• “Maasai Tribesmen /  Japanese Magician” | Japan Probe http://bit.ly/cHesYM #
• Jaybot hits you with some pictures of food packaging #Japanese http://bit.ly/c5pCX4 #
• 乗組員解散！
  http://bit.ly/bbQZYb #
• This anime is hee Larry us. 英語で言うと「Oh Moshi Roy」
  『「侍に刀で斬られた音みたいな名前しやがって！！」
  （「セザンヌ！」）』
  YouTube – ギャグマンガ日和＋　ルノアールVSセザンヌ http://bit.ly/c7pHKm #
• TechCrunch Japan http://bit.ly/9rjKBa #
• YouTube – The Storm Warriors 風雲 (Storm Riders 2) Music Video http://bit.ly/bECowu #Cantonese #
• スネオヘア／ワルツ
  YouTube – Waltz – Suneohair http://bit.ly/9GWpvN #PV #
• Sort of like Rockapella, but in Japanese
  YouTube – Rag Fair- Hallelujah http://bit.ly/ctuY6A #
• Sort of like Rockapella, but in Japanese
  YouTube – Rag Fair- ハレルヤ http://bit.ly/ctuY6A #
• Putting the reading on the front of the card is a good a good way to get familiar with it in a passive, low-impact way #SRS #Kanji #Hanzi #
• Putting the reading on the front of the card is (1) a memory aid (2) a good way to get familiar with it passively #SRS #Kanji #Hanzi #
• YouTube – 恋におちたら　Crystal Kay http://bit.ly/aW96L8 #PV #
• Follow Crystal of Kay on Twitter: RT @MoooshMooosh @ajatt I really love this song. Shes on Twitter btw. @CKAY26 #
• YouTube – RDB & Nindy Kaur’s Aloo Chaat” Music Video http://bit.ly/crpZdC #
• YouTube – ギャグマンガ日和西遊記 http://bit.ly/a5Kijv #
• What “keeping it real” sounds like in Japanese. #TooProudToImitateNativePronunciation YouTube – ギャグマンガ日和ハリスインパクト　前編 http://bit.ly/93r9oZ #
• Don’t read books. (1) Browse them. (2) Let “reading” happen on its own when something draws you in. (3) “Draw” wears off; go back to (1) #
• Trying to do it all in one go is sort of like…trying to chug a drink in one breath — you just end up choking. Relax. Sip. #Timeboxing #
• Experimenting with rolling dice as a decision-making tool (where [making decision] > [decision itself]). Sort of like doing janken alone. #
• YouTube – にゃんこ the movie http://bit.ly/9225dx #
• Learning Japanese with romaji is a lot like learning English with katakana. フォー　ワン　シング、イット　メイクス　ユー　サウンド　ライク　アン　イージット #
• *Small*action*verbs*. Learn ‘em. Ever met a Japanese person who can say “postpone” but doesn’t know how to use “get” or “have”? Yeah…that. #
• *Small*action*verbs*. The gift that keeps giving. The power that keeps empowering. Learn them. Love them. Even at the expense of other words #
• @mankub86 Negative, Ghostrider. What is George and Keiko? YouTube link humbly requested! in reply to mankub86 #
• It’s not your hand, it’s how you play it. Bob can live, marry and procreate in Japan and know 0 Japanese, while Alice immerses to ownage. #
• I don’t like the word “immersion” that much. “Contact” is better. Contact (small, discrete actions over time) leads to familiarity, intimacy #
• Unclench. Chill. Have a smile.
  A common tragicomic behavior: trying agonizingly hard to relax and/or have fun “correctly”. #
• Seriously…if it comes down to a choice between following the exact steps I’ve laid out, and having fun…choose the fun #
• 正字正假名遣ひ文を樂しみませう。 http://bit.ly/b1NSVw #
• 「兵は拙速を尊ぶ」
  http://bit.ly/cb2Ffw #
• 日本漫画新聞 http://bit.ly/bO95HZ #
• It’s not about the speed. Speed is nice, but contact matters more. Just keep making contact with your language. Touch. Tap. Click. #
• Textbooks and other more traditional language materials are good for bootstrapping. Decent place to start. Ridiculously sucky place to stay. #
• Deleting never goes out of style. #SRS #
• クラークの三法則 – Wikipedia “充分に発達した科学技術は、魔法と見分けが付かない。” http://bit.ly/cymgp3 #
• The most important Japanese thing to do is the next Japanese thing you’re going to do. http://bit.ly/aENY55 #
• 「嫉妬感じてる完全に、ライム力に対する焼き餅、新たな次元、銀河も新しい、銀河間・惑星的！」→何の訳か分かる？（＾＾） #
• MN’s RM ジブリ別館 「千と千尋の神隠し」全台詞集 “「千と千尋の神隠し」全台詞集　” http://bit.ly/cVKq8f #
• メリー節分！！！って、言うじゃな〜い？ #
• @ebonifiyah 絶ッッッッッ対にガセネタだろ、それ？違うか？o(^-^)o in reply to ebonifiyah #
• You have to be prepared to delete anything. Because hating SRS so much that you don’t want to do it is just that: deletion by avoidance #SRS #
• テレビ不要論と視聴率の調査方法 http://bit.ly/93iYYc #
• 炊飯器不要論って・・・言うじゃな～い？
  「雑記。: 脱・炊飯器宣言。 」
  http://bit.ly/9AqKcY #
• テレビ不要論 – 他山の石書評雑記 「日本のサスペンスものは、どういうわけか最後になると、波が打ち寄せる崖の上で犯人が犯行を自供し、丁寧に経緯をしゃべってから連行されるというパターンばかりだ」（爆笑）有る有る、其れ。http://bit.ly/adLFd4 #
• @tomoakiyama （笑）確かにね。不肖このワタクシもそれに関しては前科持ちでございますﾁｸｼｮｰ（涙）。ﾊﾊ RT @tomoakiyama なーんかテレビ不要論を誇らしげに語る人々って、ステータスを気にして頑張っちゃってる人々に見えてならない。どこの国でも。 in reply to tomoakiyama #
• In geekier terms: no matter what your foreground process, always have a Japanese thread running. #Contact #Immersion #日本語 #
• だって生姜無いじゃん・・・・って、言うじゃな～い・・・？ #
• ほぼ日刊イトイ新聞 – 目次 http://bit.ly/9k5qZB #
• WOWtv http://bit.ly/cKnlrR #
• How To Tie Your Shoelaces #Japanese らばQ:これはおしゃれ、15の靴ひもの結び方 http://bit.ly/9nHpV9 #
• How To Tie Your Shoelaces…Again
  YouTube – 解きにくい靴紐の結び方 http://bit.ly/bHCSLo #Japanese #
• Take anything I say as ingredients at best: you’re the chef; you’re in charge; you make the actual meal. #
• Like horses, sometimes we need to put on a pair of blinders and shut out everything else in order to get anything done. #JustDoOne #
• 人間って競馬馬みたいなもんだよね。遮眼帯を付けて視野を絞らないと全力疾走出来ない場合があるから・・・　#Timeboxing #JustDoOne #
• YouTube – Gyagu Manga Biyori 01 http://bit.ly/c8d0uI #
• Vast quantities of content here…
  RTHK Podcast Station http://bit.ly/cLNQdf #Cantonese #
• Both literally and figuratively, turn your Japanese down to low if need be, but don’t turn it off. Save your energy by using energy… #
• It doesn’t matter what Japanese thing you do, just that you’re doing something in Japanese. #
• Food ingredient lists have always been one of my favorite things to read. Since you asked and all… #
• In truth, one doesn’t learn a language; one turns into a person who habitually comes into contact with it. #
• When one doesn’t know the language of a country, one can only experience a very coarse, warped, low-res version of the country. #
• With long-term projects, the only wrong answer is to do nothing. So, just pick the smallest, easiest “something” you can do. It counts. #
• Unnecessary, voluntary suffering is not beautiful or heroic. Make life easier for yourself. #
• I don’t much like the word “immersion”. “Contact” is better. Contact (small, discrete actions over time) leads to familiarity, intimacy. #
• “Sure, you can be a grammar lover, but please only be one when you’re already fluent at the language in question.” http://bit.ly/av4zZY #
• Both literally and figuratively, turn your Japanese down to low if need be, but don’t turn it off. It’s easier this way. #
• Both literally and figuratively, turn your Japanese down to low if need be, but don’t turn it off. Save your energy. #

Hey AJATTeers!

