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Archive for March, 2007

Isn’t Real Japanese Too Hard for Beginners?

March 27, 2007
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This is in answer to an email which raised some really cool questions, so here it is for your benefit (I’m all “because I know what’s best for you!!”)…Whatever, anyway: “…I can certainly see how an emphasis on reading sentences leads to a large vocabulary and an intuitive sense of grammar and usage. However, what about listening and speaking?...

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How to Score Yourself on Repetitions

March 26, 2007
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This advice applies specifically to Mnemosyne, KhatzuMemo and SuperMemo, since they all share a 0 — >5 scoring system. It may well apply to other SRSes, too. The “readings” are of course pronunciations for characters. The “meaning” is the meaning+context+intent of the sentence. Of course, many sentences can have slightly different meanings in different contexts; you should only tackle...

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How to Pronounce Japanese

March 25, 2007
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Update : I’ve finally found the original source/basis for the advice I’m giving here — the very article I read. It was this paper from UC Berkeley quoted by a Tom Hodgers in this thread of the Wakan Project forum. The key points are right here: We would not deny that “accent is an issue,” but we think imitating...

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