Handa's Japanese log

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handa
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Handa's Japanese log

Postby handa » Thu Jul 14, 2022 9:39 pm

Redoing this thread since I don't want to clog up the forum with more of my abandoned log threads.

(20/11/2023)

Hello,

I'm in my second year of university studying Japanese full-time. Here I write posts to reflect on my language studies, the good and often the bad, what I'm doing right and what isn't working.

Japanese:
On and off since around 2018, step 1-4 at komxuv (grade A ≈ B1).
Currently somewhere around N3 and planning on taking the JLPT N2 in summer 2024.

French:
On and off since 2014, step 4-7 at komvux (grade C ≈ B2, though I doubt this)
Will be going back to French once I've gotten further with Japanese.

Albanian:
Heritage language, grew up with it spoken at home and among family.
Want to pick up Albanian at some point in the future.
Last edited by handa on Sun Nov 19, 2023 9:31 pm, edited 6 times in total.
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handa
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Re: Handa's Japanese log

Postby handa » Thu Jul 14, 2022 10:03 pm

Remaking this previously deleted post into somewhere I can compile various resources, both the ones I've already finished (or put on hold) and ones I want to tackle eventually. Very textbook-heavy. Work in progress.

Japanese textbooks:
Beginner:
- Japanese for Busy People I - Complete
- Japanese for Busy People II - Complete
- Japanese for Busy People III - Unsure where I left off
- Genki I - Complete
- Genki II - Complete

Intermediate:
- Nihongo chûkyû J301 - 4/10 - on hold
- Nihongo chûkyû J501 - 7/10
- An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese - 5/15 - on hold (Grammar - Complete!)
- Tobira - 7/15 - on hold
- Task-Based Learning Japanese for College Students - Complete
- Nihongo Sô-matome N3 Vocabulary - 3/6 weeks

JLPT N2, July 2024:
- 新完全マスターN2 文法
‐ 新完全マスターN2 聴解
- 新完全マスターN2 読解
- 新完全マスターN2 漢字
- 新完全マスターN2 語彙
- 日本語能力試験N2文のルール
Last edited by handa on Mon Feb 19, 2024 5:55 am, edited 12 times in total.
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handa
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Re: Handa's Japanese log

Postby handa » Mon Aug 01, 2022 8:29 pm

..
Last edited by handa on Thu Mar 09, 2023 11:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
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handa
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Re: Handa's Japanese log

Postby handa » Wed Aug 10, 2022 2:22 pm

...
Last edited by handa on Thu Mar 09, 2023 11:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
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handa
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Re: Handa's Japanese log

Postby handa » Wed Mar 15, 2023 8:36 pm

We're using Genki II in the grammar module of my course. My process when going through each lesson goes as follows:

1) Read the grammar explanations and take note + write down the example sentences.
2) Do as many of the exercises in the textbook and workbook as I can (though I skip the ones that require a classroom setting and some of the ones that require a partner)
3) Without having studied the dialogues and text in the reading part 読み書き編, I listen to the audio and transcribe it
4) Study the dialogues and texts

It's less about what's the most efficient or effective and more about what I can do without getting discouraged. Step 3 is basically my intensive listening practice. I struggle with staying focused when doing listening practice so having the goal of paying attention to what I'm hearing in order write it down into "tangible" text helps, if that makes sense. The audio is level appropriate and something I should be able to understand and without having read the texts beforehand, I can't use that as a crutch.

Then I have a kanji module and a module focusing on developing the more active skills of speaking and writing. Kanji mostly involves repetition, but also vocabulary as that goes hand in hand with the readings we are required to learn.
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handa
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Re: Handa's Japanese log

Postby handa » Wed Mar 22, 2023 5:00 pm

Had my second oral exam this semester today and while I most likely passed I can't help but feel so incredibly disappointed over how much I stutter and the BASIC grammar mistakes I make when the teacher asks me questions afterwards. My heart was racing and my hands shook so badly, I felt breathless by the end of it. I hope my anxiety lessens soon because I just don't feel like I'm able to perform well at all.

But it's done now and there's nothing I can do about it.

We're on lesson 20 right now and then there's only 3 more Genki lessons left before exams start. The focus this week is humble and modest forms and I can't say it's the most fun part of the language for me to be honest. As a "treat" to myself, I've started reading and taking notes of the grammar from the next lesson which has passive verb conjugations and some other interesting stuff.

I'm keeping up with my Anki decks. I have two decks, one for Japanese 1 from last semester with Genki I vocabulary + vocabulary from the kanji module, and one for Japanese 2 this semester, which is Genki II and kanji vocabulary. I have about 400 cards to review daily in total and learning 50 new cards. Reviewing it in Anki doesn't guarantee that I recognises the word in the wild, but it helps a lot, which I noticed when I skipped out on it earlier in the semester. I do both recognition and recall, and I'm quite strict with myself.

On a little side note, last week, I did lesson 2 of Colloquial Albanian (new edition!), reading and writing down the dialogues and vocabulary, and doing the exercises. I have a second course, in addition to Japanese, which is Literature history of Japan that is eating up quite a bit of time and energy as I'm now at the tail end of it writing an essay. However, once I'm done with it, I'm planning on doing maybe 2-3 lessons a month maybe. My motivation to learn Albanian is such a fickle thing. There's no music that appeals to me (except for the early 00s pop that I grew up with), no books or media. My motivation is family connections and heritage and those are bundled up with all sorts of complicated feelings.

