1 Year of Japanese!

こんにちは。

Yesterday was officially my 1 year mark in learning Japanese! I've learned a lot over this past year. I've learned so many things, anything from what study methods work best for me or aren't worth my time, to having a deeper understanding and appreciation of how culture influences language use.

I plan to continue learning, and I still love Japanese and am so happy to have learned all I have this past year. It's been a great journey so far!

じゃまたね。

10 Months of Learning Japanese - Day 305

こんばんは。久しぶりです。Hello everyone! It's been a long time since I've felt up to making a new post. The last two months have been full of personal and family health challenges. I've been feeling a little better the last couple of weeks, and I've been able to study some more after having to cut back a lot for two months. 

To brush back up on things I've been reviewing all my vocabulary words on Anki and other apps I've used here and there to remind myself that I haven't forgotten Japanese! I was getting a little stressed for a while that I might start studying again only to find I'd forgotten everything. This hasn't been the case though, so I'm very relieved to be picking up again where I left off. 

I haven't been learning anything new since I've been focusing on reviewing things I've learned so far. I can't believe I started learning 10 months ago already! It seems like just yesterday, but it also feels like it was a long time ago.

I hope to feel well enough to make some more progress soon, but even if not I will keep reviewing all the things I've learned and continue to love and enjoy the Japanese language and culture.

じゃまたね。

Day 252 Progress Update

皆さんこんばんは。

Hi everyone! Since my last post on May 11, I've reached a couple of landmark dates. On May 21 it was the eight month mark since beginning to learn Japanese. It was my 250th day on May 27. I like numbers and dates if you can't tell. ;) It helps keep me motivated when I measure things that way.

I haven't increased my vocabulary much the past few weeks. I've just been working on the words I already know, so my total is around 5600 words that I do my best to remember and recognize. This last month has brought a lot of physical challenges for me and someone else close to me, so many days it's all I can do to review my flashcards while laying in bed. That sounds weird, but it gives me something to do when I'm trying to get enough energy to get out of bed. 

I continue to utilize JapanesePod101's lessons, and I review the meanings of kanji in addition to using some other apps here and there. However, if I'm not feeling well at all one day, I do my review flashcards for the day and call it good. I have made some progress in Genki and definitely find that to be the best use of my time when I'm up for it. Hopefully I'll feel a little better in these coming weeks, and I'll be able to make some more progress. If not, then I hope to at least retain what I've learned so far. 'Tis the challenge of learning languages when you are chronically ill. 

Working on Japanese, Spanish, Cantonese, and Korean in varying degrees gives me positive and interesting things to do each day. I feel like my brain starts turning to mush without some brain food, so languages are my brain food right now. It's easy to get very down when you can't do much physically. Studying gives me something to look forward to and make progress in even when doing very poor physically. It's either this or watch a lot of tv or play games. Which in excess feels like brain junk food when consumed in high amounts. ;)

I have always loved languages. Even though I'm not very well physically, learning about some of the languages and cultures that have always fascinated me is definitely fulfilling. I look forward to seeing where I am on my next update! 

If you're interested, I have posted my first blog post today on cantoneseiscool.blogspot.com. I'll be posting updates on my journey and progress of learning Cantonese. It's exciting so far!

じゃね。

234 Days of Learning Japanese!

皆さんこんにちは。

Well, here I am on day 234! I've been continuing to work hard learning new vocabulary, grammar, and to improve my listening skills. I've noticed that I'm starting to understand more and feel less overwhelmed when listening to music or watching videos in Japanese. 

As a result of feeling less overwhelmed, I've been listening to even more music, watching more videos, and listening to audio books while reading along. It's been helping so much and I feel that I've turned a corner into where I can actually enjoy learning instead of studying being so serious all the time. I'm still doing all the serious studies, such as reviewing vocabulary cards in Anki, but now when I don't feel up for that I can at least watch or listen to something and understand what's going on without having to rely on subtitles or a lyric translation so heavily. 

It's such an exciting feeling to listen to something and catch more than just a word here and there. To be able to listen to something and be able to really understand (with a little work) it has been really great. 

I've been listening to a lot of music the past few weeks after I came across a song that I had known the tune previously but didn't know more than that. The song is "Ue o Muite Arukou"  or sometimes known as "Sukiyaki" sung by Kyu Sakamoto. I've been a little obsessed with the song and have played it and sung it a lot. 

