Are you currently learning something by yourself aside from Japanese, such as maybe another language, programming, or music? How much time do you spend on learning this other skill compared to how much time you spend learning Japanese, and do you have trouble allocating your time while juggling all these things you want to learn?

For me, I try to allocate my time toward practicing and composing music, which can be time-consuming activities that get in the way of my Japanese studying, or vice verse. I try to balance them, though.

If I can, I try to learn other skills in Japanese, so it's like a two birds one stone effect.
For programming languages I've been using http://www.dotinstall.com. All its tutorials are divided into 3 minute videos. Some have captions, but even the ones which don't have the main points of each video in the description underneath.

Yes! But unfortunately the days are only 24h long. I focusing primarily on Japanese in my sparetime. As I'm doing my high school in 1 year, i have to self-study some subjects. I choose math and physics, since those are the only school subjects, that i find fun.

So my usual days goes something like:

8:30-17:30) School
18:00-20;21:00) Japanese
21:00-22:00) Math+Phys
22:00-00:00) Anime/Jdrama

this is only for weekdays, and do change quite a bit, but i use 2-3 hours everyday on Japanese! School is the only part of my day that feels like a chore

Bottomline, school/work sucks when you are sporting a lot of hobbies.

TheViking Wrote:Bottomline, school/work sucks when you are sporting a lot of hobbies.

I just do work in Japanese to fix this problem. I talk to my coworkers in Japanese even though they only speak English or Spanish or Haitian Creole. It's not very good for 'input' perse.

No seriously though, Bokusenou, you have so many good study ideas. I noticed some of the things you've put in the wiki and realized how much I'd benefit to use the net in Japanese with those links.

As a software developer, I spend the majority of my time learning.

@tashippy
Wow, thanks! I didn't think people read the wiki anymore...
It would be great if more people could help out there. I feel like I'm the only one who is updating the Japanese section semi-regularly (Gdaxeman is doing a great job with the Chinese section^^).
Most of the stuff I put there are just links to things anyone could find with a basic internet search, or links to relevant koohii forum threads. Those who make threads, like your ultimate reading thread, are doing the real work!

Since I'm back in the U.S. and I usually eat at home, I've been teaching myself how to cook over the past four months or so.

To digress, for various reasons, I only eat vegan when I cook at home and the change in diet hasn't been difficult at all (I ate meat or seafood with every meal when I was in Japan). There are many great vegan cookbooks with balanced nutrition and weekly meal plans, and the abundance of delicious recipes make it so I don't have meat cravings (although, I do eat meat when dining out and there are no vegetarian options or everyone else wants a shared dish that has meat). I've improved my diet and learned how to cook at the same time, so I highly recommend it. Plus, you can impress your friends when they can't believe their tastebuds while enjoying your hearty and savory vegan dishes.

I also teach myself go and soroban, but only on the rare occasion (once or twice a month). I hope to someday become good enough at go so I can appreciate professional games, and develop my soroban skills enough to do quick 3+digit mental calculations.

I don't think this counts, but I'm also interested in design (all areas, but the most applicable in my daily life are interior design and fashion). I often read guides on the use of lighting, colors, space, angles, etc. and flip through photo books or their online equivalents. I don't think it's so much self-teaching as it is developing a good intuition, though.

Although, my favorite form of design is architecture since it combines artistic sensibility with precise engineering. Unfortunately, my architectural skills are limited to aesthetic theory. However, I really enjoy looking at sketches, blueprints, and photos of finished works. And I usually visit great architectural works whenever I travel. If I didn't choose to study philosophy, I definitely would have gone with architecture.

That whole "only 24 hours in a day" thing sucks. I need at least 28-36.

I just got my A+ cert a few weeks ago, mostly to prove to people that yes, I know how to fix basic stuff on computers. Anki was incredibly useful for that. Beyond the rote memorization of specs for software/hardware I'll never use, I learned a few useful things. I'll probably get Network+ next, because I'd like to learn more about networking. (Just not right now.)

I'm also messing around with piano and music composition, through a couple of classes at the local university's community music school, and through a pile of Japanese books I bought on the subject. (I have a lot of musical experience, although a lot of it is in the dim past.)

And I'm trying to get ready for the N1. I don't like my odds, but what the heck.

vileru Wrote:There are many great vegan cookbooks with balanced nutrition and weekly meal plans

Any recommendations?

I actually study Music Composition at my University. My time is basically split between composing, practicing my instrument (classical guitar), and learning Japanese.

I'm a programmer by trade and I go through phases of learning things for fun. I passed my CCNP a while back through self study which was kinda fun.

Right now my problem is balancing Chinese and Japanese study, although I put a lot less time into my Japanese now. My Japanese study basically consists of "read more and watch more in my free time", but Anki usage is dropping quickly.