Exclamation mark.

Next in the growing and rather illustrious line of AJATT products comes My First Japanese Storybook. Or, as we Japanese like to call it:

マイファースト初めてのジャパニーズ絵本。

Manipulatively-Worded Promise

• “My First Japanese Storybook” might make you thin, pretty, happy, safe and popular insofar as there is a nonzero hypothetical probability that…OK, no it won’t. But…in theory, what if it did? No? No…

What the…?

OK, seriously though — here’s the deal. It’s:

• An illustrated storybook, much like the kind you so enjoyed as a child, back when everything was safe and happy and you and your next-door neighbour Glenn Beck would frolic in each other’s yards playing Cowboys and Genocide Victims.
• 24+ pages
• Bilingual (Japanese text + English translation)
• Illustrations on every page
• In PDF format (so, an electronic book), with
• Furigana on all kanji (yeah, baby)
• A sentence flashcard pack for use with an SRS (a lot like “MFSP”, with even cooler formatting), containing phrases from and inspired by the book.
• MP3 audio recording of its content (it’s like having your virtual mommy read aloud to you!)

Who The…?

My First Japanese Storybook is intended for anyone at any level of Japanese, from egg to caterpillar to butterfly. As long as you’ve gone through Remembering the Kanji and know your kana, then you, too can read and enjoy the book — thanks in no small part to the ruggedly handsome support materials (translation, SRS deck).

I Want Mine! Gimme One!

And you can have one. For cheaper than usual, to boot. Get a 25% discount off the full price when you pre-order at any time between today and the official release date (March 7, 2010, 23:59 Japan Standard Time)

My First Japanese Storybook: $21.95 $15.95 (save over 25%)
Pre-order Discount Code: 4wntm3c9j3dk8ss5

No Likey? No Payey!

As with all its predecessor products, My First Japanese Storybook comes with a 100%, no-questions-asked refund guarantee. If you don’t like it, just email qrg at ajatt dot com. One word: “refund”, will suffice -– you don’t need to give a reason. You’ll get your money back, and you can keep the storybook for free. That’s just how we roll up in here at “the ‘JATT”.

• BD sends his regards: ☆ネットで学ぶ発音教室！ – トップページ http://bit.ly/59ianS #
• YouTube – 流し素麺 http://bit.ly/6SSBMP #
• Don't get worked up looking for the "right" way to do something. Just keep pinging back to it and the right way will find itself. #
• YouTube – Rihanna ft. Hins Cheung (張敬軒)-Hate that I love you cantonese "Rihanna ft. Hins Cheung " http://bit.ly/6eEEQz #
• A playful competitiveness can be good. But it's not actually the competitiveness that helps: it's the playfulness. #
• 「習以為常」
  教育部重編國語辭典修訂本 http://bit.ly/7jwTAU #
• Everyone remembers my friend Keiko, right?
  We've done a few podcasts we together.
  無論如何 here's her blog:
  http://bit.ly/5JdfIa #
• YouTube – Rhymester – B-BOYイズム "B-BOYイズム"
  http://bit.ly/7jwRaW
  歌詞情報 – goo 音楽 http://bit.ly/8ZDyqi #
• YouTube – Rhymester – ザ・グレート・アマチュアリズム http://bit.ly/4P9BkG
  歌詞情報 – goo 音楽 http://bit.ly/6pABxv #
• SRS Practices: What’s an SRS? | Spanish Only http://bit.ly/6Fywby #
• RT @irishpolyglot Is your language half full? A negative attitude is what holds people back from achieving their goals: http://su.pr/2bhYzz #
• Don't bother with method arguments. Tell people they're right: that's all they want to hear anyway. Then, go think whatever you want. #
• An SRS deck isn't for sitting in some database somewhere looking pretty and taking up space. It's for passing through your senses. #
• Got a vice? Don't go to war with it. Co-opt it. Give it money and a good timetable, and it'll sell out to you. Now you control it. #
• Techniquewise, there's some stuff I would blog about, but my opinion on it fluctuates back and forth a lot – often on the same day #
• Fallacy: if you disagree with someone, they have to know that you disagree with them and why. #
• Fallacy: you have to link your actions with your stated opinion. Decouple them. Speak diplomatically, but act pig-headedly. #
• Since you can only really act in one direction at any given time, taking action almost always entails a certain single-mindedness. #
• It's called "All" Japanese All The Time but maybe it should be "Some" Japanese All The Time" or "Anything (At All)" Japanese All The Time… #
• Until we have invested in ourselves the same time, faith and funds that we would in a child of ours, we have no excuses. #
• When pronouncing Chinese, I sometimes find that I literally have to let myself go. I can't be the usual me. I have (cont) http://tl.gd/573ft #
• 日本語で書いた方がいいのかなあ、そう云ふ地に足の付いていない「囀り」・・・（＾＾） #
• Memo To Me – Free Reminder Service http://bit.ly/4SpgYF #
• 世の中の面倒臭い事、その四：世の中の面倒臭い事をｶﾞﾀｶﾞﾀ五月蠅くリストアップする人。 #
• There are two types of language-learners: (1) Those that learn. (2) Those that have drama about learning. I've been both. #
• YouTube – Foxxi misQ　- Ultimate Girls http://bit.ly/8UOPfS #
• With large projects, the only wrong answer is to get overwhelmed, give up and do nothing. Anything counts. Every little bit helps. #
• F w wr t trn Nglsh nt n bjd, wld t lk lk ths? #
• People who forcefully tell you to be mediocre like them, never seem as forceful in taking responsibility for the consequences of mediocrity. #
• Don't believe that you're dumb or smart. Just believe that, with practice, you can. #
• Often, extraordinary sucess requires extraordinary methods. This can easily put you at odds with those who insist on being "intraordinary". #
• Sometimes, you get to a point where being good at a particular thing is far more rewarding than being liked, understood or "cool". #
• Insofar as they put you at odds with social norms, intense pursuits do (unfortunately) share traits with "emerging religions". #
• We make fun of non-standard dialects, but really, maybe we secretly envy them; they're so full of "life-force". That doesn't sound fruity… #
• A language is like the monster plant from "Little Shop of Horrors" — feed it media and it grows… #
• YouTube – BONNIE PINK – A Perfect Sky http://bit.ly/4MYQ1m #
• YouTube – DBSK – Purple Line (MV) TVXQ [HD] http://bit.ly/7Cwwx6
  Purple Line 東方神起 歌詞情報 – goo 音楽 http://bit.ly/4D7F3u #
• A language is undemocratic in that it doesn't have to give you a good reason why it works the way it works. It just does. #
• "People think all Americans are arrogant but what they don't realize is that half of their Canadian friends are American". My friend Jang Mi #
• I swear, like, every few months, like clockwork, I feel the desire to rewatch GITS. Not disagreable people — the anime. #
• Books are objects. Treat them like it. Objectify them. Read what you like of them from where you like. Screw their "wholeness" and order #
• A healthy SRS deck is a moving SRS deck. #
• I find that the more I compete, the worse I do. The more I play, the better. #
• Counting how long you've been studying language in years is kind of like counting how much cash there is in your wallet by its shape alone. #
• Call it "stochastic tinkering" if you want. Either way, the lesson is the same: screw around. #
• A healthy SRS is a moving SRS deck — one that has turnover in the form of deletions, reps and additions (in order of priority). #
• Compete less. Play more. #
• People who put you down are often feel very insecure themselves. I know because I've been on both sides of that equation. #
• 有營伙伴 – BLOG – 麥長青 – 藝人 – tvb.com "成就要靠那份努力" http://bit.ly/9vPVo4 #
• YouTube – m-flo loves BONNIE PINK / Love Song http://bit.ly/9y77Jc #
• YouTube – Dragon Ash – Let yourself go, Let myself go.flv http://bit.ly/b6UISK #
• Each day, do whatever it takes to get yourself to take the initial step — everything is usually downhill after that. #
• 「別に」っていい言葉だね #
• Looks like someone SRSed his way to great success in the DAT (Dental Admission Test?)
  http://bit.ly/b3lahF #
• Limits are your friend. Just because you could do it all, that doesn't mean you should. Even ice-cream gets old. #Timeboxing #
• Trying to do the "correct" thing can be a great strain. Just set a finishing time, and let things decide themselves. #Timeboxing #
• IME, an aggressive card deletion policy makes for higher repcounts and retention. Thus, paradoxically, more deletion = more learning. #SRS #
• Now experimenting with deleting bad kanji cards as well. I figure if my environment tells me a character matters, I can add it back in. #SRS #
• YouTube – 永邦-魔鬼的眼淚KTV http://bit.ly/ckwPer #
• When you read my advice, don't try to fit yourself into my mold — change the mold to fit you. I myself am a work in progress. #
• Observation: native speakers, early on at least, never do anything boring in order to learn their language. #
• It's funny how we tell adult learners: you're a latecomer to learning language X, therefore not only are we going (cont) http://tl.gd/5j864 #
• Channel surfing (and hence excessive TV-watching) works b/c you exercise veto power: you say no to boring stuff. No veto→no fun. #
• If more people surfed (vetoed) books and parts of books like they do TV, there might be more book-reading. http://bit.ly/ad9gXB #
• Even if you delete a "useful" card, if you make daily contact with the language, you'll pick up that slack later — and in a funner way #SRS #
• YouTube – 椎名林檎 / りんごのうた http://bit.ly/bgUAPm #
• YouTube – マボロシ MABOROSHI – THE ワルダクミ http://bit.ly/bCC07z #
• An SRS deck only has meaning insofar as it undergoes turnover (deletion, reps, additions). No turnover, and it's just inert data. #
• Things that require you to look, act, speak and think differently from whatever is considered "normal" do tend to seem cultish. #
• How I Pick What to SRS « Liz Learns Japanese http://bit.ly/afhEzy #
• Sleazy tabloid news, baby! [Cantonese]
  YouTube – appleactionews 的頻道 http://bit.ly/6wBXaH #
• Sleazy tabloid news, baby! [Cantonese]
  YouTube – appleactionews 的頻道 http://bit.ly/6wBXaH #
• Even just 10 kanji a day, every day, will have you acquiring 3650 kanji over the course of a year. Just do one. Tortoises win big. #
• Each day, do whatever it takes to get yourself to take the initial step — everything more or less takes care of itself after that #
• Birthplace of the legendary "Bonnie Pink Strut"! YouTube – ボニーピンク　So Wonderful http://bit.ly/7DDRic #
• Tortoises pwn hares. Don't worry about how fast you're going. Just make sure that you're going. #
• Tortoises pwn hares. Don't worry about how fast you're going. Just make sure that you're going. #
• 栓抜き – Wikipedia http://bit.ly/brjVta #
• Personal projects do not die of lack of organization: they die of neglect. In fact, stress from overplanning can itself cause neglect=death. #
• YouTube – ギャグマンガ日和1 12「名探偵っスか！うさみちゃん／名探偵だもの！うさみちゃん」 http://bit.ly/c7N77P #
• The delete button is to an SRS deck as a chisel is to a sculptor. #
• "when a person’s social identity is attached to a negative stereotype, that person will tend to underperform in (cont) http://tl.gd/5q9s7 #
• AJATT Blog maintenance about to start… #
• </AJATT Blog maintenance> #
• Spaced Repetition Goes Mainstream? http://bit.ly/bMnNTP #
• キタユメ。 http://bit.ly/d5ImnY #
• NHKオンライン http://bit.ly/bSoj61 #
• YouTube – Miss you (Video clip) COLOR http://bit.ly/b44o6U #
• YouTube – m-flo featuring Lisa – Love Can't Wait http://bit.ly/7Dsui3 #
• ""No man is ever whipped, until he quits — in his own mind." Napoleon Hill " http://bit.ly/6iAvsP #
• Doing something, anything, that moves you forward isn't slightly better than doing nothing. It's ∞ly better. #
• Get Your Read On! « Liz Learns Japanese http://bit.ly/cT0Y9E #
• "Next time you are faced with doing something small or nothing at all, go small. You'll always win." http://bit.ly/ckAtXs #
• YouTube – KTV 陶吉吉 小鎮姑娘 陶喆 http://bit.ly/aXw5GZ #
• Rainbowhill Language Lab: How To Begin Learning Japanese With Manga http://bit.ly/cjJGtf #
• Literally and figuratively, turn your Japanese down to low if need be, but don't turn it off. Starting up again takes a lot of energy. #
• Rainbowhill Language Lab: How reading Manga can be good for your Japanese http://bit.ly/cOQTGK #
• Better to read a book 100 times badly than once (or 0.x times) well. #URP #MultiPassReading #SwissCheesing #
• La Migra is Spanish for…The Migra! #
• 「ABC係我係我
  橫睇點睇都係我
  無錯無錯
  ABC係我係我」YouTube – Jin 歐陽靖 'ＡＢＣ' MV http://bit.ly/b2EwNr #
• [Cantonese] RTHK is interviewing MC Jin live right now http://bit.ly/cNK9sg #
• [Thanks, D-star!] Study Hacks » Blog Archive » Quick Hits: Deliberate Practice http://bit.ly/b4CbR6 #
• "Stereotypes and the fragility of human competence, motivation, and self-concept" http://bit.ly/cEvCFd #

