TextFugu » Topic: Very curious about you all

Very curious about you all

Multany — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 09:10:50 +0000

Hello everyone! So, before i get started, this is by no means a round-about way of complaining, so you don’t have to “wait for it” haha

I’ve been a member for almost 2 months soon, and I have just just completed (learning and memorizing) all the kanji/kanji vocab up to the beginning of the 5 stroke, as well as all the vocab (as of season 2-6). Now, I can only make little sentence pieces from what I’ve learned so far, and I know there’s still a ton of grammar points to learn, so with all that obviousness out of the way – I’m curious about something.

For those of you that have experienced what I’m about to try and describe, when have you.. experienced that “I see the light” moment? I’m talking about things such as understanding/making sentences and having a running dialogue in Japanese. What I mean, is that in my case, I just have a ton of nouns/verbs floating around in my head with some beginning grammar points to create simple sentences, but, no real way yet of applying them (yet). When do you start to pull all those words together and “get it”? Is it like a puzzle where you think back to the particles and all technical bits?

Basically, I’m asking when the first time was that you started to look at random sentences or hear Japanese audio and have, for the first time.. the semblance of the first steps towards “fluency”? was it several weeks after taking up study? Months, years? I know Textfugu is (at this stage) a starter website, but i’m sure we have some advanced users floating around.

I feel this is pretty incoherent, so I can definitely clarify later on, haha.

Thanks!

*quotations around “fluency” because that might be one of those “in the eye of the beholder” deals.

Reply To: Very curious about you all

Yippy — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 13:32:04 +0000

While I’m nowhere near advanced, I’ve had a few times where I’ve had that…”Eureka” moment before.

If my memory serves me right, it wasn’t just one in-your-face moment, it was many subtle moments.

Whenever I recognize Japanese out in the ‘wild’, that’s when I feel that I’m taking small, but consistent steps towards Japanese fluency.

It’s kinda hard to put into words, but I hope you understand what I’ve said. =)

Reply To: Very curious about you all

Reiden — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 13:38:59 +0000

It’s been about 6 months since I started, I’m a few lesson behind textfugu(3.8). I started pretty strongly but since the start of the summer I was….hmm…let’s say lazy.

But I’m kicking back things up now! To answer your question, I still don’t see the light. I’m advancing and I’m having fun…so if I have that, I’m happy with my progress.

I’m not press by any timeline or anything so it’s making it easier to just be ” cool ” about it.

Reply To: Very curious about you all

lil2nutty — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 16:11:28 +0000

For me, it was after I learned most of the Hiragana and Katakana symbols. I was watching an anime, and suddenly realized that I could understand what a lot of the signs in the show said, like an udon noodle shop, or a sports store. As I learn more, the conversations in the shows sounded a lot less like gibberish and I began to understand fragments of what they said without the need for subtitles. Small signs of improvements like these tell me that all my efforts to study Japanese have not been for nothing, and it really encourages me to study more. Best of luck to everyone on finding that light at the end of seemingly endless tunnel(it’s not actually endless, just really really long). :)

Reply To: Very curious about you all

Kaona — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 16:21:46 +0000

I don’t have much to add except that when I understand/see words/phrases/sentences/kanji I know/recognize, I have a little happy moment and all that time studying becomes worth it.

Reply To: Very curious about you all

jkl — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 19:19:00 +0000

I just have a ton of nouns/verbs floating around in my head with some beginning grammar points to create simple sentences, but, no real way yet of applying them

It sounds like you are ready to start building your sentence deck.

http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/10000-sentences-how

Reply To: Very curious about you all

MisterM2402 [Michael] — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 19:52:13 +0000

I agree with everyone who has posted so far :P

Reply To: Very curious about you all

Narcoleptic LTD — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 20:52:19 +0000

jkl is on the right track here… fugu is teaching you the basics and the building blocks that will help you understand enough of the language so that you can go out and learn more on your own. The 10,000 sentences article there gives a good idea of what you’re currently missing… actually using the language, logging the hours listening/reading/writing/speaking.

I’d say most of the sentences you see in fugu are simply examples of how grammar is used, things are conjugated, etc. (That and Koichi loves sentences about sushi and eathing).

I don’t think there’s one single site on the internet that will teach you everything you need to know about the language, but fugu is very good at teaching you how to learn