I've had a sort of a self-enlightment but I think you could think of it as a milestone too. I've decided that I'm no longer going to translate my example sentences into English because it simply takes too much time and causes headaches. Here's my previous study method with KiC:

1. Read the example sentence in Japanese and understand it completely in Japanese.
2. Add all the necessary data into Anki in few minutes. Waste 20 minutes trying to figure out how to express the example sentence in natural English.
3. Complete the translation just to realize it sounds utterly unnatural. Add a new card. Repeat.

From now on I'm going to understand the example sentences solely in Japanese and not spend hours googling different English phrases. I feel like I've dedicated more time to English rather than Japanese during these last few months. I guess this change is for the best.

Last edited by Nesetoru (2011 December 13, 2:14 pm)

howtwosavealif3 wrote:

Okay heregoes. so anyways I average at like 20 kanji reviews perday. by kanji reviews I mean kakitori because I converted the card to kakitori b.c. writing kanji from english key words is like pointless with actually writing compound words and stuff which is really useful.

Lately I've been getting sick of the reviewing the kanji on anki, not to the point of not doing it but just annoyed with the actual process of moving my hands to write it. So I write the kakitori compound word as fast as possible... possibly on the borderline scribble side but it's not because I forgot what it was exactly. It's like I know exazctly what it is but it's just a pain in the ass to write it stroke by storke. Just even with english I hate writing.... Its just so annoying and frivolous and I try to use as many acronyms as scribbling techniques while I take notes in class not becaues I don't know the alphabet but because it's just so annoying. My hands just don't want to do it. And people complain about my poor handwriting all the time but at least I don't have to deal with letting people borrow my notes and then getting it back lol

So I'm thinking I'm reaching new heights in japanese that I reached this level of annoyance that I've had for the longest time with english with writing. In other words, another level of familiarity? so anyways i'm gonna scribble away cause it's such a pain in the assssssss.

Sounds just like what I am doing. I'm cutting back on my RTK cards, so I delete non-useful cards and keep at it. Plus I srs from native sources and memorize how to write the vocab word or the kanji. I add monolingual look-ups whenever I don't understand something well. So it helps keep me in JP to JP format always. Basically, we just need to adapt more to Japanese and we will succeed.

14k vocab!
Merry Christmas!

In two days and 2500 reps later I caught up with my kanji reviews that i let slip to a record of 1500 kanji before reviewing the hell out of them the past two days. Feels good but i have 440 reps to do today. Don't know how many that will turn into tomorrow or the coming week but hopefully it levels off relatively quickly.

NoSleepTilFluent wrote:

In two days and 2500 reps later I caught up with my kanji reviews that i let slip to a record of 1500 kanji before reviewing the hell out of them the past two days. Feels good but i have 440 reps to do today. Don't know how many that will turn into tomorrow or the coming week but hopefully it levels off relatively quickly.

Dang 2500?!   That is a lot! Congrats on catching up


As for me, just did my first J-J dictionary sentence card! Yeyyy. Just wanted to see what'd happen if I tried using J-J. Not really a big one, but ey, making milestones xD. (@685 sentences/ ~ 25 days )

Was surprised at how I could understand the definitions/ learn new words. I'll probably continue using J-J for all but nouns (until I get to around 1000 perhaps)

コイツは...

「
Front---

様々な若い人が話し合えるチャンスです。

Meaning---

様々ーいろいろ
若いー年齢が少ない。
話し合えるー互いに話す。「たがいに」

Back ---

(Furigana reading)

」

ta12121 wrote:

I've reached another plateau but this one feels different. It's not that I'm not improving but I'm trying to find different ways to get more out of learning. I like to think of my learning now as a "game". My reading and listening are at level 80+ but my speaking and writing are at a level of 20+ (Probably even lower). My srs decks now feel genuine and I'm not pushing myself to do a lot of reps. I set a pace and keep at it. It feels real and fun now since I only srs from native sources. I love the fact that no matter how hard I fail, there is something that keeps me coming back. I know this "feeling" or fun as most people say it, will be my road to success.

