I like how the kanji for “blindness” (盲) is made from “dead” and “eye”, it’s just so logical :D However, the word 盲 (めくら) is actually a pejorative term, so people don’t use it much any more apparently; 盲人 (もうじん) seems to be more common.

Also, I like the kanji for the word “aeroplane” – 飛行機 is “fly + go + machine” :D

The annoying thing with paper clips is that it’s only when you need one that you can’t find any; the rest of the time, they seem to be everywhere. Or if they are there, they’re the wrong size. Same thing with rubber bands.

I’m not sure I understand the need for the book with squared and lined paper on opposite pages. If you use the squared side to practise writing, does that mean you’ll be taking notes ON each practice session using the lined side? If not, then why do they need to be together? Is it not enough to have one book of squared and one book of lined? If the notes you’re taking are on grammar or something unrelated to the writing practice, you’ll have to flick through double the number of pages to find a previous note.

I used to practise kanji on squared paper, but it didn’t really matter what writing utensil I used: pencil, ball-point, fine liner, I just took whatever was closest haha. Now when I’m adding words to Anki, I write them down on a blank notepad that’s just on the desk beside me – not too long ago, I recorded every new word in a small lined notebook, writing the kanji/reading/meaning one by one, but that was so much more time-consuming, so after WAY too long of doing it that way, I decided to stop. As for flash cards, like I mentioned previously, I use Anki, so physical paper/card flash cards are unnecessary.

Sorry if my methods bore you :P

Even if “ham” and “beer” came to English from Dutch, if Japanese assimilates either from English, then that’s not them coming from Dutch. Just like if Japanese people started using an English word of Latin origin, you wouldn’t refer to it as being a Latin loanword.

Actually, there’s a fair few words that sound like they came from English, but we’re actually brought by the Dutch – ハム, アルコール, ビール et cetera.

If there are Japanese words that sound the same as both Dutch and English, how can we be sure they were taken from Dutch and not English?

By “real-world”, I meant “beyond university” level. Not a a great choice of words, I just couldn’t think what to call it :D
It depends on what kinds of problems they are – if they’re simple “Work out this value” or “Solve for x” style ones, then yeah, it’d be possible (if time consuming) to do them all. One’s that talk about proving or showing that or explaining why something’s the case are a lot more involved though.

All that aside, did it actually help to go through every single question? How many variations of the same thing do you have to do before you start tearing your hair out through boredom and despair? Did you not stop at some points and think “Yep, I think I’ve got this section covered after 9001 questions, any more would be overkill”? :P

You want to get every word correct, but if you actually *did* get every word correct every time, there’d be no need for doing flashcards :P Making mistakes is part of the learning process and an integral part of how Anki works – if you definitely didn’t know a card, click “Again” so that the SRS algorithm can work its magic.

Also, 5-10 minutes? Is that *really* too much? How many cards are you doing in that time? If you get stressed over 5 minutes of studying a day, how are you going to get anywhere with the language (unless, that is, you’re immortal and have all of eternity)? I don’t *mean* to sound mean, but that really isn’t that much time.

@Astralfox: Must have been a pretty crappy textbook if you can get through *every* question in great detail :P Or maybe it’s just that high school maths is piss-easy; uni- and real-world-level maths is ridiculous in comparison haha