Last week I downloaded a CD called "Planet Journey" from an artist named Ritsuka. I love all the songs and I have learned new vocabulary and grammar from listening closely. I've been really into the song "Aoi Tori" aka "Bluebird". There were a lot of words I already knew when I first listened to it so it had caught my attention, and now that I have listened a lot I've learned a good deal. I've been enjoying some other songs and artists as well, but these two songs stand out. I've been trying to find some additional music artists that fit my tastes but it's a lot of work. 

I also have been watching some clips from game shows on YouTube. AKBingo is my favorite right now even though I know there is a lot of controversy and some shady things concerning AKB48, the music group that the show is built around. 

Aside from diving into Japanese music and media a little more, I've been continuing to practice in more serious ways as well. I haven't done as much Rosetta Stone as I'd like to the past few weeks because I haven't been well enough (thus all the time on my hands to watch game shows and such). I have been doing some more vocabulary, and have worked my way up to about 5500 vocabulary words that I'm currently working on. Since I've been doing more reading and other things, it has felt easier to remember more words and their meanings. Sometimes just practicing a word in Anki a couple of times, and then hearing it in a song or on a program is all it takes to remember it well.

In one of my last posts I talked about taking a break from new vocabulary, and I took around a month long break (or close to that). I may take another break in the future if I feel burned out on new words, but right now I feel like my learning is similar to a snowball running down a hill that's getting bigger and bigger and I want it to keep going. It's a hard balance between doing too little and not progressing much and becoming frustrated that way, or doing too much and getting overwhelmed. This past week I've felt like being in an at-home pseudo-immersion where I just want more and more no matter how well I understand it all. I know that will likely taper off but it's been nice to feel less overwhelmed in general, even if it's a temporary thing.

I've felt myself more easily be able to make sentences, and I often think quite a few sentences (at minimum) in Japanese each day. Even though I'm by myself a lot it is a relief to be able to form a complete thought fairly quickly about something I'm watching, etc. Baby steps! 

I can't wait to see how much progress I make between now and my next update! Thanks for reading!

じゃまたね。

Day 211 Progress Update

皆さんこんばんは。

Hello everyone! Here I am on day 211, and I feel like things are going well. I've continued to review the vocabulary words I've learned so far, but I have not been learning any new words via an app. I have still learned new words the natural way here and there.

Getting off the insane vocabulary word accumulation treadmill has been so good for me. I've instead used my time building my core skills and grammar. Even though I was working on all those things before, I'm now able to spend more time on making sentences and understanding than I had been able to before. I feel a lot less stress about learning and it has become enjoyable again. I will definitely learn more words again at some point, but I can see now how I just need to go with the flow a little more and do what feels right each step of the way instead of trying to fit my studying and progress into some kind of pre-made mold. 

I've been using my Genki I book and Rosetta Stone mostly these past few weeks in addition to reviewing vocabulary words/example sentences in Anki and using JapanesePod101. I've felt myself reach a higher level of understanding than where I'd been previously and it's exciting! I've been working especially hard on increasing my usage and understanding of a wider scope of verb conjugations and using more particles correctly.

Can't wait to see where I'm at on my next update! Thanks for reading!

さようなら。

Day 200 Progress Update

皆さんこんばんは。

Well, here I am on day 200! I've definitely learned a lot these past 200 days...and I'm also at a turning point. I've been in self-reflection mode a lot both because that's normal for me this time of year and also because of losing someone dear to me this past week very unexpectedly.

In the spirit of inner reflection, here are a few of the things I've been pondering concerning going forward in my Japanese learning.

I've been spending a lot of time learning vocabulary, which is a good thing, but can get a little out of hand. Focusing a lot on vocabulary is particularly popular for a lot of people including myself who like to quantify their learning into numbers. I've used different apps and books to aid in my learning, including using Anki. The deck on Anki that I've been using has helped me so much - I think one's experience with Anki and how effective it is largely depends on what deck you use. The one I've been using has been SO helpful. My reading comprehension and reading skills have improved so much. I am going to continue using Anki, but the thing I'm questioning is the pace of learning any new vocabulary for at least a little while. 

