For the male AJATTeers, need a way to measure your progress? Grow a beard.

Hair grows at about a half inch per month, so if you’re just starting out, (and assuming you really AJATT), by the time your beard is 9 inches long, you’ll be fluent.

You measure your beard and it turns out to be 1 inch? You’re still a beginner. 4.5 inches? Well you must be half way. 8 inches? You’re almost done!

I know, this is also missing the point of Khatz’ post, but still, I thought it was a good thought to share 🙂

As a recent graduate of RevTK vol.1, I couldn’t wait to get onto the sentences. However, as I cracked Tae Kim’s Intro to grammar and started using his and other textbooks sentences in my SRS I’ve noticed I’ve fallen into a lull. Even after several reviews I find the material isn’t sticking like it had with the RevTK reps and it’s getting a little disconcerting. I don’t feel like I’m maximizing my effort. I put in a lot of hard work but I’m not getting what I would like out of it. I would like to hear what you have to say on the transition period between finishing RevTk and starting sentences. Right now I have each card going from Japanese to English and English to Japanese, making sure I translate it by hand as much as possible. What’s my best bet at this point or am I just getting too demanding. Thanks for all your hard work.

Today I realized something I was doing without having ever thought about it [much like I do in my native English]: 似ている点 and 違う点. I didn’t realize that one had a different verb conjugation than its complement, something I never studied but heard enough in my 討論 class to have picked up. I love this whole input thing.

P.S. I’m only taking the speaking class because it’s required :/ After being on this site for about a month [and just in time for choosing classes] I immediately chose to take the reading and listening sections of my Japanese program only [at ICU in Tokyo]. Unfortunately, in order to go into the next level for reading and listening, you need to take speaking, which is really not cool.

P.P.S My iTouch is happy that I actually use him now, even though there’s like NO Wi-Fi in Japan :c

Sorry for the delay, I lost track of your comment!

>Did you rely exclusively on written sources for the phrases entered into your SRS?
No, I used spoken sources as well. I just made sure I got written confirmation of what was said, either by looking it up online or asking a Japanese friend.

>I always find myself wondering if the kanji selected by IME is the right one or not.
Yeah, if you’re unsure, then don’t do it. You’re trying to build your skill, not test it. Stick to things you’re sure about in terms of getting sentences.

>Also, do you exclusively used phrases?
Essentially, yes. The only exceptions were/are proper nouns (personal names, placenames, names of organizations), which I learn individually, because name readings tend to be irregular anyway. For example, I would have:
question: 前畑秀子
answer: まえはた　ひでこ

>I am tempted to enter some word pairs into SuperMemo, but as you correctly said words can have so many meanings – especially in japanese – that I feel it would be a waste of time.
It would be. A word without correct usage (context) is nothing but a dangerous weapon :D. If you must learn a word, learn it context. But I’m preaching to the choir, you knew that already.

This is exactly how I learned to speak english like a native – and I never visited an english speaking country in my whole life. I can even distinguish different accents, slangs and stuff like that and very often my vocabulary dazzles native speakers. And I never, never touched grammar books or classes. I simply absorbed it through movies, books, comics and videogames. I did exactly what you did – I eliminated every bit of my native language from my life until my very personal notes were written in english – which something that I continue to do just because, well, I like it. Problem is that I am so Anglicized right now that I feel like a stranger in my own country – I can’t even share movies with my friends because I acquire all of them in english. I guess that is the drawback of the immersion effect, lol. 🙂

Anyway, made our point, enough rambling. I want to ask you a question if you don’t mind..I don’t quite know where to ask it so I just do it here. Did you rely exclusively on written sources for the phrases entered into your SRS? Or did you also used the phrases that you hear? I am asking because I am currently entering phrases into SuperMemo taken from written sources. I don’t feel confident in transcribing audio (ie. taken from audio courses like Pimsleur which seems good and builds stuff gradually), because I always find myself wondering if the kanji selected by IME is the right one or not. Perhaps it is a nonissue, but I just wanted to check if you have any suggestion on that regard.

Also, do you exclusively used phrases? I am tempted to enter some word pairs into SuperMemo, but as you correctly said words can have so many meanings – especially in japanese – that I feel it would be a waste of time.

Anyway, thanks for sharing this with the world! 🙂

I followed the advice on AntiMoon. I only said things I knew how to say correctly. In a sense, you don’t go out of your way to “say” something as much as you wait for it to “come out” almost. It will come out correct, if you just keep feeding yourself input. It all sounds very vague and magical, but I’m sure there are some very concrete neurological processes or whatever involved, I just don’t know what they are. I do know, though, that you can keep seeing a commercial over and over (hey, spaced repetitions!) on TV and never go out of your way to remember it, but then one day recite all or part of it correctly. So, you reach this kind of critical mass, I suppose.

Don’t go out of your way to speak Japanese. Mistakes uncorrected will kill you, and since most mistakes tend to go uncorrected, it’s better not to make them in the first place. Don’t force yourself to speak or write. Don’t do any output, let the output do itself. Just keep inputting.

Yeah, I used to do that when I was making the transition between J-E and　J-J. Not ideal, but okay.

About alc.jp–which part of it are you using? One of my Japanese friends said that the sentences aren’t always reliable *depending* on the part of alc in question (some parts of alc are fine…)