Times up !



ha ha. Sorry for the crap post, but reading those stories in the other thread about peoples long struggle to learn japanese, it got me thinking about those people who claimed they could go from nothing to passing JLPT1 in only three months !

I note that none of those people has come back after 3 months and claimed that they have reached that standard.

hmm good point.

I want to hear from ahibba. iirc he was going to start studying properly in September. I'm interested in hearing how well his method is working. ahibba?

I get the impression that other thread came off as depressing or disappointing somehow? I certainly didn't intend my post that way. I've enjoyed every bit of the process, and know exactly where I went astray & why--but then, I never had a hard and fast deadline, just a preferred motivational timeline. But yes, I think the folks who thought they'd be fluent in a year or less disappear because by the time they realize (if they didn't already know from the onset) their predictions were inaccurate, they learned enough about 'reality' that it seems paltry at that point to bother correcting themselves. That's what's so unfun about it, I want to point and laugh and wait for my moment to say 'Told you so!' but that's kind of meaningless by the time that moment comes around.

No I didn't find the other thread disappointing or depressing, just realistic. I've had my own share of false starts, and limited progress in the japanese language. Now I've decided just to set moderate goals, not stress too much, and enjoy the learning process. I'm thankful for this site and its resources as well as all the excellent books and software that are now available. I think the Japanese language must have the best quality resources for learners.

That was an entertaining thread.

I definitely think that setting realistic goals, not stressing too much and enjoy it day by day is the key to succesfully reaching ur goals without wanting to rip your hair out. 3 months = wanting to rip ur hair out.

I've been studying for a year in total but have only done 4 months prep work for JLPT2 so i'll be stoked if I do pass. Before starting my JLPT prep study I probably would have failed JLPT4 but been very close.

I think they haven't updated us on their progress because they learned even faster than they expected and evolved into beings of pure energy.

IceCream Wrote:i've never intended to take the JLPT, but i learned 6000 words since October.

Well, if you will forgive me for saying so. I don't think that's quite true. You may have *studied* 6000 words but you are certainly not done *learning* them. It takes more than a few SRS revisions to really learn new words and the process takes more than a month.

If you continue reviewing them (still a lot of work) and encounter them in real usage, then you will eventually have learned them. But until you can actually remember them without hesitation after more than 6 months without them coming up in your reviews, you're not done.

I'm wondering if they have any of those various junior high and high school and college entrance exams floating around. Something tells me being able to pass those (well, score a certain level) would tell you more about what you really know in Japanese besides the Japanese language itself.

By the way, I'm pulling this theory out of my lower orifice. I'm sure Jarvik or Yudan will show up and correct the errors of my ill informed ideas. And the world will be better for it.

IceCream Wrote:i've never intended to take the JLPT, but i learned 6000 words since October. I think, if you started in mid August or so, it wouldn't be much of a push to learn those extra 4000 plus the grammar you need, especially if you did RTK beforehand...

The other thread was filled with people quoting their projected vocabulary rate, but JLPT isn't a vocabulary quiz. Getting those words done is just the beginning step to let you REALLY start studying for the test. Ditto for grammar points. The reading & listening sections are what tends to make people fail, since they are the sections where you need comprehension and not rote memorization.

IceCream Wrote:theoretically... maybe. I don't think any of us beleive that the JLPT is particularly a test of your actual japanese language skill anyway.

JLPT is a a test of minimum ability and not your present level. There is no way it can rate actual ability without abandoning the kyuu system for a point system, going to much harder difficulty at the top end, and adding composition and speaking portions. This will happen approximately never.

IceCream Wrote:... i learned 6000 words since October.

Icecream-san, that sounds like an awesome effort!

Is it correct that you learnt these as words, rather than sentences?
Would you mind writing about how that went (well by the sounds of it!), or pointing us to a thread if you already have?

I found when starting 2001KO that using sentences was a big help in helping my vocab (and also helped my grammar a little), but I'm wondering if, past a certain point, it pays to just go back to vocab lists.

I think you'll know for certain in February, when the December results are mailed out.

... I've been studying for JLPT1 since early September, but before that I was studying for JLPT2 since early June. I've long since lost count of vocab count or how many kanji I know. The only gage o progress I really have is
A. how far along in my workbooks am I?
B. What was my last practice test score?

So far...
9/14 [1998 test]: Vocab: 46% Listening: 64% Reading/Grammar: 46% Total: 50.5% (202/400)
9/16 [2001 test]: Vocab: 57% Listening: 74% Reading&Grammar: 62% Total score: 64% (255/400)
10/18 [1991 test]: Vocab: 76% Listening: 86% Reading&Grammar: 61% Total score: 71% (286/400)
10/30 [2005 test]: Vocab: 63%, Listening: 73%, Reading/Grammar: 71% Total score: 69.5% (278/400)

I have three other tests I took, but two I haven't calculated yet, and one I lost the answer key, so I haven't been able to check it o_o (but it was probably not a passing score either!)

IceCream Wrote:I started doing it because i felt like i was remembering the audio rather reading when i took sentences from context. But i ended up learning a whole ton of words, and having a much stronger grasp of kanji overall.

Since there was audio on the back of the cards, it's also helped with listening, as well as pitch (a little).

ありがとうございます!
It's really useful to hear what works for other people.

Just to be clear, you were going Kanji -> (kana + sound + english meaning) ?
May I ask where you got the vocab deck with sound files?

Also, did you use any technique (like Iverson method) to "cram" the vocab before putting it into the SRS?

I've been doing 2001KO sentences, going Kanji -> (kana + sound).
I too have found that sentences + sound take a long time to review, I get through about 30 in a 10 minute stint, so that's 180 / hour.
Also, I find I can read my sentences fine (95%+ on mature cards), but I can't remember which Kanji to use if I try to write them. Perhaps having only the kanji forces you to really pay more attention to the kanji, rather than remembering from the context.