So, my computer has recently broken down and I was forced to take a break from Japanese (funny how much depends on a machine, huh?). According to Anki, it's been 1.2 months since I last studied.

Oops.

Okay, maybe I haven't done THAT much before that. Just RtK, most of which I'd already managed to forget and about 350 sentences from core2k. I also started adding sentences from Tae Kim to Anki.

So I'm going to continue doing this, but honestly, I'm not sure what to do beyond that, as I don't think just core2k and Tae Kim's guide will give me enough comprehension to be able to play games/read novels in Japanese without wanting to shoot myself because I have to look up a word or two every sentence.

I also need some help just... getting back into the routine, if you know what I mean. It may be a bit hard to start running again after such a long rest.

Well, at least if my computer breaks down again I won't have to stop reviewing, because I got myself an iPod Touch. Unless that breaks too.

I think most of us have been in your shoes for one reason or another. Try doing your reviews. If you remember some of the cards then you won't have to relearn those ones. Just do a bit of reviewing every day to catch up, then start adding again. After a while you'll see how many new cards per day results in a certain number of reviews (I think it's roughly ~10x number of new cards per day, as a rough estimate). If you are reviewing for too long, cut back on the number of new cards.

Going through Tae Kim and RTK will take a reasonable amount of time. After finishing those, you could try to learn more vocab through the Core6K decks (I like corePlus deck on Anki). You could also get an intermediate textbook, like Tobira or an Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese.

The important part is to do something. Don't think too much about it, just do it :-). You'll get something done that way!

if you want to mix it up a bit you could

-get the japanesepod101.com 7 day trial and listen to their beginner season 1 series
-go to japaneseclass.jp (I reccomend getting adblock before going on their) and do the vocab lessons
-go to iknow.jp japanese vocab section and just go threw the charts and listen to the sample sentences
- go to http://hukumusume.com/douwa/betu/index.html and choose a book and use rikachain or a online dictionairy like jisho to read threw and write down the words you learn
-play through one of those japanese games with a dictionairy in hand and write down the vocab

just get back into the habit of learning something. set a goal.
once you feel like you made some progress come back here and boast about it to get an extra motivation boost. but dont bother reading threw a hundred forum posts cus that could waste all your studying time.

What I do when I fall behind is...

change review card order to largest interval
show failed cards at end

That way, I can grab the stuff that I "should" know and get it out of the way, and I can relax knowing that it won't come back right away. Seeing the reviewed cards drop reduces a lot of stress.
The failed cards will have short intervals so I might as well dump them all in the back and review them when I don't have to catch up on so many cards.

Routine Wrote:So I'm going to continue doing this, but honestly, I'm not sure what to do beyond that, as I don't think just core2k and Tae Kim's guide will give me enough comprehension to be able to play games/read novels in Japanese without wanting to shoot myself because I have to look up a word or two every sentence.

You can either learn the words separately by getting more vocabulary boosters (JLPT vocab/grammar, core 5billionk, etc.) or you can look up all those words as you play the game or read the novel. Either approach is fine, just do whatever you feel like. There's a lot of specialized vocabulary that you won't find in Core, especially if you play RPGs. But there's a lot of words in RPGs that aren't really normal so you won't see them a lot in other works. It's all give and take. I was relatively surprised to find out that some of the words on the JLPT N2 test last year were words I learned from songs.

The only problem with me trying to read native material, be it novels, blogs, whatever really, is that at my level, even if I know the meaning of every word in the sentence, the meaning may still elude me. I guess I could try some children's books for now, lol.

I'm also wondering where to get Japanese audio to listen to. Do you think ripping sound from various anime would be acceptable? I'm also gonna get some podcasts, but I'm going to need a whole lot of audio if I want to listen to something Japanese for 1+ h every day. But still, I'd like to listen to stuff connected to my interests, even if I can't understand it yet... a much better chance I'm going to keep at it than if I were to get random stuff.

http://hukumusume.com/douwa/betu/index.html
has japanese childrens books AS WELL as audio with them.
like I said japanesepod101 is also good for listening
anime songs also often have subtitles in japanese so try some of those

Routine Wrote:The only problem with me trying to read native material, be it novels, blogs, whatever really, is that at my level, even if I know the meaning of every word in the sentence, the meaning may still elude me. I guess I could try some children's books for now, lol.

