Almost half way through RTK1 feels nice but I won't be satisfied until I close the book on RTK 3 and double check to make sure I at least have all the JOYO Kanji, including the new ones, in my arsenal. It's not far away especially when I compare myself to people that aren't doing Heisig ( which I suggest you do whenever you're feeling a little down ) I'm constantly asked about Kanji because some of my classmates know what I'm up to and as time goes on I get more and more of the meanings correct when asked.
I stop my deck on recognition of Kanji a little while ago say 400 Kanji ago. I don't recommend it actually. It just so happened that my two decks started to line up with reviews and new cards so that I would fail a new card in my recognition deck and next day get the keyword in my main deck. So automatically I would know how to write it because I just "learned" it the day before.
I have a calender with smiley faces and black squares. The Smiley faces represent "Good days" where I reached my minimum. and black squares are days I didn't "Bad days" so far I have 5 "Bad days" on some of them I did maybe 10 cards but not my required minimum so it wasn't a good day. I'm still hoping to finish up by April 1st but April 14th seems more and more likely everyday. Only way I can deal with extra cards is on the weekend and I have been pretty lazy on the weekends. Spring Break is coming up starting March 12th, So maybe I'll pull a power week to jumpstart myself to the 1700-1800 range by March 21st. Which would put me on track for an April 1st finish. Theorizing dates is fun and motivating but whats still important is just being consistent.
It takes more time to input stories into Anki than I thought and that is what is taking the most time. I think I review each individual card for too long as well sometimes up to 45-60 seconds. I have stories inputed up to card 1003 which means i still have another 1039 to go lol. I will get there soon enough and it will all be worth it.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Progress: 828 down 2179 to go
Do I really know 828 Kanji already? well I guess it's not really knowing them but becoming familiar with them. I can't read most of them and the combinations are really shaky if you try to use the Heisig keyword. but anyways In about 8 days I will be at the Half way mark!!!! it seems like only yesterday I was at the 1/4 mark. Consistancy is your best friend. My finish date gets shifted every time I slack even a bit but it really is a dynamic deadline in that It doesn't matter when I finish as long I finish. Whats more important is that I'm comfortable with the pace. My reviews are low these couple days at about 100 reps. Looking to the future I can stand to do maybe 5-10 more cards a day in the next couple days but I'm over worked with study Abroad paper work right now. I GOT ACCEPTED TO TOKYO STUDY ABROAD!!! All the more motivation to finish RTK 1 and start learning sentences!
Midterms are coming up in the immediate future as well so I probably won't do more than the 25 cards I promised myself. That number itself may have to go down to about 10 or 15 until Midterms are done. We'll see as always I'll update in about 125 cards.
Deck created: 3.6 years ago
Total number of cards: 3007
Total number of facts: 3007
Card Maturity
Mature cards: 287 (9.5%)
Young cards: 541 (18.0%)
Unseen cards: 2179 (72.5%)
Average interval: 15.5 days
Correct Answers
Mature cards: 100.0% (2 of 2)
Young cards: 82.2% (2754 of 3351)
First-seen cards: 31.3% (259 of 828)
Recent Work
Total number of cards: 3007
Total number of facts: 3007
Card Maturity
Mature cards: 287 (9.5%)
Young cards: 541 (18.0%)
Unseen cards: 2179 (72.5%)
Average interval: 15.5 days
Correct Answers
Mature cards: 100.0% (2 of 2)
Young cards: 82.2% (2754 of 3351)
First-seen cards: 31.3% (259 of 828)
Recent Work
| In last week | 1124 reps/6 days |
| In last month | 4095 reps/28 days |
| In last 3 months | 4181 reps/30 days |
| In last 6 months | 4181 reps/30 days |
| In last year | 4181 reps/30 days |
| Deck life | 4181 reps/31 days |
Average Daily Reviews
| Deck life | 92.6 cards/day |
| In next week | 59.3 cards/day |
| In next month | 26.3 cards/day |
| In last week | 160.6 cards/day |
| In last month | 136.5 cards/day |
| In last 3 months | 45.4 cards/day |
| In last 6 months | 23.0 cards/day |
| In last year | 11.5 cards/day |
Average New Seen
| In last week | 198 (28.3/day) |
| In last month | 783 (26.1/day) |
| In last 3 months | 828 (9.0/day) |
| In last 6 months | 828 (4.5/day) |
| In last year | 828 (2.3/day) |
Card Ease
Lowest factor: 2.39
Average factor: 2.53
Highest factor: 2.80
Monday, February 21, 2011
AWW SHEET Look what I found!
