Learning Languages With Technology
OK, so I think I'm addicted to learning languages. I mean, I'm only learning one at present. My second one. But, I'm in a downward spiral of total lunacy. And I love it.
I've been learning Japanese at a VERY casual rate for a little over a year now. Because of the pace, it took a while for me to plateau using many of the more traditional methods. But, I feel like it is finally happening. So, I'm in super-hyper-technique juggling mode. And it is crazy, but I'm not frustrated. Or bored. Or losing focus. Or anything negative.
I started learning Hiragana and Katakana on my Christmas break last year. And that flew by since I was off work, daughter was in daycare 4 days a week and my wife worked 5 days a week. Then I quickly transitioned into a more traditional app based course (Human Japanese's Beginner course). As I approached the end of it, I found Anki. I started working on the Human Japanese deck there as well as a few other vocab decks. I eventually added in a Kanji deck and some ones with more complex phrases. I left behind a string of abandoned approaches as well. I believe in experimenting to find what works for you personally after all.
That last bit lasted me until probably this past December, but I stretched it out into January. But, I couldn't keep going that way. I KNEW all of the grammar in all of the decks and I had memorized most of the vocab and Kanji. I wasn't learning anything new. I knew my Anki decks were only maintaining what I already knew, and even then, it is hard to say definitively if I was remembering more or forgetting more.
So, I went and watched a whole lot of YouTube videos on language learning. From Ted Talks to random people talking about features of languages to people talking specifically about learning Japanese.
It was clear to me what I needed. Something more immersive, and some more Anki cards. Yeah, the Anki cards seem stupid, but as I said, they DO help reinforce memory. That is fairly critical as well. Especially until I can get to a point where I can actually fully immerse myself in native language materials in a large enough volume.
As to what that something more immersive is? That is where things start getting fun. No one I actively hang out with speaks Japanese. I'm an introvert. I don't live in Japan. Some of these are self-inflicted. But, they are what I've accepted. Especially since the key is to not turn this into a chore. If I force myself to find a community but find that to be boring it could tank both my language learning and my attempt to break out of my bubble. Not ideal.
So, I started writing a journal. I started by banning myself from writing in it in English and always using Japanese. It was informative. But, I quickly noticed a flaw. Unless I couldn't find another way to say thing, I would always break my sentences into the smallest, simplest units I could. And even then I was reaching out for help. Also, that was less than a week ago. My abilities are painful. In that writing is painfully slow. I only use my computer during the week days and my phone is less convenient to do this.
I decided to make two changes. Relax a bit on expectation of frequency. And start in English. This sounds contrary, but hear me out. By starting in English, I would form sentences at a level expected of a native English speaker. My sentences were longer, with more complex grammar. Beyond that though, not much else changed. I still expect myself to translate the sentences into Japanese in as true a manner as possible. Not meaning aiming for literal translations, but more, just maintaining the same sort of grammatical elements.
This feels like it is working. Firstly, I'm writing journal entries about my life, in my language. And by my language, I don't mean English. I mean MY English. The words I translate have meaning to me. I want to remember them. I can associate them with daily activities. I'm also more likely to repeat the ones most common to me enough to learn even with that reinforcement. I'm also learning the Japanese grammatical equivalents for the way I tend to speak in English.
My approach is simple. I have a Linux VM with a journal app (RedBook). I only use this VM for Japanese learning. I have Firefox configured to launch with Jisho.org, Google and Google Translate in this translate. And then I spend the time to translate my journal into Japanese. I am intentionally keeping it small at present because 10 sentences can take a half hour or more to translate. But the sentences themselves are holding no punches back.
I thought, "this is cool, but what more can I do?". Writing, even in English, is simpler on some level than speaking. I can delete something, rewrite it, proof read it, think about it. I have all of the time in the world. I can make the same mistakes 1000 times and never learn from them. It also won't tell me if I even sound quasi-convincing. But, technology can help again. My Android phone's translate app allows me to speak into it in Japanese and have it spew out what I said in English and vice versa. It is freakin' brilliant.
Now, I know what some people would think; "Google Translate isn't real Japanese". And you're sort of right. But you're missing two points. I've been studying for over a year. In many cases, I have an idea of what is correct. And I frequently find myself correcting Google. And secondly, that isn't my goal. I'm sure many times I'm just rolling along with something totally foreign sounding despite using pure Japanese to express it.
Tonight is the first time I've spoken more than simply a word or a sentence here or there in Japanese. I have no illusions. I'm not fluent. Plain and simple. But, if Google can understand my broken Japanese... a Japanese person probably could as well if I needed them too. More importantly though, I'm practicing my pronunciation and learning new grammatical tools. The more words and structures I learn, the more I'm able to piece together the correct way to speak from native speakers in songs, anime, pod casts, streams, etc.... I need to know the words and their meaning (and how to say them) first. THEN I can learn how to piece them together naturally.
And technology is providing a way for me to do this.
I hope this helps me learn my next language even faster.
