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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| dampingwire Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4658 days ago 1185 posts - 1513 votes  Speaks: English*, Italian*, French Studies: Japanese | Message 225 of 256 14 September 2015 at 4:54pm | IP Logged |
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W/E 2015-09-06 34h56m
Audio: 10:49 Vocab: 2:19 Reading: 15:25 Grammar: 2:07 Video: 4:16 SC: reading 133 pages, watching: 1h32m. W/E 2015-09-13 45h47m Audio: 17:00 Vocab: 0:44 Reading: 20:12 Grammar: 4:35 Video: 3:16 SC: reading 192 pages, watching: 1h10m. Over the last two weeks I've put all my spare time into reading. That includes last Friday, when I took a day off to get some work done in the house but, as not everything was in place at the right time, I found myself with spare time on my hands and spent it all reading (about 4 hours in total with a book in my hands). That now leaves me with ~350 pages to complete the super challenge: quite a change from just a few months ago when I thought I'd fall well short. As it is, there was a power cut at work today, so I'm another 20 pages nearer now :-) My video watching has already passed the SC goal twice over, so now that time is mostly being spent "intensively" watching drama that I've already watched before. It's taken me something over 4-1/2 hours to get through the first 45 minute episode of ミス・パイロット. I don't have a target for when I'll complete the series but as long as I manage at least a few hours of "intensive" watching each week, then I'll be happy. I certainly can't say that I understand and can "hear" everything in the episode now even though I've watched each scene so many times, but I can understand a good deal more than I could before, so that's progress! I've now transcribed a second dialogue from JPOD101 UI S4, and it went quite smoothly. Handwriting the text and then rewriting in an editor seems to be quite a bit quicker than trying to get the first pass done in an editor: the first dialogue took me 1-1/2 hours to transcribe and correct, whereas the second one took about 1 hour. I'm now working through 新完全マスター N2 文法 – Part 1 from the beginning, briefly reviewing the grammar and then trying the exercises. It takes a while to get the exercises done, but it does seem to drive home the grammar points more forcefully, at least in the short term. I'll probably have to pick up the pace if I want to get to the end (for the second time around) by December, but I can wait to do that once I get the SC reading finished. I'm probably about half-way through 新完全マスター N2 聴解 but I've realised (belatedly, as usual) that I should have been keeping more comprehensive notes on the hints they offer (for easier review shortly before the exam) and also on the problems I encounter (so I can get them sorted out during my tutorials). So now I'm doing that and I'll do a quick "review" pass of the first half once I get to the end. My previous efforts with 新完全マスター N2 読解 had stalled just a few pages in (20 or so, iirc). I'll definitely make some time for it once I finish the SC reading. My watching of ふるさと再生 日本の昔ばなし has slowed down (although not completely stopped) as the intensive watching has taken over. Rather than just watch folk tales, I will want to start a new series. I've had a quick go with the first episode of ロングバケーション, but I didn't think too much of it, so I think it will go on the back burner and I'll pick something else this week (it's not like there's a shortage!). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| dampingwire Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4658 days ago 1185 posts - 1513 votes Speaks: English*, Italian*, French Studies: Japanese | Message 226 of 256 23 September 2015 at 11:42pm | IP Logged |
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W/E 2015-09-20 46h22m
Audio: 16:49 Vocab: 2:40 Reading: 20:17 Grammar: 4:31 Video: 2:05 SC: reading 205 pages, watching: none. I'm still pushing on with the reading. In fact, if I have any spare time reading is my first choice of activity. I have managed to fit in the other things I want to get done, but I've more or less done just enough to meet the targets that I've set for myself and then it's back to extensive reading. I'm hoping to be able to keep the reading up for the next few weeks and finish the Super Challenge (and, hopefully, the book). I've started to go through 新完全マスター N2 文法, working through the exercises. I'm also going through the (Japanese) explanations of the grammar points and enhancing my own notes at the same time. I found another N2 vocabulary list on the net and I've gone through it picking out words and phrases that I didn't immediately recognise, and I've thrown those into Anki. I had hoped to make more progress through 新完全マスター N2 聴解, but the reading has taken priority. I have, however, moved onto intensive listening to episode 2 of ミス・パイロット, so listening isn't being entirely neglected. The transcribing is continuing, although I think I'll add more shadowing to the mix, to try to improve my recognition of the dialogues as I continue to listen to lessons during the commute. I think that as soon as I slow down on the reading (a little) I'll try to push harder with vocabulary through Anki. I don't like to spend more than 30 minutes at most in a single Anki session, so I think I'll try one review in the morning and another in the evening to break them up but increase the overall time and hence the amount of vocabulary that I can get through. Hopefully 新完全マスター N2 文法, 聴解 and 読解 will provide plenty of reinforcement. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| dampingwire Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4658 days ago 1185 posts - 1513 votes Speaks: English*, Italian*, French Studies: Japanese | Message 227 of 256 06 October 2015 at 12:56am | IP Logged |