When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully, the world, and takes him boldly by the beard, he is often surprised to find it comes off in his hand, and that it was only tied on to scare away the timid adventurers.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson (or so I’m told — ‘coz you never quite know with these Internet quotes, do you?)

In life, oftentimes, the real choice isn’t between success and popularity, but between success and immediate popularity. It’s a toughie. Tougher, in fact, than the actual success path (“a day of worry is more exhausting than a day of work” and all that). Which is both good and bad, depending on how you look at it .

To me, that’s the real meaning of “delayed gratification” — the lonely gap between when the old social grouping rejects you and you’re again gratified by the acceptance of some new group.

I think we all have the power to establish and maintain good habits, but when threatened with the withdrawal of the camaraderie, admiration or love of our peers, that’s the real fork in the path; that’s where we make or don’t make ourselves. I imagine it’s where people who did keep on keeping on came the closest to cracking.

We can console ourselves with the knowledge that real camarederie wouldn’t have turned sour so easily. Although, that can feel quite hollow in the face of what seems to be the end of the world. And it is the end of a world, just not the world.

Maybe all the noise that adults make about teenagers and peer pressure is really adults projecting their own challenges with social resistance. Who knows? Anyway, enough psychobabble from me; I don’t really know what I’m talking about.

My point is…if you can either insulate yourself from or completely break through social resistance, then you’re well on your way to becoming unstoppable. For good or ill.

So, if in doubt? Screw ‘em. They’re replaceable. As callous as that may sound, it’s really no more callous than the open derision of people making feeble attempts to put you in what they presume to be your place. A place that’s invariably insultingly low. If anything, breaking social resistance is an act of charity, an act of love for at least one person — you — which is more love than your would-be detractors are showing anyone at the moment in question.

Social resistance is…it’s almost like a prank. I’m speaking purely in a metaphorical sense, but it does seem as though it’s all this sort of Zen-like episode of Punk’d on a massive scale, and the joke is on you. Mmm…Punk’d isn’t really the most apropos comparison; I was just feeling nostalgic about that show.

What I mean is this: it’s almost as though social resistance is difficult-seeming and difficult-looking by design, because once you can ignore, deflect or otherwise transcend social resistance, everything is, relatively speaking, a walk in the cake.

Maybe mental state alters behavior, and behavior alters mental state. And maybe the behavior of rejecting social resistance has profound effects on one’s mental state. And maybe these effects bleed into other areas and help us be more effective. And maybe that’s why we sometimes over-esteem celebrities and other people who have succeeded in one field: since experts can seem superhumanly good, we assume that they’re all-round superhumans.

