Lemus Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6374 days ago 232 posts - 266 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Japanese, Russian, German
| Message 89 of 197 17 September 2007 at 5:19pm | IP Logged |
Thuan wrote:
About to finish Heisig chapter 42.
Would it be possible for you to share the parallel text for "Night on the Milky Way Train"? I´ve also begun to work on a parallel text, this could save me some time.
Next text that I´m going to work on is Natsume Soseki´s Kokoro. This is going to take some time. |
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I would also be very grateful if you could make those texts availible.
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sheetz Senior Member United States Joined 6370 days ago 270 posts - 356 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, French, Mandarin
| Message 90 of 197 17 September 2007 at 6:20pm | IP Logged |
I don't mind sharing, but I don't think I should just put up a link without first getting permission to do so. Probably the best way to do it is if anyone is interested in the texts they should PM me.
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sheetz Senior Member United States Joined 6370 days ago 270 posts - 356 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, French, Mandarin
| Message 91 of 197 20 September 2007 at 8:10pm | IP Logged |
I'm up to lesson 90 in Assimil. The lessons have become fairly difficult--it seems many of the kanji used in the lessons have 3-4 readings, making things very confusing! I've definitely learned a lot, but at the same time I'm glad it's almost over. In fact, I think the entire Summer Challenge should just about be done, as Autumn is just a few days away.
After completing a few parallel texts of short stories by Miyazawa I think I'm ready to move on to another author. I do have the bilingual book of his short stories, so that will have to suffice. A few weeks back I had started a parallel text for Le Petit Prince but found it to be too difficult due to lack of kanji and had set it aside. I just went back to it and discovered, surprisingly, that it didn't seem difficult at all. The sentences used are mostly very short and contain simple vocabulary. Therefore I'm going to go ahead and complete that one for now before moving on to other, more difficult, texts.
Edited by sheetz on 20 September 2007 at 8:11pm
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sheetz Senior Member United States Joined 6370 days ago 270 posts - 356 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, French, Mandarin
| Message 92 of 197 24 September 2007 at 2:51pm | IP Logged |
In my last week of Assimil. For the last set of lessons they had taken out the romaji underneath the Japanese script so following along with the audio was a little tough at first. But now I seem to have adjusted fairly well and no longer have a need for that crutch.
Completed up to Chapter 9 of the J/E parallel text for "Le Petit Prince." After I'm done I'll post a download link for anyone wanting it as I believe both the Japanese and English translations are in the public domain.
Summer is officially over now, so I guess that means the Total Annihilation challenge should be too. I'll probably change the title of this thread pretty soon to reflect that. I've come a long way in just these few short months, but I know that I still have a long way to go in mastering the Japanese language.
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sheetz Senior Member United States Joined 6370 days ago 270 posts - 356 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, French, Mandarin
| Message 93 of 197 29 September 2007 at 1:59pm | IP Logged |
Today I completed the final lesson of Assimil. I haven't done the active phase yet, as I prefer to focus on comprehensible input, but I'll still continue to review the sentences in the SRS until I feel completely comfortable with all of them. Until then, it's on to listening-reading. Then when I've had enough of that, I'll go on to Heisig 3 and mining sentences from grammar books.
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longwood Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6404 days ago 9 posts - 11 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese
| Message 94 of 197 29 September 2007 at 2:15pm | IP Logged |
just wanted to say great job so far. japanese is not an easy language to learn. i have been studying for 3 years and
it feels like i have such a long way to go. just out of curiosity what do you feel your best ability is (listening, reading,
writing, kanji)? and worst ability? i am not really familiar with assimil so i don't know what they have you doing but
at this point what do you feel is the best study method for you?
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sheetz Senior Member United States Joined 6370 days ago 270 posts - 356 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, French, Mandarin
| Message 95 of 197 29 September 2007 at 4:50pm | IP Logged |
Thanks longwood,
As far as my best ability, I guess it would have to be reading and kanji. Having gone through Heisig and Assimil I can often get the gist of many texts despite not always knowing how to pronounce all the words.
If you've read through the Listening-Reading discussion, Assimil is basically L-R with training wheels. That is to say, in addition to providing texts in parallel format and audio, Assimil gives you romaji, word for word translations, and grammar notes.
At this point I don't know if I could pinpoint any single method as being the "best" for me because I feel they were all necessary at a particular stage in my studies.
--Power Japanese and "Remembering the Kana" were both excellent for learning kana.
--Let's Learn Japanese, Pimsleur I, and JapanesePod101 were all fantastic for speaking and listening practice.
--"Remembering the Kanji" was essential for learning kanji.
--Assimil has helped with everything, but I wouldn't have gotten as much out of it as I have without going through the others first. I do feel that putting the sentences in an SRS was critical, though. I wouldn't have learned nearly has much without that step. In addition I would recommend using a web based SRS as then you can use Rikaichan to easily look up any unknown words.
Hope this helps!
Edited by sheetz on 29 September 2007 at 4:50pm
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longwood Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6404 days ago 9 posts - 11 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese
| Message 96 of 197 30 September 2007 at 1:40am | IP Logged |
thanks for the reply. it was more out of curiosity than anything else. i was just wondering what methods other
people are using and what method seems to work the best. i usually just use the textbooks given to us to use in
class, but i have taken a look at heisig's books and they seem pretty good. i also just starting listening to
japanesepod101 and find that very helpful.
じゃあ、お互いに「おたがいに」勉強「べん きょう」頑張りましょうね「がんばりましょ う」!
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