During your learning of Japanese or any other language. What do you think your biggest mistakes were in terms of efficiency or detrimental to your language skill or other.

For me i wasted a lot of time at the beginning
1. Tried to force myself through RTK altogether over 2-3 months(kept coming back)
2. Tried the "TV Method" for 2 months exclusively

Bothering with RTK for as long as I did.

Too lenient with SRS grading at first; mature card pass rate was suboptimal.

In general, my biggest ongoing mistake is not studying more.

[Zgarbas]

Stopping. My first years of Japanese were a complete waste of time because every time I'd face some difficulty I'd give up studying for months. My German is so bad I can't even ask for directions because I took a few year-long breaks from it. I can't even introduce myself in Swedish after not picking up a textbook in 2 years.

It's kind of depressing, really.

- Trying to learn kanji out of a kanji textbook by trying to memorize the appearance and all of the readings by rote at the same time.
- Trying to read books by looking up every single word I didn't know, to the point of getting stuck on words I couldn't find.
- Not sticking with RTK the first time I tried it, and waiting 2.5 years before trying it again.

Not something hugely detrimental, but I srsd 握手 with the reading はくしゅ... Only after a few months did I realize that it was read あくしゅ

The "mañana, mañana" attitude. I kept telling myself that during SRS, and having lots of mini-breaks. Then I ended up having a two month break. Now I make sure I never have any outstanding reviews, even if I have to stay up till 4am...

CerpinTaxt Wrote:Not something hugely detrimental, but I srsd 握手 with the reading はくしゅ... Only after a few months did I realize that it was read あくしゅ

Thats funny, because I always get 握手＆拍手 mixed up even when I hear it.

I probably had two big mistakes.

One was being reluctant to talk in Japanese back when my Japanese wasn't very good. I should have cared less about stumbling over myself.

The other I probably still do. That is, often failing to really concentrate while I'm studying.

This thread is looking good, really good advice. Would like to hear from YDDT and Nadiatims too.

Not starting with Anki from the very beginning. Aside from the extensive/intensive reading method, I fail to see how people get good at a language (in a short amount of time) without using some sort of SRS system.

Also, what's the "TV method"?

trusting the academic/university system to educate me and not seeing through it as a big money making scam.

Outside of this: Not studying grammar, over focusing on kanji, not adapting to technology and under estimating my abilities.

I also let myself compare myself to a gang of spoiled kids who had spent years in Japan but put no effort in.

I would have studied in a group more, but the time just wasn't right....

I would have used anki had somebody told me about it. I would have gone online more and not let the disenterest of my uni classmates put me off studying something I loved.

hmm...let me see.

not getting enough listening practice (focusing too much on reading).

not watching enough tv.

not focusing on vocabulary enough.

not buying a decent electronic dictionary right from the get go. A quality dictionary is worth its weight in gold.

spending a lot of time searching for and stopping and starting various different things (anki decks, sites etc).

＠partner
TV method is a method for learning onyomi while learning kanji. There's a thread about it somewhere on the forum

HonyakuJoshua Wrote:trusting the academic/university system to educate me and not seeing through it as a big money making scam.

Outside of this: Not studying grammar, over focusing on kanji, not adapting to technology and under estimating my abilities.

I also let myself compare myself to a gang of spoiled kids who had spent years in Japan but put no effort in.

I would have studied in a group more, but the time just wasn't right....

I would have used anki had somebody told me about it. I would have gone online more and not let the disenterest of my uni classmates put me off studying something I loved.

Are you me? I made most of these mistakes, and I have a lot of these same regrets. The technology thing isn't one of them, I'd been using e-flashcards since the very beginning, but the rest are spot on.

The university thing is the biggest. Nobody ever explained to me what it took to learn a foreign language. They don't do it because the amount of work involved would probably discourage beginners. I've always been a really hard worker, though. So it ended up wasting my time. I would have been fine doing the work if I had known it was required. I worked really hard, but only as compared to everyone else in my classes. The kind of work I needed to be doing was kind of on another level.