I remember one time, writing out for an English friend, some of the various alternates of the sword (劍) character: 劍・劒・劔・釼・剣 … and she went “you see, I’ll never be able to do that [you must be magically talented]“…and it was kind of mini-heartbreaking because my intent had been to prove that any fool can learn kanji, not that I knew kanji. Daniel Coyle of Das Le El The Talent Code calls this the “HSE/Holy [Crap] Effect”.

Social resistance is like a matte painting of a formidable fence separating the worlds of those who do succeed (in many senses), and those who don’t. Once you realize the fence is fake, you simply walk off the set of the little Truman Show that had been going on and oh crap another pop culture reference. Thereafter, you may not become instantly unstoppable, but it will certainly take a heckuva lot more to faze you. By the way, “heckuva” sounds…Slavic if you read it a certain way.

So, it can pay to be a bit detached and solipsitic about it all. Like when your friends tells you about their drama and all you can do is laugh — you care for your friends, you’re just not taken in by the drama because you have the mental removal to watch it as farce. That kind of bemused detachment can be a great asset. And people may call you on it, and get upset at your lack of emotional abandon, but…more detachment will probably solve that as well.

The funny thing is, though, all of these ideas can be used to justify anything, good or bad. Then again, trains can be used for suicide, but we’re not outlawing them any time soon.

AJATT is often described as cultish. And it is, because I have carefully laid plans to whisk you all away to a compound in South America where we can watch anime and drink colored sugarwater. But really, what it is is that many paths, religious or secular, requiring significant investments of self, time and resources, are likely to at some point bring one into some level of conflict with common behaviors and levels of self-management that are considered “normal”.

Case in point: one or two of my Japanese friends sometimes make fun of me learning Chinese, yet these same kids — the same ones doing the mocking — also wish they knew Chinese, and even make half-hearted attempts (book purchases) in that general direction. Whenever we’re geeking out by my bookshelf, and things go quiet for a while, and the dust settles, they invariably sigh something we might loosely translate as: “dag, yo…I wonna know me some Chah-nese”.

If and when these conflicts occur, sometimes, compromise and negotation work. Other times, resolute boldness is called for. I don’t know which will be which for you. For example, I don’t object to people suggesting that my daily life be composed of a variety of activities. But I will happily walk, run and fly over, around and through people who think they have the authority to decide or even suggest the details (time, place and content) of those activities. Those are my “rules”, if you will. Yours may differ.

Let me give you a little story from the halcyon days of when AJATT was just me being me in Utah. My friends wanted us to watch Pulp Fiction together…in the living room. I like hanging out with people while not doing the same thing, so I was like…yeah, cool, whatever. I didn’t want to watch something in English, but I was willing to watch it with them, so I was going to read Japanese on my laptop while they watched. I often read and watch at the same time.

This compromise upset them. They wanted the movie to be watched in their way (laptopless) on their timetable (now). These were hardcore computer geeks; they knew about geeking out; they should have known better. In the end, after about 90 seconds of failed explanation, I simply went and did something else in Japanese. They got even more upset. About eighteen months later, one of the people who had been there apologized for the entire incident; in his own words, I had been right and he wrong; he hadn’t realized what I was trying to do; he now knew that I had needed to do what I did.

Rarely is all this drama an issue; usually, it doesn’t even come up. But sometimes you do have to choose between something you really want and like, and just being liked. Fortunately, when you choose the former, you do tend to get new likers. Either completely new people, or the same old people post-change-of-heart.

Do what you need to do. Do what makes you happy and comfortable. Getting the job done? Well, that counts as part of “comfort”. Sucking at Japanese made me uncomfortable. So, go become great at Japanese or whatever .

• You cant be good at everything right off the bat. Full, adult, native-like fluency is the sum of partial, domain-local fluencies. #
• Awwwwwwwwwwww…太可愛耶
  YouTube – 人類從小養大「黃小虎」愛撒嬌脾氣好 http://bit.ly/5vXa9J #
• Oh, AJATTeers…if only you knew how gutless I was #
• 『「アウトプット」を基準に「インプット」すれば無駄が零に近付く』 Advice for localized fluency, which of course makes a great stepping-stone http://bit.ly/7PMCoC #
• “バブリーなフィーリングで！”
  http://bit.ly/6MZp6b #
• 「制壓射撃」
  http://bit.ly/4XWczz #
• AJATT tip: Don’t wanna do it? Don’t do it. #
• Some Cantonese love for AJATT
  日文有冇得自學? – 語言討論 – 香港討論區 discuss.com.hk – 一個香港只得一個香港討論區 http://bit.ly/6LDXsP #
• Some of the best advice you can get for AJATT-style learning is actually from people aiming only for domain-specific fluency. #
• Don’t bother with method arguments. Tell people they’re right: that’s all they want to hear anyway. Then, go do whatever you want. #
• Deleting from your SRS is not “losing ground” any more than washing vegetables is “denying nature”. #
• Read It Later: Save Your One-Read Wonders — One reading list, everywhere you are. http://bit.ly/5pIzDF #
• 周星馳萬歲萬歲萬萬歳！
  http://bit.ly/7TS1pQ #
• 日本語ましょう！って・・・言うじゃな～い #
• 世の中の面倒臭い事、その一：小麦アレルギー。 #
• 世の中の面倒臭い事、その二：マフィンが食べたいのに小麦アレルギー。 #
• Limits set you free. Freedom isn’t the absence of limits, it’s the freedom to set your own limits. Or not, I dunno… #Timeboxing #
• 『よく「出る杭は打たれる」と言いますよね。
  しかし、自分の経験からは、「出過ぎた杭は放置され」ます。』http://bit.ly/4Bs8cM #
• Non-native language users are like animals in that relatively paltry amounts of time, $ and effort are invested in (cont) http://tl.gd/4crqh #
• JReK – Japanese Sentence Search http://bit.ly/59ql5h #
• Whenever you find someone struggling with something complex, it’s almost never the complex thing that’s their problem. #
• Heisig broke the so-called “rules” and got called a crazy liar. So did I. Now it’s your turn . #
• 技術的特異点 – Wikipedia http://bit.ly/4y6HJ7 #
• I like the term language “user”. (1) It leaves room for reading/writing. (2) It implies that language is a matter of habituation. #
• Antidote to hero-worship: Imagine your hero going to the toilet for “the big convenience”. That should clear your head for a while #
• ｷﾞｷﾞﾃﾞｨ　ｷﾞｷﾞﾃﾞｨ　ｷﾞｷﾞﾃﾞｨ　ｵｰｰｰﾗｰｲ！！(＾＾） #
• One of Bennie K’s best vids …YouTube – 『Sky』 / BENNIE K http://bit.ly/5QHs3M #
• 世の中の面倒臭い事、その三：ツイッターで小麦アレルギーを一々嘆いてる奴。 #
• Learning a language is very…asymptotic. Do we hit zero? Dunno…but we can always keep getting closer and closer and closer. #
• I’m like that pianist. Miss one day of Japanese, and I know. Two days, close friends know. Three days — stuttering mess. It’s that fragile. #
• Confidence and optimism are free. Why be stingy? #
• Tell yourself that it’s precisely because your project is large that it can benefit from a tiny bit of progress. #
• No project is ever too big or too small to benefit from small amounts of progress. #
• Given enough practice, a level of skill that seems impossible can become inevitable. #
• Whenever you find someone struggling with something complex, it’s almost always because something simple is missing or broken. #
• 四字熟語データバンク http://bit.ly/7uuYFt
  Thanks, Kouryuu! #
• In a self-directed project, the choice is not between doing it right and doing it wrong, but between doing it fun and not doing it at all. #
• AJATT is a cookie recipe at most. And we all know there are a ton of ways to make cookies. #
• If someone needed to practice to be in a band, you wouldn’t stop them; you’d work around/with them. Why stop a language-learner? #
• “With a bad attitude, anything can be hard to study”http://bit.ly/5NXvH5 #
• Sure, you want to do That Thing That’s Good For You That You Should Do, but do you have your consent yet? #
• Don’t blame the language; don’t blame yourself; blame your methods. Don’t accuse the steak of being uncuttable, just get a knife. #
• Think of your SRS as an SDS (spaced deletion system) as well. Be prepared to delete just as much as you repeat. #
• Learning a language is very hard. Not the language itself, but the dealing with people bent on telling you how hard it is. #
• だーら買・わ・な・いってば！（笑）
  http://bit.ly/5ai0Xu #
• No language has such a shortage of sentences/phrases that you need to pick boring ones as well. #
• Language-learningwise, I’d say the Internet still lags far behind cable/satellite TV in many ways. Not all ways, of course. #
• Monolingual Japanese online dictionaries
  辞書 – Google 検索 http://bit.ly/8yTyh7 #
• 六次の隔たり – Google 検索 http://bit.ly/5Pl4xU #
• “If anyone in the history of the world has done it, then you can certainly do it.” http://bit.ly/5NXvH5 #
• It’s not the dog in the fight and it’s not the years on the language: it’s the minutes in the years. #
• Evil technique to get people out of your way: affirm their opinion verbally while willfully negating it with your actions. #
• YouTube – 時代特急 / Flick http://bit.ly/4Q7A3A #
• Is there something you “should” do but just don’t want to? Be reasonable with yourself. Find out why. Negotiate. Cut a deal. #
• YouTube – MP4 – Chinese Rap http://bit.ly/8pWF3Q #
• The only “requirement” is to come into contact with your L2. Within that, anything goes; individual L2 media must entertain *you*. #
• Open your L2 books randomly, flip pages randomly until something grabs you. No need to force sequential access: it’s not a scroll. #

