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+--- Thread: "Don't repeat my mistakes" thread (/thread-7319.html)
"Don't repeat my mistakes" thread - gyuujuice - 2011-02-22
(Slightly off topic but I guess someone can learn from my mistake rant)
"technically your never suppose to stop srs RTK. Otherwise you'll forget a lot of it."
Oh shut up.
I need more regularity -- I'm just so bad at doing something every day or at certain times. I am part of an online school where as long as they get the homework before the Sunday of that week it's all good = me getting messed up in time. I do math on Mondays, English on Tuesdays etc. I'm just so used to BLOCKS instead of small packets of learning. I can't even get up at the same time. --pitiful I know.
I could make up excuses like how I have been so busy with HS or work or just depression. I have been spoiling my potential -- I just can't concentrate or control my time. It's like I am antsy -- every day, all day. I switch subjects instead of finishing them and I stall.
Does anyone have a link, article or book they could recommend for me? I feel so crummy, and not just because I am terribly sick. I just feel lost.
"Don't repeat my mistakes" thread - jettyke - 2011-02-22
gyuujuice Wrote:(Slightly off topic but I guess someone can learn from my mistake rant)I have/had the same problem. Made a thread "creating learning environments"
"technically your never suppose to stop srs RTK. Otherwise you'll forget a lot of it."
Oh shut up.
I am part of an online school where as long as they get the homework before the Sunday of that week it's all good = me getting messed up in time. I do math on Mondays, English on Tuesdays etc. I'm just so used to BLOCKS instead of small packets of learning. I can't even get up at the same time. --pitiful I know.
I could make up excuses like how I have been so busy with HS or work or just depression. I have been spoiling my potential -- I just can't concentrate or control my time. It's like I am antsy -- every day, all day. I switch subjects instead of finishing them and I stall.
Does anyone have a link, article or book they could recommend for me? I feel so crummy, and not just because I am terribly sick. I just feel lost.
look it up, some good advice. I'm gonna write some new ideas soon.
"Don't repeat my mistakes" thread - jettyke - 2011-03-18
Mistake:
Not caring about the appearance of Anki. It's much more pleasant to do reps with bling.
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=4771
"Don't repeat my mistakes" thread - nohika - 2011-03-18
I guess this isn't really a mistake, but...anyways.
Mess around with stuff until you find what works! Really, my biggest mistake was trying to adhere to stuff that has worked strictly for other people. Invent! My way of studying probably isn't really suited to a brand-new beginner, but I have a strong background in the basics so it works for me.
And that's the whole point of language-learning - find what works for you. Don't try and stick with something that worked for someone else if you hate its guts. You'll just burn out.
(Also, Yomichan is like the best plugin ever. EVER.)
"Don't repeat my mistakes" thread - lokideviluk - 2011-03-18
My only add to this is
DONT take everthing said in this thread as fact.
DO Try things out and stick with what works. Everyone is different and what doesn't work for 'Mr English speaking forum proscratinator' may very well work for you.
Basically what was said above (just saw it)
"Don't repeat my mistakes" thread - KMDES - 2011-03-18
Never give up!
Trust your instincts!
"Don't repeat my mistakes" thread - Ginmanm - 2011-03-18
For beginners...
1)Learning hiragana and katakana DO NOT use memory aids. Get a Nintendo ds and use pictochat and write out (in order) those suckers as much as you can whenever you can. If your stuck do not rely on romaji chart use the Japanese keyboard on the ds and guess the meaning looking at it. Do this everyday for 2 months and see what you get out of it.
I was playing around with kana since I was in 7th grade and never took it seriously until 9th grade (in 10th now). One year is all it takes to read kana without fear.
2) Do not listen hiragana songs so much. What I had liked to do (since I like anime ost) just pick apart the sounds you hear which will increase your listening ability. Eventually you can hear the sounds to any vocabulary regardless of not knowing what it means. I did this for 3 years while I wasn't really interested so much in learning Japanese. Don't take as long as I did just listen to random ost,get used to the sounds while learning katakana/hiragana.
3) go through mini articles and test your ability to read the kana in chunks. This was a BIG mistake that I did. Learning kana by itself without it being pared up (e.x おふたり（二人）にお会いできて嬉しいです。Just get used to seeing them pared up and mostly read not write them.
......and when you're done with kana...
4) Suck it up and realize you need to know kanji. I can't say much in this department since I'm still learning kanji but its not that hard.
Learning kanji:
1) You need a memory bank. You can go ahead and use RTK (I don't use RTK so much I personally think its to much work) or you can do a quick google search and get pdfs from scribd.
Google: guide to remembering Japanese characters scribd Its the book I'm using to remember kanji. (author kenneth G. Henshall)
2) Knowing kanji is all about vocabulary.
3) Learn the radicals origin along with kanji as it builds up on other kanji you learn. RTK uses this method but takes it to far and creates meaningless story's when all you need to know is the radicals origin and how that kanji came to be.
Ah almost forgot...don't kill your time learning readings to kanji. Once you can recognize them start learning up to 6000 words and then begin reading.
