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  • in reply to: I'm Stuck And Discouraged #45965

    Sharing is great yeah, otherwise I wouldn’t have found the things that work for me (for the moment at least since that might change). But people shouldn’t make it sound like their way is the ultimate way to learn :x

    Who is making their way seem like it is the ultimate way of learning?
    If you’re bothered by it then I’m surprised you’re on TF to begin with. Kouichi makes TF seem like THE way to learn Japanese, and reminds you quite frequently. :P

    Excalibuuuuur. Excalibuuuuur.
    in reply to: I'm Stuck And Discouraged #45944

    Is there a way to maybe meet in the middle somehow?
    So far I like the Heisig method. I find that knowing what a kanji means helps a lot with it sticking in my brain, because mnemonic devices work wonderfully for my mind. Yet, the Heisig method does not include learning readings, of course.
    So, after going through most of the kanji meanings (and learning how to write them), is it possible to start learning readings through your method? That way it becomes a two-step process instead of another “Remember the kanji and readings at the same time” ordeal. The brain doesn’t become overwhelmed.
    For myself it is easier to chunk things up into sections of learning than to throw myself into all of it. ^^;

    Excalibuuuuur. Excalibuuuuur.
    in reply to: I'm Stuck And Discouraged #45905

    Ah, neato! Lots of people on here that make videos on youtube. :D That’s wonderful!
    Care to help clarify the method Mr. Missingno15 is presenting?

    Excalibuuuuur. Excalibuuuuur.
    in reply to: I'm Stuck And Discouraged #45901

    I love that second video haha. It makes me feel better that I can’t speak very quickly in Japanese, and that hopefully those I meet in the future will forgive me for it.
    I’m having a little difficulty in understanding what the guy in the first video means by his method. He’s saying that basically…in knowing what a kanji sounds like you can get a gist of whatever vocab comes your way?

    Excalibuuuuur. Excalibuuuuur.
    in reply to: I'm Stuck And Discouraged #45873

    Time for a shameless plug! My kanji video is up (link in my sig) if you wanted to check it out.

    Just finished watching the video! I would like to say that it’s genuinely hilarious and filled with great information. I can’t wait for future vids.
    I got the Heisig textbook and read through the introduction and all the stuff before the actual chapters. Then I glimpsed through the actual learning portion. I am pretty sure I’m going to abandon WaniKani for a while to go with your method, because it looks exactly like something that would work well for me. It’s actually quite genius 才! Also, I would absolutely cry with laughter if someone found my own kanji book, it filled with horrific mnemonics and the crazy ravings only a desperate kanji learner could conjure. Gah, long sentences @-@
    Anyway! On the morrow I will get started on finding a new, empty textbook. Already have the highlighter and pens. :D

    Excalibuuuuur. Excalibuuuuur.
    in reply to: I'm Stuck And Discouraged #45785

    Oh, ok. Now I only need to look at reviews and such on one thing then (RTK). Two people have suggested it thus far.
    I will be on the lookout for your video. I do enjoy discovering the experiences of other self-taught Japanese learners. Anything to gain a new perspective or way of doing things.

    Excalibuuuuur. Excalibuuuuur.
    in reply to: I'm Stuck And Discouraged #45782

    You might want to try the heising method then. It will have you learn the meanings first and afterwards yoiu can learn the readings and the vocab. Personally I find it too much to learn kun, on, the meaning and the kanji all at the same time. It’s just demotivating and painfully slow.

    Sounds like a method I might have a better time with. I grasp and recall meanings very well, and my recognition for kanji symbols in general is pretty good. It’s the readings that trip me up. So, if the Heising method does it a different way, I hope to try it out. Thank you!

    Excalibuuuuur. Excalibuuuuur.
    in reply to: I'm Stuck And Discouraged #45781

    This was the main reason for me doing this the RTK way. I think it’s too much to learn the kanji writing, meaning, vocab, and readings all at the same time. Learning the writing and meanings together is fairly easy and only sometimes a bit challenging. That is, of course, only my view and subject to a lot of individual traits.

    What I’m trying to say is don’t feel disappointed in yourself! You most certainly haven’t failed in any way. I don’t know if you take notes or anything, but I write everything down. EVERYTHING. Including how well I’ve understood something, what about it I’m having trouble with, etc. If you do anything like that, I find it really helps to go back to the beginning and look at how far you’ve come. Sometimes, you need to take a step back, gather a little perspective on your situation, and go back at it remembering that you’ve come this far and you’re not going to let some obstacle stop you from doing what you’re doing. If you’ve managed to get this far, you can keep going.

    Whenever I get stuck, I stop learning and just keep going with Anki for a few days. Taking a break makes it easier to refocus, I find.