In response to this article on binging and purging, I got this really cool comment from Maya, one of AJATT’s best link-suppliers:

Just out of curiosity, does anyone have any examples of when they started to fall behind in something and they eventually caught up by making it more fun/changing their style? I’m not doubting that this is the way to go; it’s just that I’d like a concrete example.

Lately I’ve fallen behind with my sentence reps (whereas I have no problem maintaining an immersion environment)… I think the problem is that I’ve come to look at the reps as “work/studying” (whereas as anime is always “recreational”)… even after deleting a decent chunk of sentences, the problem seems to persist. I’m currently almost a week behind in reps, and still can’t motivate myself to get around to doing them. I’ve obviously been doing something wrong, but I can’t figure out what.

Here is my response:

@Maya

Just one idea here (I’m looking forward to hearing what everyone else has to say):

Delete even more.

Don’t go to your SRS to do reps any more.

Go to delete.

Go for deletions. Deletions are your new “target metric”. Delete until you hit a sentence that you give a crap about. Then delete until you hit the next one like that.

You’re probably overloaded with “should-learn” sentences — “shoulders“, like I was in Cantonese. Or maybe you have cool sentences, but they lack the punch they had when you entered them. Those are now “shoulders”, too.

Get rid of anything even remotely sucky. Delete. Delete. Delete. Don’t worry. You obviously don’t need them. You’ve been off the SRS a whole week, right? That’s a sign. A big, freaking sign.

Delete boring things from your SRS, otherwise they will “delete” you — they will “make” you never want to touch that SRS again.

Basically, Maya, you great discoverer of all things Disney and Japanese, you have two choices.

a) Delete bad sentences, however many there may be, so that you can do at least *some* SRSing.
b) Never SRS again for the rest of your life.

Right now, you’re on a collision course with (b).

Don’t get rid of the whole deck in one go. A lot of people do that. I personally think that’s ill-advised. Delete. One by one. There will be some leftover items — “keepers“. The keepers will be the seeds of a renewed deck, a deck of keepers (mostly), a deck that makes you actually want to do reps. The keepers will have a pattern to them — format, length, source, content, whatever — that will guide you in acquiring more keepers.

If you’ve got a really sucky deck, you could end up literally halving your cardcount — I once did. In the extreme, you could end up with only 10% of your original deck. No biggie. Let it go. Fuhgeddaboutit. Remember what’s at stake. Sentences are interchangeable. Motivation to learn is not.

Let me share some of my Japanese sentence deck stats for today with you, to give you a quantitative perspective on the whole thing:

• Repcount: 135
• Added: 2 cards
• Deleted: 100 cards.
• Total: ~235 cards processed, ~42% deleted.

135 reps and 100 deletions is infinitely better than 0 reps and 0 deletions. Now let’s extrapolate — assuming about the exact same daily performance over the course of one week, that comes to nearly 1000 reps and 700 deletions. 1000 to 0. That’s not 1000 times better, M-star. That’s  “even more infinitely better” than 0 reps and 0 deletions.  ∞:0 ratio.

So, go break some eggs and make that omelette .

We all have such noble intentions with our sentences. We all want to be good kids; we want to do the right thing; we want to eat everything that’s given us. But being an obedient doormat and being an effective learner are not, repeat, not the same thing.

Know your “rights”. The right to enjoyment (= the right to veto boredom) is one that school — my favorite scapegoat for everything — would tend to try to discourage you from exercising, so we often forget that we even have it; we equate exercising it with being “lazy”, unproductive, irresponsible. But now you know to say no to uninteresting sentences.

You can keep being liberal about what enters your SRS deck, just be liberal about what leaves it, as well. Garbage in, garbage out.

Written from painful and rather embarrassing-to-share experience,

Khatz

Epilogue

Through the magic of deletion, Maya has since turned SRSing from a chore, back into a game and now lives a full, happy, besentenced life . In her own words:

Thanks to everyone for their advice!

To sum things up, I’ve gone through my deck and deleted ~450 or so cards that were boring/unpleasant/so easy that they had become useless. I’m not quite done yet; I can still realistically see myself deleting another 50-200 cards, but I think I’m getting much closer now.

I’ve also decided to change the pace at which I add/learn sentences. When I started doing sentences, I wasn’t actually done with RTK; I was just impatient, and I figured that I could “pick up” the remaining kanji on the go. This never happened/isn’t likely to happen, and my incomplete knowledge of kanji is creating problems for me, so I want to go back and finish learning them properly. I’ll still add/learn sentences, but at a much slower rate (at least temporarily); I actually see this as a really good thing, because it will encourage me to only add a small quantity of really good sentences, instead of adding tons of nonsense, as I seem to have been doing the past while. Needless to say, my overall immersion environment won’t change.

Thanks to everyone for your advice/anecdotes/encouragement!

…

Today was my first day doing reps anew – I went through a hundred of ‘em in under half an hour. This definitely wouldn’t have been possible a couple weeks ago

Everything felt fresh and simple <3

Men of AJATT, on to glory! See Surusu famed in story! Waves these burning words before ye: “Britain scorns to yield!”.

Hmmm…and on that note.

Surusu now supports import of decks from Anki. Current limitations:

• Only Anki “cards“ (not “facts”) exported in the form of tab-separated text file, are supported.
• As you might expect, repetition history is not imported. However, Surusu does have facilities such as the warp button, whereby you can set very long intervals in a single click, allowing you to basically say: “I know this card very well, don’t show it to me for a long while”. This keeps well-memorized cards out of your hair so that you can spend more of your time on the cards you know less well.

In other news:

• Surusu now also supports rudimentary “undo” of repetition scores. If you accidentally give the card the wrong score, simply click on the link to its data page (shown at the top of the current page together with interval information), and “reset” it.
• Surusu decks can now be deleted and merged as well as renamed. However, delete and merge are irreversible, one-time operations, so use them with care. At present, there is no deck trashcan, i.e. no undo for deck mergers and deletions.