Because I love numbers like most everyone else seems to these days, my most high goal has been to learn the all magical number of vocabulary words in one year - 10,000. Right now I'm at about 4400-4500 words that I can read and recognize well. No I can't use them all in conversation, but there are a lot of English words I know well that I would never use in a conversation either. That however is different since I can speak and think in English just fine... ;)

Because I'm now 200 days into learning Japanese, it's becoming more and more obvious to me how much more practice I need in making my own sentences. I do pretty well for the stage I'm at in reading other's writing and my listening skills are coming along well too. As for making complete thoughts and being able to say or think more than a sentence here or there, I definitely feel behind from where I'd like to be. The past week or so I've spent less time doing new vocabulary and I've been spending more time writing and speaking sentences. Simple ones, but I need to just work hard and build up my abilities in that area.

I've been a little addicted to reaching that 10,000 word goal for this first year, and I've evaluated that goal here and there along the way so far, but I'm really thinking about it even harder now. I've also justified continuing towards that goal because my reading ability has improved so much from expanding my vocabulary. However, I think because I do have some health problems and due to that situation I only have a small amount of time that I'm well enough each day to have "hard-core" study time. That means I really need to use that feel-good time wisely. I've been focusing so much on vocabulary, and while I know that's good and has helped me be able to read and know so much more than if I hadn't been doing so much vocabulary thus far, I really am at a turning point. 

So right now the question I'm considering is this: Do I keep going forward as I have been, learning up to 35 new vocabulary words a day so I can attain that magical 10,000 words come September? OR Do I slack off a little on learning new words, failing to reach that obsessive compulsive 10,000 words, but in so doing I would likely spend more time doing other types of practice that I hope will help me more overall?

I'm pretty sure I'm going to be learning less new words from here forward, letting go of that 10,000 words in one year goal I've had. It's a really good goal, and I know it has done wonders for a lot of other people. It makes me sad to think about changing course a little and not being able to put a figurative checkmark at the end of my first year knowing that many words. But I can see that if what I really want is to be able to speak and think in Japanese and not just read and listen, I need to pull back just a little on being number obsessed and build up my core skills a little better. I know that I need to do this away from being in an app. Apps get you in kind of a quiz mode all the time yet put you in a situation where you're unable to recall many of those words outside of the app. I need to break free of that problem a little better by changing my focus.

So that sums up where I'm at right now for the most part. Self reflection mode. I know that losing someone close to me this week has made me think that much harder about how I'm doing things (not just with Japanese learning). I don't know what the coming days are going to look like exactly with my learning, but what I do know is that I want to be able to speak and think in Japanese, not just know a bunch of words as I read or listen that I can't put into sentences myself. 

Thanks for reading! <3

じゃまた。

6 Months of Japanese!

皆さんこんばんは。

Well, here I am completing my first six months of learning Japanese! I have learned so much and it's exciting to be able to look back at how I've progressed. The main reason I started this blog six months ago was so that I would be able to look back and see how far I've come. Even though I have a long way to go, I know that for me and my personal intentions and goals I'm doing well. Everyone moves at different paces, and I'm happy with how things have gone so far.

It's interesting how as time has passed I've learned a lot about what works for me and what doesn't. I've used all kinds of mobile applications, audio/video, and books to study and feel like I've made a lot of progress in finding a good routine. Currently I use Anki mainly for practicing my reading and vocabulary. I was skeptical about Anki for a long time, and I know others are as well. I think it depends on the decks you use, what your goals are, and how you use it as a tool. All I know is that I have improved a lot since using it. Faster than I had improved using other methods. 

I'm also still using JapanesePod101 for audio lessons. Sometimes I don't feel like the lessons apply to me very much because I'm not travelling to Japan, but I know all of it is still useful and important to know. I've started to use the video lessons a little more than the audio ones, but it just depends on the day/week and what I feel is the best use of my time.

Some of the areas I hope to focus on as I move forward is being able to use and understand more complex grammar, utilizing a wider variety of conjugations, and expanding my knowledge of sentence patterns and collocations. I've been looking up conjugations and grammar as I'm exposed to them, but I want to dig in deeper so I can get past the beginner wall and get closer to intermediate/advanced beginner. I know I need to step up my game in a lot of areas so that I can keep improving. 

