Japanese Update 4/14/2014
Showing posts with label japanese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label japanese. Show all posts
Japanese Update 4/11/2014
Had a day or two of missed reviews, but managed to get through the reviews. Am up to 285, so I've passed the halfway point of K2_1 in about three weeks, and am nearly 1/4 of the way through all the kanji :) One interesting thing I've noticed is when I try to write sentences, I recognize several of the kanji. For example, when making lunch plans w/ a Japanese friend, I recognized the word for next week, 来週 (らいしゅう) from the kanji 週 "week." Seeing the immediate application of the kanji helping in my Japanese study has been encouraging!
Japanese Update 4/4/2014
Getting harder. However I'm about a hundred cards further than the last post, and at card 229/555. So almost halfway in 2k_1. Pretty happy about that. I'm learning a few principles when it comes to studying kanji:
- Study time must be focused. Yesterday I studied the new cards on the T on the way home, while standing. It was crowded and trying to keep your balance doesn't bode well for memory retention. I had 22 missed cards today-- fortunately I put in some concentrated time during work today.
- Good stories are essential. Making a memorable story will help you immediately recall the kanji for the keyword.
- Writing helps cement the kanji. Usually I'll trace the kanji on the blank screen, but today I tried writing on paper, which helped a lot. Something about it makes a connection in the brain better.
In general my recall is ok. We'll see what happens as I learn more cards. I'm also starting to use Lang-8, an online language learning forum. Attempting to write in Japanese is incredibly hard. One thing that I've found difficult is all the little words used after nouns to denote different types of actions. In vocab I have noticed that recognizing the kanji does help to connect the pronunciation to the word. So I can see the value to learning the kanji first before vocab.
I do want to keep pushing myself to see just how many I can get through quickly. Right now I spend about 20-25 min each day of study, which isn't too much. If I doubled that and did 20 new cards a day that'd be great. If be able to finish all of RTK in LRS than 3 more months. Right now I'm aiming to finish in 6 more months.
I do want to keep pushing myself to see just how many I can get through quickly. Right now I spend about 20-25 min each day of study, which isn't too much. If I doubled that and did 20 new cards a day that'd be great. If be able to finish all of RTK in LRS than 3 more months. Right now I'm aiming to finish in 6 more months.
Japanese Update 3/30/2014
I think I'm starting to get into a groove (fingers crossed!) with studying Japanese using Anki, the electronic flashcard software/app. I was reading a bit on the Koohi forums about RTK, and I was inspired by the "100 kanji a day" thread-- while a bit crazy, I've at least tried to increase the # of new cards I learn per day. There is a big increase in the # of reviews as new cards per day increases, but I figure if it gets too much I can always turn off new cards until I plow through the review mountain.
So far I have a study time of 20-25 min per day, which isn't all too much. If I study on the subway on the way to work I can knock it out quickly. Currrently I'm sick so while laying on the couch I've realized I could either watch TV or study more kanji. Fortunately I've gone with more kanji this weekend.
I've decided to focus primarily on finishing RTK 1 (2042 common kanji) as quickly as possible because I've realized that it's really just the foundation of learning Japanese-- although I will be able to recognize kanji I need to learn vocab and grammar after RTK in order to learn applicable Japanese. I guess I'm changing from my "slow and steady" widespread method of kanji and vocab. My thought now is that I'll be able to learn vocab more efficiently once I have the kanji down; instead of focusing only on the hiragana word and ignoring the kanji. It's kind of like having to learn the alphabet before learning English-- I could learn words phonetically in hiragana/katakana, but then I'd have to go back and add in the kanji. It seems better to try to do all at once for vocab. Anyway, we'll see.
I've been studying kanji "seriously" for about 10 days so far and I've learned 139 kanji or 14/day, not too bad! The RTK deck I'm using has tags for core2k kanji (1999 kanji) and is separated into 3 parts (555, 555, and 889 cards). If I do 20 a day I can finish the rest in about 3 months, which would be preferable to finishing in 6 months. It may be hard to find a balance between keeping a fast pace and then getting overwhelmed by reviews, or worse, burning out and stopping altogether. But here we go.
がんばって！
So far I have a study time of 20-25 min per day, which isn't all too much. If I study on the subway on the way to work I can knock it out quickly. Currrently I'm sick so while laying on the couch I've realized I could either watch TV or study more kanji. Fortunately I've gone with more kanji this weekend.
