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Which SilverSpoon?

November 5, 2011
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Which SilverSpoon do you qualify for? Japanese: If you’re a (serial) beginner, then regular, vanilla SilverSpoon would likely be the best fit for you, if you can get a space. Alternatively, if you already know kana and 2000+ kanji, then you might qualify for entry to SilverSpoon BigBoi. Mandarin: SinoSpoon Want to be the first to know (and get a chance...

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Using Music Videos To Learn Spanish

January 21, 2012
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This is a guest post by Andrew, the handsome man behind How to Learn Spanish Online for Free. But enough from me…let’s let Andrew tell his story! By the way — unlike me, Andy actually answers his comments, so feel free to bombard him...

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After the Binge Must Come the Purge

January 14, 2012
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After the Binge Must Come the Purge

Rest follows every race. Purge follows every binge. Binge on kanji now, and you might end up having to take a break from them for the rest of your life. And all for what? For a 0 duecount on Anki? Is that what your...

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Are you learning Japanese the wrong way?

January 7, 2012
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Are you learning Japanese the wrong way?

Hey, it’s part something-or-other of the Best of AJATT+ Forum series. Today’s post comes from アンソニー, who comes to us with a confession. He learned Japanese the wrong way....

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New Year’s: Get Over It

January 2, 2012
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Adults are freaking crazy. “Oh snap, playa! The counter on number of times the Earth has revolved around the Sun since Arbitrarily Decided Religious Event X has changed. Let’s...

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AJATT Best of 2011

December 31, 2011
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Technically, this isn’t so much the best of 2011 as it is the best of each month in 2011. August actually had a bunch of good stuff, but each...

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From the Mouths of SilverSpoon Babes…

December 31, 2011
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Chris P. (Current SilverSpooner) “Silverspoon has done more to get me learning Japanese again than anything else I have tried in the last 8 years and honestly works a...

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The Difference Between AJATT and School

December 31, 2011
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School teaches you how to be a commentator: “Charles Barkley, taking it down the center with a strong GODAN VERB in abrupt-plain form, switches it up to an imperative...

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There Is Nothing To Believe In

December 30, 2011
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In the game of getting used to a language… Try not to have opinions. Opinions are for politicians and voters. Try not to have beliefs. Beliefs are for religions....

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The Three Laws of Language Acquisition, version 4.0

December 28, 2011
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0. Zeroth Law: Compare yourself only to yourself. And to newborn babies. 1. The Prime Directive: Have fun. 2. The Promise: Show up. 3. The Triple Path: Don’t learn:...

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[Updated] [Fixed] Multiple Hanzi Dictionary Lookup Bookmarklet

December 24, 2011
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Hey there, you Lazy Hanzi aficionados! Here is...

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Decremental Timebox → Real Time Conversion Table

December 21, 2011
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For your referential pleasure, I made this little conversion table. That time sure adds up! Decremental Timebox → Real (=Full) Time Conversion Table (Key assumption: 1 minute decrement, so...

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Do “Wide Standards” Apply To Immersion?: High Achievement Despite Low=Wide Standards

December 14, 2011
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Do “Wide Standards” Apply To Immersion?: High Achievement Despite Low=Wide Standards

e_dub_kendo on “Don’t Have High Standards, Have Wide Standards”: Khatz, just to clarify, this applies to the “study aspect” like doing SRS reps, etc, but given any 86,400 second...

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Deletions

December 9, 2011
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Deletions

Time for another installment of the best of the AJATT+ forum! TripleJ started a topic about deleting cards. So let’s talk about deleting cards. I know we’ve said it a...

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Don’t Have High Standards, Have Wide Standards

December 7, 2011
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Don’t Have High Standards, Have Wide Standards

Lo! And Chagami sayeth: It doesn’t matter how many kanji you do a day/how many sentences you’re learning/how much vocab you’re picking up, all that matters is that progress is being...

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Learning Japanese = Playing a Video Game, Part 2

November 28, 2011
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Learning Japanese = Playing a Video Game, Part 2

Rigabamboo here with the best of the AJATT+ forum. Do you like DDR? Yes? Okay, great. I have good news for you. You’re going to play DDR. I’m going...

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Language Is Murder

November 26, 2011
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Learning a language is like committing murder. Although all forms of murder basically amount to suffocation, immolation, stabbing (direct organ and tissue damage) or “overwhelming the immune response”, there...

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SinoSpoon: SilverSpoon for Mandarin. It’s What Marco Polo Wishes He’d Had

November 26, 2011
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Welcome Aboard . You deserve better. I don’t really think that. But it totally sounded like the kind of thing that would stroke your ego. So I said it....

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Competition is for the Weak and Lazy

November 23, 2011
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“Average ones compete with others. Great ones compete with themselves.” Vadim Kotelnikov 「我々は、どちらかといえば、幸福になるためよりも、幸福だと人に思わせる為に四苦八苦しているのである。」 ラ・ロシュフコー “There is nothing noble about being superior to some other man. The true nobility is...

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Luxurious Worries, Or: So Effing What If You Sound Like An Anime?!

November 21, 2011
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People, I am sick and phequing tired of hearing it. Whether on the Internets or in RL, if Japanese is the topic of discussion, there always seems to be...

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Learning Japanese = Playing a Video Game, Part 1

November 14, 2011
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Learning Japanese = Playing a Video Game, Part 1

Rigabamboo here with another post from what I consider to be the best of the AJATT+ forum.   Do you like 塊魂 (Katamari Damacy)? AJATT+ user Kalek does, and...

