kujichagulia Senior Member Japan Joined 4850 days ago 1031 posts - 1571 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Portuguese
| Message 81 of 101 18 January 2014 at 1:11pm | IP Logged |
Hasi wrote:
As far as my Japanese is concerned, I managed to do a few reviews on memrise. I had been working with this website in the past but ditched it in favor for anki. Well due to stress with the project I didn't feel like doing anki so I worked on memrise instead. I want to work through the JLPT levels there while continue to read and maintain my anki deck. Although, knowing me, I won't be going back to anki until after my exams are over so around the middle of next week. |
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I find that when I don't have a lot of time, am stressed or just don't feel like doing heavy study, something like memrise is good. It's more relaxing, and also a bit of fun. It keeps me doing something in Japanese. That said, I haven't used memrise for months.
Hasi wrote:
Reading has been going so so. After finishing my first novel I spent a lot of time looking for what to start reading next. I tried a few more cellphone novels but nothing would quite click with me. (I even spent a few days reading around 50 pages of a book I didn't like just so I would read something: not a good idea!) In the end I managed to find something that I liked which is a story about childhood friends that is...over 1000 pages long. Ooops. I tend to dislike reading long novels and manga series but I am 70 pages in and so far I really like it. We will see how it goes. |
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This is my big problem. I have trouble finding things to read in English, so it is more difficult in Japanese. I wish there was a place I could go where people recommend books for my target languages.
I tried reading things before that I didn't like, just to get some Japanese study in. No longer. If I can't find anything interesting to read, reading can wait until I do.
Anyway, looks like you still are doing more reading than I do. Good luck with your project, by the way.
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yuhakko Tetraglot Senior Member FranceRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4635 days ago 414 posts - 582 votes Speaks: French*, EnglishB2, EnglishC2, Spanish, Japanese Studies: Korean, Norwegian, Mandarin
| Message 82 of 101 19 January 2014 at 7:15pm | IP Logged |
Quote:
This is my big problem. I have trouble finding things to read in English, so it is more difficult in Japanese. I wish there was a
place I could go where people recommend books for my target languages. |
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I've actually found something for that! Here goes a really good website for advice regarding books in Japanese:
Website
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Hasi Diglot Senior Member Austria Joined 6119 days ago 120 posts - 133 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: Japanese
| Message 83 of 101 19 January 2014 at 8:41pm | IP Logged |
@kujichagulia: there is this thread for manga recommendations if you are interested in manga. other then that I haven't really been able to find a lot of recommendations for "easier" novels other then Murakami and Graded Readers/Read Real Japanese.
Oh, and this website about extensive reading
@yuhakko: thank you very much for sharing the link. :)
Edited by Hasi on 21 January 2014 at 11:07am
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Hasi Diglot Senior Member Austria Joined 6119 days ago 120 posts - 133 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: Japanese
| Message 84 of 101 21 January 2014 at 8:15pm | IP Logged |
As per usual I am procrastinating.
In order to do something productive I have decided to share my latest (re)discovery:
japaneseclass.jp
I don't know how many of you know or have heard of this page but it is similar to memrise. It also feature experience points and you can compare your daily studying with other people. You can either study new vocab or kanji by finishing "lessons" or you can practice what you have studied. Depending on your total experience points new lessons are unlocked.
Lessons and practice sessions are multiple choice only which is sort of meh to be honest. However, I like for kanji it because it tests you on reading certain terms and I think it's useful because the style is similar to the JLPT. What I mean by this is: the kanji questions can be really hard and therefore really useful. I tend to forget whether there is a long or a short vowel in a word (or not remember it to begin with) so having answer options that just differ in this aspect is useful.
I think the website might be useful for people like me who like to procrastine and like "leveling up". Seeing as I have neglected anki for the past few weeks this site makes me think I am at least doing something productive. And on top of that: it's fun and addicting :)
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kujichagulia Senior Member Japan Joined 4850 days ago 1031 posts - 1571 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Portuguese
| Message 85 of 101 22 January 2014 at 2:05am | IP Logged |
I'm really picky about my manga, but that is an excellent link. Thank you!
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Hasi Diglot Senior Member Austria Joined 6119 days ago 120 posts - 133 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: Japanese
| Message 86 of 101 23 January 2014 at 7:31pm | IP Logged |
I have a question: how do you guys get yourself into the mood to read?
I am asking because I had yesterday off and I still didn't manage to read a whole lot. It seems that for me reading time equals commuting time or 30 minutes before I go to bed. I'd love to read more but I keep putting it off. Any tips?
I managed to do some grammar reviews a few days ago. A friend of mine is taking Japanese 101 and was struggling so I helped him study. It seems like I am finally (finally!) getting the hang of で/に. I still need to work through a few chapters though before I reach my monthly goal.
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kujichagulia Senior Member Japan Joined 4850 days ago 1031 posts - 1571 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Portuguese
| Message 87 of 101 24 January 2014 at 2:09am | IP Logged |
It's really hard for me to put myself into the mood to read, because reading in a foreign language (and having to look up words) is not so much fun to me. It helps when the material is something that I am interested in.
I find that having a set time to read is good. I set my commute home every afternoon for Japanese reading (although it really depends on how tired I am). If I don't read any more than that, then it's okay, because at my level, reading is still quite exhausting. But if I make that commute time a daily habit, then I'm on the right track.
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kraemder Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5187 days ago 1497 posts - 1648 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese
| Message 88 of 101 25 January 2014 at 11:57pm | IP Logged |
Like the others said, if you make it something you enjoy reading it's a lot easier to get into. Making it easier for myself is really the key. If I'm reading something and it's really difficult then I just find something else. Since I'm still really new at Japanese that pretty much means manga. Luckily I like manga. Even if you look up a lot of words with manga it's ok since there isn't too much text anyway.
With other languages I found that it was a lot easier to get into the language by reading translations of books I'd enjoyed in English. Making it easier is key I think.
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