So I just started using Anki to use for reviews and look what I found today
Average Daily Reviews
Average Added
Average New Seen
Card Ease
Lowest factor: 2.39
Average factor: 2.53
Highest factor: 2.80
Deck created: 3.6 years ago
Total number of cards: 3007
Total number of facts: 3007
Card Maturity
Mature cards: 260 (8.6%)
Young cards: 517 (17.2%)
Unseen cards: 2230 (74.2%)
Average interval: 15.3 days
Correct Answers
Mature cards: 0.0% (0 of 0)
Young cards: 81.6% (2584 of 3166)
First-seen cards: 30.2% (235 of 777)
Recent Work
Total number of cards: 3007
Total number of facts: 3007
Card Maturity
Mature cards: 260 (8.6%)
Young cards: 517 (17.2%)
Unseen cards: 2230 (74.2%)
Average interval: 15.3 days
Correct Answers
Mature cards: 0.0% (0 of 0)
Young cards: 81.6% (2584 of 3166)
First-seen cards: 30.2% (235 of 777)
Recent Work
| In last week | 1041 reps/6 days |
| In last month | 3943 reps/28 days |
| In last 3 months | 3943 reps/28 days |
| In last 6 months | 3943 reps/28 days |
| In last year | 3943 reps/28 days |
| Deck life | 3943 reps/29 days |
Average Daily Reviews
| Deck life | 92.4 cards/day |
| In next week | 48.7 cards/day |
| In next month | 24.4 cards/day |
| In last week | 148.7 cards/day |
| In last month | 131.4 cards/day |
| In last 3 months | 42.9 cards/day |
| In last 6 months | 21.7 cards/day |
| In last year | 10.8 cards/day |
Average Added
| Deck life | 2.3/day, 69.4/mon |
| In last week | 0 (0.0/day) |
| In last month | 0 (0.0/day) |
| In last 3 months | 0 (0.0/day) |
| In last 6 months | 0 (0.0/day) |
| In last year | 0 (0.0/day) |
Average New Seen
| In last week | 177 (25.3/day) |
| In last month | 777 (25.9/day) |
| In last 3 months | 777 (8.4/day) |
| In last 6 months | 777 (4.3/day) |
| In last year | 777 (2.1/day) |
Card Ease
Lowest factor: 2.39
Average factor: 2.53
Highest factor: 2.80
End Transmission.
There is no catch up!!
One thing that cannot be done during this journey to literacy is Catch up. This goes for everything you planned to do in L2 but failed to do. It shouldn't be looked down upon but just forgoten. Forget that you were suppose to be at the Half-way mark of RTK by this point. What you need to do is just continue on at the same pace. Don't try to catch up and burn out in the process if you're sitting there twiddling your thumbs and want to do more reps then by all means do it but stop BEFORE it is too much. Always leave wanting more and you will continue to move at the pace you set.
If I am in the mood to do more Kanji What I do is input more stories. So I'm looking ahead to get the stories that I want to use sorted out but I'm not reviewing them. Sometimes I'll review like 5 more or something like that if I really get the urge but I don't allow myself to do this unless I added 1.5 times the number of Cards I want to do to the stories. Currently my stories are up to 825 and I'm at the 777 card (stopped cuz I liked the number ). So I have less than two days accounted for. I Kind of want to move up to 800 because I have only about 60 reviews tomorrow but I won't let myself until I add say 35 stories.
I was suppose to be at a point farther than this but I have missed days or didn't do the double amount of cards on weekends. But I'm not afraid because I'm staying consistent.
If I am in the mood to do more Kanji What I do is input more stories. So I'm looking ahead to get the stories that I want to use sorted out but I'm not reviewing them. Sometimes I'll review like 5 more or something like that if I really get the urge but I don't allow myself to do this unless I added 1.5 times the number of Cards I want to do to the stories. Currently my stories are up to 825 and I'm at the 777 card (stopped cuz I liked the number ). So I have less than two days accounted for. I Kind of want to move up to 800 because I have only about 60 reviews tomorrow but I won't let myself until I add say 35 stories.
I was suppose to be at a point farther than this but I have missed days or didn't do the double amount of cards on weekends. But I'm not afraid because I'm staying consistent.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Progress: 726 down 2281 to go
So I'm 1/3 through the first book with 1316 to go in RtK 1 and then the 965 from Rtk 3. 1/4 didnt seem like much of an accomplishment but 225 kanji after that 1/3 does feel more of an accomplishment. Probably because it's a different feel for the Kanji now that I am making up my own stories. Making up my own stories has slowed me down a bit because I have to spend a substantial amount of time gathering stories I like or making up new ones.
I once again missed another day. in the past 28 days I've been working on this project I missed 3 days. and yesterday was almost a missed day but I did some kanji (like 8) and reviewed some. My cumulative due Graph now doesnt look as even as is a little depressing cuz it shows that I am slowing down a little bit.
Most of my intervals are in the 10-13 day range though which I think is a good thing. And the eases graph of young cards is leaning more on columns 2 and 3 so the stories are probably doing a better job.
also in two days I get my first "Mature" card so this should get a little more interesting.
Tip: If I could go back I would probably make up my own stories or use stories off reviewing the kanji website for all of the Kanji. Heisig meant well but he just has a huge generation gap and his stories are influenced by religions a lot.
そして、じゃあね。
I once again missed another day. in the past 28 days I've been working on this project I missed 3 days. and yesterday was almost a missed day but I did some kanji (like 8) and reviewed some. My cumulative due Graph now doesnt look as even as is a little depressing cuz it shows that I am slowing down a little bit.
Most of my intervals are in the 10-13 day range though which I think is a good thing. And the eases graph of young cards is leaning more on columns 2 and 3 so the stories are probably doing a better job.
also in two days I get my first "Mature" card so this should get a little more interesting.
Tip: If I could go back I would probably make up my own stories or use stories off reviewing the kanji website for all of the Kanji. Heisig meant well but he just has a huge generation gap and his stories are influenced by religions a lot.
そして、じゃあね。
Monday, February 14, 2011
Progress: 600 down 2407 to go.
