Starting again after a year's break

Starting again after a year's break - Printable Version

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Starting again after a year's break - gorogoro - 2015-09-13

I last studied Japanese about a year ago, just before visiting Japan (and my in-laws). I could feel the burn out coming on leading up to the trip and I haven't picked it up again after coming back from Japan. My goal was to become fluent enough to become gainfully employed in Japan (in or related to my profession) so that we could live in Japan for a few years, but my progress was so slow that I became completely discouraged. I have a very limited amount of time in the evenings to do anything (only about 1 hour after work/commute/dinner, etc.), but more time on the weekends. My wife is Japanese, but is fluent in English (we live in the U.S.), so obviously we take the path of least resistance during the week as far as language goes. I do still watch some (subtitled) anime/asadora with my wife occasionally.

I started truly studying Japanese in 2009. I took in-person classes, completed Genki 1, 2, "3", and began "4" as well, but started struggling due to lack of time. I also completed RTK Volume 1 last year following some of the guides on this forum. I utilized Anki quite a bit during this time and is probably one of the main factors leading to my burn out. My speaking/listening in Japanese was ok, good enough to get by more or less speaking to my in-laws in Japan, but not good enough for business. Writing/reading was worse. I've definitely forgotten quite a lot of my Japanese since then (I'm probably best at listening at this point, but kana is still easily recognizable along with common kanji).

I've struggled for a while now with a desire to get started again, but difficulty finding the motivation to begin what seems to be a mountain of re-learning. How can I get started again? I like to have a plan of attack so I can measure my progress therefore making it more likely that I'll be motivated to continue.

Starting again after a year's break - James736 - 2015-09-13

What are Genki 3 and 4?

I think your first task is to figure out what skills you want to have in Japanese. Reading and/or writing? Listening and speaking? They're different skills and need different approaches.

If you want all-round Japanese ability, then I'd probably suggest going through the exercises in Genki I and II and seeing how much you remember. If your kanji is shaky, then review RTK 1. If your grammar is shaky, then review Genki. And your next two steps are to start reading as much as you can and ask your wife to speak to you in Japanese as much as possible.

Starting again after a year's break - gorogoro - 2015-09-13

James736 Wrote:What are Genki 3 and 4?

"An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese" is considered to be Book 3 of the Genki series and "Authentic Japanese: Progressing From Intermediate to Advanced" is what I called Genki 4. Perhaps the latter is not widely considered the 4th book, but is the next book I used during my classes.

Starting again after a year's break - James736 - 2015-09-13

gorogoro Wrote:
James736 Wrote:What are Genki 3 and 4?
"An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese" is considered to be Book 3 of the Genki series and "Authentic Japanese: Progressing From Intermediate to Advanced" is what I called Genki 4. Perhaps the latter is not widely considered the 4th book, but is the next book I used during my classes.

Considered by whom? Aside from the fact that the Genki books and the 中級の日本語 book are all published by Japan Times they're not related at all. They're not even written by the same people.

Starting again after a year's break - gorogoro - 2015-09-13

James736 Wrote:
gorogoro Wrote:
James736 Wrote:What are Genki 3 and 4?
"An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese" is considered to be Book 3 of the Genki series and "Authentic Japanese: Progressing From Intermediate to Advanced" is what I called Genki 4. Perhaps the latter is not widely considered the 4th book, but is the next book I used during my classes.
Considered by whom? Aside from the fact that the Genki books and the 中級の日本語 book are all published by Japan Times they're not related at all. They're not even written by the same people.

Not sure that it matters to my original post, so we'll just say that it's my opinion. "An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese" is very similar in style to Genki I and II. Authentic Japanese: Progressing From Intermediate to Advanced" is probably not as similar, other than the same publisher.

Starting again after a year's break - mc962 - 2015-09-14

A lot of people I have met that used that third book do mention it as "basically Genki 3". Personally I didn't really like it as much and preferred Tobira as the "next" textbook for me.

I second the reading. And see if you can buy some of the graded readers if you aren't yet beyond their level. Otherwise just read a lot (of things you can actually comprehend).

Starting again after a year's break - RawToast - 2015-09-14

gorogoro Wrote:"An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese" is considered to be Book 3 of the Genki series and "Authentic Japanese: Progressing From Intermediate to Advanced" is what I called Genki 4. Perhaps the latter is not widely considered the 4th book, but is the next book I used during my classes.

I know the Genki 2 -> An Integrated... was the common way to progress with textbooks until Tobira came out, so I can see why you would refer to it as Genki 3. I am currently working on AIAIJ and from the first chapters I have spotted a number of grammar points that I covered in Genki 1/2, so there is some overlap -- but it's still a good book.

I started again after Anki blowing up on me, and moved on to using sentences instead of single vocabulary cards. At the same time I started going through Genki (from chapter 6) with a tutor on iTalki -- I never really 'forgot' the basics and going has been rather fast. I am still short of my vocab count from before, but I have a stronger feeling that "I know" what I've covered.

So from my experience, I found going back a few steps helped and was an easy way to transition to a new method. Maybe you could try something similar?

Starting again after a year's break - ariariari - 2015-09-14

gorogoro Wrote:I've struggled for a while now with a desire to get started again, but difficulty finding the motivation to begin what seems to be a mountain of re-learning. How can I get started again? I like to have a plan of attack so I can measure my progress therefore making it more likely that I'll be motivated to continue.

I recommend signing up for a level of the JLPT this December that you are confident you can pass. Then you will have a concrete goal that you need to study for, and will hopefully get a quick win under your belt. That should motivate you and give you confidence. Then you can try for the next level the next year.

For reference, here are sample questions for each level: http://www.jlpt.jp/e/samples/forlearners.html