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W/E 2015-09-27 43h24m
Audio: 15:04 Vocab: 1:37 Reading: 19:28 Grammar: 5:12 Video: 2:03 SC: reading 181 pages, watching: none. W/E 2015-10-04 38h13m Audio: 15:29 Vocab: 1:00 Reading: 12:23 Grammar: 6:54 Video: 2:27 SC: reading 88 pages, watching: 1h07m My main achievement over the last two weeks has, I suppose, to complete the Super Challenge. I certainly didn't think when I started it that I could finish the reading side, and certainly not a few months early. I still can't read anything harder than a graded reader for enjoyment, but I'll keep working on that. I've also finished my first pass through 新完全マスター N2 聴解. I plan to through again, this time taking more detailed notes. I've found that the hints and tips that it offers are often very useful. In addition, on a few occasions it has pointed out weaknesses in my understanding of various grammar points. I'm progressing through 新完全マスター N2 文法, chapter by chapter. I'm back up to Part 1, #13 now. I plan to push on through, not necessarily strictly in order, working through the exercises up until perhaps a few weeks before the JLPT. Then I'll work go back and concentrate on those grammar points with which I'm having particular difficulties (assuming that they seem to be reasonably common points, of course). As I'm now easing off reading novels, I'm going to pick up 新完全マスター N2 読解 where I left off and work out the pace I need to work at in order finish by the end of November. One thing that has slipped back in all the rush-to-reading is watching drama. I'm going to continue my intensive watching but I'll sprinkle in some normal drama and anime watching too. I also need to decide whether to continue transcribing the UI lessons or try transcribing some of the Advanced Audio Blog lessons: the advantage (or disadvantage?) of the latter is that I've never listened to them before. I'm just back now from my weekly tutorial. My tutor will be away next week and then off to Japan for a few weeks shortly after that. So I have about 4 more sessions before I sit the JLPT. I'd like to make use of some of that time to go over some JLPT-like papers that I've found, see how I get on and then clear up the problems during tutorials. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| dampingwire Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4658 days ago 1185 posts - 1513 votes Speaks: English*, Italian*, French Studies: Japanese | Message 228 of 256 13 October 2015 at 12:46am | IP Logged |
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W/E 2015-10-11 39h23m
Audio: 13:48 Vocab: 0:22 Reading: 14:56 Grammar: 6:22 Video: 3:55 SC: reading 106 pages, watching: 1h50m Although I've finished the Super Challenge, I'll still be tracking my progress until I reach the end of the book I'm currently reading. That should happen in the next week or two. As JLPT N2 looms, I'm probably going to ease off on the 新完全マスター N2 文法 work and pick up the 聴解 and 読解 instead. Additionally I'm going to keep going with the transcribing and intensive watching. I would also like to find the time to try some mock tests earlier rather than later: I want to leave plenty of time for correcting problem areas rather than trying to pack it all into the last few weeks. I've been adding 5 sentences a day to my Anki deck but I've been pushing much harder on the kanji vocabulary. For that I've been trying to add 50 entries per day. That seems quite ambitious and will sooner or later provoke a wave of reviews, but for the moment it's not too bad. The reviews of the deck are taking about 30 minutes per day and activating the additional words takes maybe another 15 minutes. I've decided to keep this pace up for as long as I can get the reviews completed on the previous day. If I fail I'll either cut back on the new entries for one day or I'll stop them completely. So far today has been the first day I've not added any new words, and that's just because it's been a tiring day at work. If I can keep up the current rate then I should get through all the entries that are tagged "N2" by sometime in the 2nd week of November. I'll use the results of the mock tests to decide which of vocabulary, grammar, reading and listening need the most work. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| solaren Newbie United States Joined 3530 days ago 36 posts - 42 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese | Message 229 of 256 26 October 2015 at 11:49pm | IP Logged |
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Would you mind sharing the curriculum you've followed up to this point in your Japanese
learning? I know you've mentioned using Jpod101 in the past. Was this your main study method? I'm interested to know what you've tried and what has worked for you up to this point. Thanks! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| dampingwire Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4658 days ago 1185 posts - 1513 votes Speaks: English*, Italian*, French Studies: Japanese | Message 230 of 256 27 October 2015 at 1:03am | IP Logged |
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I started out using Michel Thomas and Pimsleur during my daily commute to get an idea of what was involved.
