Personally, I just format my grammar cards as vocabulary cards. Like if I were to need to study ～たい conjugation, I would treat たい as a vocabulary word and put in a card like,

Front:
日本に行きたい

Back:
I want to go to Japan.
たい： conjugation suffix for 'want to', attached to ます stem.

Or something like that. I didn't see any real need to over-complicate it and create a whole other card type, especially since after very little review most grammar points will be constantly reinforced once you're reading native materials and you'll have little chance of forgetting (unlike a lot of vocabulary - you can get rusty on portions of it quite easily if you don't keep rotating your reading through all of the kinds of material and topics that you've learned vocab for.)

The more a grammar point is easily misconstrued for a different grammar the more important I find it to actually have a card for it. (The two types of そう are some of the first grammar cards I made. One treats the conjugated verb as a unit of vocabulary, and the other treats そう itself as a vocabulary word. I think I added another just for なさそう too.)

Man, I've been slacking with Japanese lately. Well, maybe.

I signed up for JOI lessons, scheduled 2 lessons, and managed to find excuses to miss them both (!) I just signed up for another lesson tomorrow, and I guess I'm posting here to make sure that I actually go!

I read another book over the weekend. It was かげのどいびと, volume #7 (I think) in the Japanese Graded Reader level 3 series. It was 29 pages and it took me 2 days to read. I think that I reached my limit in what I can comfortably read in level 3. I should probably find a way to improve my japanese before reading more.

I took a bit of a hiatus from anki over the weekend while reading that book and am taking my sweet time in getting all my reviews caught up!

Also, I now add only 2 new cards a day to anki.

How are things going with everyone else?

Kinda stopped reading for a bit (midterms coming up) so I've just been doing core 6k on anki. I actually plan to do it daily because I estimated that I'll be finished with the deck by week 1 of Oct!    It's a negative motivation rather than positive because I don't want to delay it more than I have already.

Good news is that I figured out a word I first encountered from core just by context.

Quote:「今日は風が強い。」

I knew all the other words involved so my best guess was that 強い meant strong and all I didn't know was the reading. It's a small success but I'm proud of it

Thanks for posting RawPk. It helped me get my butt in gear. I just went through my anki backlog and finished chapter 10 of my kanji book. I have 28 unread cards in my queue and am currently only adding 2 cards a day. So it will be a while before I can even start to seriously think about adding cards for the new chapters.

Now all I have to do is show up to my 5pm lesson and I'll be back on track. Here's today's lesson:

Japanese Title （～ば）～ほど・・・、（～なら）～ほど・・・、～ほど・・・
English Title The more ~ dose or happens, the more ・・・does more happens
Japanese Sample Sentences 日本語は勉強すればするほどおもしろくなります。
English Sample Sentences The harder you study Japanese, the more interesting it becomes.

I finally finished RTK last week.  I'm very excited about that!  I even realized that I somehow added ~100 extra kanji from my kanji mega deck that I didn't intend to add .  Oh well, I hope they are useful kanji!

I haven't been doing anything else besides rtk and keeping up with reviews in my other decks.  I'm happy to say that I now have 6133 mature cards and 8169 total cards in play.

From here, I'll be pre-learning some vocab that I'll be listening to on jpod101 and maybe some anime.  I'm also considering doing some subs2srs or incremental reading.  In case anyone is extremely bored, you can read my full 2016 study plan here.

@yogert909 impressive! I admire people who can stick it out and finish rtk. When you practice do you practice writing or just reading?

(2016-03-30, 11:40 pm)ariariari Wrote: @yogert909 impressive! I admire people who can stick it out and finish rtk. When you practice do you practice writing or just reading?

Just reading(recognition).  Writing kanji is waaay down my list of priorities and I study on mobile most of the time so writing is inconvenient.  I probably wouldn't have stuck with it as long as I have if I had to carry notebooks and textbooks with me everywhere.

Finishing rtk was a pragmatic decision as I was tired of the search for things to read in kana or furigana so I just bit the bullet and did it.  Now, I'm hoping vocabulary acquisition will go much faster.   I'm also hoping to be able to watch anime and j-drama with subs sometime this year. So it's all part of my master plan

Cheers!

