Hey guys! Had myself a weirdly cool moment a few minutes ago while checking out a random resource I just found: JPDrills.com. I wanted to try out one of the vocab decks and I happened to try the One Piece Practice Flashcards deck.



Never had I seen this word in my life! But somehow, I was able to deduce the correct answer!   My deduction skills were the following: I knew the kanji 海 mean sea/ocean based on my RTK and Japanese class days so my choices were narrowed to 2: "sailor; marine" or "navy". I honestly only chose navy because I always assumed that words related to people contained 人 in it. I don't know it that is the correct logic but it lead me to the right answer!

It also happened with other words I've never seen such as 鋳る which contained the radical 金, 湧く which contained the 3 drop radical for water, and 船長 because I knew another word that contained the 長 kanji, 社長 which meant company president so I knew it had to be a leadership type word.

This was a crazy "aha" moment where I felt like my intuition was leading me to the right answer without ever have seen/study the word before. Has anyone ever had this? This has by far been the most motivated I felt in a long time.

That's why scientific and other 'difficult' words are easier to understand in Chinese (and Japanese, I guess).
You don't have to know Greek or Latin to,; just understanding the 汉字 is often enough. When you know enough, you get a lot of words for free.

Hi guys,

I just wanted to drop in a note since I haven't posted in a while. It's been a lot of fun for me to read what everyone's been writing.

I guess I'm writing because I had a lot of recent changes to my study practices.

I finish my last 5 lessons with JOI and liked it so much I decided to go ahead and immediately buy another 5 lessons. It's funny, because when I started I bailed on my first two lessons. I have no explanation as to why, I guess it was just hard to jump back into it.

I found the lessons to be much easier than I remember. I guess that might be because my vocabulary has improved, as well as other things. Also, it's nice to work on grammar again. And I've always found drilling new grammar with a teacher to be the easiest way to learn it. So there I am.

Speaking of vocabulary, for a while now I have only been adding in 2 (!) cards a day. As you can see here, I am now spending 1/2 as much time doing anki vocab reviews as I was a year ago:



This seems similar to a trend I had a while ago with studying kanji - when I went from production to recognition:



Overall, I am happy to be spending less time with Anki. The additional free time has gone into reading the Japanese graded readers and watching shirokuma.

Also, overall, I feel like I am in very good shape with my Japanese. I am spending less time studying it with anki and spending more time with books and tv shows. In fact, here's a clip of all decks anki time:



Since this is a JLPT N3 thread, I should also say that this transition, for whatever reason, makes me feel much closer to my goals thank I've felt before. I always said that I would take the first half of the year "to myself" before cracking the JLPT books again. I mentioned before that I felt like I completely tanked the reading and listening portions of the exam. Even if I flub them again, I can still read "real" 30 page stories and watch 30 minute anime episodes without subtitles!

For those of you who haven't seen it yet, episode 6 of shirokuma is really cute: http://www.crunchyroll.com/polar-bear-ca...595197?t=0

That's great ariariari!  That's always been my plan to eventually taper off 'studying' and do more 'using' of the language as you are doing.  I'm glad to hear it has been rewarding and It's been inspiring hearing you and RawrPK enjoying anime and manga.  I feel I'll be roughly around your level in 12 months or so when I will probably follow your lead.  Actually I'm planning on dipping a toe in the water in a few months, so we'll se how that goes.

Hey everyone, I will be joining you guys in this thread. I took a break of almost a year on all my SRS stuff and thought it might be good to have a goal to get going again. So I signed up for the upcoming N3. It is somewhat unlikely that I will pass, since I haven't had time to start studying until now and I won't put in more than two hours a day. But I will do my best. Currently doing RTK again and this time to the end (last time I stopped at 2000). I hope to finish within two weeks to three weeks and by that time my Kanzen Master books should have arrived.
よろしくお願いします

(2016-04-16, 3:10 pm)ariariari Wrote: For those of you who haven't seen it yet, episode 6 of shirokuma is really cute: http://www.crunchyroll.com/polar-bear-ca...595197?t=0

"Note: This video requires a Premium Membership to watch in your region." 
Now I'm sad

