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All You Need To Learn Japanese Is Time

In a recent post on the Language Learning Forums an interesting theory is being discussed. The idea is that it doesn’t matter what materials you use to learn a language, all that matters is time. In other words, you can use any method, it doesn’t matter what, but as long as you do it you will learn Japanese. I note that somewhere through the original poster changed his or her tune and started saying that method does matter (it has to be material that was intended for natives of the language, i.e. movies, books, etc) - Way to hurt your argument. I found this highly amusing that they are arguing one thing and saying another. Never the less, is time all you need?

Katakana - タ to ト

It’s カタカナ time!　

Lesson 4 - タ to ト。

タ - TA
a tadpole with one leg, soon to become a frog.
Try not to confuse this one with ク “ku”.

チ　- CHI
a chicken’s feather

ツ　- TSU
A needle and two buttons.
Tie this in with ソ　”so” - you’ve now put on two buttons. And pronounce “two” like “tsu”. A bit abstract, but helps you remember which way the strokes go so not to confuse it with シ “shi”.

テ - TE
Looks like a television antenna.
I always thought of it like a logo for a television station.

ト - TO
A totem pole.
To me this always looked similar to hiragana と so I remember it that way, as a toe.

To be continued in our next exciting episode of Writing Katakana - ナ to ノ »

Carlie’s Japanese Progress - April 2008

What a busy month. I’ve moved house and become very very behind at university. So over all this month I’ve felt very stressed and I don’t believe I’ve made much progress in my Japanese at all.

How Much TV I Watch
As you know, at the end of last month I started to record how many Japanese tv shows I watch. For curiosity mainly, and as a record. This month the most time I spent dealing with the Japanese language was probably watching tv. Surprisingly, I watched over 21 hours worth - even with over two weeks without access to new material (and a week without a computer full stop). I guess thinking about it, it isn’t even an hour a day average, but you can see a snippet of the log above, and you can see that when I do watch tv, I watch a lot at once.

As for the rest of my progress, not much to report. My anki file has gone from 576 cards to 619, however I have barely reviewed this month.

There has been a major disruption to my life (plus I had my getting old day!) this month, which is an explanation, not an excuse. Next month I hope to kick my butt into shape. I will review! I will add lots of cards! I will work on my Japanese! Cause no one else is going to work on it for me!

Katakana - サ to ソ

It’s カタカナ time!　

I think in learning katakana, it helps to know hiragana. Just like in capital letters and small letters in the roman based alphabet, there are some similarities. For instance, C and c both look similar. An example in Japanese would be か　in hiragana and カ　in katakana.

However, you have to be careful in Japanese, as there are some characters that look similar to others but at not the same at all. A good example here is せ - “se” in hiragana, and サ - “sa” in katakana. For me these two look very similar. I find for me the trick is to think “this is “sa”, which looks like hiragana “se” but the second verticle stroke is longer”. Maybe this method is confusing for others, but it works for me. Perhaps if you have any special method of remembering these differences, feel free to share them in the comments.

Let’s move on to “サ to ソ”

Lesson 3 - サ to ソ。

サ - SA
Sardines in a dish. This is one which is a bit odd to picture for some - the three strokes are the sardines, overlapping because they are in a dish. Perhaps some will prefer my method on remembering this character, which I outlined above.

シ　- SHI
A ship with two sails. You can see it getting blown in the wind.

ス　- SU
Soup is dribbling down his chin. Picture the first stroke as a mouth, with the second as a bit of soup.

Personally, I have always remembered this by remembering it looked like the letter “S”, but it is only this second I’ve realised it looks nothing like an “S”. More proof that my brain is crazy.

セ - SE
Someone setting the table. Perhaps this method works a lot by telling a story rather than by simply visualising images. This is an image of an edge of a table, with a hand reaching across, placing a plate on the table.

ソ - SO
You need to sew on a button. Actually, I think this one is clever. You can see the button hole plus the little hole where the button used to be sewn on to.

To be continued in our next exciting episode of Writing Katakana - タ　to ト　»

Why Do You Study Japanese? Reader Responses

Currently I am running a poll which asks people if they are learning Japanese:

(poll closed)

So far, either most people want to or are studying Japanese. This really isn’t much of a surprise as I would think that the majority of people who visit this site at least have some interest in Japanese culture and I think that learning Japanese is an extension of that.

My question now to you all is: Why do you want to or are learning Japanese?

Have a go at answering that in the comments!!

As for me, my original reason was to understand the manga that I was reading it it’s original language. Later it became that I wanted to understand all the TV shows I was watching - it was at this point that I began to take it seriously. Now my reasons have evolved into more and more reasons, but at the core of it all, this was my original motivation: to understand things I enjoy in their original language.

If you don’t have any interest in learning Japanese, why not? I’d be interested in hearing your responses to this as well.

Katakana - カ to コ

It’s カタカナ time! Now we are on to “カ to コ”

Lesson 2 - カ to コ。

カ - KA
Cut the bread with a sharp knife.
The first stroke here outlines the break. Then the second stroke is a knife, cutting though the bread. Easy to remember because it is a more angular hiragana か without the second stroke.

キ　- KI
This is a picture of a key. I always found this one to remember, as it is also similar to hiraga き.

ク　- KU
Looks like a cook’s hat. I remember this one from when I first learned Japanese in primary school. We learnt this one as “kookaburra’s beak”. Very Australian perhaps, but to me I can see the beak. For you, perhaps you can see a cook’s hat in this.

