It goes without saying that いまび is no Tae Kim's Guide. If that were my goal, I could have just uploaded their pdfs to the Internet as my own, but even then I would be late to the game. Though いまび remains unfinished, my vision for it is to guide people to a far deeper understanding of the language that wouldn't otherwise be possible with a traditional resource.
First and foremost, いまび is a compilation of study material for learners of all levels. Each lesson is meant to properly to teach the topic(s) included with material revised and ordered in accordance with feedback.
いまび is admittedly not easy in the sense that it was not designed to be an alternative to standard resources such as the Genki series. Although those resources alone are not enough to even master the basics, they give beginners a good start in a simple classroom environment.
As for いまび, it will not and should never be the equivalent of telling a class of algebra students that X + Y = Z and leaving it at that. If you want that experience, let me introduce you to www.guidetojapanese.org.
All jokes aside, the world is full of resources designed to hold your hand. Everyone's goal is different. Do you want to learn Japanese just to understand anime? Do you have a Japanese spouse and wish to communicate with them at an even level? Do you want to be a translator? Each motive requires a different level of proficiency.
- Why All This Vocab and Kanji?
When reading through any mainstream textbook, a learner is expected to study a few hundred words here and a few hundred Kanji (Chinese characters) there. At most, a learner may pass N3 if they study really hard with their classroom textbooks. In reality, an educated native speaker will know upwards of 50,000 words and will recognize 3-5,000 Kanji. The gap between learner and native by these numbers is terrifying.
It is also true that of those 50,000 words that only about 2,000 unique words will be used by a speaker on any given day. The amount of Kanji used will also be significantly less than 3,000. What makes the rest so important is that with each new conversation, different words and Kanji will be needed. If you were tasked with devising a way of teaching as much vocab and Kanji as feasibly possible, what would you do?
Mainstream textbooks choose to opt for that 2,000 word benchmark, but in reality, a learner will only be made to learn a few hundred handpicked vocabulary and Kanji, always centered around readings created to achieve that purpose. Mistakes brought about from the simplified explanations are meant to be corrected by the teacher, whose goal is to make sure you're on topic and not so much that you're learning as much Japanese as possible. Your hand is held and there is zero obligation and incentive to steer off course, lest you wish to fail your class.
Here at いまび, you are in control of how much time you devote to Japanese. You have just as much access to what's on the Internet as anyone else. If you're studying Japanese at school, you have all the more resources at your disposal. If you find word choices out of reach, perhaps you should read a book or two.
It goes without saying that there are many different kinds of learners. Some are much more comfortable with learning through practice with natives, while many adult learners prefer instruction. Here, it's my job to make sure that that topic is explained as best as possible. You are tasked with having that dictionary tab open. You are the one responsible for reading practice.
- Do You Listen to Feedback?
Yes! Devoted users know very well that all it takes to have something considered or changed is that simple e-mail. Some suggestions take longer to fulfill than others, but feedback has always been crucial to the development of this website.
- Are You Native?
Although I am not a native speaker, I have spoken the language for 16 years. I continue pushing myself to better my own skills so that I may be a better educator. Native input has been an invaluable factor into the development and proofreading of the website's content and are free to give their critiques so long as said feedback is not emotionally driven. The same standard of proof is applied to all who wish to contribute.
