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After Assimil..what to use next?

 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes Post Reply
12 messages over 2 pages: 1 2  Next >>
Desertbandit
Groupie
Netherlands
Joined 5101 days ago

80 posts - 104 votes 
Speaks: Arabic (Iraqi)*

 
 Message 1 of 12
27 March 2011 at 9:28pm | IP Logged 
First I want to summarize my Japanese studies so far.

I did 4 chapters of Genki 3 Chapters of Colloqial Japanese , like 25 units of Pimsleur Japanese , did a bit of random Japanese reading (Furigana and Hiragana only) next to that I have some trivial learning sourches like Anime and Japanes Drama , oh and I finished 2 steps of the core 2000 Japanese (thats like 400 almost) . but as you can see I did all of those half assed cause I got a bit bored with it and the motivationn for it dies real quick...but somehow it gave me a lower basic fundemental base of Japanese . Thats what I did for 2 to 3 months ..and then I discovered ASSIMIL.

I LOVE ASSIMIL , its the only Book I never want to quit using .

But here comes the dillema at some time Assimil is going to stop being effective for me since I eventually will ''master'' it , and as you can see ...regular typical textbooks don't really work so well for me and I am kind of panicing since I can't think of what I should start doing after I finish Assimil .


Edited by Desertbandit on 27 March 2011 at 9:30pm

1 person has voted this message useful



psy88
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5592 days ago

469 posts - 882 votes 
Studies: Spanish*, Japanese, Latin, French

 
 Message 2 of 12
28 March 2011 at 1:00am | IP Logged 
Talk to native speakers as much as you can.
1 person has voted this message useful



crafedog
Diglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5819 days ago

166 posts - 337 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: Korean, Tok Pisin, French

 
 Message 3 of 12
28 March 2011 at 7:38am | IP Logged 
- Find Japanese graded readers.
- Buy Heisig's Remembering the Kanji and learn them all if you haven't already.
- Watch things in Japanese that you like. Note interesting/key/difficult expressions.
- Practice your writing on Lang-8.
- Find interesting websites/blog feeds and get an online translator to go with your
browser (I use Chrome and Bubble Translate). Write down any new words/key expressions
in a book/Anki.
-Get a good grammar book (if I remember there's a small yellow, grammar dictionary that
was pretty good) and check out anything you don't know/come across/found difficult in
the past.
-Meet and chat with native speakers.

I'm not sure of the level that Assimil has taken you with Japanese (it's supposed to be
B1-B2 in a typical European language) but normally by that point you're capable of
getting away from the typical textbook format and can move into the more 'natural
learning'.

Two final things you can do: If you're not sure of your approximate 'level', check the
JLPT and see where you are. I would imagine perhaps a comfortable 3 though I could be
wrong. And finally, if you're not comfortable with your speaking ability, buy the
Michel Thomas Japanese course. Though I didn't like the woman's accent on it much, the
course still seemed pretty good but may be a bit low-level for you after the Assimil
volumes.
4 persons have voted this message useful



Desertbandit
Groupie
Netherlands
Joined 5101 days ago

80 posts - 104 votes 
Speaks: Arabic (Iraqi)*

 
 Message 4 of 12
28 March 2011 at 10:16pm | IP Logged 
I see Japanese graded readers look interesting , and I think I start to need to put more effort into Kanji.

More advice is welcome.
1 person has voted this message useful



Arekkusu
Hexaglot
Senior Member
Canada
bit.ly/qc_10_lec
Joined 5382 days ago

3971 posts - 7747 votes 
Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto
Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian

 
 Message 5 of 12
28 March 2011 at 10:33pm | IP Logged 
Desertbandit wrote:
First I want to summarize my Japanese studies so far.

I did 4 chapters of Genki 3 Chapters of Colloqial Japanese , like 25 units of Pimsleur Japanese , did a bit of random Japanese reading (Furigana and Hiragana only) next to that I have some trivial learning sourches like Anime and Japanes Drama , oh and I finished 2 steps of the core 2000 Japanese (thats like 400 almost) . but as you can see I did all of those half assed cause I got a bit bored with it and the motivationn for it dies real quick...but somehow it gave me a lower basic fundemental base of Japanese . Thats what I did for 2 to 3 months ..and then I discovered ASSIMIL.

I LOVE ASSIMIL , its the only Book I never want to quit using .

But here comes the dillema at some time Assimil is going to stop being effective for me since I eventually will ''master'' it , and as you can see ...regular typical textbooks don't really work so well for me and I am kind of panicing since I can't think of what I should start doing after I finish Assimil .

Interestingly, I started very similarly, using Teach Yourself and Genki, and watching dramas. I never used Assimil, nor did I feel enclined to, however I did use japanesepod101.com podcasts and absolutely loved them. I also had language partners almost from the beginning.

The podcasts and language partners will help improve your listening and speaking skills.
2 persons have voted this message useful



TDC
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6922 days ago

261 posts - 291 votes 
Speaks: English*, Mandarin, French
Studies: Esperanto, Ukrainian, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Persian

 
 Message 6 of 12
03 April 2011 at 2:15am | IP Logged 
Read Harry Potter in Japanese with an English Translation handy ;)
1 person has voted this message useful



Desertbandit
Groupie
Netherlands
Joined 5101 days ago

80 posts - 104 votes 
Speaks: Arabic (Iraqi)*

 
 Message 7 of 12
03 April 2011 at 12:44pm | IP Logged 
I didn't want to read Harry Potter in my own Native language let alone in Japanese XD.

Thanks for the tip tough maybe Ill try to read some kind of famous book.
1 person has voted this message useful



Desertbandit
Groupie
Netherlands
Joined 5101 days ago

80 posts - 104 votes 
Speaks: Arabic (Iraqi)*

 
 Message 8 of 12
05 April 2011 at 11:28am | IP Logged 
Anyways, I'm getting closer to upper beginner-lower intermediate by the day.

Does anyone have some more pointers I can take once I need to take the leap to
intermediate ?

Im looking into ''an introduction to intermediate japanese'' it looks messy...but with
the Audio and the text and the conversations after it I can simulate something like
Assimil ?




1 person has voted this message useful



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