Metaler Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 Took me long enough to do this. I actually started the challenge about 23 days ago, but I only decided to make a thread about it now. I already have some experience with Japanese, from when I decided to pick it up about a year and a half ago through Tae Kim's guide. However, I was a lazy ass and the I just read through the guide and started playing VNs without even considering practicing other aspects of the language. This would come to bite me in the ass later, and as a result I still have trouble with a lot of stuff. But hey, I could read some VNs, which is a start. Afterwards, I found this super challenge y'all came up with, and I figured "hell, I might as well start things from scratch", and seeing everyone going out of their way to learn by themselves really motivated me to try this out. That, and the fact that I want to be a translator, so the more languages I know, the better off I am (I plan on learning Russian and Greek later). That's basically how I decided to give this a shot. I don't have a very strict routine, but I this is what I usually try to do: study new kanji in the afternoon, review at night, after college, with Anki. So far it's worked pretty well for me, and I feel that as the days pass I can memorize kanji better. Not to mention this is a fantastic creativity exercise! I was actually thinking of using this to memorize the greek/roman prefixes and sufixes in Portuguese, which I always thought was pretty interesting (I'm a sucker for linguistics lol). Now, as for the number of kanji I learn per day, I started out with 50/day, which was a lot. I managed to keep this up for at least a week or so, due to my initial burst of motivation, but as I realized that I really didn't need to rush things, I decided to slowly reduce the number to 20/day; that way, I feel that I can pay attention to each kanji with proper care, without needing to overload my mind with information. As I always say: run too fast and you won't admire the beautiful scenery around you. After all, it is best to take things slowly, savor them, admire them as much as you want. Doing so will make the images in your mind more beautiful, and more vivid.... Aw hell, I'm losing my train of thought here. I'll admit, though, I just feel like jumping onto the grammar stage right away, as I love grammar, more so than vocabulary. Sooo yeah, that's it. I'll keep track of how things have been going every so often. Maybe this'll help me keep up my motivation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rackshen Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 Hey Metaler, glad to hear you have taken on the supah challenge. It's a surprise to know that you actually love grammar! >.< That is the one thing I can't stand in linguistics. Now, as for the number of kanji I learn per day, I started out with 50/day, which was a lot. I managed to keep this up for at least a week or so, due to my initial burst of motivation, but as I realized that I really didn't need to rush things, I decided to slowly reduce the number to 20/day; that way, I feel that I can pay attention to each kanji with proper care, without needing to overload my mind with information. As I always say: run too fast and you won't admire the beautiful scenery around you. After all, it is best to take things slowly, savor them, admire them as much as you want. Doing so will make the images in your mind more beautiful, and more vivid.... Yeah, your way of learning is a logical one. Just need to keep it slowly but steady, coz we have all the time in this world! >.< Anyways, good luck on that! I know that learning Japanese is a pain in the ass but with motivation and the love for the moe~ bishoujos you can easily master the language. So yeah, it's time to DUEL!!!! >.< Look forward to hearing more of your process. Oh, and if you ever decide to learn Russian, feel free to ask me for advice anytime. I suck at grammar but I'm quite confident in my vocabulary and speaking ability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tay Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 Now, as for the number of kanji I learn per day, I started out with 50/day, which was a lot. I managed to keep this up for at least a week or so, due to my initial burst of motivation, but as I realized that I really didn't need to rush things, I decided to slowly reduce the number to 20/day; that way, I feel that I can pay attention to each kanji with proper care, without needing to overload my mind with information. As I always say: run too fast and you won't admire the beautiful scenery around you. After all, it is best to take things slowly, savor them, admire them as much as you want. Doing so will make the images in your mind more beautiful, and more vivid.... Aw hell, I'm losing my train of thought here. I'll admit, though, I just feel like jumping onto the grammar stage right away, as I love grammar, more so than vocabulary. Sooo yeah, that's it. I'll keep track of how things have been going every so often. Maybe this'll help me keep up my motivation. It's great to have you! We're here to support you, so make sure you keep posting : ) (I plan on learning Russian and Greek later). Glad to see more Russian-learners here! I speak/write fluent Russian and would also love to help. With Russian, grammar is in a lot of ways more important than vocab, so when it comes time to start declining those words, learning how to do participles, or doing the more advanced stuff, I'd be happy to help (or point out good resources!). (I say it's more important than vocab because, when you're living in Russia, you find out that Russians are not very good at picking through your sentences and trying to figure out what you meant. It has to do with the fluid sentence structure, and the way their noun/adjectives decline.) Oh, and if you ever decide to learn Russian, feel free to ask me for advice anytime. I suck at grammar but I'm quite confident in my vocabulary and speaking ability. And I'd love to Russian-it-up with you, too, Rackshen : ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metaler Posted May 21, 2013 Author Share Posted May 21, 2013 Welp, haven't posted anything here in a while... Might as well throw an update. Now, the reason why I haven't updated this thread is partly because I've pretty much stopped using RTK. It just hasn't been working for me. It's not bad, I just feel like it wasn't helping me. As such, I began to study new words themselves instead of the kanji (I even made an Anki deck). I feel that this has been helping me a whole lot more, and I feel like I'm learning faster. I'm also trying to refresh what I learned with grammar, as I think it's gotten a bit stale. The biggest problem, however, is that I really don't have anywhere to practice it. I can write individual sentences, but without prompts or exercies and such I can't get motivated. But hey, I'm trying! That's it for now. Just wanted to give a heads up. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tay Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 Well, as long as you've found a system that works for you, great! Anki is a powerful tool: I'm glad you're finding it useful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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