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旅立ち/Катюша-Woodsei’s TAC 2014 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Woodsei Bilingual Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Woodsei Joined 4585 days ago 614 posts - 782 votes  Speaks: English*, Arabic (Egyptian)* Studies: Russian, Japanese, Hungarian | Message 33 of 162 02 February 2012 at 10:15am | IP Logged |
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@g-bod: I'll definitely look out for these dramas you recommended. Thanks! Art students
would probably sound way better than yakuza! lol @Brun_Ugle: In response to your comment about RTK 3 and the word "autochthonous"...... you have such an amusing way of describing things that annoy you :) Like that issue with the tree kanji, haha. I really enjoy reading your posts :) Thanks for the recommendation for buying manga. Regarding Harry Potter, I feel a little intimidated, because the narrator speaks so fast! But I agree, he's fabulous! I can see everything as if I'm watching a movie. But I'll stick to it and see what happens. It'll probably smooth out as soon as I'm able to follow with the audio. @M.Medialis: Thanks! This is coming from someone who was doing L-R before finishing RTK. That's a whole lot of courage I didn't have. Kudos! I'm looking forward to following your mountain trek with languages this year with vivid eyes, because it's a great inspiration! @Teango: Thank you! It's great being on the team with all of you too. You're right, I'm doing my reviews first, because it's such a smack in the face first thing in the morning :s I'm hopeful extensive reading and listening would be a good platform for kanji practice, and those dreaded readings! RTK 3, well... that'll definitely be at a very moderate pace, thank you very much :) Looking forwards to your progress, your logs never fail to both entertain and inspire! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Brun Ugle Diglot Senior Member Norway brunugle.wordpress.c Joined 6408 days ago 1292 posts - 1766 votes Speaks: English*, NorwegianC1 Studies: Japanese, Esperanto, Spanish, Finnish | Message 34 of 162 02 February 2012 at 12:01pm | IP Logged |
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Yes I don't know why he chose autochthonous. The word has two definitions: aboriginal/native and rocky/earthy. It's the second definition that really fits the kanji. He has another kanji he calls rocky, so he couldn't use that, but surely he could have found some other ordinary word for it.
You said you didn't really like all the dirty stories that crop up. Just wait till you get to RTK3 where Heisig introduces the "street-walker" primitive and the kanji for harlot and licensed quarters (ie red-light district). It's almost impossible not to end up with slightly dirty stories. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Woodsei Bilingual Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Woodsei Joined 4585 days ago 614 posts - 782 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Egyptian)* Studies: Russian, Japanese, Hungarian | Message 35 of 162 05 February 2012 at 11:04am | IP Logged |
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@Brun_Ugle: Hmmm, guess I'm not looking forward to RTK 3 then, huh? :)
Just a quick update. Even though tomorrow's my weekly post, I couldn't resist logging in and posting something. I decided to join the 6 Week Challenge for February because it's a great motivation factor, added to the fact that I do well with giving myself mini-goals to work towards. The timing is perfect, too, since I've started to L-R Japanese, and fall into a steady, albeit tiny, rhythm with Russian. The week was a maze of random explorations and countless hours spent here and there trying to find myself a proper pace and routine to stick to. I think it's all starting to fall into place. 1. Japanese L-R is certainly one unique experience. I had decided to give Harry Potter 1 a go, and the first time I listened to the audio, well....I went to bed really discouraged that day. I had a hard time following the narrator, even with the kana. I listened to around 6 minutes, balked, and decided I have to go through a textbook after all, but it doesn't have to be necessarily from the very beginning as I previously looked through the early lessons and found them too easy. But really, I didn't want to give up on Harry Potter so easily. I mean, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit are my favorite books in the world, at least in the English-speaking world. Film-wise, add to them Pirates of the Caribbean (although I did not like the fourth installment as much, but it was still great seeing Johnny Depp's crafty Jack Sparrow :) ). Anyway, I decided to give HP a go the next day, and I was surprised I was able to follow the text along with audio at a MUCH better rate than before. I thought, if 6 minutes (played over and over again) could do that, then I'll definitely hold out and see how LRing HP goes. My problem was that as soon as I hit a kanji, I lose track of where I am in the sentence, since I'm still learning the readings. I decided to slow down the audio considerably at first to catch the readings( I use VLC player. I know I could use Audacity, but I just didn't feel like wasting time creating new sound files.) After that, I got the speed up back to normal, and kept going at that rate. I scanned a few pages of the book, sent those to my iPad, copy/pasted the text in the dictionary application I have (it has a translate page that generates all the kanji compounds and their meanings in a given text, create lists and import exports them to SRS), and looked at the word meanings, then went back to the book. You can