I will probably only put up progress reports every 100 cards or so now. Some thoughts: Keeping stories distinct is important. in the early 600's there is a lot of STATE OF MIND Kanji that end up turning into boring definitions. I had to look the exact definition of some the english words up before I could make a proper story for them.
The Review time is a lie. It takes longer for me to look up stories and write them down in anki that is not accounted for in these charts. But I find with the new user submitted stories and my own stories the image sticks a hell of a lot better. So review time is down for that aspect. Also the reps are significantly lower. Once through and I'm done if I looked up a story before hand. Twice if that particular story wasn't vivid enough. Very good for reviewing quick. Its definetly good to have more stories filled out than you plan to do the next day. I'm up to my 650th story but only review up to 600. Double the amount in stories is a lot of work. 1.5 times though should be doable. or I guess more like 1.6 times so that the numbers stay easy to calculate. so 40 stories a day and review 25. Not too bad.
Tip: It takes time but if you want to be fluent you need to put in the time eventually. This is a relatively painless way to do it. Just stick with it and I'm sure in the end our troubles will be worth it.
そして、じゃあね。
.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
I'm so LAZYYY!!!
The worst part of this process is sorting through stories from reviewing the kanji or making up new stories myself if none of them suit my taste. It is probably the least enjoyable part for me. I'm not a writer and never will be. I'm definitely not good at creative writing.
This is a necessary part of this process though i know it's working for me. MUCH better than the way we were learning them in class. FUCK CLASSES!!! haha it's so true if you're reading this post then you're most on the right track and sought out a better faster way of learning Kanji.
If you want to learn Japanese then I still suggest classes but mainly as a place to practice with your sensei. Learning on your own and randomly is easier and faster and if you're listening to native material then it is REAL LEARNING! Classes do suck as the textbooks don't sufficiently mix up all the grammar you have learned. Luckily my teacher loves to try and trip us up so he makes all the test really nuanced but its not too bad if your attentive.
Tip: Go ahead of your planned review point everyday and add stories but don't necessary review them.I want to input twice as many stories as I plan to review the next day. This means that I can review first and then go find more stories if and when time permits. It also means that I can miss days and be no problem. It's a quick way to familiarize yourself early with the Kanji but not seem like your forcing a memory. I feel one of the reasons the stories stick so well is because I am taking my time to pick out a good one. It means more time yes. But the time is worth it when it comes to learning a language. If you want to move slower go ahead move slower don't do as much work. AS FOR ME, I want/need to know KANJI before going back to Japan. Can you imagine being in Japan with only 160-300 Kanji under your belt? Not comfortable or err you learn to ignore signs lol.
Riding trains in Japan would be great for Kanji practice. In any one train cart there is probably 50 advertisements trying to get you to drink Sapporo beer or go to Disneyland etc. I Can't wait to go back.
This is a necessary part of this process though i know it's working for me. MUCH better than the way we were learning them in class. FUCK CLASSES!!! haha it's so true if you're reading this post then you're most on the right track and sought out a better faster way of learning Kanji.
If you want to learn Japanese then I still suggest classes but mainly as a place to practice with your sensei. Learning on your own and randomly is easier and faster and if you're listening to native material then it is REAL LEARNING! Classes do suck as the textbooks don't sufficiently mix up all the grammar you have learned. Luckily my teacher loves to try and trip us up so he makes all the test really nuanced but its not too bad if your attentive.
Tip: Go ahead of your planned review point everyday and add stories but don't necessary review them.I want to input twice as many stories as I plan to review the next day. This means that I can review first and then go find more stories if and when time permits. It also means that I can miss days and be no problem. It's a quick way to familiarize yourself early with the Kanji but not seem like your forcing a memory. I feel one of the reasons the stories stick so well is because I am taking my time to pick out a good one. It means more time yes. But the time is worth it when it comes to learning a language. If you want to move slower go ahead move slower don't do as much work. AS FOR ME, I want/need to know KANJI before going back to Japan. Can you imagine being in Japan with only 160-300 Kanji under your belt? Not comfortable or err you learn to ignore signs lol.
Riding trains in Japan would be great for Kanji practice. In any one train cart there is probably 50 advertisements trying to get you to drink Sapporo beer or go to Disneyland etc. I Can't wait to go back.
Friday, February 11, 2011
PART TWO FINISHED 2499 to go! (1534 from RTK1)
The Remembering the Kanji book has 3 parts
Part 1- "Stories" Heisig provides everything you need to remember the Kanji.
Part 2- "Plots" - Shorter stories made up of the primitives to get a general picture and the reader can expand and make the story more vivid to better suit their own personal taste.
Part 3- "Elements"- Now it's up to the reader or the great people at kanji.koohii.com "Reviewing the Kanji" to make up stories for the various elements. Heisig provides a structured ordered but the stories are up to the reader. This is a good thing because some of Heisig's stories do NOT stick well and I have replaced those with either my own stories or stories I got off Reviewing the Kanji.
I guess I should have waitied to post and not have posted earlier. However, I didn't know i was going to bust out another 36 Kanji today. That makes what? Wow like 74 new cards today. Thats a little ridiculous. I wonder how well they will stick by tomorrow. かな〜 This marks the 1/4 mark of RTK1. So roughly 20 days and I'm 1/4 done. The next sections are a bit harder because you need to make a story and stick with it so it may or may not take longer. we'll see...
そして、じゃあね。
。
Part 1- "Stories" Heisig provides everything you need to remember the Kanji.