Programming here as well, just going through some books when I'm not doing university study to become a bit before professional at it.

Environment is completely Japanese so I don't really do much formal study anymore either, just a little Anki here and there. Would like to spend at least an hour a day practicing reading to get a bit faster but I don't have the mental energy left over often lately..

Started going to the gym too, just to get stronger and run better. I guess those are skills?

tashippy Wrote:

vileru Wrote:There are many great vegan cookbooks with balanced nutrition and weekly meal plans

Any recommendations?

It depends what your needs are. Since I usually only cook for myself or just a single guest, I use Vegan Cooking for One. There's a grocery list at the beginning of each week, which is incredibly convenient. Furthermore, the recipes are split between spring/summer and autumn/winter, and have a nice range of flavors from spicy curries to Mediterranean pastas to potatoes and beans. Of course, you can eat the Monday dish on Tuesday if you like, so it's easy to switch the dishes to match your mood on any given day. There are only recipes for dinner and one lunch on Sunday, though. This isn't a problem for me since I have a handful of quick meals I make for breakfast and lunch (breakfast is usually cereal, oatmeal, or this cinnamon soy yogurt/cereal/banana bowl I really like, and lunch is usually toast with peanut butter and sliced banana. For snacks I typically have fruits or a Cliff bar). In addition, I constantly keep stir-fry ingredients on hand for when I'm lazy (rice or noodles + fried vegetables & tofu).

As strange as it may sound, I made the decision to change how I eat at home after tasting julienned carrots at a two-star Michelin Chinese restaurant in Roppongi (厲家菜). Although it's a horrible thing to say, those carrots were more memorable than most people I've met. I was only eating carrots, and it was one of the most mind-blowing culinary experiences of my life. I felt so alive. After that, I was convinced that a talented chef could make grass taste delicious. So changing was easy. Eating vegan is healthier and cheaper, after all.

sparky14 Wrote:I actually study Music Composition at my University.

It doesn't really count as self-teaching if you study it in class... What kind of music do you compose, though?

Sure. I teach myself Swedish (as I'm being forced to do it by the government) but it's not too bad because the language is just so easy to grasp when being taught from English to Swedish. However during the lessons we use Finnish which is like trying to make a square object (Finnish) fit a round hole when the round object (English) is right next to you.

Another less annoying language project is Italian. Amo la lingua. Hilariously close to English and while irregularities are reality it's not as bad as English ever was. They say that Swedish is closer to English but hell, I find it significantly easier to learn Italian due to the massive amount of similar vocabulary (vocabolario! ohhh yeah!).

Learning some new cooking recipes as well with my girlfriend. Making food together is always great and doesn't feel like such a chore as when I'm alone. Yesterday we prepared some avocado pasta which is always tasty.

I have a piano next to me and my gf is very good at playing it but I haven't had the time to make use of this private tutor of mine to pick it up. Once I can stop actively studying Japanese I'll start on it.

Bokusenou Wrote:For programming languages I've been using http://www.dotinstall.com.

wow, thanks for this~

Hah Betelgeuzah My gf has been stepping up her avocado pasta game. Very happy for this.

For music, I've been working on learning piano, guitar, and 尺八. I don't spend very much time on each individually, but I'm hoping to work on them more between semesters.
I already play the violin, but I really wanted to learn more.

I generally only learn programming languages as I need to, but this is another thing I want to work on, since I never needed to learn C or any of its derivatives.
Thanks for the link Bokusenou! I imagine this will be quite helpful.

Out of necessity, I've also been learning how to work on vehicles. Thankfully, I know people with workspace and equipment, so that makes it easier.
Honestly, after all of the things I've learned, vehicular repair is extremely simple. The main downside being the shear weight of the things you have to work on.
I can't say this is entirely self-study though, since I have been helped along some.

I've also been learning how to tan leather. Well, in theory at least. Personally, I don't hunt, since I don't need to; I know people who like to hunt and get some venison from them when I want some (usually in exchange for a favor). I plan to get some hides from them as well at some point or talk to a butcher (I heard they throw out the hide! How could they waste like that?), though it will have to wait until next year if I take too long.
I've already read up on how to do it, just a matter of gathering materials now.

I've also started learning to sew, since it's such a useful skill (especially if I start tanning). Not much to say about this one, just something I wanted to learn.

That's not even all of the things I've been trying to learn. Clearly, I can't focus on all of these every day, or every week for that matter. If I could, I'd take a long break from everything just to work on these things. As it is, the time scale on most of my studies reaches into the months; I just learn some more as it comes up.
I do study Japanese every day though, even if it's just in Anki.

Like many others here. I'm forever learning programming, but I've completely stopped doing any sort of Japanese learning (no anki reviews, etc.). Employable skills seem more valuable.

