|
 |
Spanish by 30, Japanese NOW | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| HopeTea Newbie Japan Joined 4273 days ago 37 posts - 41 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese | Message 9 of 21 12 April 2013 at 2:59am | IP Logged | ||
|
Japanese
I gave my reading goals some thought last weekend and earlier this week. I decided to be as flexible as possible. I will read for at least 15 minutes a day for starters, or I can choose to read one short story/chapter of one of my books. It doesn't seem like much, but it's better than nothing. I hope to gradually increase my reading time until I get more comfortable and can start replacing my English reading with Japanese. In future, I would like a majority of my reading to be non-English. Might be a slow process, but I'll get there eventually. I expect the process to speed up a bit once my son is through this teething phase...^^; I'm still watching a lot of TV as usual. Also, I may not have mentioned this before, but my mother-in-law comes by the house every Wednesday. This week I tried to discuss some more complicated topics than we usually get into (the North Korean situation, for one). She's really the only person (aside from my husband, but he's not very talkative) I regularly speak to in Japanese. She is probably also partly responsible for my good listening skills. She's very talkative and speaks very quickly (do I sound like a Pimsleur recording to anyone else? :P). When I first came to Japan, I spent a lot of time just listening to her talk endlessly even though I could barely understand a thing she said. Spanish I'm almost finished with the first level of Pimsleur. I'm also continuing on through Michel Thomas, though I'm not really paying much attention to where I am in the course, and I'm not using it every single day. Again, I'm expecting to pick up the learning pace once the worst of this teething experience has passed. I can still study, it's not an excuse, but it's definitely distracting (he always wants to be held or worn when he's uncomfortable). Difficulties I've always had a terrible time with schedules/time management. I like to do things at my own pace, but at the same time, I wish I had a plan so my study could be more effective. I know rigid schedules would never be my style, but I would really appreciate some advice in this area. How can I keep things flexible, but still accomplish what I want to every day? Is there anyone else who has managed to work out a loose schedule and stick to it, despite being naturally disinclined to do so? Some things I don't have to think about, like watching TV or listening to Pimsleur (I've gotten into a habit of listening to a couple lessons every evening). Other things (reading, Lang-8, various websites/programs, Anki, pen pals, etc) I can't seem to habituate. Just writing about this is making my brain want to shut down. It's quite discouraging at times. I know I should be doing more. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| kujichagulia Senior Member Japan Joined 4849 days ago 1031 posts - 1571 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Portuguese | Message 10 of 21 12 April 2013 at 6:08am | IP Logged | ||
|
For me, I don't really outline every activity that I'm going to do at certain times. For example, I don't say "I'm going to study my textbook at 9:00 PM on Tuesdays."
What I do is make a list of all the activities that I want to do for my language studies. For example: - Textbook - Podcast - reading an e-book/PDF/bilingual text - Anki reviews - making new Anki cards - writing a diary Then I think about how often/how much I want to do those activities every week: - Textbook (roughly 1-2 hours a week, for starters) - Podcast (listen to one a week) - reading an e-book/PDF/bilingual text (whenever) - Anki reviews (every day) - making new Anki cards (during the weekend) - writing a diary (if time) I keep this list with me, and then when I have some study time, I look at it and choose something to do. I use it as a weekly checklist. Let's say that on Monday, I do some textbook work and some reading. On Tuesday, I still have some textbook work left for the week, but I really don't feel like it, so I'll just take it easy with a podcast. In that case, I put off the remaining textbook work until later in the week, but I make sure (or try to make sure) to get it done before the week is up. I like this system because sometimes my brain can take textbook work, and sometimes it can't. Sometimes on the train I might have a seat, so I can do work involving writing or using big books. But if I have to stand up on the train, something involving listening or reading/using an app on my Android device is better. This system allows me to adapt to whatever situation I might be in, yet still provides some sort of order so that I can progress. Even with that, I can't say that I manage to meet all of my goals in a week. I might forget to do one day of Anki reviews, or I might not reach the 2 hours of textbook work I've set for myself. Life gets in the way sometimes. Oh well, I'll go for it again next week. I've found this to work for me, at least at the moment. Edited by kujichagulia on 12 April 2013 at 6:08am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| HopeTea Newbie Japan Joined 4273 days ago 37 posts - 41 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese | Message 11 of 21 12 April 2013 at 6:31am | IP Logged | ||
|
@Kujichaguila Thank you for sharing your system. It was very helpful! I'm going to try to make my own list this weekend. Seems like a simple and effective plan. I know we don't always meet our goals, but if at least we have goals, sometimes we will meet them. Or something. :)
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| HopeTea Newbie Japan Joined 4273 days ago 37 posts - 41 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese | Message 12 of 21 14 April 2013 at 3:38am | IP Logged | ||
|
I started working on a list of all the resources I'd like to use on a weekly basis, and I discovered immediately why it seems so overwhelming. The lists for both languages are super long! I suppose I'm going to have to choose only a few to really focus on at a time if I want to get a reasonable schedule worked out. Or many some resources could be used biweekly or something, but again, this could make everything needlessly complicated and set me up to be overwhelmed. Perhaps a better option is to choose a few main "points of attack" for each language and set goals for them, then have a list of "free" options to fill another couple hours a week, from which I can choose whatever I want. As you can see, I'm still working on it.
Japanese Today I'm planning to get a library card and set up an account at a rental video store. I can't believe I haven't already done this! We moved a couple years ago and I just never thought about it. I'm sure it will help me out a lot. Reading is something I'm determined to get into, and I already know how helpful watching things has been for me. This could be a game-changer. :) Spanish I will be finished with Pimsleur level 1 today or tomorrow! I'll be posting my thoughts on it sometime soon. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| HopeTea Newbie Japan Joined 4273 days ago 37 posts - 41 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese | Message 13 of 21 15 April 2013 at 3:40am | IP Logged | ||
|
Japanese
I successfully got my library and rental video store cards yesterday. I was very impressed with the local library near my home. It's very big (the biggest in my city), with two floors and heaps of books. There's a baby section (noise-proofed!)w/ a feeding area, a large childrens section, a teen corner, a few shelves of foreign books (English, Korean, Chinese, Portuguese), and a shelf of Japanese study materials. I also checked out the foreign language section in Japanese, which had quite a few good books & CD's for beginners. I'm so excited to go back and check out some books! As for the rental video store, it looks good too. I was surprised to find that they also rent out manga. Finally, here are my Japanese goals for this week:
Spanish The weekend was pretty busy, so I haven't yet finished Pimsleur level 1. I expect to finish today as there are only two lessons left. Now for my Spanish goals for this week:
I'm glad to have finally put together some goals. They will probably change from week to week until I figure out what works best for me. Anyway, I think this is a good place to start! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| kujichagulia Senior Member Japan Joined 4849 days ago 1031 posts - 1571 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Portuguese | Message 14 of 21 15 April 2013 at 3:15pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Ah, the library is awesome, isn't it? I wish I could go to the library more often.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| HopeTea Newbie Japan Joined 4273 days ago 37 posts - 41 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese | Message 15 of 21 16 April 2013 at 3:05am | IP Logged | ||
It is! I felt so stupid for not going in there sooner. "Better late than never" is my life's motto. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| HopeTea Newbie Japan Joined 4273 days ago 37 posts - 41 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese | Message 16 of 21 17 April 2013 at 3:19am | IP Logged | ||
I wanted to share what I got from the library yesterday.
I'll try to always post what I've read and my thoughts on it in case it might help anyone else out there. It's also a good way for me to keep track of my progress, I guess. Someday I can look back on this and think, wow, I'm so much more awesome now... 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
