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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Whisky Triglot Groupie Germany Joined 5948 days ago 63 posts - 64 votes  Speaks: German, French*, English Studies: Japanese | Message 1 of 13 19 February 2010 at 3:06pm | IP Logged | ||
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A few weeks after my trip to Japan in April last year, I stopped studying Japanese altogether. I'd had a great experience there and being able to communicate beyond "hello" and "thanks" definitely had its part in this, but my interests are many and time is scarce, so I decided to take a break. To be honest, I'd almost forgotten about this forum and had to google some things that I remembered discussing here to even remember my ID. I was surprised to find out how enjoyable it was to re-read my few journal entries, which motivates this and probably further contributions.
For the past 4-5 weeks I've gradually gone back to my books and Anki; things haven't been as tough as I'd feared, it must have taken me two weeks to get through the first volume of the Assimil (I'm now at lesson 60 or so) and about three to get back to the point where I was in Heisig, about 450 Kanji that is. I've also reached a better level with the Kana, which I now decipher as fast as a reading snail, much to my pleasure and thanks to Heisig's book on these characters. I don't particularly like filling my head with all the rubbish stories he (and I) make up, but it seems to be rather effective in my case. Incidently, I've always made up silly stories to remember words too, which is very much in line with what he suggests. Edited by Whisky on 12 March 2010 at 11:40am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Whisky Triglot Groupie Germany Joined 5948 days ago 63 posts - 64 votes Speaks: German, French*, English Studies: Japanese | Message 2 of 13 26 February 2010 at 8:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've reached lesson 64 in the Assimil now and will reach the 600 Kanji mark in Heisig by tomorrow, progressing at a pace which is pretty good given the time I can devote to my study.
A question does arise though, I'd appreciate feedback : when does one usually switch from production to recognition questions when following Heisig's method ? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Whisky Triglot Groupie Germany Joined 5948 days ago 63 posts - 64 votes Speaks: German, French*, English Studies: Japanese | Message 3 of 13 05 March 2010 at 2:10pm | IP Logged | ||
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I passed the 700 Kanji mark today. While I'm quite happy with the progress, I am growing a bit impatient: Even if I can maintain this rate of progress till the end (which I doubt, life's catching up on my free time sometimes), it'll still take another two-three months to get to the end of Heisig 1.
Progress on the Assimil has been a bit slower, I've just read lesson 67, but have yet to work on the vocabulary of lessons 65+, and sort out a few grammatical points that aren't totally clear to me at the moment. Even after all the time I've spent on the Assimil, there are still things that dawn on me ages after I first encounter them. Take "suitai", which I'd implicitly taken to be an i-adjective ("being the object of desire") and which I've just understood to be but a form of suu, even though I knew of the -itai form at the time :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Whisky Triglot Groupie Germany Joined 5948 days ago 63 posts - 64 votes Speaks: German, French*, English Studies: Japanese | Message 4 of 13 12 March 2010 at 11:38am | IP Logged | ||
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So, here I am, having passed the 900 Kanji mark. Having been bed-ridden has had at least the beneficial side-effect of giving me some time to kill with Heisig's book and the Assimil. I must admit however, 45 new Kanji in a day is not something I overly enjoyed, the only true pleasure has been to be just that much closer to my goal of going through that book. I don't resent the book, mind you, I cannot imagine a way to learn the Kanji more efficiently, but the term "Knochenarbeit" pops into my head with unforeseen frequency.
I'll be reading lesson 70 in the Assimil today, which like every 7th lesson feels like a break. Some of the lessons are much more engaging than others - the one about the imperial train on the Yamanote line was a bore at first (a second reading was more pleasant, perhaps because I concentrated on the Kanji a bit more, which thanks to Heisig become more and more accessible); OTOH the I liked the one about the arranged wedding immediately. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Whisky Triglot Groupie Germany Joined 5948 days ago 63 posts - 64 votes Speaks: German, French*, English Studies: Japanese | Message 5 of 13 20 March 2010 at 12:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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1100+ Kanji are now hiding somewhere in my brain now, most of the time they are not hidden too deep for production. My progress on the Assimil has been almost nil though, maybe a lesson or two since my last entry (I'm nowhere near the book to check as I write this).
It seems the process of learning the Kanji is actally getting a bit easier, slowly but surely, though I cannot pinpoint what I am doing better right now. At this stage, there are now signs for which I "just know" the elements, even without a story, but I have decided to stick with a story for each sign for the time being, at the very least until I am through with Heisig's first book. I suppose there will come a time when visual/graphic memory will ask to take over from the narrative crutches, but I prefer to err on the safe side for a while. Again, feedback would be most welcome. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5384 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 6 of 13 20 March 2010 at 2:23pm | IP Logged | ||
1100 kanji is commandable, but personally, I'd rather work on fluency and actually speaking the language. Don't you think? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6771 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 7 of 13 20 March 2010 at 2:28pm | IP Logged | ||
Your initial assumption was correct. -tai is technically an i-adjective and follows all the same conjugation rules. However, the way it functions in a sentence can catch an English speaker, who expects a verb like "want", by surprise. If you haven't guessed already, i-adjectives are actually a peculiar kind of verb. Some linguists call them "quality verbs", since they express qualities instead of actions. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Whisky Triglot Groupie Germany Joined 5948 days ago 63 posts - 64 votes Speaks: German, French*, English Studies: Japanese | Message 8 of 13 20 March 2010 at 5:35pm | IP Logged | ||
Well, obviously, that 1100 are still only half about what I'd need to reach a humble level of knowledge. I'd love to spend more time on fluency and will eventually find more time to do so. I can already fight my way through an explanation of who I am, where I'm from, what I like, what I do for a living and be understood. I can have a friendly chat, but I'm afraid the opportunity doesn't arise all too often. That said, my goal is to be able to read the language as well and there are a few advantages linked to learning the Kanji now rather than later: - I find it helps learning new vocabulary when I have a visual cue to its meaning, in particular when the words are written as composites of Kanji; isn't it nice to understand the components of a term like 全自動 and immediately remember the pronounciation just from the characters ? - I can study a dozen new signs on my way to work (which comprises a 15 minute subway ride). In that time I cannot work through a new Assimil lesson, I probably need some 45 minutes to feel confident I haven't missed anything important and about half an hour to feed Anki with the new content. So, in sumamry, yes, I'd love to spend more time on fluency, but since I have long-term goals anyway, I've chosen priorities according to what is more practicable right now :) Edited by Whisky on 20 March 2010 at 5:46pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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