JLPT Study so far

Well, I'm trying to get caught up on kanji, mostly. That and vocab is where I hurt. I retain grammar the best, although it's been a while since I wasn't straight up reviewing, so we'll see how I fare. I think I can do it.

Also, the choice to go with N3 is the right one. I did example test questions for N5 (which I never doubted was too easy) and N4 (which I figured would be doable) and they were both a piece of cake, pretty much. I think the only times I messed up were times where I just hadn't paid enough attention.

One thing I need to be careful of is to not get too sucked into Anki. Flashcards are great, but in the end, flashcards are going to make you good at flashcards, and not Japanese. (Of course, people say that about the JLPT, too, that studying for the test only really makes you good at taking the test, or that it only tests your ability to study for a test...)

I have a LOT of textbooks. They all have example sentences and some of them have drills. Cross studying (out of order, heavens!) goes totally against my "chonology tic," but in this case the most important is really to just cover material. I definitely err on the overly systematic approach, so it's time to just study whatever is relevant.

Also, it's time to study. This blog has been giving me some grief lately. Some of the posts are super valuable (to me, at least) but some of them are just drama or boring. I might clean it up. I don't really want to start a new one just to "get serious." I think I can do that here :)

世間体

This word means "appearances."

From the dictionary on my Macbook:
for the sake of appearances 世間体のために
that would look bad/be bad for my reputation それでは世間体が悪い

But these kanji readings seem kind of crazy to me. せけんてい
せmakes sense since it's the same as 世界
but けん is pretty different from かん like 間 is more commonly pronounced
and てい is different from たい like 体 is usually pronounced.

It's almost like the vowels for the whole word shifted to match the first one.

Anyways, it's hard for me to remember, but then I realized that if you get a little philosophical it's not so hard, based on the meanings of the kanji.

Think of 世 as world, 間 as a length of time, and 体 as body/phyisical.

So appearances are only valid in this life, the brief time your physical form (appearance) is on this planet.

あの世ではどうなるかな。

#makingshitup

Anyways, I hope that taking the time to write this post will help me remember the word.

I've been trying to think of what I can do to make this a little more functional for other people, since it's called How to not suck at Japanese, but really, as I think I have said, the key is just to take the time. Me writing whatever I write in here is meant to show that. Of course, I don't update all that often, but I'm working on it :X I HAVE been studying kanji and vocab in Anki. Semi holding off on grammar until I get the N3 books I ordered (textbook junkiiiiiie).

I always feel more compelled to study while out of town

Somehow the change of scenery drives me. Or maybe I feel like I have something to prove.

Anyhow, I've been studying from NJ. Working from/on Anki flashcards from/for Kanji in Context vocab. So, not much to report, except that I'm trying to get on track. I can't decide if I'd like to study in the morning or after work, but I'm beginning to think mornings. The only thing I don't like about studying first thing in the morning is that I don't want to stop. When I get tired, or I feel like I have accomplished what I would have liked to for the day, then I stop; stopping to go to work, as much as I love my job (literally, not sarcastically), is sort of depressing.

For this week I think may try out studying in the evening, though. I have been on the East Coast, so I feel like my potential for getting a swim/work-out in early in the morning is high. If I can get in that habit and make it work, I think it will be a good thing. If it's not ideal (which it may not be, food-schedule-wise) then, I will switch back to studying in the morning. Gotta give it a shot.

Dates and Classes

I had no idea you could write １９８５年　（千九百八十五年）as 一九八五年.

Literally, no idea. How come I haven't come across this before? Was I just not paying attention? Maybe it was rash to be a skeptic of this kanji textbook (Bojinsha's Basic Kanji Book) that we are using for class.

Yes, I tested into Intermediate 4 and Kanji 2, so I did buy MORE textbooks. Honestly, though, Situational Functional Japanese seems pretty great now that I'm spending some time looking at it. Doesn't look like they baby you on the kanji front, either. Going to try and get through at least some of the material they covered in the previous class (the stuff contained in the books I bought, since we are starting part-way through each of them) but I don't think I'll get to it all.

I'm really strong in grammar, but weak in kanji/vocab, it seems. This makes me want to just start over every time I study, but I can't do that...have to press forward. I'm really excited to have a completely objective idea of how I'm doing (the teacher's). Just gotta keep trying.

Which class(es) will I take?

