Kiykiy's Learning Log

[kiykiy21]

I am new to this site, but hope to use it in order to create accountability. I love languages, but I tend to be lazy and get distracted. Since I'm the only one I know who works on learning new languages, it's also hard to find a partner or anything to keep me on track.

For quick language history: I am American with English as my native language. Growing up, I was thrown into French courses in fourth grade for 'enrichment'. I loved it! Stuck to it through high school, but no use locally for it. So I have forgotten a lot. I also grew up fluent in Spanish due to where I grew up and who my friends were. The fact my mother couldn't understand made it all that much more endearing to a teenaged me. Sadly, when I moved as a teen, there was such a small Spanish-speaking population that I also forgot much of that, though did take it in college for three semesters. Been a long while, though.

Current status: Very beginner Japanese. I'm currently about halfway through the Hiragana alphabet. Deciding whether to refresh Spanish or French as well.

Current goals: I want to be completely through Hiragana by the end of next week (04/07) at which point I'll start on Katakana. I hope to take the JLPT in December; I want to test at least N5, but my real goal is N4 by then. That's about nine months to get a basic grasp on the language. I will continue building from there. The other goal is to regain fluencies I've had before, and hope to decide by the end of next week if I'll start with French or Spanish refreshing first. I will be working on both languages, but Japanese and French or Spanish are so different, I don't think it'll be a problem. Besides, I've been fluent in them both before.

Current methods: I am currently looking into resources, but mostly practice through an online course and use a lot of practice sheets. I use the bird app a bit for some basic vocabulary. I also use the words or Kanji as I can in practical settings. For example, I am using the Japanese Kanji and order for the date. I intend to do about fifteen minutes (minimum) a night with very focused study.

Future methods: I have a few books to work with, both for Japanese and Spanish, so that may be my refresh course. I will also use a podcast to learn new words/phrases/grammar, using their notes to follow along. I will look into more books, but also more writing forums and maybe find a partner to practice with.

Future Languages of Interest: Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, Russian, Arabic, Korean, Gaelic, German, Italian, and others I'm sure I'm forgetting.

[lavengro]

Welcome to the forum Kiykiy. I am also studying Japanese and am still at an early stage. I was planning on taking the JLPT N5 test on December 3, 2023 and doing somewhat disasterously, but more recently I am toying with taking it instead on July 2, 2023 and doing spectacularly disasterously.

I see your comments about taking JLPT testing this coming December. I cannot speak from personal experience, but I see estimates of 350-600 study hours generally required for the N5 test (depending on a number of variables, and I am not sure whether those projections are for a brutal beating, a bare pass or higher).

You have 245 days before the December 3rd test date, so you may be looking at 1.5 to 2.5 hours per day for Japanese, if those projections are reliable and depending how your mileage might vary. You may want to take that into consideration in deciding whether to also work at refreshing French and/Spanish at the same time.

Good luck, definitely doable and for me, studying Japanese has been very enjoyable to this point, so more importantly, have fun.

[kiykiy21]

Thanks for the input! I think here I can only take it in December. I really put that date because to me, it's doable I *think*. But like this forum, it is forcing some accountability and putting a deadline to things. I don't know how well I'll do, but it's money on the line and a due date, so I hope that works.

I'm already doing better than I normally do, sticking to things and varying fronts.

I'm learning Kanji alongside the Kana, mostly every day things like how to write the date or words that I'm already learning, like blue - I learned the kana and the Kanji. I hope that method makes it stick.

I have also enjoyed learning Japanese. I fell in love with Japan via Sailor Moon and always wanted to learn the language and move there. I even tried to convince my mother to move there for the education system alone, as I was enthralled in the upper level classes Ami/Sailor Mercury was taking. Unsurprisingly, my mother did not find that a compelling enough reason. So now, I'm getting things going in my life and working towards at least being able to visit in the future and have a basic communication level.

