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日本語 and me the next round TAC 2012 Team い | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| kraemder Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4995 days ago 1497 posts - 1648 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 137 of 333 07 July 2012 at 12:51am | IP Logged | |||||
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You can read ebooks and webpage and whatnot to make it easier on yourself. I'd probably not bother with
actual reading skills if I did it the old fashioned way with a book.. (unless I were living in Japan of course). N3 isn't B2 then? N2 then? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5793 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 138 of 333 07 July 2012 at 10:45am | IP Logged | |||||
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Looking at the specifications for each level I would put N3 at around B1, N2 at B2 and N1 at C1. But of course the JLPT completely ignores production skills so it's not a complete assessment.
I do look at webpages, mainly news sites, fairly regularly with a pop up dictionary. I tried doing the same with some ebooks but I just don't like reading books from a screen. I guess there's something old fashioned about me after all. I'm currently working through graded readers aimed at first graders (soon to graduate to second grade!) and at this level there is not much kanji at all, although the vocab is still very wide which is testing. I have spotted a few bits of N2 grammar too. I think that if I can work my way through various texts graded for elementary school kids (which will ensure a gradual introduction of kanji) and study kanji based vocab separately at the same time, I could make extensive reading work. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5793 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 139 of 333 09 July 2012 at 9:40pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Well it seems I'm going to learn some German as I've booked myself a trip to Berlin in August. I don't know if German will become a long term project. Recently I have felt quite keen to have a go at a European language, but I don't know if that's just a temporary wanderlust thing. However, as I am making a trip I think I would be doing myself a disservice if I didn't at least try to learn some German beforehand. I'm starting from a much lower base than for my refresh of French earlier this year, however. I studied German for maybe 2.5 years at high school, giving it up at age 14. Expectations were low and the quality of teaching staff was even lower (it contrasts quite starkly with the very good French teachers I was lucky to have). I never even learned the basics of conjugations, tenses, word order, pronouns etc. We just spent 2.5 years slotting a few carefully chosen nouns into a few carefully chosen sentences.
I have dipped into Michel Thomas for an hour, which was actually a pleasant surprise. I think as an introduction to the language it will do very nicely, so I will definitely try and finish that before I pack my bags. The approach seems to be quite similar to the way in which I approached French once we'd met the most useful modal verbs when I was studying at school. I also tried out the first Pimsleur and, as with Japanese, I think it would be great to help with pronunciation but I'm not sure how useful it will be with just a month to prepare for a trip. Assimil is also sat on my bookshelf muttering "use me, use me" but again, I'm not sure it will give me that much in just a month. This kind of messes up my Japanese Summer Challenge plans, which might have to become an autumn challenge as there is no way I can do 2 hours a day of Japanese and 1 hour a day of German, at least not every day. So I think I shall just be happily maintaining my Japanese now until August. I do intend to spend two nights in Düsseldorf on the return journey, which I hear has a significant Japanese ex pat community, so I might find an opportunity to use a bit of Japanese as well, even if it is just eavesdropping... 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| rewire Groupie United States learninglane.tumblr.Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4358 days ago 82 posts - 90 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Mandarin | Message 140 of 333 10 July 2012 at 4:50am | IP Logged | |||||
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RE: Pimsleur, I've felt the same. They advertise for having a 10-day program, but even though I think it's actually
an excellent way to practice production, at least for me, it just seems impossible to get a lot out of it in a short while? Or at least, I actually improved a lot using the first series for a month, but then again, I was using it as a review on grammar and words I already knew, and not as much starting from scratch. I briefly was trying a sample of it using Russian, which I knew nothing of, and felt it was quite a bit harder to figure out from that standpoint. Curious, though, what does Michel Thomas do differently? I haven't tried that one at all. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| kraemder Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4995 days ago 1497 posts - 1648 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 141 of 333 10 July 2012 at 5:09am | IP Logged | |||||
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German is so easy compared to Japanese. That's the problem with European languages. You take a break from Japanese and then realize how less painful it would be to study something more related to your own language. I agree - if you're going to Germany you really owe it to yourself to study that instead of Japanese.
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| Brun Ugle Diglot Senior Member Norway brunugle.wordpress.c Joined 6431 days ago 1292 posts - 1766 votes Speaks: English*, NorwegianC1 Studies: Japanese, Esperanto, Spanish, Finnish | Message 142 of 333 10 July 2012 at 7:47am | IP Logged | |||||
I know what you mean. My profile says I'm a diglot with English and Norwegian, but I always feel almost like I'm cheating. I almost feel like I'm not qualified to say I know a foreign language when it's only Norwegian. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5793 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 143 of 333 10 July 2012 at 9:18am | IP Logged | |||||
For Japanese you may wish to avoid Michel Thomas. The course was created by a Japanese teacher, supposedly using the same method, but I get the impression it falls short. I haven't used it myself but my husband tried it with disappointing results and it's had a few bad reviews here from people who like the original Michel Thomas stuff. German is definitely an original course and it's quite unusual I think. I get the impression that it aims to get you up and running in the language as soon as possible by giving you a basic framework to work with. So the focus is mainly on grammar (functions rather than terminology). A lot is made of comparing German to English to highlight functions and also key differences in the language. He also explains quite early on the key sound shifts which have happened between the two languages which is really useful for vocabulary. In the first two hours I've found out how to use a number of modal verbs and the impact this has on word order, that there is a difference in the pronoun for 'me' and for 'to me', some basic connections, question words, and time words, and the difference in conjugation for ich and Sie in the present tense. I guess it's all useful stuff! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| kraemder Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4995 days ago 1497 posts - 1648 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 144 of 333 10 July 2012 at 9:40am | IP Logged | |||||
I didn't quite mean that heh. Only Norwegian? Lol. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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