Took the placement test today. I FEEL like I rocked it (which I realize is a very un-Japanese thing to say), but I don't want to congratulate myself too much until I know what they think. What I'm hoping for is Practical Communication and Reading Comprehension, but I'm guessing that is too much to hope for given the neglected state of my kanji knowledge.

What I'm NOT hoping for is landing in an intermediate class, just because I'd sort of like to avoid buying more textbooks. I'm almost wondering if I should just really focus on listening and kanji for a while (i.e. this semester) and then sign up for Spring classes. (That way the timing won't interfere with my beginning wushu, but that said, I have a feeling Monday, Tuesday might be a bit much in a row when I'm just starting anyways, and a Monday night Japanese class seems like the right way to start the week.)

I mean, if I could get halfway to 2級 by April, I think I could test into those classes. Halfway is only 500 kanji and I know a bunch already. That said there is always the depth vs. breadth debate. I don't want to cram only to realize I didn't learn much at all. (Something, anything; something, anything!)

Come to think of it, maybe that mantra is the way I should look at these classes, too. So what if I have to buy MORE books and review a bit? If it'll get me to where I want to be then that's what I'll do. Just waiting on their recommendations...

Their kanji courses go

0-100
101-370
371-500

I'm guessing I'm somewhere in the realm of number 2. I'm guessing I could safely sign up for number 2, which is definitely shameful, ugh...(after all these years) but what are you gonna do? Take Practical Communication and Kanji 2, I guess. I just really like the Kanji in Context books that I JUST got. Hrm hrm hrm. Craving classroom interaction while simultaneously craving an empty room.

Know what is more productive? STUDYING. It's been a while :X

Crap, has it really been a month?

I can tell you that for some of that time I was studying.

And then for some of that time I was not.

I did just start this today, though: http://www.murakamiculturemap.com

So that is good. Also, I'm strongly considering (pretty much decided on) signing up for actual Japanese classes. I haven't been in a classroom in just over 3 years, at least not to learn. I was inspired by this blog post, which I heard about via @whiterabbitjpn; as you may have guessed, that is White Rabbit Press's Twitter account—exciting!

Anyways, I e-mailed Sokogakuen about classes today and they responded quite promptly with a link to a placement test type dealie, but the site has apparently gone down. Hoping there is an alternate I can take soon.

This, I think, is the only way I will be able to build speaking confidence. So...I'm gonna give it a shot.

Shadowing Update

それから、韓国語がわかります。

I can say that a lot better than I used to be able to. This week I'm doing the first half of Unit 2, intead of the whole thing. As the sentences get more complex it will be better to do more repetitions...

Man, I was going to attempt another song translation today, but I have a lot of stuff to study. Might be better to do it tomorrow? We'll see. There is a crisis of laundry building. I wish I had a bigger laundry bag so I could just take everything to the laundromat at once and read Haruki Murakami allllllllll afternoon...

Lazy Friday

Not sure if I'm going to have the stamina for 敬語の金曜日 after all...

but I got a lot of other stuff done! And then I read comics ;)

Thanksgiving Check-in

Just had a super productive and wonderful study session. Maybe it's because I had the day off and had the time/energy, but really, I've been doing a pretty good job of keeping at it all week. I feel like I'm improving, which is always good motivation.

Shadowing

Unit 1 is getting a little old, but I've noticed that I can keep up better with phrases like 私は十七日です。(That sentence looks really funny, btw—she's talking about her birthday.) As expected, repetition is the key.

Kanji

I feel like I have the vocab down for this lesson, which is awesome. I guess that means I could add some of the harder vocab to the mix if I wanted. The plan was to go through all the plain ones first and then go back and sweep for the ones marked as not immediately essential or specialized afterwards...

Grammar

Now that I am sinking my teeth into 初級から中級への日本語ドリル（文法）I am lovvvvving it. They give you really important pointers, like how when you're using 〜たまま the person doing both the action that is finished with a continuing state and the current action has to be the same person. This is actually the kind of grammar advice I REALLY need, so I'm thrilled. Also, since they have grammar explanations in Japanese AND English (and Chinese and Korean) it's really easy to pick up vocabulary like 過去否定形 (past negative form [of a verb]).

Casual Listening

Well, it's casual. I have to say this is the thing that I feel ok about dropping if I'm sleepy or dont' have time, but tonight I did listen to a story about a lady who lives with a crow. Whoo!

That's all. Just a progress report. I'm actually pretty sleepy now, for whatever reason. I kinda wanted to play some videogames, but not sure I have the attn span ;)

An actual study session -- wao!