I've been doing a lot of inner reflection on what my goals are, particularly since my last post. It's very important to me to continue developing my vocabulary similar to how I've been doing so far. Every week I see more words that I've learned stick a little better in my mind and I find then coming to mind as I practice speaking and thinking in Japanese. 

A few changes I've already been implementing mostly involve me being a little more realistic with my studies each day. I'm a very driven person, but sometimes I tend to get a little too number driven and my health and overall quality of learning can pay the price. Since I do have some health challenges I've found that I've had to reevaluate some of my goals to get me where I need to be and remember to keep my focus on the big picture instead of worrying about numbers. That's probably a good idea when working toward any goal. It's easy to work toward a number and look good on paper, but with what really matters, numbers don't even count. That being said I am still keeping count of my progress in vocabulary and other things even though it's just how I like to visualize my progress.

Another study method that has surprised me at how much it has helped is brushing up a little more intensely on the Spanish I learned ten years ago. The more Spanish vocabulary I remind myself of and work on, the Japanese vocabulary and grammar becomes easier to me. I know this doesn't work for everyone, but it has really been helpful to me. As I have learned Japanese verbs, it has been helpful all along when I have compared the coordinating Spanish verb. There are so many more similarities than I ever would have thought, and instead of getting confused, it has actually been helpful to me to start studying this way. Even with words that are completely different from each other this method has been helpful. It's like the words high-five in my brain and they're all linked together in shared meaning.

Now to sum up about Japanese! In my first six months I have learned 4000+ Japanese vocabulary words. I am not to the point of using all of them in conversation, but I'm pretty sure I don't use very many words even in English! Recognizing the words when I hear them and being able to read them accurately when I see them written with kanji and kana is where I have improved a lot, and it is what is most important to me in my personal goals. I'm not going on some trip to Japan or moving anywhere with a large Japanese population. Being able to have conversations is a goal of mine, but an even bigger goal of mine is to read and write correctly. 

I am happy to look back at where I started and see how I've progressed over the last six months. I'm excited to see where the next six months takes me! 

じゃまた。

Leap Year - Progress Update - Day 162

皆さんこんばんは。

Here I am on day 162 of learning Japanese! I thought that Leap Day would be a good day for a post. In less than a month I will be at my six month mark. Time has gone so quickly. I've been working really hard using Anki to learn new words and I do my best to use and remember them even though it's difficult for me. I figure as long as I'm moving forward and learning, growing, and understanding more that's all that matters. I also still make sure to use JapanesePod101 and learn a little new grammar everyday.

Lately when I'm out driving around I try to stay in Japanese the whole time. If I'm by myself when driving I talk out loud to myself, and when I'm grocery shopping, etc. I think in Japanese as much as possible. It's kind of fun to think in Japanese enough to feel a little weird switching back to English. Keep in mind my level of speaking/thinking in Japanese pretty much goes like this: これは車です。このペンは黒です。その車は黄色です。あの木は多きです。その店は高いです。その食べ物は安いです。For those that can't read this, what I wrote says "This is a car. This pen is black. That car is yellow. That tree over there is big. That store is tall. That food is cheap."

Another thing I tried the other day was while watching tv I had to identify in Japanese one thing on each frame of the show I was watching. Or I had to describe what was going on. So for example on the particular show there were a lot of nature scenes and families doing activities together so I would think 草 "grass" when the scene showed a field of grass, 家族 "family" when the scene showed a family together, or 女の子は走っています "girl is running" when a girl was running.

I feel both awesome and super juvenile at the same time when I do this. Gotta practice the basics though. I figure it's good for me to stay in Japanese even if I feel like a two year old. I'm having a hard time doing better sentences than this. I want to be able to think in Japanese and say things that are about what I think and feel about things, not just describing things. I'm really trying but I also feel like I'm struggling. I just need more practice in the right ways. I guess after learning for 162 days I feel like that is long enough that I should be able to do more with my vocabulary than how I feel I'm doing. I have done lang-8 to try and help me with this but I need to do more than that, or just do it a lot more often. We'll see. This is what I feel is my biggest hurdle at the moment. Part of the problem is that all the things I struggle with are things that are hurdles for me in my native language of English as well. Most of my English language encounters are about simple boring things and not generally concerning my thoughts or feelings.

