I’ve been using audiobooks mostly because I can adjust the speed and some I have in print as well as audio format.
I have tried a few podcasts but most of them were either not something I’d enjoy or too high above my level. Also only have access through amazon music and through audible, I think Miku is on there though. I do have a lot of podcast sets put aside but it’s not something I’ve listened to for a while so I probably should try going back to them.
I think the third one above is on my youtube list as well.
This last week I’ve found it more difficult to fit in time to read since it’s been busier in my personal life and I’m also procrastinating which is telling me I’m not really enjoying reading Zoo or at least reading the story I was on. Possibly because it was above my level and I wasn’t really understanding it so that doesn’t help.
I’ve also had 2 more lessons with my tutor (5 in total) and upgraded my subscription to keep 2 lessons per week though due to scheduling I can’t get any this next week coming so I’m hoping when my schedule renews again, I’ll be able to then schedule it every week for the same times since those seem to be working well for me.
How my speaking lessons are going:
Lesson wise I feel like I’m improving but I’m still taking a while to form even short sentences when it’s something I’m making up on the fly. I am still asking in English for some explanations but short sentences and individual words I’m asking for in Japanese and I’m switching back to Japanese once I know what I’m saying or to try to explain what I mean. I’m struggling to form longer sentences and to link sentences unless it’s a ‘because’ sentence but still not using んです with explanations so need to work on that.
We’re mostly just talking about random stuff and she’s asking me time and weather/temperature most lessons. My first one this week we spoke of Pokémon and I was trying to explain in basic Japanese to someone who had no clue what it was and how it worked. That was fun and hilarious when I got things wrong yesterday’s lesson we mostly spoke about food and cooking same with the last lesson the previous week.
I’m learning a few new words each time and I’m also understanding better how to use certain grammar points as well as better getters to grips with particles in context though I’m still a little confused between が and を in certain situations. I find I’m also Picking up on what grammar or phrases I want to use but don’t know how to use or can’t remember so that’s helping me figure out what to work on.
I’m able to talk for longer each time and I’m freezing up less which means she’s speaking less monologues to fill the space.
How I’m finding my listening skills improving:
I’ve been going back through the short story books I’ve got on audible (listening only and stopping when there is a word or phrase I don’t know) to see how my listening is coming along as I’m asking less for things to be repeated. I’m also transcribing words and phrases I’m unsure of before she’s sent me it in kanji and hiragana form and so far I’m transcribing correctly so think my listening is improving a lot. I’m still getting hung up on longer sentences but that will improve over time.
How I’m working on writing:
I’ve been working back through the Nihongo fun &easy grammar book and writing stuff out with each of the grammar points to keep writing. I’ve not yet moved back on to みんなの日本語. I think I’ll continue working through this then head back to みんなの日本語 once I’m finished.
Reading:
Reading wise I did finish the third story in Zoo book 1 but missed most of what was happening and I’m still confused wether it’s the boy or the parents that are ghosts but I’ll re read it at some point and see how much I’ve improved and how much I can understand.
Extra stuff I’m doing:
I’ve also started using Tandem to talk to people in English and Japanese and found a fair few people who want to talk in both so they can practice English and I can practice Japanese. There are some weirdos though and there’s always one person trying to scam you but so far it’s been ok. One person has suggested I read a book called あやし but I’ve mixed feelings about it as it seems to be about the monstrous side of humanity and its apparently a horror book which I’m finding are pretty full on scary af at times so I’m not sure if I should read it or not…
Plans for the coming week:
My plans for this week will be to continue with the audiobooks for listening, maybe do an hour or two of a shadowing course in place of my lessons and to continue reading the next story in Zoo, think there’s only one more after that then I’ll be on book 2 before heading back to キノの旅. I was trying to read Dracula along with the Dracula daily on Wanikani but it went down hill very quickly as there are no furigana in my copy so think I’ll hold that for next year and see how much I’ve improved.
That’s interesting. usually ppl struggle with は and が. Do you have an example? My brain has kinda adopted the idea of “が is the noun that is doing the verb” and “を is the noun that has the verb done to it” my brain likes it simple. What I struggle with is transitive/intransitive verbs and inevitably because of that I also get the が/を wrong in those cases, but if I get the verb right, the particles are usually correct.
Congrats on seeing improvements and on venturing out into the wild and talking to random people. Even if it’s just online, I shudder at the thought.
These I’m starting to understand and I’ve a better idea of what I should use when but I’ve noticed when speaking I stumble over が and を.
