walrus Newbie Japan Joined 6034 days ago 7 posts - 7 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese
| Message 1 of 11 15 April 2008 at 6:40am | IP Logged |
I've been studying Japanese for about a year and I feel I've hit a wall. The way i was learning was starting to fail, primarily just classes(maybe studying 6-8 hours a week). I'd survived using English, druing this time and went to Osaka. It was a slap in the face to put it lightly.
I asked a friend for help and he pointed me to AJATT. Since then I've picked up about 240 kanji in a few months and I'm not happy with this. I'm starting this blog to start a plan.
The Goal is simple. 20-30 new kanji a day, while reviewing the old kanji using Anki. Full immersion. Listing to J-pop music, reading manga, watching movies in Japanese. I'll pull vocab from the manga and movies(I'll use the subtitles). 1 hour a day with my girlfriend in Japanese conversations.
My language tools: Junk Podcast, Japanese tv, Kodansha's Furigana, Conan, Shinchan, and Hiesig's RTK1.
That's it for now. Any other recommendations for a beginner?
Edited by walrus on 07 May 2008 at 8:33am
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Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6714 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek
| Message 2 of 11 15 April 2008 at 8:25am | IP Logged |
My main suggestion, since you live in Japan, is "don't use English". :) Worked for me.
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walrus Newbie Japan Joined 6034 days ago 7 posts - 7 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese
| Message 3 of 11 28 April 2008 at 9:28am | IP Logged |
Currently I'm on Chapter 14 in Heisig's RTK. God it's boring. But I'm studying in class at work, and constantly trying to learn the ones that don't stick in my head. I'm using the method Heisig says to go about it. Which has been best way for me. It takes awhile for one kanji to stay, I have to picture them on the people's heads I'm talking to. And constantly review. I love Anki!
I'm also reading Manga. コナン to be exact. Also rented some Japanese movies. I only understand about 20% of what I read and the rest just be because their simple stories, plus body language. Still that's awesome! I have the Pimpsluer program, and it's soo dry. I'm trying to add it to my studies but it's difficult.
Reading a few "textbooks." Japanese in Mangaland, 13 secrets for speaking fluent Japanese, and Tae Kim's Japanese guide. It's more glancing then studing though. I'm waiting to finish Heisig before I go on a 10,000 sentences in my SRS ala AJATT style
Captain Haddock wrote:
My main suggestion, since you live in Japan, is "don't use English". :) Worked for me. |
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I've tried that, but my vocab sucks, and I have no grasp of grammar.
Excuses I know, feel free to kick me in the ass.
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walrus Newbie Japan Joined 6034 days ago 7 posts - 7 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese
| Message 4 of 11 07 May 2008 at 8:54am | IP Logged |
Today I did 25 kanji, which is the most I've done in a single day. I'm really excited about this. Tomorrow I should have alot of free time and will shoot for 80. This is my first time with kanji so I'm trying to retain all of them the first time, and skip going through the book multiple times
Started doing SRS sentences. Not many results, but it's only been a few days. I'm getting my sentences from the JLPT Level 4 Study Page. (I'll put a link at the bottom) After I get done inputting all of the LVL 4 grammer into the SRS, I'll move to LVL 3, and so on.
I want to pass the JLPT level 3 next year.
I haven't kept up with Tae Kim's guide.
New study gear:
I'm going Monolingual dictionaries. My girlfriend helped me pick out a Japanese kids dictionary that has over, I think, 5,000 words. It highlights common used words and has examples. (I'll scan the cover to get the name later) I'm worried about using it. But I think in the long run it'll be better that I know how to use it.
I got an elementary 1st grade Japanese book. くまんの小字ドリル(the dash: is a kanji that I couldn't find) I love it but it's pretty hard, lol. But it's better than reading English and I find it more enjoyable. Plus it feels like I'm studying, instead of reading manga.
Others: Japense core words and Phrases: things you can't find in a Dictionary
All about particles
Reading real Japanese
Dreaking into Japanese Literature
and an account at the local movie rental
The latter stuff is just to supplement my Japanese studies
Link:
http://www.jlptstudy.com/4/index.html
I'm not the first to find it it's been around the forum, but just in case you missed it.
