I have some questions.

1: Would it be such a horrible thing to do RtK and say Genki 1 at the same time. From what I understand it is recommended to do RtK first but I was figuring it would be nice to get a bit into the language proper at the same time and G1 doesn't seem to go too deep into things. Either way I'd assume Remembering the Kana would be a good idea before heading into the textbook stage.

2: This is more far, OK, really insanely far down the road. If one were to reach a level N1 proficiency both in comprehension and production [as I understand it, the tests don't really cover writing and speaking] and one doesn't live in Japan, how much time would someone have to put in a week with native materials and the like before regressing in skill. Even my own father started to lose a bit of his French after 30+ years of living and working in English and that is after spending his first 20 years in a solidly unilingual French environment. It would seem to require quite a bit more time than a Euro language to keep up as well as to learn. If anyone has any experience with learning and maintaining other non Japanese languages, I wouldn't mind hearing them.

1. RtK and Genki are kind of studying two different things, so I think you can do them side by side. Back in the day when I first moved to Japan, I was studying Japanese from Minna no Nihongo at the same time as RTK. RTK made learning and remembering new kanji, as well as how to write Japanese in general, where the MnN was great for learning basic grammar and phrases. Of course I was also surrounded by Japanese on a daily basis so that was it's own kind of study. Anyway, they didn't conflict for me so you may as well try. Think of them separately and eventually when you finish RTK they will connect and it will become strong as you end up realizing all the things you already know.

2. As I still live in Japan, I can't help with this. In fact, if I ever leave (not likely) then I'd need the answer to this myself... I'm sure I'd lose it quite quickly as my memory (particularly long term) in general is pretty terrible.

Working on Genki should be fine. You might need to learn some characters out of RTK order or fudge a bit, but that's fine. I can't remember how Genki looks anymore.

This post (and the discussion that follows) might help answer your second question:

http://polydog.org/index.php?threads/mai...nguages.8/

justusperthes Wrote:This post (and the discussion that follows) might help answer your second question:

http://polydog.org/index.php?threads/mai...nguages.8/

I googled the crap out of that topic and got nothing. Thanks.

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For the second question, my Japanese is still continuously improving a year after coming back from Japan. I think the key is just making Japanese a natural part of your life; not studying so much as just using the tool of Japanese for things it's useful for. I have friends I skype with in Japanese, I like reading so I read some good Japanese books, I want to keep up with the latest news in Japan so I read it in Japanese, I enjoy Japanese TV so I watch it online, etc etc. I've got no idea what this would be like in terms of hours (would vary a lot too) but I think the important point is that I don't feel like I'm having to 'put in time' with Japanese because it's all stuff I'd want to be doing anyway.

I was thinking of learning French being a Canadian. Wait sorry. Being a Canadian eh. That's better. Also have another language in mind. There are only so many hours in the day. Thus my question. I do understand and agree with your point however.

Dudeist Wrote:I was thinking of learning French being a Canadian. Wait sorry. Being a Canadian eh. That's better. Also have another language in mind. There are only so many hours in the day. Thus my question. I do understand and agree with your point however.

Coincidence! I started doing French myself recently My point was sort of that even studying French seriously, there's still news I want to catch up with, people I want to chat to, hobbies I want to pursue, and many of those naturally involve using Japanese... enough to keep improving my Japanese. But yeah, I get your point about only so many hours in a day. Trying to maintain more than a couple of languages, in particular, seems like it would involve more conscious planning :/