My congratulations to this incredible community!

I'm in for Vulcanus scholarship and will land in Narita the 1st of Sept (2013).

Previous Knowledge:

-Had some previous contact with Japanese before so I'm familiar with basic grammar.

-Finished Joyo kanji using RTK [during July 2013] (Anki)

-Achieved 3k from the 2k/6k optimized deck [during August 2013] (Anki)



Plan for the following 4 months:

- 6 hours/day of Japanese Lessons at Naganuma School + 3 hours/day of reviewing

- 3 hours/day to try and socialize with Japanese people

- 1 hour/day of Japanese TV/Dorama/Book

- End Core 6k , do RTK2 pure and mixed groups and Tae Kim's Deck



Request for Help:

- What to do after 6k?

- Start my own deck with class material + immersive environment? Or go for pre-made decks again? (30 new entries a day seems a good pace to me, isn't it?)

- I've been doing SRS with the sentence in the front and as the answer the sentence with furigana + translation + image + sound. Is it recommendable to go for Close Deletion?

Aditional ideas:

- Start with a J-J deck?

Thank you all for your attention, and thank you beforehand for your help.

After core, continue reviews.

Keep learning new words, preferably in enjoyable context.
Find a way to store and review these words.
It doesn't matter what you use (notebook, anki sentence, vocab card, extensive reading).

At that point you might find it more practical to learn from context, but a a few pre-made decks won't hurt (e.g. 12 core words or 12 substosrs each day).

Some options: core 10k, substosrs, vntosrs, reading books, mining words, etc

Continue practicing the other components of language learning such as conversation and writing

Mess with cloze and j-j if you want

"cloze deletion" isn't practical for core, but production might work.
If you use production cards, only use mature cards that you've reviewed through recognition. One alternative is to simply re-write the target word

j-j is purely for aesthetic familiarity (something like that). Use Japanese definitions if it suits you, mix and match with English as you see fit

[Zgarbas]

*cough*
Befriend your Japanese colleagues. Meet some Japanese people. Start having conversations. Or at least listen to the ones they're having .

Turn on that TV and watch to your heart's content.

Enjoy Japan. I'm sure you'll be busy with things as it is. The fond memories you make will help your language learning more than anything, and I'm sure it will help push you to keep studying after you've gone back home.

I just released the optimized i+1 version of core 10k.
You can find more here: http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=11095

Zgarbas Wrote:*cough*
Befriend your Japanese colleagues. Meet some Japanese people. Start having conversations. Or at least listen to the ones they're having .
Turn on that TV and watch to your heart's content.
Enjoy Japan. I'm sure you'll be busy with things as it is. The fond memories you make will help your language learning more than anything, and I'm sure it will help push you to keep studying after you've gone back home.

Wise advise! Thank you!

Aspiring Wrote:At that point you might find it more practical to learn from context, but a a few pre-made decks won't hurt (e.g. 12 core words or 12 substosrs each day).

From context? Can someone expand a little bit that concept?

Aspiring Wrote:Continue practicing the other components of language learning such as conversation and writing

Handwritting helps to remember better? Maybe I should focus on computer writting only by now, and when I'm more confident (in 1 year time) go with handwritting.

Aspiring Wrote:j-j is purely for aesthetic familiarity (something like that). Use Japanese definitions if it suits you, mix and match with English as you see fit

Purely for aesthetic familiarity? I didn't understand what you mean. Some people claim it to boost the learning process, but right now I'm a bit confused, too much information in very few time maybe?

Thank you Aspiring for your help!

Pmnox, I will give it a try, I'm impressed by the efforts everyone puts in this forum!

Gamera Wrote:

Zgarbas Wrote:*cough*
Befriend your Japanese colleagues. Meet some Japanese people. Start having conversations. Or at least listen to the ones they're having .
Turn on that TV and watch to your heart's content.
Enjoy Japan. I'm sure you'll be busy with things as it is. The fond memories you make will help your language learning more than anything, and I'm sure it will help push you to keep studying after you've gone back home.

Wise advise! Thank you!

Aspiring Wrote:At that point you might find it more practical to learn from context, but a a few pre-made decks won't hurt (e.g. 12 core words or 12 substosrs each day).

From context? Can someone expand a little bit that concept?

For example when you read a manga, watch tv/drama/anime etc. You could learn a few words each time you do that. Substosrs is a tool that that helps create cards based on subtitles for particular show. Of course you have to find those subtitles yourself. They are available for like half of anime shows, etc.

In general it is more efficient to just learn words from core2k/6k/10k deck If you find that boring then you can just add your own cards each time you read/watch something in Japanese just to make it more interesting for you.

Gamera Wrote:My congratulations to this incredible community!

Why are we being congratulated? What is going on? I'm scared.

TheVinster Wrote:

Gamera Wrote:My congratulations to this incredible community!

Why are we being congratulated? What is going on? I'm scared.

Some great Decks/Complements/RTK(Stories) have been created and/or improved for people in this forum, who are also trying to help newbies and share they experience with us.

Everything clear now.

Gamera Wrote:My congratulations to this incredible community!
Plan for the following 4 months:

- 6 hours/day of Japanese Lessons at Naganuma School + 3 hours/day of reviewing

- 3 hours/day to try and socialize with Japanese people

- 1 hour/day of Japanese TV/Dorama/Book

- End Core 6k , do RTK2 pure and mixed groups and Tae Kim's Deck



Request for Help:

- What to do after 6k?

First of all, mega jealous. Are you excited?

Second, 6 hours/day learning in Japanese language classes is more than most sane individuals could possibly maintain independently, so whatever you do after that would probably consist of reviewing past lessons and just enjoying yourself. That's what I'd do, and probably practice my output as much as possible.

Animosophy Wrote:First of all, mega jealous. Are you excited?

Really really excited, when I was just a high school student I found a blog about this scholarship and I was like "wtf!? I want to do this" but never thought it was even possible,
so I just pushed myself through engineering as fast as possible to ask for Vulcanus, I even rejected an offer from Keio to do the final thesis with them! And despite all my efforts, I'm pretty sure that it has been a combination of luck and coincidence more than anything else =D

Animosophy Wrote:Second, 6 hours/day learning in Japanese language classes is more than most sane individuals could possibly maintain independently, so whatever you do after that would probably consist of reviewing past lessons and just enjoying yourself. That's what I'd do, and probably practice my output as much as possible.

It sure will be a very demanding experience, but the reward is worth it.