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+--- Thread: my "HELP I'M STUCK" thread (/thread-8557.html)
my "HELP I'M STUCK" thread - tsuchan - 2012-06-27
I'm halfway through my JFE textbook...and honestly, I don't know what to do anymore with the grammar exercises. I feel like I've hit a brick wall. This is probably the 3rd time I've attempted to come back to Japanese, and I really don't want this pattern to proceed likewise.
What I was doing previously was just too tedious for me (entering each exercise on Lang-8 with English translations, getting corrections that way), and I feel like I'm swamping Lang-8 with my textbook stuff while there are other peoples actual journals and paragraphs that could be read. Not to mention that the people who corrected my exercises paid more attention if the English translations matched perfectly(i.e- suggesting whole phrases and rewording the whole sentences, when I was just trying to learn my basics!) Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for them! But it was all just...overwhelming? I really didn't like that system at all.
JFE does have an answer key in the back, but what do I do if I KEEP getting them wrong? What if I write something along the lines of using から when the answer in the back says use ので, even if I alter the ending of the sentence to where a less polite 'から' could be used? Is it wrong? On the subject of wrong answers, how do I deal with those? Just...move on? Go back to it? Research more on it? (My skill on this grammar pattern is pretty piss poor, so please try to understand what I mean!
)Sorry to bug everybody with my petty beginners problems, but I'm just...stuck! These questions are really turning me off of studying grammar, and I know that's horrible. I really don't want this to be yet another failure at study Japanese...
my "HELP I'M STUCK" thread - Seamoby - 2012-06-27
How much reading outside of the textbook are you doing? Maybe it's time to wean yourself off JFE. Stop looking at the back of the book for the answers. The answers are within you. (Okay that was meant to sound corny.) Start reading more native Japanese material. On Lang-8, instead of submitting entries from JFE, write your original sentences about things you want to write about. Start building your vocabulary.
my "HELP I'M STUCK" thread - quark - 2012-06-27
I had this exact same problem - I would try to do the exercises in the book, and would get discouraged when they didn't exactly match up with the answers in the back of the book.
Honestly? Skip doing the exercises. Read the grammar rules, and read the example sentences. It doesn't matter if the grammar doesn't stick right away, because once you move onto reading native Japanese material, you'll be re-enforcing the grammar that you've learned. You'll eventually naturally remember the grammar you've learned, instead of trying to force yourself to remember it.
Or, building off of what Seamoby suggested, you could write journal entries on Lang 8, but make a point of trying to incorporate some of the grammar that you've just studied.
If you focus too much on the small things, it'll make you want to quit. Just keep making steady progress. Even if you don't understand something right away, it will eventually sink in. Good luck!
my "HELP I'M STUCK" thread - bertoni - 2012-06-29
I think you should try posting just your answers on lang-8. Have you tried trimming down the amount you post? Alternately, if you want to learn to write, you could do some sample sentences or a brief paragraph using the grammar you're learning, and get corrections on that. I don't think you should have to dump the whole exercise in English to get comments. I don't.
Of course, just ignoring the exercises isn't such a bad idea. You can learn to write some other way.
my "HELP I'M STUCK" thread - erlog - 2012-06-30
Those exercises are all built with a classroom setting in mind. They are not appropriate for someone just doing the work on their own.
Start journaling in Japanese using as many of the grammar points as possible that you want to practice or are comfortable with. Don't submit what is essentially random homework to Lang-8. There's better things you can get out of the service than random Japanese people correcting your homework without being able to explain why things are wrong.
Instead of trying to make the textbook resources work for your situation I would apply the tools of your current situation to the textbook. You have opportunities on Skype and Lang-8 that people just doing normal Japanese classes don't have. Take advantage of these things while applying the information from the textbook.
my "HELP I'M STUCK" thread - TwoMoreCharacters - 2012-06-30