Unless something major changes in my life or with my interests, my lifelong pursuit in languages will most likely be Japanese, French and Albanian.
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handa
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Re: Handa's Japanese log

Postby handa » Thu Mar 30, 2023 7:56 pm

I've been floundering in self-doubt a bit but I'll hope I'll be able to find my stride again soon now that I can focus solely on language studies again. At this point it seems inevitable that I'll falter and doubt my methods so I will just have to push through this.

Just a couple more lessons of Genki II and they've really packed a lot in the last few chapters. Passive, causative and passive-causative, one after the other. It's a bit much. I've entered all of the vocabulary into Anki and reviewed. I've already gone through the rest of the grammar so I'll be doing the simpler exercises in the textbook and workbook and hope that those verb conjugations sorts themselves out. Then I'm planning on transcribing the rest of the dialogues and longer texts, since I do think it's important as an exercise that requires me to really focus.

I've been watching a Japanese Let's Play on Youtube of my favourite game series. While the guy generally speaks too fast for me to parse it, I do catch a lot of words and grammar that I recognise and partly understand and that makes me feel a bit hopeful. The game is also in Japanese so I get some practice that way too. One little extra bit of motivation I have when it comes to studying Japanese is that I want to be able to experience this game series in the original language and not through a translation that has proven itself to not be very accurate in some areas.

I'm planning what material I want to do before my exchange in September. Right now I'm at the stage of my course where we've almost covered all that we will be covering this semester (and I've studied ahead), so what's left is a lot of reviewing and practice. I have a very rough plan of what books I'll use:

1. 日本語中級J301 <-- the textbook they're using for Japanese 3
2. TRY!日本語能力試験N5 <-- review?
3. Basic Kanji Book ー基本漢字500ー Vol.2 <-- using this one in our kanji module, as a complement to Genki's kanji section
4. Short Stories in Japanese 日本語の短篇小説 <-- reading practice

I've written about it in some old log thread of mine but I really do need the structure that comes with a textbook. The direction and sense of moving forward is necessary for me, at least at the stage where I am now in language learning and in life in general.
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handa
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Re: Handa's Japanese log

Postby handa » Thu Apr 13, 2023 1:42 pm

Finally received my grade for the oral exam in March. I received A and while I'm happy it also feels completely undeserved, but I need to try and trust that my teacher is better at evaluating my performance than I am.

I've finished the textbook a couple of weeks ahead of the class but I'm going to have to start reviewing all of it since exams start in May. It'll be a combination of lecture presentations, Genki and Japanese for Busy People, I think. I still don't feel like I've actually internalised any of the grammar that we've learned throughout the semester so I'm a bit worried. I don't just want good grades on a paper, I want them to actually mean something.

I'm watching gameplay of the first game in the series I mentioned in my last post (without commentary now), writing down unfamiliar words and expressions. I'm planning on adding these to a separate Anki deck soon.
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handa
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Re: Handa's Japanese log

Postby handa » Wed Apr 19, 2023 6:08 pm

Did the mock exam in TRY!日本語能力試験N5.

言語知識(文字・語彙):35/35 (letters and vocab)
言語知識(文法)・読解:30/32 (grammar and reading comprehension)
聴解:23/24 (listening comprehension)

The mistakes in the 2nd section were incredibly stupid and during the listening section I lost focus and missed whose line in a picture it was that I was supposed to choose.

Wish I had the N4 book because that's what I'm most curious about, but at least I have a bit more to prove my skills to myself at least (even if it's only N5...) There might be some N4 mock exams if I scour the Internet a bit.

Edit: Did the N4 sample questions on the JLPT website and got 14/15.
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handa
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Re: Handa's Japanese log

Postby handa » Thu May 18, 2023 9:04 pm

It's been about a month since I last posted. I finished the last of my exams earlier in the week and now I'm waiting for the results.

I had my third and last oral examination on monday and I felt as if my listening comprehension had gotten worse compared to before. During the "Q&A" section of the exam, I had to ask my teacher to repeat a question twice because I couldn't understand it when I haven't had any problems understanding her in the past. I managed to pull through in the end though.

I've been slacking a lot this past month when it comes to my studies, only doing enough to keep my head above water, and I really feel like that's showing itself in my progress. I'm not in a good place right now mentally because of a lot of things going on right and that has really affected my energy and ability to focus. I need to find a way to get back on track.

There's some sort of zoom meeting at the start of June to "mingle", organised by one of my teacher, with some Japanese students who are studying either English or Swedish. I'm probably going to attend since I need to make it less scary to speak to actual Japanese people, especially since I'm most likely going to Japan in September. I might write to my teacher to ask her more about the meeting (how it's structured, etc.). Does anyone else absolutely dread speaking with native speakers? I've gotten over it a bit regarding teachers but people my own age... they scare me. I've also received news that the placement test for my Japanese exchange will be held earlier than it was supposed to, though I'm still waiting for more information about that.

Current language-learning-related activity I'm doing is watching a playthrough of Kingdom Hearts and writing down unfamiliar words and phrases. I do find that I sometimes look up a word that I've already written down but I'm thinking of going through all that I've compiled after I've finished the game. I try not to get to bogged down whenever there are strings of smaller words/particles/words with grammatical functions that are too difficult for me to discern at this level, though the ambiguity is a bit uncomfortable. It helps that I have played the game multiple times so I have the story and English dialogue to guide me a bit.

My posts are a bit rambling but it's nice to write it down. I can talk about it without bothering the people in my life... :lol:
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