So, what was the most influential discovery or method or whatever this year of your Japanese studies?

I discovered that I make much better progress if I actually do something regularly every day rather than only occasionally :-)

AJATT and Remembering the Kanji..

aphasiac Wrote:AJATT and Remembering the Kanji..

This.

Reading at lunchtime. Which kind of goes along with pm215's.

Doing

In true "wish I had these when I started out" form, I found that Michel Thomas does Japanese courses. His 'method' has the i+1 and SRS down great, coupled with a clever 'student-in-the-middle' trick to boost your confidence (two students are with you on the course and one, it seems, is intentionally chosen for their slight lack of ability. So you're never the stupidest kid in class).

I just went through the foundation CDs, admittedly I did already know most of what these taught, but having also been through all his Spanish (brilliant!!) and the foundation Italian (and a bit of his Chinese courses too) I can vouch that the method certainly works for me — If like me you have time whilst driving every day they're by far the most efficient 'audio-only' courses I've tried.

So if you're a beginner certainly give them a go. But I would say don't treat them as an end-all — move on to lots of other native speaker listening afterwards as some specific sounds (like the 'ga') can sound different (maybe their native lady is from a certain city/region?).

I'm going to see what the advanced course has in store next week...

nest0r Wrote:So, what was the most influential discovery or method or whatever this year of your Japanese studies?

Finally, learning to decipher your posts, and finding the message within the message.

kazelee Wrote:

nest0r Wrote:So, what was the most influential discovery or method or whatever this year of your Japanese studies?

Finally, learning to decipher your posts, and finding the message within the message.

Ha. You mean you discovered the sequence required to begin the alternate reality game with the billion dollar/meaning of life/immortality prize?? Never did I think someone would crack the code!

I can't seem to pinpoint anything specific besides subs2srs--oh, and Stardict. For me, it was more of a general, post-basic stage where most of my ideas/theories I could at least/at last begin to put into practice, and refine my 'learning how to learn better' skills more swiftly. Hard to put into terms of years, but I think 2009's really seen a lot of refinements in this way, with resources (such as addition of audio to Breen's dictionary) and software (continued updates to our main sites/programs). This forum's continued to grow as well, with a lot of intelligent 'new blood' adding fresh energy and ideas.

Definitely finishing RTK that dragged out for way too long. Knocking KO2001 off and really feeling like i'm getting somewhere. Overall though it's been quite a social year going to lots of Japanese related events and such has made it all the more fun. Every day I enjoy the language more.

mezbup Wrote:Definitely finishing RTK that dragged out for way too long. Knocking KO2001 off and really feeling like i'm getting somewhere. Overall though it's been quite a social year going to lots of Japanese related events and such has made it all the more fun. Every day I enjoy the language more.

I think you're looking for this thread: http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?p...3#pid81863

kthxbye

IceCream Wrote:3. drama scripts & dramas
4. multimedia drama srsing with anki

IceCream convincing me to do this.

Most influential discovery in learning Japanese this year: actually having the will to start a study on another language.

Honorary mention goes to AJATT for actually pushing me to start RtK and start learning Japanese. Without it, I think I'll still be learning Japanese half-heartedly.

Of course, I blame this on anime and Japanese games, which I started getting into February this year.

1. Subs2Srs to fully process a drama (Knew about it last september, actually used it this summer).
2. Using fully processed dramas via subs2srs to enhance immersion listening (3 minute segments randomly played)
3. Using fully processed drama scripts to enhance immersion reading (3-5 minute reading segments with pages shuffled up)
4. magamo™

Ok, more about personal realizations than discoveries. Magamo's there as proof from the other direction, plus all his (and Aijin's and Masaman's) useful posts from native perspective.

1. Watching Japanese TV with captions
2. Reading transcripts while watching news clips using rikaichan
Asahi
NHK
TBS
FNN