First Week
As usual, when you begin a language learning challenge, you immediately start wanting to change the routine you planned.
I thought I would be able to resist switching to authentic Japanese media, but a couple of evenings ago, I decided to watch a Japanese movie titled, "Heavenly Forest".
Unlike watching some Anime, the language wasn't quite as incomprehensible as I had imagined it would be. I don't think that's a reflection on the amount of listening I've done over the last week. Possibly, the reason I was able to comprehend more of the content was because I was scanning the subtitles. I say scanning the subtitles because I'm not reading every word as in, reading out loud the on-yomi / kun-yomi - but having originally studied kanji using Heisig's RTK Volume 1, I will often guess the meaning of kanji without being able to read them. In the picture above, I know the readings, so for example - 自分がなんで I would read as "jibun ga nande" and comprehend that as "What about me?" But often, I won't know the readings, yet understand a rough gist meaning.
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For example: The grammatical construct of ことのどう思ってる isn't the way I would ask "What do you think of this thing (the 写真 photography). I would have used _____がどう思いますか (what do you think about _____?).
So, when I think about the value of listening to and sentence mining from authentic material, the real value isn't just learning new words; it's learning natural ways of expressing myself so that I don't sound so weird and foreign when I'm speaking Japanese.
The other phrase I mined from this scene was the expression, それよりさ (more than that ...) - that was a completely new expression to me. So there's a flashcard I'll make when I want to change subject and add new information.
So, I've started building a Memrise course in 5 minute chunks.
See: https://www.memrise.com/course/1928972/heavenly-forest-1-0-5m/
I'll build up a 5 minute course from time to time. Thus, 12 courses will be an hour. If I do a 5 minute section once a week, I'll have a two hour movie within six months. That's the kind of thing I reckon will get me there ... having a couple of hours of Japanese to listen to where I literally know everything I need to know to follow the whole movie. I enjoyed this movie and love the fact they talk about photography in it ... so it seems a good movie for me to use as my first attempt at sentence mining.
The encouraging thing about watching this drama was that I was able to comprehend a lot more than I usually manage because of the Japanese subtitles and because they talk about photography, I have the advantage of knowing a bit more about this particular context.
Kanji Study
I've managed to maintain the habit of writing out six characters each morning. At this level, I know the meaning of these characters and have at least one or two words with a kun and on reading to help me read new composite words. I practice writing purely to train my muscle memory to write them with the correct stroke order. I find that's the only way I can write kanji correctly when I take a kanji test.
Knowing the radicals and knowing the meaning helps, but there are often native words that I don't know - so once I've practiced writing these kanji out on paper, I look at the example words in my step book and make paper flashcards of new words. Not for all of the words, but at least an example of a new word using the on and kun readings. I'll be testing myself later in the challenge. It'll take me about a month to get through the step book. Then I have about a month to practice the test. That's how I've passed in the past - but this time, I think I may have left things a little late. Still, passing the test isn't everything - I can take the test again in November. So perhaps the test in the middle of June will be a practice test?
Listening
I have Olly Richards' "Conversations" loaded onto my iPod Nano. I had already got to conversation number 10 before, but took a break to focus on the Kanji Kentei Level 9. This time around, I'm spending two days on each conversation. Day 1, I listen repeatedly on my walk to and from work. Then in the evening, I listen with a print out of the conversation. There's usually around five or six expressions from each conversation that I'm reminded of from my previous listening practice. This time, what I'm doing is making paper flashcards of those expressions to test myself on once I'm further into this challenge.
Wanikani
I reached Level 32 of Wanikani a long time ago. I put the application into "Vacation Mode" when I visited the UK for a couple of weeks. Then, as I was focused on the level 9 Kanji Kentei test, it wasn't until last month that I got back into making Wanikani part of my daily routine. Unfortunately, by not maintaining consistency, the stack of Apprentice level items rapidly rose to about 380 items ... yiiiiikes! So with that amount of Kanji / Vocabulary words that I couldn't instantly recall, I decided to hold off learning any new kanji readings until I've got the apprentice stack down below 100. It's taking time ... but that's okay ... having about 270 reviews a day isn't too bad. When it's more than 350, it's pretty difficult to do anything other than Wanikani. This week, I've taken the Apprentice level items down from 250 to 221 ... I'm hoping it'll be under 200 by next week ... and sometime mid-May, I shall hopefully start learning the Level 32 content. By having my Apprentice stack below 100, I will then be in a place where I can realistically hope to complete each level every couple of weeks or so. I'll hopefully be nearing the end of Wanikani around September 2019.