In fun news, I have been practicing my writing more. I ordered a brush pen and got it in the mail today and was excited to try it out. Here's some writing I did today first using the thick end and next trying the thin end of the pen:

In the second photo I wrote all the first year 一年生 kanji. In the first photo I just wrote a few of the first year kanji and also accidentally wrote on the left side of the paper. Oops! I was so excited to try out my new pen I guess. 

Can't wait to see how I've progressed by my next post! 

じゃまたね。

Day 150!

皆さんこんばんは。

Here I am on day 150 of learning Japanese! I've been continuing to practice everyday using mostly Anki and my various grammar resources. I also listen to at least one audio and/or video lesson per day on JapanesePod101. Since starting this phase of studying on January 21, I've only missed a couple days of studying due to extenuating circumstances on those days. Life happens! :)

I've been focusing a lot on being able to read. Being able to read real Japanese without furigana over the kanji is a big goal of mine. So far it's going really well. I try to read articles on NHK World News and some other books I have. I've even been trying to read ハリー・ポッターと賢者の石 aka Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I haven't gotten very far reading it yet but I've been mostly working on my 35+ new words per day in Anki. 

I finally got around to doing another post on Lang-8 the other day. I need to do more of that so I can get better at making more complex sentences. I do ok with basic sentences about simple topics. It's when it gets into more important stuff or thoughts/feelings that I need a lot of practice. I also need more practice on conjugating verbs into terms other than present so I can improve on them even though I know some.

It's been interesting to see how I'm able to retain new words pretty well despite the high amount of words I'm trying to learn each day. There are some that are harder for me than others that take quite a while but some come a little easier. Sometimes I dream about the new words I'm learning or I often get a specific challenging word stuck in my mind until I seem to have it down.

I don't have an exact on how many words I know at this point, and I'm still working on many of them. I also just have an estimate since I can't be completely exact since I have to eliminate all the overlapping words that are the same. My best estimate is that I know around 3000 words right now. That is pretty exciting! That averages out to be about 20 words per day since I started, which sounds about right. That has been my usual pace most of the time in learning new vocabulary words.

I have also been working on learning to write kanji. It really doesn't seem as hard as many people make it out to be. I write in kana constantly everyday when I study, and it sure can be a space saver and more helpful to know how to write the kanji and not have to do everything long-hand in kana. 

Here is some writing practice I did yesterday:

Most of the kanji are pretty logical in stroke order, and of course many components/radicals follow the same stroke order each time. I'm excited to see how I'll progress as I learn how to properly write more characters.

Can't wait to see where I'm at next time I update!

じゃまたね。

Progress Update - Day 135

皆さんこんばんは。

Here I am on day 135 of learning Japanese! I've been working hard doing all the cards in my Anki decks each day and it's been awesome to see myself progress. Words that seem hard one day aren't so hard the next. The human brain is amazing. In addition to using Anki to do a lot of my studying, I've been faithful about listening to JapanesePod101 everyday. Sometimes I just listen to one lesson, other times a couple. It just depends on how much time I have or how I'm feeling that day. I also have been making a bigger effort to speak Japanese daily. Even if I'm just thinking in Japanese or talking to myself as I drive I've found everything getting easier little bits at a time as each day passes.

I have also been continuing to study grammar in little bits each day. Doing just a little each day really takes off the pressure but really adds up. I alternate using A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar, English Grammar for Students of Japanese, and Tae Kim's guide. I've been going by whatever question I have each day to guide my grammar studies. It been much better than just reading things straight through. That's painful and boring.

I've been doing well in increasing my vocabulary. I've been learning around 35ish words per day. When I average the approximate number of words I know at this point over the 135 days I've been learning it averages out to be about 20 words learned per day since I first started. It's exciting to see my reading comprehension increase as well. The Anki deck I'm using doesn't baby me too much so I've made a lot of progress knowing the various readings associated with each kanji as I add to my vocabulary without having to rely on furigana too much. It's a great feeling when I know the correct reading for a kanji. This goes for newer words I'm learning as well as also getting better at recognizing the correct kanji/readings for words I've learned previously. I'm really trying hard. 

