In one month I went from being able to hear and understand only isolated words and phrases (aka, can't understand jack), to being able to understand entire conversations (everyday topics, not technical stuff of course).

Because of a new job, I had to switch up my study methods. I went from 2 hours of reading a day to 2-4 hours of listening a day. I didn't read anything for this past month (thank god for an srs, but my reading ability still must have severely dropped)

I'm very happy I can now practice japanese without a novel/manga/computer and a dictionary. I can actually go about my day while studying with an mp3 player.

crayonmaster wrote:

In one month I went from being able to hear and understand only isolated words and phrases (aka, can't understand jack), to being able to understand entire conversations (everyday topics, not technical stuff of course).

Tell us your secret, what have you been listening to, was it the only thing you did.

thurd wrote:

crayonmaster wrote:

In one month I went from being able to hear and understand only isolated words and phrases (aka, can't understand jack), to being able to understand entire conversations (everyday topics, not technical stuff of course).

Tell us your secret, what have you been listening to, was it the only thing you did.

Well... no secret really... for at least 6 months, I've been using methods I found on this forum (SRSing audio, japanese subtitles, reading along with audio books, etc etc). I was very frustrated that I wasn't getting any results.

The only thing I did different, was that the ONLY thing I did in Japanese was listen. I completely stopped reading, and was heavily falling behind on SRS reviews. Suddenly, the audio I was listening to started to click... I'm not sure how it happened... but I think it's because my only form of Japanese was audio, so my brain went into survival mode since it can't survive without studying Japanese.

As for what I was listening to last month... I started off with just the old JLPT2 listening comprehension tests. When I began to understand that, I moved up to unsubbed Naruto and Dramas. Also, I made a bunch of CDs of the podcast 相手の気持ち★知りたい and put them everywhere. Anyone who hasn't tried listening to that podcast, I recommend it. Its fun.

Hmm... and a last bit of advice... Listen hard. Your brain should reaaallllly hurt after trying to understand 3 sentences. As you get better, it doesn't hurt as much. ^^

gyuujuice wrote:

Does listening to back-ground Japanese actually help me? (As opposed to actively listening to Japanese.) =_=

I think so. If you listen to some soothing audiobook, you are going to completely tune it out. But if you listen to an upbeat podcast or radio drama, certain phrases will jump out at you, even if you weren't paying attention.

I'll post my progress when I reach a full year of actively studying/immersing myself in Japanese. Should be in a couple of months now.

Evil_Dragon wrote:

My Korean deck reached 3000 sentences.. is it just me or is Korean a lot "harder" than Japanese?

Not sure, but in the beginning japanese seemed so difficult. As of now, there still quite a lot of kanji to be learned. (way past the joyo kanji i mean.). Wanna go for 3000+

I read an entry in 完全マスター and understood the explation and all the examples without a dictionary! *happy dance*

"My Korean deck reached 3000 sentences.. is it just me or is Korean a lot "harder" than Japanese?"

I think beginning Japanese was easy but the intermediate stage is more difficult. Chinese is hard in the beggining but becomes easier during the intermediate stage. Korean is just so-so and it doesn't change at all for me. It doesn't get any easier but I'm still a nube so it's just my personal opinion.

Finally finished core2000... Don't want to admit how long it took... On the plus side, 85% are already mature cards with a 92% correct recall rate.

thurd wrote:

Understood the first paragraph of this post by a native speaker. I think its the first time I could comfortably read something longer than a single sentence from a native material, enjoy it and learn something along the way.

She does have a very nice blog.  Just one of those things that let's you realize "It may not be easy, but it's not impossible".

dizmox wrote:

Now I've reached that point of "I've studied all there is to study formally" (at least, all I have patience for, including everything up to JLPT1 stuff) I feel somewhat daunted by the long road ahead to real proficiency, so I don't know what milestones there are for me anymore.

Maybe I should try subs2srs alongside reading practice since my listening still sucks...hm.

What type of formal things have you studied? I want to study some more stuff but I hear yea. I mean  like I've went through all the basic stuff,intermediate,etc. But there is still a ways to real fluency. I believe it just takes time. Keep on going, keep on improving and before you know it, you'll be at your goal.
My goal in each skills varies for me personally.
Writing=4000+ kanji from memory
reading=4000+kanji(i.e. reading an advance novel, intended for native-speakers and only encounter a few kanji that I may not know)
Understanding=understand almost everything I come by, 95% compressions for everything(if possible)
Speaking=be able to speak in formal,no-formal and talk in general about anything(without stumbling on words, or looking for words. Basically flowing speech with ease). Speech varies I believe, Like even in English I wouldn't know how to explain quantum physics even though I have studied that type of stuff before. I believe general speech with a high-level is what to be aimed at.

If your wondering how long it takes to get complete fluency(i.e. 4 skills in a language)
2-3 years. 2 years=general fluency. 3 years=complete fluency.
(Obviously depends on what you do and all)

Last edited by ta12121 (2010 June 24, 9:28 pm)

gyuujuice wrote:

"Maybe I should try subs2srs alongside reading practice since my listening still sucks...hm."

My heart just sank. My listening comprehension sucks (much more than you).

I thought I would double my vocabulary (right now I am probaly around 3000). Won't this help my listening comprehension? I'm trying to do as much as pposible through anki. Any tips on how to aquire a large active/passive vocabulary in two months?

Vocab is the way to go, get audio with it if possible/read it out loud.
It helps with listening a lot.
Using subs2srs basically means your watching a drama/movie or anything else but it's completely subtitled in japanese. Your breaking down the context/searching up ones you don't know.(or not, i forgot how some people use it). Eventually you should be able to understand mostly everything heard in drama's/movies and general japanese.

General one is to, well keep listening. And definitely read a lot outside the srs if possible. This alone with sufficient srsing will increase it in time.

Last edited by ta12121 (2010 June 24, 10:13 pm)

dizmox wrote:

Well I studied 10,000 or so vocabulary (the first half in the form of sentences) from premade decks and studied all the grammar up to JLPT1 but I feel I just need real practice now.

I have a real problem recognising stuff audibly which I would otherwise find easy to read, what with the lack of kanji providing visual prompt. |:

Just means it's time to go into real japanese stuff, not studying per se. But talking,communicating,writing,etc. Basically using the language.
Don't get me wrong, studying more will obviously mean the less you need to do in the future. The less you need to understand stuff the better. It means your advancing in the language well.