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Ezy Ryder’s endeavor (TAC’14-15 旅立ち、鵲、東亞)

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Ezy Ryder
Diglot
Senior Member
Poland
youtube.com/user/Kat
Joined 4109 days ago

284 posts - 387 votes 
Speaks: Polish*, English
Studies: Mandarin, Japanese

 
 Message 25 of 144
23 May 2013 at 6:41pm | IP Logged 
I've re-downloaded the N5 deck, and finished suspending all of the cards I was able to
guess the meaning and the reading of. To my surprise, I've remembered 65% of the
words from this deck, well, now I can get to relearning the rest. The sum of cards in the
N5 and N4 decks is 1381, and after finishing studying for today (two more sessions as
I'm writing this post) I'll have seen about 201 cards from the N3 deck, that gives a total
of 1582 cards seen. With the tempo of adding 30 new ones a day, I'll reach 2000 cards
seen in about 15 days (including today), so I'll have to keep the tempo of re-adding ~17
N5 cards a day, that shouldn't take that much time...
What I think I'll also do, is I'm going to write an update every time I reach a nice even
number of cards seen (2000, 2500, 3000...), it'll consist of two parts, one quantifiable
progress measurement, and one a bit more vague one, but rather important to me. I'm
going to try reading a few paragraphs from a non-technical Wikipedia article, and
calculate the percentage of known words; and try reading a few pages of a light novel,
to see whether I can enjoy reading with the number of words I won't know at the
moment.
PS.: A question to people who already have some experience with Japanese: currently,
for grammar, I'm reading Tae Kim's Guide, do You think it is sufficient for
understanding most of the grammar to be found in an average book, or should I
already start looking for a supplementing resource?

Edited by Ezy Ryder on 23 May 2013 at 6:47pm

1 person has voted this message useful



Ezy Ryder
Diglot
Senior Member
Poland
youtube.com/user/Kat
Joined 4109 days ago

284 posts - 387 votes 
Speaks: Polish*, English
Studies: Mandarin, Japanese

 
 Message 26 of 144
03 June 2013 at 5:25pm | IP Logged 
Today I've finished re-learning cards from the N5 deck. I've been going through 20, as opposed to
17 "new" cards a day. I think what I'm going to do with the free time (not that I'm not going to
review them...) is improve my Na'vi, so that I'll be able to say that I speak three languages (if You
can say You speak a language with ~2000 words...). The actual Na'vi vocabulary part of the Na'vi
dictionary is 35 pages long, so I'm going to go through 1.5 pages every day, adding and learning
on Anki words I'll consider useful (I've found about 10 per page while going through the first few
ones). I've also asked on the learnnavi.com forum, whether somebody would like to try conversing
with me at the end of this month; so far I've only been invited to a teamspeak group meeting of a
few more advanced learners, but I don't feel very well talking with groups of people, so I might
have to pass on that.
I'll break the barrier of 2000 individual cards seen the day after tomorrow, so I'll make a more
detailed update then.
1 person has voted this message useful



Ezy Ryder
Diglot
Senior Member
Poland
youtube.com/user/Kat
Joined 4109 days ago

284 posts - 387 votes 
Speaks: Polish*, English
Studies: Mandarin, Japanese

 
 Message 27 of 144
05 June 2013 at 7:41pm | IP Logged 
And so I've "learned" over 2000 words... Feels kind of nice. This number appears more...
persevering, to me. Sort of like if now the study has turned more serious, rather than just a thing
I'm going to do a few times and then stop... (though I've stopped a few times already, so maybe
I should add "indefinitely")
On a more serious note; I've tried reading a fragment of a Wikipedia article in Japanese. Out of
180 words (the number probably isn't very accurate, as the lack of spaces and knowledge of a
number of words might end up in me not distinguishing where certain words end), I knew
maybe 80-90, so, close to 50%.
I've also attempted reading a few pages of a light novel. I (think I) understood a few sentences,
but (as could be expected of someone knowing only 2000 words) I wasn't able to understand all
that much.
So, to summarize; I'm quite happy with this accomplishment, I hope it will motivate me to keep
on studying. I'll probably write the next update after learning 2500 words, which should happen
around June 21st.
1 person has voted this message useful



