Language Journal: July 3rd 2018
I feel like I'm at the worst spot in my Japanese learning.
Tangible progress is slow and feels like non-existent. The fact of the matter is, I know a decent chunk of the grammar. Let's say 60%. I've experienced another say, 20%, and there is yet another 20% I haven't seen. And let's just say that those percentages pertain only to "typical" grammar. Surely, I'm much further away than that if we consider every possible grammar point one might ever encounter.
On top of that I know (what feels like) a boat-load of Kanji and a decent sized vocabulary for someone at my level.
But, my level is still "foreigner supreme". Right now, I'm experimenting with more ways to immerse myself and/or improve my flashcard exposure.
I'm reasonably sure that the only viable thing I can do now is increase my exposure. Especially my exposure to more natural Japanese.
I've ordered a box of intermediate Manga from Box Of Manga (more on that in a bit) and I've gone back to using subs2srs to create Anki decks based on shows and anime I own.
The flash cards are great for teaching concepts. But, aside from the most amusing ones, the don't really stick in my memory because the sentences are meaningless to me. And, even when I ace all of the cards, it still doesn't mean that I would be able to pick out all of those words in some other sentences.
So, the first thing I've done is scaled back my French learning again. I'm back to usually giving myself a pass on every French card. I might spend a bit more time focusing to improve retention a bit. But, by never failing myself on a card, I'm able to keep that load down.
I'm also doing a lot more listening practice with the cards again. Ignoring the text and just listening to the audio and trying to figure out the sentence along with the meaning of each word and trying to visualize to some degree the Kanji involved.
Integrating Japanese shows in the mix is there to try and add a new level to the whole experience. Generally, I'm interested in the content so the hope is that it will stick better. Also, some of it is more casual than even the most lax decks I had in Anki before. I know that learning solely through anime or manga will lead to some pit falls. But, I think if I can "master" those mediums, I'll be in a better place to move onto short stories or other Japanese media for consumption.
Which brings me to Box Of Manga. I've held back for a while on buying manga. Mostly, I'm concerned about the level of the books. I don't really know what Manga is available and at what level. Box of Manga allows me to select a level and get something within some loosely defined criteria. The intermediate manga was a, I think, N4-N3-ish with a lot more text than the beginner books and Furigana for many of the Kanji.
I think N3 grammar is a bit above me, while I've seen pretty much all of the N4 grammar to death, so it should push me to grow a little. Honestly, manga aren't written with JLPT levels in mind. So, I take those levels with a grain of sand. There will undoubtedly be N2 and some times even N1 grammar in there. I mean, even grade schoolers in Japan can likely handle N1 grammar.
I'm chose the intermediate level for a few reasons. The promise that most, but not all Kanji will have furigana. I know the "most" common words. But, I don't study Kanji, if the harder words don't have furigana I'll be screwed. I also wanted more text. And more variety. The beginning books I've seen generally seem to come from a much smaller pool of books and aimed at SUPER young Japanese children. In the end, I need something I'll actually either enjoy reading or will give me a feeling of accomplishment.
I think, for the short term, the intermediate level is where it is at.
And hopefully, I'll get some ideas. Not knowing where to start is the problem I'm hoping Box Of Manga will solve for me.
And there you have it. Where my experiences with subs2srs were total failures in the past, I'm not doing so bad now, so I've definitely improved. I also think it provides a more natural mechanism than learning based flash cards. And Box of Manga provides me with reasonably priced, paid materials to motivate. And I need to translate about 1 full Manga a week to keep from getting back logged. I'm actually kind of stoked for that.
Anyway... frustrated (a little), but always hopeful and looking for ways to improve. I'm a little sad that I've had to scale back my French. But, the truth is, I'm not far enough along with my Japanese to let French get too much in the way. It is a draw back of my casual learning approach.
Tangible progress is slow and feels like non-existent. The fact of the matter is, I know a decent chunk of the grammar. Let's say 60%. I've experienced another say, 20%, and there is yet another 20% I haven't seen. And let's just say that those percentages pertain only to "typical" grammar. Surely, I'm much further away than that if we consider every possible grammar point one might ever encounter.
On top of that I know (what feels like) a boat-load of Kanji and a decent sized vocabulary for someone at my level.
But, my level is still "foreigner supreme". Right now, I'm experimenting with more ways to immerse myself and/or improve my flashcard exposure.
I'm reasonably sure that the only viable thing I can do now is increase my exposure. Especially my exposure to more natural Japanese.
I've ordered a box of intermediate Manga from Box Of Manga (more on that in a bit) and I've gone back to using subs2srs to create Anki decks based on shows and anime I own.
The flash cards are great for teaching concepts. But, aside from the most amusing ones, the don't really stick in my memory because the sentences are meaningless to me. And, even when I ace all of the cards, it still doesn't mean that I would be able to pick out all of those words in some other sentences.
So, the first thing I've done is scaled back my French learning again. I'm back to usually giving myself a pass on every French card. I might spend a bit more time focusing to improve retention a bit. But, by never failing myself on a card, I'm able to keep that load down.
I'm also doing a lot more listening practice with the cards again. Ignoring the text and just listening to the audio and trying to figure out the sentence along with the meaning of each word and trying to visualize to some degree the Kanji involved.
Integrating Japanese shows in the mix is there to try and add a new level to the whole experience. Generally, I'm interested in the content so the hope is that it will stick better. Also, some of it is more casual than even the most lax decks I had in Anki before. I know that learning solely through anime or manga will lead to some pit falls. But, I think if I can "master" those mediums, I'll be in a better place to move onto short stories or other Japanese media for consumption.
Which brings me to Box Of Manga. I've held back for a while on buying manga. Mostly, I'm concerned about the level of the books. I don't really know what Manga is available and at what level. Box of Manga allows me to select a level and get something within some loosely defined criteria. The intermediate manga was a, I think, N4-N3-ish with a lot more text than the beginner books and Furigana for many of the Kanji.
I think N3 grammar is a bit above me, while I've seen pretty much all of the N4 grammar to death, so it should push me to grow a little. Honestly, manga aren't written with JLPT levels in mind. So, I take those levels with a grain of sand. There will undoubtedly be N2 and some times even N1 grammar in there. I mean, even grade schoolers in Japan can likely handle N1 grammar.
I'm chose the intermediate level for a few reasons. The promise that most, but not all Kanji will have furigana. I know the "most" common words. But, I don't study Kanji, if the harder words don't have furigana I'll be screwed. I also wanted more text. And more variety. The beginning books I've seen generally seem to come from a much smaller pool of books and aimed at SUPER young Japanese children. In the end, I need something I'll actually either enjoy reading or will give me a feeling of accomplishment.
I think, for the short term, the intermediate level is where it is at.
And hopefully, I'll get some ideas. Not knowing where to start is the problem I'm hoping Box Of Manga will solve for me.
And there you have it. Where my experiences with subs2srs were total failures in the past, I'm not doing so bad now, so I've definitely improved. I also think it provides a more natural mechanism than learning based flash cards. And Box of Manga provides me with reasonably priced, paid materials to motivate. And I need to translate about 1 full Manga a week to keep from getting back logged. I'm actually kind of stoked for that.
Anyway... frustrated (a little), but always hopeful and looking for ways to improve. I'm a little sad that I've had to scale back my French. But, the truth is, I'm not far enough along with my Japanese to let French get too much in the way. It is a draw back of my casual learning approach.
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