learning japanesey

nice job. I just finished RTK, and i'm on my secon...

2009-03-24T11:04:00.000-07:00

nice job. I just finished RTK, and i'm on my second day of sentences. My problem during RTK was adding random huge chunks of kanji, so it took me too long to finish. I'm incorporating what I learned into sentences; like you said "less hare, more tortoise." I only do 20 new sentences per day despite my level of enthusiasm.

That's cool that you've got that goal. The same t...

2009-02-22T17:57:00.000-08:00

That's cool that you've got that goal. The same thing happened to me. I went to Japan after a bit of Japanese study for an exchange trip. It sucked because, like you said, I couldn't really communicate fully. Now, I'm more determined than ever to be fluent before I return.

Thanks a bunch for the help with importing! I figu...

2009-02-04T12:12:00.000-08:00

Thanks a bunch for the help with importing! I figured it would be as simple as something like that. I use OpenOffice, however, which doesn't even seem to allow saving a spreadsheet as text... but I'm probably missing something silly. I'm sure I'll figure it out from here, at any rate!

And yes, I'd honestly echo what Alyks advises. Personally, I went monodic after the first two steps (400 items) of iKnow. It's definitely slow (very, VERY slow) going at first, but try not to get frustrated - the more you use it and the more you read in general, the easier and faster it'll get. (I'm still on the sluggish side myself, but I've really gotten used to the layout and format of the various dictionaries - helps a whole lot)

@AlyksThanks for the tip. I will give that diction...

2009-02-04T04:03:00.000-08:00

@Alyks

Thanks for the tip. I will give that dictionary a try.

It seems it would be best to just jump in at the deep end. I imagine it to be quite painful in the short term but will get you to where you want to be alot quicker. Lets see!

Hm, the short answer is that you will never be rea...

2009-02-04T00:18:00.000-08:00

Hm, the short answer is that you will never be ready to make the switch. It's best to just take the plunge and jump in.

I recommend the 大辞林 as a monolingual dictionary, it's awesome. I wrote a guide somewhere on my blog if you're interested.

Burritolingus,Yes it is possible to import spreads...

2009-02-02T09:53:00.000-08:00

Burritolingus,

Yes it is possible to import spreadsheets into Anki. Took me a few goes. There is probably several ways to do this but I did it using the following steps:

1, Save the Google Document file as an Excel (xls) file.
go to ‘File’ = ‘Export’

2, Strip the columns of information you need and place them in another Excel spreadsheet. I didn’t need every column of information in the Tae Kim spreadsheet so I just copied and pasted the three columns: Sentence, translation, reading.

3, Make sure that your data fields match your Anki deck model in the correct order.

4, Save the Excel spreadsheet as a text file.

5, Open Text file and re-save that as a UTF-8 text file. This is the file type which Anki is able to import.

6. Open Anki, select ‘Import’.

I’m really interested in the monolingual approach to sentences. I notice that you went quite early into this. Which dictionary would you recommend? I’m around the 400 mark, when would you advise to go monolingual. I still feel I have quite a lot to learn before I could give it a proper go.

Now the real fun begins!Indeed, just as you said, ...

2009-01-29T12:11:00.000-08:00

Now the real fun begins!

Indeed, just as you said, the hardest part of sentence mining is figuring out where to start. I had quite a bit of difficulty in actually starting because I just wasn't sure what, where and how to mine.

The most simple answer is that there is no best way. Beginning will be difficult pretty much no matter where you start, especially coming off from RTK where things are generally straight to the point and easy to understand.
However, it really looks like you have a solid thing going on with your current outline.

Whatever the case, you'll soon reach a point where you feel comfortable with mining sentences from practically any source, and then you have a huge world of 日本語 open for the taking. I've gone monolingual dictionary recently, myself, and it's pretty incredible how much of an impact that makes.

Oh, and... I must be missing something, but is it possible to import those spreadsheets into Anki? I tried for the longest time to figure it out, but eventually gave up.

I totally hear ya on the subject of minefields... ...

2008-12-19T17:53:00.000-08:00

I totally hear ya on the subject of minefields... I've still not added many sentences to Anki yet, but I've already managed to set off a few nasty explosions, particularly with sentences that were too long, or otherwise complicated. A good upper-limit of characters per sentence is 10, early on, I think.

I've had the most success mining sentences from Kanji Odysesy's example sentences, however! On its own, KO is extremely useful as it is, but its supplemental example sentences are tough to beat as far as beginning sentence material goes. Lots of practical material and common kanji to start with. I'm probably going to stick with that for some time, and eventually, when I'm more comfortable with my reading abilities, mine the heck out of 2channel, various RPGs and whatever else I can find for more colloquial, slang and diverse Japanese.

But first, a little more time with these blasted kanji!

@BurritolingusThanks for the heads up on the JDram...

2008-12-17T07:53:00.000-08:00

@Burritolingus

Thanks for the heads up on the JDrama, I will look out for it. Have to admit that I haven’t really found any dramas I like yet so I tend to watch a lot of the Japanese variety entertainment shows like Lincoln and SMAP*SMAP (this probably warrants a post in itself).

Completing RTK1 in two months is hardcore and a great, great effort.

On the subject of sentences, I think they are a potential minefield which you need to get right from the start otherwise you could find yourself in all sorts of trouble further down the line. I’ll be posting something up on sentences shortly as I’m nearing the end of RTK1 and I would appreciate your advice, thoughts and experiences with sentences so far.

I’ll definitely be passing by your blog soon. Thanks.

Hey, Just finished up RTK1 this morning :)http://j...

