g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5990 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German
| Message 49 of 436 27 January 2013 at 4:49pm | IP Logged |
So far today has been mostly a Japanese day, if you exclude the fact I was listening mainly to French music this morning. I spent 10 minutes catching up with my Kanji in Context deck, getting through half the due cards (yay for timeboxing). For a while I've suspected that SRS is much more useful for me in the early stages of learning a "fact". I have not added any new cards for 20 days, and my last time reviewing this deck was 5 days ago, but I did not find it any harder to actually work through the cards than if I'd been doing it every day. This really helps take some pressure off - although part of me was wondering if I should start adding maybe 1 Kanji in Context chapter every week or so, but of course if I did that I would definitely have to review almost every day to deal with the new cards.
I also did my weekly Skype exchange and was relieved to experience no German interference whatsover. It was really nice that I could focus all my language time yesterday on German, and not feel guilty about it. I'm looking forward to starting the 6WC next week. Last time I did German, it was all or nothing for either language. I'm hoping this time I can perhaps balance out a few hours maintaining Japanese with quite a few more hours working on German. If nothing else, it will be interesting to see where my time goes.
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g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5990 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German
| Message 50 of 436 27 January 2013 at 7:27pm | IP Logged |
I had a go at the A1 level on the evaluation test on the Deutsche Welle website. I scored 94%, which apparently means I have not only passed A1, but am also well on my way to achieving A2. I started on the A2 test but quit in frustration after the first 6 questions or so. The problem is the test runs so slowly, it feels like you're waiting forever for the next question to load up. Plus out of the 6 questions, I could only answer 2 with confidence. Another 2 I was able to make some kind of educated guess, but the other 2 I didn't have a clue at all!
Well, any online test in multiple choice format is going to have its flaws, but it's still a nice benchmark to have. If I manage to actually stick it out with German for the next 6 weeks, I might have a go with the A2 test again, and see if anything has changed.
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g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5990 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German
| Message 51 of 436 29 January 2013 at 7:52pm | IP Logged |
I think maybe German is making me lazy. Or at least, I think I definitely needed a break of sorts. I listened to some German music on the bus home (and got a flash of joy every time I understood a lyric on the fly), I reviewed a few tracks on my review playlist, I listened to a GermanPod101 lesson, but it was about phone numbers so it was kind of boring (the one yesterday about the weather was much better), and then I did my Assimil, which was the review lesson so all I needed to do was read it. And I've already read about cases and separable verbs a couple of times before. I understand the concepts. I just have to get used to the forms, and that will just take a bit of time. And I feel somehow like I've done enough today, even though discounting the music I've only spent around 45 minutes on German stuff. I never had that feeling with Japanese. Am I somehow learning how to relax now?
Edited by g-bod on 29 January 2013 at 7:52pm
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g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5990 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German
| Message 52 of 436 31 January 2013 at 9:23am | IP Logged |
JLPT results are now out online. I passed N2!!!!
Language Knowledge: 31
Reading: 30
Listening: 39
Total: 100/180
I was not expecting that at all.
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Evita Tetraglot Senior Member Latvia learnlatvian.info Joined 6560 days ago 734 posts - 1036 votes Speaks: Latvian*, English, German, Russian Studies: Korean, Finnish
| Message 53 of 436 31 January 2013 at 10:03am | IP Logged |
Congratulations! That is awesome news, and even more awesome because it's unexpected. You did work hard for it and you earned it so I'm happy for you.
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Brun Ugle Diglot Senior Member Norway brunugle.wordpress.c Joined 6628 days ago 1292 posts - 1766 votes Speaks: English*, NorwegianC1 Studies: Japanese, Esperanto, Spanish, Finnish
| Message 54 of 436 31 January 2013 at 12:21pm | IP Logged |
Congratulations! That's great!
Edited by Brun Ugle on 31 January 2013 at 12:22pm
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stifa Triglot Senior Member Norway lang-8.com/448715 Joined 4881 days ago 629 posts - 813 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, EnglishC2, German Studies: Japanese, Spanish
| Message 55 of 436 31 January 2013 at 1:33pm | IP Logged |
Congrats! Well done! :D
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g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5990 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German
| Message 56 of 436 01 February 2013 at 9:23am | IP Logged |
Thanks everyone!
I'm still in shock.
My only real measurable goal this year was to pass N2. I was expecting to have to study a lot more to get there, because the test was really tough. I thought my current flirtation with German would just be a much needed break, before getting my head down and doing some serious study for the July test.
Not to sound melodramatic, but this changes everything.
On the whole, I'm happy with where my Japanese is at the moment. I can watch TV and I'm starting to read books. My conversation is not great, because I don't get much chance to chat. This is something I am prepared to accept, because I'm not planning on moving to Japan! I would like to continue some study of kanji to support my reading skills, but now there are no tests to prep for, the time pressure is off!
Basically, with the possible exception of kanji study (which can be done in small doses over a long period of time) I think I am ready to stop actively studying Japanese, and start maintaining (or learning, slowly, by using the language). To a certain extent, I think I had already reached this conclusion. Passing the exam hasn't changed my ability or general feelings about the language, after all. But what it has done is provided some much needed reassurance about what I have achieved and what I am able to do with the language already. This leaves me feeling a lot more confident about changing my approach and starting to explore other languages!
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