cathrynm: suomi/日本語

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cathrynm
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Re: cathrynm: suomi/日本語

Postby cathrynm » Sun Feb 04, 2018 7:52 am

So having passed the N3, it's got me itching to make the serious effort to pass the N2 this year. I confess I've been kind of up and down with this, and serial failing N2 sort of got me in a rut. So thinking this year, trying to make a more serious effort at this. I think really, for this test, I know the characters, but I am having reading comprehension issues. That I've guessing my way even reading normally. I think I need to stop and read more carefully, and not gloss over stuff. Also, though I pretty much know the characters, I have quite a bit of vocab I don't know and I think cramming of vocab books will help.
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cathrynm
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Re: cathrynm: suomi/日本語

Postby cathrynm » Sun Feb 04, 2018 8:10 am

I take that arealme.com test for Japanese, says I'm at 6,780 words, 47.67%. Some of these are really hard, has quite a few yojijukugo in it, and I just guess based on kanji.
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cathrynm
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Re: cathrynm: suomi/日本語

Postby cathrynm » Sun Feb 04, 2018 8:21 am

Oh, and for Finnish, vocab is at 3580, 39.83%. I swear I have been studying this language, but these words, I knew practically none of them. Super-hard. Anyway, maybe this isn't too surprising. I think I count myself as substantially less than the B-levels in this language. I really do need more vocab, I'm pretty sure.
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cathrynm
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Re: cathrynm: suomi/日本語

Postby cathrynm » Sun Sep 30, 2018 6:42 am

And here we go. Last year I did actually take a step back, took the JLPT N3 and passed it. This year it's now at my yearly runup to JLPT N2, which I think I've failed now at least 5 times or so. Making a point to buckle down and do some JLPT-focused studying over the next few months.
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dicentra8
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Re: cathrynm: suomi/日本語

Postby dicentra8 » Sun Sep 30, 2018 5:30 pm

Good luck for it! I decided to skip JLPT this year (although I'm not sure if there was one this year in Portugal :? ). I also tried the N2, failed miserably, and then decided last year to step back and go for the N3.

cathrynm wrote:I am having reading comprehension issues. That I've guessing my way even reading normally. I think I need to stop and read more carefully, and not gloss over stuff.


I have got the same issue with the reading section...it's always the section I score lower compared with the rest. I've always thought that maybe I should check more advice about "reading interpretation skills", I think that's my problem when doing the reading. And yes, sometimes it pays off more to read more carefully.
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cathrynm
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Re: cathrynm: suomi/日本語

Postby cathrynm » Fri Oct 05, 2018 5:23 am

I think these tests are designed to foul you up if you're just picking out words and guessing, I think. You have a nice cat, it looks like!
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cathrynm
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Re: cathrynm: suomi/日本語

Postby cathrynm » Sun Oct 14, 2018 3:03 am

And my latest thing, TV. I just purchased a 1 year subscription to this site, about $180. Other languages have it easier, I think. I keep finding all kinds of free streams for Arabic or German -- but Japanese, everything is so locked down. So far video quality has been pretty good, and has something around the clock, though a very large amoung of 'eating food' 'informercial' and 'sports shows' on this. I also have crunchroll, but I just don't have time to follow an entire anime series. TV is easier to just let run in the background.

https://japannettv.com/wpshop/

I'm back watching YLE after fussing with my VPN a bit. It just wasn't working for awhile, and I contacted them, and fussed with settings and now it's back up. YLE is frustrating because it has nothing at nighttime in Finland which is much of the time I'm around, at least it is working and I can see it if I'm up early in the morning, and it works on my phone too.
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dicentra8
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Re: cathrynm: suomi/日本語

Postby dicentra8 » Sun Oct 14, 2018 8:02 pm

cathrynm wrote:I keep finding all kinds of free streams for Arabic or German -- but Japanese, everything is so locked down.


Yes! :( I just remember fondly the good old days with NijiTV (then it "died"). So many channels. I really should do the same and watch more TV, I really haven't done that much as I used to.
Japanese tv sometimes for some reason seems just (delicious) food, food everywhere! :lol:
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"I have to watch the time I spend playing Tetris very carefully."

cathrynm
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Posts: 246
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2015 7:11 am
Location: Berkeley, California
Languages: Japanese(JLPT N3), Finnish(beginner), English(native)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=721
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Re: cathrynm: suomi/日本語

Postby cathrynm » Mon Oct 15, 2018 2:51 am

My goal is to try to have every form of media available at my home. TV, radio, movies, magazines, music, books, news, etc. I think websites are good enough for news in Japanese and Finnish. Radio is less blocked than TV, and I've been using TuneIn for radio, mostly for Japanese radio. YLE has some Finnish radio stations also. I'm pretty much okay with movies having collected Finnish movies and with Japanese I have plenty of that to watch. I have good access to Japanese Books and we have a book store here in San Francisco that has every book and magazine I could ever want. I have a stack of them I still need to finnish. I have quite a few Japanese videogames, not many Finnish games really at all, but that's just how it is. And Like I said, I'm getting my TV situation setup pretty good.

The thing I'm missing still is a good source for Finnish books and magazines. My Music collection is still a little thin with both languages. I've been listening on Youtube, but in Japan I was at the massive used CD store and then I realized I didn't remember the names of groups -- oops. I did buy the "Super-Enka collection." but that's it for now.
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dicentra8
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Re: cathrynm: suomi/日本語

Postby dicentra8 » Mon Oct 15, 2018 1:45 pm

In case you need more finnish radio stations, I like these ones since they only play music in finnish (no english at all).
- Suomi Pop
- Suomi Rock

There's also some radio shows in those websites. I think Radio Play has got plenty of radio-podcast type of shows there. :)

Morgana wrote:Do you have any movies or tv series you’d recommend for Finnish?

I think I also need some recommendations on that, I'm a little clueless about finnish movies and tv shows.
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"I have to watch the time I spend playing Tetris very carefully."


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