I've decided to focus primarily on finishing RTK 1 (2042 common kanji) as quickly as possible because I've realized that it's really just the foundation of learning Japanese-- although I will be able to recognize kanji I need to learn vocab and grammar after RTK in order to learn applicable Japanese. I guess I'm changing from my "slow and steady" widespread method of kanji and vocab. My thought now is that I'll be able to learn vocab more efficiently once I have the kanji down; instead of focusing only on the hiragana word and ignoring the kanji. It's kind of like having to learn the alphabet before learning English-- I could learn words phonetically in hiragana/katakana, but then I'd have to go back and add in the kanji. It seems better to try to do all at once for vocab. Anyway, we'll see.
I've been studying kanji "seriously" for about 10 days so far and I've learned 139 kanji or 14/day, not too bad! The RTK deck I'm using has tags for core2k kanji (1999 kanji) and is separated into 3 parts (555, 555, and 889 cards). If I do 20 a day I can finish the rest in about 3 months, which would be preferable to finishing in 6 months. It may be hard to find a balance between keeping a fast pace and then getting overwhelmed by reviews, or worse, burning out and stopping altogether. But here we go.
がんばって！
Back in the saddle
I've restarted studying Japanese, for a variety of different reasons. And it's going well so far. Before I was just trying to chip away at the kanji in RTK and it got a bit old I think. Because just learning the keywords is only the first step to learning Japanese words, the kanji themselves don't do very much in terms of applicable skills if you don't know any vocab or even pronunciation!
This time I'm trying a few different things at the same time: hiragana/katakana, kanji, and vocab. The variety keeps me engaged, and hopefully will be better for the long term.
Hiragana/katakana: I targeted this first, and am finished with them! What's nice is that even if I don't know what exactly I'm reading, I can at least sound it out.
Kanji: Surprisingly, I've retained some of the characters even after almost two years since last giving up. Right now am trying to catch up in reviews in Anki, and then will probably try to go for 10-12/day. That'll have me finishing the first 2042 kanji in about 6 months. I can live with that :)
Vocab: I'm working on the Core2k/6k Nukemarine deck in Anki, doing 2 new cards a day. There are 400 vocab words in the first section which I'm supposed to finish in about 6 months too. I have Japanese on the front and English on the back because trying to go the other way I had like zero retention and it got frustrating pretty quick. I think the idea I'd that when I've finished with kanji I can do vocab to figure out what kanji is used in the word.
Grammar haven't started yet, but I may add that in at 2/day using the Tae Kim deck. We'll see how do with the other stuff first I guess.
That's all for now. I'm trying to keep this updated to track my learning experience!
10 new cards/day = :)
Doing 10 new cards a day has been working out quite well. It doesn't feel overwhelming, but rather very satisfying when I finish all my reviews for the day and this screen pops up:
Also, I've been a lot more consistent than in the past with this system. I've been doing 10 cards/day for less than a month, but I am slowly starting to feel the pattern of it sink into my routine.
Before, I was trying to do 25 cards/day, but that didn't last very long (between 53 to 44 days ago). Then I decreased to 20/day (~26 days ago). Then I swallowed my pride and reduced it to 10. Even though I have missed some days, I'm a lot more consistent, and best of all, I haven't quit yet!
I used to find it unthinkable to do "as little" as 10 cards or 5 cards/day. Because on the forum I belong to, the average is 25, and people often talk about 100/day, which is really insane, unless you have 6 hrs/day to study. I may not finish as fast as I want to, but the important thing is that I'm continuing.
Also, I've been a lot more consistent than in the past with this system. I've been doing 10 cards/day for less than a month, but I am slowly starting to feel the pattern of it sink into my routine.
Before, I was trying to do 25 cards/day, but that didn't last very long (between 53 to 44 days ago). Then I decreased to 20/day (~26 days ago). Then I swallowed my pride and reduced it to 10. Even though I have missed some days, I'm a lot more consistent, and best of all, I haven't quit yet!
