immersion really works for me
Sep. 10th, 2007 21:13![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
piranhai am about to crank up the japanese learning one more notch. i am just so impatient, and cannot be bothered to follow standard curricula, but i must, must, must do some of that to fill the gaps immersion leaves. listening constantly to drama CDs is really working well; i recognize considerably more words now, and more importantly, i recognize parts of speech. i've got most basic verb conjugations down, so when i hear what i think is a verb i can often immediately look it up because i can derive the dictionary form on the fly (that does not always work for japanese verbs, but it works more often than not). i can occasionally understand entire sentences at full speed (and i don't just mean ore no mono da, *snicker* (you are mine!), but hontou ni yamete hoshii no ka (do you really want me to stop?) -- well, _i_ think that's progress. :).
the decision to concentrate on verbs first seems to have been the right one (though it means my vocabulary is sadly bereft of nouns, *snicker*). i'm also steadily acquiring more kanji, though that's proceding very slowly, too slowly to make me happy. i probably need to start writing them; i learn better when i write things down, and typing doesn't anchor them as well as writing by hand. i have gotten much better at determining the major radicals, so i can now look up kanji faster, and that speeds my translation efforts. i should also seek out more manga with furigana; i generally don't pay attention to that since i pick up raws based on whether i like the art, but it would help with kanji acquisition as well.
several days ago i was listening to a drama CD for 悪 waru (evil, wicked, bad thing|person), which i thought was based on a novel; i didn't know anything about it. but while listening casually, things started to sound familiar. now mind, i am still at the stage where if i don't at least know a summary of the CD i can hardly ever figure out what's going on (except for, well, you know which parts). but here, i understood somebody was being kidnapped, and things were not going the kidnapper's way (despite him having his way with the kidnappee), and then i listened to it over again more carefully and understood just enough to think "this sounds oddly familiar". and yes, it did. i had read the manga (weeks ago). i am quite proud of myself, *chuckle*. especially since this was the second recognition in a row -- the other one turns out to be in fact based on a novel, but i read a related manga, and i recognized the characters from their specific interactions (it's rather a dramatic relationship). the drama was 猫かぶりの君 nekokaburi no kimi by asagiri yuu, the manga i had read was 魅せられて miserarete.
i am also getting better at not confusing different syllables that start with the same sound (like ka, ke, ku) when trying to recall words - nekokaburi, not nekakuburi; that sort of thing -- i used to have a lot of trouble with that at first, and still do some. syllabary-based languages seem to me harder to learn than alphabet-based ones, but i am starting to remold my brain so it can handle this. it's creaking a lot, but it seems to be following the rails i am laying down. i am very specifically learning japanese grammar the way japanese would learn it, not the quick-n-dirty western way. that makes some things a bit more complicated (during conjugating), but it maintains the syllable concept at all times.
since the paramour was seduced away from learning japanese by the *poing* who tempted with angband, i think i'll start writing bits and pieces here again to try and tempt zir back. :) i still want to talk about conjugating verbs because it is so easy and cool.
the decision to concentrate on verbs first seems to have been the right one (though it means my vocabulary is sadly bereft of nouns, *snicker*). i'm also steadily acquiring more kanji, though that's proceding very slowly, too slowly to make me happy. i probably need to start writing them; i learn better when i write things down, and typing doesn't anchor them as well as writing by hand. i have gotten much better at determining the major radicals, so i can now look up kanji faster, and that speeds my translation efforts. i should also seek out more manga with furigana; i generally don't pay attention to that since i pick up raws based on whether i like the art, but it would help with kanji acquisition as well.
several days ago i was listening to a drama CD for 悪 waru (evil, wicked, bad thing|person), which i thought was based on a novel; i didn't know anything about it. but while listening casually, things started to sound familiar. now mind, i am still at the stage where if i don't at least know a summary of the CD i can hardly ever figure out what's going on (except for, well, you know which parts). but here, i understood somebody was being kidnapped, and things were not going the kidnapper's way (despite him having his way with the kidnappee), and then i listened to it over again more carefully and understood just enough to think "this sounds oddly familiar". and yes, it did. i had read the manga (weeks ago). i am quite proud of myself, *chuckle*. especially since this was the second recognition in a row -- the other one turns out to be in fact based on a novel, but i read a related manga, and i recognized the characters from their specific interactions (it's rather a dramatic relationship). the drama was 猫かぶりの君 nekokaburi no kimi by asagiri yuu, the manga i had read was 魅せられて miserarete.
i am also getting better at not confusing different syllables that start with the same sound (like ka, ke, ku) when trying to recall words - nekokaburi, not nekakuburi; that sort of thing -- i used to have a lot of trouble with that at first, and still do some. syllabary-based languages seem to me harder to learn than alphabet-based ones, but i am starting to remold my brain so it can handle this. it's creaking a lot, but it seems to be following the rails i am laying down. i am very specifically learning japanese grammar the way japanese would learn it, not the quick-n-dirty western way. that makes some things a bit more complicated (during conjugating), but it maintains the syllable concept at all times.
since the paramour was seduced away from learning japanese by the *poing* who tempted with angband, i think i'll start writing bits and pieces here again to try and tempt zir back. :) i still want to talk about conjugating verbs because it is so easy and cool.