I really do love the Japanese writing system. I loved it as a kid, and love it still. I hope to find the best way to learn to actually write the characters by hand at some point, but I'm not going to get too worked up over it. I've been writing in hiragana a lot the last couple weeks and it would be so much better if I could write the kanji without having to look up the proper order each time on every character. I know a lot of people don't need to or want to learn how to write the characters, but it just goes to show that we all have different interests and needs when learning a new language. I know of some people that have never even learned the kana and just focusing on spoken word only. I like to take notes - it helps me remember what I learn. It's kind of annoying me to have to write everything in hiragana for speed's sake. I definitely have a desire to do it all even though it will take a lot of practice. 

Well, that's all for this update! Can't wait to see where I'm at the next time I check in!

じゃまたね。

Progress Update - Day 130

皆さんこんばんは。

Here I am on day 130 - yay! I have really been studying hard doing all of my "chain items" each day continuing with the study habit recommendations of NihongoShark.com. Each day there are three types of studying you have to do:

1. Study your flash cards or whatever you're using for vocabulary study. 

Right now I'm using a combination of Anki, AnkiApp, and Memrise. 

2. Listen to at least one audio lesson per day. 

I'm utilizing my JapanesePod101.com subscription and have been faithfully listening to at least one lesson per day, sometimes more. I like the video lessons as well through their site.

3. Make sure to speak Japanese everyday, and spend at least a little time studying grammar. 

I have several grammar books and Tae Kim's guide that I've been studying a little each day.

This past week my husband and I invested in some of the grammar books and other study materials we've been looking at for a while. We had checked some of them out at the library first to try them out. It's been exciting to have all that I need right at my finger tips and not all of it online. Sometimes it's nice to have a good book.

I've been making progress on my vocabulary. It's going pretty good, but it's a little more difficult than how I had been doing things before. I have three Anki decks that I have set to give me 35 new cards to study each day. One of those decks is for Kanji that I already studied using a JLPT app, but I thought I would continue studying them using the Anki deck so that I can keep them in my memory even better while I'm still beginning. The other two decks are very similar to each other but are slightly different. They both have a lot of the same words (at least that I've noticed so far) but the study styles between them are different and it helps me to have both even though there is a lot of word overlap.

My goal is to know between 8,000 to 10,000 words by my one year anniversary of beginning Japanese. That will be on September 21, 2016. I'm trying to learn 35 new words each day to reach my goal. It's been a little hard this week starting my Anki deck and being better at studying. I've really been trying to get down the various readings that can be associated with each kanji. The deck I downloaded and that I consider my main study tool really focuses on all the different words and thus different readings all involving the same kanji. It's been harder at first for me but I know over time it will be worth the extra work and effort to really know these things.

Until next time!

じゃまた。

Four Months a.k.a. 123 Days of Japanese and 65 Days of Kanji

Well, here I am on January 21, 2016 - my 123rd day of learning Japanese. It also happens to be four months from the day I started learning on September 21, 2015. 

I'm very excited to say that I have completed the initial learning process of knowing at least one or more English meanings associated with all the joyo/common use kanji. Since I have been using apps that included all of the 2,136 joyo kanji along with a few other common kanji, it is safe to say that I am able to recognize all of the common use kanji now without too much difficulty. I'm still practicing!

I actually finished this past Monday the 20th, but I've taken these extra few days to study extra to make sure I really "know" them. Of course the more recent kanji I've learned aren't as solid in my mind as the ones I have been practicing for longer. I know that as I continue to review and move forward with my vocabulary now that I can more easily incorporate the kanji into my vocabulary learning process I will know them better and more fully as time moves on.

Something worth noting is that the better the "story" you can come up with for each kanji to help you remember, it doesn't matter as much how much time you spend memorizing and practicing if your story is memorable enough. I have had many kanji where the meaning and story in my mind were clear enough that it only took that first time or so to really get the particular character in my mind and not forget it. The characters that stand for things and words that I don't even use in English are the hardest for sure. Also when encountering groups of kanji where they seem very similar at first, it takes some time and memorizing to keep them each straight.

Along with reviewing and studying all of the kanji these past few weeks, I've continued to review my vocabulary here and there to keep in my mind the words I've learned so far. I haven't really expanded my vocabulary more than by a just a few words the past few weeks, but I've spent time understanding and noting the kanji that is part of the words I've learned over these past four months. So I guess you could say that I've been in a way re-learning all the words I've studied already and am now more fully incorporating the kanji so that I can recognize and know the words in more than just hiragana alone.