Where is your current level at and what are you using to improve? It's nice to meet other language learners, especially interested in Japanese.

[golyplot]

It's hard to speak reliably since everyone has a different situation, but N4 in nine months seems very ambitious to me. And I say that based on memories of my own first year of Japanese study.

[kiykiy21]

It seems that everything that could go wrong *has* gone wrong over the last few months. For a long while I was at least keeping up with a couple of apps, but I got really sick in May, had a car accident, and then fell through a porch last month. Needless to say, languages took a backseat to everything else I've done in order to manage injuries including fractured vertebrae and concussion. Even getting back in, I found I hadn't even bookmarked this site, sadly. Finally found it today.

On to the more fun things, I am nearly done with Hiragana, will be starting Katakana shortly. I am still hoping to take JLPT N5 in December, but not completely sure yet. It's a 3+ hour drive from my home and my car was totaled. I am going to continue learning and since I have until mid August to decide, I will make a more informed decision then.

I have been getting back into listening to a podcast, so that's a start. I am going to be looking into smaller things to read and listen to for the Japanese as well. I have been learning the Hiragana spelling then looking into the kanji from there. Tomorrow I will be consolidating the words I know or have learned into one spot and see where I go from here.

That is my update for today, and I will hopefully see you tomorrow!

[kiykiy21]

Good evening! I'm doing this a second day in a row. Good start so far!

Last night, I went ahead and added the Japanese language bundle to my computer to be able to type in Japanese. Today I worked with dakuten, which change the sounds of the various kana. Mostly, I focused on the k-row of hiragana. This includes: か (ka) to が (ga), き (ki) to ぎ (gi),く (ku) to ぐ (gu), け (ke) to げ (ge), and こ (ko) to ご (go).

I have worked on a few words, though I am still learning them.

ぬぎね (nugine: eyeglasses)
かぎ (kagi: key)
いりぐさ (irigusa: entrance)
おみやげ (omiyage: souvenir)
にほんご (nihongo: Japanese language)
えいが (eiga: movie)
ぎんこう (ginkou: bank)
ぐんたい (guntai: military)
にんげん (ningen: human)
えいご (eigo: English language)

I am debating looking up the Kanji to go with it as I do it, but uncertain on that front so far.

Well, that is it for tonight! I will add more tomorrow, I hope, but it's my first day back at work, so I am not sure how it will go overall.

おやすみ

[kiykiy21]

First off, sorry about the delay. I didn't think returning to work would be so exhausting, but the last two days I passed out pretty much as soon as I got off work and slept through until time to go to work again! Today went much better, though, and I was able to get some studying in.

Today I focused more on Japanesepod101.com Hiragana lessons. I reviewed the vowels and the K-row, turned into G with dakuten/tenten. It didn't overlap too much with the words from last time, though, so that's a positive. My hand is killing me from writing practice, however!

Do I have the following words down? No. Do I have lots of practice writing them? Meh, some. I worked hard on learning the kanji, at least the stroke order. I wrote down what they mean for each of the kanji, so I can start trying to figure them out. The kanji for kage, for example, means shadow/silhouette. The right half of the kanji is three strokes, reminds me of light, so it's in shade (shadow).

The words covered in this lesson:

か: Ka (Misquito)　 蚊
きおく: Kioku (memory)　　記憶
きく: kiku (hear, listen, ask)　聞く
こえ: koe (voice)　
かく: kaku (write)
かぎ: kagi (key)
おおきい: ookii (big)
えいが: eiga (movie)　映画
かげ: kage (shadow)　影
あか: aka (red)
かご: kago (basket)
くぎ: kugi (nail)
かい: kai (seashell)
こい: koi (love)
えき: eki (station)
くうき: kuuki (air)
けいかく: keikaku (plan)
あかい: akai (red, adj.)
えいご: eigo (English language)
きあい: kiai (fighting spirit)
かいけい: kaikei (accounting)

Either way, that's it for tonight!