Slightly off-topic but had to bring it to attention. IGN recently wrote an article called "THE 21 WEIRDEST ANIME EVER" and it named Shirokuma Cafe as one of the anime.

Quote:An anime series about talking animals running a restaurant sounds like a pretty ordinary anime premise, but what’s bizarre about this is specifically how normal and mundane it is. It’s like Seinfeld, but with endangered species instead of New Yorkers.

I completely disagree with the "weird" label as the the fact that they are talking animals doing regular people things are what make the anime appealing.

Just thought I'd share the info.

@RawPk That's funny. I like how much you love this show.

BTW, I just finished episode 4. I did what you recommended and read the English description of the episode here first (http://www.fandompost.com/2012/05/03/pol...me-review/). It helped a lot.

Honestly, at this point I'm just happy to get a foreign language workout by having 30 minutes immersed in Japanese that I have a decent shot of following. I definitely don't get everything, but I can follow it more and more as time goes on. Hopefully this helps me avoid bombing the listening portion of the JLPT by so much this December

(2016-04-01, 1:38 pm)ariariari Wrote: @RawPk That's funny.  I like how much you love this show.

BTW, I just finished episode 4. I did what you recommended and read the English description of the episode here first (http://www.fandompost.com/2012/05/03/pol...me-review/). It helped a lot.

Honestly, at this point I'm just happy to get a foreign language workout by having 30 minutes immersed in Japanese that I have a decent shot of following. I definitely don't get everything, but I can follow it more and more as time goes on. Hopefully this helps me avoid bombing the listening portion of the JLPT by so much this December

I'm glad my advice helped, though I read the English recaps (I don't want to ruin the story for myself) after watching an episode then rewatch. If I do read an English description of an episode prior, it's usually the short kind like in this Wiki: List of Shirokuma Cafe episodes

EDIT: Btw, if you want to take a look at the subs, you can check it out here: http://kitsunekko.net/dirlist.php?dir=su...ma_Cafe%2F

Don't download the [Kamigami] batch files as they had a lot of mistakes according to this thread

So, another anniversary of the JLPT, another update:

Compared to last month:
Mature grammar cards: 564 (today) - 554 (March) = +10
Mature Kanji cards: 715 (today) - 713 (March) = +2
Mature vocab cards: 4,783 (today) - 4,751 (March) = +32

Total mature cards: 6,062 (today) - 6,018 (March) = +44

Compared to December 7, 2015 (the day after the exam):
Mature grammar cards: 564 (today) - 476 (12/7) = +88
Mature Kanji cards: 715 (today) - 684 (12/7) = +31
Mature vocab cards: 4,783 (today) - 4,500 (12/7) = +283

Total mature cards: 6,062 (today) - 5,660 (12/7) = +402

First of all, thanks to everyone who posts in this thread. I probably would have just silently put this hobby off to the side if it weren't for you! This month in particular I felt like higher priority stuff happened.

The anki stats this month are decent, but not great. But I do feel that a lot of other great stuff happened with Japanese:
*I read a lot. Including a few 25-30 page "books" from the Japanese Graded Reader series level 3. Before this month, I hadn't read anything of that length or difficulty before.
*I watched a few more episode of shirokuma kafe, without subtitles. That's a great workout for my listening skills. Again, the length is unlike anything I've ever done before.
*I started taking JOI lessons again.

[RawToast]

Mega busy with running my own 'business', but I've managed to crawl back into learning Japanese. Took a few iTalki lessons this month and I've taken some advise from my tutor and started reading more.

Quote: *I read a lot. Including a few 25-30 page "books" from the Japanese Graded Reader series level 3. Before this month, I hadn't read anything of that length or difficulty before.

I've given up Anki for simple reading and listening (song lyrics, reading sections from textbooks, actual books!) I know have no idea how close or far my JLPT goals are, but I am enjoying the language far more than I did with Anki. The little bit of "The 10 Nights of Dreams" that I've struggled through using intensive reading seems to have raised my reading level -- substantially. Lower level works are a breeze outside of unknown words (a sign I need to start some extensive reading!)

