Comments on: Do Your Hobby in Japanese

By: Video Post #1: Ningyo Hime (Chobits) « A Fantasy of Far Japan

Video Post #1: Ningyo Hime (Chobits) « A Fantasy of Far Japan — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 21:16:26 +0000

[…] Since July I’ve been doing the All-Japanese-All-The-Time, as-much-immersion-as-possible, do-your-life-in-Japanese thing. That meant listening to the same J-pop songs over and over again, and then over and over again […]

By: Sachiko

Sachiko — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 02:32:18 +0000

Writing is my main love. Of course I can write in Japanese, but I’m already writing a book in English, and writing loses its magic when you don’t have a good grasp of the language you’re writing in. The whole point is to use your words to weave magic, and I can’t do that in Japanese. YET. Lol, I’ve just finished memorizing kana. So…I’ve got a long way to go.

Do you think timeboxing my writing, listening to Japanese audio while doing it, and taking breaks to read Japanese text is a good enough way to keep up on both my language learning and my writing at the same time? I’m thinking five pages a day and the rest of my entertainment in Japanese.

I can’t wait until I can write well in Japanese…kanji look so beautiful and expressive.

By: kai

kai — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 14:52:05 +0000

I think your making the right decision. I want to add tho that for people learning Japanese there seem to be a lot of hobbies that are “Japanese Hobbies” like manga, anime, comedy cause Japan has a huge entertainment/art culture in that way. So I guess if those things are already your hobbies you just have it easy. For me learning Mandarin I have yet to find a hobby or something entertaining enough from that culture that is exclusive to that culture and that I would rather be doing than something from the North American or Web2.0 culture. I like a lot of aspects of the Chinese culture but so far those aspects have been mostly mindsets and ways of living. People in this situation could possibly find some Chinese people share rent with or move to China at some point but in the mean time I think its best to make sure they have other interests.

By: Shawn D

Shawn D — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 22:32:57 +0000

I love this post because my name is also Shawn D. Im 16 and i only see a slight problem with this. *no criticism intended* What if one of your favorite hobbies is reading and your not the best at that yet.

By: 名前

名前 — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 03:43:44 +0000

This pretty much sums me up. I’ve not really burned out, but I’ve certainly slowed down and have tried to take up other interests — I sorta hated what I became without having anything other than learning a language.

By: kai

kai — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 01:19:54 +0000

Also I think its fair to mention that you should have other hobbies besides learning Japanese to effectively enjoy Japanese through your hobbies. There was a point in my Chinese learning where I had met a few Chinese international students at school and we had organized a language exchange. They were asking me what my hobbies were and I realized my only hobby was learning Chinese and looking for the best method(including reading all Ajatt Posts) to learn Chinese. Its extremely embarrassing awkward and eyeopening when L2 Natives ask you “what are your hobbies?” and you can only vaguely remember what your hobbies were before you became obsessed with learning another language.

Also it’s not fun trying to learn a language with this energy or mindset or whatever. It might start off fun but once the level of acceleration of your learning starts to drop and you realize this thing your so obsessed with will take another 14 months to grasp, it gets ASM really fast. I mean sure take the time to figure out how you learn best and what works for you, but don’t do it obsessively like wanting to know your L2 Asap. IMO its not about learning it asap, granted its not about taking the least efficient path either but its about learning by doing which a lot of students almost have no concept of except maybe in math. Its a journey and it can be fun if you let it. If you obsess over it past the point where its fun to obsess, you enter ASM territory.

Before that, or right as you hit that, you need to make the decision to remember/figure out what you want out of life besides languages. Passions, people, health too please, and then install your L2 as an interface to your life in only the ways that are fun. That is a sustainable lifestyle. IMO as someone who took things too far with the 50 Hanzi a day and burnout bad.

By: Best way to learn Japanese on your own

Best way to learn Japanese on your own — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 19:26:25 +0000

[…] from AJATT: I used to tell my fellow JETs about how “studying Japanese” isn’t really just about […]

By: ZooP

ZooP — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 01:41:22 +0000

You should really becareful if you do this as most manga is slang. Of course, it’s fun to learn but make sure you know what youre reading.

By: ZooP

ZooP — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 01:40:11 +0000

Kawaiimouto, I sooooo agree with you! I enjoy drawing so I went on yahoo Japan to look up drawing instructions in Japanese. With a little effort using my pop-op dictionary and looking up unfamiliar grammar, I was able to navigate just enough to get myself by. In a short while I learned new words and some kanji. Though many of them pertaining to drawing, but nevertheless, learning took place and I enjoyed it. I learned words like 下書き (draft) and new kanji words like 見直す (review) . If I wanted to, I coud create some flashcards out of this. I will plan on doing this at leasta page at a time so as not to get overwhelmed.

Good luck!,

By: Metaldragon

Metaldragon — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 20:32:11 +0000

That moment i realise my main hobby is reading manga… well i guess this shouldnt be too hard… just try to read japanese manga

By: kawaiiimouto

kawaiiimouto — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 00:12:25 +0000

You just need to be a little creative. Start visiting sites with Japanese artists like Pixiv. Watch videos on youtube with Japanese artists instead. Look for drawing instruction/advice in Japanese instead of English. Try fitting some Kanji/Kana into your next drawing.

By: Kimchi

Kimchi — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 23:57:55 +0000

And where in drawing does one incorporate japanese? It is a very lonely and non text hobby. . .

