I decided to create a special German blog for my Japan trip. Since it's mainly for my friends and family, it would be odd to write in English. Sorry guys :P
But once I have time I will post a review and stuff here.
The blog is here:
http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?TripID=9154
Friday, August 21, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
How smart.fm works
Ok, so I've been using smart.fm for some time now, and I think I know the most important features, so here is how it works:
1. Get your lists:
First, register, of course :) Or else your progress won't be saved. Then you need to decide on so-called lists you want to learn. A list contains words and sometimes example sentences for these words. The list to start with when you are studying Japanese is "Japanese Core 2000: Step x". It consists of 10 steps with 200 words each. Once you're done with them, do "Japanese Core 6000: Step x", where you will learn 4000 additional words. Basically the lists created by "Cerego" are official lists and very good thought-through as such. Additionally they have good example sentences that are voiced by well-known Japanese voice talents.
Of course, you can search for other lists. For example, I also added the official Hiragana/Katakana lists (by Cerego). For more advanced users, you can learn to understand a song or something, just search, you will find lots, just check that the list's "item" is Japanese and the answers are in English or any other language you're capable of.
Ok so you open the lists you want. Then scroll down and select "Add to my lists". That way the lists along with your progress will be shown on your start page.
2. Study!
Ok, now that you have your lists selected. Go to your start page, take the list you want to study and click on the play button above "iKnow". A new window will open. Select the options as you wish and click start. The rest is really intuitive so I don't really have to say anything. However, I add all the new words and (good) sentences I learn through smart.fm to my SRS (I use Anki atm, will post something about it later). Actually, you should be able to memorize them through smart.fm alone, but a little extra-repetition shouldn't be too harmful.
Once you progressed a little in the list, click on the play button above "Dictation". Here you can practice your writing skills with the example sentences. There's a third type of application, "BrainSpeed", however I suggest you do this once you're at least near complete with your list, since all the words of the lists will be used. And it's really hard after some time...
Last but not least, you can add me to your friends :)
My profile
cheers
----
ohh and by the way, I've recently been to Paris (awesome, wasn't the first time though) and I saw an amazing Japanese store. I bought the first volume of Nihongo Dekimasu! Yes, the one I've been talking about. It's really awesome since now I have the first few episodes on DVD and there's a book with a lot more material. However it cost me 36 € (50$!!). kusoo... :)
1. Get your lists:
First, register, of course :) Or else your progress won't be saved. Then you need to decide on so-called lists you want to learn. A list contains words and sometimes example sentences for these words. The list to start with when you are studying Japanese is "Japanese Core 2000: Step x". It consists of 10 steps with 200 words each. Once you're done with them, do "Japanese Core 6000: Step x", where you will learn 4000 additional words. Basically the lists created by "Cerego" are official lists and very good thought-through as such. Additionally they have good example sentences that are voiced by well-known Japanese voice talents.
Of course, you can search for other lists. For example, I also added the official Hiragana/Katakana lists (by Cerego). For more advanced users, you can learn to understand a song or something, just search, you will find lots, just check that the list's "item" is Japanese and the answers are in English or any other language you're capable of.
Ok so you open the lists you want. Then scroll down and select "Add to my lists". That way the lists along with your progress will be shown on your start page.
2. Study!
Ok, now that you have your lists selected. Go to your start page, take the list you want to study and click on the play button above "iKnow". A new window will open. Select the options as you wish and click start. The rest is really intuitive so I don't really have to say anything. However, I add all the new words and (good) sentences I learn through smart.fm to my SRS (I use Anki atm, will post something about it later). Actually, you should be able to memorize them through smart.fm alone, but a little extra-repetition shouldn't be too harmful.
Once you progressed a little in the list, click on the play button above "Dictation". Here you can practice your writing skills with the example sentences. There's a third type of application, "BrainSpeed", however I suggest you do this once you're at least near complete with your list, since all the words of the lists will be used. And it's really hard after some time...