"Don't repeat my mistakes" thread - ta12121 - 2011-03-18
Some basic thing is, keep a steady pace for srsing. 20-30 new cards per day. In a few months you'll feel you've memorized/understand 90% of what you've put in there by that time. Listen a lot, this can only help you. Read plenty as well, try to get audio with what your reading to make you life easier.
"Don't repeat my mistakes" thread - buonaparte - 2011-03-18
Never start preparing/uploading stuff for others out of misplaced sense of duty. You will get killed eventually.
"Don't repeat my mistakes" thread - Rina - 2011-03-18
ta12121 Wrote:Some basic thing is, keep a steady pace for srsing. 20-30 new cards per day. In a few months you'll feel you've memorized/understand 90% of what you've put in there by that time. Listen a lot, this can only help you. Read plenty as well, try to get audio with what your reading to make you life easier.Qft.
When I have no tests coming I read one or two news articles per day and I use some of the interesting sentences the news have, type them into anki and save the sound. There cards are yet to appear, can't wait! (this week I'll learn no new cards because have 2 major tests though...otherwise they would appear like in 8/9 days).
"Don't repeat my mistakes" thread - ta12121 - 2011-03-18
CarolinaCG Wrote:I'm trying to read more outside my srs nowadays. Via transcripts/audio of it. Helps a lot+ it's fine as well. Which counts a lot(i.e we do more when it's fun)ta12121 Wrote:Some basic thing is, keep a steady pace for srsing. 20-30 new cards per day. In a few months you'll feel you've memorized/understand 90% of what you've put in there by that time. Listen a lot, this can only help you. Read plenty as well, try to get audio with what your reading to make you life easier.Qft.
When I have no tests coming I read one or two news articles per day and I use some of the interesting sentences the news have, type them into anki and save the sound. There cards are yet to appear, can't wait! (this week I'll learn no new cards because have 2 major tests though...otherwise they would appear like in 8/9 days).
"Don't repeat my mistakes" thread - bodhisamaya - 2011-04-04
If you live in an old apartment in Japan, tape cushion to the top of the entrances to rooms.
Strange night. Woke up at about 1am on the bathroom floor with a gash above my eye not knowing where I was or how I got there. The doorways in my apartment are 4 inches lower than my head. I must have stumbled to the bathroom half asleep, bashed my head and knocked myself out cold. >_<
"Don't repeat my mistakes" thread - Oniichan - 2011-04-04
bodhisamaya Wrote:If you live in an old apartment in Japan, tape cushion to the top of the entrances to rooms.Funny that you should mention that. I just noticed last night that my head clears my bedroom door by 1 cm. At first I thought I was hallucinating (door shrinking/ceiling rising) and began feeling slightly dizzy. Then I physically confirmed its height and immediately felt fine. It's strange how our minds work, right?
Strange night. Woke up at about 1am on the bathroom floor with a gash above my eye not knowing where I was or how I got there. The doorways in my apartment are 4 inches lower than my head. I must have stumbled to the bathroom half asleep, bashed my head and knocked myself out cold. >_<
Anyway, I'm about average height for an American male so Bodhisamaya's advice should be useful for quite a number of visitors/new residents of Japan.
"Don't repeat my mistakes" thread - bodhisamaya - 2011-05-08
Thinking of getting a tattoo?
"Don't repeat my mistakes" thread - TwoMoreCharacters - 2011-05-09
bodhisamaya Wrote:Thinking of getting a tattoo?It's not something you did right? Just being curious ^^;
"Don't repeat my mistakes" thread - bodhisamaya - 2011-05-20
No, did worse. Got a tattoo of my ex-wife on my chest >_<
"Don't repeat my mistakes" thread - Irixmark - 2011-05-20
bodhisamaya Wrote:No, did worse. Got a tattoo of my ex-wife on my chest >_<That gives a whole new meaning to "attachment leads to suffering."
"Don't repeat my mistakes" thread - jankensan - 2011-05-28
I'd have to disagree on the point of not reading material that is 'too difficult'. I think reading above your level is a great idea...how else are you gonna get any better?
Remember those graded readers we had at school? We used the 'Billy Blue Hat' and 'Jennifer Yellow Hat' ones at our school (and yes, the titles of the books do amuse me now). When we finished one, we moved onto the next level up which was always much harder, with new words to learn to read and spell, but how else were we supposed to learn the new words? We didn't just master the 'Roger Red Hat' book and keep reading that over and over again for the whole term, we moved on!
Not only that, but in reading them aloud the teacher was able to correct our pronunciation, which for me was important as I grew up in an area that used heavy dialect, and if I didn't learn how to speak so people could understand me, I would have struggled.
The human brain needs to be pushed and challenged to develop. That's how new connections are made in the brain. Robert Winston describes learning as being like walking through a field of wheat. At first the path is hard and you have to push to get through, but as you follow the same path over and over again, the route becomes easier as the wheat is gradually forced over, and so it is for the brain. You've got to plough trough all that crappy tall wheat to make your pathways.
