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Hello everyone! So, before i get started, this is by no means a round-about way of complaining, so you don’t have to “wait for it” haha
I’ve been a member for almost 2 months soon, and I have just just completed (learning and memorizing) all the kanji/kanji vocab up to the beginning of the 5 stroke, as well as all the vocab (as of season 2-6). Now, I can only make little sentence pieces from what I’ve learned so far, and I know there’s still a ton of grammar points to learn, so with all that obviousness out of the way – I’m curious about something.
For those of you that have experienced what I’m about to try and describe, when have you.. experienced that “I see the light” moment? I’m talking about things such as understanding/making sentences and having a running dialogue in Japanese. What I mean, is that in my case, I just have a ton of nouns/verbs floating around in my head with some beginning grammar points to create simple sentences, but, no real way yet of applying them (yet). When do you start to pull all those words together and “get it”? Is it like a puzzle where you think back to the particles and all technical bits?
Basically, I’m asking when the first time was that you started to look at random sentences or hear Japanese audio and have, for the first time.. the semblance of the first steps towards “fluency”? was it several weeks after taking up study? Months, years? I know Textfugu is (at this stage) a starter website, but i’m sure we have some advanced users floating around.
I feel this is pretty incoherent, so I can definitely clarify later on, haha.
Thanks!
*quotations around “fluency” because that might be one of those “in the eye of the beholder” deals.
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This topic was modified 13 years, 4 months ago by
Multany.
While I’m nowhere near advanced, I’ve had a few times where I’ve had that…”Eureka” moment before.
If my memory serves me right, it wasn’t just one in-your-face moment, it was many subtle moments.
Whenever I recognize Japanese out in the ‘wild’, that’s when I feel that I’m taking small, but consistent steps towards Japanese fluency.
It’s kinda hard to put into words, but I hope you understand what I’ve said. =)
It’s been about 6 months since I started, I’m a few lesson behind textfugu(3.8). I started pretty strongly but since the start of the summer I was….hmm…let’s say lazy.
But I’m kicking back things up now! To answer your question, I still don’t see the light. I’m advancing and I’m having fun…so if I have that, I’m happy with my progress.
I’m not press by any timeline or anything so it’s making it easier to just be ” cool ” about it.
For me, it was after I learned most of the Hiragana and Katakana symbols. I was watching an anime, and suddenly realized that I could understand what a lot of the signs in the show said, like an udon noodle shop, or a sports store. As I learn more, the conversations in the shows sounded a lot less like gibberish and I began to understand fragments of what they said without the need for subtitles. Small signs of improvements like these tell me that all my efforts to study Japanese have not been for nothing, and it really encourages me to study more. Best of luck to everyone on finding that light at the end of seemingly endless tunnel(it’s not actually endless, just really really long). :)
I don’t have much to add except that when I understand/see words/phrases/sentences/kanji I know/recognize, I have a little happy moment and all that time studying becomes worth it.
I just have a ton of nouns/verbs floating around in my head with some beginning grammar points to create simple sentences, but, no real way yet of applying them
It sounds like you are ready to start building your sentence deck.
http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/10000-sentences-how
I agree with everyone who has posted so far :P
jkl is on the right track here… fugu is teaching you the basics and the building blocks that will help you understand enough of the language so that you can go out and learn more on your own. The 10,000 sentences article there gives a good idea of what you’re currently missing… actually using the language, logging the hours listening/reading/writing/speaking.
I’d say most of the sentences you see in fugu are simply examples of how grammar is used, things are conjugated, etc. (That and Koichi loves sentences about sushi and eathing).
I don’t think there’s one single site on the internet that will teach you everything you need to know about the language, but fugu is very good at teaching you how to learn
Thanks everyone for the answers! I can relate to all of them, and it’s a bit of a reassuring sensation.
and thanks jkl, i’m gonna get right to reading that page after posting this. i’m familiar with AJATT, and i’ve heard talk of this 10,000 sentences stuff, but wasn’t sure when that would apply to me – so thanks!
And you also make a good point, Narcoleptic. I’m aware of the need to supplement and mix methods together – but it’s all too easy to get ‘lost’ in one way for a while, so it’s good to have a reminder
I’m definitely interested to keep hearing from people
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This reply was modified 13 years, 4 months ago by
I know how frustrating it can be to learn a new language all too well =( The beginning can be a pain as much as the middle and (I imagine) the end.. (if such a place exists when learning a language).
The same advice I give my students learning English applies to us studying Japanese (and has basically been covered in this thread).
We need to focus on our small victories more than the gaps in between. All too often (especially intermediate and advance students) focus on the parts of speech that they do not understand, rather than what they do. For beginners it’s much easier not to fall into this pattern at the beginning because 95% is unknown.
Just recognize what you do understand and pat yourself on the back for knowing at least that much and use that as fuel to keep studying!
I’ve been studying for over a year. While I feel like I’ve made great progress, I also feel like I should know more. There’s so much more that I don’t know compared to what I do! I haven’t had any big “lightbulb” moments, only a few “hey, I recognize that!” while watching or listening to spoken Japanese. Since RTK, I’ve also had an easier time learning vocab with it’s kanji. So nothing big, unfortunately. Maybe a big moment will happen eventually but for now I just focus on the small steps of progress.
What are you studying at the moment, Cassandra; how’s it all going? You don’t seem to post here as often anymore :/
This is a big issue I’ve seen with a lot of my students. (I used to teach high school physics and guitar a little bit) Life is not a movie where there is a little montage after which you are magically great. Don’t expect things to ‘click’ they never will; at least not more than a bunch of tiny, almost inaudible clicks. Success in anything worth pursuing is hard-won. I’ve seen many students not worry to much about how things are going at the present because they think if they just keep patient, they will ‘just get it’ and then it’s all down hill. This never happens, it’s hard all the way but just because it’s hard doesn’t mean it can’t be fun.
If you are waiting to be able to speak well to speak at all, you’ll be waiting forever. Fight, fail, learn from it, fight again, fail again. Repeat 1000 times. Eventually you’ll look back and realize that you actually learned a lot even though it never really felt like it.I like that advice
samuel beckett said “fail, fail again, fail better next time”…its my favourite quote.
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This topic was modified 13 years, 4 months ago by
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