Check it out—I studied for about two hours tonight. Here is what I did:

Reviewed Unit 1 of the Shadowing book

There are ten lessons with ten SHORT dialogues. That sounds like a ton, but Unit 1 is the most basic stuff. Like I said, I'm pretty happy just confirming the patterns I know, right now. Plus there are some thing that don't exactly roll of the tongue and this is a great way to drill them. 失礼します will never be easy to say : / お先に失礼します。It's too bad, because this is one thing you will say ALL THE TIME if you work in Japan. It's really too bad that the bar to fluency is set so high right off the bat. しつれい is just...difficult as hell. HELL.

That and it's nice to have this book really moving your tongue. Some listening activities are pretty slowly spoken, but this CD just rambles right along, so you have to keep up. Numbers are the other hardest thing. 一泊３５０円です。That's a pretty expensive movie rental!

Got all of lesson 1 Kanji in Context must-learn vocab into Anki and gave it a spin

I did some of this over the weekend, but now all 26 of the easiest kanji in the universe* are in there. It seems there is almost more vocab you didn't know—八百屋, I had no idea, really— plus, of course, tons of vocab that will be nice to see to remind you that you do indeed know Japanese. The plan with this is to do a chapter a week. Once we get through the stuff they assume you know already (which I may...not...anymore) it evens out to about 10 kanji per chapter, which should be feasible as far as learning new things goes, which makes me excited.

*I know, I know. AGAIN? Haven't you been studying these for about 10 years now? (Yes.) It's not like I forgot them all, I know them. How many times do you have to lay the foundations? (Over and over?) I have to justify this somehow in a way better than a personality flaw (yeah, you really do) but I can say that the examples sentences are...really great. Just from the first lesson, I feel like I'm reading at my level in real things that might actually be said. I LIKE the context. I need the context. The context will help me learn. Putting my kanji in it!

Was indecisive about how to proceed as far as grammar goes

I'm eager to get into the blue 日本語ドリル book from The Japan Times, and I think that will do me ok. I'm a little nervous about not having answers available. I guess that is the one nice thing about 文法が弱いあなたへ.

Incidentally, kanji holds you back a lot. This is what the Kanji in Context intro was getting at with the # "sharply rises" thing, but man, it really does. It's very frustrating, esp if you can't keep the stuff you learned already in your head. Gonna try hard.

Gonna wait on the orange vocab book until the blue one is done

I had originally thought of studying these both together, but I think I will be getting as much vocab as I can handle out of the kanji study and just...song lyrics, etc. Randomness. I'm sure there will be vocab to learn in the blue book, too, since I am still so much a nubberduckie.

敬語の金曜日

This seems like a plan and a half, if I can actually find some time. I tend to go out on Fridays (to NEW PEOPLE), so it could be tricky to fit in depending on the timing of whatever I am doing. It can always spill over to Saturday, I guess ;) Actually, I get to go to work later on Friday, so maybe I can study in the morning. That seems ideal.

Casual Listening

As opposed to the hard-working Shadowing stuff, I'm going to use the 50 Days book to just relax a bit. I won't worry about understanding/remembering every word. I'll just chilllllll. Later I can go back and see how much more I understand, maybe. And the readings should be easier once I recollect some kanji.

So the short view of a week is:
Daily Shadowing (Shadowing!)
Weekly Kanji Lesson* (Anki, Kanji in Context Workbook)
Weekly Grammar Lesson (Blue book, with some Tae Kim as necessary) +
Daily Casual Listening (50 Days)
Friday Keigo (日本語の敬語トレーニング, 敬語すらすらBOOK)
Stress-free Saturday (Last Saturday of the month = cooking and conversation clubs.)
Sunday Lyrics (There are so many more songs to sing!)

*spread out over the week
+ Followed by Weekly Vocab Lesson (Orange book...although I half wonder if I should study some basic lists first)

I can't really come up with a more gorgeous study schedule than that. Sticking to it is the trouble, right? Maybe I can't study two hours every night, but if I can do at least one, that is something.

Sick, First Impressions of the Smart.fm revamp, etc.

Well, progress has slooooooooooowed due to fever and nose-blowing.

