Thanks. Ya i wasn't sure if any of those i posted were correct but i have seen the long vowel before. Now that i hear it again i can clearly hear that it is a long vowel.

Hmm well right now I am doing Rtk (up to 172 atm), Pimsleur, and reading the guidetojapanese.org page which has been a huge help. Maybe if I can combine the information on the guidetojapanese.org page with the audio of Pimsleur, it might come out a winning situation. I tend to not drive that much on account of my car getting 15mpg (95 lexus), so listening to the Pimsleur at home works just as well. I started watching Samurai Champloo in japanese with no jap subs. While I still understand the story (because I remember it) I am having a somewhat hard time of picking out words i understand. I understand the word and how its said, but i don't understand the meaning, and I feel like if i look it up in a dictionary I might look it up under the wrong spelling (either all kana or kanji/kana i can't tell) any suggestions? I hear words but don't know what they mean. Also I would like to learn words, but would not want to compromise my RTK. Would learning a word with kanji in it (its spellings/readings) compromise the RTK method?

I'm not sure if actively picking out words from audio you don't understand is necessarily worthwhile. If you understand most of it but don't recognize a word, it's one thing, but when you're picking out sounds from a string of sounds? Eh. But I'm just not sure it's a worthwhile use of your time; it's not going to HARM you. What could it possibly matter if you look up the wrong word? Do whatever you please. Try it. Be prepared to not actually find the words in question though; conjugations, mishearings, colloquialisms, various forms and grammatical constructions - all conspire against you when you don't already know 'em.

Jon_B wrote:

Would learning a word with kanji in it (its spellings/readings) compromise the RTK method?

Maybe. Who cares? Learn it anyway
In my experience, knowing specific words that use kanji strengthens my grasp of the kanji, like, three fold. It's just one more (really tangible) association.

I think there's too much thinking about learning in this thread. I say, stop the thinking, start the learning. All Japanese is Good Japanese.

QuackingShoe wrote:

I think there's too much thinking about learning in this thread. I say, stop the thinking, start the learning. All Japanese is Good Japanese.

Ya sorry about that i'm just not only interested in learning the language but also how other people have learned it. I just don't want to fall into the same trap that someone else has. The point of history is to learn from your mistakes, but i guess i'm making a mistake in focusing too much on that. I think that I am going to go do some more studying.

No two people learn exactly the same way. Everyone has preferences. So pick a few things people have tried, try them, and see if you like them. You're not going to get it perfect right off the bat. Expect to tweak your system, and don't sweat it too much.

And yeah, less talk, more learning. (Says he with a way too high post count.)

Not to be snarky, but I like to actually learn Japanese along with doing RTK. RTK is awesome, but it's mostly trivial unless you integrate into your overall studies. It's garbage on its own. That is not to say that somebody doing only RTK first is mistaken, but that those people should not delude themselves about whether or not they are actually learning Japanese. They are not. They are learning some fun kanji stuff that will later help them learn Japanese. RTK, itself, is not Japanese instruction enough.

So, I've always plugged away learning RTK while learning Japanese. I've restarted 2-3 times, but this time I'm actually going to finish it. How do I know? I have the luxury of being on scholarship studying in Japan, and so I can spend all day every day studying.

I'm making a run for the JLPT Level 2 this fall, and so the best way to describe my path would be RTK + Unicom + AJATT Sentences Method. You can follow the specific progress on my blog(linked to the left). My aptitude has gone up dramatically over this summer, and I'm so glad I decided to spend the summer studying.

erlog wrote:

Not to be snarky, but I like to actually learn Japanese along with doing RTK. RTK is awesome, but it's mostly trivial unless you integrate into your overall studies. It's garbage on its own. That is not to say that somebody doing only RTK first is mistaken, but that those people should not delude themselves about whether or not they are actually learning Japanese. They are not. They are learning some fun kanji stuff that will later help them learn Japanese. RTK, itself, is not Japanese instruction enough.

So, I've always plugged away learning RTK while learning Japanese. I've restarted 2-3 times, but this time I'm actually going to finish it. How do I know? I have the luxury of being on scholarship studying in Japan, and so I can spend all day every day studying.

I'm making a run for the JLPT Level 2 this fall, and so the best way to describe my path would be RTK + Unicom + AJATT Sentences Method. You can follow the specific progress on my blog(linked to the left). My aptitude has gone up dramatically over this summer, and I'm so glad I decided to spend the summer studying.

what sort of scholarship do you have? is it something you got in your home country, or is it something you got through the japanese government?

That sounds like a really awesome deal. If you find out any details post them in your blog, I'd sure like to see what kind of set up it is, even if I don't qualify.

Sounds like a JASSO scholarship...  I had one when I was an exchange student... it is a really sweet deal.  I got something like 25,000 yen up front for "settling in" costs and 80,000/month for living expenses.

So you were originally attending a school in Japan as part of an exchange program? From the looks of the JASSO site, you were selected by your school to receive the scholarship. How did you pull that one off? haha and what school are you going to?

That's pretty much exactly how it worked for me. I had the highest GPA and highest class-standing of the 3 people in my group. The program coordinator got to choose whichever person he liked the best, and that's how he chose to do it.

I'm an exchange student attending Sapporo University from Ball State University in Indiana.

Learning Japanese through the writing system will really give you insights to the language not normally available. 水泳 - すいえい - Swimming.