Part 2- "Plots" - Shorter stories made up of the primitives to get a general picture and the reader can expand and make the story more vivid to better suit their own personal taste.
Part 3- "Elements"- Now it's up to the reader or the great people at kanji.koohii.com "Reviewing the Kanji" to make up stories for the various elements. Heisig provides a structured ordered but the stories are up to the reader. This is a good thing because some of Heisig's stories do NOT stick well and I have replaced those with either my own stories or stories I got off Reviewing the Kanji.
I guess I should have waitied to post and not have posted earlier. However, I didn't know i was going to bust out another 36 Kanji today. That makes what? Wow like 74 new cards today. Thats a little ridiculous. I wonder how well they will stick by tomorrow. かな〜 This marks the 1/4 mark of RTK1. So roughly 20 days and I'm 1/4 done. The next sections are a bit harder because you need to make a story and stick with it so it may or may not take longer. we'll see...
そして、じゃあね。
。
I WANT MORE
I'm starting to feel an urge to do more Kanji. Like doing 41 ish today wasn't enough. I'm sitting here listening to my J-music and watching J-tv. I'm gonna go out later today but right now I could be doing some more J-(sjakdjsdhak) C-characters.
I should be doing more Kanji if I want to so bad.
I should be doing more Kanji if I want to so bad.
Progress: 472 down 2535 to go.
The 472 down isn't really down yet. They are familiarized right now. But they are well on their way to becoming "DOWN". I did more than 25 cards today at first it was because I wanted to even out the number of cards that are "TO GO" but then I saw the next 5 I already knew like 3 of them so I kept going to those 5. 2535 isnt the best number to leave off at 2530 is much better. But that will wait for this weekend.Intervals are spacing out a bit which is VERY NICE.
I also included time this time because I was curious how long have a invested in learning these Kanji so far. It looks to be about 850 minutes (14 hours 10 minutes ) That's about 108 seconds per card. This includes looking at the kanji, reading the story a couple times, as well as all reviews, reviews include re-reading any stories that aren't 100% clear in my mind. 108 seconds is not a lot of time AT ALL. Fuck in class I probably used to spend about 5 minutes per Kanji 300 seconds. Just to learn it for the test and promply forget it the next day.I'm lovin it!! (SUPONJI BOBU!!)
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
I think I might be slow.
It seems that everyone learning Kanji right now is moving at a pace much higher than mine. I'm not gonna up the amount of new cards per day but it was kind of an eye opener. I may move up to 25 cards a day. I originally started at 25 cards but went to 20 when I couldn't finish within a 20 minute time box. I found today That I wanted to do more new cards. As I went through my deck I expected to get new cards even though the deck told me I had no new cards. Starting Tomorrow ( Wait no right NOW!!. brb ....) Okay starting today I did 25 cards. This Ups my cards to 25 during the week and 50 on weekends (tentative). Minimum of 225 per week Max of 250.
I leave my time box at 20 minutes. Even though I take longer to finish up all the reviews and new Kanji than 20 minutes. The reason is it tricks me into thinking I want to do a lot more Kanji then I would if it was one long list. Also I take a quick minute break to go grab some water or use the otearai お手洗い. O hand wash i. ( restroom if you didn't know )
The koohii forum is great motivation to get out there and finish these Kanji up. If they can do it so can I !!!
Has anyone noticed katzu updates AJATT every 3 days religiously. And from reading his post I think he has successfully timeboxed his entire life. Don't go too crazy with it but it helps get things done. I work well under pressure.
I leave my time box at 20 minutes. Even though I take longer to finish up all the reviews and new Kanji than 20 minutes. The reason is it tricks me into thinking I want to do a lot more Kanji then I would if it was one long list. Also I take a quick minute break to go grab some water or use the otearai お手洗い. O hand wash i. ( restroom if you didn't know )
The koohii forum is great motivation to get out there and finish these Kanji up. If they can do it so can I !!!
Has anyone noticed katzu updates AJATT every 3 days religiously. And from reading his post I think he has successfully timeboxed his entire life. Don't go too crazy with it but it helps get things done. I work well under pressure.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Why are you studying Japanese?
This is one of those questions you'll hear all the time. You'll hear it from English speaking friends, Japanese friends, even other Japanese learners. This questions really gets at me. Like I need a reason to do something anything. It's like asking why you eat chocolate or go to the gym. Simple answer is because you're doing it. I don't need to justify myself to you because you're not learning Japanese. I don't need to justify my reasons for learning Japanese even when I'm in Japan.
I know a foreigner is an odd sight to see. Shit I was surprised when I saw foreigners in Tokyo. I always had the feeling that I should say Hi or something to acknowledge them. ( Never did though. ) But really you're in japan that is reason enough to learn the damn language. I could roll off easy answers like I have family in Japan or I'm doing it because I wanna work for a Japanese Engineering company.
LIES LIES LIES!!
I don't have a reason to learn Japanese. I've dated almost every other asian type of girl besides a Japanese girl might be one answer depending on the time of day. Another one could be I just took it as an elective in college. That is probably the most accurate actually. All those other classes seemed so boring so it was either Japanese or italian/Spanish/german for me. FUCK IT lets do Japanese and off I was.
I like pushing my boundaries and being uncomfortable. hence Japanese
I like being better than others. hence me secretly competing with all the other Japanese learners around me. They will probably eventually see this blog and call me out on it. I <3 you guys!!!
