ryuudou Wrote:http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blo...l-the-time

I don't mean to sound rude, but many or most of the users here are pretty familiar with AJATT and although it's sound and reasonable advice, simply leaving a link to an article which in some manner holds certain pretentions which undermine the general vibe of this thread, is a little... well, um, it would be more productive to add your own thoughts to the thread as well and an article on another website, to alter the appearance of the "link-hit and run" style.

~~~

On a related note, there are a few vague areas I would like to continue improving in during this upcoming change of year number:-

*find a streamlined study routine which is applicable to the long term;
*continue cognitive therapy for social phobia and related interpersonal issues;
*get used to bi-polar meds to the point of changing medication doesn't mean being a zombie for a week;
*re-unite with estranged family members and friends;
*improve self-image and confidence;
*stop abusing food;
*continue to stay sober (without it being a "thing");
*roughly increase my 日本語 vocabulary by 一万 words and become comfortable with light novels
*spent less time online doing nothing.

HonyakuJoshua Wrote:...

HonyakuJoshua, I really wish that you had a blog about your life I could read. I feel like 1 out of every 5 posts would be absolutely amazing.


My goals:
1. Start learning chinese, focusing mainly on pronunciation and tones at the start.
2. Continue with my quest to pass 漢検２級. Maybe aim for 漢検５級or something by the end of the year.
3. Start working out again. Get serious with parkour and tricking. Start going to Studio BOS's open gyms at least once a week. Probably Friday.

1. Pass 漢検準1級. Passed all the way up to 3級 last year, but was just 10% shy of passing 準2級. I see no reason why I shouldn't be able to accomplish this goal by summer. Anki + drill books + time = pass.

2. Study grammar and drill listening so I can get 50+/60 in each section of the JLPT. Passed JLPT1 last year, but I'm still not happy with my scores.

3. Read more Japanese novels. I only read like 2 and a half last year. I got sidetracked playing RPG's in Japanese instead which would be fine, but I don't learn anything from games anymore. It also wasn't until most of the way through the year that I realized I could actually read Japanese novels.

4. Listen to more Japanese podcasts. Didn't listen as often as I should have, but all the ones surrounding the election were quite interesting. I also recently found some more interesting ones so this goal should be easier to achieve this year. They've also become much easier to understand so they feel like less of a slog.

5. Stay recent on Japanese news by reading news stories everyday. I did some of this to build my reading last year, but now I need to start reading them more for the information.

6. Start blogging about politics/my life on Lang-8. Goal is to write 3 longish compositions a week, but the starting point for this goal isn't until summer. I've got other things to study before then.

7. Catch-all make more friends, speak more Japanese to real people, etc. I live in Japan so this kind of thing isn't my main concern since I have opportunities to speak Japanese every day.

[RawToast]

Some nice and easy goals:

1. Complete Core 2k
2. End iknow subscription, basically finish 2k and the additional listening stuff.
3. Pass N4 in July
4. 'N3 level' by the end of the year
5. Go to Japan
6. Avoid alcohol until summer (managed to last until September this year, but our summer sucked!)
7. Go back to the gym.
8. Actually post to my blog.
9. Reach Platinum elo in lol :O

uisukii Wrote:*spent less time online doing nothing.

With your progress, where does that "time doing nothing" come from?!
I'm the one who should spend less time doing unnecessary things.

BTW, do you check your email?

undead_saif Wrote:

uisukii Wrote:*spent less time online doing nothing.

With your progress, where does that "time doing nothing" come from?!
I'm the one who should spend less time doing unnecessary things.

BTW, do you check your email?

Been rather depressed over the past three weeks and it's been hard to focus, and I often find five minutes turning into ten, into fifteen, into half and hour reading up on various grammar related discussions, etc. which isn't exactly the study I was doing in the first place. Adds up over time. I'm a pretty harsh critic, mainly on myself. That probably should have been on of the things to focus on this year.


*I'll just check my email now. Sort of forgot about having an email address due to other stuff. Sometimes I get so distracted I forget where my feet are leading me. lol

uisukii Wrote:

undead_saif Wrote:

uisukii Wrote:*spent less time online doing nothing.

With your progress, where does that "time doing nothing" come from?!
