I'm sure you've probably already heard of Rosetta Stone, and wondered if it's worth the money. Short answer: no. Not just because I think the approach is flawed, but because you can get a very similar product for FREE in the guise of Livemocha.
It takes the same immersion approach as Rosetta Stone, giving you zero English and teaching you through pictures. I disagree with the general approach, as it's very difficult to express certain things only in pictures - is it teaching you the verb form for negation or past tense? The crux of the problem is that the system is made to work with any native language (hence the pictures), and to any language. They don't take into account idiosyncrasies of your own language that may have a bearing on the one your learning, and vice versa. Prime example being the lesson on describing what people are wearing. Japanese has multiple verbs for 'to wear' (above the waist, below the waist, hats, glasses, gloves, accessories). That's just unnecessary confusion introduced early on in a language that is commonly labelled as difficult. Yet, it's something simple in a lot of European languages.
That said, I find Livemocha actually does better than Rosetta Stone in some respects. All the lessons are labelled clearly, so I know that they're introducing negatives, prepositions etc. There's less concern with instant gratification so the quizzes are a little more of a challenge. Users can also submit tips at each stage of the lesson, which are rated up/down based on accuracy and appropriateness. For example the first tip in the negatives lesson explains that 'ja arimasen' is actually a spoken contraction (like I am becomes I'm) of 'dewa arimasen' which soon erases any confusion at the discrepancy between the audio and the romaji (I do envy the option for Kana and Furigana in Rosetta, even though it helps to see the written pronunciation, you do not want to get used to Romaji). At the end of each lesson you are also given a written and spoken test, which you can submit for native speakers to assess and correct. Rosetta does offer something similar with their TOTALe package, but $999 vs free, hmmmm tough choice isn't it?
Certainly Livemocha has it's faults, but it is quite exceptional for a free product. The community is quite friendly and makes up for some of those faults with their helpful advice. It's not going to get you to fluency, but nor is Rosetta Stone. It's definitely worth checking out if you're not quite sure where to start and want to get a feel for the language.
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
Motivation
So I've pointed you in the direction of some resources to get you started, but what about keeping you going? If you haven't already, do check out AJATT, there are a number of useful posts there on motivation. I'll offer a few of my own observations though.
Have a good reason for learning Japanese. Not just, 'It'd be cool' or 'I like anime.' Have a really good reason that you know will keep you going when the novelty wears off. Only you can say what are good enough reasons for you, but make sure you have a clear goal in sight. Yes your goal can be: 'I want to be able to understand Japanese media.' because as long as you have a goal, you have a direction. It helps if you write this down - even better if you figure out how to write it in Japanese. ;) Keep it where you can see it regularly.
Have a direction, have a plan - which matches your goal. I've given you some to start you off: learning kanji and kana. After that, then what? If your goal was to understand Japanese media, then your direction might be to watch anime or play a japanese game, learning the words you don't know. I mean, what's the point in reading a newspaper if you don't like the news and all you want to do is play Japanese RPGs? Newspapers aren't likely to talk about magic spells unless there's a new Harry Potter book out. ;)
Make it fun. I can't stress this enough. You must be having fun! It's not enough to have a strong goal, you have to make the process rewarding as well. Think about it, you suffered through school for a distant payoff (good grades -> good job). And how much of it do you remember now? Even though learning the kanji may seem like an impossible and boring task, you can make it fun. Read the funny stories on Reviewing the Kanji, spend time coming up with funny ones yourself - if you let yourself, this can be an entertaining activity. Take the little highs where you can get them. If you remember all/most of your reviews that day give yourself a big pat on the back (or better yet, bribe yourself with sweeties - one for every 5/10 correct kanji). If you fail a kanji, it doesn't mean you suck, it means you get to make a funnier more memorable story for it. Also check out their reading tool - paste in some Japanese and it will tell you how many kanji you should know in that section of writing. Enjoy seeing the number of kanji grow! Don't think about how little you know so far, get excited about what you know already!*
Don't rely on motivation. I know, funny thing to say when the post is titled motivation... but my life has been plagued by lack of motivation. I always tell myself I *could* do that if I really wanted to... but I don't want to. You need to want to do this, you need to get excited about every little thing you do so you don't NEED motivation. Save your motivation for your job, housework - all the things you absolutely have to do, but don't really want to. There are so many things you can do in Japanese that don't require motivation. Want to listen to music? Listen to some with Japanese lyrics - I've found a load of awesome metal bands this way, and I pick up the occasional new word from clean lyrics. Watch subtitled anime instead of dubbed. Keep a dictionary handy and every time you hear a word and wonder what it means, look it up.
