fortheo Senior Member United States Joined 5041 days ago 187 posts - 222 votes Studies: French
| Message 1 of 46 01 January 2012 at 7:06am | IP Logged |
Ok, so it’s a new year, time for my TAC log!
I will be studying Japanese this year. Why you ask? I don’t really know, but ever since I was young I had a fascination with Japan( it was probably all the ninja movies )
I am currently at around 650 kanji in James Heisigs Remembering the kanji, lesson 23 of Pimsleur 2 (because I have been repeating a lot of lessons), and done with Michel Thomas. I had previously dabbled in some Rosetta stone, which I found useful for some vocab.
Anyways, this is my current study schedule
• Do a Pimsleur lesson
• At least 100 new kanji from RTK a week
• Watch/ listen to at least an additional 20 minutes of Japanese a day
I was previously doing Michel Thomas with this schedule, but I finished it. Next week I am going to start going through the “Japanese from zero “series. From glancing through this book I can tell that some of it is below my level. However, there is a lot of new material in it. I also wanted a course/work book that covered the language from reading, writing, grammar, and vocab. The three books in the series seemed like the best fit for me.
When I finish RTK I plan to use “Essential kanji for everyday use” I like this book because it is essentially a workbook. It has lots of quizzes and hands on exercises. Not only that but it will reinforce what I learned in RTK while I add the readings to the kanji.
After I am done with Pimsleur I plan to go through Japanese pod 101. The pdf lessons that accompany the audio will help me with reading the language and associating the sounds of the kanji, while picking up some vocab.
My main goal is to get to a point where I can effectively learn from native materials. So whether I finish all these resources is dependent on my progress.
My goal for the end of the year is to be able to read a manga, or a Japanese article in its original language, Have a somewhat decent audio conversation with a native Japanese person, and start to post on Lang 8. I have put lang 8 off for a while because Heisigs method doesn’t really show benefits till much later. I imagine in a few months though I will be able to do this.
My pace is fairly relaxed; I don’t like setting rules on my studying. Rules make it feel like a job, and at that point I don’t enjoy it. So I just do what I can, no pressure.
Anyway I am glad to be on team TAC 2012 Team い and I wish the best for all other members :)
I will try to update this log at least once a week.
Edited by fortheo on 02 January 2012 at 6:11am
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kraemder Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5189 days ago 1497 posts - 1648 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese
| Message 2 of 46 01 January 2012 at 8:05am | IP Logged |
Hey. Good luck with your endeavors in Japanese. It seems like your level is about where mine is. You talk like you've attempted Japanese already and have a good idea of what to expect. I am currently betting everything on Heisig's method at the moment heh. I hope it works.
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Woodsei Bilingual Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Woodsei Joined 4802 days ago 614 posts - 782 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Egyptian)* Studies: Russian, Japanese, Hungarian
| Message 3 of 46 05 January 2012 at 6:16am | IP Logged |
Good luck! I like your philosophy on rules. The most important thing is to have fun. I like setting goals to work
towards, but if I don't meet them, I just go ahead and pick up the pace.
Will be following your log, and I'm pretty sure you'll be able to achieve your goals!
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g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5987 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German
| Message 4 of 46 07 January 2012 at 3:20pm | IP Logged |
Good luck with your plans this year. I think I can learn from your philosophy on rules too!
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Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6090 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin
| Message 5 of 46 07 January 2012 at 5:31pm | IP Logged |
I've got Michel Thomas too and I think it's a great introduction to the language! The only problem for me is that it doesn't give any extra practice. I just ended up listening to it.
I stopped around lesson 26 with Heisig. It started getting too abstract and I kept forgetting them. I also started getting too eager to learn words and not just Heisigs meanings. Maybe when you get to this point it will encourage me to go back because it was a real help!
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fortheo Senior Member United States Joined 5041 days ago 187 posts - 222 votes Studies: French
| Message 6 of 46 08 January 2012 at 5:23am | IP Logged |
Sunja wrote:
I stopped around lesson 26 with Heisig. It started getting too abstract and I kept forgetting them. I also started getting too eager to learn words and not just Heisigs meanings. Maybe when you get to this point it will encourage me to go back because it was a real help! |
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Lol, I think about dropping heisig just about everyday because I am really anxious to try reading native materials. In all reality it is very likely that i wont completely finish heisig, but i am going to go as far as my will can take me. Even if I dont finish heisig, I will use his method in context with kanji I come across.
Anyways, this weeks studying was not the best. I only did about ten kanji a day :/ mainly because i got called in for an extra 20 hours of work this week :(
I have still been going through pimsleur lessons twice, mainly because new vocab does not stick the first time and the perfectionist in me refuses to move forward unless I am very confident. I am at lesson 27 of pimsleur 2
The same thing i said about Heisigs method applies to pimsleur, I am thinking it has lived up its usefulness, but I push through anyways cause i am not sure what I would substitute it with.
For some immersion watched History's strongest deciple Kenichi anime. Having already seen this anime many times over, i can concentrate soley on listening. I also watched lots of dramas :)
I went through a lot of michel thomas again this week just to brush up on some basic grammar. Now i am ready for "Japanese from zero"
I am fairly excited for a new textbook and new approach to japanese :)
Edited by fortheo on 08 January 2012 at 5:27am
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Takato Tetraglot Senior Member HungaryRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5053 days ago 249 posts - 276 votes Speaks: Hungarian*, EnglishB2, GermanB2, Japanese
| Message 7 of 46 08 January 2012 at 8:33pm | IP Logged |
You made me hyped up! :O Best luck to you in your studies!
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fortheo Senior Member United States Joined 5041 days ago 187 posts - 222 votes Studies: French
| Message 8 of 46 11 January 2012 at 10:41pm | IP Logged |
Well so far this week has not been the best for studying. I have had to do lots of overtime at work, which is killer considering I have school as well. This was supposedly a part time job, but I have been doing around 40 hours a week. I can always say no, but I need the money : /
The good thing is that while I am at work I have all the time in the world to listen to Japanese and practice pronunciation. My listening and comprehension is definitely improving thanks to this. The bad thing is my Kanji studies have stood still. It has been taking all my effort just to keep up with the reviews. Today was especially belittling because a lot of kanji I just could not recall.
Japanese from zero is going alright, its introducing a lot of vocabulary, which I need. I think vocab is my biggest weakness right now. I need to find an efficient way to learn new words, so if anyone has some ideas please let me know!!
Today has just been one of those days where it feels like I am making no progress at all :( I might have to do some speaking practice cause that always makes me feel better haha.
This seems to happen though, I imagine everyone has days like this.
がんばって!
Edited by fortheo on 11 January 2012 at 10:43pm
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