By: The Elephant in the Immersion Room | Spanish Only

The Elephant in the Immersion Room | Spanish Only — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 18:15:35 +0000

[…] it. Be used to being around people, be employed or working towards it, have hobbies (pro-tip: you can do them in your L2), and look really, really ridiculously good naked. With any luck, this will keep you off […]

By: Rjriediger

Rjriediger — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 05:57:02 +0000

I work for a major airline and met a young Polish-American pilot who had taught himself English. I asked how he did it: “I read flying manuals in English”.

Maybe off-topic, but I follow americanjokebot on twitter. All the jokes are short so I don’t get bored, and they make good srs mcd cards.

By: ライトニング

ライトニング — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 19:06:47 +0000

I really advise you to turn on the Japanese setting on Guild Wars. Why? Because, it’s needed. And you being hooked with it is even better. You will learn so much Japanese with it because If you love the game, you will be wanting to know what’s going on, which will make you want to learn those words. The only way you will get good with Japanese is to do it. My poor English knowledge when I was 5 and 6 didn’t stop me from playing text heavy RPGs like Final Fantasy.
You’re a Japanese child, and children do stuff that adults do, no matter how much they know the language.
The only way you’re gonna get extra good in Japanese is if you go extra far with it. So, if I were you, I’d turn on the Japanese setting. (Gain massive knowledge)

By: Amphy64

Amphy64 — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 18:22:49 +0000

I agree, it was the same for me too, I love games, I love Pokemon, I really was eager to play the newest Pokemon games (Pokemon Black, then Soul Silver) as soon as possible rather than waiting for them to be released in English…but each time, it was far far too frustrating. For me, I’ve found doing my hobbies in Japanese can be the fastest way possible to make me not enjoy my hobby, and truly HATE Japanese (for ruining the fun I’d otherwise have with my hobby). It also teaches me to tune out Japanese, which is not what I want to be doing, if there’s a lot I don’t understand it’s overwhelming and becomes just irrelevant noise. I’m not learning anything if I’m ignoring all the Japanese in the game.
For me, I’ve found it’s not efficient, I can struggle with a game for hours and only learn one new word if anything, instead I could spend the time using a guide like Tae Kim’s and learn in a more structured way. It’ll vary depending on the individual, I think, personally, I like (good) textbooks, so using one isn’t an issue for me, I’ll have more fun doing that than messing around with something that’s way over my level. No, I can’t read Kokoro (my other hobby is reading) yet, maybe it’s not really worth torturing myself trying. It’s so painful to me not to be able to read, it really does feel like that.
On the other hand, it can work Ok, if for instance it’s already a game I know very well. I’ve learnt a lot of Japanese from Tales of the Abyss (a game for which I basically know the English script back to front). What made the difference with that was it has an anime adaptation, so I could just watch, if I’d had to play it I would have just got frustrated again. I think you really have to *love* the material as much as I love that game for it to help much, though, or it can quickly become uninteresting and frustrating due to the extra barrier Japanese can feel like it places between you and the material.
There’s also a lot of extra material for that game that’s only available in Japanese (manga with extra story etc.), so I think that’s good motivation, if anyone has a hobby with material they can only access by learning Japanese (martial arts, bonsai, figure collecting and building, idol singers etc.), it’s at least very motivating, though trying to read it before you really feel ready may not be any fun. For me it’s still just frustrating, and these manga are something I want to read really really badly, not something I’m just ‘meh’ about. Actually I think that’s part of the problem – it’s much worse to not be able to understand something I really want to than it would be not to be able to understand something I was only vaguely interested in. I’d get frustrated much less quickly if it was something I cared less about.

So, I think involving hobbies can work and be helpful, and are something you’ll naturally gravitate towards anyway since it’s what is most interesting to you (especially for those in the オタク crowd for whom their hobbies are part of their motivation to learn Japanese in the first place). I also feel it can be a bit of a double-edged sword, because it’s easy for it to be a source of frustration, and end up generating unreasonable expectations. I mean, here’s me getting fed up and upset because I can’t perfectly understand material I know full well is aimed at older teens or adults, rather than appreciating I’m doing Ok to understand *any* of it. You naturally expect to be able to function in your hobby at the same level you’re used to doing in English, rather than recognising that you may still be an infant in Japanese terms. So, no classic novels for me yet, but maybe I can read fairy stories.

By: Narcface

Narcface — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 17:49:47 +0000

spoke*

FTFY

By: Dakota

Dakota — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 15:01:40 +0000

僕はマインクラフトを日本語で遊ぶ。エンダーマンとクリーパーのような楽しい言葉を習ったから、日本語を習うことを楽しいに出来た。

I play Minecraft in Japanese. I learn fun words like Enderman and Creeper, so that makes learning the Japanese fun.

By: 魔法少女☆かなたん

魔法少女☆かなたん — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 14:08:48 +0000

I’ve played through a few Japanese games, and didn’t feel the need to look up every single word I didn’t know.
Well, I thought I should at first, but realised that’s too hard.
Remember that it’s just reading practice, anyway.

By: kalek

kalek — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 01:04:43 +0000

I wrote up a reply to this, but I don’t know what happened to it? Oh well.

Anyway, with the exceptions of Pokemon and Skyward Sword (where I hand-transcribed everything I wanted to learn, which means I didn’t actually SRS much from either game), I’ve used text dumps or other peoples’ transcriptions. Google a few lines of dialogue from whatever game you’re playing and may find a dump or transcription. Every Zelda game (神々のトライフォース、時のオカリナ、ムジュラの仮面、風のタクト、トワイライトプリンセス) and every Final Fantasy game (6, 7, 10) I’ve played has them available, along with Chrono Trigger.

Also, on the Guild Wars in Japanese thing, if it’s not much trouble, change it now and see what happens. If it’s too hard, then change it back and just turn on a Japanese podcast or music (or audio rip from an anime or drama you like).