I thought I would be able to resist switching to authentic Japanese media, but a couple of evenings ago, I decided to watch a Japanese movie titled, "Heavenly Forest".
 |
| Heavenly Forest (2006) on Netflix |
Unlike watching some Anime, the language wasn't quite as incomprehensible as I had imagined it would be. I don't think that's a reflection on the amount of listening I've done over the last week. Possibly, the reason I was able to comprehend more of the content was because I was scanning the subtitles. I say scanning the subtitles because I'm not reading every word as in, reading out loud the on-yomi / kun-yomi - but having originally studied kanji using Heisig's RTK Volume 1, I will often guess the meaning of kanji without being able to read them. In the picture above, I know the readings, so for example - 自分がなんで I would read as "jibun ga nande" and comprehend that as "What about me?" But often, I won't know the readings, yet understand a rough gist meaning.
 |
| A scene where the characters talk about photography. |
---------
For example: The grammatical construct of ことのどう思ってる isn't the way I would ask "What do you think of this thing (the 写真 photography). I would have used _____がどう思いますか (what do you think about _____?).
The other phrase I mined from this scene was the expression, それよりさ (more than that ...) - that was a completely new expression to me. So there's a flashcard I'll make when I want to change subject and add new information.
So, I've started building a Memrise course in 5 minute chunks.
See: https://www.memrise.com/course/1928972/heavenly-forest-1-0-5m/
I'll build up a 5 minute course from time to time. Thus, 12 courses will be an hour. If I do a 5 minute section once a week, I'll have a two hour movie within six months. That's the kind of thing I reckon will get me there ... having a couple of hours of Japanese to listen to where I literally know everything I need to know to follow the whole movie. I enjoyed this movie and love the fact they talk about photography in it ... so it seems a good movie for me to use as my first attempt at sentence mining.
The encouraging thing about watching this drama was that I was able to comprehend a lot more than I usually manage because of the Japanese subtitles and because they talk about photography, I have the advantage of knowing a bit more about this particular context.
Kanji Study
 |
| Kanji Kentei Level 8 Step Book |
I've managed to maintain the habit of writing out six characters each morning. At this level, I know the meaning of these characters and have at least one or two words with a kun and on reading to help me read new composite words. I practice writing purely to train my muscle memory to write them with the correct stroke order. I find that's the only way I can write kanji correctly when I take a kanji test.
Knowing the radicals and knowing the meaning helps, but there are often native words that I don't know - so once I've practiced writing these kanji out on paper, I look at the example words in my step book and make paper flashcards of new words. Not for all of the words, but at least an example of a new word using the on and kun readings. I'll be testing myself later in the challenge. It'll take me about a month to get through the step book. Then I have about a month to practice the test. That's how I've passed in the past - but this time, I think I may have left things a little late. Still, passing the test isn't everything - I can take the test again in November. So perhaps the test in the middle of June will be a practice test?
Listening
 |
| iPod Nano mounted on headphones - a cheap alternative to having wireless headphones! |
I have Olly Richards' "Conversations" loaded onto my iPod Nano. I had already got to conversation number 10 before, but took a break to focus on the Kanji Kentei Level 9. This time around, I'm spending two days on each conversation. Day 1, I listen repeatedly on my walk to and from work. Then in the evening, I listen with a print out of the conversation. There's usually around five or six expressions from each conversation that I'm reminded of from my previous listening practice. This time, what I'm doing is making paper flashcards of those expressions to test myself on once I'm further into this challenge.
Wanikani
 |
| Level 32 - 221 Apprentice level items is too much!!!! |
I reached Level 32 of Wanikani a long time ago. I put the application into "Vacation Mode" when I visited the UK for a couple of weeks. Then, as I was focused on the level 9 Kanji Kentei test, it wasn't until last month that I got back into making Wanikani part of my daily routine. Unfortunately, by not maintaining consistency, the stack of Apprentice level items rapidly rose to about 380 items ... yiiiiikes! So with that amount of Kanji / Vocabulary words that I couldn't instantly recall, I decided to hold off learning any new kanji readings until I've got the apprentice stack down below 100. It's taking time ... but that's okay ... having about 270 reviews a day isn't too bad. When it's more than 350, it's pretty difficult to do anything other than Wanikani. This week, I've taken the Apprentice level items down from 250 to 221 ... I'm hoping it'll be under 200 by next week ... and sometime mid-May, I shall hopefully start learning the Level 32 content. By having my Apprentice stack below 100, I will then be in a place where I can realistically hope to complete each level every couple of weeks or so. I'll hopefully be nearing the end of Wanikani around September 2019.
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