I used to find it unthinkable to do "as little" as 10 cards or 5 cards/day. Because on the forum I belong to, the average is 25, and people often talk about 100/day, which is really insane, unless you have 6 hrs/day to study. I may not finish as fast as I want to, but the important thing is that I'm continuing.
continuing RTK
171 on RTK, should finish in 39 days of practice, 6.5 weeks. (March 13)
Scheduled to finish maturing RTKana in about 2.5 months. (April 15)
I've discovered Lang-8.com, an awesome way to connect with other language learners. Every user has a blog where they write in the language they are learning. Then native speakers can go in and comment w/ edits of each sentence. It's fun to see what people write about, and there are also points for # of corrections, # of "thank you" points for corrections made, and # of corrections voted as good ones by others. It's very helpful and a good way to see what real every day language looks like, not just textbook phrases.
Scheduled to finish maturing RTKana in about 2.5 months. (April 15)
I've discovered Lang-8.com, an awesome way to connect with other language learners. Every user has a blog where they write in the language they are learning. Then native speakers can go in and comment w/ edits of each sentence. It's fun to see what people write about, and there are also points for # of corrections, # of "thank you" points for corrections made, and # of corrections voted as good ones by others. It's very helpful and a good way to see what real every day language looks like, not just textbook phrases.
How to Succeed in Studying Japanese
Slow and steady wins the race.
I think this is the key to my goal of learning Japanese.
I have an unfortunate pattern emerging in my study habits. I'll get on a roll for a week or so, finish all my flashcard reviews of kanji/kana, then for whatever reason I will stop studying for a few days. Then it gets up to a week or more, until I am way behind.
The way the flashcard software works, I am really hurting my memory by doing this in spurts like I am. It times the next time each card comes back up depending on whether you got it right or wrong the previous time. When I stop doing reviews for a week or more (it's been about 2-3 weeks now!) I'm preventing the system from helping me put the knowledge into my long-term memory. I'll forget and will have to start over from the beginning.
Leave Your Pride At Home
On the Japanese learning forum I'm on, most people seem to learn 20-30 new cards per day. Some hotshots even talk about learning up to 100 new cards per day, and devote up to 8 hours of studying per day! Great for them, but there is no way I can do that.
I've been having a goal of learning 20 cards per day; originally it was 25 and I took it down a bit to be easier on myself. But I think even 20/day may be a bit much for me. It hurts me to say this, but I think that 10 per day is a good pace. I'll be able to knock it down in one session and feel like I've completed something that day.
I haven't done this because I feel that at 10 per day I will take too long to finish my set plan. That's why 20 sounds better, because it's twice as fast. However 20/day is not really that in practice, as is made obvious by my lags in studying.
I have to learn to take my pride out of the equation and figure out a pace that is reasonable for my lifestyle. Even if I can't meet my goal when I originally wanted to, at least I will be studying at a steady pace and not stopping. Ultimately that is more helpful.
Find Your Own Way, Ignore Everyone Else
This lesson has taken a long time to learn. Whatever you are trying to do, for me, studying Japanese or blogging, there are always tons of successful people talking about how they do it. For a lot of them, this pursuit is their career, their #1 focus in life, and basically they have a lot of time to devote to it.
It's easy to read blogs, online forum messages, and to think that the way these people are learning and achieving their goals is what you have to do. I realized much later that I don't have to subscribe to 10 blogs and read all those messages to succeed. I just have to figure out what works for me, through personal trial and error. This leads to my next point.
Reading About Japanese Is Not Studying
When I know I have to study for the day, and it's looming over me, I immediately start internet surfing. Oh, I'm doing something about Japanese. But I'm reading posts and blogs about what other people are doing to learn Japanese, or talking about something Japanese. This is not studying-- my primary goal! This is distraction and procrastination. It's kind of like how the day before a term paper is due, I suddenly get an urge to clean my room. And my room gets messy.
Instead of spending 45 minutes surfing, if I would tell myself to simply sit down and study for 5 minutes, I would be so much better off. It's hard to put off a short term pleasure for a long term gain.
It can be inspirational and quite motivational to read about Japanese stuff, to get that kick in the butt and get going. But in the end achieving goals and success comes down to a lot of not-as-fun stuff, day in and day out. This is the lesson I am slowly learning.
scheduling
Holiday has been good for studying. I'm on schedule with RTKanji (really called RTK I) and a tiny bit ahead. Only thing I need to fig out is the listening part-- I haven't really stayed on top of that. I think I'll be better about it when I get back to work b/c I can listen while commuting. But right now there's not a huge incentive to keep up on it.