• YouTube – ここがヘンだよ日本人「日本の少年・少女と外国人」http://bit.ly/5RcCLH
  ケビン・クローン http://bit.ly/8ydrSS
  YouTube – “鈴木紗理奈” http://bit.ly/5DHP9O #
• YouTube – 太田光の私が総理大臣になったら秘書田中 http://bit.ly/7xkPBf #
• Biological fatalism is perhaps the core flaw in Anglo-Saxon culture. It has hurt everyone, including Anglo-Saxons. #
• YouTube – Ｍ☆Ａ☆Ｇ☆Ｉ☆Ｃ　久保田利伸 meets KREVA http://bit.ly/6PpUv5 #
• Stand up for yourself. When you stop giving up, people give up trying to stop you. #
• What is the easiest positive thing you can do? #
• AJATT Sucess Story (well, demo): wmb27, an AJATTeer(!), shares his Chinese with us.
  YouTube: 老外的書評 http://bit.ly/5LH8Xg
  多謝晒！ #
• 毎朝決まった時刻に如何してもお外に出たがる猫＝世界最強最煩の目覚まし時計(笑） #
• YouTube – m-flo loves Chara / Love to Live By http://bit.ly/4pKggq #
• Beliefs really are powerful — ‘ever been unable finding something in the fridge beause you believed it wasn’t there? #
• If you believe you can’t learn a language, you won’t be able to, even if you actually already possess the ability. #
• Learning a language requires you to simultaneously have a thirst for knowledge and tolerance for ignorance. Annoying, eh? #
• 踊るの好き好き！とても好き好き！
  YouTube: http://bit.ly/8lwQ26
  Lyrics: http://bit.ly/7TCuq7 #
• YouTube – 經典金曲 – 熱情的沙漠 1973 (歐陽菲菲) http://bit.ly/5haZVQ #
• Kanji Makes Japanese Easy – Dumb Otaku http://bit.ly/8ht1Bj #
• YouTube: Really cool arrangement of the 北方官話版 of 男兒當http://bit.ly/6Utfe7
  Correct lyrics: http://bit.ly/6nAOki #
• RT @coach_marketing “It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste.”–Henry Ford//Timebox, baby! #
• Learning a language is easy. You’ve done it before, and you can do it again. If in doubt, look back at your “native” experience. #
• Ed shares these words of Wisdom from Willard Christopher Smith.YouTube – Will’s Wisdom http://bit.ly/6Pnzls #
• Perhaps the most damaging lesson of schooling is that others’ opinions of you matter more than your opinion of yourself. #
• f(success at a task) is often inversely proportional to f(discussing the task). So, if in doubt, hush up and get tinkering! #
• 楓の樹液って、ゆーじゃな～い！メープルシロップ – Wikipedia http://bit.ly/77bWhX 実際、和風に言うと「楓汁」（かえでじる？フウジュウ？）になるかと思いますが・・・どっちにしても「楓」の訓読みも字自体も大好き（＾＾）。 #
• Two weeks into the new year and you’ve probably screwed up already. I have . Forgive yourself anyway. Reset. Move on. #
• 舞台劇では文句言わずに受け入れるような視覚的解かり易さや記号性が、映画となると中々許されないってのが多いよね。要は、映画への判断基準が厳しく、一方舞台劇だったらどんな二億番煎じでも大絶賛される気がする（笑）。
  三回もアップしてスンマセン。 #
• RT @sevarg The Hemingway Hack: http://www.secondactive.com/2009/08/boost-your-productivity-with-hemingways.html #
• If one choice were really that much better than the other, you wouldn’t be having trouble deciding. So screw it pick whichever. #
• RT @sivers LOVE this mindset: “not talent, just hard [play]“: http://railstips.org/blog/archives/2010/01/12/i-have-no-talent/ #
• RT @sivers LOVE this mindset: “not talent, just [practice]“: http://bit.ly/7aUI6g #
• Google の理念 http://bit.ly/6WzY3x #
• The basics give you the power to circumlocute. If you can circumlocute, then you will never be at a loss in any conversation. #
• 漫画の新聞 / 米ソニー、ついにSDカード参入へ http://bit.ly/4QDawq #
• You’ll never find 100% unanimity in language-learning advice. But that’s not the point. The point is to pick, test and remix. #
• Raher than try to achieve something per se, instead just try to make a positive change in your situation. #
• The secret to sentence-picking from text/phrasebooks without dying of boredom: Ignore order. Follow your curiosity. Pick randomly. #
• Basics. Basics. Basics. Basics. Basics. Developers. Developers. I mean, basics. Basics. Basics. Basics. http://bit.ly/7mmlRv #
• Simple vocab. Simple vocab. Simple vocab. Simple vocab. Simple vocab. Simple vocab. Simple vocab. http://bit.ly/7mmlRv #
• True optimization is not getting more done, it’s making things easy to do. Once things are easy to do, more naturally gets done. #
• Since making things fun makes them easy to do, fun is the ultimate optimizer, sheer joy the ultimate success metric. #
• Question: does anyone out there have an SRS (mnemosyne/anki/etc.) deck of Remembering the Hanzi? If so, let me know #
• AntiMoon. Always worth a read.
  Antimoon.com: How to learn English effectively http://bit.ly/6KjQHf #
• Thanks for the RTH deck info, everyone! #
• “その二の腕　pink! pink! pink!
  頭の中　sick! sick! sick!”
  マキシマム ザ ホルモン/[F]
  YouTube: http://bit.ly/53qpBN
  Goo Lyrics: http://bit.ly/8KYkfc #
• No one’s saying not to get the job done, we’re just saying: always retain and freely exercise your right to veto pain and boredom. #
• Deleting from your SRS is not “losing ground” any more than backing your car out of a ditch is “running away from reality”. #
• “How long should I keep doing kanji SRS reps?” asks the neophyte: “Until your card intervals exceed your lifespan”, says Khatz. #
• Swahili in the hizzouse. “Maisha iko sawa na Trust”/マイシャ　イコ　サワ　ナ　トルスト
  YouTube – A Kenyan condom commercial http://bit.ly/8wSU2P #
• RT @GoddessCarlie Skipped a day studying? Don’t try and catch up, just do your normal amount. [Do more] when you have…nothing [else] to do #
• You tried to do something complicated today, didn’t you? No, my friend. It’s the BASICS for you . Easy. Simple. Fun. #
• An expert isn’t someone who’s perfect at complex stuff — no one is. An expert is someone who’s perfect at the basics. Prolly. #
• もっと明るい読み物読まないとね（＾＾） #
• 極論ていうか過激思想に何であんなに魅力があるのかつーと、やっぱり美しいからね。過激思想って、理路整然で、簡潔で、ややこしい例外など無いよね。そりゃ魅了されるわ、人間として。 #
• The Japanese script for The Matrix « John Turningpin’s Mad Tokyo http://bit.ly/8jZCv1 #
• RT @spanishonly How to Immerse Yourself Without Losing Friends – http://su.pr/2ZmrxA #
• Don’t follow advice for the sake of following advice. No method is too good to be optimized to suit you and make it more effective #
• Sometimes you have to choose between success and being liked. Fortunately, when you choose success, you do tend to get new likers. #
• 今日も初心に帰った俺。・・・（笑）・・・どんだけ自己陶酔。 #

hatever your goals this year, you will fall off the horse at some point. Probably. Perhaps you already have.

If and when you do fall off, get back on it like nothing happened. Redraw. New point.

Because the temptation will be to purge the binge or binge the purge. But the binge-purge cycle is as dangerous as it is unproductive.

When you’ve been inconsistent with a behavior you want to instill, the socially-trained response (“instinct”) is to punish yourself by giving yourself more to do — stricter rules, extra work, “catch up” work. A bit of self-flagellation, you know. A nice crack of the old flagellum. WHAPEW!

Basically, you say to yourself “OK, I’ve been binging on bad things for a while now, so let me purge for a little while and THEN go back to a normal flatline”.

But that just feeds the cycle. Because, you see, purging is just another form of binging. Purging is just binging on good. Which seems like a good enough idea, certainly the intent behind it is good, but the effect is to teach yourself that:

“Binging is how we solve problems”.

It’s kind of like racism. On the surface, white supremacists seem to hate darkies and Jews. But really what they’re saying is:

“Division, hate and violence is how we solve problems”.

So what happens is that white supremacists can end up scaring up, beating up and killing up almost as many white people (“race traitors”) as they do darkies and Juden and Irish and whomever the heck else. They even write books about crucifying “their own”. Their paradigm demands it. Any movement based on division, hate and violence tends to self-destruct in this way, because while its members may think that their hate has specificity, in truth they are operating under a more general principle that inevitably begins to dictate their actions and responses to anyone of any ethnicity in any adverse situation.

