Study 2 hours a day. Get your Anki reviews down to 0 in the morning. Watch at least one J-drama. Read at least one manga chapter. We create these types of Japanese daily goals that we want to become ingrained habits. Once they are habits, the path to fluency is simpler and your study life is so much easier. But that’s only one part of … Continue reading →
Japanese requires a giant Mt. Fuji amount of time. You calculate simply that the more time you have, the more time you can study, and the quicker you climb that mountain. So when you are a full-time student (unrelated to Japanese), or full-time worker, which is 95% of you, you start to internally complain: I wish I had the time to study more – I … Continue reading →
You’re going to be studying Japanese a long time. Whatever number you are thinking, double it… no triple it. The decision to learn Japanese: you’d assume that such a major decision that affects your life for years to come would require a lot of thought. Weeks and maybe months would go into figuring whether Japanese was right for you. Is learning a foreign language worth it? … Continue reading →
When you come across something that you find isn’t working for you, or you stop believing in, or is bringing you too far out of your comfort zones, your inclination is to drop it (off a mountain into a fiery abyss). This could be media, textbooks, methods, techniques or anything else. There is nothing wrong with dropping what you hate doing, and I often encourage … Continue reading →
Sometimes here on Jalup, and on many other sites, there is an image of having to do everything fast. Learn kanji fast. Learn J-E fast. Learn J-J fast. Get to your first novel fast. Get to your first conversations fast. Speeeeeeeeeeeeeed. First one to get to the flag wins. However this is the exception, not the norm. And this is the exception for people who enjoy a … Continue reading →
Everyone wants more time to study. But sometimes you have to spend time to gain time. Or in simpler words: You have to learn how to find and use time in the best possible way to match whatever way you live your life. Easy enough? I read an interesting passage recently, which narrows the concept down: 山できこりが古いノコギリを使って 、木を切っているのを見て 、 「そんなのこぎりじゃ 、能率悪いよ 。研いだらもっと 、すぐに木を切れるようになる 」とアドバイスしたところ 、そのきこりは … Continue reading →
Creating good Japanese habits requires a good start to every day. Start well, continue well, end well. That’s the way it goes. This is a survey post, which hopefully can provide some ideas and motivation to everyone for starting and finishing your day with Japanese. I ask you: 1. What’s the first Japanese thing you do in the morning? 2. What’s the last Japanese thing … Continue reading →
The age old question of when to study during any given day. Which is better for you? Or is there no better? First, the real answer should be “both.” Both and even more. During the afternoon. And any free moment you get. There should be no simple one tiny time period during the day that you decide is your “Japanese study time” where you check … Continue reading →