Do something every day. No matter how little, do something towards your goal every day. It is much harder to pick up where you left off after a month's break, than simply doing ONE kanji or watching ONE episode of anime. You may find it hard to motivate yourself some days, but think how much more effort it will take to get started again if you stop now. That's not to say you can't ever take a break if your life gets on top of you, but be sure to keep up with your SRS reviews so you don't waste all the effort you put in.
Small meals often. If you find yourself with 50+ reviews one day, your immediate reaction will probably be panic. Don't. I've had days with 80 or so and it doesn't phase me. Why? Because I break it into little manageable chunks. I'll say to myself, 'OK, I'll do 10 and read this interesting article.' or 'I'll do as many as I can while waiting for the oven to pre-heat.' Before you know it, they're all done and didn't require that much effort or time either. If however I'd tried to do them in one sitting, I would have become annoyed/bored and dragged it much longer than necessary.
To summarise, screw motivation. Be lazy, do fun things in Japanese. Keep yourself going with the thought that it will cost more energy to relearn than to review. I keep fit not because I'm energetic, but because it uses more energy to lug my fat ass around. :P
* I had a little geekgasm watching Mushishi when I recognised the kanji for rain and rainbow (After the rain comes the rainbow)
Have a good reason for learning Japanese. Not just, 'It'd be cool' or 'I like anime.' Have a really good reason that you know will keep you going when the novelty wears off. Only you can say what are good enough reasons for you, but make sure you have a clear goal in sight. Yes your goal can be: 'I want to be able to understand Japanese media.' because as long as you have a goal, you have a direction. It helps if you write this down - even better if you figure out how to write it in Japanese. ;) Keep it where you can see it regularly.
Have a direction, have a plan - which matches your goal. I've given you some to start you off: learning kanji and kana. After that, then what? If your goal was to understand Japanese media, then your direction might be to watch anime or play a japanese game, learning the words you don't know. I mean, what's the point in reading a newspaper if you don't like the news and all you want to do is play Japanese RPGs? Newspapers aren't likely to talk about magic spells unless there's a new Harry Potter book out. ;)
Make it fun. I can't stress this enough. You must be having fun! It's not enough to have a strong goal, you have to make the process rewarding as well. Think about it, you suffered through school for a distant payoff (good grades -> good job). And how much of it do you remember now? Even though learning the kanji may seem like an impossible and boring task, you can make it fun. Read the funny stories on Reviewing the Kanji, spend time coming up with funny ones yourself - if you let yourself, this can be an entertaining activity. Take the little highs where you can get them. If you remember all/most of your reviews that day give yourself a big pat on the back (or better yet, bribe yourself with sweeties - one for every 5/10 correct kanji). If you fail a kanji, it doesn't mean you suck, it means you get to make a funnier more memorable story for it. Also check out their reading tool - paste in some Japanese and it will tell you how many kanji you should know in that section of writing. Enjoy seeing the number of kanji grow! Don't think about how little you know so far, get excited about what you know already!*
Don't rely on motivation. I know, funny thing to say when the post is titled motivation... but my life has been plagued by lack of motivation. I always tell myself I *could* do that if I really wanted to... but I don't want to. You need to want to do this, you need to get excited about every little thing you do so you don't NEED motivation. Save your motivation for your job, housework - all the things you absolutely have to do, but don't really want to. There are so many things you can do in Japanese that don't require motivation. Want to listen to music? Listen to some with Japanese lyrics - I've found a load of awesome metal bands this way, and I pick up the occasional new word from clean lyrics. Watch subtitled anime instead of dubbed. Keep a dictionary handy and every time you hear a word and wonder what it means, look it up.