I've always loved other languages.
Staying in one place does not work me. I need to go somewhere travel accomplish something that most people don't.
Every time you speak in another language around strictly english speakers they are slightly impressed. They may say they don't care but the fact is it's impressive. By learning Japanese I can talk to 131 million people that most people can't.
I am cocky for no reason besides my unsurpassed good looks and natural talent to bring your girlfriend to my bed and I want everyone to know it. I want to be able to be a star in a karaoke room of 5-10 people. I want to be famous. I don't care about money. I spend money as if I had a job. The Yen is so much easier to spend than the dollar. I will never be anything I don't want to be. I will always pretend to be what I want to be. I am me. I study Japanese. It's Awesome. I'm awesome by association.
You should be too.
So, jaane.
じゃあね。
OH!! btw why are you learning Japanese?
.
I know a foreigner is an odd sight to see. Shit I was surprised when I saw foreigners in Tokyo. I always had the feeling that I should say Hi or something to acknowledge them. ( Never did though. ) But really you're in japan that is reason enough to learn the damn language. I could roll off easy answers like I have family in Japan or I'm doing it because I wanna work for a Japanese Engineering company.
LIES LIES LIES!!
I don't have a reason to learn Japanese. I've dated almost every other asian type of girl besides a Japanese girl might be one answer depending on the time of day. Another one could be I just took it as an elective in college. That is probably the most accurate actually. All those other classes seemed so boring so it was either Japanese or italian/Spanish/german for me. FUCK IT lets do Japanese and off I was.
I like pushing my boundaries and being uncomfortable. hence Japanese
I like being better than others. hence me secretly competing with all the other Japanese learners around me. They will probably eventually see this blog and call me out on it. I <3 you guys!!!
I've always loved other languages.
Staying in one place does not work me. I need to go somewhere travel accomplish something that most people don't.
Every time you speak in another language around strictly english speakers they are slightly impressed. They may say they don't care but the fact is it's impressive. By learning Japanese I can talk to 131 million people that most people can't.
I am cocky for no reason besides my unsurpassed good looks and natural talent to bring your girlfriend to my bed and I want everyone to know it. I want to be able to be a star in a karaoke room of 5-10 people. I want to be famous. I don't care about money. I spend money as if I had a job. The Yen is so much easier to spend than the dollar. I will never be anything I don't want to be. I will always pretend to be what I want to be. I am me. I study Japanese. It's Awesome. I'm awesome by association.
You should be too.
So, jaane.
じゃあね。
OH!! btw why are you learning Japanese?
.
389 So close to 400!!
It doesn't take long to reach another 100 cards at all. I know the end is a little ways away but compared to people who have traditionally tried to just remember the Kanji by writing it over and over I think I'm doing really well. The rest of the people in my class kind of think I'm becoming a Kanji King. I try to tell them about Heisig Method and the beneifits I've gained from an SRS but they don't want to put in the time. I told them about it and obviously can't force them to do it. People will put in as much or as little time as they want. I'm taking this language to become fluent not to just for fun. Although it is fun to learn so I guess it's not all true. I haven't even done many Kanji yet but they still are trying to make me feel bad when I forget kanji like for 仕事。I haven't reached those Kanji in Heisig yet so I'm not worried lol. << Missed a day 2 days ago but made up for in the next day.
I'm pretty Harsh on myself when it comes to judging the Kanji I've come across before even multiple times. I only hit 4 for the Kanji I really know. Mostly because of class.
Rolling along but not looking forward to Thursday 100+ reviews ( some will build up as I learn more Kanji).
Tip of the Day::
I'm pretty sure it goes without saying but you should always being writing the Kanji whether you "know" it or not. Writing it again and again is what is gonna make you become a beast at Kanji. I write all the Kanji out and twice if I got it wrong even slightly.
Well that's all for today. jaane.
じゃあね。
.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Progress: 327 down 2680 to go
Eases getting better.
Yesterday I did 57 new Kanji cards. As I went though the cards today I found I forgot about 10 of those. So That's not too bad and after reviewing today they seem to have sticked better. As it should that's why we do reps. On the weekends I might do more than 20 a day if I have time (read: have no social life for the day.) So later today I'll learn 20 more and review them all tomorrow. If i do 40 new cards on saturdays and sundays (20 in the morning 20 at night) then I will be going through 180 cards a week instead of 140. This means I will reduce the time to get to 2047 Kanji by 23 days!! And reduce the time to get to 3007 Kanji by 34 Days!! Thats a little over a month that can now be spent learning Japanese Sentences instead of just pictures.
I will report if there's any negatives to doing more new cards on days that you have extra time later. Until that point I suggest you try it for yourself and see if it helps. The extra time will be much appreciated.
ETA: April 14th - 2047 Kanji
May 22nd - 3007 Kanji
Wish me luck
So, jaane.
じゃあね。
.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Progress: 307 down 2700 to go.
So I'm happy today. Even though I slacked yesterday I picked up the slack and broke 300 Kanji today. 307 Kanji Studied with the Heisig method and I'm pretty confident of all these as far as meanings go. I even have some of the readings down because they come up during my classes. 願ーねが。とか, petition as I remembered it justed onegaishimasu. which means basically "Please" in Japanese. Makes sense that you're petitioning someone when you ask for something. Celebrating small Victories here but One aspect of AJATT I like is thinking of Japanese as series of small winnable games.
