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日本語 and me the next round TAC 2012 Team い | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5984 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes  Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 217 of 333 05 September 2012 at 11:58pm | IP Logged | ||
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Oh dear, well, feeling pretty full of it from my recent exam success, I've been mulling over whether or not to enter myself for the N2 in December.
I thought that maybe if I aimed to prepare for the exam next summer, I would have a good chance of passing. However, the one thing that really shook my confidence with the N3 was issues of exam technique - which is not entirely unexpected with it being my first exam in nearly a decade and the fact that the rules are rather a lot stricter than any other exam I've ever sat. So I thought maybe I should go ahead and enter for the December N2 for the additional experience and basically treat it as a rather expensive mock exam (with the additional bonus of a trip to London). But then again, I knew if I entered I would still treat it quite seriously and I don't want to end up on some kind of exam treadmill, especially since my motivation has been a little shakey this summer. I also know that even if I am supposed to be treating it like a mock exam, I will still be disappointed by a fail. So I started to wonder what my chances are. I decided to have ago at the official practice paper I've got for N2 this evening, you know, just to see. I think I was hoping it would be a total failure which would have made it a lot easier to decide against a December entry. Of course the outcome was not quite so straightforward. Overall, it was difficult, but not completely impossible. Obviously, the scaled scoring system is still shrouded in secrecy, so I just had to work with raw percentages, which came out as follows: Language Knowledge: 60.8% Reading: 57.1% Listening: 48.8% It's not an amazing score by all accounts. If it was for real I think it probably would have given me a bare pass. But if I have a chance at a bare pass, I really should be going for it, shouldn't I? Argh, I really don't know what to do now... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| atama warui Triglot Senior Member Japan Joined 4703 days ago 594 posts - 985 votes Speaks: German*, English, Japanese | Message 218 of 333 06 September 2012 at 7:43am | IP Logged | ||
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Go for it, but set a limit for what (amount of stuff / the amount of time spent / etc) you learn every day. How about that?
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| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5984 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 219 of 333 06 September 2012 at 7:38pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm not so sure about setting limits. My energy levels and amount of free time naturally fluctuates quite a bit. I don't want to have to stop myself on a good day when I'm really in the zone, and neither do I want to force myself on a bad day when I'm so tired study would be unproductive anyway. I probably should set a limit to how much stuff I buy though. I've got far too many useless N3 books in my study right now.
But I think you are right and I probably should go for it. I think if I maybe choose my main menu of potential study activities carefully in the first place, it might work out ok. If I can work out a plan I am happy with which emphasises reading and listening and demotes kanji, vocabulary and grammar to the supporting roles where they belong, I think I'll do it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5984 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 220 of 333 10 September 2012 at 8:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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What I have learnt from the August 2012 6 Week Challenge:
• Knowing one foreign language really helps when learning another. • My needs as a beginner in a language are different to my needs at an intermediate level. • I think my high school French teacher was right – listening to the radio at an intermediate level is really helpful. • However, I think Khatzumoto is wrong – watching TV or trying to read a book at a beginner level is not helpful. • I really like Assimil. • Anki is effective but it is not efficient. It is also not necessary. • Consistency is important, but not as important as studying when I am relaxed and receptive. • It is ok to take a break. • Taking a break can actually help me improve (but I need time to warm up again). • It is easy to count numbers but hard to measure progress. • I have to try not to get hung up on the numbers, because they are a poor substitute to measuring real progress. • Since the start of the year, my Japanese has actually really improved. • Passive skills are more important to me than active skills. • Listening is more important to me than reading. • Practicing active skills can be really good fun. • Skype is great when there are no alternatives, but nothing beats speaking to a native speaker in person. • I am no longer trying to prove myself by learning another language (I’ve proved myself in other ways). • But I still really want to take the JLPT N2 (maybe because I’m a nerd who enjoys that special exam feeling). • There is a limit to how much time I can devote to languages. That limit works out at an average of 1h50 a day (with a standard deviation of 1h15 – which kind of backs up what I was saying about breaks, consistency, numbers and nerdiness) • I have enough time to improve one language and maintain (or dabble in) another, but I don’t have enough time to improve two languages at the same time. • I’m really going to miss German, but I don't have the time to improve German and prepare for a Japanese exam. I've just registered and paid my £75. It’s 12 weeks to go until I sit the JLPT N2! Eep! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Brun Ugle Diglot Senior Member Norway brunugle.wordpress.c Joined 6622 days ago 1292 posts - 1766 votes Speaks: English*, NorwegianC1 Studies: Japanese, Esperanto, Spanish, Finnish | Message 221 of 333 11 September 2012 at 9:33am | IP Logged | ||
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I think listing things up like that is great. Sometimes we don't notice what is really helpful to us and what isn't until we sit down and think and make a proper evaluation. I've sort of evaluated things a bit, but mostly in my head. I think I'll make an actual list too. Such evaluations can be helpful in finding out what works and what doesn't so that you can change your learning program to make it more efficient.
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| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5984 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 222 of 333 11 September 2012 at 7:12pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm glad you found my list helpful. I was going to write another essay about what I learned by giving up Japanese for a few weeks and trying out a brand new language, which has been quite the voyage of discovery. But making a list was a far more direct way to get my thoughts in order.
I spoke to my German tutor to cancel my lessons and I felt so sad. She has been really helpful and I've really enjoyed her lessons, plus I'm getting quite fond of the German language. I just can't justify to myself the lesson fees if I'm not going to work hard in between classes too. However, I managed to remind myself that I don't need to give up German completely - I will keep it as my dabbling language! No expectations and no worries. I also need to keep reminding myself that I have to chill out about Japanese too (test? what test?) and I finally took the steps of uninstalling Anki and deleting *all* my old decks. Sweet freedom. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5984 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 223 of 333 12 September 2012 at 10:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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So, just as I had reached a point where I could accept that double negatives in Japanese, whilst a bit counterintuitive to my English speaking brain, were at least logical, I encountered the following sentence pattern:
問題はないのではないだろうか。 Which broadly means 問題はないだろう。 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Brun Ugle Diglot Senior Member Norway brunugle.wordpress.c Joined 6622 days ago 1292 posts - 1766 votes Speaks: English*, NorwegianC1 Studies: Japanese, Esperanto, Spanish, Finnish | Message 224 of 333 13 September 2012 at 8:41am | IP Logged | ||
This is a special expression where ではない is used to confirm the information and is used in a positive sense. I know I've seen some descriptions somewhere, but this is the only one I can find right now. Scroll down to where you see じゃん ＆ じゃない. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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