Do something every day. No matter how little, do something towards your goal every day. It is much harder to pick up where you left off after a month's break, than simply doing ONE kanji or watching ONE episode of anime. You may find it hard to motivate yourself some days, but think how much more effort it will take to get started again if you stop now. That's not to say you can't ever take a break if your life gets on top of you, but be sure to keep up with your SRS reviews so you don't waste all the effort you put in.
Small meals often. If you find yourself with 50+ reviews one day, your immediate reaction will probably be panic. Don't. I've had days with 80 or so and it doesn't phase me. Why? Because I break it into little manageable chunks. I'll say to myself, 'OK, I'll do 10 and read this interesting article.' or 'I'll do as many as I can while waiting for the oven to pre-heat.' Before you know it, they're all done and didn't require that much effort or time either. If however I'd tried to do them in one sitting, I would have become annoyed/bored and dragged it much longer than necessary.
To summarise, screw motivation. Be lazy, do fun things in Japanese. Keep yourself going with the thought that it will cost more energy to relearn than to review. I keep fit not because I'm energetic, but because it uses more energy to lug my fat ass around. :P
* I had a little geekgasm watching Mushishi when I recognised the kanji for rain and rainbow (After the rain comes the rainbow)
Monday, 26 July 2010
Kana Mnemonics
So you've started on the kanji and chosen an SRS program. It's very important to start this early on as you've got 3000 to get through! Wouldn't you just kick yourself a few months down the line if you could speak Japanese passably, but couldn't read a word of it? Spend an hour a day, learn 15 new kanji, practice the learned ones with your SRS, and you could be reading AND speaking instead.
Now I must stress that this shouldn't be a chore or you'll find motivation hard to come by. Get engaged in creating stories, visualise particularly funny ones and you'll amuse yourself in the process as well as making the kanji easier to remember. As for the number, I personally find that 15 is a comfortable number to learn without forgetting too many or getting overwhelmed with reviews. Do however many you can without getting bored, but do at least one!
On to the actual post. What you'll want to do next, or in tandem with the kanji is learning to read the two phonetic Japanese alphabets: Hiragana and Katakana. Why do we want to learn these? Here's a few reasons:
Here's a very simple example:
This is the hiragana for ki (pronounced key) き
Zoom in if you need to, but wouldn't you say that looks like a key? Draw it on a piece of paper and embellish it if you like to make a more realistic key. The idea being that the next time you see that character you think: 'Hey that looks like a key. Oh yes that's pronounced key!'
You can easily master both alphabets in a very short time using this method. Be sure to practice writing them and review them with your SRS to make them stick permanently.
Don't despair, I'm not going to leave you to come up with your own mnemonics! It is best if you do as you'll remember them much better, but to get your imagination kick-started, check out this site. Learn the Kana has stroke order diagrams, mnemonics AND audio of the pronunciation of every kana, so it's an invaluable resource. Be sure to check out the articles on extra characters and similar kana as well.
Now I must stress that this shouldn't be a chore or you'll find motivation hard to come by. Get engaged in creating stories, visualise particularly funny ones and you'll amuse yourself in the process as well as making the kanji easier to remember. As for the number, I personally find that 15 is a comfortable number to learn without forgetting too many or getting overwhelmed with reviews. Do however many you can without getting bored, but do at least one!
On to the actual post. What you'll want to do next, or in tandem with the kanji is learning to read the two phonetic Japanese alphabets: Hiragana and Katakana. Why do we want to learn these? Here's a few reasons:
- You will want to know how to pronounce those kanji you're learning sooner or later right? Hiragana is used for giving pronounciations of kanji as well as things like grammar particles and verb endings.
- Knowing the sounds available to a Japanese speaker makes it easier to identify a spoken word and look it up in a dictionary. e.g. If a Japanese speaker bid you good morning (ohayou gozaimasu), you might assume it was spelled oh-hi-yo because that's how you'd spell it in English right? With some experience of kana, you'd later recognise it's actually ohayou and you'd have a lot easier time finding it in the dictionary.
- Katakana is used for borrowed foreign words. Computer jargon for example would be written in katakana. Many words are borrowed from English and are quite similar to their English pronunciations. So if you can read katakana, you'd be able to read and understand a lot of words straight off the bat. Examples include: ビイル and ジュウス, beer (biiru) and juice (juusu) respectively.