Last but not least, you can add me to your friends :)
My profile
cheers
----
ohh and by the way, I've recently been to Paris (awesome, wasn't the first time though) and I saw an amazing Japanese store. I bought the first volume of Nihongo Dekimasu! Yes, the one I've been talking about. It's really awesome since now I have the first few episodes on DVD and there's a book with a lot more material. However it cost me 36 € (50$!!). kusoo... :)
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
smart.fm
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Update on Japan Tour
Hi there,
as posted before, I'm making my first trip to Japan ever! Awesome! :D
I've been planning the last weeks and now I know pretty much which tour I'll do and I JUST BOUGHT THE TICKETS!!! zomg!! xD
So this is what my tour looks like (click to enlarge):
Basically I'm starting in Hiroshima and will drive to Osaka. The distances are mostly chosen so I can drive them in one day. The time I'm staying at each place varies from one to three days. At whole, it'll be 25 days planned, but though I'm going during Taifun season I added some unplanned days I'll have to wait for a storm to end. So at whole, it'll be 30 days, from 8/26 to 9/25. That way I won't have to hurry. omg I'm so happy :D
as posted before, I'm making my first trip to Japan ever! Awesome! :D
I've been planning the last weeks and now I know pretty much which tour I'll do and I JUST BOUGHT THE TICKETS!!! zomg!! xD
So this is what my tour looks like (click to enlarge):
Basically I'm starting in Hiroshima and will drive to Osaka. The distances are mostly chosen so I can drive them in one day. The time I'm staying at each place varies from one to three days. At whole, it'll be 25 days planned, but though I'm going during Taifun season I added some unplanned days I'll have to wait for a storm to end. So at whole, it'll be 30 days, from 8/26 to 9/25. That way I won't have to hurry. omg I'm so happy :D
Sunday, April 5, 2009
JLPT studies
Ok, so maybe you've heard about the JLPT, the "Japanese Language Proficiency Test". It's a standardized test to display a certain degree of knowledge about the Japanese language. Being standardized, many company or universities will judge your Japanese skills by the level you reached in the JLPT (it has 4 btw).
Well, btw, this is not what I want to talk about right now, so if you want to learn more, look here:
Wikipedia
What I want to talk about is this:
JLPT Studies
It's a site I've recently found. Well, the thing is, I never really found out which vocabs and grammar you need to learn for reaching the first JLPT level. Peter, the creator of JLPT studies luckily made this site with all the stuff you need on it. For the vocabulary you need for the first level for example you click here.
I don't really have the intention to attend the JLPT anytime soon, but it is a great direction you can follow if you don't know where to start. When I started learning Japanese, I listened to a lot of speaking and watched lots of Animes and looked up and learned the stuff and the words or sentence structures which struck my ear more often. This, on the other hand, is good since you exercise your ear in listening to the language, however, it can be pretty frustrating for a beginner not to know where to start. So if you are a rookie, just look through the first list of vocab and expressions and enter five or more per day into your spaced repetition system. If you are intermediate, go through the lists (starting from the lowest) and take all the stuff you didn't know yet. I suggest you copy all the words into Denshi Jisho and then click on "sentences" to get some examples.
However, the grammar on this page is pretty... strange and not good for learning (IMO). So I suggest the following (as in earlier posts): Get as many example sentence as possible and put them in your SRS. That way you don't have to learn grammar by heart, but get a feel for the language. Once you are more intermediate you can go to sites as Tae Kim's guide and look through more difficult structures, and then, again, get examples and learn them.
That said, have fun :)
Well, btw, this is not what I want to talk about right now, so if you want to learn more, look here:
Wikipedia
What I want to talk about is this:
JLPT Studies
It's a site I've recently found. Well, the thing is, I never really found out which vocabs and grammar you need to learn for reaching the first JLPT level. Peter, the creator of JLPT studies luckily made this site with all the stuff you need on it. For the vocabulary you need for the first level for example you click here.