    Another Textonian Fugunite shared this with me, and I will share it with you. It lives in my bookmark bar so it’s always there when I need it. Watch it 6 or 7 times to let the general silliness have less of an impact.<br>
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxGRhd_iWuE

    Don’t worry, you’ve got this. Just take your time with it :)

    Firstly, thank you so much for replying!
    Secondly, I have indeed bookmarked that video. It is so inspirational that it brought tears to my eyes. XD
    Thirdly, RTK? I didn’t realize that there are other methods out there besides Wanikani. WK is very convenient, but I’m starting to feel overwhelmed with learning meanings+recognition+on vs kun+radicals+juguko+ vocabulary+AHHHH! I will check that out along with any other suggestions this thread gets.
    I won’t be giving up, and I know I’ve come a longer way than most people I know would have. Some friends of mine who say that they want to learn Japanese haven’t even taken the first step to getting started, so…
    How far along did you get with RTK and kanji?

    Excalibuuuuur. Excalibuuuuur.
    in reply to: Already Nervous #45637

    Thank you so much for replying! Now that I’m clear of mind, I know you’re right…there’s no wrong way to learn. I was concerned that I would get stuck. But the truth is that there are tons of resources out there to help me continue on the path, so it’s impossible to become stuck. I just need to know what will work best for me. Trial and error. Right now, TextFugu is working for me. Whatever comes after that I should only worry about when I actually get there.
    Thank you for smacking some sense into me haha. Really helpful!

    Excalibuuuuur. Excalibuuuuur.
    in reply to: Solidifying Vocab? #45624

    Yeah, really the trick is being able to think in Japanese, and noone’s ever been able to explain to me how you can do that. =)

    Well, let me try.
    First, I moustache-you a question. XD When you try to think in Japanese, do you usually end up trying to translate it back to English automatically? This is a habit for lots of people, but habits can be untrained. c: Promise.
    What helps me the most, I find, is something that may seem really irrelevant at first: being skilled at clearing the mind. Very much like when you’re meditating and your entire brain shuts up for ten minutes. Before I study Japanese vocab or sentence-making I try to achieve a cleared mind first. This kind of “resets” everything, especially the language center of the brain. With a more “reset” mind it’s easier to feel out the word than to try to remember it intellectually (that’s how you learned your native language anyway). Also, when you’re comfortable with being able to shut down/push away pestering thoughts in general, it helps to hold back the urge to translate things to English again if you’re talking in Japanese within your mind.

    TL;DR
    I find that learning a language (vocab, grammar) through feeling is better than trying to learn it by memorizing. When you feel something deeply it becomes natural to say out loud. Practicing quieting native speech thoughts might help.

    Excalibuuuuur. Excalibuuuuur.
    in reply to: Already Nervous #45622

    Oh, also…how long has Kouichi been saying that an update is going to happen on the site? On his updates page he said something about starting back in March working on it. I can understand how long it would take to update such a big website/textbook, so I’m not very concerned that it’s July and it still hasn’t happened. But had he been talking about it even BEFORE his February trip? Is this a case of terrible procrastination on the author’s part?

    Excalibuuuuur. Excalibuuuuur.
    in reply to: Common Errors in TextFugu #45621

    And having taught English to non-native learners in both the US and AUS, I know if I listed it as ‘tu’ and ‘du’ some would read that as ‘tuh’ and ‘duh’.

    I actually read ‘tu’ and ‘du’ as ‘toe’ and ‘doe’. O-O

    Excalibuuuuur. Excalibuuuuur.
    in reply to: Passion List, and Katakana symbols? #45620

    I, too, gave up on my passion list. My first one got a little complicated when I tried to pick “dance” as a passion. Not even jisho.com could find a translation for what the heck I was looking for sometimes. So then I threw that one out and made a passion list of food. Yet, almost all of them were eventually covered in the 50 basic Japanese nouns on Anki, and I even found out that some of my translations were incorrect (such as “breakfast”). In the end, I’ve basically given up on my passion list as unreliable and kind of wasteful.

    Excalibuuuuur. Excalibuuuuur.
    in reply to: Reading of the following sentence? #45619

    I thought the same thing as well, Kyle. It seems strange, but I kind of just…memorized for that particular sentence it would be “nana” and not “shichi”. *shrug* I would love to know the difference, too.

    Excalibuuuuur. Excalibuuuuur.
    in reply to: Already Nervous #45598

    Tobira is pretty good, but yeah, there’s no way you’d be able to tackle after only doing TextFugu. Maybe have a look at Tae Kim’s guide? It covers stuff TF covers plus lots more.

    guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar

    Thank you for this link, Michael. At least I’ll be able to tie any loose ends at the close of TF chapters with it. See what I’m missing, see what I still need to cover, ect. This is very useful!

    Excalibuuuuur. Excalibuuuuur.
Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 22 total)