This entry is part 11 of 12 in the series Secrets of SpeakingIf anime is bad for you, then so are nursery rhymes. What is a “tuffet” anyway? When was the last time you even saw a live sheep, let alone found a black one, and asked him for wool? Do you know any masters…
MCDs: But What If I Don’t Understand the Meaning of the Whole?
by khatzumoto
Hexe sayeth: You can cloze the kanji readings and individual word meanings, but how do you come to understand the meaning of the sentence? Can’t you learn the meaning and reading of every word and still not know what the sentence means? Yes, that is entirely possible. That’s why you fall back to bilingual MCDs.…
How to Make Big SRS Changes Smoothly: The Darwinian Game
by khatzumoto
You know what? I’ll just come out and say it: I like Darwin as much as anyone from where I’m from can like a Victorian Era English gentleman — economically. I’m not proud. He’s a man; I’m a man; I like him. What? We’re all adults here. But I’m not a big fan of Darwinism.…
How To Score Reps In Surusu, 2013 Edition
by khatzumoto
This entry is part 1 of 2 in the series How To Score Reps In Surusu 0 = total blank 1 = wrong 2 = mostly wrong 3 = mostly right 4 = right 5 = slam dunk WARP = Out-of-this-world ballin’ . WARP is generally about one or two orders of magnitude more powerful…
What Dave Chappelle and Stalkers Can Teach You About Learning Languages
by khatzumoto
You’re thinking this is going to be one of those creepier posts about “stalking” Japanese people. Not so. It’s far worse than that. A good friend of mine, let’s call her Amy, has a stalker. Pretty girl problems, but problems nonetheless. He got a hold of her phone number through unofficial means, and sends her…
How to Stop Worrying and Accept that Learning a Language is Unfair — Going Beyond Day Trader Style Language Learning
by khatzumoto
Learning a language is profoundly, fundamentally unfair. At no time, at no point in the process, are you ever getting as good as you give. Of course, overall you will; overall, the quality and range and volume of your output shall be determined by the frequency of your input. But at any given moment, you are always either getting back much more than you give or much less than you give.