Yonosa Wrote:

Nii87 Wrote:I'm currently juggling 50 hour weeks at an engineering firm, piano occasionally, violin regularly, swing dancing regularly, Japanese study and various martial arts.

Specialization isn't a bad thing bro.

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

-Robert A. Heinlein

@bflatnine

lol "cooperate, act alone"

atkinsonja Wrote:@bflatnine

lol "cooperate, act alone"

Why lol? It didn't mean do all of those at the same time..

Great quote though..

I'm a preschool teacher and am usually working 20 hours per week but am currently full time for little awhile. Where I work there are Italian teachers who come in three days a week to teach Italian to the kids. I aim to do something like that with Japanese at some point

Jarvik7 Wrote:Great quote though..

人間はなんでもできるべきだ−おむつを取り替え、侵略をもくろみ、豚を解体し、船の操舵を指揮し、ビルを設計し、ソネットを作り、貸借を清算し、壁を築き、骨をつぎ、死にかけている者をなぐさめ、命令を受け、命令を与え、協力し、単独で行動し、方程式を解き、新しい問題を分析し、肥料をまき、コンピュータをプログラミングし、うまい食事を作り、能率的に戦い、勇敢に死んでいくこと。専門分化は昆虫のためにあるものだ。

:-)

C.J.

[-]

Yonosa Wrote:

Nii87 Wrote:I'm currently juggling 50 hour weeks at an engineering firm, piano occasionally, violin regularly, swing dancing regularly, Japanese study and various martial arts.

Specialization isn't a bad thing bro.

Not really. There are some people I know that have a single hobby. And that's ALL they talk about. Even if its a hobby that is considered cool, it still makes them nerds. I know football nerds, breakdancing nerds, boxing nerds. Its all they talk about.

Me? I like to be multiskilled. Plus sometimes there are just too many things you love doing that you can't give anything up. If I had the time, I wanted to get back into boxing, internal martial arts and bonsai growing (!). But that can wait until I'm retired or something =)

And noone wants to be the person parties that does nothing but rant and talk about one thing =P

Some specialization is still a good thing, don't worry I have many different goals but I tend to focus on a few at a time. Japanese/Chinese certainly aren't my life, but I do them in order to be able to do thing I wish to do later on. Primarily I learn Chinese so that I may pursue business in Exporting from China, I know I know, everyone is trying that nowadays, but that doesn't make it any less lucrative. Both languages shall also serve me adamantly in my pursuit of Historical text from a different viewpoint, for example reading about the American Occupation from a Japanese viewpoint or the Japanese Occupation from a Chinese Viewpoint has me drooling to master these languages.


I'm just saying narrowing things down should allows us the time to progress more quickly in other areas, not that I wish of you to give up your passions.

Every day I have to balance study in with procrastination. Which do you think comes first?

15 hours of college courses. That's all. It's nice.

In high school here too, and although it has been easy these last three years my senior year is killing me.

With 6 Advanded Placement Classes (college level classes in high school, for those non-american folks), after school activities every single weekday, tutoring kids at the library on weekends, and college applications on top of that I'm surprised I make enough time to study Japanese at all.

Japanese is usually 20-30 minutes of review (studied traditional/sentences w/ an SRS before Heisig) and 30-40 minutes of Heisig. And I've got to say timeboxing has really helped me out here; fitting in those reviews wherever i can.

I work in construction 9+ hours a day daily. I'm getting my visa to stay in the United States. Marathon training for the next 3-4 months

Oh, I'm married. I have NO LIFE. (ok sometimes)

cjon256 Wrote:おむつを取り替え、

I like how what I do at work is first on the list :lol:

Where'd you find this paragraph, by the way?

I saw the Heinlein quote from bflatnine, and wondered if anyone had translated it online. So I Googled some words that would probably be in the quote: 専門 昆虫 ハインライン

http://www.google.co.jp/search?hl=ja&q=専門+昆虫+ハインライン

Was first page. No idea if this translation is canonical.

C.J.

I have basically dropped all other hobbies for the next few years. Now, all I have are: Japanese, R&D engineering work (50+ hrs) and family (3 kids and a lovely wife). Luckily, Japanese is spoken a lot at home so I hear it often and can try my latest vocabulary/expressions out and get immediate feedback.

30 hours a week at work, 15 hours of class finishing up my degree in CS, girlfriend, oh and a one hour commute to and from work and school.

I'm in a band.

http://www.myspace.com/fearwithoutreason

Japanese is only really a side thing for me. Physics consumes most of my time.

Taking 14 credits this semester towards my BS in Mechanical Engineering and not working. I've no money so I don't go out anywhere and don't really socialize (other than at school)... so I spend most of my time at home. So yeah, I have some time left over to study japanese, but dang.. it's really tiring to be remembering kanji. I try to do 10 a day, but sometimes I only do 1, or even zero.

I guess I have less commitments than other people and theoretically have more time to spend learning japanese, but I just can't force myself to. It's like.. the more free time you have, the less pressured you feel to do more.

sdntx Wrote:It's like.. the more free time you have, the less pressured you feel to do more.

A well known conundrum.

Don't force yourself to like Japanese or else it will become work, which no one likes to do. Try to find things you enjoy in Japanese instead, and then study to try and understand those things.

I work at a secondary school, where I teach English. That takes up a lot of my time, but also my energy. When I get home, I can't really focus on learning more kanji. So I try to do it in between.

I hope in a few weeks, when I'm used to working again (7 weeks of summer holiday really makes you not used to working anymore) I'll have more energy to study more.

Man, get out and socialize sdntx. You're going to regret it when you graduate, get a job, and have even *less* free time (trust me!).

^I'm currently in the process of regretting it. I miss uni life...

That's why I went to grad school. Oh wait, it was for the MBA... right.

I have no girlfriend, no social life, and a full-time dead-end job with the nice perk of being able to study for about 2-3 hours a day during my time at work. I work at a hotel as front desk third shift, so on slow days (of which there is plenty), I can study for nearly 8 hours a day, including my time away from work. I've not taken advantage of this yet, but I will certainly be putting more hours into Japanese once I finish my kanji. I can only take 2-3 hours a day of memorizing kanji, then my brain explodes.

I also play guitar, am an avid gamer, and have recently gotten into photography. Until a month ago I was taking Krav Maga (trained for 8 months), but considering it was 45 miles away from me, I just got sick and tired of the drive.

I think I need a life.