(2016-04-18, 5:05 pm)Raschaverak Wrote:

(2016-04-16, 3:10 pm)ariariari Wrote: For those of you who haven't seen it yet, episode 6 of shirokuma is really cute: http://www.crunchyroll.com/polar-bear-ca...595197?t=0

"Note: This video requires a Premium Membership to watch in your region." 
Now I'm sad

Pls don't worry! I don't use crunchyroll to watch shirokuma. I use this site to watch the episodes raw: http://freemovienavianime.blog.fc2.com/b...-2221.html

You just pick an episode number and a list of streaming sites will show. Then you click on one of the white boxes next to the name. I personally use xB9 because of the high quality of the episodes.

If you need English subs, I watch on Anime Fushigi

Also Shirokuma Café with J-subs (kamigami) is still seeded on nyaa.

Just wanted to post a quick update. I think I really reached as far as I could with Japanese Graded readers. I'm on level 3 vol 2 #9. And I really just can't read it extensively. That's no problem. Just put it down, find something else, and come back to it later. It's just interesting to hit that point after a long run of it being totally doable.

Don't sweat it too much ariariari! Based on the description off the description of the Level 3 Readers, you seem to be on track.

Quote:Japanese Graded Readers Level 3 - Volume 2 is designed for a proficiency level equivalent to Japanese Langauge Proficiency Test Level N3~N4. The set of stories utilizes a vocabulary of about 800 words. The grammar points include: ~toki, ~tara/ba/nara, ~sou, ~you, potential, imperative, passive form, etc.

Shirokuma is actually starting to get to the point where it is difficult to extensive read but I plan to just skip unknowns for now until I finish vol 1 which I am about halfway. Then continue to extensive read vol 2 and intensive read vol 1.RawToast's intensive reading tips were awesome and it reminded me of a FluentU article, "Learn Japanese With Manga in 6 Simple Steps"

Quote:

1. Familiarize yourself with an entire manga book
   
2. Look up Japanese vocabulary
   
3. Take notes that you can use again
   
4. Re-read a manga book with notes
   
5. Read the book again without notes
   
6. Let some time pass and then read it again
   

The reason why I chose to continue to plan to extensive read the next vol while intensively reading the previous one is because of a tip I got from the Tofugu article, "WHY READING JAPANESE IS so DIFFICULT: THE FIRST PAGE SYNDROME"

Quote:3. Stick with an author: Every author has their own "voice." This means they use certain words more often, and write in a specific style. The way they weave words grammatically will be unique. If you read articles or books written by the same author, you'll have to spend less time figuring out grammar. The author will follow a pattern, and you will learn it pretty quickly (within those first couple pages).

This was the main reason I decided to not read another manga series until I completed an entire series the first time around. I chose shirokuma because it is such a short series (also the fact that besides the talking animals aspect, the language is completely everyday). Also like the tip suggests, because an author has a particular writing style, vocab and grammar patterns repeat which is great for extensive reading! Especially since many of those words will carry over to the next volume so it just snowballs from there

Later I plan to mix it up and use much longer manga series.

Thanks for the kind words! The good news is that my reading ability has improved so much in the last 6 months. I think that I can begin to pick up the N3 reading study books that I had previously put down because they were too hard. I'll let you know how that goes.

Thank you for making this thread! It's been tough trying to get back into self studying Japanese, especially when there is no one I can talk or relate to. But here, there is a community of people with similar goals and it's great

On a side note, 私の彼氏 bought me the entire "Let's Read Japanese" series on Amazon. He knew I had my eye on them and got it for me as a surprise yay So more things to read!

More info: https://www.brookes.ac.uk/lets-read-japanese/books/

Have you been through Read Real Japanese yet?

http://www.amazon.com/Read-Real-Japanese...1568365292

If your goal is strictly leveling up on the JLPT then the essay volume, http://www.amazon.com/Read-Real-Japanese...1568364148 , is probably more appropriate (because the JLPT is entirely non-fiction and mostly essays or sentences that might appear in essays), but I never used it so I can't directly testify to it. But Read Real Japanese (fiction) did wonders for my ability to actually read the books I want to read so I have some faith that the non-fiction volume is equally good for that style of writing.