I do want to listen to JPod101 because it's pretty instructive and would tell me stuff other than just the kanji and kana that I'm practicing right now.
Anyway. Up to 104 on RTK. Continuing my reviews of RTKana, which will mature in 20-ish days.
I do want to listen to JPod101 because it's pretty instructive and would tell me stuff other than just the kanji and kana that I'm practicing right now.
Anyway. Up to 104 on RTK. Continuing my reviews of RTKana, which will mature in 20-ish days.
Studying Kanji in Anki
I use a Remembering the Kanji deck I d/l from the RevTK forum. There is not only kanji and English, but also hiragana and katakana readings of kanji context words for each kanji. Helpful but a lot of info. Since my level is very low right now, here is how I am studying so I can get through the deck but still get some JP language exposure.
First I open Firefox which has the Rikaichan plugin installed. I open tabs for: Google Translator, Reviewing the Kanji study page to look up stories for kanji, and Tae Kim's page in case I need to look up pronunciation for hiragana/katakana. I enable the Rikaichan plugin and toolbar.
On the Anki card, before flipping and showing the bottom, I read the top two lines, but only the first word/phrase of each. The top line is a katakana reading of the kanji, and the second line in blue is a hiragana reading of a word using the kanji.
Then I flip the card and look at the top line of kanji, right under the big kanji character. This is what the second line from the top is phonetically reading. I take the first word only and copy it into Google Translator. I put an orange box around the three Japanese areas I look at.
Then in Google Translator I mouseover the kanji word and Rikaichan pops up this little window with the dictionary entry for it. If I press F, and sometimes F plus any other button for stubborn ones (I use the Shift key) it will say a reading of the word. Much better than the Google translator one, because it's a recording of the entire word, not just the sounds pasted together.
It also helps to tell you where the elements in the kanji come from.
Right now I just glance at the word and say it a few times but am not actively trying to remember it. I figure that I will learn vocab later on for real. But doing this will probably at least help me to familiarize myself with some words and pronunciations.
It is quite a bit more time-consuming than just flipping the kanji and story. I can do this now because I've studied these kanji already. But I'm not sure what I'll do later when it's all new kanji that I have to make up stories for. I don't want to be spending 5 minutes per card. So I may throw the looking up part out the window if it takes me an hour per day. We'll see.
First I open Firefox which has the Rikaichan plugin installed. I open tabs for: Google Translator, Reviewing the Kanji study page to look up stories for kanji, and Tae Kim's page in case I need to look up pronunciation for hiragana/katakana. I enable the Rikaichan plugin and toolbar.
On the Anki card, before flipping and showing the bottom, I read the top two lines, but only the first word/phrase of each. The top line is a katakana reading of the kanji, and the second line in blue is a hiragana reading of a word using the kanji.
Then I flip the card and look at the top line of kanji, right under the big kanji character. This is what the second line from the top is phonetically reading. I take the first word only and copy it into Google Translator. I put an orange box around the three Japanese areas I look at.
Then in Google Translator I mouseover the kanji word and Rikaichan pops up this little window with the dictionary entry for it. If I press F, and sometimes F plus any other button for stubborn ones (I use the Shift key) it will say a reading of the word. Much better than the Google translator one, because it's a recording of the entire word, not just the sounds pasted together.
It also helps to tell you where the elements in the kanji come from.
Right now I just glance at the word and say it a few times but am not actively trying to remember it. I figure that I will learn vocab later on for real. But doing this will probably at least help me to familiarize myself with some words and pronunciations.
It is quite a bit more time-consuming than just flipping the kanji and story. I can do this now because I've studied these kanji already. But I'm not sure what I'll do later when it's all new kanji that I have to make up stories for. I don't want to be spending 5 minutes per card. So I may throw the looking up part out the window if it takes me an hour per day. We'll see.
reading katakana
another little milestone:
Went on jugem.jp, a blog hosting site, and was able to figure out some of the katakana words (from English)
ホーム - home
モブログ - moblog (mobile blog)
テンプレート - template (had to look this up in dictionary)
サポート - support
Granted, figuring out the EN from the katakana is a far cry from knowing hiragana and kanji meanings. But it was still exciting to be able to read these words and having the knowledge allow me to know what the buttons mean on the website.