Telling someone not to read above their current level is non-sensical I'm afraid!
"Don't repeat my mistakes" thread - Splatted - 2011-05-28
Don't be complacent about your reading speed. If you push yourself to read quicker you will find yourself able to read faster and more fluently. Reading speed makes a big difference to how enjoyable/relaxing reading is.
jankensan Wrote:I'd have to disagree on the point of not reading material that is 'too 'difficult.The phrases 'too difficult' and "above their current level" are not the same things.
Telling someone not to read above their current level is non-sensical I'm afraid!
"Don't repeat my mistakes" thread - jankensan - 2011-05-28
That's a good point, but it still doesn't make sense to suggest that you shouldn't read anything that's 'too hard' or anything that's 'above your level'. If none of us ever read anything that was 'too hard' or 'above our level' we'd never learn anything.
To be honest this kind of thread winds me up something rotten. Do whatever is right for you, ignore everyone else, including me.
"Don't repeat my mistakes" thread - jettyke - 2011-05-28
Goosh guys, what's the argument, it's so easy
Read stuff that you want to read on and on despite it being difficult. If you stop or become reluctant to continue, you will know that it's a bad choice and that it demotivates you. In this case I'd say at least postpone reading it for a while.
If you read the material on and on despite it being a higher level, and you're still interested and motivated, continue.
And of course If you want to improve you should occasionally search for slightly harder material as long as you want to up your level.
"Don't repeat my mistakes" thread - Tori-kun - 2011-05-28
DO
...srs. a lot. everything that's in your srs is in your memory. (well, it's supposed to be when you take srs in anki f.e. seriously)
...trust your instincts. I got this kind of "well this has to be read like this.. the onyomi-onyomi combination of this compound would sound strange" after 1000 cards/vocabs.
...listen. A lot. Seriously. I haven't watched Naruto Shippuuden for more than a year right now and it's great to see this progress I've made. It seemed to be little, but compared to the beginning, where I started with Japanese, it's just incredible
...pronounce the 'expression' on your Anki deck aloud (!)
...structure, organise and plan your day. Calculate the max. amount of new cards you can learn per day. Keep at that rate.
DON'T
...learn on a pc with internets. Facebook, blogs, twitter - all networks and internet services are indeed useful (Rikai-chan, exploring Japanese media, like radio, news, videos, websites, blogs etc.), but while doing your daily SRS it's deadly and slows you down as hell. If you can handle your internet habits relatively well, this 'don't' is not necessity, for me it is, though
...compare yourself with others, never! It's just damaging your amount of self-confidence, proud of what you reached by your very own hard, daily work. Just tell yourself you are good, ten times before you go to bed and you will be good.
...mix up. If you are learning vocabulary, you are learning vocabulary, words, and nothing else. No grammar. It confuses you and you do not know what to concentrate on (in the beginning at least. I lost like 4 months during my studies just to GET STARTED. I jumped around -- bits and pieces of grammar, then vocab again and so on and so on. The success I had was barely recognisable, just about nothing.)
"Don't repeat my mistakes" thread - Splatted - 2011-05-28
I realise now that my post was overly abrupt and rude. Sorry about that, it wasn't deliberate. I was just trying to say that I think we all actually agree with each other. I think reading stuff that's just just slightly above your level is the most efficient; I'm guessing you agree with that since you were talking about graded readers, and this also seems to be what most people mean when they say you shouldn't read things that are too difficult.
Sorry for winding you up. =(
P.S. I think Jettyke's got it spot on with his "definition" of whats too difficult, but on the off-chance people are only interested in working their slow way through difficult texts I'd also advise reading some easier things as well to improve the fluency and speed of reading.
"Don't repeat my mistakes" thread - fakewookie - 2011-05-28
jankensan Wrote:Remember those graded readers we had at school? We used the 'Billy Blue Hat' and 'Jennifer Yellow Hat' ones at our school (and yes, the titles of the books do amuse me now). When we finished one, we moved onto the next level up which was always much harder, with new words to learn to read and spell, but how else were we supposed to learn the new words? We didn't just master the 'Roger Red Hat' book and keep reading that over and over again for the whole term, we moved on!Oh my God, thanks for that. I haven't heard those names in about 15 years... nostalgia!
"Don't repeat my mistakes" thread - jettyke - 2011-08-16
Not really a 'mistake' but a suggestion.
I have noticed that if I fe. (for example) read A LOT during one day (books, manga), then in the end of the day I can read much more comfortably and easier on the net, fe. because I'm so used to reading that I can tackle more difficult articles than If I hadn't read for a week or more.
So my suggestion is that if you decide to read, read a lot during one day and use that temporary reading fluency to read even more and more difficult texts. Meaning, rather than reading 10 pages per day, I think it's better to read 100 pages per day.
Then you are more likely to read comfortably even more, because reading just got easier after reading those 100 pages at once.
If you only read 10 pages per day, it's likely that you will be kinda slow and bored every time (every day) you pick up a book to read.