Hello folks! I'm studying for the JLPT N4 in December and I'm going through the N4 schedules right now. One question that's been bugging me as I study is if I should be viewing the English translation during grammar exercises to provide some context for how the sentence should slot together.
For example: X X 魚がすきですか？
Where the options are 肉、より. Obviously the full sentence would be 肉より魚がすきですか？What I'm wondering is if it's better for me to try to assume how the sentence would make sense in my head or if I should use the English translation to figure out how it would be structured. Hopefully that makes sense, just curious what y'all do/works better! :)
I tend to read what the grammar point is about and read it in Japanese. I wouldn't rely on English as a crutch. In practice, it would be helpful that it gives some clues as if it's for translating into Japanese, but foremost I look at how Japanese is structured.
You should learn each sentence before you try to answer questions about any of them. That way you will recognize it and know generally what it is about without looking at the English.
I learn sentences and grammar in different runs, so I focus on grammar in a grammar schedule only and therefore look at the translation. In some cases I found multiple answers to be grammatical, but the translation made things clear. Like your example: The sentence would be fine if you switch 魚 and 肉. So how would I know which one is correct? If the grammar point is より, I need to know which one is less, since that‘s my understanding of より and that‘s what I‘m practising. If I get it wrong with the translation, I know I haven‘t understood the grammar.
I learn sentences and grammar in different runs, so I focus on grammar in a grammar schedule only and therefore look at the translation. In some cases I found multiple answers to be grammatical, but the translation made things clear. Like your example: The sentence would be fine if you switch 魚 and 肉. So how would I know which one is correct? If the grammar point is より, I need to know which one is less, since that‘s my understanding of より and that‘s what I‘m practising. If I get it wrong with the translation, I know I haven‘t understood the grammar.
This actually makes a lot of sense, thank you. I do have sentence practices as well so it makes more sense to focus on slotting meaning in there and focus on the grammar points in the grammar schedules.
Try to parse the sentence on your own first (go into settings and enable Hide English Translations to avoid spoilers). Then click to show the translation to verify if you got it right.