Finished studying the RTKana and Kanji early. Listened to JPod Ep 1 dialog w/ the transcription on repeat and tried to imitate what they were saying.
Went on jugem.jp, a blog hosting site, and was able to figure out some of the katakana words (from English)
ホーム - home
モブログ - moblog (mobile blog)
テンプレート - template (had to look this up in dictionary)
サポート - support
Granted, figuring out the EN from the katakana is a far cry from knowing hiragana and kanji meanings. But it was still exciting to be able to read these words and having the knowledge allow me to know what the buttons mean on the website.
Finished studying the RTKana and Kanji early. Listened to JPod Ep 1 dialog w/ the transcription on repeat and tried to imitate what they were saying.
small milestone
I've noticed my reading of hiragana has improved! I've been practicing reading using children's stories (unfortunately w/ no transl) and JPod101 lessons which have all possible versions (EN/hira/kanji/romanji). Also have been doing the readings with the RTKanji deck.
When I first started reading the children's story I could barely follow the narrator's voice with the text. I've been doing it periodically, and just now read thru it, and was able to follow through pretty well! I recognize many more characters since I finished the hiragana and have been looking up a lot of things.
Also added the Rikkaichan plugin for Firefox which is pretty awesome. It's basically a dictionary that you just mouseover any kanji and it will tell you all kinds of information.
I think I am going to start compiling a Japanese study links area for the things I use for studying.
When I first started reading the children's story I could barely follow the narrator's voice with the text. I've been doing it periodically, and just now read thru it, and was able to follow through pretty well! I recognize many more characters since I finished the hiragana and have been looking up a lot of things.
Also added the Rikkaichan plugin for Firefox which is pretty awesome. It's basically a dictionary that you just mouseover any kanji and it will tell you all kinds of information.
I think I am going to start compiling a Japanese study links area for the things I use for studying.
plugging along
Started on RTKanji. Made it through all my reviews, mostly thanks to being on vacay @ home.
Am feeling a bit overwhelmed at all the readings (still haven't quite figged out what they all really mean exactly) for each card in the deck. There is a definition in katakana, a Chinese-based reading, and a Japanese one too?? Then there is a hiragana and kanji version of each of the readings. Basically each card has a lot of stuff.
I've been reading just the definition, then copying the kanji into Firefox w/ the Rikkaichan plugin added to automatically lookup the definition. Also Google Translator has a handy dandy voice reader that will read out loud in Japanese, what it is. It seems to be accurate about 90% of the time-- sometimes a kanji it will read the wrong reading for it in the word.
Also have to do reviews for the RTKana deck. So lots of stuff to do. The Kana deck will be mostly all matured in about 30 days so if I can keep up on all the reviews while here then I only have to do it for 2 wks back in Boston.
.... tired. I'm just realizing now just how far away I am from any sort of comprehension of the language. :( But have to keep reminding myself one step at a time. At least I can read the kata and hiragana now.
Am feeling a bit overwhelmed at all the readings (still haven't quite figged out what they all really mean exactly) for each card in the deck. There is a definition in katakana, a Chinese-based reading, and a Japanese one too?? Then there is a hiragana and kanji version of each of the readings. Basically each card has a lot of stuff.
I've been reading just the definition, then copying the kanji into Firefox w/ the Rikkaichan plugin added to automatically lookup the definition. Also Google Translator has a handy dandy voice reader that will read out loud in Japanese, what it is. It seems to be accurate about 90% of the time-- sometimes a kanji it will read the wrong reading for it in the word.
Also have to do reviews for the RTKana deck. So lots of stuff to do. The Kana deck will be mostly all matured in about 30 days so if I can keep up on all the reviews while here then I only have to do it for 2 wks back in Boston.
.... tired. I'm just realizing now just how far away I am from any sort of comprehension of the language. :( But have to keep reminding myself one step at a time. At least I can read the kata and hiragana now.
RTKana
Finished! And yet, there will always be reviews, at least for a while. Tomorrow begins (or continues) Remembering the Kanji, JLPT style.
I also downloaded a TON of JPod101 mp3s and transcriptions. Finished all the Absolute Beginner stuff, almost 300 lessons total. Still have many more left to go.
holiday time is fun time!
Home for the holidays. :) As I'd hoped, I've gotten some extra time to do studying and find some Japanese resources.
