Hey guys,

Now that university is back, I have very little time to study Japanese, I expected that, but after thinking about it again, I think that my university studying comes way before my Japanese learning, and I have some hard courses which I really want to "master".

So I've decided to put my Japanese study to the minimum, so I ask, What do you think are the minimum things one must sustain to not lose what he/she have learned? Other than SRS.

I've already dumped my other hobbies and interests when I started Japanese,going to uni and attending lectures takes a lot of my time, and I can't totally give up my social life.

Thanks.

I am one of those people who doesn't think you can just sustain a language unless you are close or already fluent. just an opinion based on no facts though.

But how many anki reviews do you have? were you doing vocab/sentences/RTK? How long are you doing to take a break from Japanese? Just one semester?

The SRS is not part of the minimum. Continued consumption of native material, on the other hand, is.

~J

Or just make your social outings nihongo related.

You can't simply maintain. You can either learn or lose. With an 'I must maintain' attitude, you will simply fail.

If you use the language, you will continue to learn and grow, and therefore also maintain. If you don't, you will lose it.

If you decide you don't have time for it, expect to lose it.

atkinsonja Wrote:Or just make your social outings nihongo related.

Yeah, I used to always make my friends watch subbed Japanese shows and movies with me.

I don't think we can outline a 'minimum requirement' list for you. Just squeeze in as much as you can. My Japanese level is very basic, too. Here's what I do to make the most of my time:

Print out short stories and carry them around. Pull them out when you have a couple of free minutes. Stock up your iPod with J music and podcasts. As a college student, no doubt you love video games... there's some threads going around listing some good ones. Just try to get creative, use Japanese everywhere. If you have a planner, write the dates and times in Japanese, make ur ringtone shout some random J phrase... just try to do a little something in japanese everyday.

Actually, I should expand on my point.

I also have a very busy university schedule. The trick for me was "make what you do to relax be in Japanese". I didn't mention it initially because I consider it to be the fundamental part of AJATT, which is already well-known around here, but the fact that you focus on the SRS as the default part of the bare minimum suggests that that may not be the message everyone took away from it. If you're asking this question to begin with, you clearly aren't some purpose-built studying machine; you do stuff for fun or to relax. Just do that in Japanese.

(Also try doing what you can for your studies in Japanese, too. Back when I was taking Operating Systems, I committed to only using Japanese C references and manpages.)

~J

I just started university, so I'm still trying to find some balance in my activities(seems like all I have time for is homework, I shouldn't be on here) but, when I take breaks, I watch anime. When traveling or working out I listen to drama CDs. When I'm not overwhelmed with studying, I plan to do some leisurely reading(some light novels I've been eying, maybe rereading old stuff).
I think you can help maintain what you already know by rewatching and rereading stuff, and keeping new stuff at your level or n+1.

From my experience most people who say that they have a "busy" university schedule don't really know what busy is. As I've stated in previous threads I work full time for the department of justice AND take 20hrs per semester of college credits. That's more credits than 99% of full time college students I've ever met who don't work and yet I usually find plenty of time for Japanese every day.

I also used to live with a guy who was in med school (graduated top of his class) which is generally considered about as demanding as it gets and yet he still had tons of free time.

It's all about time management. I assure you there is plenty of time during your day, you just have to figure out how to lump it together into usable batches.

activeaero Wrote:From my experience most people who say that they have a "busy" university schedule don't really know what busy is.

Yeah; anybody who thinks they're busy probably has a nasty shock in store when they get out into the world of employment :-)

activeaero Wrote:From my experience most people who say that they have a "busy" university schedule don't really know what busy is. As I've stated in previous threads I work full time for the department of justice AND take 20hrs per semester of college credits. That's more credits than 99% of full time college students I've ever met who don't work and yet I usually find plenty of time for Japanese every day.

I also used to live with a guy who was in med school (graduated top of his class) which is generally considered about as demanding as it gets and yet he still had tons of free time.

It's all about time management. I assure you there is plenty of time during your day, you just have to figure out how to lump it together into usable batches.

To be honest, I couldn't handle such a busy schedule. I have different standards and I need a certain amount of time to myself to maintain my sanity... Also, I need to sleep a lot. I won't deny that I'm a wimp.

There's also the matter of how easy you find your school work. If you've got talent, prior knowledge, or you're just really smart, you'll have more time than the people who struggle through their courses. Some courses just have more material. I can tell you, I need a lot more time to study for my biology class than my english class, or gender class.

pm215 Wrote:

activeaero Wrote:From my experience most people who say that they have a "busy" university schedule don't really know what busy is.

