While the other Japanese threads have gone quiet, I've decided to indulge my addiction by starting my own. This is for all of us who are studying Japanese, regardless of level, to share our favourite learning resources as well as any hints and tips we might have. Yeah, my posts are long, but I don't think you understand what an obsession this is for me.. I can't help it!
I am by no means fluent in Japanese. I have a loads to learn yet, but I HAVE sampled a massive variety of study techniques and resources. I thought then, it would be nice to share what I've discovered to be useful, with those here who also wish to learn Japanese, to save you from wasting valuable time on rubbish. Maybe you could share your gems too?
LEARNING TIPS
Here, I'm going to share with you those blocks to learning that I have faced over the years. These are (I believe) pretty common to many language learners so I hope that by telling you about them, I might be able to help you to learn the basics in far less time than it has taken me.
BAD AT LEARNING LANGUAGES
I've said this of myself since the earliest days. I didn't begin to speak English until I was 4 years old and couldn't spell with any kind of proficiency until I was in my late teens! Naturally, I assumed that I had no aptitude for linguistics.
This is possibly the single worst block of all and is something I only very recently started to overcome. Earlier this year, I bought myself a book of cognitive exercises and hypnosis techniques, to improve ones learning ability. It seems to have made a difference in more areas than just language learning. The two most important points I took from it however were..
1) Continuously telling yourself you're bad at something becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
2) Most people grossly underestimate the effort required to achieve mastery at a subject and quit in the early stages, when it reveals itself to be harder than expected, or use this early struggle, as evidence to reinforce point 1) above.
So my advice is to stop any thoughts of 'I'm no good at learning languages' and remember the following...
1) It took every native Japanese speaker at least a year before they attempted even their first word, and around 6 years before they could speak with consistent grammatical accuracy. It takes them the full compulsory education to learn to read and write all the major kanji (around 2,500 of them). They made many, many mistakes along the way too, but they didn't let it throw them, they kept trying and trying until they get it right. You're attempting to do all of this in a few years, while running a home, holding down a job, managing relationships, going to university or whatever it is you do. Be kind to yourself and be proud of every single achievement, however small it might seem, because teaching yourself a language is difficult and you really are amazing for doing this!
2) Dr. Daniel Levitin is a researcher into the time it requires to reach world class mastery of anything and his findings were pretty inspiring to me. While I am not suggesting we become masters of Japanese, it IS interesting research as it drills home the point that if you're not making much progress, it could be the infrequency and the short duration of your practise, rather than some innate inability to grasp new languages.
Dr. Levitin discovered that typically, 10 thousand hours of practise are required to become masters at anything, from chess, to football. This amounts to 3 hours per day, or twenty hours per week, over a 10 year period.
World class mastery isn't most people's aim in language learning, so 3 hours daily is a bit much to ask unless you really need rapid results. I'd suggest at least an hour a day is required though, ideally, split into shorter sessions so your concentration remains at its best throughout.
I am by no means fluent in Japanese. I have a loads to learn yet, but I HAVE sampled a massive variety of study techniques and resources. I thought then, it would be nice to share what I've discovered to be useful, with those here who also wish to learn Japanese, to save you from wasting valuable time on rubbish. Maybe you could share your gems too?
LEARNING TIPS
Here, I'm going to share with you those blocks to learning that I have faced over the years. These are (I believe) pretty common to many language learners so I hope that by telling you about them, I might be able to help you to learn the basics in far less time than it has taken me.
BAD AT LEARNING LANGUAGES
I've said this of myself since the earliest days. I didn't begin to speak English until I was 4 years old and couldn't spell with any kind of proficiency until I was in my late teens! Naturally, I assumed that I had no aptitude for linguistics.
This is possibly the single worst block of all and is something I only very recently started to overcome. Earlier this year, I bought myself a book of cognitive exercises and hypnosis techniques, to improve ones learning ability. It seems to have made a difference in more areas than just language learning. The two most important points I took from it however were..
1) Continuously telling yourself you're bad at something becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
2) Most people grossly underestimate the effort required to achieve mastery at a subject and quit in the early stages, when it reveals itself to be harder than expected, or use this early struggle, as evidence to reinforce point 1) above.
So my advice is to stop any thoughts of 'I'm no good at learning languages' and remember the following...
1) It took every native Japanese speaker at least a year before they attempted even their first word, and around 6 years before they could speak with consistent grammatical accuracy. It takes them the full compulsory education to learn to read and write all the major kanji (around 2,500 of them). They made many, many mistakes along the way too, but they didn't let it throw them, they kept trying and trying until they get it right. You're attempting to do all of this in a few years, while running a home, holding down a job, managing relationships, going to university or whatever it is you do. Be kind to yourself and be proud of every single achievement, however small it might seem, because teaching yourself a language is difficult and you really are amazing for doing this!
2) Dr. Daniel Levitin is a researcher into the time it requires to reach world class mastery of anything and his findings were pretty inspiring to me. While I am not suggesting we become masters of Japanese, it IS interesting research as it drills home the point that if you're not making much progress, it could be the infrequency and the short duration of your practise, rather than some innate inability to grasp new languages.
Dr. Levitin discovered that typically, 10 thousand hours of practise are required to become masters at anything, from chess, to football. This amounts to 3 hours per day, or twenty hours per week, over a 10 year period.
World class mastery isn't most people's aim in language learning, so 3 hours daily is a bit much to ask unless you really need rapid results. I'd suggest at least an hour a day is required though, ideally, split into shorter sessions so your concentration remains at its best throughout.
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