[ e ]

I know how you feel Gregg. The exam was an absolute disaster in terms of the last reading part. There was simply not enough time... and it has pretty much decided it for me... the problem is kanji!

I know it's a little too late but this is really cool:

http://www.thejapanesepage.c
om/level2.htm

Oh, and I dont think there is any need to stay on in Japan in order to learn kanji. You can do that anywhere in the world and probably better where you are happy!

:)

posted by jsanDecember 2, 2001 at 14:50

It's like that for any language! [ e ]

Don't despair,...everyone has these problems when learning another language!

I took 4 years of Spanish in high school, then a year of French in college (which TOTALLY messed up my Spanish cause they are too similiar...aside from the pronounciation) and a year of Russian. I failed Russian MISERABLY! I was the only person in the class that DIDN'T take the language in high school! Everyone in the class already had a working knowledge of the language but me! I was so mad about it and the instructor wouldn't let me drop the class when it was too late. So, I flunked it (ruined my GPA...the @#$#% teacher!).

Anyhow, if you can EVEN grasp the basic meaning of most things you hear/read in japanese, you should look at that as an accomplishment!! I highly doubt that there will come a time when you'd need to use biology terms in japanese,...but it's cool to know them anyhow.

I know Tagalog, but not enough to speak it fluently because I never learned it in class or had it anyone teach it to me. I picked up on it as I was growing up. I can understand what my parents say to each other or when someone speaks to me. I can even pick up a Filipino newspaper and understand the articles, but only if I read it outloud to myself. But, if I were in the Philippines, I could barely understand any Tagalog. They speak it too fast and use lots of words that I never hear in everyday use here! Course, there are a billion different dialects to Tagalog that differ from region to region...even town to town. So, for me to hear it there, it's like a completely new language! I even took a year of Elementary Tagalog 2 years ago to help me understand the grammatical use of the language. It helped A LOT in terms of when I attempt to speak the language (so I don't look the fool in front of my friends anymore...LOL) but the vocabulary lists...so long and I was too lazy to learn them!

But really, do you need a test to tell you if you can speak/write in japanese fluently? Also, it takes a while to learn another language! Whether you are in Japan or not, you can still learn the language as long as you make the effort to speak it everyday. ^_^

posted by nikita2471December 2, 2001 at 16:01

kanji... [ e ]

Good point about kanji study! I have a friend who studied abroad in Japan for a year. Instead of meeting people and focusing on his conversation skills he became obsessed with cramming kanji, spent all his time in the library. At the end of the year he could read/write 2000+ characters, but wasn't happy with his speaking. Six months later he was down to about 700.

There's always time for intense kanji study later. It's the people (good and bad) that make your experience in Japan memorable.

Mike

posted by maikuDecember 4, 2001 at 14:21

It seems hard!! [ e ]

I'm very intrested in living in Japan. And Japanese seems SO hard to learn XD I really want to live there, but it will be hard with the people and the language :\

posted by anon_XOtaku89July 25, 2003 at 7:16

memorizing stuff [ e ]

I use a program called kingkanji to memorize vocabulary (it's meant to be for kanji but I can't be bothered with kanji just yet).  It's basically a flashcard program.  It's simple (actually maybe too simple) but it does the job.

There are versions for win32, palmOS and pocket PCs, so you can review your vocabulary wherever you are.  I add every single piece of vocabulary I learn to the database, together with example sentences of each new pattern.

I'm actually slightly ashamed for trying to teach you guys stuff, since I'm a newbie.  But anyway, what I do is spend 3-4 days learning/revieweing 30 words and 30 sentences.  Once I know them 100% I'll try to learn a new batch of vocabulary+sentences, but I will review the previous batch every other day for about 4-5 days.  Problem with this is you're using short-term memory so you still forget easily...

So basically to store things in long-term memory I'll then try to review batch once every 3 days, then once a week, then once every two weeks, then once a month, and so on.