Yesterday I was talking about cooking and also about the weather. We were speaking about rain and snow and I kept using が降る and changing it to を降る but I’m now confused if it should be が or を. I did know before that but now I’m confused
It was the same thing when talking about cookingI was using が煮る/が焼くthen correcting myself to を煮る/を焼く and now I’m confused on which is right.
Thanks, I’ve found most of the people on Tandem so far to be decent. Some are only looking for English and others are happy to help you understand their language if you’re helping them understand yours. It’s been good so far, quick responses compared to other group sites I’ve used and it’s free. People were messaging me before I’d had a chance to start looking at who was available so it seems pretty popular. There’s also a decent range of age groups on it so you can get experience talking to a variety of ages.
が depicts the subject - the person/thing doing the action.
を depicts the object - the person/thing that an action is done with/for.
In Japanese you don’t always see both, which is probably why you are struggling. It’s pretty clear in English because you either have both or subject only. English doesn’t allow object only sentences.
The rain falls without you doing anything. → 雨が降っています。(雨 is the subject)
You put a fish on the grill to roast it. → 魚を焼く (魚 is the object here and the 私が is implied)
You come into the kitchen and see that a fish is on the grill roasting. → 魚が焼ける。(魚 is the subject here, no object needed.)
But that’s basically also where the transitive/intransitive comes in, because the verbs are slightly different and I often mix them up.
Some other fairly common (imo) examples:
someone opening a door (ドアを開ける) vs a door opening (ドアが開く)
someone boiling water ( お湯を沸かす) vs water boiling (お湯が沸く)?
In those examples it’s quite clear what is happening, even if you get the particles or verb wrong, but there are cases where it gets confusing who is doing what to whom. (E.g. Did the hunter kill the bear or did the bear kill the hunter?)
Learn Japanese, they said. It would be fun, they said.
This last week has been a struggle again, I’m trying to force my way through Zoo book 1 because I am still learning stuff from it but most of it is oo difficult for me to process so I’m thinking of going back to Read Real Japanese and trying to understand those better before trying again but I’m also loathe to stop it knowing that it’ll be harder (mentally) for me to pick it back up at a later date.
Because of when my payment renewal fell for my lessons, I also haven’t had any lessons this week but I did start talking to a few people on Tandem through voice or video calls. I managed to bumble my way through though the first person was an older gentleman and his English was so good, I felt intimidated to speak Japanese (since mine is so poor atm) so I kind of froze up. He did help by correcting a few things I said and also asked me what I would say in English so he could translate into Japanese for me. Essentially, I eneded up shadowing rather than speaking directly but I hope to do better next week. I am finding it difficult to reply to all the people who are trying to vie for my attention on Tandem so I’m not sure what to do about that as it is contributing to me feeling overwhelmed whoch is in turn causing me more problems when I’m supposed to be reading. My coping skills are slightly lacking when I start to get overwhelmed.
I also haven’t really picked up any textbooks this last week, though I did start going through some of the audio for the short stories without having the book infront of me. I stopped the audio when there was a word or sentence I didn’t understand and I sat and picked it apart until it made sense.
Yesterday was a difficult day to try to do anything much due to us being out all day at the beach trying to make the best of the good weather here so I only read 2 pages last night after we got home.
Plans for this week:
Plans for this week, I’ll have two lessons with my tutor again, these will now (for this month at least) be Sundays and Tuesdays same time each week so I get into a routine with it.
I plan to read more of Zoo book 1, there is only 70 pages left since the last 30 odd are an interview (I’ll come back to read this at a later date). After that I’ll read Zoo book 2. I may pick up a manga as an easier read along side it. 鬼滅の刃 arrived the other day, full set so I’ve got that to read.
Random thoughts:
I think I need to prioritize the people that I find most helpful/ interesting on Tandem so I can focus on quality rather than quantity as they all want to have video calls but I don’t want to be constantly on calls during my free time as that’s what I do at work and I feel overwhelmed if I’m constantly around/ talking to people.
I used Tandem for a bit but I also stopped because I got overwhelmed! I kept up contact with one guy and we’ve done video calls on and off for about a year which has been really helpful. The more you practice, the easier it will get and you will be less likely to freeze up. As always I’m impressed by your perseverance!
TL:DR - I’ve not done much the last few weeks due to personal stuff but I’m hoping to get back into a routine from now.
Since my last post motivation have ebbed and I’ve really struggled to do much besides occasionally reply on tandem and do my lessons with my tutor. I’ve had a lot going on in my personal life to deal with that hasn’t helped but I’ve found it really difficult to focus and again feel like I’m not getting anywhere and my knowledge is slipping.
