Small success I suppose but I feel like my listening is improving! This a song that I couldn't for the life of me keep up with the lyrics (except the English chorus) but yesterday finally found myself being able to hear actual sentences instead of lightening speed slurs. It helps that I've listened to this song about a hundred times (maybe more) over the course of a year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNLdE0kD1Lg

Ugh. My alarm just went off saying "It's been a month! Post monthly anki stats!"

But I've been travelling for work and now have a backlog of hundreds of cards... just started trying to go thru them.

All right, I got through the backlog of vocab and kanji. Might need an extra day or two to knock off the grammar, but I'll get there.

I might want to take some time off of adding new anki cards though. I seem to be having a big jump up in my reading and listening skills. So it might be fun to focus on that. Also, I did just find that new conversation group.

Well, I finished. That was unpleasant.

Compared to last month:
Mature grammar cards: 554 (today) - 532 (February) = +22
Mature Kanji cards: 713 (today) - 710 (February) = +3
Mature vocab cards: 4751 (today) - 4705 (February)= +46

Total mature cards: 6,018 (today) - 5,947 (February) = +71

Compared to December 7, 2015 (the day after the exam):
Mature grammar cards: 554 (today) - 476 (12/7) = +78
Mature Kanji cards: 713 (today) - 684 (12/7) = +29
Mature vocab cards: 4751 (today) - 4,500 (12/7) = +251

Total mature cards: 6,018 (today) - 5,660 (12/7) = +358

It's great that there was an improvement even in what feels like a slow month for adding stuff with anki, and generally struggling to do reviews while travelling for work.

I think that within the world of Japanese, the big news this month:

1. Watching my first anime, and generally discovering crunchyroll
2. Doing more free reading with the level 3 graded readers
3. Discovering an expat social group that gives me some good practice and, basically, a good vibe.

If I had to guess, this month I'll probably continue the trend of not doing much anki, vocab or grammar work. And instead try to do more reading and watching anime.

Nice little accomplishment today. I just came back from a business trip and have the day off. I went to a cafe and for the first time read an entire Level 3 Graded Reader book in one sitting! The book was 注文の多い料理店 by Miyazawa Kenji.

<bows>

Great job ariariari! Hey the next tadoku round (mini round; half month) is coming up. If you're interested, you should register and participate. It requires a twitter account though but I'm sure there are users who only have a twitter account for the sole purpose of tadoku anyways.

(2016-03-09, 2:29 pm)RawrPk Wrote: Great job ariariari! Hey the next tadoku round (mini round; half month) is coming up. If you're interested, you should register and participate. It requires a twitter account though but I'm sure there are users who only have a twitter account for the sole purpose of tadoku anyways.

I would've placed pretty high (not top 3, but probably top 5 definitely top 10) in the last tadoku (that i was thinking about registering for although I never did. I kinda kept an eye on the numbers though.) ... but... I dunno... I might read half that much in a different month and place way low, or read twice that much and place an easy first. Somehow I just don't want how much I read to have to depend on anything other than how much I feel like reading.

Hey, some more great news. When I went to my language group last night I asked people if they knew the story I had just read (注文の多い料理店). It turns out that not only had everyone read it, the author is very famous. It was a nice way to connect with people in my group. Sounds like another reason to really recommend the Graded Reader series.

Really small success story: I went to a pub with a friend, and there were 2 Japanese sitting behind me, since I noticed they speaking. As we left, I thought I heard one guy say to the other "let's drink". I told my friend what I thought I heard, and he confirmed: the guy at that moment just started pouring the stuff into his glass. So I heard correctly. Yay!

Just got back into the swing of things since I returned from my business trip.

I want to keep up the listening practice, so I finished watching episode 2 of shirokuma. I think that I only watched half of it before. I also added episode 3 to my queue so I remember where to pick it up.

Hey guys,

Just a quick update. I decided to go ahead and buy a set of 5 more lessons at JOI. In terms of language knowledge, I've managed to keep up vocab on my own, though my grammar has really slowed to a crawl. Hopefully this can give me a boost.

How are things going with everyone else?