Objective: 300 Kanji in under 2 weeks - STAGE CLEAR!
ポーチはもっと可愛くてなっています。
What I'm doing for immersion.
So immersion requires you to be cut off from anything english. I have just started the immersion process and it's pretty hard to get used to. I don't understand any of my songs on my iphone. I can barely understand my iphone ( It speaks Japanese ). All my TV is Japanese via KeyholeTV. (which i suggest to anyone). And finally I slowly make my way through some Japanese websites. NicoNicoDouga (nicovideo.jp )
So in my free time I translate the songs in my iPhone. This is probably the most important thing to me because I like to know what the songs I'm listening to mean. Or at least mostly what it means.
I do Kanji practice everyday for anywhere between 30-60 min. I'm doing extra time today because I cheated yesterday. Never stop always do the minimum you require of yourself. Its sucks to stop even for a day.
I like watching Japanese TV with competitions. I need to somehow find a TVguide for these Japanese channels. I'll search after this. I watched a show called "G wars" today that was pretty cool they had teams against each other.
Other than changing what I do during my lazy time I have started making more Japanese speaking friends. Some study Japanese and others are Japanese. Both equally motivating. Thanks to all them this is becoming a much more enjoyable process.
So in my free time I translate the songs in my iPhone. This is probably the most important thing to me because I like to know what the songs I'm listening to mean. Or at least mostly what it means.
I do Kanji practice everyday for anywhere between 30-60 min. I'm doing extra time today because I cheated yesterday. Never stop always do the minimum you require of yourself. Its sucks to stop even for a day.
I like watching Japanese TV with competitions. I need to somehow find a TVguide for these Japanese channels. I'll search after this. I watched a show called "G wars" today that was pretty cool they had teams against each other.
Other than changing what I do during my lazy time I have started making more Japanese speaking friends. Some study Japanese and others are Japanese. Both equally motivating. Thanks to all them this is becoming a much more enjoyable process.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Heisig Stories FTW
I took those stories for granted in the beginning. Plain and simple i didn't read them. YOU HAVE TO READ THEM. It really can't hurt it just takes longer. So yesterday my numbers sucked with 61 reviews today I had alot on my plate. I decided this won't do so I took more time and read the stories for each Kanji even the ones I "knew." It definetly helped.
Check below.
So even though I had more to do today. Because I read through the stories I got the Kanji correct on the 2nd time though even for new Kanji so my reps are significantly lower. The other two graphs don't show much of change. The time,however, took twice as long today as usual. That was torturous almost but I have myself to blame for not reading the stories as I originally came across them. So instead of 20 short stories to read I had 81 stories to go through today. And For the next (checks graph) 6 or 7 days I will also need to go back and read a bunch of stories to catch up.
START off right and read the stories as you go through.
ALSO I started a deck with the answers and questions flipped so Kanji -> Keyword. This is admittedly easier because it is about 10 days behind the other deck and also the goal of the Kanji writing is to know the meaning. I started this because as I went through my notebook I found a lot of Kanji I didn't know what they meant but given the Keyword I could produce the Kanji. Seems weird to me but I must be keeping them seperate in my brain somehow. If you find you're having this trouble maybe consider keyword drilling as well.
Check below.
So even though I had more to do today. Because I read through the stories I got the Kanji correct on the 2nd time though even for new Kanji so my reps are significantly lower. The other two graphs don't show much of change. The time,however, took twice as long today as usual. That was torturous almost but I have myself to blame for not reading the stories as I originally came across them. So instead of 20 short stories to read I had 81 stories to go through today. And For the next (checks graph) 6 or 7 days I will also need to go back and read a bunch of stories to catch up.
START off right and read the stories as you go through.
ALSO I started a deck with the answers and questions flipped so Kanji -> Keyword. This is admittedly easier because it is about 10 days behind the other deck and also the goal of the Kanji writing is to know the meaning. I started this because as I went through my notebook I found a lot of Kanji I didn't know what they meant but given the Keyword I could produce the Kanji. Seems weird to me but I must be keeping them seperate in my brain somehow. If you find you're having this trouble maybe consider keyword drilling as well.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Progress: 229 down 2778 to go
Let's take a look at the graphs that Anki provides us.
Cards due and Reps: Cards due is a glimpse into what your future holds. Tomorrow I have some work to do. As you get new cards they will always be closer before the next review while more mature cards I won't see for 20+ days. From this graph I can see that maybe I'm not remembering the Kanji as well as I should. I can either take more time to go through at a slower pace or choose to do less cards per day. I'm gonna try the first method as well as go back and fill in Heisig's story's for the Kanji on the back of the cards.
Reps shows how many times you flipped through the cards each day. If you have more you need to review this number will be higher as well as if you go through and miss a card multiple times. My reps seem to slowly be increasing so I should take more time to review.
Reps shows how many times you flipped through the cards each day. If you have more you need to review this number will be higher as well as if you go through and miss a card multiple times. My reps seem to slowly be increasing so I should take more time to review.
Cumulative Due: simply a running total of all the cards you went through this should always steady increase to reflect the constant amount of cards you did. Useless for this blog but kind of makes you feel like your making progress.
The Top graph is "Intervals" it shows how many cards you have completed that have a certain amount of days in between each rep. So If i come across a card in the 4 days pile and I get it correct then it will move to say a 6 days pile and I won't see it for another 6 days.
