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Achieving Your Japanese Goals – September 2017 — 31 Comments

  1. College has officially started, so now begins the task of making room for Japanese in my new schedule.

    1. Even if it’s not every day, make sure that Anki reviews are zeroed by Saturday every week. Surely I can handle this?
    2. Make all of my scanlation group translation deadlines.
    3. Read 5 new volumes of manga this month.

  2. 1. Complete every new Expert stage released on Next within 1 week after eachc release. Study before watching anime.

    2. Watch an episode of anime every night and write a summary of the episode. Netflix and Crunchy Roll.

    3. Read a chapter of Manga every morning and write a summary of the chapter.

    4. Study for the N2 exam focussing on N2 reading and grammar. Kanzen. Study after reading and writing for manga.

    • 2. 3. and 4 are turning out to be too time consuming.

      I’m cutting #4 and modifying 2 & 3.

      for 2 & 3 I am still immersing the same, but I am only writing one summary a week for each per week, instead of everyday.

    • I ended up re-adding in 4 and cut out the writing part for September. I also failed to read everyday, but I did manage to watch anime every day.

      I didn’t do well because I was distracted by competing interests. The distractions have died down and I am finally getting back into a grove so I should do better next month.

  3. Starting from the second half of the month, ride a bike (自転車)from Hokkaido heading south, for a couple of months or so. I can listen and shadow whilst riding so that’s my main focus, that and talking to people along the way.

    • All is well! Currently in Wakkanai, almost to the northern tip of Hokkaido. Have been smashing immersion listening and shadowing whilst riding. Have been just staying afloat with anki reviews and new cards. Lots of random chats with people. Fun times and heavy sleeps…

  4. 1. Finish remaining cards in expert stage 6 and immersion stage 1 (about 140 cards)
    2. Read 2 manga
    3. Watch 6 dramas

    • 1. Did it
      2. Only 1, but started reading some of the Japanese pages on this website so getting in more reading despite only finishing 1 manga
      3. Sadly no.

  5. GOAL: Improve literacy.

    College is in session, so I’m scheduling around that.

    1. Immersion at least while I’m doing my school work, which should be at least two hours a day.
    – Shows, movies, and concerts played audio only.
    – Radio shows.

    2. Read all my graded readers at least once. Then try to read them out loud at least once.
    – I have the ones with the frog on the front of boxes.

    3. Complete Genki 1 grammar while integrating it into the rest of my studies so that I’m using the knowledge.
    – Genki 1 obvs.

    4. Resume kanji study. Try to get the meaning of ~500 (about 20 a day).
    – Kanji Learner’s Course
    – KLC Green book.

    5. Use weekends to catch up media.
    – Dramas, movies, etc.

    It’ll go easier once I’ve got my new computer set up and my school rhythm is established.

    • This month was a complete mess.

      1. I managed to get a few hours in, but not nearly enough to count as a success.

      2. I got bored of the readers, but made my way through all 13 volumes of Yotsubato!.

      3. I experimented with Imabi, but it didn’t work out, so I’m going back to Genki.

      4. Goal not met.

      5. I was able to complete this goal.

    • 1. Done. Past 9500 sentences now, which I’m very happy about.
      2. Pretty satisfied with my immersion levels this month.

  6. Get beginner and intermediate reviews down to zero. Finish intermediate about 100 left. Read 1 manga. Watch more anime and add more to my immersion playlist. Any recommendations for my playlist would be great.

  7. 1. Do my reviews every day.
    2. 50 new cards a day, every day.
    I’ve got a longer-term goal of hitting 10,000 cards by Christmas and being fluent by next July. I’ve been stagnant for so long. No more. I’ve been going at this pace for a couple weeks now and it hasn’t been so bad.

    • Sounds like we’re in the same boat… not as many new cards per day but I really want to get to ~7000-8000 cards by March (going to Japan again) and 4500 by my birthday in October :)

      Best of luck!

    • Goal 1: Completed without issue.
      Goal 2: I went half the month doing 50 a day, but ended up slowing down in the middle to take an “add whatever I encounter and don’t worry so much” approach.

  8. Goals:

    -Reach the 800 mark on RTK (extra exp if I reach 1000)
    -Read and understand chapters 1-5 of Chi’s Sweet Home, and write a summary for each chapter
    -Read and understand page 1-5 of Tebukuro wo Kai ni
    -Learn 50 new vocab words

    Materials:

    Quizlet, Kanji Koohii, Anki, RTK 6th Edition, Chi’s Sweet Home, Tebukuro wo Kai ni

    Strategy:

    I should add new cards to my Anki decks daily, and keep up with my reviews. With school starting, I should make at least one to two hours time for Japanese everyday and read for thirty minutes to an hour on the weekends. Extra exp boost if I add reading in during weekdays, too.

    • I reached the 800 mark in RTK, learned my targeted amount of vocabulary words, and got through the first ten chapters of Chi’s Sweet Home. However, I didn’t complete my goal for Tebukuro wo Kai ni, so that’s something to work on for October. Here’s to a new month! (^o^)

  9. 1. Finish reading 魔女の宅急便. Should make it on a 5pg/day average. Possibly finish before deadline, then enjoy some One Piece as bonus reading. I’ll make manga my reward for finishing books from now on. If I have to read a book to find out what’s with Luffy and the gang, I might actually finish books faster.
    2. Watch GTO at least to ep. 17
    3. Add 500 new cards to Anki. I made my deadline to finish off core 6K by Nov. 19. 500 in Sep, 620 in Oct and 380 in Nov and it’s done. It means 15/day for 20 days then 20/day to the end. Any missed days have to be compensated by increasing the overload, as the deadline won’t move whatever happens.
    4. Meet up at least once with one of my Japanese texting partners for actual talking practice. Preferably a cute single girl.
    5. Register to JLPT N3.