Here's a very simple example:
This is the hiragana for ki (pronounced key) き
Zoom in if you need to, but wouldn't you say that looks like a key? Draw it on a piece of paper and embellish it if you like to make a more realistic key. The idea being that the next time you see that character you think: 'Hey that looks like a key. Oh yes that's pronounced key!'
You can easily master both alphabets in a very short time using this method. Be sure to practice writing them and review them with your SRS to make them stick permanently.
Don't despair, I'm not going to leave you to come up with your own mnemonics! It is best if you do as you'll remember them much better, but to get your imagination kick-started, check out this site. Learn the Kana has stroke order diagrams, mnemonics AND audio of the pronunciation of every kana, so it's an invaluable resource. Be sure to check out the articles on extra characters and similar kana as well.
Sunday, 25 July 2010
Spaced Repetition Software (SRS)
It's a little difficult to explain simply how SRS work. When you first learn a fact, you need to be reminded of it in short intervals if you want it to stick. For example, learning someone's name - if you do not hear/use it frequently by being in contact with the person, chances are good that you will forget it.
SRS are programs which handle the reminders for you. Here's an example:
Though the theory behind it is rather complicated, using it is ridiculously simple. You find a a deck (the name for a set of cards) with the material you wish to learn, or create one of your own, and the software handles the rest. The best part is, it is not restricted to language learning! You could revise for an exam by creating a deck with past paper questions.
Even though it may seem amazing to be able to remember all the common-use kanji (around 2k), it really is quite simple by using stories and an SRS to remember them.
There are several free SRS available, and it's up to you which you prefer. Reviewing the Kanji is an SRS specifically for kanji learning (as I mentioned in the previous post). Anki and smart.fm are the two main ones, it's really down to personal preference which you use. Both have plenty of pre-created decks for you to use, though it is better for you to make your own decks of things that you WANT to learn, not what the education system thinks you should. Try both out and see which you feel more comfortable with, or which has the features you want.
You will be using your SRS at all stages of the language learning process, so find one you like before we go any further. It's little use learning new Japanese words if you forget them in a few days or a few minutes.
SRS are programs which handle the reminders for you. Here's an example:
- You have a card come up which says the Japanese word, はい (hai)
- You click to turn over the card and find that the English is 'yes'
- You click one of the available buttons to indicate whether you got the answer and how difficult it was.
- Your SRS will take that information and show you difficult cards more often, and easy ones less often.
Though the theory behind it is rather complicated, using it is ridiculously simple. You find a a deck (the name for a set of cards) with the material you wish to learn, or create one of your own, and the software handles the rest. The best part is, it is not restricted to language learning! You could revise for an exam by creating a deck with past paper questions.
Even though it may seem amazing to be able to remember all the common-use kanji (around 2k), it really is quite simple by using stories and an SRS to remember them.
There are several free SRS available, and it's up to you which you prefer. Reviewing the Kanji is an SRS specifically for kanji learning (as I mentioned in the previous post). Anki and smart.fm are the two main ones, it's really down to personal preference which you use. Both have plenty of pre-created decks for you to use, though it is better for you to make your own decks of things that you WANT to learn, not what the education system thinks you should. Try both out and see which you feel more comfortable with, or which has the features you want.
You will be using your SRS at all stages of the language learning process, so find one you like before we go any further. It's little use learning new Japanese words if you forget them in a few days or a few minutes.
Saturday, 24 July 2010
Remembering the Kanji
This is recommended by AJATT as your starting point. For those not aware, it refers to a book by James W. Heisig, Remembering the Kanji. The concept is quite simple, you learn the main meaning for each Kanji and tackle the readings later instead of getting bogged down trying to memorise too many things at once. The Kanji are also presented in an order suited to learning, where the simpler Kanji (to draw) are learned before more complicated ones which incorporate them. To aid the learning process, each Kanji is accompanied by a 'story' to help remember them.
At the time of writing I have memorised the meanings of 780 kanji with a 90% retention rate, so it certainly does work if you're motivated. The second book in the series covers the readings (pronunciations) of the kanji, but it's really not necessary. Instead of trying to learn all the different possible readings and the exceptions (e.g. proper names), you simply learn the pronunciations in context. For example, now (ima) 今 and this year (kotoshi) 今年. I have no idea what the readings for now (or year) are, but I know how to pronounce it in both of those examples simply by reading and hearing it in context.
