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Triddz’ Japanese log [TAC] | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Triddz Newbie Canada Joined 6001 days ago 20 posts - 20 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese | Message 1 of 16 27 April 2008 at 7:45pm | IP Logged |
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I am participating in TAC. See fourth post.
I’ve decided to put together a log chronicling my Japanese studies. I figure that if I put goals out there so that everyone can see them, I’ll have much more motivation to actually do it. Right now, my Japanese isn’t that great. Mid-beginner, I would assume. I grasp grammar concepts within minutes of being introduced to them, and can usually remember them. Vocab…doesn’t go as smoothly. I still get mixed up trying to write the word for ‘address’, even though I’ve seen it dozens of times. Listening comprehension is following the same trend as well. For written work, I use the textbook ‘Japanese for Everyone.’ I used to go through one chapter every 3 days, but I’ve been sorta busy with school lately, and have been on chapter 14 for over a week. The main reason that I am creating this log is to chronicle my progress with a L-R method. I’m using Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone, despite not having the Japanese copies anywhere. I’ll just go without. I’ve read this book more times than I would like to admit, so it makes it perfect as I know the material inside and out. I’ve toyed around with it in a 30 minute session yesterday, had to go to work afterwards. I couldn’t understand any new words that I did not already know. However, towards the end, I found myself following where the speaker was a little better. I seem to have trouble making goals that I will be able to reasonably meet. However, If I am able to understand 50% of the audiobook for ‘Chamber of Secrets’, without an English copy, by mid-summer, I will be extremely happy. JAPANESE ACTIVITIES FOR TODAY: - 23 minutes of anime, Code Geass. Attempted to watch without subtitles, just for fun. I picked up a few lines here and there, but not enough to follow the plot - Japanese 12 homework: Directions on getting to the mall from my house (15 minutes) - Japanese 12 homework: Translating a recipe for Chocolate Chip cookies (15 minutes) - Hour, 45 minutes of L-R - Worked on Japanese for Everyone Ch. 14 So, I didn't quite get 2 hours of L-R in. I went through the first two chapters, and it was something like an hour, 43 minutes. There was a small, 10 minute break due to circumstances out of my control, but it's not included in that time. Hopefully 2 hours (Will be 2 hours in subsequent times. Had problems this time) a day + an hour of textbook work + an hour of class Mon - Fri will be enough for me to notice a fairly reasonable improvement. L-R, I don't know yet. It got easier to follow at the end, and I did pick up a couple words I never knew before. I guess if I give it time, I will see an even greater improvement. Edited by Triddz on 30 April 2008 at 1:49pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Triddz Newbie Canada Joined 6001 days ago 20 posts - 20 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese | Message 2 of 16 29 April 2008 at 1:28pm | IP Logged |
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Didn't have time to post yesterday.
Business with everything around me cut into my L-R time significantly. Unfortunately, I can't control whether or not my parents ask me to walk to the store 20 minutes away. I managed to get in just over an hour of L-R, and honestly, I'm thinking about dropping it. I like the method, but for a language with a sentance structure so foreign to an English speaker, it's hard to learn from it. I'm considering just shadowing the tapes from Japanese for Everyone now that I have them, and trying L-R again once I finish the textbook. I spent an hour an a half on JFE yesterday. Finished up that lesson, made detailed notes (Even if I never read them again, just writing stuff down helps me remember it.), and then fell asleep before I could move on to the dialog of the next one. There lies the problems in studying at night. One big problem I want to solve is filling up my dead time. Breaks in school (Which I am using to write this now), walks home, trips to the store. I can use these for something. If I can utilize them, it'd be an extra 2 or 3 hours of study every day. I just can't think of what to do with it though. Kanji flashcards, maybe. RTK seems to be out of the question. I haven't done anything with it, but honestly, is it as useless as it seems? First, you know the appearance of 2000 characters. All fine and good, but you don't know what they mean, how to pronounce them, or how they're used. Then you learn their meaning and reading. Slightly better, but where are the common compounds? The pronunciation variations in these compounds? They aren't going to be magically in your head. Still, if someone is able to convince me otherwise, my library has a few copies of all 3 books. YESTERDAY'S WORK - Japanese 12 Class (30 minutes of actual work) - Hour of L-R - Hour and Half of JFE Total: 2 hours. Horrible. STUFF TO DO TODAY - Japanese 12 Class (No actual work done. Going over what will be on the final) - TWO hours of JFE - One last shot at L-R - FIND SOMETHING TO FILL DEAD TIME WITH! Any comments on the dead time thing will be helpful. I need something I can do in 5 or 10 minute intervals that will help me in the long run. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6382 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes  Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 3 of 16 29 April 2008 at 1:36pm | IP Logged |
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I can think of two things to fill dead time with:
a) Flashcards. Barry Farber's book swears by this. b) Listening to audio in your target language, whether music, podcasts, book excerpts, language lessons in the target language, etc. For Japanese L-R, you should probably start with a book with very easy sentences. I don't have any concrete suggestions at the moment, unfortunately. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Triddz Newbie Canada Joined 6001 days ago 20 posts - 20 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese | Message 4 of 16 30 April 2008 at 12:41am | IP Logged |
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I didn't study much today. 15 minutes when I got home. 30 minutes or so of class this morning. An hour or so total. I love how since starting this, my study time has gone 4 hours - > 2 hours - > 1 hour. Oh well, one was not my fault, and the other was necessary.
