I've been thinking over the past few days that everything I've seen so far in my 102 class has been review, grammar-wise. I'm not particularly surprised by this, since grammar was just about the only thing I studied in the 4-5 years since I left Cincinnati. In fact, I think 102 is still the perfect class for me, because instead of having to focus on learning the grammar I can focus on my weak points (i.e. everything else).
For example, I've gotten really quite good at studying kanji characters. I have a very nice Anki deck with all of the example sentences from all the kanji tests we've been taking over the weeks, and I review them every... many of the days. I add new ones as soon as I get them, which turns out to be once every week or so. The pacing is fantastic--I'm very solid on kanji study and consider it one of the easiest aspects of class here.
Then... there's vocabulary. Vocabulary is a little trickier. I can't really do the same sort of flashcard thing for vocab because there's so much of it and it goes so quickly. Essentially there's no way that I can consistently review all of the previous vocabulary words like I have been doing with kanji, because just the review period would take hours and hours, and there's just not enough time in a day. I need to find a way to study and remember vocabulary more effectively.
The same goes for grammar points, actually. Most of the things in 102 have been review for me, but when we begin to encounter new grammar points I'm not sure what way will be the best method for studying and remembering them. What I've come up with today has been maybe to have a private blog thing where I write little entries every day, specifically for the purpose of using and practicing grammar points. I'll try that and see how it goes. That'd probably work for vocabulary study, too.
Really, I'm trying to figure out the best way to study these things because I want to kick my studying into overdrive. I feel like I haven't been doing enough studying, and (pretty much) everything new I've learned so far has been kanji. For that reason, I think I'm going to go buy the next textbook that we'll be using and see if I can study ahead for the purpose of skipping 103 and moving directly into 201, the start of the intermediate-level classes.
I have the feeling that this will be totally possible for me to do, especially if the test involves a heavy written portion. The only thing that worries me is the fact that I will probably also have to have a speaking test sort of thing and speaking and listening are by far my least comfortable skills. Regardless, I feel like if I manage to find a way to effectively study my weak points like I've found for kanji study, I will be able to test into 201 no problem.
We'll see, though. Sorry this entry was pictureless. The next one will be more travel-oriented, I think!
いい文章（ぶんしょう）ですね。I also summarised somepoints of learning Japanese.The first is that for a foreigner,its impossible to reach the same level like the native unless you want to spend your whole life in japan.So work we need to do is to take over the TEST-JLTP and handle the basic communication. Actually the Kanji in N5-N2 is not very hard, the hard part is in the future.here i suggested a electronic dictionary-大辞林 （だいじりん）which has a IPAD edtion.the distinguishing feature of it is that you can "write"on the board of PAD when you meet the unknown KANJI. the real hard part of Jpanese is speaking and lisening which worries me too. Sure the best way of practising S&L is learning from the native.But it seems hard to got these chances and the practising time is less and the level is surely a S level. But as we are in YAMASA,so we got the other ways-that is to speak with the students come from other contries(people speak diffrent languages from you,which forced one to speak Japanese) its also a way of practinsing the language which have learned. what a pity is that i saw many guys just keep a accompany with their monther-language speakers.
ReplyDeletehumble opinions- KONAMI
I'm really glad I came across your blog, I am also getting ready to study at Yamasa. I will only be there for a month doing the SILAC program from July 19 - August 15, but I'm very excited, and I plan on enrolling in AIJP after I separate from the Navy.
ReplyDeleteNow that that is out of the way, Yamasa uses 「みんなの日本語」as the textbook, yes? It seems like every lesson in the textbook introduces about 50 new words, but they seem to pop up again and again throughout the textbook. I'm on lesson 42 now and I was surprised at being able to recognize some of the more obscure vocabulary words, even though if I am trying to form a sentence I rarely think of them. I seem to have the most trouble with nouns, but I do seem to give verbs and adjectives a great deal more focus.
Anyways, I'm going to add you to my blog list. Thanks for the read!
Ack! Sorry it's taken me so long to get to your comment! For some reason I didn't get the comment alert email for the comments on this entry. Weird.
DeleteI'm real glad to hear that you're gonna be joining us, my American brony-oriented fellow. For AIJP, Yamasa does indeed use Minna no Nihongo; The 101 class goes from chapter one to chapter... 20, I think, and 102 goes from 20-40ish. I'm not at all sure what the layout or class materials for SILAC are though, since I've never personally done it.
One thing that I've found helps me remember vocabulary is to select a few (let's say 5-10) nouns or verbs or whatever from a lesson and actually spend the time to learn how to *write* them. Learning to write kanji is the absolute number one way I've found to help me to remember vocabulary. I make flash cards and everything. Very useful.
Anyway, good luck, and I'm sure you're gonna have a good time. I'm off to write a long-overdue entry about a trip I took yesterday.