Right.....here it goes.

funky penguin · 03-07-2012 2:31am

I realised I haven't updated this in a while!

I was sooo sure I was never going to overcome the post honeymoon blues, but I think I finally have.
I've reached 1,000 in Heisig (still can't believe it!), but now I've also started sentences. I'm on one hundred of those bad boys and counting. I'm taking it easy to be honest, and not stressing myself out.

そして、金曜日から日会話始まる! プライベート・クラスです！

funky penguin · 12-07-2012 3:49pm

Wee update......

1,125 kanji.

I've worked it out that if I do about 20 a day I should reach the end by around August 30th, which is the plan.

The kanji are becoming a little easier to grasp the more I progress. You always think 'I'm never gonna remember this ridiculous story', but somehow it sinks in. Obviously, some more than others, but the SRS works it's magic on that. I always have to remind myself to relax and just enjoy it.

I also discovered that the 'mature' cards in my kanji deck have a 75% rate of success, and there's an obvious curve from 'new' through 'young' to 'mature' ones. I'm absolutely delighted with that. It's far more than I was expecting, and proves something is getting into my thick skull! :pac:

On top of the kanji, I have 120 sentences from this book. It was recommended to me by a guy here who did the same method, to a highly successful degree (just did his JLPT2). Also a meager 100 in my vocab, and I made some kana ones for the craic. They're easy, fly through them.

I'm not too worried about the other decks though, main goal is to get Heisig finished, then concentrate fully on the sentences. Although, I'm tempted by Heisig 2 and 3.......

Aard · 12-07-2012 7:32pm

Thanks for keeping us updated, Funky. It's not easy staying so dedicated to the SRS, although I imagine it's somewhat easier when you live in Japan! How is your Japanese coming along? Would you be able to hold conversations, or watch the news or anything yet?

funky penguin · 13-07-2012 12:27am

I watch the news regularly enough, but understanding it is a different matter! :P

My Japanese conversational skills are pretty dire. They're becoming much better since I started the sentences and vocab though. It's amazing what a difference just a couple of hundred cards can make.

Makes me realise what an effect 10,000 will have! :eek:

funky penguin · 17-07-2012 6:20am

1,205

It just gets easier and easier to force yourself to sit down and just review. I've gotten into a rhythm, where I review in school when I have free time, then study new material in the evening at Starbucks, then maybe play a video game (in Japanese of course).

When I make a sentence I throw the vocab into my vocab deck, to re-inforce whet I'm learning. If I get a chance, I take a look at grammar points, but I'm not breaking my back over it.

Tristram · 26-07-2012 10:35am

スタバはいいな。。。;)

funky penguin · 28-07-2012 2:53am

大好きですよ！私の家はちょっと静かで, 勉強できない！

1,300 kanji. Slacking off a wee bit, but I don't mid as I'm talking more Japanese lately.

Tristram · 31-07-2012 1:29pm

Keep up the good work funky penguin! I'm focusing on grammar this month - a whole lot of review - and speaking a hell of a lot more than usual. Next month may see a kanji assault.

funky penguin · 06-08-2012 4:35pm

1,440.

Ooooooo, it's becoming.....almost.....gah. I can't describe it. It's just....so routine now I suppose. But it's certainly easier to retain things than it was 4/5 months ago.

It may also have to do with the fact that I'm not overly worried any more about getting things wrong. It happens. That's how we learn. deal with it. Move on. Next time you'll remember what the kanji for the keyword torture is. And if you don't, well anki will bash you over the head till you do.

Saying all that, the Lesson involving the 'thread' radical, 糸 was particularly difficult. I was just not retaining ANY of them....until I changed the primitive he suggested to Spider-Man.

Don't ask me why, it just worked. >_<

funky penguin · 28-08-2012 4:13am

Wow! 久しぶり！

Since I've been on my 夏休み、progress has been slow, but steady on the RtK front. I'm on 1,650 or so.

However, since I've been out and about, I've had the opportunity to listen and speak more. It kind of all culminated in a party I went to where I was the only foreigner, and all I could speak was Japanese as the people there had no interest whatsoever in English. (To be honest I was a little surprised at this. Most Japanese will attempt English once they see you attempt Japanese).

Anyways, I originally had planned to finish RtK by the end of August, but I'm not too worried about that. I've found a rhythm that's getting me through it. I'm a LITTLE impatient at this stage, as I want to get cracking on the sentences. Soon, I suppose.

hibby · 29-08-2012 2:21pm

I'm studying for N2 now and I've stopped learning kanji.

Well, I'm still learning kanji, but not as a separate activity; it's part of learning vocabulary. I guess I'm learning to read words rather than individual characters. The amount of vocab you have to learn for N2 is horrendous.

Still, Anki is my friend. I type the vocab into Anki at night, adding about 10 words per day, and then practise on the train the next day.

