Tell your success stories!

[kanjibaka]

um this is the success story thread right?

Well this isnt much but i started learning the kanjis starting with 1st grade 2 weeks ago and plan on working my way through 6th before i go to Japan later this year and today i finished all the kanji for first grade!!!
now I'm a second grader ^^
Lol i even found my old bag I used when i was like in preschool and bring that to school with my kanji jiten to study with my Japanese teacher. Good times!

That is great! Ganbatte ne!

[josiah]

um this is the success story thread right?

Well this isnt much but i started learning the kanjis starting with 1st grade 2 weeks ago and plan on working my way through 6th before i go to Japan later this year and today i finished all the kanji for first grade!!!
now I'm a second grader ^^
Lol i even found my old bag I used when i was like in preschool and bring that to school with my kanji jiten to study with my Japanese teacher. Good times!

That is great! Ganbatte ne!

i dont know if you've tried heisig's method, but that's working for me,
so far ive learned 175 kanji, and thats in roughly about two weeks too

[Elfunko]

Ya, that was stupid of me to write you have a sheltered life. What I was trying to get at is that people are all different in how they carry out relationships with eachother. For the most part all of my friends in America have been nice, a few jokes, etc but for the most part it was pretty mild compared to my friends here (Japan). Guys here come up with some slightly more brazen jokes and puns, things I wasnt used to, and even said some stuff that I told them if they did Id have to a) kick their arse or b) leave tomorrow and never talk to them again. The context is relavent but Im not gonna go into it. And yes, my host mom did say those things. Now, its true for the most part, Japanese people who you dont have a close relationship with usually never say anything rude or cheeky. Ones you do have a close relationship with and are of that type of character do. Sure my host mom can be cheeky, as I can, as my friends can, etc. So? And the `mfer` I tag along at the end of the sentence is slang, not exactly as much meaning in the way I said it as much as the way you percieved it, quoting it out of context to use to describe my host mom. I wouldnt call her a cheeky mfer, Id call her cheeky (sometimes). However my friends I would call cheeky mfers. Wakatta?

On the other hand, I would say its the friends whom you associate with and whether or not they "rip-into-you".
I don't think this is a sign of a close friendship, as you would know that anyone can rip into you without being your friend.

In Japan, liek I explained above, in my expierence, you only tease close friends. It just doesnt seem to happen outside that inner circle of friends. Call it tact.

Anyway, just handle your business and improve you life. Good luck! B)

[josiah]

Thanks for clarifying that
Of course all relationships are different and that's the great thing about friends isn't it?
cheers!

[sTeVe aUsTiN]

that's the great thing about friends isn't it?

Yeah, I like friends. Friends are nice. Hehehehehe

[Joey]

i dont know if you've tried heisig's method, but that's working for me,
so far ive learned 175 kanji, and thats in roughly about two weeks too

Wow 175! thats amazing! maybe i should looking into heisig's method too then
My Japanese teacher used to teach at a school that taught in Japanese to Japanese children living in the US so I'm just using one of those kanji jitens. Didn't think it was particular bad but your 175 to my 80 in 2 weeks shows it must be pretty good.

[WalterWills]

i dont know if you've tried heisig's method, but that's working for me,
so far ive learned 175 kanji, and thats in roughly about two weeks too

But, what do you mean by "learned"?

Will you always be able to remember those 175 Kanji?


I've ordered Heisig's book, it hasn't arrived yet but when it does I'm planning to get stuck in immediately. However, I think that the pace I'll be able to work at will depend on how much I'll be able to remember the Kanji.

[markystar]

one thing about heisig's method that i'm curious about is this...
when people memorize these amazing amounts of kanji, how many can they actually write by hand?

i've dabbled in heisig but i haven't committed to it, but by exposure i've absorbed an amazing amount of kanji. but if you ask me to write it by hand i just look like a fool. lol.

so when people "do the heisig method" are they actually writing kanji or just learning to read kanji? my personal opinion is these are 2 skill sets. what do you guy's think?

[Javizy]

one thing about heisig's method that i'm curious about is this...
when people memorize these amazing amounts of kanji, how many can they actually write by hand?

If you do it properly then all of them. That's actually the whole point of Heisig, and something a lot of critics don't realise or fail to appreciate. No, you don't learn readings, or even more than one meaning of a particular character, but you learn how to write them accurately from memory, which as you suggest is pretty invaluable.

