Noticing The Little Stuff

Another day, another practice session at iKnow.
I'm halfway through the course (52%)... supposedly.
The words today are:
首 - kubi - neck
速い - hayai - fast
一緒に - isshyoni - together, at the same time
日記 - nikki - diary
遊ぶ - asobu - to play
今月 - kongetsu - this month

great... another homophone. don't we love those?
はやい - hayai - can be 早い or 速い - "early" or "fast".

I've notice a few little things along the way, though.

For example, とても - totemo - which means "very".
Also, the を (o) vs. に (ni) particles - and when to use them.

i'm a little thrown off by the formal vs. informal speech.
I need to go learn about the -masu and -shou endings, and what they mean.
the whole "shou" thing is a little confusing...

I learned that the -tachi pluralizing suffix can be added to many things.
not only does it make I -> We and You(s) -> You(p) and He/She/It -> Them, but
It makes Child -> Children.

I have picked up a few misc unintentional vocabulary words...
鳥 - tori - bird
キリン - kirin - giraffe
公園 - kouen - (public) park
忙しい - busy - actually i think this was vocab at some point... but I can't remember.

several are reoccuring-I-think vocab, like 寒い - samui - cold.
That one's used it the 冬/fuyu(winter) practice sentence.

I think my comprehension is getting a little better... I'm trying to help it along.
I still don't care for the dictation thing, even if it is helping.