So how many kanji do I know now? I have no idea. I can't even think of a way to estimate it. But certainly less than the 1650 that funky penguin has learned.

I liked the bit about using "Spiderman" for the thread radical! Very creative, and I'm sure it made for some good stories.

hibby · 23-09-2012 2:50pm

I'm feeling pretty down about my Japanese right now. I'm really working hard, studying every day, learning masses of new vocab and grammar. And it's just not coming together for me.

Today I cracked open my book of practice exams for N2. I did the kanji and grammar section of the first exam. My score was a definite fail; in fact it wasn't much better than what I would have got by random guessing.

What is wrong with me? I've been doing this for years, and years. I've been living in Japan for 6 months now. And I still can't understand spoken Japanese on TV, can't read anything much, and my ability to have a conversation is extremely limited.

I am making progress, I can see my improvement over time, and enjoy the feeling of being able to read something (a poster, or an ad on the train) that I wouldn't have been able to before. But right now I'm just feeling tired, and frustrated, and stupid.

Giruilla · 24-09-2012 10:19am

hibby wrote: »

I'm feeling pretty down about my Japanese right now. I'm really working hard, studying every day, learning masses of new vocab and grammar. And it's just not coming together for me.

Today I cracked open my book of practice exams for N2. I did the kanji and grammar section of the first exam. My score was a definite fail; in fact it wasn't much better than what I would have got by random guessing.

What is wrong with me? I've been doing this for years, and years. I've been living in Japan for 6 months now. And I still can't understand spoken Japanese on TV, can't read anything much, and my ability to have a conversation is extremely limited.

I am making progress, I can see my improvement over time, and enjoy the feeling of being able to read something (a poster, or an ad on the train) that I wouldn't have been able to before. But right now I'm just feeling tired, and frustrated, and stupid.

I think 6 months is nothing and by the sounds of it you are doing great and doing everything right! The brain just needs a little time for things to settle in..
Just keep going over and over what you are learning. Maybe try reading a short novel in Japanese or the paper instead of studying the whole time? Don't get bogged down on looking up every single kanji or vocab you don't know. A tip I had.. I liked to limit myself to looking up one kanji per page and having to guess any others I didn't know. Really pushed me to concentrate and use my mind which made the learning experience easier!

hibby · 24-09-2012 2:42pm

Giruilla wrote: »

I think 6 months is nothing and by the sounds of it you are doing great and doing everything right! The brain just needs a little time for things to settle in..
Just keep going over and over what you are learning. Maybe try reading a short novel in Japanese or the paper instead of studying the whole time? Don't get bogged down on looking up every single kanji or vocab you don't know. A tip I had.. I liked to limit myself to looking up one kanji per page and having to guess any others I didn't know. Really pushed me to concentrate and use my mind which made the learning experience easier!

Thanks a million for the encouraging words.

A big part of the problem for me is the pace I have to maintain to prepare for the N2 in December. Even at this pace I won't have studied half of the vocab (I mean that literally, by the way - my target is to get half-way through the vocab book by the time of the exam).

This feels more like a forced march than a pleasant walk. There is no time to stop and smell the flowers, so to speak.

So I think what I am really experiencing is a kind of study fatigue; not quite burn-out, though it felt that way yesterday...

Your suggestion is a good one - take a break from study (even now my brain is shouting "No! No break! There's no time for that!") and do something "real" in Japanese. Not reading a short novel, that's laughably beyond my ability, but maybe I could tackle a magazine article or similar.

Thanks again,

Dara

hibby · 27-09-2012 3:34pm

I tried reading an article in our company's in-house magazine, but it didn't go so well. The first sentence defeated me with its sheer length, not to mention all the hard words!

For the record, here it is, if anyone wants to take a crack at it:
大阪ガスは、泉北製造所第一工場において、貯蔵容量が２３万ｍ３と、地上式タンクでは世界最大級となる5号LNG タンクの建設工事を着工する運びとなり、８月２２日二関係者が出席する安全祈願蔡を執り行った。

Either I just have to accept that I can't read Japanese (yet) or I was unlucky in my choice of reading material and I should try to find something easier.

Having said all that, I am feeling better about learning Japanese now, and I'm back in my study routine.

JapanZone · 28-09-2012 12:25pm

Hi Hibby, nice to see you on here as well. I'd agree with the above that 6 months s a very short time to get comfortable with the language. I understand the pressure of the exam, but it is just a hurdle, not the finish line. I remember seeing the first of my friends who became what I would consider fluent and it took him three years of studying 5 days a week, maybe 2-3 hours a day.