_{[Verily, if you look at something like the two "World" Wars, what you see is essentially Western European slander, hatred and violence, which had been successfully exported worldwide in the form of colonialism, finally coming home to roost. Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon was a similar deal: the Romans had tried to put a firewall around Rome proper -- in fact, the whole Italian peninsula -- essentially saying "aw'right, lads -- we impose order through military conquest out there but not in 'ere". It worked well enough for a while. Eventually, though, a Gaius called Caesar came along and was like: "Roman, puh-leeze! Screw dat noise, I'ma conqua anda bringa da orda all over dis Appian muthafarquad!", because "military conquest is how we solve problems and impose order" was the real, core lesson of Roman politics. And the rest really is history. Live by the gladius, die by the gladius, if you will. Baseless Remarks About Complex Social Phenomena, baby...you know you loves it!]}

Similarly, binging and purging demands more binging and purging. Binge-purge is just a manifestation of a “binge meta-behavior”. _{The more I make up these words, the more I start sounding like Bucky Fuller — you know, insightful, but obviously self-educated because he uses all these neologisms and compound words that aren’t in mainstream academic literature. Maybe I should go to grad school and finally earn my professors’ unconditional love and respect…’Fill that surrogate dad-sized hole in my heart…}

_{You’re all: “Khatz, you’re nowhere near as cool as Bucky Fuller”. Well, neither are you, so SCREW OFF the bottle cap!}

_{Where was I…}

_{Oh yeah.} In fact, it’s more than a behavior — it’s a way of life. It’s almost like a conditioned reflex whereby as soon as you “hear the bell” of a certain type of situation, you almost unconsciously, involuntarily start binging and purging.

So we say: “one last purge(=’good’ binge), and then I’ll go back to flatline”. But flatline never comes. Just like the day you’re going to use all that cool stuff you have locked up in the attic…never comes.

Binge-purge, or, more accurately, “binge-binge” or “plus-binge-minus-binge” is like the Ring of Power in Lord of the Maori Actors with Ridiculously Manly Thighs and Dreadlocks. It cannot be used for good — at least not by you or me. It’s just that unwieldly. Once you pick it up and put it on, any valiant attempts to direct its power in space and time tend to fall flat.

Even using it against itself as some form of punishment, tends to fail. Generally speaking, the binge-binge cycle cannot be used to break itself any more than a tangled power cord can be used to untangle another tangled power cord. It cannot take you to your goals because the violence of the cycle will destroy you before you reach them — maybe not the very first time, but somewhere along the way.

Large individual goals are only healthily reached by consistency over time. By habit. Really, the only way to teach yourself this gradual behavior is by engaging in it. You can’t get yourself to be gradual and go at a manageable pace by removing the privilege of moving at this pace as soon as you slip up. Accept the slip-up as a natural part of the process. The way to get over those violent pendulum movements is to stop hitting the pendulum so violently…get a hold on it and guide it gently.

You will probably run off course a little bit this year, at some point. But that doesn’t mean all is lost. Far from it. I hear aeroplanes spend the majority of their flying time technically off-course (is that true?). They just correct quickly and often.

Redraw. Correct. New point. New day. New nano-action. Continue. Yes, it is that easy. Yes, you can let go of punishment and still excel – what, you think I got my cats to come to me when I call them by beating them over the head? “OI! I’M TALKING TO YOU, MAMMAL! LOOK ON MY WORKS, YE FELINE, AND DESPAIR!”. Naw, dude. They hate Shelley.

Be nice to yourself. When you fall, just get up and keep walking. Make small corrections if necessary, but emotionally, let it be like nothing the heck happened. Like you meant to do it. It’s not like you killed someone (_{right?…right? wait, what? oh my…OK…No it’s NOT okay!}). Take the energy you were going to use for feeling guilty, and put it into moving forward.

• Use as much sugar as you need to make the medicine go down. Use more sugar than medicine if you want. #
• If you want to learn how to write business emails in Japanese, then get this book. It’s funbun (for-native-by-native)
  http://bit.ly/8jjbLD #
• I didn’t actually coin the word “funbun”, by the way. These boys did.
  http://bit.ly/8GRRZM #
• I didn’t actually coin the word “funbun”, by the way. These boys did.　
  http://bit.ly/5mnuLX
  Link fixed #
• What is the smallest useful thing you can do? #
• You can spend your time arguing with people or you can spend your time winning at life, but you can’t do both. So choose one . #
• A lot of people have a lot to say about a lot of things. Generally, just ignore them and do whatever you were going to do anyway. #
• What is the easiest useful thing you can do? #
• Stop dealing in hours. There are only like 8760 a year. ‘Can’t just go throwing them around. Work with minutes. Like, 3 at a time. #
• 一々五月蠅えぇよ、オバマ大統領は生まれてからアメリカ国民じゃないなんてホザく奴は。第一、母親が米国民である以上、自動的に米国籍を取得するからﾊﾞｶﾔﾛｺﾉﾔﾛｰﾒ。血統主義＆出生地主義両方通用するんですから～。残念！ #
• YouTube – HI-D – Girlfriends feat. ZEEBRA http://bit.ly/5mtveR #
• To paraphrase Drewskie: you may not know if you’re biting off more than you can chew, but the timebox does. #
• YouTube: DOPING PANDA – majestic trancer feat.VERBAL(m-flo)
  http://bit.ly/6MpnfJ
  PINK!!! #
• RT @Akira117 The problem with self study is the other cars in the race have flames painted on them. Too bad most of [them] have never won. #
• Human audio on SRS cards is definitely worth the extra time/effort in Cantonese. Will post on it in the near future. #
• You wouldn’t eat candy without taking out of the wrapper, would you? Then why would you follow AJATT without changing some parts? #
• I just bought sushi from a man named 小林 — how Japanese is THAT!!? #
• 小林＝ザ一番カッコイイ苗字 #
• Saying to yourself: “I’m going to study for an hour” is the #1 guaranteed way to get no studying done whatsoever. Say no to hours. #
• うぜぇんだよ普通に（笑）
  YouTube – Cantonese lazy tongue pronunciation 1 http://bit.ly/5pT5hT #
• There is nothing conceptually easier in this world than learning languages. All you have to do is plagiarize. No smarts required. #
• Language-learning is theft. The less creative you are, the more you copy and steal from native speakers, the better you will get. #
• How to be a genius – New Scientist
  http://bit.ly/8F6jja #
• “I get around like 寿司 on a 回転!”
  YouTube – m-flo / How You Like Me Now? http://bit.ly/7xLw2g #
• What is the smallest positive thing you can do? #
• 今日（厳密に言うと昨日だが）「アバター」の日本語吹替え版観て来た。やっぱり凄いわ。内容的にも、映像的にも申し分無しというか、小泉の如く感動した。刺激の余り、終了後一時間ぐらいは言葉が詰まってた訳。やるじゃん、ジェーキャ。 #
• Santa Ponta’s Journey – a Japanese-English Bilingual Story | JapanNewbie http://bit.ly/5RGqzI #
• A blogger (somewhat unwittingly?) discusses the chunking phenomenon.
  “Language Cache or Processing Speed?”
  http://bit.ly/6Jc1Fg #
• 「辞書引き学習」って・・・言うじゃな～い http://bit.ly/4zNob4 Me likey. #
• Goals should be things that you *want*. So don’t think of how you *have* to get reach them, think of how you *get* to reach them. #
• ‘ I have little patience with the phrase “I can’t.” It usually just means “I won’t.” ‘
  http://bit.ly/5xh4CQ
  @kailahana #
• 「東京大学大学院工学系研究科航空宇宙工学専攻准教授」
  Try THAT in 羅馬字。
  No, wait…don’t.
  http://bit.ly/73PwJM #
• 開発者 開発者 開発者 開発者 開発者 開発者 開発者 開発者 開発者 開発者 開発者 開発者 開発者 開発者 開発者 開発者 開発者 開発者 開発者
  http://bit.ly/6KdTIR #
• Fun movie
  YouTube – 愛情呼叫轉移 徐崢+寧靜(Call For Love) http://bit.ly/7fVRG1 #
• 疲れるね、英語使ってると・・・
  ワックな奴らが有り余っててさ（笑） #
• “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is acce (cont) http://tl.gd/340cf #
• スピーチ　「アイデアの３ステップ」:とむさとうのコラム集 “　すべての真実は、３つの段階を経ていく。
  　最初は馬鹿にされ、
  　次には激しく反対され、
  　最後には自明の真実として受け入れられるのである。” http://bit.ly/6zYAyW #
• “By the inch, it’s a cinch;
  by the yard, it’s hard;
  by the mile it’s a trial!”
  http://bit.ly/4LjRgl #
• MP4 FLV 動画再生 フリーソフト | GOM PLAYER FTW! 【ゴムプレイヤー】 http://bit.ly/4sHMzW #

Recently over on the le das Twitter, the great @papajohn and I have been having a ball using Chinglish with each other.