The perfect companion to this is Reviewing the Kanji. It has an SRS* aimed specifically at practising your recall of the Kanji you have learned so far, but this can be done with any such tool (smart.fm, Anki). The biggest advantage of this site is the story submissions. There are many stories in Heisig's book which just don't sit well for me and aren't a great aid to memory. No matter! I can simply search or browse for that Kanji , and look up all the user submitted stories to see if one suits me better, or gives me ideas for my own stories. Also, since this is a site rather than a SRS program, I can access it any computer which is very convenient.
I mainly want to focus on the wealth of free resources available on the internet, so be aware it is not necessary for you to buy Heisig's book to benefit from the Reviewing the Kanji site. You will miss out on the stories and meanings for some primitive elements, but you will pick those up from the stories of the kanji that use them. You will also miss out on the stroke order diagrams, but you can find those here**. It will take longer, but it's the price you pay... for not paying a price. ;) You can however get a sample of the book here (right click, save as) with the first 276 kanji. Given that he stops giving full plots and just indicates the primitive elements at around 500, you might manage with the sample to get the feel of it, and come up with your own stories from then on.
A quick aside to also mention Kanji Damage. Personally I'm not fond of it as a learning tool as it bombards you with too much information, but it is a great reference. And it has some amusing phrases for helping you remember the meaning and onyomi of each Kanji.
Regardless of the tools you use, it's all about input at this stage. We want to learn to understand written Japanese, we don't need to know how to read out aloud at this stage.
* Will explain SRS in a later post.
** Actually, this is a rather handy site when you're not too sure which direction a stroke is written as it has animated diagrams. Bookmark it!
At the time of writing I have memorised the meanings of 780 kanji with a 90% retention rate, so it certainly does work if you're motivated. The second book in the series covers the readings (pronunciations) of the kanji, but it's really not necessary. Instead of trying to learn all the different possible readings and the exceptions (e.g. proper names), you simply learn the pronunciations in context. For example, now (ima) 今 and this year (kotoshi) 今年. I have no idea what the readings for now (or year) are, but I know how to pronounce it in both of those examples simply by reading and hearing it in context.
The perfect companion to this is Reviewing the Kanji. It has an SRS* aimed specifically at practising your recall of the Kanji you have learned so far, but this can be done with any such tool (smart.fm, Anki). The biggest advantage of this site is the story submissions. There are many stories in Heisig's book which just don't sit well for me and aren't a great aid to memory. No matter! I can simply search or browse for that Kanji , and look up all the user submitted stories to see if one suits me better, or gives me ideas for my own stories. Also, since this is a site rather than a SRS program, I can access it any computer which is very convenient.
I mainly want to focus on the wealth of free resources available on the internet, so be aware it is not necessary for you to buy Heisig's book to benefit from the Reviewing the Kanji site. You will miss out on the stories and meanings for some primitive elements, but you will pick those up from the stories of the kanji that use them. You will also miss out on the stroke order diagrams, but you can find those here**. It will take longer, but it's the price you pay... for not paying a price. ;) You can however get a sample of the book here (right click, save as) with the first 276 kanji. Given that he stops giving full plots and just indicates the primitive elements at around 500, you might manage with the sample to get the feel of it, and come up with your own stories from then on.
A quick aside to also mention Kanji Damage. Personally I'm not fond of it as a learning tool as it bombards you with too much information, but it is a great reference. And it has some amusing phrases for helping you remember the meaning and onyomi of each Kanji.
Regardless of the tools you use, it's all about input at this stage. We want to learn to understand written Japanese, we don't need to know how to read out aloud at this stage.
* Will explain SRS in a later post.
** Actually, this is a rather handy site when you're not too sure which direction a stroke is written as it has animated diagrams. Bookmark it!
Friday, 23 July 2010
Common phrases in anime
I just had to take a quick aside to share this interesting article: 100 most essential words in anime. It's a list of commonly used phrases in anime and if you've already watched a few fansubs you may find you recognise them!
When you start learning Japanese, at some point you will feel frustration at how little you know. You may feel it an impossible task to get to a point where you can understand native speech and converse in it yourself. This article gives a nice little boost to help combat that.