I'm the one who should spend less time doing unnecessary things.

BTW, do you check your email?

Been rather depressed over the past three weeks and it's been hard to focus, and I often find five minutes turning into ten, into fifteen, into half and hour reading up on various grammar related discussions, etc. which isn't exactly the study I was doing in the first place. Adds up over time. I'm a pretty harsh critic, mainly on myself. That probably should have been on of the things to focus on this year.


*I'll just check my email now. Sort of forgot about having an email address due to other stuff. Sometimes I get so distracted I forget where my feet are leading me. lol

Oh dear I can sometimes spend a few days procrastinating on the internet before I realise what's hit me.

HonyakuJoshua Wrote:study triz
stay positive
get better at chess
not to drink till i black out and almost get killed
not buy any weapons, deliberately harass or blackmail women
develop a tool for understanding complex sentences

Best post by HonyakuJoshua.

---

My goals for the next 6 months ↓

• Finish core 6K.
• Read this http://www.geocities.jp/niwasaburoo/
• Start reading Japanese novels.
• Get my Italian to C1.

[Zgarbas]

HonyakuJoshua Wrote:study dependency grammar and formal linguistics

Havoc is spelled havoc, not havock.
Certain branches of formal linguistics are quite dependent on spelling, so it is good to brush it up beforehand.

yeah it was a joke about the ship http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-...Havock.htm
what are your goals Zgarbas?

uisukii Wrote:Been rather depressed over the past three weeks and it's been hard to focus, and I often find five minutes turning into ten, into fifteen, into half and hour reading up on various grammar related discussions, etc. which isn't exactly the study I was doing in the first place. Adds up over time. I'm a pretty harsh critic, mainly on myself. That probably should have been on of the things to focus on this year.

Oh I see, unfortunately I can relate. be careful not to be overdo criticizing yourself, it can backfire really bad, and so it doesn't necessarily result in self-improvement. Been there, done that!

uisukii Wrote:*I'll just check my email now. Sort of forgot about having an email address due to other stuff. Sometimes I get so distracted I forget where my feet are leading me. lol

I can relate to that too, lol!

(Will try to not get carried away by off-topic discussions *fades away into darkness*)

dizmox Wrote:Finish learning all of http://almostsure.wordpress.com/stochastic-calculus and get a lot of applied-probability related study done

Bookmarked just to remind me what there still is to learn!!

For 2013

1. Start my long-planned blog on economics & politics in Asia (mostly Japan-focused of course)
2. Watch Japanese news every morning and learn any words I don't know yet
3. Speak Japanese whenever the opportunity arises
4. Spend less than I make, which probably means making more than I do now
5. Work through the damn book on infinite dimensional analysis that has been sitting (more like looming) on the shelf for years now
6. Watch 1-2 Jdrama episodes a week (how often do you get to make a commitment to watch more TV?)
7. Swim 15k/week, more if time permits
8. Start learning Brazilian Portuguese in preparation for World Cup 2014
9. Start networking to eventually move myself (and thus the whole family) to a new job in East Asia somewhere
10. Actually meditate when anxiety or depression hits instead of just thinking 'I should probably meditate regularly'

1. Get even more comfortable talking in French. Hopefully get it somewhat close to my English by the end of the year.
2. Get back into Japanese! It's been 12 months since I last spoke it, so this year should be 12 months full of speaking it.
3. Take Spanish much more seriously (B2 by the end of the year? If that's even possible alongside all my other goals...). French shouldn't eat up all my study time.
4. Learn the basics of Mandarin so that I can pick it up easily in a couple years when I start my bachelor's (Or just in case I end up going to Taiwan on my exchange).
5. Continue using biphasic sleep. Also get better at napping. And sleeping in general.
6. Write often: 36 posts on Lang-8 at least. 12 posts for each language (minus Chinese).
7. Wherever I end up going on my exchange, be proactive: learn the language, make friends, get out and explore, etc.
8. Don't hurt my tall-man back anymore. Seriously. This one's important.
9. Keep running at least 3 times a week. No more one month breaks when I feel overwhelmed.

Oh man. Writing this all down makes me realize how crazy (awesome?) this year is going to be.

