Back on Pace

I started going through RTK again about 2 1/2 weeks ago, and so far it's been great.

I had barely gotten through the book the first time when my study time was ripped away from me, but how quickly I am progressing the second time around just shows how powerful the method really can be, when properly utilized with an SRS ( Spaced Repetition System )

I have learnt to multitask quite well lately, right now I am writing this entry, Doing RTK reviews, cooking dinner, watching my twin daughter, AND moderating a chat forum ^^

Multitasking effectively, is key if you don't have enough time to dedicate to the cause ( Which we all know, is Japanese Fluency )

On another note my most recent order came in, and quite quickly I must say. I added "A Dictionary Of Basic Japanese Grammar" as well as the intermediate and advanced companions. I also recieved "Breaking into Japanese Literature" as well as "Exploring Japanese Literature"

Once I am done this runthrough of RTK I will have to experiment to see how I will continue on. I figure some combination of JFE, KAnji flashcards, a source of sentences putting Kanji into context and straight grammar input. Oh yeah, don't forget the SRS, love that thing!

I will let you know how things go
Until next time ^^

Sugoi desu ne

Well I am finally finished with my internet/computer/time troubles.

It took a few months but I am back in the habit and here to stay.

Studying a language for fun while working full time and having young kids is somewhat crazy but hey, I love it :D

I am on my second round of RTK ( Remembering the Kanji ) and I am going to hit frame 500, around 1/4 through the book in about 6 days total, not bad for the second time around, I will be reading authentic material in NO TIME!

I will also update my books used soon, I ordered some dictionaries of japanese grammar by the Japan Times. GOOD STUFF

がんばります＾＾

To study, or not to study, that is the question

I finally am back to working fulltime. Great for my family, not so great for study time.
If I only worked and did not have girls to watch as well it would be easy, full time working plus full time dad = not much free time.

The question is, do I spend what little free time I do have studying? or rotting my brain in front of the tv and on the internet....... we will see....

A Fresh Start

I have just jumped through some hurdles thanks to the economy, moving, etc. etc. I have had to get used to working nights, had no computer for a month and a half and finally am getting used to my schedule again, and hope to finally get back into my study pattern. We will see.

I am restarting as much as I can to jog my memory, I am sure it will not be that hard, I will re-do heisig, then start iknow again and go through my textbook all over again. Now the question is, do I get my hands on some Grammar dictionaries? or some other Grammar source other than my textbook? ^^

Wish me luck ( Again )

A week off can hurt.

I recently took off a week from Japanese Study. No reviews, no exercises, pretty well nothing at all. I barely even touched my computer. The reason for this? A few things. First of all, I got burnt out. Studying Japanese EVERY DAY gets to you. Secondly, I started a new job. Normally this would not be a problem. My new job is overnights. This is during my prime study hours. I am now forced to either study while my girls are awake and screaming, or be limited to about an hour of free time between them going to sleep and me leaving for work.

I get 2 days off per week perhaps to do new material, while my days working I will mostly review but I am not sure yet. With my regiment of Anki, Iknow and Revtk, this will surely get a little messy.

A week off of studying has thrown my motivation a bit, the more time you spend away from the language, the more addicting it gets not to look at it, and you lose progress as well. I am getting back on track again, but we shall see how things go for the next little while, I have some meetings about my financials coming up, plus I am moving again soon too. Fun stuff.

RTK Madness

I have decided to take a little bit of time here to explain my RTK method and why I chose to go this route, and how it works for me.

First, the reason why I tried RTK. Remembering the Kanji is primarily focused on remembering a keyword meaning for each of the 2042 Kanji in the book ( including 1944/1945 General use Kanji ) as well as how to write each of them from memory. Heisig uses a component analysis method in order to achieve a fluid system to remember how to write them. You utilize a "story" method to tie the component parts with the keyword meaning.

A word of caution, the keyword meaning in English is a great tool for us learners to use, but there are a few kanji where the keyword is pulled out of thin air simply for memory/story purposes. This makes remembering it much easier but you will be using it differently in written Japanese. The nuance between similar words is not all that important either. I, me, myself etc are used with different nuances in Japanese than english, so as long as you remember how to write each of these, and can recognize them, you are doing fine.

Kanji.koohii.com , which is linked on the side of my blog, is a community based on the RTK methodology. You can share stories, primitive alternates etc. This is a great tool to both keep your motivation up, and find other stories that work better for you. I still made quite a few of my own, sometimes taking pieces of stories seen on this site. It is one of the reasons I made it through the book.

Many people want to learn the on and kun readings at the same time as the meaning and writing/recognition. I personally went against this method simply because of the effort required to be able to have a 50/50 shot of sounding out a word with a 50/50 shot at the general idea of the meaning ( if you are BANG on with everything ) just doesn't work for me. I would rather learn words/vocab and compounds together, which I am better at anyways. I always have been good at tieing a sound to a word, or kanji I know, my biggest struggle being the mess of meaningless lines known as kanji.

My personal recommendation is for someone to try out RTK using the method outlined above, not adding readings etc. to the Kanji. It takes long enough to finish the book as it is, and readings in isolation are quite useless. It's similar to learning words without a sentence to throw them into which I will get into another time ^^ Using another source afterward such as Kanji Odyssey 2001 or the FREE iKnow online learning platform after this will introduce words and compounds for the kanji in an order based on frequency and usefulness.

Good luck in your studies.

Computer Rebuild Hiccups

I am usually on my computer several hours per day. This includes doing my Kanji reviews, moderating thejapanesepage.com chatroom which has proven to be a great source of help and advice as well. I am going to be using the iknow website to learn vocab, and anki for my reviews for grammar and vocab. Needless to say, my Japanese learning environment is very computer Dependant.

A couple of days ago I had an accident with my laptop, they are NOT designed for heave wear anymore. My last laptop lasted almost 5 years and still works, but lacking a power cord and current hardware, it makes things difficult. I am rough with my laptop yes, but with the abuse that one went through, being older hardware and still lasting I didn't think too much of it.

My current laptop is just over 6 months old, I have already replaced the hard drive once, and now it won't even start up. I would rather buy a better desktop than guess troubleshoot and burn more money. I needed a different temporary solution.

My dad had a slightly older desktop that he was going to chuck, so I scooped it up and threw in an old hard drive I had sitting around. Thanks to the older hardware, windows would be WAY too slow and I couldn't find my install cd's anymore either. Solution? TRY LINUX

Fedora 10 was the first distro i tried, being a total n00b I took the advice of someone and it proved WAY too unstable on my computer. It was also very difficult to get going as well. After a day and a half of messing around and getting frustrated I tried Ubuntu. An hour later I was running Ubuntu smoothly and started to setup programs and plugins I like to use, and now have everything set up for my Japanese learning environment.

Now I need to clear up my 750 tall review pile and 100 failed pile for Kanji reviews ( that is the cost of rushing the end of RTK 1 and then having your system fail )

Welcome to my Blog

Due to popular request, I have decided to open up a blog to Show everyone my progress in my quest to obtain Literacy, and dare I say Fluency, in the Japanese Language. If you are reading this, CONGRATULATIONS in coming across my page, and thanks for coming!

I will post a list of my favourite online resources, as well as a list of my favourite books that I have either used, or know enough about to recommend to recommend.

Well, time will tell where we go from here, hopefully we have fun on the way there :D