I also love how even if one reaches there goals, it's only the beginning. Reached an advanced level? So what's next? Fluency? Native-level? Immersing yourself in traditional Japanese, mastering all forms of keigo? The list keeps going on and on. That's why no matter what level we reach, we are still learning, we just don't suck as much as we did when it all started.

lol is level 100 fluent?

I just finished reading an entire Japanese novel for the first time.  Granted, it was a novel for elementary school students, and there was a lot of stuff I didn't understand, but I still read it!

I just realized these days that my comprehension rate when it comes to movies is far better than I expected it to be . Unexpected achievement is unexpected!

(out of a 2hour movie that I was familiar with I think I only had a few sentences that I missed, mostly because of more people talking at once or really flavorfully exaggerated dialogue)

Last edited by Zgarbas (2012 February 04, 8:50 pm)

I reached a level where I can watch dramas, read, play videogames, listen to podcasts and speak without much trouble. Still, I have no feeling of acomplishment whatsoever. 2 years ago this seemed impossible.

In the next 4 days I'll finish N1 grammar, I've also been adding vocab from N1 lists, news, random articles, phoenix wright, etc.

I'm also doing a 4 page translation, don't know if I'll be paid but I don't want to, because I was given a lot of time to do it and I offered to do it so. I'm doing it to see if I like the experience and to help the guy.

Last edited by CarolinaCG (2012 February 05, 5:15 am)

Thanks

It's been on and off for about 4 years, but I guess if you just linked all the times I spent studying it would be less than a year (-.-'). Most of my progress has been done since September last year...

I did watch it with subs. Basically listening, then giving a quick glance to the subs to check. otherwise I would have just assumed that I didn't understand a thing(my self-confidence works that way...).

I also did read some short stories and had a pretty decent comprehension rate, but I didn't expect to have the listening comprehension to match. My first Japanese novel is getting here in 2 weeks, so we'll see how that goes .

皆さん、頑張りましょうよ！

I got through to the trial stage of a patent translation company and have started to understand complicated Japanese grammar better. I am pleased because although romance grammar came easy for me I really had to work hard to get where I am with Japanese grammar.

ta12121 wrote:

HonyakuJoshua wrote:

I got through to the trial stage of a patent translation company and have started to understand complicated Japanese grammar better. I am pleased because although romance grammar came easy for me I really had to work hard to get where I am with Japanese grammar.

Cool, nice work. I always wondered patent translations or technical translations(I'm really interested in doing translation as a career but that's for another time). If you got through the trail period, then you should be able to get a translation job then. So do you have translation experience or did you practice it on your own in order to get better at it?

I would need to go to training to get a job after passing the trial period which I don't think I have done - my flat decided to flood and i was doing the translation in a room stinking of piss, shit and other stuff from the pipes covering and destroying my cherished possessions. I was sobbing like a madman and probably messed up. ("that's no excuse you coward! I hear you yell.) Its a pity because I worked hard to get the trial...

The only translation online that has my name is number 3 of this http://torifunebutohsha21.web.fc2.com/etude/en.html.

I have translated other stuff and been paid and have translated a massive dissertation and book and have got someone to publish it for free. I must say my 日本人 GF helped me a massive amount  - I will say here I couldn't have done the project without her - but I am still proud that I got to go on a trip to Japan with it and did a job which other translators couldn't do.

Last edited by HonyakuJoshua (2012 February 22, 11:41 pm)

CarolinaCG wrote:

I'm also doing a 4 page translation, don't know if I'll be paid but I don't want to, because I was given a lot of time to do it and I offered to do it so. I'm doing it to see if I like the experience and to help the guy.

If he does offer to pay, it might be a good idea to ask for a token amount so you can add it to your CV as payed work.