Many kids getting used to Japanese (and, incidentally, Cantonese) complain that “non-simulated” (:D) native speakers persist in speaking to them in English. And, yeah, this is a real thing. But it barely even deserves the title “problem” because it is so easily overcome. Resolving it is super straightforward. It may seem like this is something out…
All I Ever Needed to Know in Life, I Learned from Cloud Storage
by khatzumoto
This entry is part 3 of 26 in the series Timeboxing TrilogyDropbox is lazy. In several ways. It has to be in order to get anything meaningful done. It avoids busywork like eye-contact with a panhandler. If it can avoid uploading a file, it will. If it can use LAN transfer instead of burdening the…
The Art of the War of Learning Languages: Sun Tzu on Immersion
by khatzumoto
This entry is part 15 of 17 in the series The Art of War of LearningOne who moves to the country with his playlist first and with his body second is at ease. One who moves to the country first and then tries to learn the language is at labour. Thus, one skilled at learning…
On Learning Grammar…
by khatzumoto
Learning grammar in order to use a language is like learning organic chemistry in order to make a sandwich. Just because you could…doesn’t mean you should. Learn phrases instead.
YouTube Reacts to An Uber Cute High School (Cram School) Chemistry Teacher
by khatzumoto
こんな先生やったらサボる気しないわ If my teacher looked like this, I’d never miss class. 先生=せんせい 来=き 授業生で受けたことあるけど、可愛すぎて内容頭入らんかった笑 I’ve actually had her as a substitute teacher for one of my classes and, unfortunately, she’s so cute that I didn’t actually learn anything lol 授業生=じゅぎょうせい (sort of a TA/subsitute teacher…not a common word) 受ける=うける 入る=はいる 可愛い=かわいい 過ぎる=すぎる 内容=ないよう 頭=あたま 笑=わら…
How Learning a Language is Like Conquering a Country (But Not in the Way You’re Thinking)
by khatzumoto
This entry is part 13 of 17 in the series The Art of War of LearningRecently, I was doing SRS reps in my Japanese STEM deck, and a card based on this paragraph came up: “3歳までに教育を開始しないと手遅れという考えは、3歳までの家庭環境が人格を左右するという三歳児神話の一種である。” [早期教育 – Wikipedia] goo.gl/mXBH3G It’s from a section of the article where they talk about critics of early accelerated…