I realised early on that I wanted to avoid romaji and so I hit a few websites and learned hiragana and katakana. For the Kanji, I went to http://kanji.koohii.com/ and in less than 6 months I worked through the ~2000 daily-use kanji. Not everyone likes the Heisig method bt I found that it helped me recognise the kanji and, later on, it helped me with learning vocabulary. For vocabulary I used Memrise, where I found some beginner courses (days of the week, days of the month etc) and then started to work through some of the JLPT courses (although at that stage I hadn't yet decided to take any of the tests). I don't really use memrise much any more, I've pretty much sswitched over entirely to anki. For grammar I started out with Tae Kim. I picked up a grammar book early on, but it really wasn't that helpful. I also went through the very few Japanese course books in the local library, but they didn't take me very far. A few months in, almost by accident, I found a tutor. She recommended Minna No Nihongo, and I've been using that series with her ever since. I've seen Japanese for Busy People and I think I'd've been fine with that one too. If I hadn't found a tutor then I think JfBP would have been an easier introduction to Japanese: MNN is all in Japanese (at least, the main text book is). Some time later I persuaded my company to get me a subscription to JapanesePOD101.com and I started to work through the various series. I'm still using it now. Usually I'll listen to the lessons during the commute. At some convenient point I'll work through the lesson in detail and try shadowing the dialog. I'll keep listening to the lessons on a loop during the commute and, eventually I switch to just listening to the dialogs (which are pure Japanese and, being much shorter, loop around much more quickly). Now that I'm working on the Upper Intermediate lessons, I loop through each series many, many times (perhaps a month or so of each season) as at this level even the lesson is largely in Japanese. I've started to transcribe the Advanced lessons: I'll listen to a dialog and then write it out in Japanese (listening repeatedly as required). Then I compare that against the supplied transcript. Shortly after finding a tutor I decided that I needed more structure to my learning and started to work towards taking the JLPT exams. That meant I needed to pick up certain vocabulary, learn certain grammar and make much more of an effort with listening comprehension. Since then I've been carrying on in much the same vein. I think, in retrospect, that I should have started to use native material (video and Japanese websites, like NHK News) earlier. I should also have put more effort into watching intensively (i.e. rewinding and watching scenes again and again as needed) rather than just letting it all wash over me, as I did at the start. So I don't think that there has been that much of a method, just multiple parallel strands: o anki for vocabulary o J-drama and anime for listening comprehension o various Kanzen Master textbooks for JLPT o Minna No Nihongo for a secondary grammar track As for what worked, then I guess that depends on your definition or "worked" :-) Michel Thomas and Pimsleur both got me started on the bottom rung of the ladder. Neither get you very far, but they do get you going. Plus they were in the library, so it would have been churlish not to work through them. anki does what it says on the tin. If you can keep it going then it will drill vocab into your head. I've kept going and it has done that for me. Using it is another matter though. Watching native Japanese materials has been very helpful. I think it would have been even more helpful if I'd started earlier and put more effort into some "intensive" watching. I have used subs2srs, but not very extensively. The JLPT exams are very useful for keeping me on track. They are probably less useful if you just want to be able to speak. I think I've explained to my tutor twice now that there is no spoken component and all the answers are multiple choice. I'm not sure if she doesn't believe me or she just thinks I keep forgetting to turn up for part of the exam :-) Regardless of the usefulness of the exams for learning, I'm finding them useful for reminding me to get on with some studying! Working through a textbook, especially with a tutor, has kept me progressing. It was tough at the start, and it's continued to be tough, but it is very rewarding to look back on things that seemed very confusing just six months ago only to find that now they seem natural. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| kraemder Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5177 days ago 1497 posts - 1648 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 231 of 256 27 October 2015 at 1:16am | IP Logged |
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Impressive. I think you took a more structured, logical approach to this than I did. I was so afraid of the writing system
going in that I almost didn't start at all. Then when I did, I thought I'd be fine with romaji. Then after that, I figured just kana and katakana. Then I finally realized I wouldn't be satisfied without learning their writing system in its entirety. Since I decided I was going to Japan for an extended stay, I've been -much- more motivated about watching native material without subs. I don't do much rewinding and rewatching but I am trying very hard to understand everything as I go since I know from experience it's easy for words I know or studied at the very least (even if I know "know" them) to go over my head. If you're signed up for the JLPT this December I suppose you could pass the N2 before I do - 羨まし い！ I like your blog though because it seems so consistent which is motivating. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| solaren Newbie United States Joined 3530 days ago 36 posts - 42 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese | Message 232 of 256 27 October 2015 at 5:46am | IP Logged |
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Thanks for the detailed post dampingwire. Its nice to get input from people who are further
ahead in their study. You mentioned that you think you could have gotten into native materials sooner than you did. I'm interested to hear at what point you think that would have been most beneficial. Like yourself, I'm also using jpod101 as a main study tool. It just seems to work for me. I'm supplementing it with textbooks I have on hand and I'm also working my way through RTK. Right now I'm close to making the jump from newbie to beginner series. I can listen and comprehend NS 2,3,4 and I'm just finishing the Particles season. I'm going to do NS 5 for the next couple of weeks for the casual speech practice. At what point do you think native material would be more beneficial than focusing on jpod content? Thanks! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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