This thread has been on my mind lately and I just thought of something else that I should mention. I wasn't *completely* jumping into native materials after RTK. The whole time I was working on the kanji, I was also listening to a lot of Japanese. That's a lot of anime and dramas with no subs (or with another windows covering them up 
).
One of the great things about listening is that our brain starts to recognize patterns. So, just by listening, I learned a lot of words. I'm talking about simple, obvious words that you just hear over and over again in any show... and if you can't guess from context what they mean, you look 'em up. I'm talkin 俺、ちょっと、待って、お願い、そうか、おはよう... this sort of stuff.
So I guess I wasn't completely diving in. I had at least some background from listening.
Just felt that I needed to clarify.
).One of the great things about listening is that our brain starts to recognize patterns. So, just by listening, I learned a lot of words. I'm talking about simple, obvious words that you just hear over and over again in any show... and if you can't guess from context what they mean, you look 'em up. I'm talkin 俺、ちょっと、待って、お願い、そうか、おはよう... this sort of stuff.
So I guess I wasn't completely diving in. I had at least some background from listening.
Just felt that I needed to clarify.