imagine how very messy and frustrating that is. I felt like I was decoding words rather than understanding the context. I know that with LR, patience is key and that after considerable exposure I will start to pick up more words and grammatical patterns. I was able to do so much better the second time around, but I decided in the end to use a relatively easier text first, then go on to Harry Potter, even though when I decided to give it a go again today, I found it still got much easier. So I got out Breaking into Japanese Literature (BIJL), which isn't just relatively easier, it's way easier. I didn't feel like I was flailing around uselessly. I also decided to start reading some grammar rather than wait. I read a few pages in the Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar, and really liked what I saw. I also remembered a few sentences in Harry Potter that had similar constructions..... Now I really want to go back to that book. But I decided to go through BIJL first for a number of reasons: 1. Parallel text, and no painful back-and-forth switching between copies. 2. Has everything in one place (kanji compounds meaning and readings, opposite-page translations, etc.) 3. Covers a fair amount of kanji, so the readings will definitely be easier to follow when I go through Harry Potter next. 4. Of course, vocabulary and grammatical patterns, which will definitely make things somewhat easier later on. 5. Writing practice: since the texts are relatively short stories, I could copy out the text by hand, and so use some time to improve my handwriting in both speed and production. I know LR's working for me. The Harry Potter tracks I played are still floating around in my head, and when I was watching an anime today I was picking up more complete sentences than I usually do. And all this from just one page of L-R. I can't begin to imagine how much that will improve my Japanese comprehension and reading skills, and I'm so excited. I just don't want to discourage myself, and I think it's better to ease myself into it first before falling into a good, steady pace. Good and steady is my motto! So, in a nutshell, what I plan to do before Harry Potter: 1. L-R the BIJL book. 2. Read some grammar from the DBJG everyday, and google some more examples of the concepts I read up on that day. 3. And I did decide, after all, to look through a textbook later on after I've covered some intensive ground with L-R, to see where I am, if I need to know more, and see further explanations of the same concept from a different angle. In other words, I would use it as a reference. I know this is backwards, but I really did try to start with a text this week, and I felt I was learning more when I L-Red some BIJL and started reading the grammar book, although I admit that learning with a textbook is more structured and graduated. We'll see. L-R is a new project, and I'm a big fan so far. It really packs a punch! Only time will tell. And I'm really hoping, hoping, hoping that by December of this year, if all goes well, I'll have a pretty solid command of both aural and written comprehension, as well as at least an intermediate conversational level. This may be too much, but I'll work as hard as I can, and time will show how realistic my goals are. I have no way of knowing that now. 4. In recognition of M.Medialis's Song Scriptorium, I have decided to integrate that into my current must-dos :) It's fun, and it really improves my reading and writing skills. Really, it's an ingenious technique. Song lyrics aren't so demanding as huge literary texts. And Japanese songs are awesome, no? Thanks, M.Medialis, fellow Sputnik comrade-in-arms! I also think the name is so cool :) 5. Kanji review: I'm not starting RTK 3 for a week or so. I do want to smooth out those reviews first. A breather is a good thing, too. 2. Russian I decided to start with Assimil Russian, since I don't want to L-R both Japanese and Russian; that would burn out some circuits in my brain. And I really do need some structure with the language rather than let it go haywire. I guess this is also because of my inexperience with it. I also noticed that with the Japanese immersion environment I'm creating, surrounding myself with Japanese sounds all day, cooking Japanese food, listening to Japanese music, and so on and so forth, switching to Russian, or even English and Arabic is a bit...off. I like Assimil. It's fun, and eases you in the language without making you do a million things at the same time as other texts do. When I finish it, I may decide jumping straight into Russian L-R, or doing a second text, I'm not sure. It all depends on how my Russian evolves with it. And of course, lots of Russian media! I think this has to be my favorite part of language study:) Reading books, and watching/listening to movies/dramas/songs :) The update is a little early, but sooner better than later. And tomorrow I will post my hours for the week, any new observations, and my plans for the coming week. Good luck everyone! And thumbs up all around for everyone in the February 6 Week Challenge! Jaa ne! Edited by Woodsei on 05 February 2012 at 1:23pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Brun Ugle Diglot Senior Member Norway brunugle.wordpress.c Joined 6408 days ago 1292 posts - 1766 votes Speaks: English*, NorwegianC1 Studies: Japanese, Esperanto, Spanish, Finnish | Message 36 of 162 05 February 2012 at 8:06pm | IP Logged |
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L-R is great. It worked like magic for me. Suddenly I could understand spoken Japanese so much better. Before that it was just a blur of sound. Now I hear all the words, I just have a problem with not having enough vocabulary.