I did, however, prepare. I've decided to take part in the TAC (No point creating a new journal, this is only a few days old.), and thus, I'm gathering supplies. 1) I've taken out RTK 1 & 2 from the library. Despite not liking the method, I'm going to try it anyways. I'm thinking 50 a day is reasonable. I have a good mind for things like this, so I should be able to keep it up. 2) I cleared out my iPod. Nothing is on it. Starting right now, only music in Japanese is allowed on it. I will listen to it during my walks to and from places. 3) Massive amount of anime and dramas I can stream to my TV from my computer. With the exception of a few shows, everything I watch will be Japanese. I intend to study a solid 3 hours every day until summer break. From then on, I will bump it up to 4 - 5. Going to continue with Japanese for Everyone until I finish it, and then attempt to L-R again. During the summer, I will be taking conversation classes to practice that aspect. All music I listen to will be in Japanese, so that will help my listening, hopefully. I have two goals for this. Number 1, I wish to be able to converse with the Japanese students who visit our school at the end of September at a reasonable level. Enough to get an email or something. Second, I wish to pass the JLPT3, which is close enough to January 1st to call it a January 1st goal. I don't believe I am missing anything. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| tryllid Groupie United States Joined 5996 days ago 58 posts - 60 votes Studies: Japanese | Message 5 of 16 30 April 2008 at 5:55pm | IP Logged |
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Sounds like a good plan.
Don't be so tough on yourself about the time. I do this because for some strange reason I find it fun to learn a language. Keep it fun - when something becomes a chore is when you lose a lot of your motivation. BTW - Where can you take the JLPT3? Is it an online test or do you need to go to a testing center? Cheers Tryllid 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Triddz Newbie Canada Joined 6001 days ago 20 posts - 20 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese | Message 6 of 16 01 May 2008 at 11:04pm | IP Logged |
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Whoopsies, forgot to update yesterday. Not that I did much.
first, to answer your question, the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) is taken in testing centers across the world. Most major cities will have it. There are 4 levels, with 4 being the easiest. 4 is simplistic for where I am now. 3 doesn't look too far off. 2 scares me. I would get 0% on 1. Anyways, I've started RTK. I guess its not that bad, but I'm still bothered by the fact that I now know 50 (I actually studied 100, 50 each day, but I already knew 50 of them) characters that I am completely unable to use for at least a couple of months when I finish RTK2. Keeping 50 a day up shouldn't be a problem. I'm not using his stories all the time anyways (I'll think of something that makes so much more sense). When he leaves me on my own, I'll be fine. We're actually doing stuff in Japanese class now! Hurrah! It's pretty simple, but at least its review. So that's at least 45 minutes a day of practice. I'm not making my 3 hour goal for a good reason. Namely: Persona 3 FES. Now, off to go do more of JFE. Need to get through this book. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Triddz Newbie Canada Joined 6001 days ago 20 posts - 20 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese | Message 7 of 16 04 May 2008 at 10:00pm | IP Logged |
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I swear, I have done the least of anyone in the TAC. If I've got 4 hours in since it started, it's a miracle.
I did nothing but listen to Japanese music on both Friday and Saturday. No kanji, no drills, no anything. All thanks to my work, of course. Stupid boss calling me up to work an unscheduled night shift. I work till 3AM. Get home, sleep, pop in a video game for an hour, get myself ready, eat, and go to work again. I have a new shift though (Sat + Sun, 9 - 5) which means more time in the evening to study. So, for today and tomorrow, I'm temporarily bumping up my Kanji to 100, before dropping back down to a non-hairpull-inducing 50. The 100 today went well enough. Bout an hour to do them all with near perfect recall. 5 wrong on first review, 0 on subsequent. There is a small coat of dust on my JFE book. However, I am studying that thing at least 2 hours tonight, even if I have to stay up until 3AM to do so. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| egg_uk Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6361 days ago 203 posts - 204 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 8 of 16 05 May 2008 at 4:56am | IP Logged |
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don't get frustrated with yourself for not doing as much learning as you would like, there are times when you do more, and times when you do less. As long as the enthusiasm is there you will be fine.
1 person has voted this message useful |
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