Whew! What a week. It's been quite hectic, as school started back up and I was just super busy all day, every day. And kids aren't even there yet! I'm sure Monday and Tuesday this will will be the same, until the students do join us online Wendesday. Hopefully after that it'll calm down some, especially since we get 2 hours each day to prep, and I only have two different classes to prep for.
I didn't do much with anything this week, though I did get some new books in Irish in, including dictionaries of two extinct dialects and a book on the study of folklore. Nothing with Japanese/Spanish either, as I still haven't found any programs (or time!) I'm interested in for MIA. I might just end up picking the first drama I found in a shared Google Drive folder and watch that an hour or two a day. I wish I could do it during my commute, but I know I wouldn't be focused enough on it. All of this is complicated by the fact I rarely watch TV.
crush wrote:Ah that's great that books are being published in ebook formats! PDFs are generally less convenient to use with ebook readers, but for reading on a computer than can be decent, in particular if there's not much you need to look up.
Yeah, that's what I've discovered with my Kindle Fire, which I keep because Scribd has Irish ebooks. But, back on my old Kindle, I didn't find PDF files that difficult really. They loaded just like a book, except there was more stuff on the screen. With the Fire, it's a pain to even find them!
crush wrote:One of the things Matt recently changed was letting you use native (aka for me and you: English) subtitles at the starting stages and gradually drifting away from them as you get to "Stage 2". When i started, he recommended not using subtitles at all if possible. This made the first six-seven months pretty tough as i was understanding practically nothing. I eventually got around this by reading episode summaries before watching an episode, this made shows more enjoyable as i could follow along better with the story despite my low comprehension. Not sure when exactly i stopped doing this, probably around 8 months or so when my comprehension was getting to around 30-40%.
Now that's interesting. I remember reading about it on the subreddit, but it was just in passing. He hasn't updated the Japanese Quickstart Guide yet, it seems, as I just read that and he still recommends against subtitles. I can definitely see why, as subtitles are just super distracting for me, but if it keeps you focused and listening it's a better deal. I might try to do both - I'd prefer to do the original plan, which is closer to what Matt himself followed from my understanding, but if it gets too bad, I'll just throw on the subs for a while. And a great idea about episode summaries! I might see what I can find along those lines.
crush wrote:I also am not overflowing with time, i'm lucky in that a lot of my off time i can dedicate to language learning, though. For the first 8 months or so i probably averaged around 1-1.5 hours of immersion a day + my daily Anki reviews. In the beginning i'd play Japanese anime shows while working, but i found it distracting and often times there would be girls with really high-pitched ("cute") voices or people crying that just annoyed me so i just stopped. Now that i'm reading i get more immersion per day in, probably closer to 2.5 hours, as it's easier for me to read for long periods of time than watch anime or Japanese shows.
I do have a lot of off-time I could use to review Anki cards, so that would come in handy. Though I'm also running iOS so am hesitant to buy Anki before I know whether I'll stick with it as I'm generally not a fan of flashcards. Once I hit reading, it'd all get much easier, as you said. But I could possibly leverage my two hour prep/planning times into something useful, depending on how many students need help and what I'm doing the next day. That'd be nice.
crush wrote:Definitely give it a shot, i'd be more than happy to help you get started (and keep you motivated during your journey!) as i love this language! It's got a really different way of expressing things, the verb system is really interesting and unlike anything you've probably ever seen/studied before.
I will eventually, and I'll remember to ask for help. I've already got several textbooks/grammars just because I've found enjoyed reading about it.
On a side note, does anyone know any good Japanese podcasts? Looking for something I could put on in the car and not lose out from lack of visual aspect of things. I'd prefer something history related, though folklore, science, news, etc. would all work as well at this point I guess. I've got a nice commute I'd love to be able to take advantage of.