Comments on: Language Is A Martial Art

By: Why You Should Keep Listening Even If You Don’t Understand | AJATT | All Japanese All The Time

Sun, 11 Aug 2013 15:37:24 +0000

[…] Success Story: Emotional Context Learning — Using Phrases Correctly Without Actively Learning Them Or Knowing What They Actually Mean | AJATT | All Japanese All The Time on Language Is A Martial Art […]

By: Success Story: Emotional Context Learning — Using Phrases Correctly Without Actively Learning Them Or Knowing What They Actually Mean | AJATT | All Japanese All The Time

Sun, 11 Aug 2013 00:37:16 +0000

[…] based on FUNBUN 1 media) as opposed to a classroom one — you learn stuff without even trying, at an almost physical, muscular level. Anyway, here’s Jake’s little […]

By: Don’t Fight Your Parents: Parasitic Learning Over Antagonistic Competition | AJATT | All Japanese All The Time

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 22:37:06 +0000

[…] to leech off and learn from them. Learn from your sempais — the people who’ve played the game deeper and/or longer than you have so far. Don’t compare, don’t […]

By: QRG Mandarin: Listening Before Understanding | AJATT Plus

QRG Mandarin: Listening Before Understanding | AJATT Plus — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 05:02:34 +0000

[…] least at the beginning, it’s more physical than intellectual. It’s almost like training muscles. Like a martial […]

By: QRG Mandarin: Listening Before Understanding | AJATT Plus

QRG Mandarin: Listening Before Understanding | AJATT Plus — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 05:02:34 +0000

[…] least at the beginning, it’s more physical than intellectual. It’s almost like training muscles. Like a martial […]

By: Practice Time, Game Time | AJATT | All Japanese All The Time

Practice Time, Game Time | AJATT | All Japanese All The Time — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 03:09:01 +0000

[…] Practice Time, Game Time September 7, 2011By khatzumotoBroadly speaking, there are two modes in the sport that is language. […]

By: You’re Not A “Learner”, You’re A Logistics Officer | AJATT | All Japanese All The Time

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 03:32:50 +0000

[…] are a manager. You serve your body — especially the eyes and ears. Your task is to ensure the enfettered flow of information, materials, supplies and other […]

By: The Wait That Kills: Before You Pwn Books, You Must First Own Books | AJATT | All Japanese All The Time

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 09:33:33 +0000

[…] words to be in your head, first you have to let them into your house…and then into your hands…and then into your eyes…and then, finally, they make it inside the head on their own. […]

By: Zero-Certainty | AJATT | All Japanese All The Time

Zero-Certainty | AJATT | All Japanese All The Time — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 05:46:49 +0000

[…] logical leaps. That and there isn’t enough time given to real practice; in a very real sense, mathematics is a language — a sport — and it should be treated (practiced) as such. [Aside: most people who have trouble with […]

By: Griffin

Griffin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:18:22 +0000

I am in Thailand right now, and after about 2 months of taking classes and being here in this place I still knew very little. About a month ago I found your website and started reading and actually immersing myself and I have learned significantly more than I did before. When I get back to the US in january I plan on learning Japanese or Chinese.

PS that Characterizer thing made me squerm. it BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By: Ionize

Ionize — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:07:33 +0000

“You don’t have to think, you just have to be.
You don’t have to listen, you just have to hear.
You don’t have to read, you just have to see.”

“You don’t have to control all the variables in order to achieve control of the entire situation. Like a row of dominos, you only have to topple one, to topple them all. All you have to do is put your body into Japanese — if you just keep your body there, Japanese will then put itself into your mind. I am repeating, restating and reiterating for a reason.”

Those two quotes reminded my of my first few episodes of anime in Japanese only. Man, I felt so screwed and my mind couldn’t comprehend. I either watched pictures to follow or I listened to Japanese and figured the plot. It really took some time to adapt, but in the end it worked out well.

