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TAC 2011 Team あ g-bod and 日本語 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5975 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes  Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 81 of 82 31 December 2011 at 3:20pm | IP Logged |
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Well I guess it's time to close my log for the Team あ 2011 TAC. I just had a quick read through the log from the beginning to see if I could remind myself what I've actually done this year. I thought the answer would be "not much" but actually, I think I achieved more than I realised, despite not really meeting many of the goals I set out last year:
I'm certainly not ready to sit N2 I also don't think I can really claim knowledge of 1,000 kanji but having changed study methods I’ve stopped counting I gave up on Kanji in Context at chapter 14 or so I've only just finished reading/shadowing/studying vocab from Chapter 8 of Japanese for Busy People II I can't even remember what or how I studied from the Kanzen Master 3級 book even though it seemed quite prominent in my log for the first half of 2011 I didn't really use Lang-8 at all So what have I achieved? I think in terms of the JLPT I have moved from "probably pass N4" this time last year to "probably pass N3" now, although I'm not willing to pay for exam fees and a trip to London just to test this for real! Last year I noted a distinct weakness in listening and vocabulary. I would say now that my listening skills have improved a lot, to the extent that I no longer consider them to be a weakness, although there is still a lot more vocabulary I need to learn. Despite getting a bit “burned out” on cramming kanji after spring 2011, I have maintained and improved my reading skills considerably. I often surprise myself at the kanji words I can actually recognise when reading (and start to wonder “how did I learn that?”) As long as there is furigana, I am pretty comfortable now just to pick up a manga and get on with it. Without furigana, it depends on the manga, but I’m still not sure of the educational value if I don’t know how to pronounce half the words. And I achieved all of this while doing a full time job and finishing a part time postgraduate degree. Tools and methods I’ve definitely had a turbulent relationship with Anki this year. I’ve been dropping and creating decks, and then dropping the whole system (and then restarting it again) at various points throughout the year. I think the problem is that using such a neat flashcard system makes it too easy for me to reduce my expectations to a numbers game. I start to think that the only way of setting goals and measuring progress relates to the study of X number of kanji, or X number of vocabulary cards, or X sentences, or X grammar points. This approach might work if you are cramming for a test, but that’s not how I want to learn a language. I also fell in the trap of turning Anki into my master and found it hard to shake the feeling of “I must do ALL my reviews EVERY day or I WON’T LEARN!” Now obviously regular study is important, but if the regular aspects of your study are skewed towards managing Anki reviews, you are missing out on more important things, like actually trying to use the language. The other thing I have come to realise is really important is actually taking a break! I had to drop Japanese for a few days now and again throughout the year, and my study since September became very sporadic because I was busy (and very mentally distracted) with the need to complete my MSc dissertation. What I noticed was that a break of a few days often seemed to help, almost as if my brain was busy making sense of the language behind the scenes while I was entertaining myself with other things! More sporadic study, however, was ultimately detrimental. My listening skills are still ahead of where they were last year but I have noticed a slight degradation over the last month or so. Extensive reading has definitely started to take a more prominent role in my studies. I’ve realised there is a lot of value in reading loads but not stopping to look up all the details. What I find tends to happen, as long as I read enough, is one or two new words or an unfamiliar grammatical construction will appear a few times, enough for me to notice and remember what it is before going away and looking it up, at which point I am much more likely to remember it. During the summer I started using a combination of shadowing the dialogues in Japanese for Busy People II and doing the drills in Japanese: The Spoken Language and it was at this point that I noticed my listening skills and, to a much lesser extent, speaking skills really started to consolidate. This then got disrupted by aforementioned MSc work but one of my early priorities for 2012 is to get back into this study routine and see where it takes me. I have kept in contact with a regular Skype exchange partner throughout the year, although our actual Skype exchanges were postponed through autumn. But I found my partner’s assistance to be very helpful and am looking forward to starting the regular voice chats again in a few days. I also surprised myself by taking the plunge and signing up for a Japanese evening class, which I would say overall has been worth it so far, if only for the contact with native speakers. I think I was really too busy/distracted to make the most of it however and am looking forward to an energetic return in February. Well I think that wraps it up for my 2011 TAC log. I would like to say thanks to my Team あ team mates and anybody else who has followed or commented in this log. I wish everyone a Happy New Year, and will see you in 2012 as I am taking part in the 2012 TAC with Team い. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6078 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 82 of 82 31 December 2011 at 3:41pm | IP Logged |
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I have a love-hate relationship with Anki, but it seems to be working for me at the moment! The problem is, as soon as I hit 1,000 I burn out. I keep decks but I always end up deleting them and starting new ones. I figure that's also a learning process, but I don't know how effective it is! I've also thought about taking a class, but I'm sure only the teacher is Japanese. Only the beginner's class is offered and it's quite a drive, so I don't think it's worth it. I'll be interested to see what happens in February!
This is your 2011 log so it seems appropriate to use the "before New Year's greeting" 良いお年を! 且_(ﾟ^O^)ノﾞ 1 person has voted this message useful |
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