I’ve read very little unless it’s been from messages or corrections from my tutor but I do feel my listening has improved. My speaking pronunciation has apparently got better but I’m still stuck in using very basic sentences and grammar.
Since the personal stuff has died down a bit and things are starting to go back to normal, I’m hoping that maybe I can pull things back to where they were before. And I’m also hoping that I can get back into a proper routine with both reading and working through textbooks since I still need to finish みんなの日本語 series.
I still need to finish reading Zoo book 1 then move onto Zoo book 2 but I think I’m going to try only reading that at home since I can have longer sessions and I’ll read something different on breaks at work.
I’m curious to know if working through JLPT content will help or if it will just hinder what I’m trying to do. I know JLPT is an amazing achievement for anyone who goes through it and passes, but I’m also aware that for me it won’t be a good indicator of my overall skills since it tests mostly reading and listening ability and I’m trying to focus on everything. If I do go through it, it would need to be next year and hope that it’s either available when I’ve got time off already booked from work.
I know vocabulary is weak for me so I’ve got some books for that. I’m aware that I’m learning vocabulary through reading but there’s essential vocabulary that I don’t know and more complex vocabulary that I do know, I’m also hoping that working on that in context will help with grammar patterns as well but if not, at least my vocabulary will be better.
We’ll see what happens over the next week or so and see if I can pull things back to where I want them to be.
My two cents on using JLPT materials is that the vocab and kanji lists can be very useful for acquiring appropriate knowledge for your level, and also for sorting out the things you don’t need to learn yet, even if you’re not sitting the exams. If a new word is JLPT N3 for instance, I will add it to my anki deck, but if it is N1 I ignore it for now. Vocab is never-ending when it comes to reading native materials so this is my practical solution! I have never sat the JLPT, as thanks to Covid it was cancelled for a long time and is now impossibly oversubscribed in my country lol. As such, I don’t use the JLPT reading or listening books I own since they’re more targeted to the exam, I just stick to my novels. There is no need to buy the JLPT vocab/kanji books but they can be nice if you like to complete their exercises as part of your study.
Thanks, I appreciate the insight. Vocabulary is a struggle for me and at the moment I’m also struggling with recall on kanji I do know. I did find the みんなの日本語 reading books to be a decent test of my understanding and the same with their listening books but mostly it’s vocabulary and grammar I feel that needs my most attention right now (especially particles) so they may be useful.
This last week has gone better with trying to get back into things but I do feel I’m continuing with Zoo purely out of spite because I don’t want to leave it unfinished which is meaning I’m not enjoying it or my reading sessions.
What I’ve been up to:
I’ve been working through 500 N5/N4 level questions doing what I can in one sitting (I’ve completed half of it so far and I’m getting around 85% correct, sometimes more in certain sections but vocabulary is letting me down the most). I’ve also continued with speaking with a gentleman on Tandem every Sunday morning and my two lessons each week with my tutor on Preply (I’ve only got one next week because I couldn’t book the Sunday or the Monday in when my subscription renewed).
How I’m getting on with people on Tandem:
The gentleman on Tandem is taking me through a free textbook and trying to explain grammar points (to help with his English while helping me learn Japanese) and is giving me more natural ways to say the stuff in the textbook as we go through it. Mostly I’m liking learning the more natural way to say things as well as the feedback on pronunciations (which he seems to be genuine with when correcting me or telling me I’ve got it correct). Everyone else seems to have disappeared off it because they are active on days I’m not and I think they’re a little unsure exactly what they’re looking for on it. Either that or I’m boring and they’ve found more interesting people.
Reading & Writing:
Reading is proving more difficult because I just don’t seem to be understanding Zoo much now but I’m loathe to leave it unfinished.
I’m also not writing much recently which I feel is causing me problems to I think from Sunday I’m going to re-start working through some of the みんなの日本語 textbooks or something so that I can practice writing and keep that in a decent place.
Lessons with my tutor & how I’m finding speaking:
I’m finding it more difficult to think of sentences that are longer than a few words so I feel that I really need to do something to pull that up and be more proactive in trying out new grammar since I feel my grammar understanding is slipping further and further away from where it was and my active use of grammar has reverted back to “A は B です” type sentences and I should be using more than this.
Lessons with my tutor seem to be going ok otherwise, I’m finding it easier to keep up and hear all the words, I’m also finding it easier to understand more than the gist of the conversation and I am trying more and more to switch to Japanese after I’ve had to say something in English because my vocabulary has let me down. I am trying to clarify in English what I’ve told her in Japanese if I feel my Japanese has been lacking though so I think I need to stop that unless she doesn’t understand what I’ve said because my grammar or vocabulary is wrong.
