One of the most well-meaning, truthful phrases about studying Japanese is also one of the most problematic. It’s no secret that people tend to look for the fastest route to fluency. Anything they can do to shave off all the unnecessary time is a huge plus. They go through all different methods and resources and search for what will get them to the finish line … Continue reading →
Why do cars have brakes? To go faster. If you haven’t heard of this before, take a second to realize how much sense this makes. Now let’s apply the same principle to learning Japanese, Why do we make mistakes learning Japanese? To go faster. Yet everyone tries to do the exact opposite. You avoid making mistakes. You avoid going faster. The bad stigma behind speed … Continue reading →
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 →