In particular, currently learning machine learning.

Working my way through Think Bayes and Building Machine Learning Systems with Python
and taking my time on Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas as a way to improve my problem solving skills.

To all the people who learn programming:
What sort of things can one work on as a beginner? I can recognize the benefit of that stuff, since even though I'm more of a hardware guy, jobs still seem to ask for "scripting languages". I don't really have much conception of what you actually do with a scripting language, but I'll probably make some attempt to learn within the near future so I can claim basic proficiency when applying for jobs...

Still, without an actual goal, I don't know how far I'll get. The thought of just 'learning programming' seems a bit drab to me right now. Kind of like learning the grammar of a spoken language you have no intent to learn. I think if I had more of a sense of what projects people worked on, I might be more motivated.

Every programming project is about solving some kind of problem. For learning people typically chose problems with well-known solutions in order to focus on the process of implementing something from start to finish. For example web language tutorials often have you make simple blog or micro-blog software.

You can do nearly anything in a scripting language. The most obvious example comes to mind is the fact that Anki is written entirely in Python.

I feel like a lot of programmers get started by trying to improve on an existing solution. For example Anki started because Damien felt he could write something more user-friendly than Supermemo.

I learnt mostly from books. Made a small breakout game in DirectX based on some tutorial framework code but I don't think it really taught me much... just provided practice. Similarly for the couple of internships I did. Otherwise I don't have a ton of experience. Programming was just one aspect of my resume, not the focus of it, so luckily that wasn't a problem.

I think you can become proficient in a particular language through a lot of study and playing around in the compiler to try things out.. some of the more advanced texts have great tips on language usage that you probably wouldn't realize by just practicing coding on your own. Indeed you need to read lots of good code and understand why it's good to become good yourself. If the goal is to deeply learn a single language in isolation quickly then maybe it's best to focus on that rather than getting involved in large projects where you'll have to worry about lots of other things like graphics, databases, 3rd party APIs, etc.

Then again I'm just a novice so maybe I'm talking nonsense.

Haych Wrote:What sort of things can one work on as a beginner?

With programming for me, I first learned in classes and did excercises in the class. It didn't really "click" for me until I discovered libraries and figured out that I could put things together and make stuff work to solve a problem.

I'll give you one general piece of advice that might help you progress into more challenging programming.

Every time you encounter a problem, be aware of it. Ask yourself, "Could a computer solve this problem?" (Hint: The answer is almost always 'yes'). Write it down.

When I first started trying to find "problems" it was hard, so here is an easier way to become conscious of problems.

Every time you encounter something annoying, ask your self "Is this a problem? Can it be solved with computers?"

I can't stress it enough though: Write it down immediately. Note what caused the annoyance and what is problematic about the situation, try coming up with a small 2-3 sentence description for a program/service to solve that problem. Since I have my smartphone on me almost always, I find using Evernote helps with this as I can easily sync everything. I've learned not to trust my short term memory to keep problems in mind because there is too much going on and I feel my mind is more keen to toss out annoying, problematic stuff.

These annoyances/problems are the basis of good programs, you'll probably find that many of the program ideas that arise from these are probably technically difficult to implement. However, the act of putting a problem on paper, and trying to figure out what things you might need to solve it and how to go about it, even if its very general, will help you progress as a programmer.

Hold on to those problem-solution ideas and keep them in a "project bucket." You may not be able to tackle the problem now, but there may come a day in the future when you are more knowledgeable and you can. Additionally, these ideas are the foundation of a potential startup company. Not every idea is worth building a company around, but you can't even start building a company without an idea, and the best companies are formed around solving a problem.

That said, keep reading and learning what you can. After you do 1-2 small projects you'll start to get a good handle on things. Also, don't be afraid to "reinvent the wheel" for learning purposes. Trying to do something that already exists, and is more polished than what you can build, is a great learning experience and it can give you a great sense of just how much work goes into building a very polished piece of software.

My very first project in Python was simply a 'smart' calculator (I didn't have a calculator with memory or any kind equation ability). There was no graphical interface or anything fancy, just a directory, variable prompts, and an answer. The main reasons I made it were that I wanted to learn a scripting language and was tired of typing the equations by hand each time (the Python prompt was and still is my main calculator at home).
So yeah, just try to think of something that bothers you and try to fix it. I can guarantee you'll spend a lot of time looking up how to do things though, so it might be better to learn the basics of the language first.
You should learn how to define and call variables, import modules and use their contents, how to make functions, and how to call for user input in your desired language. After that, just play around with problems while referencing documentation or learner sites to figure out how to do things.

@Haych
You might want to start out with going through the tutorials at http://www.codecademy.com. They are very interactive, and they have you building projects soon after starting out.

@sholum how do you study shakuhachi? You have a teacher?