Thoughts from a newbie on context

[squint]

Up front: I’m a newbie. I had some thoughts around context and Bunpro.

My question is: should Bunpro offer more context, at least in earlier sentences when the sentences are very vague and generic? I’m not sure how helpful learning sentences without much context is. For example, the sentence I happen to be on right now (may not be the best example, but it’ll have to do):

これはいいですか。

Shouldn’t Bunpro tell users somehow when a Japanese speaker would probably ask this question? With the info Bunpro gives me, I have little idea. So if the situation were to come up in real life where I could use this sentence, I doubt it would spring to mind. Could a Uber driver say it to their passenger when trying to figure out where to park? “Is this (spot) good?” Or could it be used when I’m with my Japanese friend at a sushi restaurant and I’m pointing at an entree on the menu, asking if it’s good? Or neither? See what I mean? I have no idea.

Another one I got “これはいい音だ？”

Would a musician ask this to his bandmates while going through sounds on a keyboard? Or is there a more common time when this question would be asked? Again, with the info Bunpro gives me, I’m not sure.

So maybe when a sentence could be an answer to a question, Bunpro could show the question above it. And conversely, if the sentence is a question, Bunpro could show an example answer underneath it. Or maybe the geniuses behind this site could figure out better ways to do it.

Thoughts?

[opgjoh]

I like that idea!

Going one step further, many questions give the respective “level” of, say, politeness or certainty that’s expected in the asnwer as one of those orange hints ("[polite]", “[casual]”, “[very low confidence]”). Perhaps BunPro could in addition have, at least for some sentences, a situation in those hints instead ("[talking to a close friend]", “[asking a stranger for directions]”)? Then, we’d learn what level of politeness is apropriate for certain situations?

Of course, my examples here are pretty obvious. But I imagine that the people behind BunPro could in this way teach us subtly what formality level to use in real life.
If they add these hints in addition to the existing ones, then we could simply have a setting which kind of hint we prefer – or, of course, maybe that could be a special “Cram” setting.

Or maybe this kind of idea doesn’t work too well…? Not sure if it’s so easy to definitely tell when to use what kind of language. But then, I’d rather rely on Bunpro-expert guesses than my own in Japan

[Kai]

This platform was always meant as a supplemental study aid, hence the several references to external resources at every single grammar point. I was somewhere around ~N4 when I started using this site (or rather, when it was created), and I get the impression that it is likely very difficult to approach as a beginner if your reading comprehension hasn’t gotten off the ground yet.

Try to sink your teeth into a textbook, or maybe LingoDeer (a well-regarded smartphone app) could get you up to speed enough. You’ll want to get comfortable with the various verb forms too, which (once you’ve become familiar with what they mean and how they’re used) you can drill here:

Steven Kraft’s Japanese Projects

Ever since breaking into N3 grammar, it seems that most of the points are nothing more than particularly useful applications of vocab. So, it definitely does get easier, I promise.

Apologies if I’ve misjudged your proficiency; it’s 5:30am right now and I have no idea why I’m still up. Goodnight

[mrnoone]

@Kai @opgjoh @squint
Hey

We are adding a context when it is really necessary. Like わけではない lesson. Since longer sentences take a lot of place on small screens like phones, so some people are unhappy with them. Another thing is that we have to use relatively simple sentences for N5 people, so students won’t have too many troubles understanding them.

Anyway, I will try to add more context to beginning sentences from now on.

[squint]

Cool, thank you. That’d be great