Writing

Writing is my new thing. And so far, its been incredibly beneficial. I'm picking up grammar that I would have missed simply reading. I listen to the sentence if possible, then read it out loud. Then I copy the sentence, without looking at the screen if possible into a note book, while saying the sentence again in my head. Later that day, I re-read what I wrote. I've been using the Rosetta Stone core lessons as my source. And today I copied the lyrics to Motherland by Crystal Kay. For now, I think I'm going to avoid translating lyrics. I don't need the English floating around in my head needlessly. When I run out of Rosetta Stone, I also have the sentences from the Smart.fm Core lessons that I copied before the site put them behind a pay wall. Sadly, those don't have sound, but I've learned to work with what I've got.

As for the JLPT learning front, I'm still in the process of figuring that bugger out. The dilemma is working around the changes in the Levels with the recent addition of N5. This effects both the kanji and the vocabulary. Personally, I'd love to study the old N4 because I already am familiar with most of the material, but most of the content I've found follows the new format. Above all, the most important thing is to remain consistent, so what ever I begin with, I must stick with, because I wouldn't want to miss out on material this early in my learning.

I fucked up once again. I began studying N5 material using charts made by someone online that I planned on converting into .PDFs adding images and sentences. On top of that I was adding the images and the sentences to anki. Do you have any idea how much work that is? I don't know what the fuck I was thinking. For now, I'll stick with the anki and save screwing with the .PDF version for a review session in the far flung future. Yet another study method out the window. Oi!

Also, big news. I have figured out how to make my RTK Chart work for me. I've spent weeks fretting about something that could be fix with a simple check box. The problem was, how to hit the return key within a cell and have it start a new line of information rather than skipping to the next cell. Table inspector fix that problem. Yay! Now I can type multiple 音読み and 訓読み readings in the same cell.

An Elaboration On My Decision To Fuck RTK 2

As a method for learning to right and recognize the kanji RTK 1 is brilliant. However the prospect of learning more than 2200 Chinese readings when I can barely put together a sentence seems stupid. I just don't have that kind of will power. I need a more tangible grasp on the language before I proceed any further. I plan to use the JLPT as my frame for what to study. Much of the vocabulary and grammar of L5 and L4 I'm already familiar with though Rosetta Stone, however that familiarity is fleeting and disjointed, as much of Rosetta Stone is. However there is one key tip I pick up from Rosetta Stone that I plan to employ as I continue learning, and that's image association without native language translations. Simply put, that mean write the word りんご beside a picture of an apple without the word apple in sight: image association. This is a bit more complicated with abstract words, but sentences with a corresponding image solve that problem. For example, いつも and the sentence 母はいつも忙しい, beside a picture of a busy mother illustrates this concept. I employing a Keynote slideshow to keep track of the pages with random images from google searches.

I need a structure schedule for this new study method:

月曜日

Music (1 song, from katakana version of lyrics type kanji version, furiganize, check twice by ear, create .pdf and image copies)

火曜日

Kanji Readings (Start with 10, 2 example words per reading with sentences) (copy/paste to anki)

Music (listen)

水曜日

JPLT Vocab. (make list for L5 now, later narrow study)

(LATER CONSIDER PASTING SCREEN CAPS OF KEYNOTE SLIDES IN ANKI AS IMAGES)

Music (listen)

木曜日

Grammar Point(10 points, write example sentence, copy to blog, type created sentence) (ANKI copy/paste)

Music (transcribe by hand)

金曜日

Kanji Readings (Review)

Music (translate)

土曜日

Grammar Point (Review)

JPLT Vocab. (Review / make list for L5 now, later narrow study)

日曜日

FUCK IT!

My vocabulary is shit. I can barely write sentences. And the more I think about it, the more I realize that RTK 2 as a way to learn Japanese is insane. Its not going to work for me. I spend today making 175 vocal slides because I was procrastinating studying RTK 2. The compounds in RTK 2 are way over my head, especially considering how much basic vocabulary I still need to learn. It amazes me, the rare kanji forms of words are not a problem meaning wise because of RTK 1, but the hiragana stops me in my tracks.

Starting at JPLT 5 there are 600 and so vocabulary terms, most of which I already know. I am going to perform and unconventional image based learning method of my own devising. I will elaborate more later. I'm also returning to Rosetta Stone to write sentences. I will continue to review RTK 1 at a minimum of say 700 frames per week.

If this works, by the time I complete JPLT 3, I should be ready to return to RTK 2 for a brush up, however I don't really see myself practically using it at this point in time.

Study Method 2 for RTK 2

I find it incredibly difficult to crawl my way out of bed in the morning and study brand new material. I end up laying there, dreading it. Also, I seem to have little problem remembering the meanings of new compounds, however I can't get the sounds to stick in my brain. Its like throwing darts at a board and having 80% of them bounce back off. Its ridiculous. But I may have a solution, talking to myself. No I haven't completely lost it. But I do have a Mac with a nifty program called Garageband with which I can record myself describing the compounds, giving the readings and the definitions.

In light of these new developments, I have, surprise, surprise, a new study method:

Night before - type frames in iWorks Numbers

Morning - jog / stretch

paste flashcards in flashcardexchange.com - 15 min max

record reading in garageband, export to itunes, sync ipod - 10 min max

Afternoon

listen 1 -6 min

listen 2 - pausing and writing compounds -12 min

run flashcards 1 time random - 8 min

Evening

anki - 12 min max

type tomorrows set - time?

