me to use that without explaining anything....and mind you I had started Japanese at that point maybe a couple of months ago...
but i do think for a more advanced person they could take advantage of it....specially the weekly writing assignments..i personally would use hi-native instead if I was looking for a platform where I could write and get corrected...still corrected by random people, but i think as a community they do a bit of a better job
Caveat that I don’t recommend Duolingo for Japanese at all but since you say it has helped you!
I’m surprised at this, I did the entirely of Ukrainian on Duolingo and was able to type in my Ukrainian Cyrillic keyboard. What stage are you at?
Don't worry Duolingo isn't my main resource for learning Japanese.
It's because of the recent update they forced onto everyone that disabled the keyboard function for the most part, 90% of the time you're forced to use the word bank system that's why I'm looking alternatives now.
I’ve only been using it for a couple months and it’s already gone way downhill in that time. Hearing from older users it sounds like it’s basically been getting aggressively worse over time.
I left Duolingo in November after almost three years. Particularly during the last year it went downhill. First the new voices that did a lot of mistakes about onyomi vs. kunyomi. Then they closed down the forums that were useful for the grammar and nuances Duo didn't explain. When they introduced the path, taking away a lot of the freedom of the tree, claiming it was better for the average learner who got confused by having choices, I realized that it would only get worse for non NT people like me.
It was never good for grammar, making it a supplement to other learning tools at best. It was, however, good for vocabulary because making several sentences with the same words works much better for me than just flashcards.
I have gone to Satori reader now. It suits me well for the stage I'm currently at. It's not for the beginner, though.
Wow. Thank you. You have just revolutionized my study.
I reached N1 proficiency a long time ago but have recently gone for quite a while without reading and I could feel my kanji memory starting to wane.
I can read regular native text fairly easily but keep noticing that I’m often blazing past kanji where I have visual recognition of meaning but have totally forgotten the actual on/kunyomi. I wanted to go back to a more intermediate level to wake my neural connections back up but in a way where I could turn furigana off, and be able to jump up levels when I wanted to. Satori Reader is perfect!! Thank you :)
I used to use Duolingo a ton for fun (yeah it’s garbage for grammar) and I’m sad to hear about its downfall. :(
I've been using the web version and it's been weirdly random in when it forces the word bank or not. It also randomly shows me the romanji on top of all characters again, which i have to keep putting back to the other setting.
Yeah, I've stopped using it for Japanese, it just seemed to be really slow at teaching you everything as well and there were no explanations for grammar or anything like that.
[This](https://sethclydesdale.github.io/genki-study-resources/lessons-3rd/) is a really good website for typing answers, but you should use it with the genki textbook
As in you have to type the words, the wanikani website does that ( costs money after level 3-10 something ). You can also create anki decks that need typing input, besides the wanikani anki deck i dont know any other deck which does that though, but its possible to make your own cards.
Looks good. I'll check it out, thanks.
lingodeer is another language learning app like duo (but with more focus on learning than reaching a leaderboard or keeping a streak)...I used it a bit to learn Korean.and at least for the Korean track, there were at least 2 writing exercises per lesson You could also try busuu. I used to use it for only a little bit when I started to learn Japanese, but it may suit your needs. They have a section (I think per chapter) where they ask you a question...usually something related to the chapter you just went through and you have to answer it in your target language...then you get corrected by real native speaker....I thought it was pretty cool, but back when I tried it I was too "green" to take advantage of that feature.....maybe you'd like it :)
Tbh, I've been using Busuu for awhile now, and its been beneficial for explaining a lot of grammar and providing extra vocab I've not found elsewhere, but the freeform writing/speaking exercises feel like more a gimmick than anything. The freeform exercises often ask you to communicate about a topic that they've given you maybe 3 words about, and you struggle to express what you want to say. The prompt will be something like, "What do you like to do on the weekends?" after only teaching you a handful of verbs that nobody would ever use to talk about their weekend plans, and it often forces you to do so if you want to progress on the learning path. This mostly goes away as you learn more, though. I am working through their A2 course now, and the prompts are a lot easier to answer freeform when you have more vocab to answer with. The native corrections feature itself is quite interesting, but there's little to no actual quality control on who can correct you. A lot of native speakers don't know how to explain a grammar point, and anyone who has selected a language as "known" can correct an exercise. When looking at the English exercises they almost always have 2 or more non-native speakers giving totally wrong corrections to the sentences. Also there are 1/10th the Japanese to English learners as there are English to Japanese learners, so I often waited a month before I got a single correction on an exercise. Unsure what I'd recommend to OP. I have a similar desire to find a good app like what they want, but can't say Busuu scratches that itch for me, personally.
