Tzadeck wrote:
In that way, I'd say going through textbooks fairly quickly is good because it keeps you from losing steam(perhaps three to five days per chapter?), but I think one chapter a day is really too fast.
If you ever did the Genki series, they usually introduce 3-5 new grammar points per chapter, less if it has a grammar point with more meat on it (intransitive vs transitive verbs). Depending on the person, it may take perhaps 1-4 hours to study all these grammar points and vocabulary to maybe 60% understanding. This includes putting everything into Anki if desired. The rest of the gap would be learned perhaps by reading a lot, watching stuff, tutor, etc.
As for production that's a whole different story. I'm not going to disagree that bad habits learned from the start are hard to break, but when learning something like a language, time spent is VERY important. If you study for years to only to get to a beginner level, I feel that time is wasted (not trying to offend anyone). That time spent could've been spent on something that would benefit you, programming perhaps. But hey, maybe someone really does like Japanese culture and want's to learn the language despite all the time it would take. If you get to such a low level in a long period of time, I would think that the method used is "not efficient." I haven't been studying Japanese for such a long time so I can't be talking like a hot shot, but for my real Japanese studying (~5 months active), I think I'm doing alright. I'm still refining my methods, trying to save as much time as possible. As you can see, my first few months of learning Japanese was actually making plans on how I should learn the language. This includes constant deck changes/deletes/layouts/pre-made decks/etc.
The faster one learns things may hurt or benefit someone. Like you said, your friend have sprinted through the basic grammar fast, creating bad habits. What if he did that in perhaps, 3 months. A different person, who speaks basic grammar perfectly, but spent 2 years? Ok back to the person who sprinted, the good thing is that your friend realizes his mistakes. Lets say he refines his methods more, and fixes his mistakes. At the 2 year mark, imagine what his level would be compared to the person who took it slow.
Everyone is different in their learning. If content is hard, it is ideal to slow down. 3-5 days is a reasonable pace, perhaps I'm learning wrong. I see some universities that offer Japanese that completes a Genki textbook over the course of a year. As for me, I would've burned out because it's too slow. You can call me impatient as it is true that learning Japanese isn't the 100 meter sprint, but actually a marathon. But in the marathon there's the racers. There's the slow runners and the fast runners. Both might the finish line, but, who gets there first. That all depends, who knows.
Maybe if our life span was quadrupled, than moving like a turtle is cool ;p
Oh the time spent writing this.