Plans going forward:
Plan for the next week is restart textbooks from Sunday (because I’m working long hours from Wednesday to Saturday) after my conversation on Tandem, pick a different book to try reading through (maybe Flying witch manga since 1-11 is now on my shelf, or one of the furigana light novels) though I’ll still work through Zoo at home even if it’s a page or two a day, and maybe try starting to work through a few chapters of Paul Nobel’s Japanese speaking course to help me build sentences alongside my tutor lessons. That should cover reading, writing, speaking and listening and see how I feel next week.
Hopefully by this time next week I’ll find myself in a better place mentally with reading and speaking after doing this and fingers crossed I’ll see some movement on my learning as well.
I intend to work through the 日本語総まとめ N5 JLPT book, their N5 and N4 vocabulary books and then work back through みんなの日本語 red set.
What I’ve been up to:
This weeks update is a little earlier than the last few updates. Sunday was a very busy day so I haven’t yet started on the textbooks, however I have still been working through questions from the 500 N5/ N4 questions book. I finished the last of the week this morning (I wasn’t doing it in line with the time frames they set, but I have completed it before). I was using it as a gauge to find out exactly where my pitfalls are so I can fix them.
Thoughts and scores:
I wasn’t really surprised by the results for grammar and vocabulary for the first 6 days of each week but then the grammar results from the final day (review questions) was a lot higher than expected and my kanji knowledge for N5/ N4 was a little higher than expected but not much so I was on par with what I was thinking when trying to gauge my strengths and weaknesses.
Kanji for the first 6 days of each week: 113/120 (94%)
For the final review day: 44/48 (92%)
Vocabulary for the first 6 days of each week: 65/120 (54%)
For the final review day: 33/48 (69%)
Grammar for the first 6 days of each week: 62/120 (51%)
For the final review day: 33/44 (75%)
From the scores and my understanding of why I was wrong on the questions I failed, most of the grammar questions were due to not understanding the context or not understanding the vocabulary so not knowing how to answer correctly.
Plan going forwards
As a result of this, my intention is to work through the vocabulary textbook for N5 along side the N5 日本語総まとめ and then work through the N4 vocabulary book while also working back through the red beginner みんなの日本語 set. I know it seems counterintuitive, and a lot of extra work for nothing but I think going back to the basics is what I need so that I can build stronger foundations to then build a better understanding of the grammar while refreshing the vocabulary and completing some of the more complex questions before I retry the 500 N5/ N4 questions to see how I’ve improved.
I still intend to read 泣きたい私は猫をかぶる while at work and I’ll continue slowly working through Zoo book 1 while at home when I’m not studying the textbooks. I’m also continuing with my 2 lessons most weeks with my tutor and continue talking with the few people on Tandem that are happy to still talk to me despite my weird work schedule and longer reply times.
Hopefully by the time I’ve finished all that, I should be in a much better place for grammar and vocabulary which should help when I retry the 500 questions book again. We’ll see how it goes
TL:DR - just me sharing some info/reviewing first impressions of kids dictionaries I bought recently
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I recently purchased a physical dictionary set for primary school kids and it actually comes with some pretty neat stuff that I wasn’t expecting.
In addition to the two books there is a large poster with one book that shows different pictures with 4 symbol idioms and the page number of the book next to it, a second large double sided poster has all the kanji that they need to learn (over 1000) separated for each school year from primary 1 to Primary 6, a small Detective Conan booklet with some quizzes in it, and a Detective Conan mini tote bag for the books to be carried in. The books also came pre-packaged with plastic dust covers which I think is a great idea.
I know it’s supposed to be for primary school kids but I actually really like the way these look and they should be simple enough for me to use. They even have kanji stroke order pictures or the evolution of the kanji from a picture to a symbol in them and sometimes little pictures for what the words are. They remind me of a children’s dictionary I used to have in English or the old writing Thesaurus I have in English.
Ooh, nice! Where did you get it? Ive always wanted a physical dictionary (esp one that goes over 四字熟語) but my local Kinokuniyas never have them when I go. Really cool though, I hope you learn a lot from them!
oh, I have the same 国語辞典 just an earlier version. (10th edition, yours is 11th edition :D)
I looked at all the different options back then, and felt this was the nicest without being too childish (I am not a fan of doraemon and other character brandings).