Eases: Probably the most important graph shown. It tells you how you rated the different type of cards you come across. (For me: 1- Got it even slightly wrong cycle through AGAIN. 2-Got it right but took a while or wasn't confident. 3-95% confidence and I remember only recently having that card be New. 4- Seen multiple times and a F*&^%ing Cake Walk) Light blue is New Cards so naturally you won't do too well. Dark Blue you've seen before and have gotten them correct in the past. Bright Blue you should know these cards.
I expect the New cards to stay relatively the same however I would like to see more in the 2's range. See it once and get it on the 2nd time through.
Dark blue I don't forsee a huge change but would like it to be more level if not skewed right towards good.
Bright Blue Hopefully won't have any 1's but it may happen. 3's and 4's are a must.
I'll come up with a way of judging my retention rate probably based off both the Young and mature Cards. With more emphasis on the Mature cards. Something like 20% for Young 80% for Mature sounds about right. and 3's or 4's count as retention.
So, jaane
じゃあね。
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Ready, Set, GO! : The Beginning
This is the "Who?, What?, Where?, Why?" post for the "How?" blog that is sitting in front of your little 13-21 inch screen. (21 inches? Really man? You need that much room to watch Youtube or ニコニコ動画??)
I'm currently a college student that is quickly discovering that I don't want to take my life slow. I don't want to waste my time while I'm young and I want to get out and see the world. Dreams of every middle aged wife that got knocked up too young and chose not to get the abortion. ( Did I just lose some readers? Okay they're gone now we can continue. ) I study [Your favorite major] at [Your University] as well as Japanese. Now [Your favorite major] is pretty common but ask anybody what they think about Japanese and people are pretty amazed and exclaim that it must be SUPER difficult, like cure cancer and AIDS simultaneously difficult. This can't be true. I have a little brother and sister out in Japan that speak perfect Japanese and as far as I know they haven't cured neither cancer nor AIDS.
I have some immediate family in or around the area of a little city called Tokyo, which if you're reading this I'm assuming you want to be. (Unless of course you don't.) I, however, did not have the benefit of growing up multilingual, even though I'm half Peruvian and half White and have family in Japan. Well I am fixing that as we speak. I recently ( 1 week ago ) adopted a popular method call All Japanese All The Time. If you haven't heard of it head over to www.alljapaneseallthetime.com . Don't forget the address I know it's a hard one to remember. OK cool. This blog is going to be a place to check my progress and my current thoughts about learning this language. You can use it to compare yourself to someone else on your same quest if your the competitive type. Or just take my advice and learn how I learn as I learn it.
Let's Break Down the Steps:
Do you want to learn Japanese? Check. Now wait seriously DO YOU WANT TO LEARN JAPANESE?!! Check. Ok then let's do it. Together 一緒に。 Now you just need to believe that you can do it and if you're unsure I suggest going over to that website with the long name I gave a second ago and read. Khatz is a good motivational speaker.
First you need to quit English. Forget English. It never existed.
Next you need to start doing everything you like doing but this time in Japanese. This includes movies, cartoons, music, websites, friends (ouch! Well it's bound to happen some friends just don't understand when you're committed to learning a language.)
Wait I missed something. Oh yeah during immersion you have some learning to do. This is done in 3 other steps.
Lets Break Down The Steps:
Learn the meanings and how to write them. Don't worry about how to say the words just yet. The book I'm using to do this is Remembering the Kanji 1 and 3 by James Heisig. I also use a program called Anki found at http://ankisrs.net/ . Together It is impossible not to learn. I'm currently learning 20 new Kanji per day. At this rate I will get through the basic 2047 or so Kanji by May 5th. (I started a week ago?) add another 1000 Kanji to this and ill be done with those by end of June. AWESOME!
This first part may seem slow but I have been studying Japanese for roughly 1.5 years and trust me this past week has done wonders for me. Once you know the meanings of the first 2000 Kanji you'll start to learn how to read and use Japanese much faster ( I assume from reading AJATT blog). Really it will and I can tell because from classes you don't really have a great understanding of the language at all. This immersion thing is the best way.
Learn Hiragana and Katakana, 2 other ways to represent the Japanese language. Combine the three Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana and you now have the Japanese writing system. Japanese does not have 3 alphabets. It is just one system.
Now it makes sense that if you already know the meanings of kanji you will be able to write them while learning how to speak. Also I already know both Hiragana and Katakana from my classes. So I guess that's an unfair advantage and will probably knock off about 4 or 6 days off my journey. Yeah It's not hard to learn. But, it is perfected through practice so unless your using it there is no point in learning these until your ready to start learning readings. (After the first 2000 Kanji)
You have now been immersed in the language for about 3-4 months right? Are you going crazy. Idk I guess we'll see together but Step 3 is to start taking sentences from all those books, music, TV shows, and movies you collected over the past few months. You load these sentences up into Anki as well and start learning them the same way as Kanji. The Goal is 10000 sentences in your deck at any time. This will be built up over time don't worry. Kids don't learn from someone drilling into them that this is a door and those are walls. (Well a little) But the grammar part is definitely not explained to them. They pick it up from context and copying those around them. Most Japanese don't know the grammar points we think we know. They do not sit there and convert to て-form switch it to a た or だ and add "blah blah" to it. They just react to what they know and feel is true. Try thinking about how you speak your native language. Yeah it just happens if you had to think so much you wouldn't be able to communicate effectively. This is the goal from sentences. You know the meanings of the sentences and can say it and reproduce it even if you don't know the specifics about every slight change in sound. You develop knowledge of nouns and particles and how things work NATURALLY.