Yeah; anybody who thinks they're busy probably has a nasty shock in store when they get out into the world of employment :-)

Definitely. I'm still recovering from the shock!

yukamina Wrote:To be honest, I couldn't handle such a busy schedule. I have different standards and I need a certain amount of time to myself to maintain my sanity... Also, I need to sleep a lot. I won't deny that I'm a wimp.

There's also the matter of how easy you find your school work. If you've got talent, prior knowledge, or you're just really smart, you'll have more time than the people who struggle through their courses. Some courses just have more material. I can tell you, I need a lot more time to study for my biology class than my english class, or gender class.

Sounds like a bunch of excuses to me especially considering you DON'T have my schedule.

I've heard a million college kids whine that it is "just different for me". Sorry, but unless you have some sort of severe mental handicap that's a load of BS. I know because I use to have the same lame excuses.

The reason you "can't handle" such a schedule is because:

1. You tell yourself you can't handle it.

2. You suck at time management like 90% of college kids.

College is EXTREMELY simple if you simply make a schedule and stick to it, which no one ever does. If you take 18hrs of classes per week then budget yourself 18hrs of additional study time and stick to it like it is a freaking job. One hour of study time per class time is probably 3x more than most students REALLY study for any class, even when they say otherwise. Cramming the week of the test for a bunch of hours doesn't count. If students really stayed on top of their work from day one by putting in consistent study on a daily basis most college classes become a joke. True story.

For example: This past year I've averaged a 25+ page paper, due EVERY 8 weeks, for the entire year, in addition to my other classes. Now a lot of college kids would say "25 pages OMG", and many years ago I would have said the same thing. The reason of course is because I would have probably waited around until the last week or so to really get started. However, with proper time management these papers have been a relative cake walk. I simply budget out a small amount of time EVERY DAY to work on it. What was once a bear of a project has now become the simple task of doing less than a half a page per day.

i agree activeaero... time management is crucial i used to be the one to freak out for any projects whatsoever but now i can do them no problem at all...

the more time you spend doing something instead of worrying about doing something (projects, japanese or whatever) the more you accomplish at a rate you wouldn't normally expect...

of course, be careful to not start worrying about not worrying about anything because that kills time too (if that makes sense)

activeaero Wrote:Cramming the week of the test for a bunch of hours doesn't count.

It sure does, especially if you do well on the test. The test is like the 2nd SRS rep. If you learned the material the day before and recalled it the very next day, you're not likely to forget it for some time. The information really does have a very good chance of "lasting" 'til the end of the semester when you'll need it again for the final exam.

SRS is the only thing you need to maintain your level. Nothing else is required. Ensure the information you already know is in your SRS.

activeaero Wrote:College is EXTREMELY simple if you simply make a schedule and stick to it, which no one ever does.

It's quite arrogant to say "I can do this, therefore everyone can do this, and if you don't, you're lazy or making excuses."

jcdietz03 Wrote:

activeaero Wrote:Cramming the week of the test for a bunch of hours doesn't count.

It sure does, especially if you do well on the test.

I didn't mean counting in terms of ability to pass the test. Of course cramming is fine. I meant in terms of how people tend to average things in their minds. People will say crap like "dude I study like 4hrs a night and still have a hard time with it" when the reality is they studied ONE night for four hours while not doing jack squat the rest of the week.

I know doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc and when looking back on college, now that they are in the "real world", we are ALL in agreement that even the toughest of college schedules were a complete joke. We were just so good at making excuses and pissing away our time that we didn't realize it was just us making it seem "hard".

yudantaiteki Wrote:

activeaero Wrote:College is EXTREMELY simple if you simply make a schedule and stick to it, which no one ever does.

It's quite arrogant to say "I can do this, therefore everyone can do this, and if you don't, you're lazy or making excuses."

If you CAN'T do it then you need to stop wasting your time with college because once you get out into a career field you WILL be doing it and there won't be a single excuse that anyone gives a flying flip about when you can't handle it. It's funny how when people start receiving a pay check and have a boss on their butt they can all of a sudden do the "impossible" feat of managing 40hrs a week of activities lol.

So if you think it's arrogant that I think your average person can manage 36hrs per week of activities (18hrs of school + 18hrs of study) while finding time for other activities then you are going to be in for quite a shock once you realize what most JOBS think you are capable of lol.

