This entry is part 7 of 10 in the series What It Takes to Be GreatDon’t Believe the Hype A lot of people say a lot of nice things about me on this site. I’ve been called “insane” (I consider this a compliment), strong-willed, full of “willpower”, “obsessed”, determined, “Naruto-like”, even a “genius”. Sometimes it…
Mental Tools
Just Because It’s Not Painful, That Doesn’t Mean You’re Not Learning
by khatzumoto
It seems to me that a lot of people may be concerned that adding pictures to SRS sentence items (just as they were concerned with adding stories to SRS kanji items) would make things too “easy”. Well folks, if in doubt, give your SRS items to someone who’s never had any exposure to kanji and…
Just Do One: Lowering Your Standards and Using Patterns from Addictions to Achieve Success
by khatzumoto
This entry is part 9 of 11 in the series Mediocre ExcellenceThis entry is part 1 of 4 in the series Wide StandardsI’m not the first guy to ever write about this kind of thing, not the best, and not the last. But, let’s give it a shot. I don’t know if that comes out…
Calm Down and Hurry Up
by khatzumoto
I know exactly how you feel. You want to know Japanese and you want to know it NOW!!! NOW!!!!! NOW!!! I know your inner monologue: “ARRRRGGGGH!!! WHY DO I HAVE TO LOOK UP ALL THESE WORDS??!!! WHY CAN’T THEY LEARN THEMSELVES!!!! WHAT HAPPENED TO JUST BEING IMMERSED IN IT LIKE A CHILD!!! ARHfshaghffhggdvhngbcgcdcbweq qqwgwhy”. You,…
The African Way of Learning…Just Do It
by khatzumoto
“The African way of learning is: you listen to the rhythms since the day you are born, so when you first touch the drum as child, you already know the rhythms and know how it SHOULD sound. Nobody ever has to explain anything to you, you just copy what you hear…” Sanementereng: the sound of…
Strategies for Overcoming Burnout
by khatzumoto
This entry is part 4 of 14 in the series Intermediate AngstA good number of people have contacted me or written elsewhere about how using the methods described on this site led to burnout for them. No fun. Too tiring. Can’t continue. There are two types of burnout that typically occur. Kanji burnout and sentences…