I'm trying to create the most efficient study method, taking the least amount of time, but affording the most absorption of information, while leaving little to no room for distraction or boredom. I haven't been doing well for the past few days. Does he intend to discourage the faint of heart with that first chapter, because its evil. Honestly, one of the compounds doesn't even exist in any of the Japanese dictionaries I checked, but its supposedly a common Chinese compound. WTF? Anyway. Here's to my second try at this.

Study Method 1 for RTK2

I officially began RTK 2 yesterday ... hold the applauds. I plan to attempting getting through RTK as quickly as I can while still absorbing the information. Rather than sub-coming to those time sucking review sessions of RTK 1, I'm going to rely on Anki as my review tool. Note: This is Study Method 1 for RTK2, emphasis on the number '1' there, as this so called study method will be subject to many future edits.

I'm going to keep this as simple as possible while I'm starting out. Rather than disregarding Heisig's groupings as I did with RTK 1, I will use them to my advantage.

0. 3-4 days/week Review ~200 RTK 1 on FlashcardExchage.com.

1. Night before, read over tomorrow's frames.

2. (Morning 7am-11am)Type the day worth of frames into the Numbers chart, confirming definitions as needed. Paste in to Flashcardexchange.com deck.

3. (Afternoon 12pm-4pm) Study the flashcardexchange.com deck once. Wait, anywhere from 20 minutes to 1 hour to review the incorrect ones. Using GarageBand, create sound file of readings and save for future use.

4.(Evening 7pm-10pm) Use Anki to study the new and review the previous frames.

Flashcard Exchange | Remembering the Kanji 2 | Deck

The following are links to the flashcards I created for RTK 2. Anyone is free to use them and steal my stories.

Side one: exemplary compound

Side two: pronunciation of compound, meaning of compound, and signal primitive

Side three: 漢字 and ~音読み. (While studying, press the 'h' key to reveal side three)

Under the navigation menu, choose 'study other side first' option to study side two first.

The Kana and Their Kanji

Pure Groups

One-Time Chinese Readings

Characters with No Chinese Readings

Semi-Pure Groups

Readings From Everyday Words

Mixed Groups

Readings from Useful Compounds

A Potpourri of Readings

Supplementary Readings

Flashcard Exchange | Remembering the Kanji 1 | Deck

The following are links to the flashcards I created for RTK 1. Anyone is free to use them and steal my stories.

Side one: keyword

Side two: kanji

Side three: story (While studying, press the 'h' key to reveal side three)

Under the navigation menu, choose 'study other side first' option to study kanji first.

Remembering the Kanji 1 | 1-500

Remembering the Kanji 1 | 501-1000

Remembering the Kanji 1 | 1001-1500

Remembering the Kanji 1 | 1501-2042

３月１０日２０１１年

I'm still constructing a study method. If you've taken the time to browser earlier entries on this blog, you should know how many times I changed my study method with RTK 1. This time round, I like to get it right the first time. Using the forums on http://kanji.koohii.com, I communicating with other RTK users to find out what they did or are doing.

Word Bank

I began a word bank. And in the past 24 hours I have typed 638 words. In one column are 漢字 words and in the other their かな counterpart. The point of this list is to have a my finger tips an list of all the sounds I already know so as to make RTK 2 a little bit simpler. I will return to the word bank to add かな only words and also create an additional word bank of proper names.

Unit 1: Sentence Types

This is by far the most useful grammar source I've come across. Language advocates boast that grammar is something you should avoid learning and that emersion is the best way to go. I've tried that, am I still barely able to compose more than a basic sentence. I am going to attempt a new route, using this site here.

My goal here is to write sentences. Some will be typed. Others will be hand written with furigana and scanned as images that I will post. I'm not quite sure how this is going to work, but we shall see as we go.

３月３日２０１１年

I am still basically in review mode. Though honestly, I'm itching to start RTK 2, I can't seem to find a workable study tool to aid me. My biggest problem with RTK 1 was my inconsistency, I was simply making it up as I go. This time around, would like to begin on the right foot, instill consistency, that way I finnish as quickly as possible.

I don't have the time or the energy to make my own study tools. There seems to be tons of available study tools for RTK 1 online, however, few if none for RTK 2. I have a simple theory as to why that is. Few people actually complete RTK 1 and by the time they do, they have lost the enthusiasm for creating massive amounts of study material.

For me it would be a matter of cutting and pasting from my chart, but I've lost my faith in these sites in a way. Smart.fm, a site I relied on heavily is now going to a pay model at the end of this month. I fear that other site may do the same or simply go down part way though my study process. Technically, anything you create on most sites, belongs to that site. Its in all that fine print you usually skip reading when creating your account.

As of right now, flashcardexchange.com is my main study tool. I've been seriously considering Anki, however the ready made study decks don't seem to want to cooperate with the RTK 2 frame number ordering. Its frustrating. I want to start, but I want to avoid the mistake I made the first time round. I'll give myself until monday to figure out something.

[edit]

A kind, kind person over on forum.koohii.com has helped me with my Anki problem. Here is a copy of the directions they gave me as to editing Anki decks. Click here to download the RTK 2 deck they created.