Some of the posts about learning Japanese quickly to get a job reminded me of a story that I had run across on the internet that is quite amazing.

There is an Australian guy who got a scholarship to do wrestling at a Japanese university and to do it had to learn Japanese real quick. Here it is in his own words.

"OK here's a quick rundown of the story. I was doing BJJ, Muay Thai, Boxing and Wrestling in Australia and had just fought pro. My wrestling coach was trying to convince me I could make the Olympics if I concentrated on Wrestling and went overseas to train. I was at the national training camp which was being run by Toshio Asakura (former world champ who'd medaled in both Greco and freestyle at worlds and was Kokushian's head coach) After training with him for a few days he offerd me a scholarship to his university on the condition that I passed a exam and interview in Japanese. A bit after the camp I won the ADCC South Pacific trials and went off to America to compete in ADCC 2005. When I returned I quit my job with the Australian Federal Police Protective Service to study Japanese. I had 3 months from then till I had to pass my test and interview. So I got a tutor, studied 8 hours a day for 3 months straight, passed my tests and here I am.

I haven't worked a day since mid 2005. My scholarship provides my school fees, about half my food, and my appartment. I also get a bit of funding from the Aus Olympic and Commonwealth Games comittee. "

I don't know what kind of test it was, but he is now studying at a Japanese university. Pretty amazing what someone can do if they want it bad enough.

Taken from

http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/mma.cfm?...202&page=6

8 hours a day? That would add up in the couple of months. I only actively do learning for 2-3 hours. Rest is immersion for me. But i slowly finding more ways to improve my learning daily.

Reminds me of a story I heard about certain American college football players... ;-)
But if he really wants its, I'm sure he'll make the most of a fantastic opportunity.

Thora Wrote:Reminds me of a story I heard about certain American college football players... ;-)
But if he really wants its, I'm sure he'll make the most of a fantastic opportunity.

I was also reminded of an article like that, was it posted here? Did I post it?? I remember it seemed to reference RTK, but made out like only this one guy was doing this method he made up, and only a genius like him could do it (according to the journalist).

nest0r Wrote:

Thora Wrote:Reminds me of a story I heard about certain American college football players... ;-)
But if he really wants its, I'm sure he'll make the most of a fantastic opportunity.

I was also reminded of an article like that, was it posted here? Did I post it?? I remember it seemed to reference RTK, but made out like only this one guy was doing this method he made up, and only a genius like him could do it (according to the journalist).

I don't know what that story is... Anyway this guy actually did it, and may have graduated by now.

3 months, 8 hours a day, that's about 700-800 hours. A normal busy person who can spend 2 hours a day on Japanese would do that in a year. That would be probably around JLPT 3 (N4) level, I guess. But for all we know, this exam could have been the equivalent of a JLPT 4 (N5). Without knowing more about the level requirement there is no way to tell if this guy was incredibly fast, average or slow.

[ファブリス]

If you skip the writing and reading (perhaps just kana), three months of full time learning for a person with a great motivation, doesn't seem that unusal to me. He only needed to pass an interview. After that with the basics down he could improve faster.

Quote:After training with him for a few days he offerd me a scholarship to his university on the condition that I passed a exam and interview in Japanese.

If it were a beginner level language exam, then presumably he was studying Japanese as a foreign student (or at least in preparation to become a regular student.) And if that's the case, there's nothing so remarkable about his 3-month language progress. The story then becomes more about the achievement of getting a full scholarship as a result of his skill in MMA.

I couldn't open the link for some reason. Does he state that he took classes in Japanese as a regular student after 3-months study? Not trying to be a killjoy, but something doesn't sound quite right to me.

Thora Wrote:

Quote:After training with him for a few days he offerd me a scholarship to his university on the condition that I passed a exam and interview in Japanese.

If it were a beginner level language exam, then presumably he was studying Japanese as a foreign student (or at least in preparation to become a regular student.) And if that's the case, there's nothing so remarkable about his 3-month language progress. The story then becomes more about the achievement of getting a full scholarship as a result of his skill in MMA.

I couldn't open the link for some reason. Does he state that he took classes in Japanese as a regular student after 3-months study? Not trying to be a killjoy, but something doesn't sound quite right to me.

Sorry for a late reply. I don't know why the link isn't working :S. Yes, I think that despite the level of Japanese he reached in that time, we can consider it a success story. Personally, I find it quite inspiring. I don't imagine quitting your job and studying Japanese for 8 hours a day is an easy task.

The poster is a Heavy Weight and as I understand it, that was part of the reason he was able to get the scholarship, if he was 65kg it is unlikely he would be offered it.