Now this scattered version of a blog is just me letting you know what I'm up to. I suggest you check out AJATT and come visit me to see how I'm doing and let me know how you're doing. I have some more reviews I need to do before bed.
So, jaane.
じゃあね。
I'm currently a college student that is quickly discovering that I don't want to take my life slow. I don't want to waste my time while I'm young and I want to get out and see the world. Dreams of every middle aged wife that got knocked up too young and chose not to get the abortion. ( Did I just lose some readers? Okay they're gone now we can continue. ) I study [Your favorite major] at [Your University] as well as Japanese. Now [Your favorite major] is pretty common but ask anybody what they think about Japanese and people are pretty amazed and exclaim that it must be SUPER difficult, like cure cancer and AIDS simultaneously difficult. This can't be true. I have a little brother and sister out in Japan that speak perfect Japanese and as far as I know they haven't cured neither cancer nor AIDS.
I have some immediate family in or around the area of a little city called Tokyo, which if you're reading this I'm assuming you want to be. (Unless of course you don't.) I, however, did not have the benefit of growing up multilingual, even though I'm half Peruvian and half White and have family in Japan. Well I am fixing that as we speak. I recently ( 1 week ago ) adopted a popular method call All Japanese All The Time. If you haven't heard of it head over to www.alljapaneseallthetime.com . Don't forget the address I know it's a hard one to remember. OK cool. This blog is going to be a place to check my progress and my current thoughts about learning this language. You can use it to compare yourself to someone else on your same quest if your the competitive type. Or just take my advice and learn how I learn as I learn it.
Let's Break Down the Steps:
::::::Step 1. Desire
Do you want to learn Japanese? Check. Now wait seriously DO YOU WANT TO LEARN JAPANESE?!! Check. Ok then let's do it. Together 一緒に。 Now you just need to believe that you can do it and if you're unsure I suggest going over to that website with the long name I gave a second ago and read. Khatz is a good motivational speaker.
::::::Step 2. Immersion and Everything that goes with it.
First you need to quit English. Forget English. It never existed.
Next you need to start doing everything you like doing but this time in Japanese. This includes movies, cartoons, music, websites, friends (ouch! Well it's bound to happen some friends just don't understand when you're committed to learning a language.)
::::::Step 3. You know Japanese
Wait I missed something. Oh yeah during immersion you have some learning to do. This is done in 3 other steps.
Lets Break Down The Steps:
::::::Step 1. Learn Kanji (Chinese characters used in Japanese).
Learn the meanings and how to write them. Don't worry about how to say the words just yet. The book I'm using to do this is Remembering the Kanji 1 and 3 by James Heisig. I also use a program called Anki found at http://ankisrs.net/ . Together It is impossible not to learn. I'm currently learning 20 new Kanji per day. At this rate I will get through the basic 2047 or so Kanji by May 5th. (I started a week ago?) add another 1000 Kanji to this and ill be done with those by end of June. AWESOME!
This first part may seem slow but I have been studying Japanese for roughly 1.5 years and trust me this past week has done wonders for me. Once you know the meanings of the first 2000 Kanji you'll start to learn how to read and use Japanese much faster ( I assume from reading AJATT blog). Really it will and I can tell because from classes you don't really have a great understanding of the language at all. This immersion thing is the best way.
::::::Step 2. Learn the kana.
Learn Hiragana and Katakana, 2 other ways to represent the Japanese language. Combine the three Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana and you now have the Japanese writing system. Japanese does not have 3 alphabets. It is just one system.
Now it makes sense that if you already know the meanings of kanji you will be able to write them while learning how to speak. Also I already know both Hiragana and Katakana from my classes. So I guess that's an unfair advantage and will probably knock off about 4 or 6 days off my journey. Yeah It's not hard to learn. But, it is perfected through practice so unless your using it there is no point in learning these until your ready to start learning readings. (After the first 2000 Kanji)
::::::Step 3. Pick up the language naturally.
You have now been immersed in the language for about 3-4 months right? Are you going crazy. Idk I guess we'll see together but Step 3 is to start taking sentences from all those books, music, TV shows, and movies you collected over the past few months. You load these sentences up into Anki as well and start learning them the same way as Kanji. The Goal is 10000 sentences in your deck at any time. This will be built up over time don't worry. Kids don't learn from someone drilling into them that this is a door and those are walls. (Well a little) But the grammar part is definitely not explained to them. They pick it up from context and copying those around them. Most Japanese don't know the grammar points we think we know. They do not sit there and convert to て-form switch it to a た or だ and add "blah blah" to it. They just react to what they know and feel is true. Try thinking about how you speak your native language. Yeah it just happens if you had to think so much you wouldn't be able to communicate effectively. This is the goal from sentences. You know the meanings of the sentences and can say it and reproduce it even if you don't know the specifics about every slight change in sound. You develop knowledge of nouns and particles and how things work NATURALLY.
Now this scattered version of a blog is just me letting you know what I'm up to. I suggest you check out AJATT and come visit me to see how I'm doing and let me know how you're doing. I have some more reviews I need to do before bed.
So, jaane.
じゃあね。
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