ケ - KE
Don’t confuse this one with “ku”. This is supposed to be a “kettle” but for me, I remember it as the same one I use for　hiragana け　- somehow I see another angle of the “keg“.

コ - KO
Half a tennis court. That’s easy to see. For me, again I use the hiragana keyword of “coin”. Because you don’t get confused if you use hiragana’s keywords, but I guess somehow my memory has latched onto these. These ones I don’t have trouble with either, so I guess it is not a problem for me.

To be continued in our next thrilling episode of Writing Katakana.
サ to ソ »

Carlie’s Japanese Progress - March 2008

We are well into April now, so it’s time for a March 2008 update on my Japanese progress.

On the 18th of March I started up a log of how many hours I watch Japanese tv/movies. I record what I watched and whether I was watching with subs, without, or it was just on as background noise. From the 18th-30th I watched 15 hours of Japanese TV. I find that I don’t watch it for days, but when I do I watch quite a few hours. It does average out to just over an hour a day. I haven’t really been watching any of the dramas from the current/previous season so perhaps this may be a-typical.

Anki
At the end of Feburary I started a new anki file. I now work on both vocab/grammar and Heisig’s Remembering the Kanji in the same deck. I currently have 576 cards. I have an overall retention rate of 73% with 87.1% on older cards.

Japanese for Everyone
At the moment I’m working through chapter 15 of JfE. Things are moving smoothly, I’m finding that I can move through this quickly now. I don’t know, at the moment I’ve got a bit of rhythm to what I’m doing.

An Integrated Approach To Intermediate Japanese by Akira Miura and Naomi Hanaoka McGloin
I just started this and I’m planning to move through this more slowly than JfE, but I’d like to do finish the book by the end of the year. I have started chapter two, but I’d like to go back and go through chapter one more thoroughly. I recently did a review of my first impressions on this textbook if you’d like to read.

Goals For April
April is going to be a busy month for me. I’m moving house, all my major assignments at uni are coming up, and I may have to look for a new job. Oh, and it’s my birthday too However, the next season’s dramas are beginning, something to look forward to, and I plan to keep working on my Japanese at a steady pace.

Writing Katakana - ア to オ

It’s カタカナ time! Katakana is the part of the Japanese Writing System that I perhaps have the most trouble with - I still have to sound out each syllable, and I can barely write it - only words that I know well. Even sounding out words is difficult - as often I’m trying to make out some kind of English word, something that I shouldn’t do as not all Katakana words are even Japanese-a-fied English. But that is another bag of worms.

I use the same method as Hiragana learning - associating Katakana with things of similar shapes. I’m not sure where this method came from, as I remember using this back in primary school, as well as more recently in University. If you know where this method came from, please tell me!

As for getting the Katakana into my head, I plan on working the same way as I did with hiragana, and currently kanji. Write with them whenever I can. I don’t encounter them as much as I do hiragana and kanji, one problem, but there are some good sources out there which feature a lot.

Enough blabbering, let’s begin:

Lesson 1 - ア to オ。

ア - A
A person sticking out their tounge and saying “Ah“. A picture of a mouth with a tounge poking out.

イ　- I
An eagle. I guess this one is a stretch, but the way I think of it is a english “I” with out the bottom stroke. I seem to remember this because “E” looks like an “I”. Confusing but some how it works. Maybe eagle will work for you.

ウ　- U
An old woman carrying a heavy pack on her back. “Oomph!” Can you see the woman bending over with the pack on her back? Be careful not to confuse this one with “ワ” - “wa”.

エ - E
The curtains close at the end of the performance. Image of closed curtains. I always somehow remember that the “e” looks like an “I”.

オ - O
And old orange tree with a broken branch. It is helpful to think of this as the kanji for tree: 木 with one “branch” missing. I guess it’s an orange tree to reinforce the “o” sound.

To be continued in our next thrilling episode of Writing Katakana
Katakana - カ to コ »

An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese: First Impressions

An Integrated Approach To Intermediate Japanese by Akira Miura and Naomi Hanaoka McGloin
I recently borrowed this book out from my University library, and after having it for two weeks, I decided to buy this as the next step in my Japanese studies.

I’m half way through Japanese for Everyone, and I find this book right for my level. This actually makes me more impressed with Japanese For Everyone - it is a good textbook and takes you far. I’m finding that I will learn a grammar point in one book, and then a week or so later the same grammar point is covered in the other one. Why do I have both then? I like seeing examples from both texts. I get more vocabulary from both texts. Integrated also has harder kanji and more reading passages.

Every chapter begins with a section called “Culture Notes“. These are little paragraphs in English about something to do with Japanese culture. For instance, in the first chapter they talk about “How to Address Someone”. In chapter six the culture note is about restaurants.

New Anki File

I’ve started a new anki file. I let the one go too long that the spaced repetition was messed up, and it had such a huge workload as so many cards had expired - I would have never gotten to new cards.

Plus, a fresh start is refreshing!

So I’ve started again. I picked out a whole heap of words I was interested in reviewing. Stuff like 付き合う. I look up the word in my Casio XD-GX9600 and plug in one of the example sentences into anki. I also like to use anki to review grammar, so I’ll start plugging in some sentences from Japanese for Everyone chapter 13 soon.