I didn’t actually get much of a look inside it before I purchased it. It was more I saw a few different reviews of multiple ones with a few screen shots here and there of each but I did like the way this was set out. It also seemed to be the most recommended and was mentioned on all of the reviews. I think it’s the same set that Japanese schools are recommending, think the schools actually sell them from what I could see as well. Didn’t expect so much from it but it did look the least childish and more like how I’d expect a dictionary or such to look. I really like it
This last week I’ve finished working through the 日本語総まとめ N5 JLPT prep book as well as the N5 vocabulary book. I was quite surprised at my scores for the tests at the end of each week’s section. Yes, I did do 6 weeks prep in only the one week but I was happy to work through it quicker since I’m using it for review purposes and knew most of the stuff in it anyway.
How I found my first week of reviewing:
First and second week (Kanji and vocabulary) was 100%, third week (grammar and reading) was also 100%, fourth and fifth week (grammar and reading) was 70% and the sixth week (listening) was 78%. Total over the 6 weeks tests was 86% which should be decent enough , I just need to pull my listening and grammar up which should be simple enough if I keep working through things as I’m doing.
In the N5 vocabulary book I worked through, I quite like the way it was set out. Each section has a theme of words used in similar settings and you get a red sheet that when placed over the page covers the Japanese so you can only see the English or the rest of the sentence, you then have to figure out what the Japanese word is. There was only a few sections near the end which I didn’t really know much of the vocabulary, otherwise most of it I knew before revealing it so I must know more words than I thought. There’s no tests but I’ll work back through it again soon to again check all the words I don’t know so I can try to learn them.
Next steps for this week:
This week I’ll be starting to work through the N4 1500 vocabulary book along side the 日本語総まとめ N4 Kanji & Vocabulary book then work through their Grammar, reading and listening book.
Plan going forwards:
I’m continuing with my lessons with my tutor which is helping my listening but I’m also finding that I am getting better at understanding how to respond or if I’m unsure, then I’m trying to think of other (simpler) ways to get the point across though I’m still explaining my Japanese in English afterwards if I think I’ve messed up. I’m also continuing my lessons with the Gentleman on Tandem while also helping him in English too and I’m finding that is helping me to pick up ways of saying certain things and some new words even though it’s a beginner textbook. There’s words I’ve never come across before but it’s also allowing me to practice more listening of a different accent as well.
I’m considering going for the JLPT, more for a way to see my own achievement and prove to myself that I can do this, I just need more exposure to the language and I hope that it will help to boost my confidence with where I’m at. If I go for it though, I’m unsure if I should go for the N5 so I get a feel for how it should be going forwards and then go for the N4 next year, or if I should just go straight for N4 and hope for the best. I’m quite sure trying for N3 at this stage would be a mistake but I’m about 90% sure I could probably scrape a pass on N4, yet I’m not sure if I want to take that kind of chance. I’ve ordered the Shin Kanzen Master N4 set, at the very least it will give me more practice with N4 and N5 level material but it also seems to be the most immersive JLPT stuff I can find.
After completing the N4 stuff I currently have marked above for working through this week, I think I’ll go back to みんなの日本語 red set, and complete that before trying the 新日本語 500 問 again. I may also try working through the blue みんなの日本語 set as well after the red set but I’ll see how it goes.
I’m still reading through Zoo book 1 while at home if I’m not reading anything else and also still working through 泣きたい私は猫をかぶる on breaks while at work. With 泣きたい私は猫をかぶる, I’m trying to understand purely from context but I feel like I’m going to need to re-read this at some point further down the line as well.
I’m seeing a pattern with my understanding. I’m trying to read things that are probably way too high above my level for the most part but hopefully once I clear the N4 stuff and have worked through the blue set of みんなの日本語 I’ll be in a better place for understanding more of what I’m reading without having to look as much up per page. I know it’ll not be a massive difference but if I can understand more of the grammar as I’m reading without translating then it should help both with reading speed and look up frequency.
Over all, I’m hoping this plan will get me back into studying properly and also allow me to keep reading/ re-reading the things I want to while working on my understanding, speaking and writing. In short, it should help me pull the foundations of my Japanese learning up to be more suitable for learning new things and adding to my existing knowledge, but we’ll see how it goes.
Do you feel like you are not understanding the story or just that you are missing some details? If you are N4, this book is actually quite the stretch level-wise.
Have you tried reading something that is on your actual level for “pleasure reading” (i.e. reading without looking things up)? Something like: こぐまのクーク物語 春と夏 | L19
(You can read the first chapter (or so) on amazon.)
Unfortunately, at that level not a lot of things are available that aren’t manga.
yesterday’s lesson we mostly spoke about food and cooking same with the last lesson the previous week.
my brain likes it simple. What I struggle with is transitive/intransitive verbs and inevitably because of that I also get the が/を wrong in those cases, but if I get the verb right, the particles are usually correct. 