I've been focusing on the listening, reading and vocab aspect of the language though at a snail pace. Grammar I haven't really touched and figured out that I should actually be scheduling time for it (like marking it on my calendar like my school schedule). I only go to school 2 days a week so I should be able to use my remaining days to catch up on grammar via JTMW.

If all else fails, I could follow this study schedule for a Japanese course that uses JTMW as its primary textbook but I think 16 weeks is a bit too long to go through the book. Imo, I believe I can do it in significantly shorter time but I will just have to plan it out carefully.

Listening I've just been watching raw dramas as my main source. Watched ep 3 of shirokuma with Japanese subs which is a big motivation boost in reading the manga. I think watching animes of the same titles as manga help reinforce what I'm learning. It actually reminds me of the jalup post: Manga Is The Pinnacle Of Japanese Learning where it evolves from manga-->anime-->drama-->etc. I actually am seeing the benefits of first reading the manga before watching the anime with shirokuma. Not much of an update but thought I'd share with all of you

@RawPk what is JTMW?

So I just realized that I'm in much better shape than I thought for the kanji and vocab. I just finished chapter 9 + review section 3 from my kanji book. I realize now that I'd been adding in kanji from the back of the book, but simply not doing the exercises.

In fact, I've already added in all the vocab from the back of the book for chapter 10, but I think that I've had enough for today.

It looks like the next review section (my big milestone of sorts) is after chapter 14. Looking at the "x"s in the vocab section, it looks like I've already gotten about 50% of them as well.

I guess that signing up for grammar help at JOI freed me up to focus on vocab. And it's not looking so bad there after all.

BTW, I also watched shirokuma #3 but with no subs. I had a hard time understanding it. It was by far the hardest episode I've watched to date.

(2016-03-19, 5:45 pm)ariariari Wrote: @RawPk what is JTMW?

Japanese the Manga Way. Amazon link. I hope to finish it asap so I can do Genki 2 and Nihongo Challenge grammar like you had previously done. Then off to N3 material!

Oh, that book is super famous. I've never used it, but I've heard about it a lot.

I just reserved my first lesson on JOI for this Tuesday at 2pm. I'll learn:

～こと が/も + ある/ない
there are times when～

The sample sentences:

日本(にほん)のバスは、ほとんど遅(おく)れませんが　雪(ゆき)で遅(おく)れることがあります。/毎晩(まいばん)ニュースを見(み)ていますが、見ないこともあります。
Japan's buses are almost never late, but there are times when they become late due to snow. / I watch the news every night, but there are times when I don't.

Hmm I thought you were the one using Nihongo Challenge before. I must have been mistaken. Well, whoever was using it gave me the push to use it as a review before I officially tackle N3 material. Thanks you

(2016-03-19, 10:34 pm)RawrPk Wrote: Hmm I thought you were the one using Nihongo Challenge before. I must have been mistaken. Well, whoever was using it gave me the push to use it as a review before I officially tackle N3 material. Thanks you

Sorry for the confusion. Yes, I am the guy who recommended nihongo challenge reading / grammar. I call it "my remedial grammar book" because I should know everything in it (I passed N4 2 years ago). But I only started using anki for grammar after passing N4 (so I still need to put it all in), and there's still some grammar there that I don't know. It's kind of embarrassing, but there you go.

When I said "that book is super famous but I haven't used it" I was referring to JTMW.

(2016-03-20, 12:01 am)ariariari Wrote: Sorry for the confusion. Yes, I am the guy who recommended nihongo challenge reading / grammar. I call it "my remedial grammar book" because I should know everything in it (I passed N4 2 years ago). But I only started using anki for grammar after passing N4 (so I still need to put it all in), and there's still some grammar there that I don't know. It's kind of embarrassing, but there you go.

Don't be embarssed. It's good to admit weaknesses so that you better yourself. I'm doing the same with my abysmal grammar score of zero from J-CAT. You praised the Nihongo Challenge book for improving your "remedial grammar" so I checked it out and love it! Perfect foundation builder!

I can retake the J-CAT again in August which is perfect timing to determine whether I can even attempt to touch the N3 Sou Matome books.

As for using JTMW as the first review grammar source, for me it made perfect sense to use because my main reading source is manga so why not be fully primed to read it,eh?   Then afterwards, using Genki 2 and finally the "remedial grammar book" as the official checklist for all needed N4 grammar.

