Category: Japanese

Posts about the Japanese Language

Self-Study and the Classroom: Introduction

Hello hello.

You crazy awesome language learners have heard it all before: Classes are terrible for learning a language.

Although I tend to agree to some extent, I have to say that having access to native speakers and other learners who are genuinely interested in learning on a daily basis is very encouraging.  In fact, that’s what class is to me now, not a time to learn necessarily, but a time to simply add more fuel to the “I-wanna-learn-Japanese” fire.  Even so, I’ll learn new stuff sometimes.  But that’s not what this post is about.

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How I Use My SRS

Hello all and 今晩は。This is just a quick post to share my SRS formats.  If you have any ideas for other formats, I’m open to experimentation.  In fact, that’s the part that keeps me going.  Finding out new things, keeping what works, trashing what doesn’t.  For now, I use two decks, one for kanji and one for everything else (vocab, sentences, production).  I will probably combine them at some point.  Anyways, here are some examples of cards I use.

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Tadoku Time!!

Just a few more days until Tadoku!!

Tadoku (多読) is basically extensive reading.  There is a very good summary about it here.

I’m really excited for this competition.  I don’t expect to place very well, especially considering there are well over 70 participants, but that’s not the point of the contest (at least not for me).  I just want to get into the habit of reading Japanese everyday, and I think doing it for a month will be long enough to make it a habit.  Perfect.  I went to Kinokuniya a few days ago to buy some manga, so I’m really excited.  Flipping through the pages, I found that there is furigana for all of the kanji, which is both good and bad, I think.

Well, I’ll see you in February, assuming I’ll be too busy reading to do anything else.  Except eating and sleeping.  Maybe showering.  We’ll see.

Happy New Year/Holidays/Tadoku

【日本語】Going Monolingual

I decided I would make my transition into using monolingual sources for my Japanese acquisition.  It’s only been a few days, but I think this is the way to go.  It just feels really good to look up a definition, see a line of kanji, and say “I can figure this out.”

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Serious Learning – Immersion

Hello all!

I have joined the legion of people who use immersion as part of their language learning routine.  I like to call them the Immersioneers.  And as a direct result of this change, I’m finally taking everything more seriously by, of course, having more fun.  After all, that’s the best way to learn, right?

I also realized why my progress in Japanese had felt so unsatisfactory.  I was only learning in class, and only studying what I “learned” in class.

Studying Latin didn’t really give me a chance to try out immersion as a learning technique, so this is my first attempt at such a technique.  (Actually, I guess Korean was my first attempt at immersion learning, though I’m only realizing it now as I type this…)  Anyways, to the point!

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