You will see a lot of these words cropping up time and again while watching anime - and now you know what they mean! They'll provide a good stepping stone to learning more words as they're used in context with the ones you know. You'll be able to pick out more words because you already know some of them.
If you're a bit further on and/or watch a lot of anime, you may know a lot of these already, but it's still a particularly interesting read. Especially the note on pronouns - it explains why I hear male vocalists singing 'kimi wo'* a lot. ;)
*(kimi - A form of 'you', used by a guy speaking to his girlfriend)
When you start learning Japanese, at some point you will feel frustration at how little you know. You may feel it an impossible task to get to a point where you can understand native speech and converse in it yourself. This article gives a nice little boost to help combat that.
You will see a lot of these words cropping up time and again while watching anime - and now you know what they mean! They'll provide a good stepping stone to learning more words as they're used in context with the ones you know. You'll be able to pick out more words because you already know some of them.
If you're a bit further on and/or watch a lot of anime, you may know a lot of these already, but it's still a particularly interesting read. Especially the note on pronouns - it explains why I hear male vocalists singing 'kimi wo'* a lot. ;)
*(kimi - A form of 'you', used by a guy speaking to his girlfriend)
Starting the Journey - AJATT
So I've started to seriously learn Japanese. Graduating from the level of anime nerd (otaku) to an actual language student. Sort of.
I'm rather allergic to conventional learning methods. I work much better at my own pace, learning for myself. Learning for the joy of new knowledge, rather than a high test score. So I've dismissed the idea of a language class, and conventional methods of language learning.
I'd like to introduce you to the AJATT method: All Japanese All The Time*. It throws it all out of the window and takes a very simple look at learning languages. How does one learn their native language, what is it about it that makes it their native language? Quite simply they have been almost completely exposed to it for years and much of their formative years have been focused on learning it. So the very simple idea of the method, is to surround yourself with material from your studied language. Where possible you expose yourself as much as possible to it.
You don't watch the new episode of Lost, you watch a subbed show in your chosen language (or if you're a bit further on, attempt it without the subtitles!). Even while you're busy doing other things, you can have your MP3 player with music or audio books in your chosen language. You don't read books and newspapers in your native language, read them in the one you're learning. You get the idea.
It's a very interesting approach and I'm quite excited to attempt it. Even though I'm quite a novice at this point and I can't completely surround myself with Japanese materials (my computer coursebooks are in English!), I'm still very optimistic.
In the next few posts I will be covering some of the tools I have been testing with regards to this method and giving my opinion on them. Hopefully I can help you sort through the chaff when trying to find good resources for your own studies.
がんばって！（Ganbatte - Good luck)
*This site has a number of motivational blogs and helpful resources (not just for Japanese), do check it out in your own time!
I'm rather allergic to conventional learning methods. I work much better at my own pace, learning for myself. Learning for the joy of new knowledge, rather than a high test score. So I've dismissed the idea of a language class, and conventional methods of language learning.
I'd like to introduce you to the AJATT method: All Japanese All The Time*. It throws it all out of the window and takes a very simple look at learning languages. How does one learn their native language, what is it about it that makes it their native language? Quite simply they have been almost completely exposed to it for years and much of their formative years have been focused on learning it. So the very simple idea of the method, is to surround yourself with material from your studied language. Where possible you expose yourself as much as possible to it.
You don't watch the new episode of Lost, you watch a subbed show in your chosen language (or if you're a bit further on, attempt it without the subtitles!). Even while you're busy doing other things, you can have your MP3 player with music or audio books in your chosen language. You don't read books and newspapers in your native language, read them in the one you're learning. You get the idea.
It's a very interesting approach and I'm quite excited to attempt it. Even though I'm quite a novice at this point and I can't completely surround myself with Japanese materials (my computer coursebooks are in English!), I'm still very optimistic.
In the next few posts I will be covering some of the tools I have been testing with regards to this method and giving my opinion on them. Hopefully I can help you sort through the chaff when trying to find good resources for your own studies.
がんばって！（Ganbatte - Good luck)
*This site has a number of motivational blogs and helpful resources (not just for Japanese), do check it out in your own time!
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