My Japanese

Will I ever learn it, being such a lazy wimp?

Notes

To learn Kanji, you should write them
To write Kanji, you should learn stroke order
Stroke order is tricky at first
simple strokes - combined strokes - simple radicals - complex radicals - simple kanji - complex kanji --- solid building
readings are hard; maybe I need to have a very strong visual-living associations with each kana, then tie them to kanji objects
- or just plain old repetition...

2008

2008-02-10, Sun
- decided to try
- started on Wikipedia
- learned 7 hiragana kanas
2008-02-11, Mon
- learned the rest of hiragana, practiced a bit
2008-02-12, Tue
- spent hours searching for good flashcard programs, other helpers
- practiced a bit
- remembered about half-done Anki port, tried it, liked it
- mnemosyne, py-qt madness
- finished porting Anki
- learned a bit of katakana
- started forgetting hiragana - that was fast
- struggled to input some Japanese into X.org, gave up for now
- kana's have meanings, too, and they help
2008-02-13, Wed
- rest of katakana learned, except for compounds
- a bit scared before starting with Kanji
  - interest is still soaring, though
- 10 first kanjis (ichi-ju)
  - feels more complicated
2008-02-15, Fri
- still working on kanas
- learned a few new kanjis
  - can't remember readings
  - difficulties with stroke order
  - worried about pronunciation
    - especially tonal emphasis
2008-02-16, Sat
- kanas begin to settle in
- a quick first glance over 80 first-grade kanjis complete
  - stroke order was a surprise in some cases
  - compounds are going to take weeks to go over
  - readings are impossible to memorize without strong associations
- I'm starting to get an idea of what an immense effort it takes to master Japanese. Still, as I don't have any real goal (apart from watching some movies without crippling translation), I'm happy to spend time doing something more useful (for me) than nothing.
- laziness is starting to take on the initial interest
2008-02-17-21, Sun-Thu
- mild cold
2008-03-03, Mon
- hmm
2008-03-04, Tue
- glided through the stroke order of the first 110 Kangxi radicals
- by now it's obvious I'm in no hurry at all
2008-03-...
- lazy browsing
2008-03-15, Sat
- finished preliminary gliding through 214 Kangxi radicals
2008-03-25, Tue
- little progress on guidetojapanese.org
- mediocre knowledge of ~100 simplest kanji meanings
- vague recollection of additional ~50 kanji
- know at least one reading of ~50 kanji
- no recognition of Japanese speech yet (whatsoever), even subtitled
  - like 1 word in 10000
2008-04-02, Wed
- 今日は! こんにちは! uim+anthy started me on typing Japanese
  - alas, it's romaji-based
  - I still want to learn the Japanese layout
2008 May
- Slow progress
- Interest failing a bit
- No Kanji learned
- Episodic sipping through grammar
  - Sometimes can parse -teiru/-teru in speech, little more
- Still can't rape my tongue into anything remotely like correct pronunciation (not that I practice much). Sound "sh" is especially tricky (different from any accent of English or Russian I've heard). Intonation is not that easy to parse, and seems very difficult to master.
2008-10-01, Wed
- Very lazy progress.
- Managed to learn a few new words in September, but hundreds of older ones need prompt refreshing. Tried relearning radicals, but forgot most of them again just a couple of weeks later.
- Still almost no comprehension of speech. A point or two are settling in (like the casual use of "kara"), but most of basic grammar needs thorough, repeated reviews. "Un" and "uun" still sound mostly alike.
- The primary problem is lack of motivation.
2008-10-15, Wed
- brain is getting used to radicals, kanji are a bit easier to memorize
  - retention is still low, but may be rising
- speech parser is gaining ground slowly, depends on lexicon mainly, which is still tiny
  - about 1-3% of general speech; up to 10% with subtitles
  - still far from usable comprehension
- all in all, the grip on the language feels a bit more confident with no measurable changes
2008-10-22, Wed
- お早うございます。
- Finally installed scim with anthy. Took about 2 minutes. 漢字だ漢字だよ！
2008-10-31, Fri
- It's becoming more fun to learn thanks to a slightly firmer grasp. I guess in a few weeks-months, it will be like a snowball effect.
- However, it's becoming more evident that this whole venture is primarily to kill time, and since killing time requires frequent change of tactics, I see an onslaught of boredom looming up ahead.
- Have been learning Kyouiku grade 3 Kanji lately. Started skimming through JLPT level 4 vocabulary. A lot of complicated Kanji there, but the vocabulary is much more useful in daily life, so it also seems more rewarding.
2008-10-02, Sun
- preliminary walk trough 600+ JLPT4 vocabulary finished
  - over a half already familiar
- still lots of new Kanji, many non-Kyouiku ones
- low retention so far
2008-11-14, Fri
- reviewed JLPT4 vocabulary
- Kanji retention still low
- simple, clear dialogues recognition up to 30% with subtitles
  - fast speech still incomprehensible
    - especially with lots of 音読み
- colloquial grammar and quirks still way out of reach
  - anything above basic regular grammar, too
2008-11-26, Wed
- while vocabulary and kanji set are slowly growing, grammar never really took off
  - tried to take a JLPT4 grammar test - failed miserably

Up to 2007

Strong interest due to Japanese anime, manga and movies. No real attempts to learn.

Useful links

Grammar

Topic revision: r22 - 26 Nov 2008 - 03:41:02 - Main.AndrewPantyukhin

My Japanese

Notes

2008

Up to 2007

Useful links

Grammar

Cenkes - IT Pro Bono