The month of January isn’t over yet. I’ve taken around 42 lessons, each with a 30-60 minute duration. I still wani kani daily but not obsessively. I’m still on level 3. I have a few things I’m juggling at the moment but I’ll check in with more progress at the end of this weekend.
忙しい です。
It’s been a busy couple of weeks. Some things I’ve been working on.
- Conversation practice. I need to do more of this, however, most of my conversations follow the same format. I’ll need to review more vocabulary and grammar before I kick off the next wave.
- I’ve spent some time researching schools and the possibility of studying in Japan. I’d like to go for 3-6 months to study Japanese. There will be some changes at work later this year so this is a possibility. However, there’s a quite a few chain of events that need to happen in order to make it happen. I’ve probably spent more time doing this than I should have. I should be studying.
- I’m taking a certification class to learn how to teach English. My initial motivation in doing this was so I can teach my language partners appropriately. However, now that I’ve been informed that there may be changes at work – this could be a possibility of part time employment or another path to go to Japan for longer than 3 months. I also have an online tutor that will be starting a business for teachers starting this summer.
I also brainstormed some ideas for my blog. Well, in reading the first few entries there’s not a whole lot I can take away and study from. So here’s what I’ve come up with.
- I’m aiming to have 10 hours of lessons, which includes the 2 hours of class I attend weekly. So really 8 additional hours of lessons. Next month is another italki language challenge which I may adjust the amount of hours to get another badge. Last time I aimed to get 1st in the number of Japanese lesson hours which I achieved. However, I much more busy now.
- “What did I learn this week?”
- “What questions did I ask?” Yes, I ask that many questions, so that deserves its own, maybe weekly, blog post.
- Interesting YouTube Channels or videos that I’ve watched. Haven’t really watched anything in the past week that wasn’t related to studying abroad.
- Maybe I’ll post some of the Japanese food I make.
Welp, that’s it for now. I have an hour to study before my next lesson.
Reviewing vocabulary and conjugation
I have one main teacher in Japan who I meet online regularly I’ve met a few teachers online and sometimes the teaching style is not the greatest match. However, the chances are slim that you will find one where you won’t enjoy learning from if you truly want to learn the subject you are studying. Today, I told her about this blog and I haven’t told anyone about this blog. I don’t know when I’ll give out the link. Maybe before I go to Japan. We were reviewing some vocabulary and conjugation from earlier lessons as we both knew I struggled with this from time to time.
For now, here’s a video that I watched and will bring up in my next lesson. Also, I’ll start to add some videos that I watch and either found useful or entertaining. There’s quite a few youtube channels that I follow.
Relaxing JPOP
That’s the name of the playlist I literally just started listening to. I needed something relaxing before posting.
Welp, I’m trucking along with lessons and what not. I log on to wanikani probably 5-6 times a day. I wake up and wanikani and wanikani before I go to sleep. I also fired up memrise once again since I find that I forgot a lot of the vocabulary in Genki I. I have an italki lesson almost every day. Some days it’s just a half hour lesson. Other days it’s 4 one hour lessons.
I’m trying to get my schedule down pat since I’ll be taking a class again but I kind of want to keep the half hour lessons going. Anyway here’s a couple pictures from my last trip to Japan. I’ll post more later.
Review and Get Ready for 2018
While I learned the meanings for around 90 kanji for the JLPT N5 test, I don’t have a good grasp on the (on yomi, kun yomi) readings. Before the test, mainly in November I was studying on average of 3 hours a day. With the holidays it’s probably been about 30 minutes since I’ve been watching 1-2 hours of Japanese dramas and random Youtube videos.
I’ve binged through all of Erased and Million Yen Women. I’ve also went back to the first season of Terrace house to listen to the dialogue that I don’t completely understand yet but an piece some of it together. Unfortunately, there are no english subtitles for the earlier seasons.
Things to do:
- I’ve started to study again, and man, I really need to review informal (short) form.
- I also need to start planning out my trip to Japan in April. It’ll be during the Cherry blossom season.
- Review grammar.
I’ll be starting the Genki II book next week and my next (in-person) class will start in three weeks.
Christmas time
Christmas is just about over. I’ve been pretty much been in holiday mode all week. Watching youtube videos and Japanese dramas on Netflix. I’ve subscribed to wanikani as I kept on reading more and more great reviews. I’ve also taken a couple of my kanji books off the shelf to start reviewing them as well.
Review
So I just booked my flight to Japan for next year. I’m excited.
I realized there were a couple things I need to review like informal short form grammar. Maybe I’ll look at documenting some kind of stats like how many kanji and vocab words I learned and/or know. We’ll see.