The way you study is an extension of your personality so different things will work for different people. I remember the textbook that worked best for me (it was a Japan Times publication but it's long out of print, I think) and I used to carry it everywhere (except to football or the pub!) and just dip into it now and then. I found that mastering hiragana and katakana gave me a solid foundation and allowed me to "study" anytime, any place by just reading the ads on the train, names of shops, menus...and it all slowly accumulates. The kanji and the grammar required more serious, steady work but I always tried to incorporate what I learned into conversation. I was young and single so I was out and about a lot, which helped as well.

Having said all that, I stopped studying once I passed Level 2 of the JLPT and even though people say I'm fluent, I know I'm nowhere close and I've often regretted not studying more. Not to pass Level 1, and it wasn't something I needed for work, just because of all the conversations where I've had to "get by" with limited vocabulary, or the times I had to ask my wife for help filling out a form.

So keep up the study and keep your eye on whatever your language goal may be.

JapanZone · 28-09-2012 12:32pm

hibby wrote: »

大阪ガスは、泉北製造所第一工場において、貯蔵容量が２３万ｍ３と、地上式タンクでは世界最大級となる5号LNG タンクの建設工事を着工する運びとなり、８月２２日二関係者が出席する安全祈願蔡を執り行った。

That is a ton of difficult kanji and, though I can read it, I can only barely understand what it's about as I don't have the technical background. So remember that language is one part words and one part context. The former is empty without the latter.

In case it helps, I always make use of online tools like Jim Breen's WWWJDIC:
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/jwb/wwwjdic?9T

Just Like Heaven · 29-09-2012 7:05pm

JapanZone wrote: »

it took him three years of studying 5 days a week, maybe 2-3 hours a day.

Is that study in Japan?

JapanZone · 29-09-2012 9:14pm

fewtinsoffroth wrote: »

Is that study in Japan?

Yes, at a language school in Tokyo. He was on a student visa, which allows you to work part-time. And part-time hours as an English teacher were enough to support himself. So he'd study in the mornings and teach from late afternoon until evening. Although pay and conditions in the English teaching industry are not as good as they were back then, it's still a great way to master Japanese.

Just Like Heaven · 02-10-2012 9:49pm

What happened to funky penguin?

After a huge absence (it was impossible for me to work full time and study at all) from studying Japanese properly, I'm finally getting back into it this week. I'm starting basically from scratch again, but I'm racing through my old textbooks at the moment and I'm having no trouble at all with the first few days of Anki (I just downloaded the Remembering the Kanji 1 through to 3 deck, so they're currently in order of book one). I'm adding new Kanji at a pace of 10 per day. I'm also making my own vocab deck, I'm intending to update it with a load of words every couple of weeks, the deck is currently adding 8 new words per day, I'll slow it down if I start to get a lot wrong. But so far so good.

Guess I'll try and keep my progress updated here too, but now I'm back to square one :P

Edit; So that's 10 Kanji at 100% accuracy

:p

jendafer1 · 04-10-2012 4:43pm

I'm the same, started learning Japanese back in April / May with great intentions. Then my schedule changed and the Japanese learning went out the window!
But I'm back again and hoping to make it last a little longer this time round!
As suggested in an early thread: I posted a message onto this website for a Japanese penpal - http://www.japan-guide.com/
and I got ~ 20 Japanese respond to me within a few days! They are all really eager to help me with my Japanese and then I can help them with their English. I really recommend it if anyone wanted a Japanese friend to email!

Tristram · 14-11-2012 2:02pm

Back on the anki train yesterday and today after a long break. The new version of Anki has me slightly thrown.

hibby · 19-11-2012 5:36am

JLPT in less than 2 weeks - tried a practice exam yesterday and failed each of the 3 sections. I couldn't believe how badly I did. I felt thoroughly miserable and drained after all the months of studying every day.

I'll go ahead and do the exam, but I should just accept that N2 is way above my level. N3 is probably about right for me, except that I already passed that one last year...

In the long run, failing this exam might not be the worst thing to happen. If by some miracle I do scrape a 50% pass mark, it still doesn't mean I'm at N2 level. The right thing is to do it again in July and spend another 6 months trying to get myself up to that level.

But I haven't given up - I have almost two weeks and I'll keep studying and see what happens.

Tristram · 19-11-2012 10:31am

Good luck hibby. You might surprise yourself. 50% isn't so high after all! I'm taking N3 but haven't done any real study in several months. Should ace the listening section and hope to review enough material in next two weeks to get by in the other parts.

Giruilla · 20-11-2012 11:00am

Would the general consensus be that the N1/2 exams are a lot harder in general than the 1/2kyuu exams?

I've sat 1kyuu and N1 and thought N1 was a much tougher exam.. seriously random/obscure vocab thrown in that have huge percentages attached to them.