RTK3 is like having splinters of bamboo shoved up under your fingernails. Enjoy! Actually, the problem I'm having with RTK3 is that a lot of the words are more abstract so it's harder to make stories, plus there are so many words that really mean the same thing so I get them mixed up. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| M. Medialis Diglot TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member Sweden Joined 6145 days ago 397 posts - 508 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: Russian, Japanese, French | Message 37 of 162 06 February 2012 at 11:16pm | IP Logged |
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Woodsei, you're doing some excellent LR experimentation! Keep up the good work. I find your posts inspiring :)
I think it's totally fine to follow along in the LR in the beginning without knowing anything more than where you are in the text. Just keep on doing it and you'll see that the Post Practice Improvement (PPI - isn't that also a cool term?) will boost your skills when you're asleep. -It'll become easier every day. :) So now I have to ask, what Japanese music genres do you like the most? またね! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Woodsei Bilingual Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Woodsei Joined 4585 days ago 614 posts - 782 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Egyptian)* Studies: Russian, Japanese, Hungarian | Message 38 of 162 07 February 2012 at 10:25am | IP Logged |
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@Brun_Ugle: I'm tapering off RTK 3 to around 10 kanji per day. Reason is that I do want
to focus right now on L-R, and hopefully they'll be done before June. I can imagine the confusion English synonyms can pose in the meanings, so I usually face them off each other during reviews, and eventually, I think repetition makes them stick. At least I hope so. And yeah, L-R is great! I'm a huge fan! I know they say there's no silver bullet for language learning, but to me, L-R is. It's really improving my listening comprehension exponentially. @M.Medialis: I feel so much better knowing that at this stage, I just have to know where I am in the text. Thanks for pin-pointing that out. And I always wonder where you come up with such cool terms :) Your logs inspire, too! I initially really liked to listen to the opening and closing credits of anime and dramas, so you could say I'm a fan of Japanese pop songs, or J-pop. I enjoy listening to rock music a lot, too (well, not the heavy metal kind) and Japanese rock is also really great. B'z? :) I also like to listen to Japanese folk music, and songs that are similar to Hana no Kusari, music-wise. It's a hauntingly beautiful song. I guess that also falls under the J-pop genre? Anything that has a lot of piano, guitar, and violin has a magical effect on me :) You can say I love to listen to almost any genre of music. I don't really like R'n'B, though, but I think the Japanese do it really well. Better than their Western counterparts :) I still don't listen to it, though, unless it shows up in an anime or a drama I'm watching. What genres do you find most interesting? Edited by Woodsei on 07 February 2012 at 10:27am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Takato Tetraglot Senior Member HungaryRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4836 days ago 249 posts - 276 votes Speaks: Hungarian*, EnglishB2, GermanB2, Japanese | Message 39 of 162 11 February 2012 at 2:31pm | IP Logged |
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You might have listened to Kanon Wakeshima while watching Vampire Knight. I like her songs, although there aren't many of them as long as I know. You should have a look at 1:26 in the video. She's playing a double bass (a sting instrument which isn't a violin) there, so you might be interested.
Yousei Teikoku is another great female singer in my opinion. You should listen to my favorite song of her. I like how she sings German words. xD That's Japanese dark ambient rock for you. Both artists have gothic songs, which I find most interesting, I guess. As for jpop, Scandal is my favourite (Bleach op 10). They made an anime of how they got famous. I really appreciate that they made a cover of the first ending of K-On! called Don't Say Lazy. It has got an epic solo in the middle part. :D Girugamesh is a meme (and a pleasing visual kei band). I like Head Phones President, too. I don't think you'll like it, because it's metal (though not heavy metal), but at least you'll have a better idea of what Japanese music can be like. I thought I can understand English, but after listening to it I wasn't so sure, so you might take a look at the lyrics as well. She has a softer side, too. Edited by Takato on 11 February 2012 at 2:32pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Woodsei Bilingual Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Woodsei Joined 4585 days ago 614 posts - 782 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Egyptian)* Studies: Russian, Japanese, Hungarian | Message 40 of 162 22 February 2012 at 8:00am | IP Logged |
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I've been absent for over two weeks, but this log is not yet dead :) I'll hopefully post
my updates for both the past two weeks I've missed soon. I've been held up by a lot of things, it's been a challenge maintaining any studying at all. Anyway, hopefully by tomorrow my posts will be up. Keep up the good work, everyone! Edited by Woodsei on 22 February 2012 at 8:13am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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