2008-12-16T10:46:00.000-08:00

Hey, Just finished up RTK1 this morning :)

http://jayslug.wordpress.com/2008/12/16/in-which-an-accomplishment-is-explained/

Hey Kerubin - always nice to read up on the progre...

2008-12-14T23:24:00.000-08:00

Hey Kerubin - always nice to read up on the progress of other fellow learners.

Keep up the pace and you'll have yourself quite the Christmas gift!

As for myself, it took roughly two months of pretty darn intense studying to clear through RTK1 - looking back, I'd have settled for 25 a day rather than the 50ish per day I was aiming for, honestly. Near the end, I seriously began neglecting my Anki repetitions, which didn't exactly benefit me (for the record, I still have a couple hundred unreviewed, "new" cards in my RTK1 Anki deck - ugh).

I'm currently spending most of my Japanese time working through my remaining kanji reps, doing the occasional sentence or two (which was really sort of awkward at first - I'm interesting to see what you're planning, sentence-wise), and uh... watching a lot of Japanese dramas (without subs). What can I say, Bloody Monday is a really addictive show!

jayslug,Thanks for the encouragement...I think I'm...

2008-12-02T14:18:00.000-08:00

jayslug,

Thanks for the encouragement...I think I'm going to need plenty of it over the next three weeks.

Please let me know when you finish. I would be interested to know how you are going to approach the next 'phase' of your learning. I will be posting something on how I am going to start sentences nearer the time.

Good work! That is an impressive pace at which you...

2008-12-01T18:36:00.000-08:00

Good work! That is an impressive pace at which you are blazing through Heisig. I'll be finished in less than two weeks (I'm at 1850), but started back in June. Hah.

Keep us updated.

Hi Jayslug,I have recently been using iknow to hel...

2008-11-30T11:25:00.000-08:00

Hi Jayslug,

I have recently been using iknow to help brush up on my katakana. Which i would have to say it has been pretty useful for.

My feeling is that iknow is good to dip into now and again but I wouldn't use it as your only means of learning. As a free resource though its pretty cool.

have you tried iKnow much now?

2008-11-22T23:20:00.000-08:00

have you tried iKnow much now?

jayslugCongratulations on reaching 1450 - not far ...

2008-10-30T14:01:00.000-07:00

jayslug

Congratulations on reaching 1450 - not far for you to go now.

I understand what you mean by it working in cycles. I'm just approaching 400 and I have only just started to see real progress.

Hey i'm doing Heisig too! I'm on 1450, so I have a...

2008-10-29T23:12:00.000-07:00

Hey i'm doing Heisig too! I'm on 1450, so I have a few on you, but I promise it gets hard then easy and then hard then easy. So keep persistent.

Haha, I actually started majoring Spanish because ...

2008-10-26T13:54:00.000-07:00

Haha, I actually started majoring Spanish because I though I'd be hard. But in fact it's a lot the same like other Western-European languages, in fact not *that* hard.

But you're right about the difficult part. The more difficult something SEEMS (halfway my Spanish experiment I realized I could apply this method to any random language and still succeed) the cooler it'll be to gain fluency in it.

For me the main reason I'd even consider learning Japanese is because Japan is the electronics nirvana on earth, hehe. But yeah, Spanish isn't a bad choice when I consider what it has given me (nice friends, the best food I've ever eaten, a whole continent I can cross speaking one language).

@ramsesThanks for passing by, I will be visiting y...

2008-10-23T12:23:00.000-07:00

@ramses

Thanks for passing by, I will be visiting your blog (www.spanish-only.com)shortly to hopefully pick up some language learning tips.

I think the reason why many people struggle to give an actual reason for learning Japanese is probably because they can't put their finger on it themselves.

I was attracted to Japanese largely because it was so different from any Latin based European languages. It is the unfamiliar which is exciting, new and interesting.

With over 400 million odd people speaking Spanish that can't be a bad choice either.

@IgorA fellow weirdo, thanks for the comment.I'm a...

2008-10-23T12:11:00.000-07:00

@Igor

A fellow weirdo, thanks for the comment.

I'm about 100 kanji behind you at the moment so hopefully we should finish the 2046 at roughly the same time.

By the way, I like the image on your blog. I enjoy a good Pocky now and again.

Okay, I'm not studying Japanese but I pretty intri...

2008-10-23T02:31:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm not studying Japanese but I pretty intrigued by it's sound. Still, that's no reason for me to learn Japanese (I'm majoring Spanish).

Still, I wonder why other people learn Japanese. So far I haven't heard any other reason than to understand manga. Pff, I don't really like manga and anime.

Oh yeah, and I totally get the "weirdo" thing. At...

2008-10-22T19:44:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, and I totally get the "weirdo" thing. At lunch, I'm doing kanji and stuff with my choice of SRS (ANKI), and everybody else is like "You actually learn stuff OUTSIDE of SCHOOL?!" BTW, I'm at like 371-ish or something for Kanji.

Lol, I suppose you're already a bit familiar with ...

2008-10-22T19:40:00.000-07:00

Lol, I suppose you're already a bit familiar with me from Khatzumoto's blog. As a fellow AJATTist, I am happy to say I am glad to be the first to follow your blog.

This post is actually kind of ironic because I actually have learned French to a level where I can communicate really well in school (and it was going to be my major), but, alas, I will no longer be studying it. Nihongo has stolen the show, lol...

Anyways, I definite feel the same "yep, someday soon I'm gonna be all whoopin' yo butt in NIHONGO" feeling. I'm really glad there's someone else out there who really does appreciate the culture and wants to learn the language for such a variety of reasons!