Ezy Ryder
Diglot
Senior Member
Poland
youtube.com/user/Kat
Joined 4109 days ago

284 posts - 387 votes 
Speaks: Polish*, English
Studies: Mandarin, Japanese

 
 Message 28 of 144
17 June 2013 at 11:32pm | IP Logged 
Currently, I've gotten through over 2,500 words. And done so a few days before the schedule (I
suspend cards I can guess or already know both the meaning and reading of). With that tempo
I should get to 3,000 around 01.07.13.
I've tried doing some reading, and I can see some improvement. It's especially fun seeing
words I've learnt only recently, it gives me the satisfaction, because during my last attempt, I
definitely didn't know these words. But still, as was to be expected, it's still not enough. I don't
know at which number of known words I'll be able to read; but if 5,000 is the number of words
used in everyday situations, I guess, I should be about halfway there? Even if I needed the
same amount of vocabulary I have in English, I would be at least a quarter of the way there.
I've also tried doing some speaking, just to check whether I could express a few things, and to
my surprise, I was able to spit some (probably terribly awkward, unnatural, grammatically
incorrect and rather simple) sentences out. But, although I really like the idea of thinking in
foreign languages, I'm not really in a rush for speaking from day one, so it's fine (for now).

Edited by Ezy Ryder on 17 June 2013 at 11:34pm

1 person has voted this message useful



Ezy Ryder
Diglot
Senior Member
Poland
youtube.com/user/Kat
Joined 4109 days ago

284 posts - 387 votes 
Speaks: Polish*, English
Studies: Mandarin, Japanese

 
 Message 29 of 144
25 June 2013 at 4:31pm | IP Logged 
Not a milestone, but I've got something to say. Today, I've had my last lesson in this school
year; which means I'll have even more free time than I have now, until the beginning of
September. So I plan to be learning more - I think I could manage to get up between 9:00-
10:00, so if I'd start doing 5 words every hour from 11:00 (as opposed to 15:00, which is what
I'm doing currently), while finishing at the same time, I should be able to do around 10 sessions,
which means 50 words a day. I've already tried that on one Sunday (I think) and 40 words on
another day (I've done only 20 words the day before, because I didn't feel very well), and in the
end, I started getting tired at (give or take) the same time as I'd normally do doing less, so
apparently my current work/break system is working, if I'm getting tired because of it getting
late, rather than work overload. and also, today is the 39th day of doing N3, and after finishing
yesterday, I've seen 1406 cards, which means that besides seeing the regular cards, I'm also
suspending guessable cards at the rate of 7 per day (the rate's still increasing, and probably
due to the "snowball effect", it won't start decreasing in the foreseeable future). That would
mean that besides learning 50 new words, I'll also suspend ~11.(6) guessable cards every day.
So before next school year, I should see up to 4131.(6) new cards, adding the 2821 I'll probably
end up seeing with today, I should get to 7000 cards by the end of September (if everything will
go according to plan). I know that there probably will be days in which I won't do as much, but
getting to that number is rather possible.
Now, a month or two ago, I was thinking that it'd be best to postpone registering to JLPT to next
year, but if I'd get through ~85% of the vocabulary required for N1 by the end of the registration
for the December exam... maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to actually register for this
year's exam? I don't know how much practice I'll be able to get in before it, but that'd always be
some experience for the next attempt, right?... And/Or I could register for the N2 exam... Well, I
guess we'll see.
1 person has voted this message useful