Smart.fm seemed like a pretty chill thing to do, except that they are buggy as shit right now (which is not meant to be as harsh as it sounds...just a set-phrase—I don't hate them!) and their interface is all new and bizarrely Twitter-like. Anyways, so I spend half of my time reporting bugs, but hopefully once they iron out it will become useful again. Anyways, I'm tempted to just make my own flashcards the old fashioned way. It's better for teaching yourself anyhow.

I am just very well aware how quickly those stacks grow, when you're trying to learn hundreds (thousands) of kanji.

But ok, yes, I could make my own digital cards.

Maybe it's time to give Anki a shot.

Waiiiiit, just kidding. "Reviewing the Kanji" also just did a site update. (PS - after seeing their url, how can you call them anything but 漢字コーヒー?)

This I like. You don't have make anything, you can just have them add it. It keeps track of where you are in the Heisig book and apparently there is a spot to ad your stories about kanji, but of course, mine will always go right here!

Sadly, no new kanji tonight. Too damned dead feeling. I'm going to bed. Of course, this is what I said almost an hour ago, but I felt like maybe updating this blog would be a good idea...

Night!

Revisiting Heisig OR Don't Knock It Till You Try It

Prompted one again by my new study buddy (Link in the sidebar, yo! It's swiftly becoming a vital one...) Victory Manual, I am taking a fresh look at Heisig.

Or that's what I was going to say except that I never really took a look at Heisig at all. I was aware of his method from the very beginning of studying Japanese because some people love him and some people hate him, but I had dismissed him out of hand because knowing the English meaning of the kanji seemed like a truly dangerous and destructive habit à la romaji. Hearing Alex's tale of a reformed skeptic caused me to think it over, though, and what I realized is...

"Something, anything." My mantra had been right there staring me in the face, but I didn't know it.

Language learning is all about exposure, right? So, actually introducing yourself to all the kanji with their core meanings is probably a BRILLIANT first step, because it puts them firmly into your head by using what you know already, building a great foundation on top of which you can later add word after word of vocab with what I assume now to be very little trouble.

Embarrassingly, I think had some misconceptions about the method that are now totally myth-busted. For instance, I had the idea that he WAS looking at the etymological history of the kanji, but in fact, the "stories" he tells about the characters really do make a lot more sense than that.

Incidentally, part of the reason this works, I think, is not even so much the stories as the way the stories force you to break the kanji down into easy to digest chunks. You know how when you are in a room with a lot of people speaking a language you aren't proficient in and your brain sort of gives up trying to understand? You might even start to get sleepy... It's the same thing with complicated kanji and this is something I have recognized for a long time but was not sure how to combat: when you're looking at a kanji with tons of strokes, you sort of see it without really understanding it, so even when you try to ascribe meaning you are glossing over the parts that you do actually need to remember in order to recognize it later. Forcing yourself to take the kanji apart by following to Heisig's mnemonics is, well, a huge breakthrough. I'm just sad that I am so late to the party. 24 years old...if only I could be 6.

The other thing I didn't know about Heisig's study course was the way it focuses on teaching writing. So it doesn't teach you the 100 "most useful" kanji first and it doesn't teach you them in the order that little kids learn them in Japanese schools—actually at first glance it appears to teach them in quite a confusing order, since it uses the same building blocks to make as many kanji as possible per lesson, which makes a lot of them easily confused. THAT IS, if you didn't have the stories to go along. I can't even think of mistaking "prosperous" for "risk" because I know that "risk" involves looking at the sun with your eyes and prosperity is sunny, so you get two suns.

The best thing, I think, is that I am extremely optimistic about learning kanji. 1,945 used to seem like a lot, and now it doesn't at all. That alone is priceless.

Study consciously

http://www.victorymanual.com/study-slower-learn-faster/

This is my favorite post that I've read over there so far, mostly because as I commented, I keep thinking I need to start some diving strategies. Really thinking hard about what you're learning could be the key. (And it's also true that I wish I had all day every day to devote to this. Not gonna happen! ;p) but I do have long afternoons. Actually it just occurred to me that my schedule is almost school-like, except in high school I would wake UP at 6, not be at work by 6. Still, though, getting out at three gives me some open daylight that I need to start using to my advantage more.

For some reason I can't get the schedule vs. non-schedule thing down. I know that if I say everyday between 4 and 6 is Japanese time that I could attempt to do that, but...it seems unlikely that I would actually have every day between 4 and 6 free. That said, the way things are now, I seem to manage to WASTE all the time between 4 and 6 (or just not leave work ;p) soooooo, maybe I should try being hardcore and seeing what that gets me, if anything.