Edited by walrus on 07 May 2008 at 9:09am
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unzum Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom soyouwanttolearnalan Joined 6860 days ago 371 posts - 478 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Mandarin
| Message 5 of 11 07 May 2008 at 9:11am | IP Logged |
Captain Haddock wrote:
My main suggestion, since you live in Japan, is "don't use English". :) Worked for me. |
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I've tried that, but my vocab sucks, and I have no grasp of grammar.
Excuses I know, feel free to kick me in the ass.
[/QUOTE]
Don't worry about what your Japanese is like. I think most people will just be happy that you're trying. And don't worry about making mistakes or resorting to English or charades when you don't know a word. Seriously. I visited my best friend's parents and talked to them the whole time in highly inappropriate, casual, slangy Japanese. But whatever! That's what learning is all about!
When you live in Japan, it should be even easier. Try watching the news or the evening TV every day. Get a subscription to a newspaper or magazine. Buy all your books/manga in Japanese book shops. Make friends with Japanese people that don't speak English. When you don't know a word or grammar pattern try rephrasing what you were going to say.
Anyway, sorry for the lecture and good luck!
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Biene Diglot Groupie Germany Joined 6168 days ago 71 posts - 73 votes 2 sounds Speaks: German*, English Studies: Dutch, Japanese
| Message 6 of 11 08 May 2008 at 3:24am | IP Logged |
walrus wrote:
I got an elementary 1st grade Japanese book. くまんの小字ドリル(the dash: is a kanji that I couldn't find) I love it but it's pretty hard, lol. But it's better than reading English and I find it more enjoyable. Plus it feels like I'm studying, instead of reading manga. |
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I'm not sure what "dash" you mean, but if it's 小 then it means something like "little" or "small". It'll appear quite soon in RTK1, so don't worry. :)
Here some things and links that you already might know about, but if not they might come in handy, especially if you want to take the JLPT and finish RTK1.
jpwind.com A Chinese side that features past JLPT test, so that you can practice with them. Maybe your girlfriend can help you to navigate through it. I haven't used it yet, but I plan to.
Reviewing the Kanji A side with community and discussion forum that is dedicated to Heisig's RTK-series. Without this side I would have given up with RTK1 pretty soon. In addition the forum is great when learning Japanese.
Rikaichan Ok, I'm retsure you know about this popup-dictionary, but anyways.
Good luck with your studies and sorry for pirating your log. ;)
Edited by Biene on 08 May 2008 at 3:25am
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walrus Newbie Japan Joined 6034 days ago 7 posts - 7 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese
| Message 7 of 11 11 May 2008 at 8:54am | IP Logged |
Biene wrote:
jpwind.com A Chinese side that features past JLPT test, so that you can practice with them. Maybe your girlfriend can help you to navigate through it. I haven't used it yet, but I plan to.
Good luck with your studies and sorry for pirating your log. ;) |
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Thanks for the site. I love it it!
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When you live in Japan, it should be even easier. Try watching the news or the evening TV every day. Get a subscription to a newspaper or magazine. Buy all your books/manga in Japanese book shops. Make friends with Japanese people that don't speak English. When you don't know a word or grammar pattern try rephrasing what you were going to say. |
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Good advice. I take up watching the news in the morning, and read manga. And I have friends that don't speak English I just don't see them that often. I'm on an American base so everyone here speaks English. I physically live in Japan but it's an American bubble.
Update:
It was a sad weekend. I went out drinking both Friday and Saturday. I did reps on my Anki, but I couldn't get to RtK and forgot all of the 80 kanji that I learned on Thursday and Friday ( I didn't do it all in one day)
no my study load is 80 kanji! And this week is really busy. I'll dedicate my free time to kanji, but I'm not to excited. Plus, I'll lay off the booze.
Update:
Seems like once I got the Kanji juices going I was off and it was just a few hundred that I missed lol.
Edited by walrus on 11 May 2008 at 9:52am
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walrus Newbie Japan Joined 6034 days ago 7 posts - 7 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese
| Message 8 of 11 04 June 2008 at 8:07pm | IP Logged |
Today I have an understanding of 699 kanji. When I study kanji at home, I get sooo bored. Most days I can't keep up the 80per day and I'm lucky to get in 40. No problem though. I'm not really in a rush.
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