OTOH, if your goal is to consume Japanese fictional media (novels, manga, movies, anime, and dramas) then the fiction volume is vastly preferable. It was for me a great bridge from beginner's material to 'real' material. Maybe I just went through it at exactly the right time, but still, I can't recommend it highly enough. I don't think any other single activity advanced my ability as much as going through that book. Mind you, I did add a ton of vocab to Anki from the book, listen to the CD repeatedly, and look up vocab points in the DoBJG. But as long as you're ready to devote the effort to going through it in an 'intensive reading' fashion, there are very few other resources that let you go as deep into the language in as short a time as that book. (Presumably both books.)

(2016-04-23, 12:23 am)SomeCallMeChris Wrote: OTOH, if your goal is to consume Japanese fictional media (novels, manga, movies, anime, and dramas) then the fiction volume is vastly preferable. It was for me a great bridge from beginner's material to 'real' material. Maybe I just went through it at exactly the right time, but still, I can't recommend it highly enough. I don't think any other single activity advanced my ability as much as going through that book. Mind you, I did add a ton of vocab to Anki from the book, listen to the CD repeatedly, and look up vocab points in the DoBJG. But as long as you're ready to devote the effort to going through it in an 'intensive reading' fashion, there are very few other resources that let you go as deep into the language in as short a time as that book. (Presumably both books.)

My true goal for learning Japanese is to consume media with the occasional convo (need friends first though lol xD ). I'm using the jlpt as a stepping stone/motivator because doing it on my own with my long term goal hasn't been working. It is easier to be self motivated when my goals seem more attainable so the jlpt is the way I'm going about it. I tried intensive reading Japanese Harry Potter during my first year of Japanese classes and burnt out. But now I'm trying to pace myself instead of jumping into novels asap like I did before.

The Read Real Japanese Books remind me of Breaking into Japanese Literature book. I was weary that I might not be ready for those types of reader books but then again maybe not. Thanks for the recommendation!

Hey guys,

Good news. Today I went through the first reading question of "drill and drill" and thought "This is hard, but I can compete." Unlike when I picked up sou-matome reading last year and thought "I simply can't do this".

I figure if I do one or two of these questions a week for a few months, then I'll gradually pick up my skills. Kind of like how I now try to watch an episode of shirokuma each week.

Regarding goals, right now I want to simply pass N3 in December, which I think is attainable. After that, I want to create an online course that is geared towards helping JETs and other ALTs learn Japanese. I want to codify all the techniques that I've learned both here and when I lived there, and present them as a kind of roadmap to help JETs learn Japanese. I think that there's a real need for material like that.

RawrPk, Read Real Japanese is VASTLY superior to Breaking Into, imo. Read Real Japanese uses contemporary authors, and the way the book is structured is much better, with notes actually explaining things. Also, I think Read Real Japanese forces you to actually take the definitions and grammar explanations and understand things for yourself instead of just being given a direct translation. Breaking Into isn't bad, Read Real Japanese is just really, really good.

(2016-04-23, 1:01 am)RawrPk Wrote: I tried intensive reading Japanese Harry Potter during my first year of Japanese classes and burnt out. But now I'm trying to pace myself instead of jumping into novels asap like I did before.

The Read Real Japanese Books remind me of Breaking into Japanese Literature book. I was weary that I might not be ready for those types of reader books but then again maybe not. Thanks for the recommendation!

I did Read Real Japanese before Harry Potter, and I think that's the better order. Having lots of notes to help you along makes things *much* easier. Having picked up a ton of tips on how to read common constructs in fiction writing, reading other stories on your own is then *much* easier than before you did Read Real Japanese.