Honestly, I've found the most important thing is just to do something, anything. Anything is better than nothing. That sounds defeatist, but it's really empowering. I mean, it sounds sort of positive, but not positive enough, when really it is ultra positive because it means that the smallest thing can be useful and build you up.

For instance, today I reviewed some really easy kanji, but there were still words I didn't know. I wish I could remember them now, but that is why I will be reviewing them tomorrow, and maybe in a deeper way. There's always the question of how much time you should spend learning different words ("marbles" vs. "participation" vs. "paths between rice fields" whut), but like I said. SOMETHING ANYTHING.

I'm gonna get that on a t-shirt I think.

(You think I'm kidding.)

The L2 Linguistics Bug Returns Feat. Victory Manual

I went to go see Matt Alt speak about yokai today at NEW PEOPLE and got really inspired to...well, study more. Everything inspires me to study more.

This blog, too, inspired me to study more and harder: http://www.victorymanual.com/

The guy who writes it, Alex, is a teacher in Korea, so he is dealing with L2 issues all the time, both his own and his students.

It's a little bitter-sweet to read such an awesome blog like this, because L2 linguistics and teaching were some of my main interests, which gradually morphed into translation/interpretation, which were more or less dismissed once the videogames journalism career materialized, which in turn was more or less abandoned for Twitter; I do a hell of a lot of not looking back for being the most nostalgic person I know.

I DO look back, though. I think I made this point already, but I COULD BE a translator on the side, the way I write right now. That thought is very exciting.

The fact of the matter is that I could be translating professionally right now. I could be doing a ton more in Japanese for work and the only reason I can't is that my Japanese is not there yet.

So what does this mean? Today it meant that I spent a while in Kinokuniya oogling everything from The Tale of the Heike (translated) to English textbooks for Japanese speakers (I was trying sort of hard to find a book about Japanese linguistics, but failed). I also spent a while reviewing. Actually, the first grader kanji review is very nearly completed. And I'm happy to say that it wasn't all review; I've been acquiring vocab for real, as well as a couple kanji that managed to slip by earlier.

Actually, in general, between conversing with the Japanese contract team at work and doing slap-dash review, I have been improving. I noticed the other night when I met a new conversation partner that I could actually put a few sentences together.

I'm still ridiculously nervous and shy in Japanese, just because I love it so much and want to do it right : /

But I did talk to him in Japanese a little bit and he seemed to understand me all right.

Other big news is that I get to attend the JP team meetings at work. At first this will involve me sitting in a corner quietly with a notepad trying as hard as I can to just understand, but I figure the more I go the more I will learn. More exposure can't be a bad thing.

Smarter fm

So I've begun using the quiz feature and it seems pretty effective. Of course, you will still have to practice writing on your own, but for recognition and comprehension, these flashcards (like many others, but these won't get lost or have coffee spilled on them) are a good bet.

I made a very brief foray into my Twitter list last night (ツイッターの単語）and the accompanying list for words that are not necessarily considered "Twitter specific" (by me; JP Twitter non-essentials).

Since I've been fooling around with this so much I haven't had as much time for Kumon or audio or grammar or anything, really, but I've made tiny progress in those areas as well. Hopefully some more later today...

Had the exciting realization yesterday that if writing can be a side project, then so can translating. I don't have to give up on that goal just because I have a full-time job. I've been getting pretty interested in the publisher Haikasoru (under the Viz umbrella) after finishing Housuke Nojiri's Usurper of the Sun, and I feel like translating could also be a way to pick up some vocab if I pair it with smart.fm.

I may also start to do some English --> Japanese translation at work, but have it approved by someone more fluent. And I'm also learning some more skills so I can be of further use to the Japanese contract team. Glad I get to expand in these ways, but I'm hoping I can learn at a pace fast enough to really be super useful.

Smart.fm

This is a very useful study site for any flashcardable material. The thing that really blew my mind, though, was the audio samples for nearly every word I input. (I'm EmaWii -- so far I have made a list of all the words I am looking up from the first grader kanji くもん drill book.) It's pretty fantastic, actually.

Supposedly the unaffiliated (i.e. using the API) iPhone app allows you to download all your lists, sound files intact, and study them away from the computer -- although the fancy quiz feature (which I haven't really played with yet) is not available...

