Note that they're not real textbooks meant for students, they're more adult education and/or self-study type books (without any exercises or review question) so I'm not really sure. They're written in a very friendly & accessible way though!
Ah! For the physics book, it's basically explanations of basic concepts & formulas from general mechanics (motion, inertia, force, buoyancy etc.), thermodynamics, waves, electromagnetism & lastly atoms. It is quite formulaic but then again, what standard intro to physics textbook isn't? It also has small sections about famous physicists who defined/discovered these concepts.
Gamification is my favorite! Also doing this with some of my endeavors - I am all for leaning into aesthetic to make something more fun and motivating. All the best with your language learning adventures.
This is great, Vanessa. As an inept speaker of just one language, I deeply admire and envy those who can speak more than their own mother tongue. I admire even more those who can speak Japanese, because if there is one language I'd love to learn then it's Japanese. My high school education unfortunately put very little emphasis on language (and barely any on English, for that matter!) and I worry that the skillset and ability to acquire a second language is a boat that sailed long ago.
I did learn some Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji during lockdown and that was via a game on Steam, the name of which escapes me right now. But it was excellent, and it was, as you say, great because it was gamified. Perhaps I should return to that some day. I got to the point where I could at least translate (slowly) the first few words of my Japanese version of Murakami's Wind Up Bird Chronicle.
Thank you, Nathan! I always hurry to remind others that I've been learning Japanese for 10+ years. It's one of the hardest languages to learn later in life. That said, it doesn't have to be daunting, it all depends on what you want to do with it.
Duolingo has its faults but I think it can be fun for dipping your toes in or maintaining some low-level proficiency. That's really the only gamified beginners resource I can think of, apart from various kanji learning apps (Wanikani is the best, I've heard).
Isn't it ironic that your worries about learning a second language are exactly the same as my worries about learning science? My education has always been humanities-focused but physics? Math? Those are some brain muscles I'm only learning to use now. I'm not getting into MIT anytime soon but it's fun to dabble.
Those Japanese text books look so cute, you wanna learn Japanese only to be able to read them. I'm curious, are the textbooks better than in Austria?
Note that they're not real textbooks meant for students, they're more adult education and/or self-study type books (without any exercises or review question) so I'm not really sure. They're written in a very friendly & accessible way though!
I'm always curious about how science is taught or explained in other cultures.
Ah! For the physics book, it's basically explanations of basic concepts & formulas from general mechanics (motion, inertia, force, buoyancy etc.), thermodynamics, waves, electromagnetism & lastly atoms. It is quite formulaic but then again, what standard intro to physics textbook isn't? It also has small sections about famous physicists who defined/discovered these concepts.
Gamification is my favorite! Also doing this with some of my endeavors - I am all for leaning into aesthetic to make something more fun and motivating. All the best with your language learning adventures.
Thank you, T.R.! I can feel some of that playfulness in your writings too, it's beautiful :)
This is great, Vanessa. As an inept speaker of just one language, I deeply admire and envy those who can speak more than their own mother tongue. I admire even more those who can speak Japanese, because if there is one language I'd love to learn then it's Japanese. My high school education unfortunately put very little emphasis on language (and barely any on English, for that matter!) and I worry that the skillset and ability to acquire a second language is a boat that sailed long ago.
I did learn some Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji during lockdown and that was via a game on Steam, the name of which escapes me right now. But it was excellent, and it was, as you say, great because it was gamified. Perhaps I should return to that some day. I got to the point where I could at least translate (slowly) the first few words of my Japanese version of Murakami's Wind Up Bird Chronicle.
Thank you, Nathan! I always hurry to remind others that I've been learning Japanese for 10+ years. It's one of the hardest languages to learn later in life. That said, it doesn't have to be daunting, it all depends on what you want to do with it.
Duolingo has its faults but I think it can be fun for dipping your toes in or maintaining some low-level proficiency. That's really the only gamified beginners resource I can think of, apart from various kanji learning apps (Wanikani is the best, I've heard).
Isn't it ironic that your worries about learning a second language are exactly the same as my worries about learning science? My education has always been humanities-focused but physics? Math? Those are some brain muscles I'm only learning to use now. I'm not getting into MIT anytime soon but it's fun to dabble.
Heh, yes, different skillsets and backgrounds ;)
I love that you're learning some physics and maths etc via Japanese though. That's next level learning 😁