Study Techniques That Work!!! (vocab)

[debondtjan]

A good advice is: do some sport! strange huh? Well, apparently while you're - for example - running, you're more creative and you remember certain things better. There's been a study on that, but you'll have to google or so for it.

Listening to a jpodcast while cycling for example (indoor spinning for safety reasons ) might be more successful than on other times.

Anyway, i found that people tend to be, or get, smarter when they do sport. Sport is good brain food.

Another thing: I saw it being used in a manga called Love Hina (the French imported version - yes I speak Dutch, English, French, some Spanish, forgot a lot of my German, and even lot's of programming languages ...): those small flashcards on a ring. Yesterday I found them here: http://www.whiterabbitpress.com/catalog/Word-Cards-Tango-kaado-p-16146.html. As someone that loves to have something in his hands to learn, these small flashcards can be very handy sometimes.

[sharekoube]

I'm a fan of handwritten flashcards because writing it helps me remember better. Underneath the kanji, I write the yomigana in red ink, and then write the English definition on the back. To study the yomigana and the definition at the same time, I use a sheet of red plastic and place it over the kanji side of the card. Thanks to the magic of red on red, the yomigana disappears. (N.B. - If you do this, you need to use a gel pen because the the outline from the ballpoint ink usually shows through.)
I'm studying for the 漢字検定, so I have a notebook where I've written all the kanji a billion times with correct stroke order and brush strokes. It's annoying and tedious, but I've found it's the best way for me to really remember the kanji inside and out. Doing anki decks helps with the reading, but if I don't do repetitive writing, I blank when I actually have to write the kanji.
Also, the books for the 日本語検定 have really good grammar explanations (all in Japanese, of course). I'm thinking about taking the ６級 in June, so I bought one of the practice books and I'm pretty happy with the explanations so far. It's targeted at elementary school students, so the explanations are pretty simple, and it's a great review for 敬語.
One thing that I've been meaning to do, but haven't gotten around to yet, is keep a 手書き日本語日記 and write a few things about my day and try to focus on the grammar point that I'm studying. But I'm lazy. Maybe I'll get on that one of these days though.

[jemstone]

i like your idea of using red ink and then using red cellophane paper to cover it up. =D i should try that sometime.

[inquisitive]

Have any of you used the Declan software flashcards? I've been trying the Genki book, other websites, etc. but still having problems having Hiragana and Katakana stick or retain in my mind. Any tricks out there to memorize or understand better?

[inquisitive]

There might be some around, but I don't know where you'd find them. As far as I can tell that site doesn't have a forum, so the easiest place to look is shot He has some at http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/bl ... ter-pack-1 (and more from the related links at the bottom), though. But, they're an example of early stuff, with english translations.

Really, though, it's probably best to pick sentences from real Japanese writing you encounter. Stuff you like and want to be able to say. The sentences are bound to be more natural, and if you make it yourself, you're also tailoring the answer to what you want to know. I have lots of sentences with potentially complex(for certian levels >.>) grammar and misc vocabulary that isn't addressed at all on the answer side because that's not what I want to remember in the sentence (I already know them). Doing it yourself, you pick exactly which words may need defining for you, personally.

Personally, mine end up looking like this:
Q: しばらくこのままお待ち下さい。
A: しばらく　この　まま　おまち　ください
１．　しばらく【暫く】
（１） 少しの間． （２） やや長い期間．
２．　まま【儘】
その状態のとおり．
　A.　じょうたい【状態】　ありさま【有様】

I use the sanseido dictionary (as recommended somewhere on that site) for my definitions, because they're usually concise enough to wrap my head around.

But however you choose to use it! Good luck.

on that site alljapaneseallthetime.com, he mentions learning kanji before learning hiragana and katakana. i thought u always have to start out with hiragana, katakana first?

[QuackingShoe]

Getting a flashback to a time when I'd put definitions of しばらく and ままon a card is..... weird.

on that site alljapaneseallthetime.com, he mentions learning kanji before learning hiragana and katakana. i thought u always have to start out with hiragana, katakana first?

For learning the readings (the differerent pronunciations) of kanji, you should probably know the kana first (there's simply no reason not to). However, he (and I) used the Heisig method to learn how to write and recognize all of the standard kanji set before learning their readings, so whether you learn the kana before or after is neither here nor there. I think most people learn them beforehand because a) they had probably learned them before they found out about Heisig anyway or b) so that they can still read and study in Japanese while they're proceeding through Heisig. But, you don't need to.
I'd recommend checking out the method. There are a LOT of posts about it around the forum to find, but I made a post just recently about it (and Javizy followed up) here: http://www.japanesepod101.com/forum/vie ... php?t=4075

[aruja]

I'm really surprised nobody has mentioned smart.fm
they have three different applications for memory retention and several well made premade flashcard decks.
all of the programs incorporate sound and it seems, at least to me that two of the three use a variation of the SRS system.
try
hiragana/katakana
http://smart.fm/series/3322 if you know these already(you probably do here) the brainspeed game is excelent for improving recognition speed

basic vocab
http://smart.fm/series/3318

basic kanji
http://smart.fm/series/3319

and intermediate
http://smart.fm/series/3321

[untmdsprt]

I'm really surprised nobody has mentioned smart.fm
they have three different applications for memory retention and several well made premade flashcard decks.
all of the programs incorporate sound and it seems, at least to me that two of the three use a variation of the SRS system.
try
hiragana/katakana
http://smart.fm/series/3322 if you know these already(you probably do here) the brainspeed game is excelent for improving recognition speed

basic vocab
http://smart.fm/series/3318

basic kanji
http://smart.fm/series/3319

and intermediate
http://smart.fm/series/3321

Thanks for the smart.fm site. I really like this! The brain game is a great way to speed up your recognition and response time!

[RebelDogg]

I haven't had time to read through all of the posts, so sorry if this is redundant. I'm just taking a study break and thought I would post my methods here.

For vocab, I use the old paper flashcards method. I put the kana or kanji on one side (only just starting with the kanji) and the translations on the other side. I have words and also example or useful phrases. The phrases are good because you get a feel for the usage of a word and not just a definition. Also, say everything ALOUD. Don't just read in your mind. Seriously. Also, Jpods audio flashcards are great. I like hearing the word rather than just reading it.

The use of kana/kanji ONLY is a good way to learn to read faster. So if you've only just memorized your kana, this is really helpful. Just don't get lazy. Read the whole word even if you know which word you're reading.

For kana practice, I had a method that worked great for me. I'm eventually going to write a program to make this easier. For Hiragana, I would take it one row at a time. (AIUEO, KaKiKuKeKo, etc...) And write them each several times. Then I would write across a line or two A O U I E A I E, etc... Just random sounds. Ka Se Shi Me Tsu Ko He, etc... and try to write the corresponding kana under it as fast as I could.

When I moved to Katakana, I wrote the Hiragana instead of the romajii then placed the correct katakana under it. I was able to get all the kana memorized easily and quickly. Now reading and writing kana for me is almost as easy as english.

I want to create a program that will spit out a string of random romaji/kana (with a toggle) and leave space to write the answers. Don't know when/if I'll ever get around to it.

As far as grammer, listening to movies, jpod101, and trying to read whatever I can get my hands on works better for me than trying to memorize rules from a grammer book. But I do keep one as a reference.

Can't post much on my Kanji study methods as I've just started tonight.

I also study in sections. Vocabulary, reading/writing, grammer, Jpod. And I mix it up so as not to get burnt on one thing.

Anyway, that's what I've been doing and it works for me. I'd like to read back through these posts to see if I can pull some good ideas!