It wasn't until study abroad and then more after I graduated that I realized that steady consistent progress EVERY SINGLE DAY is the true key. It's been smooth-ish sailing ever since then, and my progress just improves by leaps and bounds it feels like every 3 months. Consistent studying + immersion for practice and reinforcement has been the biggest deal. Studying just continues to go faster and get easier as I go. The increases in efficiency over time are really astounding.

So that was my biggest mistake, and that's how I overcame it. I now feel like I'm at a level where I tell people I've been studying Japanese for like 5 years, and they go..なるほど. Truthfully most of my progress was made in the span of about 18 months of really consistent work.

Stopping japanese completely, because it seemed too much of a task, switching to french instead, got depressed during that time, lost job, went home, wasted 6 months with doing nothing, got new job, strating french next week again But
I still feel empty....maybe still depressed

@Erlog I think a lot of people get upset with education... It just fails so many people and I get extremely angry. people say I am overreacting but I and others put a lot into it... I think of pro footballers' talent being harnessed and pro academics' talent being trampled on by the ridiculous system. I have a close friend who was robbed blind by the system and i feel so sorry forhim.

I also get angry when people with an MA in sociology think they are on an equal footing to professional translators. It is just ridiculous.

I wrote a pay per click article about dealing with being "over achieving" at uni, the gist of it being to get in and get out quicker than the SAS and make friends online to stay motivated. I would advise anyone involved in the charade to leave with their piece of paper.

partner55083777 Wrote:Not starting with Anki from the very beginning. Aside from the extensive/intensive reading method, I fail to see how people get good at a language (in a short amount of time) without using some sort of SRS system.

Also, what's the "TV method"?

Its a method proposed by this guy http://natural-language-acquisition.blogspot.com/.

Basically he watched TV for 2000 hours(Chinese) before doing any speaking, reading, writing.
To be fair I think it probably could work, but it would be way slower than id want it to be. He did have some type of progress.

edit: I think nadiatims is different from mine, just so happen to have the same name I guess.

actually I got confused, I thought partner55083777 was asking about the "Movie Method" which is as I described. I didn't invent or ever use it btw.

I have the same problem as Tzadeck, i.e. not focusing when I study. Also, just for the sake of convenience and ease, I often do things in English even though I'm able to do them in Japanese.

On a separate note: as an academic, I feel obliged to chime in and say that I agree that the university system is broken through-and-through. However, I should add that the professors and (competent) students that you can meet and work with are irreplaceable. Most professors are eager to interact with students who give a damn, so I highly suggest that you take advantage of such opportunities as much as possible if you're attending a university or if you have plans to do so. Likewise, it's easy to find friends who are just as passionate as you in your area of expertise. Forget about the slackers.

Unfortunately, you don't even need to enroll in a university to have access to professors and like-minded students. You can audit courses for free and reap the same benefits. Yet, doing this will deprive you of that coveted piece of paper. You have to pay for that.

It's important to keep in mind that the current situation isn't entirely the fault of universities. Society and employers have watered down education by emphasizing diplomas over actual abilities. For those of you who resent the university system, I suggest taking as many courses as possible and graduating in 2-3 years. It's quite possible and will save you a stockpile of cash. Not to mention, it will save you a lot of time.

biggest mistake: Getting lax on my reviews the past few days which have now piled up to 375. Tho for the record, I did get sick and figured I could use the time off to take a stay-cation at home.
What would be a worse mistake is giving up those because of the reviews. Time to plow through them all!

@vileru did u see my reply to you in the whats this word phrase thread? It took me seconds to research.

You don't address the problem of corruption which is endemic in academia nor the very real problem of idiots with PhDs.

FYI I have a BA hons and got offered to do a PhD. I am hoping 2 get an honorary Masters.

nadiatims Wrote:not getting enough listening practice (focusing too much on reading).

The same is happening to me: I've been focusing excessively on reading and neglecting listening altogether. How did you make this transition?

Did you leverage your reading proficiency to improve your listening (via subs, scripts, etc.)? Or did you go all out cold-turkey? (And if so, how exactly? With unscripted TV?)

There already is one thread like this>

"Don't repeat my mistakes" thread
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=7319