    • 1. Done. On the other hand, I didn’t feel like going back to manga. It doesn’t seem beneficial enough to spend my sparse immersion time on now that I’ve proven to myself I can read a book. So I got 時をかける少女, but didn’t find the time\willpower to read behind the first few pages.
      2. Done, all the way to 21.
      3. Done, not without a hitch. Didn’t meet the quota last Tuesday and had to increase to 21/day till next month.
      4. F*** this s***, I give up
      5. Done.

  10. Two hours of Anki and two hours of immersion each day. This month, the focus is on actually doing both; I keep skipping one or the other.

    Forty cards added per day. By the end of the month I’m going to finish the last of the N1 kanji and be deep into Jalup Advanced.

    • 79.9 minutes of Anki per day
      16.5 cards added per day
      Hours of immersion every day

      I’m still not using Anki as much as I should be, but I’ve doubled my usage from last month. I’ve studied 2278 kanji, and I’m halfway through Advanced Stage 1. And crucially, I’m keeping up with passive and active immersion every day. Not a bad month, overall.

  11. continue pressing with JALUP expert. 10 New per day. Daily Kanji Kingdom reviews. Immersion. As many conversations as possible.

  12. Finish Advanced and make a dent into Expert, getting to ~3400 total JALUP cards (~3800 total)
    Watch an episode/read for 30 minutes per day
    Do all my anki reviews daily (new settings has helped with this)
    Don’t add too many new cards outside JALUP (help lighten review load)
    Have fun!!

    Took a 1.5 month break from Anki and Japanese that ended about a month ago (ugh) but I’m all caught up now, and I feel like I’m a lot stronger in the language than before. It was annoying catching up on 2000 review though, and I restarted a decent portion of my deck.

    • 1) Done!! I blew through Advanced and now have 1330 cards left in Expert- 3951 total. Pretty respectable if I do say so myself.
      2) I basically did this totally fine. Rewatched all of Ultraman Mebius for the second time and then was hooked into watching Kamen Rider OOO, both of which are fairly addicting. I’m pretty sure the word 欲望 is firmly seared into my brain now.
      3) So I didn’t totally follow this and added a bunch of RTK cards, 675 to be exact. But I did it on days when I didn’t want to study new vocab. I’ll probably do this again next month… usually when I’m tired of adding vocab I am up for adding RTK cards, and vice versa.
      4) I did have fun, and when I didn’t I was forcing myself to do too much or I wasn’t getting enough immersion in.

      Looking forward to next month.

  13. KooI’m going to continue with Jalup Intermediate. My overall goal is to be done by December 31st; preferably earlier. I’ll add 10 new cards a day, with a handful of breaks sprinkled throughout. In total, I’m aiming for 250 new cards by the end of the month, bringing my total to 350/1000.

    I’m at about 1400 with Remembering the Kanji. I’ll be adding five new cards a day, so I should reach about 1550/2200 by the end of the month.

    For both JalupNext and Anki, I’ll be getting all of my reviews down to zero every day.

    I’m also going to finish watching 日常 (Nichijou) without subtitles.

    • I was not as successful as I wanted to be, but that was because I forgot how long it takes to get off book for a play… I didn’t add new cards for about a week and half in the middle of the month, but I did bring all of my reviews down to zero every day. I am at least proud of this: “Break Days” from Anki and Jalup really just mean “I’ll review everything down to zero, I just won’t add anything.” Much better than where I was a year ago!

      I stand at Intermediate 256/1000 (100 less than hoped for, but still a 150 more than at the beginning of the month), RTK 1500/2200 (50 less than planned, but still making progress!), and Kanji Kingdom 58/2300 (I was curious, so I started it; I like it, but more in conjunction with RTK than on it’s own; they complement each other nicely).

      I still have over half of Nichijou left.

      I’m a little disappointed in my progress, but I’m mostly proud that I accomplished as much as I did. A year ago, I was only halfway through Genki I and stuck at 600 kanji. I’m growing accustomed to J-J; I cheat for usually only one card a day, but that’s a lot better than a month ago!

  14. I am just prepare myself mentally to tackle the whole RTK, after my exams are over.
    I’ll probably start around the 20. of September, so it is not really a goal for this month.
    But yea, I will go with a steady flow of 65 per day, and hope I win before I burn out. :D

    After giving Kanji Kingdom on NEXT all the chances it deserved, I’ll just have to admit plainly that I can’t stand the time spans between cards there. For sentences cards it does work for me. But for me who already has problems enduring the Kanji-Studys it just feels so dragged-out :<.

    So I'm going the classic Anki RTK-pathway – armored with a bunch of Addons :D

  15. To reach lesson 4 in the genki 1 textbook. To be able to form some basic sentences. Be able to write katakana and hiragana with the proper stoke order.

    Genki 1 textbook & workbook.
    Japanese vocab flashcards.

  16. Now that I’ve finally caught up on my reviews and am back, here’s what I want to do every day:

    1. Bring reviews to 0 EVERY DAY, NO EXCEPTION
    2. Learn 20 Sentences from Beginner & 10 Kanji from Kanji Kingdom
    3. 3 Raw Episodes of Anime
    4. At least 60 minutes of passive immersion

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