I'm also wondering where to get Japanese audio to listen to. Do you think ripping sound from various anime would be acceptable? I'm also gonna get some podcasts, but I'm going to need a whole lot of audio if I want to listen to something Japanese for 1+ h every day. But still, I'd like to listen to stuff connected to my interests, even if I can't understand it yet... a much better chance I'm going to keep at it than if I were to get random stuff.

Some native material I didn't understand so I put it in Anki anyway and then sometimes it just pops out at me.

If you don't understand you might want to just slowly go over it and try to figure how to connect everything. Alternatively you could try dual language books or reading/watching something you already know since it's easier to get things through context.

I'm finding that the best Japanese audio practice is actually conversational partners because it's not as passive as a podcast. When you listen you have to pay attention so you can reply well. I often phase out when watching TV shows or listen to podcasts. I think songs aren't as good for practical listening because they might use strange inflections and pronunciations.

In terms of getting reviews under control, do what kainzero said. If it's only been 1.2 months since you last studied, they'll be tonnes of mature cards you'll still remember. Failed cards at end (and set the max fail cards really high) so it doesn't try to make you learn the cards you're getting wrong. Work through it until all you have is a fail pile, or until the percentage you're failing becomes too frustrating (like if it becomes 70% or something). Reset anything that's left as a new card. Try not to do this too early, as every card you fail that you really would have remembered is wasted review time later on.

Now, that's assuming you have the motivation to do that. If part of the problem is that you jut can't get back into it, that's often because you've forgotten why you're doing it. Spend the first week watching some dramas (with english subs if you're worried about understanding) or something. Something that will remind you why you're learning japanese and motivate you to get back into study. If it's been over a month, delaying restarting anki for another week to build up some motivation isn't going to hurt.

I've had several gaps longer than 1.2 months over the last few years. It's not a big deal.

Quote:The only problem with me trying to read native material, be it novels, blogs, whatever really, is that at my level, even if I know the meaning of every word in the sentence, the meaning may still elude me. I guess I could try some children's books for now, lol.

I suggest giving 星 新一’s books a try. His books are elementary level but they’re just as fun to read as an adult, so you shouldn’t feel like your IQ is taking a plunge as you’re reading them (in my opinion anyway lol). Another plus is that, if you end up liking his writing you’ll have a good amount of native material for your level.

Here’s a good description of his book きまぐれロボット

Quote:I loved this little collection of stories! This is far and away the easiest Japanese fiction I've ever read. There are kanji, but there were absolutely zero that I wasn't familiar with, and the vocab is fairly simple as well, with key words repeated often.

It's a bunch of (very) short stories about inventors and robots and space aliens and the like, but it's not what I think of as science-fiction. Each story is self-contained, easy to follow, and has a simple but fun twist at the end.

I highly recommend this book to anyone as their first foray into reading in Japanese, especially for anyone accustomed to reading manga with furigana who's uncertain about reading an actual book.

http://tadoku.livejournal.com/4116.html

If you ctrl F and search for 5000+ on this page http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=6840 you’ll find a way to read these books in a text format. If you install the rikaichan add-on, the text format will make the book easier to read.

時をかける少女is another novel that you should consider giving a try (though perhaps after finishing core). It’s a bit more difficult than 星 新一’s books but I don’t think you’ll have to look up the material often enough that you’ll be pulling out your hair or flipping over tables.

Now where's Nukemarine's thread...
Ah! http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=5110

Thanks a lot for the suggestions, guys, the help is greatly appreciated. I now have some concrete direction, at least.

Well, I'm off to watch some anime, while waiting for books to download, then!