On my last post I talked about how I prefer Memrise for learning vocabulary. While that is still mostly true, as I've worked here and there on making some courses I can see that it might not be the right long term choice as far as making my own custom stuff. Yesterday I decided to work on some new AnkiApp decks again and I've worked out some of my issues with their system. Sometimes it just takes time to understand a system and find how to make it work for your needs. So at this point in time I'm going to start using AnkiApp some more.

The next stage of my learning will be very focused back on what I had been doing prior to studying the kanji heavily. Although before studying the kanji I had been doing a pretty good balance of different learning techniques, I am even more solid in realizing how I need to progress from here. Thanks to NihongoShark.com's Hacking Japanese Supercourse, I know how to keep myself more accountable in my studying habits and keep motivated even more than before. If you're learning Japanese I really recommend taking a look at NihongoShark.com and Niko's methods. They work. The fact that I went from thinking that it would take me years to recognize the kanji or that I might never learn them and yet now in less than 65 days I am now able to recognize them all really says something. Japanese doesn't seem as daunting now and each new word I learn doesn't seem so scary. Learning new words has actually been easier now that the kanji are all familiar to me.

I plan to use a combination of JapanesePod101 and Rosetta for listening and other practice, and Memrise and AnkiApp for my flashcard and memorization practice. I plan to use my Genki and other books more to get myself speaking Japanese out loud more frequently than I do currently. I go in spurts of time where I'm really good at speaking more, and then I go back to not being so good. I know I struggled with that back in college when learning Spanish. It can be hard when you don't have someone around all the time to practice with. I just need to talk out loud to myself more and not worry about feeling weird sometimes.

I can't wait to see where I am on my next progress update! Thanks for reading!

じゃまたね。

Progress Update - Day 111 - Kanji Madness!

こんばんは。

Well, here I am on day 111 of learning Japanese! I've been working crazy hard on being able to recognize and know the English meanings of all the joyo kanji and it's been going well. I've still been doing some vocabulary on the side but not as much. I pretty much have eye strain all the time from looking at all the kanji characters so much. 

Right now I know about 2175 vocabulary words, so even though I've slowed down from the pace I had been doing I'm really happy with that.

As for the kanji, out of the 2136 joyo/common use kanji characters, I'm able to recognize about 1215 of them reliably. I test myself on them all constantly. I'm surprised my eyes haven't popped right out of my head!

When I started being really serious about learning the kanji back mid-November and decided to have faith in myself that I could remember them, a big part of that was buying and reading the Hacking Japanese Supercourse from NihongoShark.com. I re-read some of the book the other day and looked at the next section (the section for after you know the kanji characters) and it got me so excited that I have been working even harder. I really thought that it would get harder the further I got, but it's actually been getting easier. Even if you haven't studied the kanji radicals/components specifically like in my case, the characters make more and more sense as you move forward. 

I was on NHK News Easy last night and even though I didn't know all the words to a couple of articles, I was able to know exactly what was being talked about because I recognized the kanji. There have been a few things I've read recently that used some of the more "advanced" kanji characters that has made my learning so much easier. Seeing the characters in everyday use helps me remember them so much better.

Following the Hacking Japanese Supercourse recommendations of learning the kanji in about 97 days, I've been working hard toward my "deadline" of February 22. Since I've been finding it easier to remember the kanji and it's all coming together better the more time I put in, I will likely "finish" much before then, move ahead, and dive in to the vocabulary more than i had before.

I have been wanting to make a custom deck or course for quite a while since I don't like a lot of the ones out there I've come across, so I've been working on that as well. Once I can reliably recognize all the joyo kanji I want to really go for it on vocabulary. I've tried Anki. I've tried another Anki app that is a separate company, and a few other things. What seems to work best for me for whatever reason is Memrise. I know everyone just LOVES Anki but it just does not work for me. At all. It makes me feel so bored that I don't even want to bother with it. So I've been working on getting my own course set up for me and my husband on Memrise to use so that we can customize it to learn words that are more relevant to what we need. Fingers crossed!

Can't wait to see how things are going when I next update!

じゃまたね。