Good luck in the exam! Pass or fail making the effort to take the exam and study is going to improve your Japanese ten fold!!

hibby · 20-11-2012 3:21pm

Tristram wrote: »

Good luck hibby. You might surprise yourself. 50% isn't so high after all! I'm taking N3 but haven't done any real study in several months. Should ace the listening section and hope to review enough material in next two weeks to get by in the other parts.

Thanks Tristram.

I may still surprise myself. I planned out my study for the remaining 11 days today, prioritising the material I didn't know in the practice exam.

There's a chance the real exam will be easier than the practice. That's what I'm pinning my (slender) hopes on at any rate. That, and maybe a bit of luck on my side.

Anyway, it's nice to hear from someone else who is doing the JLPT on Sunday week. Wishing you the best of luck too. I would be interested in hearing how you got on.

Giruilla wrote: »

Would the general consensus be that the N1/2 exams are a lot harder in general than the 1/2kyuu exams?

I've sat 1kyuu and N1 and thought N1 was a much tougher exam.. seriously random/obscure vocab thrown in that have huge percentages attached to them.

Good luck in the exam! Pass or fail making the effort to take the exam and study is going to improve your Japanese ten fold!!

Giruilla, I've never heard before that the new exams were supposed to be harder. The official line is that N2 is "about the same" as 2級, and N1 is about the same as 1級. But from your experience, it sounds like they are different. Of course I won't have any point of comparison - I'm doing N2 but never did 2級.

You are right of course that pass or fail isn't really that important (except to my pride) - the important thing is all the study I have done to prepare.

Giruilla · 20-11-2012 5:34pm

Well wasn't the 1kyuu/2kyuu 's in 3 parts.. grammar/vocab/listening. N1/N2 went down to 2 parts by putting grammar/vocab in same section. Result being way shorter and more precise exam. Grammar/vocab went from being overall 135 mins down to 110 mins... in the sections I needed most time in!

Always felt the exam was way too tight on time and geared more towards asian students who are used to reading kanji symbols there whole lives.

Wish I was doing the exam myself.. by far the best way to learn!

hibby · 21-11-2012 2:31pm

Giruilla wrote: »

Well wasn't the 1kyuu/2kyuu 's in 3 parts.. grammar/vocab/listening. N1/N2 went down to 2 parts by putting grammar/vocab in same section. Result being way shorter and more precise exam. Grammar/vocab went from being overall 135 mins down to 110 mins... in the sections I needed most time in!

Always felt the exam was way too tight on time and geared more towards asian students who are used to reading kanji symbols there whole lives.

Wish I was doing the exam myself.. by far the best way to learn!

Yes, time is a huge problem for me. There's no way I can do all the reading in the time available, so I have to decide which questions to leave out and concentrate on the others.

Rather comically, my practice exam book says "There is a total of 105 minutes for this part of the test. Spend around 90 minutes answering the questions in each section and then use the remaining 15 minutes to review your answers".

I choose to interpret this as "Spend 104.5 minutes trying to suppress your rising sense of panic as you try to work through the questions as fast as you can while still going slowly enough to have a chance of understanding at least some of what you are reading, and then spend the remaining 30 seconds frantically filling in random answers for the questions you didn't have time for".

I presume that's what they meant? No?

Giruilla · 21-11-2012 2:55pm

hibby wrote: »

Yes, time is a huge problem for me. There's no way I can do all the reading in the time available, so I have to decide which questions to leave out and concentrate on the others.

Rather comically, my practice exam book says "There is a total of 105 minutes for this part of the test. Spend around 90 minutes answering the questions in each section and then use the remaining 15 minutes to review your answers".

I choose to interpret this as "Spend 104.5 minutes trying to suppress your rising sense of panic as you try to work through the questions as fast as you can while still going slowly enough to have a chance of understanding at least some of what you are reading, and then spend the remaining 30 seconds frantically filling in random answers for the questions you didn't have time for".

I presume that's what they meant? No?

Thats certainly how I interpret it too

! Think I've had to guess the answers to all the questions for at least two or three of the articles.. purely because I didn't have enough time. Really is a ridiculous amount of time.. even in english you might struggle to read nine articles and answer questions on them in that time!

Another thing I thing that I found tough was that they don't give out complete vocab/kanji lists anymore or am I wrong? I find I can interpret a lot of vocab even if I don't know it by looking at the kanji, but in the exam they threw in a load of hiragana only vocab that really threw me!

hibby · 22-11-2012 3:04am

Giruilla wrote: »

Another thing I thing that I found tough was that they don't give out complete vocab/kanji lists anymore or am I wrong? I find I can interpret a lot of vocab even if I don't know it by looking at the kanji, but in the exam they threw in a load of hiragana only vocab that really threw me!

You are correct that there is no list of kanji and vocab specified for the new exams. There are also no past exam papers available (though apparently there will be in future).

All of which makes it harder for the struggling student (like me) to prepare.

Right.....here it goes.

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