Looking forward to putzing with all of this more. It's ten times better than anything else I've seen, with all these audio samples just sitting around. You can even create and upload your own, so I could make a list of English vocab and upload me saying all of it in my perfect native English. Sort of interesting.

Doubly interesting is the Twitter Vocab list. That said, I think I am going to create my own version. They seem to be putting in a lot of stuff that is quite targeted enough for my liking ("time?" really? That's useful, but doesn't have THAT much to do with Twitter).

Major update AND Hello again

The first thing you will notice is that I have hooked up my Japanese Twitter account to this blog. Makes much more sense. When I started this blog, I didn't HAVE a Japanese Twitter account. Yay, progress.

The second thing you will hopefully start to notice in the future is me actually using this as a hub for my study activities. For starters, let me just expound a bit on recent happenings:

*I started a Japanese cooking club with a couple friends and one of the members is a pretty hardcore Japanophile, which makes me happy. He speaks conversationally quite well, it seems, and all from some close-watching/listening of J-dramas. Granted he is currently not working or in school, living at home, but I think we can all learn a bit from his dedication.

*NEW PEOPLE opened in San Francisco and I hang out there a lot. This will become apparently if I keep up with this blog like I intend to, because I go to see a lot of Japanese movies there, which is listening exposure, even if you do have the subtitle crutch.

*Bumped my tutor down from an hour to a half hour a week. Basically, I just want someone to chat with and whom I can bounce questions off of. I appreciated her efforts in personalizing a class for me, but I have way to many aspirations to be locked into a set schedule of quizzes and things.

Main study resources, currently:

*文法が弱いあなたへ is a great grammar review book. I have probably mentioned it here before, but since I have only just finally gotten into a good study habit, I'm still using it. To recap: it's perfect for an intermediate student (the book is all in Japanese) who wants to review some points.

*くもんの小学校ドリル, where have you been all my life? The 国語 kanji workbooks are KILLER. I wish I had had these in high school. TO ALL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TEACHING YOURSELVES JAPANESE: please go out and buy these workbooks. Oh. My. They are meant for Japanese elementary school kids, so not only are you learning the kanji in the order that Japanese kids learn them, but you are learning them along with the readings and vocabulary that Japanese society deems necessary for kanji n00bs. I went back to 一年生 for some review, but I am already learning stuff I never did before.

*Have been doing Pimsleur Japanese level 3 audio lessons, which are a decent mix of making me think a little and way too easy. I like that they are throwing in some formal language, but the scenarios are feeling a bit simple for the level of politeness they are throwing at you. That said, anything that gets me saying Japanese words out loud is a plus. I am shy and I think this sort of listen and repeat stuff is what I need to get my tongue all 日本語'd up and ready for action.

*にほんご敬語トレーニング has been my keigo book of choice, although I haven't delved too far in yet. Rumor has it there is some sort of ultimate keigo book out there that I must own. I heard it might be in the mail to me. We shall see :)

*The latest addition to my growing stack of extremely useful and practical (no joke) Japanese language books is 日本人の知らない日本語, which has been a huge best seller in Japan. No wonder it was so easy to find at Kinokuniya this afternoon! It's done in "comic-essay" form, and teaches, as the title states, "Japanese that Japanese people don't know." Seems very entertaining, and since it is entirely in Japanese, for Japanese people, about things that even they may not know or do correctly, I am really excited to prioritize this in my study sessions.

*Kotoba! for iPhone is a pretty decent Japanese dictionary. I figured something was better than nothing and this was free (if I remember correctly?) More often than not, the word I have been searching for has been in there and they have translations to multiple languages and even kanji details.

*iEijiro (iPhone) is a dictionary for more advanced usage and...whatnot. Haven't had much luck with this, honestly. It seems extremely useful, but for more limited purposes, maybe?

*Check out the latest Otaku USA for an article I did about iPhone kanji apps :)

*Japanese Flip is a great flashcard program (iPhone) for JLPT vocab.

*Mnemosyne is back in style with me and I'm actually in talks with someone to get an iPhone port going, or at least a comparable program. This is very exciting, especially if we can make it so you can sync your stacks and grade levels. Then I can take all the vocab I'm working on with me in my pocket, where it is far more accessible than on my laptop.

*KeyholeTV is a MAJOR discovery. Not much more to say besides that it is streaming Japanese TV and radio. We should all just let our jaws hang open in awe that this exists.