JapanesePod101.com. I found this website through a discussion on the RTK Forum. One of the criticisms of the Heisig method is that it doesn't help much in the listening and speaking area, which is true. This site has literally hundreds of lessons from Beginner to Advanced and even JLPT prep courses. Each lesson has a lesson mp3, short dialog, transcription, and PDFs with explanations.
What's better is that you can sign up for a 7-day free trial and download all the mp3 dialogs. You can't get more than 10 PDFs, but you can copy and paste the transcriptions, which have Romanji, kanji, and kana, along w/ English tranlations. The audio lesson is somewhat entertaining and really well put-together.
Since I have a lot of free time at home I'm planning on using the Firefox extension DownThemAll to quickly d/l all the mp3s and copy and paste the text transcriptions. It's gone pretty fast so far and I shouldn't have too much trouble getting it all within 7 days.
I'm planning on listening to a couple lessons a week on my iPod. What I like is that I learn a bit of grammar, phrases, and culture. And my hiragana reading is good enough to be able to make out the words on the text. (draggingly slow, but still!)
I'm up to 227 on RTKana. Plan to finish by tomorrow, and then start on RTKanji!
JapanesePod101.com. I found this website through a discussion on the RTK Forum. One of the criticisms of the Heisig method is that it doesn't help much in the listening and speaking area, which is true. This site has literally hundreds of lessons from Beginner to Advanced and even JLPT prep courses. Each lesson has a lesson mp3, short dialog, transcription, and PDFs with explanations.
What's better is that you can sign up for a 7-day free trial and download all the mp3 dialogs. You can't get more than 10 PDFs, but you can copy and paste the transcriptions, which have Romanji, kanji, and kana, along w/ English tranlations. The audio lesson is somewhat entertaining and really well put-together.
Since I have a lot of free time at home I'm planning on using the Firefox extension DownThemAll to quickly d/l all the mp3s and copy and paste the text transcriptions. It's gone pretty fast so far and I shouldn't have too much trouble getting it all within 7 days.
I'm planning on listening to a couple lessons a week on my iPod. What I like is that I learn a bit of grammar, phrases, and culture. And my hiragana reading is good enough to be able to make out the words on the text. (draggingly slow, but still!)
I'm up to 227 on RTKana. Plan to finish by tomorrow, and then start on RTKanji!
back in the saddle
I'm finally better again and am back to studying. Can't believe I've been studying the Kana for nearly a month tho. :P
I read an amazing book called "The Power of Less" by Leo Babauta. I actually had read his blog for a while when just getting into blogging. It's inspired me to simplify the way I do things and to systematize and break down the big tasks that I want to do. One of those things is studying Japanese.
I did some math and figured that studying 20 new cards 6 days a week will allow me to complete the JLPT 4 level in 10 weeks. Two and a half months isn't bad at all, I think! Knowing that the end is within a reasonable length is in itself a good motivator. I've tried to make my studying an amount that is feasible to actually get done, and also have set a time when I will study (right after I get home from work).
Today I studied all the 20 RTKana and listened to a Japanese children's story. I should finish RTKana in the next two days, and then begin on RTKanji.
I'm going home for Christmas for about two weeks-- hopefully I'll be able to devote extra time to studying then!
sick!
I've been sick for what feels like the past month, with a cold, a reprieve of a week or so, then got an intestinal virus + cold and now just have the cold. I've taken a break from blogging or Japanese studying this past week to get better. But I can feel all the hiragana and katakana leaking out my brain. sigh.
lost in japanese
I successfully studied most of hiragana over Thanksgiving break, which I found relatively easy. However katakana has me overwhelmed. Also somewhat overwhelmed by the new RTK 1 & 3 deck that I began, which has helpful kana/kanji readings of all the kanji. I want to read the readings, but also want to get through the reviews reasonably quickly. There's no point in trying to sound out all the phrases for "one" and spending 5 minutes on it!
I did go over the トトロ parallel text while listening, and definitely could follow along a lot better with the dialog.
I guess my goals for now are to plow through katakana, get more familiarized w/ hiragana, and find a comfortable pace with the RTK deck. These are all building the foundation; when I finish the first 555 cards of RTK, I'll start on the grammar deck and hopefully start on the next level of my studies!