throw away my textbooks (and other junk generally)

use native materials

be direct with people and not hesitate

simplify

Read one page every day from ふしぎのお話365

1. Stop getting distracted by other languages.
2. Continue losing weight and get down to around 160~165 from current 175
3. Achieve 5000 cards in my main anki deck. currently ~2900
4. Maintain current pace of over 1 hour of J-tv per day.
5. write 10-12 songs
6. read the rest of the unread j-books/manga that are on my shelf. about 6 or 7 books.
7. Speak more regularly with my Japanese Skype contacts. (referring to voice chat. waste to much time text chatting and not really improving my actual speaking abilities)
8. Meet one Japanese person in RL

[Zgarbas]

HonyakuJoshua Wrote:yeah it was a joke about the ship http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-...Havock.htm
what are your goals Zgarbas?

I just plan on continuing being awesome.

*though I guess the real goal would be to work more on getting people to recognize my awesomeness.

- Finish RTK1 (I'm at 1812 now), and also 2 and 3. Should be able to finish before summer, at the very latest.
- Start actually reading Japanese books! I have 2 that I bought at a bookoff in Shinjuku and 2 in kyoto as well, and they've been collecting dust until now.
- Transcribe more dramas. I've found it's the absolute best way to improve reconition of really fast native speech. The only catch is I need help from a Japanese friend every time to correct all my mistakes XD
- Start planning another trip to Japan!!! Maybe the summer of next year, for the whole summer. The last trip of 2 weeks was way too short.

I guess my goal is to get my Japanese studies back on track similar to the hardcore days during the first year and a half of my studies. Upon entering university, my study time ultimately dwindled in favor for home work the past couple years. I'd never go one week without touching Japanese, but it was never consistent. The immersion that I have now is only about 10-15 percent of what it used to be compared to how it was in my early study days which was almost "all the time". I feel I'm at the point in my Japanese studies where if I can give another year of solid effort, I'll be where I want to be with my Japanese until I actually move to Japan.

I've been lurking on this forum for over a year, reading the Recent Topics often but never contributing to the discourse. I think my last post on this forum was on Nuriko's 2012 resolution thread. I feel strangely drawn to participate in this topic. It's my language-learning time capsule of sorts, I suppose.

1. Meet my goal in my first 多読 attempt.
2. Complete RTK 3
3. Read 4 Japanese books of which I haven't previously read an English translation.
4. Take the JLPT (I don't know which level, yet).
5. 50 Lang-8 entries.
6. Get out of working in clothing/retail.

jmofro13 Wrote:6. Get out of working in clothing/retail.

As someone with 2 years in retail (GameStop) and 2 years in food/hospitality (Noodles & Company) I just want a job at a hospital or office or something. Sure I'm still going to school but why does that mean I have to deal with idiots all day? Looking for such a job now but it's so hard to get even an entry-level job at a hospital. The qualifications are so blown out of proportion.

Ranting aside, does anyone have an idea on good advice for starting a journal? I want to keep it consistent but also not just write about whatever comes to mind. I wonder if that even makes sense.

1. Maintain 4.0, get accepted to Berkeley (English)
2. Hikes: Wonderland Trail, Rae Lakes, Grand Canyon R2R2R, Lost Coast, Colorado Trail
3. Finish Core 6,000
4. Completely absorb basic grammar resources: Genki 1&2, Tae Kim, "Japanese Sentence Patterns For Effective Communication", "A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar"
5. Utilize Lang8 for writing a daily journal once 3-4 are completed
6. Use yomichan/subs2srs to devour native material once 3-4 are completed

Zgarbas Wrote:

HonyakuJoshua Wrote:yeah it was a joke about the ship http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-...Havock.htm
what are your goals Zgarbas?

I just plan on continuing being awesome.

*though I guess the real goal would be to work more on getting people to recognize my awesomeness.

you're really awesome, Zgarbas. thank you for your awesomeness. is it okay if i bask in it's glow to ease the winter blues? thanks.

Finish RTK(1 and 3), Start on sentences(mcds), get to the point where i can read,speak, and write Japanese like a native, Practice my Karate more, get fitter.

cae99v Wrote:Finish RTK(1 and 3), Start on sentences(mcds), get to the point where i can read,speak, and write Japanese like a native, Practice my Karate more, get fitter.

sounds like a plan.