Main study tactics at the moment:

*Aiming for an audio lesson a day, but not quite making it.
*Doing three lessons of くもん drill at a time, which right now is around per day, but not sure how that will scale, especially since I want to try to absorb all this really good vocab.
*Thinking of how to work in more keigo practice. Might wait until after the audio lessons are exhausted.
*Very interested in looping in more work-related Japanese stuff. Might begin the pain in the neck yet very instructive task of going through all my Japanese language mail from the week and pulling vocab for Mnemosyne cards as well as just instilling proper everything from my Japanese co-workers.
*Also really need to look over the Japanese versions of the site, help materials etc. This is something I mean to do long ago, but I just need to set aside time.
*I'm also interested in doing a translation project now and then. I'm not sure what I would like to translate, but I will probably start with news articles about work, since that could prove to be doubly useful.

Luckily, since Japanese has been placed as one of my three whole areas of priorities in life (right up there with work and health) it has been really easy to find more time to do it lately, which has been making me very happy.

But now look how long I spent updating this blog when I could've been actually studying. We'll see, we'll see ;) Anyways, for now, hopefully someone will find all those recommendations relevant. I will try to update with some less obvious ideas (the ones that aren't "surround yourself with study opportunities" and "take them") as they come up and maybe log some progress/questions and answers from my tutor/etc. Or I could get too busy to update for another few months.

There's a lot of passion here, but I'm not sure it's for the blog. I'm pretty sure it's for the doing and the studying. This is a problem I have had with all my blogs lately, even the ones I bought domains for, so...

yeah. We'll see.

Audio Lessons

I was having a good experience with Spanish audio lessons, so I decided to try some in Japanese, too. Pimsleur is pretty awesome, not only for the listening, but for the SPEAKING. Listening and repeating (and repeating and repeating) is a really good way to get your tongue and head wrapped around the vocabulary. You feel way more confident when you can just rattle stuff off. Plus it's real people talking, not anime characters ;p

Learning Spanish in Japanese

In college I was learning French, Japanese, and Russian all at once. Alas, my French has devolved to barely passable and my Russian is pretty much nonexistent, although I can still read Cyrillic--Cyrillic, my love. Anyways, I don't recall actually studying any of them VIA the other one. While I was living in Paris, I had started sort of doing Russian via French (at the Sorbonne, but also from some books on my own) although most of the time it was Russian and French simultaneously via English, since I was advanced enough in my Russian (though not technically considered "advanced" by any means) that at least vocab-wise it was keeping pretty good pace with French at that point.

It has been suggested recently that I take up Spanish, and my thoughts have always gone in this direction considering I am a minority in my Latino neighborhood. I mean, I feel silly NOT speaking Spanish. This morning they took an interesting turn when I realized that I would be starting not entirely from scratch (I took some Spanish in middle/high school), but I'd need to refresh everything regardless, so I might as well be. What it seems like is a really great opportunity to exercise...my Japanese?

If I'm learning basic Spanish then they should all be things I know in Japanese, and if there are things I DON'T Know in Japanese that I come across in a beginner's Spanish textbook, then I should LEARN them, ASAP. I'm almost tempted to buy a Japanese Spanish textbook, but for a variety of reasons I see that not turning out very well. No, I'd have to make my own awkward pb and mint jelly (They don't go together do they?) sandwich, but it might be worth doing...

Really, though, I would rather get back to French or Russian lol

INCORRIGIBLE, that's what I am, and maybe just stubborn. Here I am immersed in Spanish and not paying attention to a word of it... (Ok, maybe a word or two, but no more...)

Lena, Makiko, Takeshi

Not much to say (but I have been studying kanji, reviewing grammar, listening to podcasts--w00t) except it's good to have a study buddy, conversation partner, and e-pal. I recommend having all three of these things, in fact. They are good for different reasons:

1) The Study Buddy

It's nice to have a fellow slogger. If you surround yourself with only natives (as ideal as that would be--ha!) you may get lonely/frustrated. Motivating your friend is also a good way to keep yourself motivated, and you can turn each other on to new study tools, funky vocab, and commiserate about kanji.

2) The Conversation Partner

To get over the shyness hump. Find a sweet and friendly native speaker to help get you acclimated irl. Do anything together, as long as you speak at least some Japanese.

3) The E-pal

It's not like there isn't enough reading material around, but processing quickly and typing prompt replies is good practice. Trade links, copy paste to ask questions, and maybe learn some cute emoticons www

So, don't suck--get some friends ;D