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Kill Your Heroes

November 6, 2011
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Heroes are not for worshipping. Nor for murdering either, titles notwithstanding. They’re for surpassing. Don’t worship your heroes. Absorb them. Imbibe them. Imitate them. Become them. Then, exceed them....

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A Goldmine of Japanese Dubbed Shows

November 6, 2011
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A Goldmine of Japanese Dubbed Shows

Rigabamboo here with the Best of AJATT+ Forum. My favorite part about the forums is the sharing of free Internet resources. Buying Hollywood movies dubbed in Japanese is an...

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The SRS Victory Formula (SRS Formula Victoria? :P )

November 2, 2011
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Pick low-hanging fruit Eat it Grow stronger Climb higher Pick higher low-hanging fruit Return to (2) Let it be too easy. Let life be easy.

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お巫山戯、日本語で: Halloween Spectacular–Zombie VS 3 Chibi-chans!

October 31, 2011
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We here at AJATT usually like to focus on the lighter side of things. But especially around Halloween, there are potential dangers that everyone should be aware of. Trick-or-treating...

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The AJATT 7-Step Victory Formula

October 28, 2011
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0. Have no good intentions whatsoever. Just pick a good direction. No intentions. 1. Start off on the wrong foot. 2. Set your quitting time ahead of time (timeboxing)...

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Timeboxing is Scary

October 22, 2011
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Timeboxing is Scary

I have another AJATT+ post to share with you. Are you time boxing? Have you read Khatz’s timeboxing “trilogy”? If you haven’t read it — or tried timeboxing for...

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Khatz, If You’re Fluent, Why Do You Still SRS?

October 14, 2011
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“Dearest Khatzumoto, If you’re fluent, why do you still use SRS? I mean, it’s not like you use SRS for English words”. I get asked this question or some...

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Is It Possible To Forget Completely?

October 7, 2011
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Jake on September 25, 2011: “I’m curious to know though if you think it’s possible to become completely illiterate in a language by letting your frequency drop down to...

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SilverSpoon BigBoi: You Just Need A Framework That Works. You Just Need Some Direction.

October 4, 2011
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Welcome aboard :) . What Are The BigBois Saying? Unholyburger: “BigBoi has kept me in the game. Constantly reminding me of what I should be doing. The pace is good…”...

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Their Freedom To Hate → Your Freedom To Become Great

October 3, 2011
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“Do what you love and not be hated? Now you’re just being greedy!” NAKATANI Akihiro “Better, I think, to make a difference and run the risk of failing sometimes, of...

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Famous Japanese People

October 1, 2011
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Famous Japanese People

Rigabamboo here with part two of the Best of AJATT+ forum series. Once again, I find myself introducing a post by ダンちゃん. In fact, I’m just going to steal...

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Not Nothing

September 29, 2011
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Don’t do a good job, do a job. Don’t get it right. Don’t get it done. Get it started. It’s not surgery. Yes, you can be this lax and still...

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Why Seconds And Not Hours?

September 28, 2011
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Eri on September 28, 2011 at 07:38: I think counting things in hours at least is more sensible; seconds can give an impression of more than it actually is...

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So Should We Track and Log Every Second of Japanese?

September 27, 2011
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きのこ on September 19, 2011 at 11:20 “Come on, Khatz — who really keeps track of every single second?” j.mp/nper5S No one does. And I would never suggest you...

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In Defense of Kanji Tattoo Typos

September 25, 2011
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In Defense of Kanji Tattoo Typos

The only bad kanji tattoo is a tattoo that has no kanji in it :)

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Sun Tsu and Language Learning

September 21, 2011
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Sun Tsu and Language Learning

Rigabamboo here! I moderate the AJATT+ forums, so some of you may recognize me as that weirdo who checks for OL2Ls and spams the forums with posts about obscure...

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The SilverSpoon Waiting List

September 17, 2011
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Hey! If you’re seeing this, it’s probably because SilverSpoon is closed for entries right now. Want me to tell you when you can try to get in? Wanna make...

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It’s Not The Years, It’s the Seconds: A Stack of Washingtons Is Not Worth The Same As a Stack of Benjamins

September 14, 2011
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Measuring language "study" time in years is like trying to count mixed cash by weighing it. Hello? Denominations...

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Practice Time, Game Time

September 7, 2011
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Broadly speaking, there are two modes in the sport that is language. Practice time Game time. I’m not just pointing this out in order to create filler content here....

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New SilverSpoon Openings! (Round 11)

September 5, 2011
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New SilverSpoon Openings! (Round 11)

Go here: AJATT SilverSpoon Sign Up  | AJATT | All Japanese All The Time j.mp/qLcuSy Note: this is a non-BigBoi round, for people who do not know the meaning and writing...

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SilverSpoon BigBoi: The SilverSpoon for Post-RTKers

September 2, 2011
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First things first. If you don’t know what all SilverSpoon even is, check this out. Hey there, big, unisex boy. Are you a big boy? Yes, you are! You know...

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There Are Four Types of Japanese

August 28, 2011
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The kind that people actually speak The kind that people think they speak The kind that people think should be spoken The kind that people think it would be...

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Special Announcement: SilverSpoon BigBoi — The SilverSpoon for Post-RTKers

August 24, 2011
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Hey gang. Just to let you know that SilverSpoon BigBoi: The SilverSpoon for Post-RTKers, will be launched on September the 1th. Um…there’ll be a special pre-launch thingy for AJATT+...

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Don’t Compare, Don’t Despair

August 21, 2011
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There are only three people in the world you should ever compare yourself to: Yourself in the past. Yourself in the future. A baby who was born on the...

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