I also like to think of it as a kind of "index" system that helps me add the rest of the information to each character as I encounter it in reading or forced learning from a dictionary or whatever. So rather than teaching you readings and other meanings, it gives you a base to build upon. Something I couldn't personally achieve by writing and rewriting a series of complex strokes that have no link to any memory in my mind, and as such no path to return me to them.

As for the 175 in two weeks, it's not about how fast you do it, and trying to do too much is obviously going to have negative consequences. A reasonable target is about 10 a day, although the initial few hundred are very easy to go through, and you aren't really tested until they begin to get more complex.

I always seem to be saying something about Heisig, but I find it very hard to explain in a way people can truly understand without properly trying it themselves. I'd recommend reading the introduction to the book very carefully (a few of the points didn't truly dawn on me until later than they should have), and then going about the first 100 or so to see if it's really for you. Also, Anki has a premade Heisig deck, and reviewing really seems to help

[josiah]

yes I think this method is very good, but then it really depends on the individual and ones memory as well.
and as javizy said, the first few hundred are relatively easy, until you have to connect a story to something which is totally unrelated, and then its bloody hard!
as for me, i try to work through about 20 a day, and then constantly revise through anki and the koohii website, looking at the different stories and making my own.
i personally try to make short stories, but then it can be easy to forget these as well.
i also make up some flash cards and put them in my pocket to have a look at when i have a spare moment.
ive also broken up the anki deck so that its in sections,
ie, the original deck is about 3000,
so i edited the deck to include only the ones i know, so i can further concrete them into my memory.

for those that only have a passing interest in this method and don't buy it,
there is a free download of the initial few hundred available,
or like me, a torrent of the whole book for download

[WalterWills]

Why does Heisig stress that you shouldn't try and learn the readings of each Kanji as you go along?

So that you're more inclined to buy Volume 2 perhaps??

I don't see why it would be detrimental..If anything I would've thought it would be beneficial to memorising the Kanji, since you can consolidate your memory of the meanings of each Kanji by looking at its application in words that you already know.

[Javizy]

Why does Heisig stress that you shouldn't try and learn the readings of each Kanji as you go along?

So that you're more inclined to buy Volume 2 perhaps??

I don't see why it would be detrimental..If anything I would've thought it would be beneficial to memorising the Kanji, since you can consolidate your memory of the meanings of each Kanji by looking at its application in words that you already know.

I think it's because learning the character with meaning 1, 2, 3 and reading A, B, C, D is a lot less efficient than a single keyword, much easier to forget, and more likely to (majorly) slow down the process. He talks about how Chinese learners have a much easier time because they already know the kanji even though they don't know the readings, this is the advantage that the book aims to give you as quickly as possible. Personally, while going through the book, I picked up a lot of readings and other meanings through the PDF's, texts with furigana, and through studying in general.

I was sick of this discussion the last time it came up though to be honest, so I kind of shot myself in the foot getting involved again. I'll leave it at read the intro, try 100 or so characters, and if it's not for you it's not for you.

[Elfunko]

Personally I didnt like Heisigs method. Heres my method that works really well, call it reality. Take a whole bunch of books, magazines, etc with content varying from easy, medium, hard, and impossible. Go through each, and write down lists of words, make flash cards, and memorize the meanings. Then go through and read the stories again. Well, first read through once, then pull out all the words you dont know, make the cards, review about 8 times till you have them down, then read the passage again. Recently I write out teh whole sentences and highlight the things I dont understand, then on the other side of the paper write explanations for the highlighted parts. Do this intensively and you'll learn a lot of kanji rather quickly, as well as the multiple readings, as well as in context. Its actually learning japanese. I just wanna get the most bang for my buck, that being a limited amount of time in which to improve...

[Psy]

For a small success, I've just finished all 170 Beginner S1 lessons! Hooray for me! *gives himself a pat on the back.*

Anyone know a good word for "lower intermediate"? In all the time I've spent studying I've never encountered one. The jump always seems to be from 初級 straight to 中級.

[watermen]

For a small success, I've just finished all 170 Beginner S1 lessons! Hooray for me! *gives himself a pat on the back.*

Anyone know a good word for "lower intermediate"? In all the time I've spent studying I've never encountered one. The jump always seems to be from 初級 straight to 中級.

おめでとうございます。いま、私は初級の第６９課でです。

"lower intermediate"の日本語は”低中級”？