What kind of school has a lecture:work ratio as low as 1:1?

I'm not saying that every waking second of my life is packed, that's not what I meant by "very busy" and I do indeed find time for Japanese—but you know, it's not like there's nothing else that doesn't need to fit into that time. If the time you're not spending on studies and class never goes into, I don't know, research you're going to find yourself with a very, very empty list of published papers when the time comes to go looking for tenure-track positions.

~J

I've got to side with activeaero on this one also. Time management is key. Considering in a weeks time: 168 hours total, 56 hours sleeping (give or take), 12 hours for the actual "class time" with 12 hours of "study" leaves about 88 more hours.

Once you start pointing out all the time there is, out comes the "Yeah, but" on many little items. Yeah, but I need to go to the movies every day or I go nuts. Yeah, but I need to chill out on music or I go nuts. Yeah, but I need to go to the bar every night. Yeah, but I need to party Friday and Saturday and Sunday up at Lake Havasu or I go nuts.

Unless you're doing 36 credit hours, and legitimately studying at a 2:1 ratio (total 108 hours) which leaves enough time to eat and sleep and shower, there's time.

And yes, the same excuses pop up in the work place. No one ever has time, till you point out all the time they "waste" or could sacrifice to get extra things done. Then out comes the "Yeah, but".

I agree with the view that free time at university is available far more than any other time in your life. You just don't learn to appreciate it until you start working.

At first, I knew that SRS isn't enough and that's why I'm asking. I'm doing Tae Kim's right now.

Thanks for the replies, so constant exposure to the language is necessary.

I barely play any Vedio Games, but as you guys said they should be nihongo.

@Activeaero I DO know what busy is like, the last summer semester was hell, and I've learned that whenever someone thinks that his time is full, there's still some extra here and there, I've already went as far as saying "Busy people are the people who has the most time in the world" lol, I totally understand that, but the thing is, I want to take my Japanese to the minimum!

I want to use every little bit of my time to study Engineering, I'm not studying for the exams only, I'm studying every thing possible. I'm also learning Matlab and 2 applications on it, and study from extra sources. It's like All Engineering All The Time.

FYI ,about 1 hour studying for each 1 hour lecture, that's impossible for Engineering students.

I know that "free time at university is available far more than any other time in my life", and that's why I want to learn what I want to learn during university!

I think that I should keep advancing in Tae Kim's Guide everyday while keep doing my SRS reviews, and I will try to fill my pastime with Japanese stuff.

Thanks people, that was really helpful

EDIT, Adding to the busy topic, I've read that people who are busy, do work and things better than free people and on time, true fact, I've tried it!

woodwojr Wrote:What kind of school has a lecture:work ratio as low as 1:1?

~J

More like what kind of school has a lecture:work ratio as HIGH as 1:1? I'm talking real world numbers, not the fantasy study hours most people like to pretend they put aside every week. Going to the library with your friends doesn't count. Sitting on the computer doing your paper while spending 90% of the time browsing web forums doesn't either. If you think most kids put in anywhere close to 1:1 of actual work WEEK AFTER WEEK, SEMESTER AFTER SEMESTER you live in a dream land as far as I'm concerned.

I've been to multiple colleges and had friends in all of the "demanding" degree fields and beyond a shadow of a doubt everyone always had massive amounts of free time.....far more time than we have now with our careers.

Think about this. How many kids do you know that go to class for 5hrs per day ALL five days of the week and then come home and study/do research for 4hrs, non-stop, EVERY single day, without fail, week after week, year after year? Let's be honest and say none because we all know it's the truth. Well guess what? That's only 45hrs per week, which is a joke.

activeaero Wrote:For example: This past year I've averaged a 25+ page paper, due EVERY 8 weeks, for the entire year, in addition to my other classes. Now a lot of college kids would say "25 pages OMG", and many years ago I would have said the same thing. The reason of course is because I would have probably waited around until the last week or so to really get started. However, with proper time management these papers have been a relative cake walk. I simply budget out a small amount of time EVERY DAY to work on it. What was once a bear of a project has now become the simple task of doing less than a half a page per day.

I want to be like you when I grow up. How do you "simply" do all that? I'm leaving now to go do some work.

I believe it. Some people are very disciplined, and it does make things easier for them.

Man how I wish I could have gone back to college and used the power of anki. I would have had like a 4.0 gpa and still remember the stuff.