Also I don't think you want to do 'intensive' reading with Harry Potter. I mean, you can, there's nothing wrong with it exactly, you'll get to the end of the books eventually. But the whole point of that path is that you have multiple volumes of a story that you're already familiar with. That makes it possible to do much more extensive reading because you won't get lost - you can skip over any given line that is giving you trouble and you still know where you are in the story. You can pick up words from context. Even better, there will be lines that you can understand perfectly *because* you already know the story but otherwise you'd be stumped by. When you know every word in a sentence and all the grammatical constructs, it can *still* be very confusing as a new reader of Japanese to figure out exactly who is acting in verbs without omitted subjects, or who is speaking in dialog that doesn't specify the speaker. Reading HP 'extensively' gives you a chance to just become familiar with which way seeming ambiguous constructs are actually meant to be interpreted (including recognizing sarcasm and rhetorical questions), and get a little experience matching speaking style with characters of both genders and varying status.

(For the same reasons, I don't think it makes sense to read Harry Potter in Japanese if you didn't already read it in English. They're not particularly easy books if you're not already familiar with the story. Not particularly hard either, but still, if you don't have that familiarity advantage you may as well read something that was originally written in Japanese.)

PS: Also, I went through Read Real Japanese between my failed and successful attempts at N2, so... I don't know, it might be a little challenging for you guys preparing to take N3. Still, the stories are in a pretty good order of building difficulty. Don't be surprised if the last one gives you a headache. It's a pretty clever story with the gimmick of using almost every possible meaning of かける. There are a *lot* of possible meanings. OTOH, the first story is a very straightforward story about a bear moving in next door and going on a day outing with him. Despite that precept, it's not actually a children's story, but nonetheless, it's very straightforward, simply describing events as they unfold and not dazing you with clever or subtle wordplay.

@SomeCallMeChris
Interesting... So I'm checking out the RRJ fiction books, and the stories are all written vertically, and it makes me wonder, is anything written vertically for the N2?

What about the RRJ essays book though, has anyone read that?

The test is written horizontally.

There is always at least one reading that looks like written information you might come across - a flyer, or an advertisement, or an official government notice. Those are laid out exactly as they would be in life, which is often vertical but sometimes horizontal, or even a mix of the two.

Having had a 'look inside' I got the impression that the bulk of every RRJ book consists of a half-assed J->E dictionary, which seems like a shame.

Thanks Chris.

(2016-04-24, 7:52 am)anotherjohn Wrote: Having had a 'look inside' I got the impression that the bulk of every RRJ book consists of a half-assed J->E dictionary, which seems like a shame.

Well, I think the glosses are kind of the point. They mean you don't have to break your flow all the time to look things up in the dictionary, they give you the relevant meaning or connotation of the word rather than the other three possible senses of the word, and they give glosses of phrases or longer stretches of text where that's useful. If you just want raw Japanese text, you can get that elsewhere, but the idea I think is to provide a format where you can mostly read the Japanese and quickly drop down to look at the glosses where you would otherwise have had problems.

@kendo99: I see so the Read Real Japanese books are great with the additional features it has that Breaking into Japanese Lit doesn't. But Breaking into Japanese Lit is still good nonetheless, but not great like the former book.

@SomeCallMeChris: HP was one of the first Japanese material I was able to acquire thanks to raseru's My study method (Study pack included) thread.

I had this idea that I could brute read HP with rikai. It worked for a bit but I eventually got really tired of using the popup which felt like every other word which killed motivation/flow. I have read the 1st HP book but that was like 10+ years ago so I don't recall too much besides the overall plot. Basically I got caught up and tried to run before I can walk.

(2016-04-11, 10:57 pm)RawrPk Wrote: Hey guys! Had myself a weirdly cool moment a few minutes ago while checking out a random resource I just found: JPDrills.com. I wanted to try out one of the vocab decks and I happened to try the One Piece Practice Flashcards deck.

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Hey RawrPk! I'm Ben, nice to meet you. I'm the creator of JPDrills and I'm super stoked that the site was able to spur some motivation for you. But even more than that, great job on deducing the meaning of those words! That's all you and your hard work. Even though we make progress through studying, it's difficult to see it sometimes because it isn't always "validated" against real world events. But you're still making progress! That's why I find "using" the Japanese that is studied to be useful. It acts as a source to validate our knowledge. At any rate, I'm pretty excited my humble website was able to be of some use. Thanks!