All went down to: Get going, watch anime on end and eventually you will manage.

Best regards from Germany
Ionize

By: All Japanese All The Time Dot Com: How to learn Japanese. On your own, having fun and to fluency. » When Will I Get Funny?

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:00:43 +0000

[…] Which is not to say that you will never be able to pull them, it just means, you do need to build basic coordination and motor skills before you start busting the sweet ninja […]

By: Sai Youcho

Sai Youcho — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 03:25:35 +0000

Ah! Finally a genius on the internet. It’s quite the rare sight, and I must say that this post is especially ingenious. The tips are really great, and I’ve actually been picking up a lot of Japanese unconsciously in those ways.

See it and hear it, and just mash everything in there and you will understand in due time. It actually works really well contradictionary to what people may think.

By: lingvoj

lingvoj — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 14:28:51 +0000

Amazing! I din’t understand hlaf of waht you said, but still it was so motivating.

By: フランク様

フランク様 — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:10:25 +0000

yo khatz I just had a thought the other day.. “wouldn’t it be awesome if there was a ajatt t-shirt??” seriously how cool would that be!? People who are doing this have completely warped their lifestyles around your words, so who wouldn’t want to wear a shirt representing what they are so passionate about? the design could be maybe you’re little cartoons that you have haha! you could sell a variety maybe; perhaps with motivational quotes in japanese? like maybe.. “失敗は成功の元だ。” c’mon khatz you know this is a cool idea. ask and see what people think, if you don’t do it I’ll make my own custom one haha. take care 😉

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:14:49 +0000

@pasqual

I’ve finished RTK, so I guess I’m at the good stage of this method.

I’ve looked up lyrics before, it’s partially effective for me. But I find it a lot easier when people add J-subs to a song I find it easier to follow and I learn readings for Kanji 😀

By: Pasqual

Pasqual — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 06:17:50 +0000

@Joe
Well when you can read enough Kanji to look up Japanese song lyrics then use those with the song, so you don’t do a “Ken Lee” yourself. I sang pretty much nothing but Gackt songs through high school, so I kinda mimic him when I sing, and usually do his songs when I go to Karaoke.

Looking up songs is a great way to take a break from Kanji reps, Kanji can give me a headache after a while but singing a few Gackt or 嵐 or 氷室京介 songs makes the headache go away. Then I go back to Kanji reps. I’m on about 1300 in the Heisig book, been slowing down recently though.

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:36:09 +0000

@jesse

whilst I don’t think that your wrong about mimicking sounds, but I fear I may do something like this?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RgL2MKfWTo

By: Jesse

Jesse — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:22:45 +0000

“…kitto itsuka nanika wo tsukamun da”*

By: Jesse

Jesse — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 04:49:22 +0000

Thank you again Kaz, we’re birds of a feather, though I think you’re noisier. I want to add that singing (notice I didn’t say speaking) Japanese should also be apart of the fundamental training. I noticed when I sang along with japanese songs, my ability to ‘hear’ (read: remember, recall, distinguish, differentiate) improved …..like something out of a scifi movie. Time slows, I can recognize words, though I might not know their meaning.

So, I’m suggesting as part of anyone’s language training, sing along, match sound for sound, not word for word, the singer’s voice. It does something (children just flat out do this) that can’t be acquired from reading or listening. I feel qualified to say this because I watched anime & tv for 15 years nearly every day (hooray for torrents and usenet) and couldn’t really do jack with Japanese.

But with singing…something about it caused new brain cells to wiggle or old ones to make more friends or something. Spend a month and memorize a song, to the degree you can sing along harmoniously with the singer and see how it affects your other areas.

To me it feels like I own it. It feels the way I imagine fluency is supposed to feel. Though I don’t have a vocabulary like i do in English; kitto itsuka wo tsukamun da. ne sou darou.

So to fill out the be, see, hear list. Don’t have to speak, you just have to sing!

Thank you again Kaz for another timely and inspiring article.