What's more, I notice that I keep forgetting the things I'm supposed to already know, like how to make the -て form or words I know I memorized. Obviously, I'm doing something wrong. Part of the problem is that there are many different aspects to this language, each daunting in their own way, which can easily be overwhelming. I tend to want to know the subtleties of a language, but in this case, that's asking for trouble --it's too much to handle. I'm still amazed at how important it is how you learn this language.
In short, I need a new plan.
First, I need to step back and look at what I should know already, and make sure I actually know it. I should know hiragana, but give me a piece of text to read and I'll barely stammer my way through it. I should be able to rattle off my date of birth, but actually, I'll need a minute or two to collect myself, then write it down on a piece of paper and recite it --like a schoolkid doing math with his fingers.
Second, I need to divide and conquer. I've identified the following areas of study:
- Speaking and listening
- Particles
- Vocabulary
- Reading and writing
- Other grammar (verbs, adjectives and so on)
- Speaking and listening
- Listen to CD tracks from J4BP1 and write down what you hear. Take any piece of (kana) text and read it out loud.
- Particles
- Find a particle as learned in J4BP1. Find exercises in the Japanese Particle Workbook that test knowledge of this particle. Make those exercises.
- Vocabulary
- Play with the quizlet for the course 1 vocabulary. Do a smart.fm quiz.
- Reading and writing
- Find a piece of hiragana text and read it out loud as fast as you can. Read and translate sentences with kanji in them. Draw a few kanji.
- Other grammar
- Find a reference section from J4BP1. Study a grammar rule. Find an exercise that tests this rule. Do the exercise.
And now the important question: are you with me?
what happened to my comment?
ReplyDeleteI have no idea. This one is showing up just fine.
ReplyDeleteWell...In a nutshell: After finding out today that I couldn't remember "chikatetsu", I whole-heartedly agree with you that we should do something about this.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a cumulative effect: the less often you study, the bigger the chance that you forget stuff and so the more you need to study, which already takes longer because you study less often.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it's more fun to learn new stuff than to review old stuff, and there's always new stuff to learn.
I did some reviewing yesterday and I was baffled by stuff that should be basic. Take this sentence: kore wa doko no pasokon desu ka? It took me far too long to figure out that this means "Where is this PC from?"
Interestingly, I understood the sentence without having to think about it at all. That pattern belongs to a time when I was reviewing one day after and one day before the class. So I'm wondering where chikatetsu , which I had learned around the same time, has gone to. Densha, shinkanzen, jitensha, kuruma and hikouki are all there and chikatetsu got lost in the jungle.
ReplyDeleteWhat about romendensha?
ReplyDeleteAlso, it's shinkanSen, not -Zen.
I actually went through the entire J4BP1 book yesterday (I know, I'm a nerd) and made a list of all the things we supposedly learned (grammar, that is). It's a long list, and it's interesting to see that we learned a big amount of particles already. I'll probably turn this list into a post for SHK for easy reference.