私の書いたことを読むのがありがとう
^ No promises that is perfect Japanese either :) no apologies either.
I've been learning Japanese at a VERY casual rate for a little over a year now. Because of the pace, it took a while for me to plateau using many of the more traditional methods. But, I feel like it is finally happening. So, I'm in super-hyper-technique juggling mode. And it is crazy, but I'm not frustrated. Or bored. Or losing focus. Or anything negative.
I started learning Hiragana and Katakana on my Christmas break last year. And that flew by since I was off work, daughter was in daycare 4 days a week and my wife worked 5 days a week. Then I quickly transitioned into a more traditional app based course (Human Japanese's Beginner course). As I approached the end of it, I found Anki. I started working on the Human Japanese deck there as well as a few other vocab decks. I eventually added in a Kanji deck and some ones with more complex phrases. I left behind a string of abandoned approaches as well. I believe in experimenting to find what works for you personally after all.
That last bit lasted me until probably this past December, but I stretched it out into January. But, I couldn't keep going that way. I KNEW all of the grammar in all of the decks and I had memorized most of the vocab and Kanji. I wasn't learning anything new. I knew my Anki decks were only maintaining what I already knew, and even then, it is hard to say definitively if I was remembering more or forgetting more.
So, I went and watched a whole lot of YouTube videos on language learning. From Ted Talks to random people talking about features of languages to people talking specifically about learning Japanese.
It was clear to me what I needed. Something more immersive, and some more Anki cards. Yeah, the Anki cards seem stupid, but as I said, they DO help reinforce memory. That is fairly critical as well. Especially until I can get to a point where I can actually fully immerse myself in native language materials in a large enough volume.
As to what that something more immersive is? That is where things start getting fun. No one I actively hang out with speaks Japanese. I'm an introvert. I don't live in Japan. Some of these are self-inflicted. But, they are what I've accepted. Especially since the key is to not turn this into a chore. If I force myself to find a community but find that to be boring it could tank both my language learning and my attempt to break out of my bubble. Not ideal.
So, I started writing a journal. I started by banning myself from writing in it in English and always using Japanese. It was informative. But, I quickly noticed a flaw. Unless I couldn't find another way to say thing, I would always break my sentences into the smallest, simplest units I could. And even then I was reaching out for help. Also, that was less than a week ago. My abilities are painful. In that writing is painfully slow. I only use my computer during the week days and my phone is less convenient to do this.
I decided to make two changes. Relax a bit on expectation of frequency. And start in English. This sounds contrary, but hear me out. By starting in English, I would form sentences at a level expected of a native English speaker. My sentences were longer, with more complex grammar. Beyond that though, not much else changed. I still expect myself to translate the sentences into Japanese in as true a manner as possible. Not meaning aiming for literal translations, but more, just maintaining the same sort of grammatical elements.
This feels like it is working. Firstly, I'm writing journal entries about my life, in my language. And by my language, I don't mean English. I mean MY English. The words I translate have meaning to me. I want to remember them. I can associate them with daily activities. I'm also more likely to repeat the ones most common to me enough to learn even with that reinforcement. I'm also learning the Japanese grammatical equivalents for the way I tend to speak in English.
My approach is simple. I have a Linux VM with a journal app (RedBook). I only use this VM for Japanese learning. I have Firefox configured to launch with Jisho.org, Google and Google Translate in this translate. And then I spend the time to translate my journal into Japanese. I am intentionally keeping it small at present because 10 sentences can take a half hour or more to translate. But the sentences themselves are holding no punches back.
I thought, "this is cool, but what more can I do?". Writing, even in English, is simpler on some level than speaking. I can delete something, rewrite it, proof read it, think about it. I have all of the time in the world. I can make the same mistakes 1000 times and never learn from them. It also won't tell me if I even sound quasi-convincing. But, technology can help again. My Android phone's translate app allows me to speak into it in Japanese and have it spew out what I said in English and vice versa. It is freakin' brilliant.
Now, I know what some people would think; "Google Translate isn't real Japanese". And you're sort of right. But you're missing two points. I've been studying for over a year. In many cases, I have an idea of what is correct. And I frequently find myself correcting Google. And secondly, that isn't my goal. I'm sure many times I'm just rolling along with something totally foreign sounding despite using pure Japanese to express it.
Tonight is the first time I've spoken more than simply a word or a sentence here or there in Japanese. I have no illusions. I'm not fluent. Plain and simple. But, if Google can understand my broken Japanese... a Japanese person probably could as well if I needed them too. More importantly though, I'm practicing my pronunciation and learning new grammatical tools. The more words and structures I learn, the more I'm able to piece together the correct way to speak from native speakers in songs, anime, pod casts, streams, etc.... I need to know the words and their meaning (and how to say them) first. THEN I can learn how to piece them together naturally.
And technology is providing a way for me to do this.
I hope this helps me learn my next language even faster.
私の書いたことを読むのがありがとう
^ No promises that is perfect Japanese either :) no apologies either.
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