Yesterday I was realizing that in all the work and studying I'm putting into this, I haven't spent a cent on anything. The electronic flashcard software, Anki, I use is free, all the different flashcard decks are downloaded for free. The websites and forums I go to for learning resources (Reviewing the Kanji, Tae Kim's Guide) are also free, J-doramas are free online, and even when I get better I have more free links to reading materials for free (blogs, free books, my roommate's books and books at the library). I can even converse w/ my Japanese roommate, and ask her questions, for free of course!
The only thing I ever spent money on was a textbook when I signed up for a class a year or so ago, which ended up getting cancelled. I gave the book away on Paperbackswap since I never used it.
study plan (as of now)
I've compiled a new study plan, and wanted to write about it here:
Old plan: pure AJATT method
- study RTK I (http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/about/overview-page) 2000 kanji
- learn kana
- learn 10,000 sentences and the other 1000 kanji
- Do all of the above while immersion in watching TV, listening to radio, podcasts, music, as much as possible.
New Plan, focused on JLPT levels:
* based on helpful posts on RevTK forum by user Nukemarine
- Remembering the Kana: hiragana and katakana (240 total)
- Kanji learning thru RTK 1&3 deck: RTK Lite/1 (500+500+900) + RTK3 (1000) = 3000 total
- Vocab thru Nukemarine's Core2k/6k deck (400 total)
- Grammar thru Tae Kim's Grammar deck (Basic 150, Essential 300, Special 225) = 775 total
- Listening/Reading of parallel books, scripts, Japanese graded reading.
- immersion through music, TV, movies, blogs, magazines, etc.
1. Study kana first, then kanji.
2. Begin Vocab and Grammar study.
3. Do L/R, immersion all throughout.
Benefits of the new study plan:
- Quicker results: the AJATT plan favors mass quantities of immersion as its modus operandi. I am not dedicated enough to study enough kanji to finish it off in 3 mo, and didn't want to spend 9 mo to a year learning kanji that I have no idea what their actual Japanese meaning is or how to say them. The new plan adds learning the kana first so I can at least learn pronunciation and feel like I'm learning something tangible when I look at JP blogs for example.
- More structure: Learning from vocab and grammar decks just makes less work for me. AJATT has you mine sentences to learn both grammar and vocab somewhat intuitively, and I simply don't have the time to devote to the method.
- Additional learning methods: I read about the Listening/Reading method which apparently has amazing results in helping people achieve fluency listening, even on its own w/o study.
- Measuring results and the JLPT: the Japanese Graded Readers (level 0-4) are supposed to be awesome, good stories and also a good way to see what level of proficiency you are at. In addition, if I ever want to do anything serious in Japanese I will have to pass the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test). So why not plan my study around the JLPT levels?
in summary
Can I do this? That is the question. My next goal is to study for the JLPT 4 level (which I think now is called N5).
To do that I need to do the following:
120 Kana + 384 Kanji + 400 Vocab + 150 Basic Grammar = 1054
If I study about 20/day I can finish in about two months, not too bad! And the best part is I feel that even tho my Japanese will probably be sucky, at least it will be at a level that you can say is sucky. Right now it is nonexistent for all practical purposes.
I'm attempting to teach myself Japanese using only free resources. So far I have used $0!
This plan is designed to go along the JLPT path.
Will add Levels as I reach them.
* based on helpful posts on RevTK forum by user Nukemarine
JLPT4/N5
to be completed in 20 Weeks, studying 10 cards/day, 6 days/wkAnki Decks (# of cards)
- Kana: Remembering the Kana (243)
- Kanji: Remembering the Kanji 1&3 (1-555)
- Vocab: Nukemarine's Core2k/6k (400)
- Grammar: Tae Kim's Basic Grammar (150)
Immersion
- JapanesePod101.com Lessons
- Japanese children's stories, reading parallel scripts
- Watching TV/movie, listening to podcasts
Order of Study
1. Study kana first, then kanji.
2. Begin Vocab and Grammar study.
3. Do immersion all throughout.
random milestone :)
I read 東京 and realized that I know it means "east capitol" now. Tokyo! This made me very happy :)
I have made it to 542 this weekend. It seems that just a few days ago I was at the 500 mark and in a rut. I feel like I'm starting anew and in a good place to make big strides now. Yesterday I studied about 50 kanji in a little less than 30 minutes. If I keep it up daily I won't have to spend much more time than that each day.