Currently I am on the 5th Night of the 10 Nights of Dreams. I prefer intensive reading at the moment, which is slow involves lots of rereading -- but it's worth it. Once I get through the dreams in "Breaking into Japanese Literature", I plan on reading the other dreams using this brilliant site: http://www.sosekiproject.org

Keep it up and don't change what you're doing if it's working!

RawToast long time no see! Not sure if you remember me much but I remember you when I was first here on the forums

(2016-04-03, 2:40 pm)RawToast Wrote: Currently I am on the 5th Night of the 10 Nights of Dreams. I prefer intensive reading at the moment, which is slow involves lots of rereading -- but it's worth it. Once I get through the dreams in "Breaking into Japanese Literature", I plan on reading the other dreams using this brilliant site: http://www.sosekiproject.org

As for intensive reading what was your process? I've tried (and failed) intensive reading in the past by burnout so I was just wondering how you did so without wanting to poke your eyes burn out   . Right now I'm extensive reading a manga called 「しろくまカフェ」 (it has been mentioned a lot in this thread) and I'm about halfway. I know there are word I don't know but haven't really bothered to look up and some I have figured out (I think?) with context. My plan is to intensive read after Vol 1 or would sooner rather than later be better?

(2016-04-03, 11:40 am)ariariari Wrote: First of all, thanks to everyone who posts in this thread. I probably would have just silently put this hobby off to the side if it weren't for you! This month in particular I felt like higher priority stuff happened.

It is me who is thanking you! Your thread is what finally motivated me to get back into Japanese after a hiatus with the JLPT as a goal in mind. I'm still not as productive as I'd like to be but it's better than zero exposure like the years before.

[RawToast]

@RawrPk  I remember most of the names on this thread, I have a better memory for usernames than I do Japanese!   

Quote: As for intensive reading what was your process? I've tried (and failed) intensive reading in the past by burnout so I was just wondering how you did so without wanting to poke your eyes burn out   . Right now I'm extensive reading a manga called 「しろくまカフェ」 (it has been mentioned a lot in this thread) and I'm about halfway. I know there are word I don't know but haven't really bothered to look up and some I have figured out (I think?) with context. My plan is to intensive read after Vol 1 or would sooner rather than later be better?

This may be a ramble. I am at work, so I can't really review this xD

I tried intensive reading with graded readers, manga, and childrens books -- all of which made me want to poke my eyes out! I found that the format of "Breaking into Japanese Literature" just makes the process easier. If I don't know a word I look down; if the sentence meaning puzzles me I look right. The dictionary is excellent and includes short phrases e.g. for 胡坐をかいていた the meaning given is "to sit cross legged" rather than the individual words (noun: sitting cross legged, and revision, reform, etc.)
I slowly read a few pages, which is a slow process. Then I will read the same pages after a short coffee/tea break. It's the second reading that keeps me going, I'll find that I read the pages faster and with solid comprehension. I will still 'forget' a couple of harder words -- just accept that it will happen.

Once I have completed a story or chapter. I'll go back and read it again and I tend to find that I can read rather fluently (essentially extensive reading). This is what makes it all worthwhile. When you can read out-loud with minimal pauses, you'll feel like a pro-audiobook reader It's an awesome feeling.  いい気持ち！ I'll go back much later and reread the same material, as it only takes a few minites after all that effort. Don't worry about forgetting the odd word -- you'll grasp those in the next story/book/chapter.
I understand your pain with reading a non bilingual book. I hated trying to read: Kino's Journey, Doraemon, or Yotsubato without the easy dictionary. I would suggest you do the following:

* Grab a nice mechanical pencil with a rubber
* Quickly go through the material and write the meaning of unknown words/grammar somewhere on the page e.g. footnotes, or above the word.
* Reread the material intensively once you have all the notes.

Essentially you are making your own custom bilingual text... that's why I recommend using Breaking into Japanese Literature first. Each time you read a book you should need to make less notes in the next (unless it's a new genre with lots of specific words). Since BiJL gives you solid notes it's a great first stepping stone.

