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OP, I can’t offer any help, but I can certainly relate to this. I’m currently going through a really bad ragequit/burnout period and I’m also beginning to question if this is really something I want to continue pursuing, and second-guessing the entire reason I’ve spent so many years on this. :/
Well, it depends, I think. In my case, I had already learnt a lot of vocab before even touching kanji, so having something in all-kana was no problem. The only downside is that looking up a new word is a touch harder without the kanji but most of the time it can be worked out easily. I wouldn’t use them for vocab too much, but for grammar/syntax and picking up your reading speed, they’re an excellent resource.
That being said, if you’re after kanji exposure, the newer games (Black/White and onward) have an option where you can toggle kanji or kana in the game text. Best of both worlds there.
Just finished a review, it was pretty brutal. First half went good (mostly really old, easy kanjis) then when I got to the more recent ones I kept on missing them. Really discouraging, but I think it’s helping me come up with better strategies.
I do agree that the workload I’ve given myself was too ambitious. It worked fine when starting out but now that I’m several hundred kanjis deep it does get WAY too overwhelming. I’ve lowered my amounts in Anki and we’ll see how that goes.
The rote method sometimes does work for me, I’ll often fall back on it as a last resort. I think my biggest problem is a lot of my stories are too simple or generic and don’t “stick” or often get confused with kanji that have very similar meanings (of which there are an infuriating amount). I’m not very creative when it comes to those, sadly.
I’m gonna try maybe putting off learning new ones and just doing reviews for a while until I’m certain I’ve really learnt the ones I have.
Cheers for the advice!
Hmm, that’s a pity. I liked 20 because (I thought) it would give me a good speed-to-workload ratio, but I guess the workload’s too much.
Still, it’s the older kanjis that give me the most trouble. The more they age, the harder it gets to remember them. I feel like just doing Anki once or twice a day isn’t giving me enough exposure to them and thus “use it or lose it” comes into effect.
If there was a method (be it an app, website, whatever) where I could just continuously drill all the RTK kanji in a particular range, I could do random drills whenever I have downtime and probably hold onto them better.
I’ll second the suggestion to use the games themselves.
I recently bought the Japanese version of Pokémon Blue (it and the other games can be had on eBay for very cheap from Japanese sellers) to play on my old Game Boy Pocket and it’s been a huge help.
Because I’m already familiar with the game in English, it’s easy to play in Japanese; and as it’s a kids’ game, the grammar used is very beginner-friendly. It’s all in kana as well so no struggling with kanji. I’ve picked up a lot of good vocab and grammar and having a blast playing the old classic again.
I can also recommend getting your hands on the old Pokémon anime in Japanese if you can. I’ve been watching it sans subtitles and it’s super easy to watch. I’m only mid-upper intermediate and I understand about 80-90% of what’s being said. It’s an excellent way to improve your listening and grammar.
Well, still chipping away at the kanjis so far, some are easier than others. I find it helps if it’s kanjis from words I already know.
One thing I’ve not done a lot of since restarting kanjis is test my reading ability thus far. I tried reading some Japanese YouTube comments just now and found that I’ve been able to “read” unknown/new words if they contain one of the kanjis I’ve now studied. So it’s become slightly easier to read and pick up new vocab, which was one of the main things I hoped to get out of this. Seeing actual results and benefits like that so soon gave me a nice little boost to my motivation and really made it feel like I’ve accomplished something.
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This reply was modified 9 years, 3 months ago by
Gigatron.
Your study methods are actually quite similar to mine.
I give myself 20 new ones per day, which I think is a good pace so I can burn through them but still have some chance at retention. I’m not a tank by any stretch.
I usually try to give myself at most 10 seconds to answer. If I got close but missed a stroke I’ll normally red-button it. I do try to write them down as I go. I bought myself a little whiteboard and when reviewing I try to write it before flipping the card over.
I used to just plough through reviews with the new ones mixed in, but I’m trying a new approach where I’ll do just the reviews first during the day, and do the new ones just before bed. Too soon to tell how well that’s worked, however.