It works! The method has a name but I forgot it, sorry.  Hope this is of some help & not entirely obvious.

posted by butoJanuary 14, 2004 at 18:56

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i used to study in Japan but i had a hard time in kanji so confusin characters look actually the same for me!esp in the first part..i took the level 3... better make it nextime--how will i be able to know my results?

posted by LuiFebruary 22, 2006 at 19:08

[ e ]

my teachers and friends told not to be too afraid of Kanji because even they can't completely understand it. Since right now I'm an exchange student..studying for the proficiency test is the next step I have to take...

posted by andieJune 19, 2006 at 20:38

Japanese study/advice [ e ]

I first learned Japanese by going to Japan and living there for 2 years as a volunteer missionary.  I saw 2 types of volunteers, the ones who didn't bother with kanji, and the ones that only studied kanji.  Clearly the ones who only studied kanji could not speak, and their listening was not very high.  Those who only focused on speaking (myself included) were able to talk well enough to get by in just about any situation.  

Following this volunteer activity and upon returning to America, I went to my university and started to study (I went on the mission before I even went one day to my university) Japanese.  I had to fix all the incorrect grammar I had picked up, and I wanted to learn kanji.  My classes were intense, and I decided to major in Japanese.  The funny thing is that even after I studied at my university and learned around 2000 + kanji, I couldn't write the kanji if you asked me to.  However, by spending time constantly practicing writing kanji, I picked up how to read them.  I think it is just as someone mentioned earlier, when we study biology in school for 2 months, then we know the words.  For me that was the case.

After graduation, I got married (to a Japanese girl) and now I am living in Tokyo and working for a major Japanese electronics company.  Getting this job required me to take a few tests, both written and verbal.  It was not an easy feat, but thankfully I was able to read the kanji in the newspaper I was asked to translate.  

My advice to anyone trying to master this and/or any language is to use it.  USE IT USE IT USE IT, and when you don't know what else to do to improve, USE IT.  I would sometimes talk to myself when I was alone in the car in Japanese to try and keep it when I was in America.  I also found a few other university students that were either Japanese or spoke Japanese, and I would hold a weekly or monthly "Japanese culture night" where I would invite all the natives I knew and friends that had expressed interest in Japan, or were studying the Japanese language.  I tried to create "opportunities" that would allow me to use the Japanese I had, and it helped me learn a lot more  (remember this was all done in America).  The key to using the language is to be creative and think of ways to bring the language to you, not for you to go to the language.  I learned this from my older brother who knows German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Hebrew, and speaks Mandarin pretty well.  He has since started learning Japanese, and I haven't had a chance to speak with him lately--maybe it is time to follow up.

Good luck with the language, and just keep using it.  If you want to pick up kanji, use it by either reading an article every day in Japanese or writing a letter to someone.  Another important thing is to try and see an image in each character to remind you what it is.  When I look at the kazoeru "to count" kanji, I see a man with a stick on the right side holding a stick over the woman telling her to count the rice.  Do what works for you!

posted by AaronNovember 4, 2006 at 21:24

Nihongo no benkyou:A study of Japanese Language [ e ]

Nihongo is really HARD!!! :nihongo wa hontou ni muzukashii!!!

especially the kanji: Toku ni Kanji!!

Well I've been studying JL for 6 months I think.....but not straight...

and this month I'll be returning to Japan to study for a year....and I think it is not easy!!! The sensei were teaching you how to write..hiragana ..katakan...and Kanji....ang how to construct sentences....but the vocabulary the we are using inside the school was a little different with what type of conversation outside...I mean there are a lot of kotoba desukara.....Japanese uses PLane style and polite style in there evryday living...which I find so difficult to learn and when ,where to use.....

Kanji is hard and in other side interesting: kanji wa muzukashii desuga,omoshiroidesu...

Now I can use very few Kanji....but by merely looking at my Japanese dictionaries!!!!GOSH!!!!!it gives me headache!!haha.......how long do I have to study........for me to familiarized those words and most of all those kanji!!!!

but studying different language goes even deeper right?? you get to learn the language and its culture......

ね。。皆さん頑張って下さい！！

貴方のブログは面白かったです！！

有難うfor you post^.^

posted by MeguchanMarch 12, 2008 at 6:50