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Going back to Europe TAC 2014 DE|FR|日本語 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5770 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes  Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 113 of 142 05 October 2014 at 5:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for the book recommendation yuhakko! Unfortunately I have just done a quick stock take of all the Japanese books on my shelf that I haven't read yet, and I think I already have enough to do 3 whole super challenges... So I have dropped ツナグ into my shopping cart on Amazon JP but I will try and hold off hitting the "buy" button until I've completed the reading part of the SC. How is that for motivation?
@dampingwire my vocabulary estimation is very, very rough. It's based on the assumption that I know almost everything needed for N4, maybe 75% N3 and 50% N2, based on my performance in the 2012 JLPT exams and the assumption that my vocabulary has not expanded much since then (as I would credit most of the improvements I've made since then to consolidation rather than growth). With all the energy from Team Gumiho, I've started thinking it would be really cool to try to learn a bit of Korean through the medium of Japanese. Especially since Korean is pretty much the only other major world language Japanese will give me any kind of discount with. I really need to get my Japanese reading into a comfortable place first though... Anyway, enough procrastinating reading Japanese and doing my German homework. Back to work for me! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5770 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 114 of 142 15 October 2014 at 11:45pm | IP Logged | ||
Oh how wrong I was! Well, the homework burden of the class is not too heavy (less than 1 hour a week) but I am already sick to the teeth of not having enough vocabulary or grammatical ability to spit out what I want to say at anywhere near approaching a speed where the listener (or even myself) can hold on to the thread of what I am trying to say. Although I have found myself most times doing the dreaded pair work with people who are weaker than me, I am far from being top of the class... Still, this feeling of inadequacy is for once providing me with ample motivation. I'm actually somehow managing to study both German and Japanese at the same time. I think it helps that I am focusing on slightly different things. My Japanese study at the moment is all about building up more vocabulary in the mid-range N2-ish level. It's becoming a bit of an Anki bore, but I can still keep doing all the fun stuff like watching TV. My German study at the moment is all about basic grammar, especially the present and perfect tenses, so for now there is very little clash in methods and content with what I am doing in Japanese. I think this is where I always had such trouble with combining active study of Japanese and French, since they are both at intermediate levels I found myself often dealing with similar issues in both, with similar methods, at the same time, which was too much of a headache. I'm still behind on my reading for the Japanese SC though, despite my confidence that 10 pages a day was not too difficult. So with that said, I'm off to do some reading! Edited by g-bod on 15 October 2014 at 11:46pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5770 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 115 of 142 25 October 2014 at 9:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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This afternoon I thought I would do something a little bit different and pulled out the 新完全マスター N2 kanji book to do a bit of review. The most awesome thing about this particular book is that it comes with dictation exercises. Now I think all kanji books should have this.
I've noticed that my kanji reading/recognition is still improving over time. I'm often surprised at my ability to recognise certain words even though I've never properly studied the kanji in them, just through exposure. On the other hand, my little 復習 session earlier today clearly demonstrated that my writing skills have actually declined. I had a proper mental block on how to write 集める. I wrongly used 清 instead of 晴, although at least I noticed my mistake quickly enough and self corrected, but given the obvious use of the 日 radical, it's a bit embarassing. I missed the two dashes at the top of 弟. I made a right mess of 事 too. And although I was able to recall and write other very basic kanji like 読, 書 and 朝, the speed of my recall was not as quick as I would have liked. I just find it crazy now that I can recognise words like 陰謀 when I am reading, and yet I struggle to put pen to paper to write words like 仕事. For all practical purposes, I know that I am doing the right thing in prioritising reading over writing. Nobody cares whether or not I can write Japanese, however I personally care about whether or not I can read it! Also, since I have already noticed that my reading continues to improve, the decline in my writing skills is probably unlikely to interfere with this. Nevertheless, I do wonder if I should worry about my writing skills at all. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| kraemder Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4972 days ago 1497 posts - 1648 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 116 of 142 25 October 2014 at 10:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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Yeah I've noticed the same thing with my japanese too. Of course it would be great to be able to fluently write
japanese to impress friends and japanese people but really, it's not a skill you'll ever use otherwise. Unless you're living in Japan and even then I think that is debatable. I've just come to accept that I won't be able to write japanese without constant practice and I don't want to practice writing it all the time. Unless I move to Japan then I'm sure I'll rethink that. And my recognition seems completely separate from my ability to recall too. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5770 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 117 of 142 25 October 2014 at 10:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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I love the fact that when I am studying German or French I can just pull out a pencil and paper and make handwritten notes. It's convenient and effective and absolutely doesn't translate to an effective method (for me) to study Japanese! I guess my PC has been a blessing really, since it has allowed me to progress without needing to worry too much about my handwriting. And then when I do handwrite, I tend to get very lazy and rely on kana most of the time. Like a six year old...
I think for me, recognition and recall seemed to be tied together to start with, but probably only because I placed equal emphasis on both. Actually, I'm not sure how I would have fared with learning how to break down characters into smaller components or recognise subtle differences if I hadn't made efforts with recall, at least to start with. It's been a surprise to see such a skills gap emerge, but I guess it's quite normal. Anyway, I know intelligent Japanese people who will regularly have to reach for the electronic dictionary when handwriting. They still beat me hands down on kanji knowledge, of course, but if the goal is near-native, it's a good thing to bear in mind. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| kraemder Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4972 days ago 1497 posts - 1648 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 118 of 142 25 October 2014 at 11:30pm | IP Logged | ||
hehe, exactly. I've said this before but you can take notes in kana. You can add kanji later if you wanted to but the kana is good enough that you have the information. Or you could use a mobile device to take notes - just type away. Practicing writing kanji can be fun too so more power to you if you do that. I personally just practice writing kanji when I'm in the mood. Which is less and less often. And if I haven't written Japanese in a while, I'll blank on kana too. But I -never- blank on reading kana. When would you take notes in Japanese unless you're taking a Japanese class? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5770 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 119 of 142 26 October 2014 at 12:01am | IP Logged | ||
When you're showing off? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5770 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 120 of 142 03 November 2014 at 7:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've finally been able to log some pages on the Super Challenge Bot!
I finished two volumes of manga in October: クレヨンしんちゃん vol.2 and よつばと！ vol.9. I took my time over クレヨンしんちゃん but managed to polish off よつばと！ in about a week. Yay. I also finally reached the end of the book 魔女の宅急便, which I must have started reading about three months ago. It's aimed at older 小学生, which means that the kanji you learn earlier on in 小学校 do not have furigana, however the range of vocabulary and the style of writing is such that it's a fairly easy read - a total contrast to the last children's novel I read which had full furigana but the vocabulary and style was impenetrable at times. Anyway, I would put 魔女の宅急便 at a similar level, or maybe even slightly easier, to the first Harry Potter book in Japanese, and might be a good option as a bridging text if you are sick of Harry Potter already! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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