And yeah, I know what you mean about the burn of forgetting. Years ago when I first bought the Heisig books I managed to get about 250 or so (this is without Anki, mind) then abandoned kanjis altogether. When I restarted recently, I had to go and relearn almost all of those, it was painful.
I just hope I can keep that dreaded discouragement away. Lately I’ve been red-buttoning so many kanjis (even ones I used to have nailed, which is particularly alarming) that it’s taken the enjoyment out of it. I almost dread having to do reviews, which upsets me.
Hmmm, that doesn’t sound too bad. The bulk of the expense would be the airfare, and lodging will also be a big part of that, but I’m aiming for ¥3000 or less a night (and thankfully I’ve found a few very attractive options for that price range), which should give me a similar figure to yours.
The rest would just end up being spending/survival money, and I reckon I could shave that down pretty low. Might be doable with my current savings. Still, I’m sure it won’t hurt to keep adding some coin from now until I make the trip.
That’s good to know about the phones. I might just go ahead and buy one, seems like it’s easiest to do it that way (and if nothing else, the phone would make a nice memento, lol).
I had entertained the notion of renting a car for transport, as it’d a good way to get used to Japanese roads, but I reckon that’d be far too expensive, especially for such a long stay.
That’s really my biggest concern is expenses. I consider myself a very frugal person, and the idea is to spend only on essential things (and MAYBE a couple of souvenirs) but even then, I have no clue how much I ought to have on hand. Not sure if 13K is good enough or if I’ll need much more.
G’day Joel, I’m surprised anyone remembers me, hehe.
Fair enough about the temples, actually. Getting into the everyday cultural aspects is something I definitely want to do, so I do think I’ll be visiting some after all.
Onsen and sento are still 禁止, however. Though that’s more due to my own hangups (I’m the type that won’t even go to the beach, let alone public bathhouses, lol…)
As for the advice, that’s just the info I’m looking for actually. I’ve heard you need a Suica card, but I don’t know much about them. Also what would I need to do to ensure I have phone service for the three months?
It’s a mixed feeling for me. The first time I tried to speak it with native speakers, I was nervous, but there was something exhilarating about it. Looking back however, and comparing to what I know now, I feel kind of embarrassed about how horribly I spoke it those first times.
Nowadays, I still have chances to speak (to the same people I spoke with in my first time) and I feel a bit better about my ability, though it’s still a bit nerve-wracking, especially when the words fall apart in my mouth, which still happens with disappointing frequency.
I’m at that point now where speaking it is still enjoyable, but I’m more often than not frustrated at my inability to say exactly what I want, and of course still only understanding a small portion of what’s said to me.
Though, one time that I will always cherish was the first time I helped a Japanese-speaking customer at my job. She was confused about some items and was visibly struggling with what little English she knew, and when I told her (in Japanese) that she could speak Japanese if she preferred, the blend of utter shock and relief on her face was a big boost.
Very good insight here, lads, thanks!
That link was incredibly useful as well. It certainly helped give me a better idea of the kind of “road map” I want to create for my studies. The concept of learning kanji all-in-one like he promotes is looking very attractive to me, so I think I’ll give that a go and see if it sticks.
So I was thinking of buying this book which would appear to fit what I’m looking for. Now I just have to work out how to order from amazon.co.jp.
A digital dictionary’s OK, but I’d actually really prefer a physical book. A digital one wouldn’t work with the method I’m thinking of using. The reason being, that when I would read English dictionaries as a kid, I’d just skip to random pages and read/learn random words. It became a sort of fun activity for me that I’d do whenever I needed to kill time.
With a digital one, I’d have to know what it is I’m searching for, and I couldn’t just randomly mine words. With the book I can open to random pages and just obtain words as I go without needing to look for anything in particular.
The purpose of this being to become exposed to the words so that I can better recognise them when I hear them on TV shows/Podcasts/etc, and ultimately improve my listening/speaking skills. This worked a treat for me with English as an immersion technique, but it’s important that it be a native dictionary.
If you want to listen to natural spoken Japanese, I highly recommend obtaining an iTunes Japan account, as that will make available a real treasure trove of Japanese podcasts.
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This reply was modified 9 years, 3 months ago by