@RawToast: Great advice on how to handle intensive reading. I never really took notes on the actual books, mainly because they're digital xD (I have a few real books but they're way above my level atm) but it is possible to do so regardless.  

Here is a PDF of a page I made from the manga just as I am writing this reply. Not entirely sure how I'd format this as 1 page is already taking up a lot of space.

As for my Anki stats, it's not much but better than nothing:


Total Mature vocab cards= +48

• This month: 48
  

Hey guys! I finally took the time to write out my study plan in 1 neat page! It's in my blog that I almost never write in lol xD Hopefully sharing this will make me accountable for my progress as it is now a public affair.

My 2016 JLPT Sudy Plan

Hey RawrPK,  I'm glad to see you keeping your blog alive.  I enjoy your writing and check it from time to time to see if there's anything new.  

One thing you might want to try with your study plan is doing your best to estimate how long it will take to finish each milestone.  That accomplishes 3 things - it help you to be realistic about your goals, helps set priorities, and helps with the accountability as well.  At least that's how it works for me.  Before I started estimating the amount of time each task takes, I would have a list of things to do but I was always disappointed that I only got half my list done.  That is until I started estimating time for each task and realized I was doing pretty well.  You can see my study plan to see what I'm talking about.

You're right. I should start to estimate my finish date for what I have up. The only rough goal I have are that I want to be able to get to N3 material by July so when August hits, I can retake the J-CAT and see if I have improved since then. Expect an update soon!

I literally just saw a new vocabulary work in the subtitles of the opening song of shirokuma:

結局

結局　南極　北極でもなくテルミー

Granted, I had to look up every single word in that sentence (including the one I supposedly just learned), and cannot find テルミー in jisho.org. But it was still a cool feeling.

(2016-04-08, 4:16 pm)ariariari Wrote: I literally just saw a new vocabulary work in the subtitles of the opening song of shirokuma:

結局

結局　南極　北極でもなくテルミー

Granted, I had to look up every single word in that sentence (including the one I supposedly just learned), and cannot find テルミー in jisho.org. But it was still a cool feeling.

I believe テルミー is just katakana of 'Tell Me'. I know that's not very exciting, sorry!

I do like the Shirokuma opening theme, although I barely remember it now. Maybe I'll have to rewatch. I vaguely recall being disappointed when it changed to a less compelling theme around the halfway point.

I remember also there were a bunch of different ending themes. Grizzly Rock was the best.

LOL - it really just means "tell me"? Sometimes this language just drives me crazy.

(2016-04-08, 6:57 pm)ariariari Wrote: LOL - it really just means "tell me"? Sometimes this language just drives me crazy.

LOL reminds me of the I've not seen Katakana used this way before... thread xD

In other news, I kinda binged watched shirokuma this weekend and finished up to ep 13. This was one of the episodes I actually was able to follow better than the previous episodes as I was familiar with the topic: 七夕. I made sure I knew I was correct on the topic by referring to the English blog of Ep 13 I like to read afterwards.

I had learned about Tanabata during my final semester in Japanese class. This is where the term "star crossed lovers came from". To sum it up, the folklore is that there are 2 lovers that can only meet once a year: on the 7th month of the 7th day. It is celebrated with people writing their wishes on small strips of paper and hanging it on trees. I had forgotten that it was bamboo trees that were used (it's been 4 years since I read the story). It's quite memorable to me personally as this is my brother's birthday so the story stuck with me.

More info here: Wiki article, Kids Web Japan, Japan-Suite.com

Just found another great resource for shirokuma! It's a blog giving some analysis to episodes but in Japanese! LOOK HERE. EP 13 JP analysis

I know learned a new and funny word from the Japanese blog: アニヲタ (n,sl,abbr,ik) anime otaku

Quote:ペンギンの、まるでアニヲタの心を代弁したような
「相手から告白してｗ」ってな受け身な願いに「ずうずうしいね」が一番ツボったわｗ

I've been behind my Japanese a lot lately, just barley keeping up the reviews, not adding anything new. I guess a little bit of motivational bump. In these rare cases, something like this helps:

Already feel better

At first I thought that that video was a joke - a parody of some kind. But then after a minute I started getting really into it