(2016-03-19, 6:23 pm)ariariari Wrote: BTW, I also watched shirokuma #3 but with no subs. I had a hard time understanding it. It was by far the hardest episode I've watched to date.

I find that when I watch shows raw, I know that I will miss things in the story. So a friend who is further along with Japanese advised that I read episode recaps to fill in the holes. I do this for every series I watch. Here is a site I use for shirokuma:

http://www.fandompost.com/tag/shirokuma-cafe/

Hope this helps!

(2016-03-20, 2:28 pm)RawrPk Wrote:

(2016-03-19, 6:23 pm)ariariari Wrote: BTW, I also watched shirokuma #3 but with no subs. I had a hard time understanding it. It was by far the hardest episode I've watched to date.

I find that when I watch shows raw, I know that I will miss things in the story. So a friend who is further along with Japanese advised that I read episode recaps to fill in the holes. I do this for every series I watch. Here is a site I use for shirokuma:

http://www.fandompost.com/tag/shirokuma-cafe/

Hope this helps!

Thank you - that's awesome to know!

Late on the monthly check-in due to a shoddy wifi connection at the hotel I was staying at for a business trip.

As of February 15:
---Kanji---
Total mature: 583
Number matured this month: 27
Average matured per month: 194
---Vocab---
Total mature: 971
Number matured this month: 19
Average matured per month: 323
---Grammar---
Total mature: 27
Number matured this month: 11
Average matured per month: 9

Poor numbers. I don't think I added a single new card this month.
I've been running around like crazy, plus work has been overwhelming.
Hopefully things will settle down.

I watched the first episode of shirokuma based on the discussion here, but I don't think it's for me. The comedy just isn't my style. I tend not to like stuff that's just silly for the sake of silliness. My favorite anime have all been fairly cerebral, stuff like Monster and Ghost in the Shell, but I think they are to dialog heavy for me to actually enjoy at this point.

On the plane back from Germany, I watched WALL-E in Japanese. I recommend giving it a try. The main characters hardly say anything outside of a few repeated words. Also, because the plot is largely delivered outside of dialog, when there is a longer line, you generally have time to digest it before the next line is spoken.

Allow me to ask you guys a question. How do you use Anki for grammar point reviews?

Thanks!

I've been using the Shinkanzen Master N3 grammar book and just making cards based on the exercises.
The format is a sentence with a missing phrase and then a few options to choose from on the front, and the complete sentence on the back.

Front:
あの子はここにかばんを（　　　）どこかへ行ってしまった。

置いている間------置いたついでに------置いたまま

Back:
あの子はここにかばんを置いたままどこかへ行ってしまった。

I settled on this format despite a few negatives I can see.
First, it's multiple choice which is generally considered a bad practice with SRS since it turns a production task (creating a sentence) with a recognition task (selecting the word that fits best).
Second, it suffers from the same problem that I've always had with sentence cards: the subject of the sentence tips me off to the answer. For example, with the sentence above I might see the "あの子はかばん" and think "Oh, this is the one about the bag. The answer is '置いたまま'." Where I might not be able to come up with the answer to another question about the same structure but about a different topic.

I'm okay with the first problem since I am explicitly studying for the JLPT and it uses multiple choice. The second one I can't find a way around, so I just live with it.

トリピー♫ I think you just gave me the best idea on how to handle grammar anki cards!

The format will like yours (using exercises with multiple choice answers) but with example sentences with the correct grammar format under the answer.

E.g.

(2016-03-21, 2:38 pm)トリピー♫ Wrote: Front:
あの子はここにかばんを（　　　）どこかへ行ってしまった。

置いている間------置いたついでに------置いたまま

Back:
あの子はここにかばんを置いたままどこかへ行ってしまった。

エアコンをつけたまま出かけた。
I went out without turning the air conditioner off.
Example sentence 2, 3, etc...

Meaning: as it is

Formation:

Noun + のまま
Verb-casual, past + まま
Verb-ないform + まま
なadj + なまま

Source: http://japanesetest4you.com/flashcard/le...1%BE-mama/

I will try to see if this works. Maybe it will help you with your #2 problem you listed