Ezy Ryder
Diglot
Senior Member
Poland
youtube.com/user/Kat
Joined 4109 days ago

284 posts - 387 votes 
Speaks: Polish*, English
Studies: Mandarin, Japanese

 
 Message 30 of 144
28 June 2013 at 5:35pm | IP Logged 
And so I've seen the 3000th word. I've tried reading the light novel again, and I'm quite sure that
I can see some improvement. I definitely can understand more than I did last time. Now, despite
Ziad Fazah's opinions, 3000 doesn't seem to be sufficient though (unless he meant being able
to express oneself... in that case: "Shoelaceは、靴を締めますに使いますという紐 です。”,
which I presume is incorrect in a plethora of ways, but hope that would get the meaning
across). If I recall correctly, Amir has made a video stating that it's good to make a "solid
foundation" for the language, of approximately 4000 words (unless he also meant being able to
express oneself...). We'll see about that in about two weeks.
Also, it's getting easier to learn new words. I see more and more words which consist only of
Kanji I already know, and either can guess the reading of (in that word) or which uses one of
the readings I've learnt so far, which makes it easier to remember. So, sometimes I can guess
the meaning of, but only get close reading-wise; sometimes I guess the reading, but can't figure
out the meaning of (or at least at first sight); and sometimes I can guess both, so I suspend the
word! It's really motivating; a few days ago, I've been estimating that ~16% of the words in the
deck have been guessable (I've set it to random order pretty early in the process), but
yesterday, it was ~35%, and so far, today it is (haven't finished yet) ~21%.

Edited by Ezy Ryder on 28 June 2013 at 5:38pm

1 person has voted this message useful



Ezy Ryder
Diglot
Senior Member
Poland
youtube.com/user/Kat
Joined 4109 days ago

284 posts - 387 votes 
Speaks: Polish*, English
Studies: Mandarin, Japanese

 
 Message 31 of 144
06 July 2013 at 3:19pm | IP Logged 
Yesterday was a good day. Not only have I learned the 3,500th word, but also finished the N3
deck, and started the N2 one.
I haven't seen too much improvement in reading, but maybe that's because of lack of sufficient
grammar knowledge? I'll think about starting to read the Tae Kim's guide again. Not at any
breakneck speed, just as much as I'll feel like at the moment, vocabulary is still the main thing
holding me back.
While reading the Wikipedia article on the JLPT, I've seen the description of the N2 level:
"The ability to understand Japanese used in everyday situations, and in a variety of
circumstances to a certain degree. Reading One is able to read materials written clearly on a
variety of topics, such as articles and commentaries in newspapers and magazines as well as
simple critiques, and comprehend their contents. One is also able to read written materials on
general topics and follow their narratives as well as understand the intent of the writers.
Listening One is able to comprehend orally presented materials such as coherent conversations
and news reports, spoken at nearly natural speed in everyday situations as well as in a variety
of settings, and is able to follow their ideas and comprehend their contents. One is also able to
understand the relationships among the people involved and the essential points of the
presented materials" [sic]
Sounds quite nice... not sure how realistic though.

Edited by Ezy Ryder on 06 July 2013 at 3:21pm

1 person has voted this message useful



Ezy Ryder
Diglot
Senior Member
Poland
youtube.com/user/Kat
Joined 4109 days ago

284 posts - 387 votes 
Speaks: Polish*, English
Studies: Mandarin, Japanese

 
 Message 32 of 144
12 July 2013 at 8:33pm | IP Logged 
Just seen the word #4000. Feels good.
I tried to do some reading, and this time I've seen more improvement than the last time.I think I
actually understood most of what was written (on the three pages I managed to read in 33
minutes). A significant part of the unknown words were the "onomatopoeia" (like わくわく), which
made me consider learning them outside of my Anki decks... Getting back to the topic, I was quite
happy about how much I understood; I think I'm going to try and start actually reading this book. I
hope it'll make me more motivated to study.
Tomorrow I might try and calculate my percentage of understanding on a page or two. I'm too tired
to do this now.


1 person has voted this message useful



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