I started learning 日本語 (nihongo, Japanese language) when I became interested in 花札 (hanafuda, flower cards). At the time, my vocabulary was 100% plant-based. 松 (matsu, pine), 桜 (sakura, cherry blossoms), and 柳 (yanagi, willow). Not very useful outside of hanafuda or 花見 (hanami, flower viewing). But it’s what I’m interested in.
I needed more than that to live in Japan, so I started casually learning Japanese with Duolingo in 2022. The first batch of words included 先生 (sensei, teacher), 卓生 (gakusei, student), 母 (haha, my mother), and 父 (chichi, my father), even …弟 (otōto, younger brother). These things surely come up in conversation, but they aren’t very useful everyday words.
Even if you don’t know Japanese, you probably know ありがとう (arigatō, thank you) and こんにちは (konnichiwa, hello). These are genuinely useful everyday words that—of course—are also among the first taught in Duolingo. But it’s this variety of vocabulary that I feel has the biggest impact and is most meaningful early on, because it allows you to accomplish basic tasks.
After I moved to 東京 (Tōkyō), of course every person I spoke with was speaking Japanese to me. That was expected, but I didn’t feel at all prepared with what Duolingo had taught me in one year. 駅 (eki, train station) and 地図 (chizu, map) seem like they’re going to be useful, but in reality, I mostly need to know how to confidently answer questions at the コンビニ (konbini, convenience store).
I don’t know when 大丈夫 (daijōbu, it’s okay) is first taught in Duolingo, because I quit before then, but it’s a critical word along with お願いします (onegaishimasu, please) and ください (kudasai, please give me). These are words I use every day. But I have never once needed to say “younger brother.”