I don't really have the intention to attend the JLPT anytime soon, but it is a great direction you can follow if you don't know where to start. When I started learning Japanese, I listened to a lot of speaking and watched lots of Animes and looked up and learned the stuff and the words or sentence structures which struck my ear more often. This, on the other hand, is good since you exercise your ear in listening to the language, however, it can be pretty frustrating for a beginner not to know where to start. So if you are a rookie, just look through the first list of vocab and expressions and enter five or more per day into your spaced repetition system. If you are intermediate, go through the lists (starting from the lowest) and take all the stuff you didn't know yet. I suggest you copy all the words into Denshi Jisho and then click on "sentences" to get some examples.
However, the grammar on this page is pretty... strange and not good for learning (IMO). So I suggest the following (as in earlier posts): Get as many example sentence as possible and put them in your SRS. That way you don't have to learn grammar by heart, but get a feel for the language. Once you are more intermediate you can go to sites as Tae Kim's guide and look through more difficult structures, and then, again, get examples and learn them.
That said, have fun :)
Sunday, March 15, 2009
My first trip to the Land of the Gods (!)
So, right now I'm planning several trips. Since I'll be finished with my "Zivildienst" in June, and will be having lots of moneys, I'll go to Paris with my gf, then two weeks to the baltic sea, again, with my gf, and then in september I'll go to Japan for about 3 weeks. I'll take my bike with me and a tent and will cycle around the Japanese inland sea, basically from Kyoto to Hiroshima, then from Matsuyama to Takamatsu. This will be epic! Expect a travel report and pix and stuff.
While I'm planning the whole thing I'll post more details about it.
Btw I have a Twitter account, lol, thought I'd give it a shot:
https://twitter.com/12die4
Have fun as always
While I'm planning the whole thing I'll post more details about it.
Btw I have a Twitter account, lol, thought I'd give it a shot:
https://twitter.com/12die4
Have fun as always
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Translating Fairy Tails
Hi there, no long time no post, I know.
However I found a great way to improve my Japanese! I'm translating fairy tails for children. The pros are:
· You learn grammar and sentence structures!
· You learn new vocab!
· It's not too hard to understand since it's for children!
· It only contains hiragana, no kanji!
· You get cultural background info!
So why are you hesitating? Oh, you can't read hiragana? Practice with Power Japanese! Oh, you don't know where to get fairy tails? No problem:
The great tomsato shares several fairy tails in pdf-format on his blog:
1 to 5
9 to 15
So I do it as follows:
1. Identify the hiragana and write down as romaji
2. Look up every word in a dictionary (eg Denshi Jisho)
3. Look up unknown grammars in a grammar guide (eg Tim's Takamatsu or Tae Kim's Grammar Guide)
3. Write the English expression under each word
4. Figure out how to translate the whole thing into a correct, English sentence (sometimes the hardest part)
It takes up to half an hour per sentence, but you really feel good after doing it. Also, you can add new words and sentence structures etc. to your SRS (spaced repitition system), but watch out, as many of those in these fairy tails are seldom-used, old-fashioned stuff. An easy way to find out is to search for a word in Denshi Jisho and check whether it's flagged as "Common".
However I found a great way to improve my Japanese! I'm translating fairy tails for children. The pros are:
· You learn grammar and sentence structures!
· You learn new vocab!
· It's not too hard to understand since it's for children!
· It only contains hiragana, no kanji!
· You get cultural background info!
So why are you hesitating? Oh, you can't read hiragana? Practice with Power Japanese! Oh, you don't know where to get fairy tails? No problem:
The great tomsato shares several fairy tails in pdf-format on his blog:
1 to 5
9 to 15
So I do it as follows:
1. Identify the hiragana and write down as romaji
2. Look up every word in a dictionary (eg Denshi Jisho)
3. Look up unknown grammars in a grammar guide (eg Tim's Takamatsu or Tae Kim's Grammar Guide)
3. Write the English expression under each word
4. Figure out how to translate the whole thing into a correct, English sentence (sometimes the hardest part)
It takes up to half an hour per sentence, but you really feel good after doing it. Also, you can add new words and sentence structures etc. to your SRS (spaced repitition system), but watch out, as many of those in these fairy tails are seldom-used, old-fashioned stuff. An easy way to find out is to search for a word in Denshi Jisho and check whether it's flagged as "Common".
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