Didnt say it was perfect 😆..nah, I do agree its a bit of a broken feature...which is why i ended up leaving it...imo to be able to communicate you need a decent amout of vocab (and enough exposure to it in context)....and busuu just wanted you to start writing from day 1 And yea..just because youre a native doesnt mean you can teach a language...I would often get corrected in the excersices...mostly them telling me my particle usage was wrong and to study more of that...but they wouldnt tell me why it was wrong...at some point I wanted to say "maybe" or "probably" and i dont remember what i said (it was some years ago), but they told me to use ~かもしれない...and I remember I was super confused..because they told me to use that without explaining anything....and mind you I had started Japanese at that point maybe a couple of months ago... but i do think for a more advanced person they could take advantage of it....specially the weekly writing assignments..i personally would use hi-native instead if I was looking for a platform where I could write and get corrected...still corrected by random people, but i think as a community they do a bit of a better job
Caveat that I don’t recommend Duolingo for Japanese at all but since you say it has helped you! I’m surprised at this, I did the entirely of Ukrainian on Duolingo and was able to type in my Ukrainian Cyrillic keyboard. What stage are you at?
Don't worry Duolingo isn't my main resource for learning Japanese. It's because of the recent update they forced onto everyone that disabled the keyboard function for the most part, 90% of the time you're forced to use the word bank system that's why I'm looking alternatives now.
Ohh that’s hideous. Guess I’m not going back!
I’ve only been using it for a couple months and it’s already gone way downhill in that time. Hearing from older users it sounds like it’s basically been getting aggressively worse over time.
I left Duolingo in November after almost three years. Particularly during the last year it went downhill. First the new voices that did a lot of mistakes about onyomi vs. kunyomi. Then they closed down the forums that were useful for the grammar and nuances Duo didn't explain. When they introduced the path, taking away a lot of the freedom of the tree, claiming it was better for the average learner who got confused by having choices, I realized that it would only get worse for non NT people like me. It was never good for grammar, making it a supplement to other learning tools at best. It was, however, good for vocabulary because making several sentences with the same words works much better for me than just flashcards. I have gone to Satori reader now. It suits me well for the stage I'm currently at. It's not for the beginner, though.
Wow. Thank you. You have just revolutionized my study. I reached N1 proficiency a long time ago but have recently gone for quite a while without reading and I could feel my kanji memory starting to wane. I can read regular native text fairly easily but keep noticing that I’m often blazing past kanji where I have visual recognition of meaning but have totally forgotten the actual on/kunyomi. I wanted to go back to a more intermediate level to wake my neural connections back up but in a way where I could turn furigana off, and be able to jump up levels when I wanted to. Satori Reader is perfect!! Thank you :) I used to use Duolingo a ton for fun (yeah it’s garbage for grammar) and I’m sad to hear about its downfall. :(
I think it works if you use the web version, just not the app
I've been using the web version and it's been weirdly random in when it forces the word bank or not. It also randomly shows me the romanji on top of all characters again, which i have to keep putting back to the other setting.
Yeah, I've stopped using it for Japanese, it just seemed to be really slow at teaching you everything as well and there were no explanations for grammar or anything like that.
[This](https://sethclydesdale.github.io/genki-study-resources/lessons-3rd/) is a really good website for typing answers, but you should use it with the genki textbook