Below are some samples of our exchanges. John’s messages contained classified information, so I shan’t reproduce them here. Oh, I didn’t tell you? Yeah, we’re totally spies, dude. What, you didn’t think it was a little weird how invested we were in this whole language deal?

Aaah, screw it. I’ll reproduce the parts of papajohn’s communication that have no operational significance. Observe that John and I have generally used one language’s syntax with the other’s vocabulary, but we have stretches of full-on Chinese. We also switch across Mandarin and Cantonese, but that’s another story.

John’s Mandarin isn’t actually “transitional” — AFAIK, he’s a Mandarin princeling — but mine more or less is. Furthermore, we’re both native speakers of English _{[...oh wait, I forgot -- apparently, according to some people, I'm not ]} so…we have English thoughts _{[That doesn't sound dodgy...no siree]}, but we also have Chinese thoughts, having been raised Chinese since the age of twentysomething . A lot of, at least, my motivation, is to communicate directly to the heart and not just the head, so this sometimes becomes a factor in choosing which language gets to be the substrate or lexifier at any given time.

Too many smilies.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
@papajohn
I think I’m too 文字 focused. Worked great for 普通話, but I think treating 粵語 like some kind of 部落方言 would work better.

@ajatt (that’s me)
No ur absolutely 啱呀 雖然有文字 但係亦都有一個好大嘅部落方言/不立文字嘅element
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
@ajatt
Glad you enjoyed the link. It’s hard to tell how 有用 a link is to other people! I’m prone to 想ing that everyone but me 已經 知道ed about it
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
@papajohn
Amazon.cn hey? I’m a Dangdang man myself. Does this mean you’re riding the 簡體 train?

@ajatt
哈哈 梗唔係啦！只不過係因爲台灣嗰邊 除咗動畫之外 都冇歐美電影嘅國語配音版DVD可以買。 咁所以冇辧法囉～。仲有Amazon.cn好平添。大陸萬歲！呵呵

@papajohn
哦，明白了。大陸的配音是不是跟臺灣的有所不同？我一直覺得臺灣的配音很柔軟、可愛似的。大陸配音北方人多：）
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

John and I started doing this to save space on Twitter, because Chinese characters can communicate more information in less space. In 140 kanji, you don’t even have to be pithy; yous can writes yourself a whole mini-essay!

I wonder whether such a mixed approach to output (and maybe even input?) might not be a great way to ease into 使うing your target 言語anguage(?)

In the past, it would appear that a lot of 教育ducation systems around the 世界orld have favoured a cold-turkey approach to second-language/basilectal/dialectal learners of a target language. Barring cases of forcible acculturation, the intent behind this was good — the system designers didn’t want to further encourage or create dialects/pidgins/creoles, so they went straight for the goal.

However, I did recently read about some mixed-usage graded readers for children who are native speakers of the Ebonics dialect of English. If I recall correctly, the readers are initially mostly in Ebonics, and gradually introduce more and more acrolectal [is that even the right word?]/Standard English usage until they are written completely in Standard English. Apparently, they were really successful in getting kids reading acrolectal English with ease and fluency. _{[As it turns out, according to some linguists, Ebonics is not mere slang; it's actually an entirely self-contained logical-syntactical system, with a relationship to Standard English akin to that of Schwizerdütsch to Hochdeutsch].}

And that just seems to make a lot of sense. On the one hand, mixing is, of course, “impure”, heterogeneous, asymmetrical. And that kind of thing doesn’t appeal to the little zealot inside all of us, that binary part of us that wants everything just so. But at the same time, there’s just something very natural and organic and logical and workable-seeming about the whole idea.

Human beings, more often than not, need to be eased into things, I think. Put another way, there’s far less likely to be a rebound — much like an organ transplant rejection — if the transition is gradual rather than sudden. Accomodating this apparently natural tendency can seem like a sort of half-buttocked mishmash compromise (and it can end that way if the transition window stops moving), but ironically enough it can also lead to rain on wedding days, free rides when you’ve already paid, and true, permanent behavior change in a way that coercion often does not. Coercion produces resistance. Well-executed gradual change can bypass this resistance completely.

Frog in hot water. Frog in water that gradually gets hotter.

This gradualism thing, we are seeing, is true of children, and I think it may be even more true of adults. Not because adults are less malleable or resilient than kids or any other ageist crap like that, but because adults have the power to resist and escape. I’ve seen this with training my two cats, who are of different ages: it’s not actually “easier” to train kittens — they have short attention spans and less background knowledge — but kittens aren’t as strong as adult cats, so you can…you know…literally put them right where you want them. With adult cats, on the other hand, you kind of have to coax and negotiate and reason, otherwise you will get the scratch, motherlover.

Babies can’t turn off their immersion environment. Babies can’t build their own gaijin bubbles.

So, kids, 次回ext time you’re at a loss for 詞words…try mixing 言語anguages. Of course, you want to get to the stage where you use or can use just the one. But for now, treat it as a phase you’re going through.

To tell you the truth, I’ve already done this mixing before, but in analog form — when I was in college, I would take coursework notes in a hybrid kanji-katakana-Latin [in order of priority/abundance] shorthand, making and using words very loosely in a highly personalized, idiosyncratic sort of way; I’d often make up original kanji compounds on the spot.

When you think about it, until your vocabulary matures and fills out, you’re already a de facto “transitional user” of your target language. The only question is: do you now recognize and exploit this fact, or do you suppress it out of fear of the risk involved? As it is, with conventional methods, many people give up learning their target language and thus remain “transitional” for life anyhow. But acknowledging this “middle passage” through language-mixing may have the paradoxical effect of carrying more people through to full fluency than a strict language separation.

Anyway, food for thought. Anyone with information to share, go ahead and 發言launch words! Oh yeah — sorry for being autological; I know that annoys some people. Or maybe it’s my inner purist that’s annoyed. Yeah, it’s probably just me. Oh well…

• Use as much sugar as you need to make the medicine go down. Use more sugar than medicine if you want. #
• Goalwise, forget that it’s New Year’s. You don’t need a big event. You need small events, small choices, small actions. #
• Change here. Change now. Don’t depend on Pope Gregory XIII and his calendar to pick your start dates. He sucks at it. #
• I think sometimes, it’s almost more effective to discard unimportant things, than to go looking for important things. #
• #SRS Sentence-picking is like fishing. Just because they’re there, that doesn’t mean you have to be trying to catch them 24/7/365. #
• Working yourself harder is not the solution. Fear of overwork is probably what got you procrastinating in the first place. #
• Be gentle. Be kind to yourself. You’re not replaceable…yet #
• One of the core elements of AJATT is ad hoc behavior: the right to mold AJATT into something other than its “original” form. #
• The key is not to “”finish” or “succeed”, but to repeat. If you repeat, you will finish. If you repeat, you will succeed. #
• Suck at stuff. Be lame. Just do it more often. #
• Acting when you should be thinking is like showering while fully clothed. Thinking when you should be acting is like walking outside naked. #
• Being pulled away from Japanese for some amount of time is inevitable, but the actual length of this gap is not. Shrink the gap. #
• We like the New Year because it’s a chance to reset. But why once a year? Every day is a chance to delete yesterday and reset. #
• A lot of my learning has been unlearning. I’ve basically gone in one big circle, restoring my mental state to me at age 5. #
• Stopping Japanese doesn’t instantly hurt you. Stopping Japanese for a long time hurts you. Whatever you do, keep the gap short. #
• Benny the Irish Polyglot says: “Stop speaking English!”:
  “The smartest decision you will ever make to achieve fluency”
  http://bit.ly/7cnZqy #
• I often make AJATT seem like it’s top-down, but it’s actually bottom-up. It’s more like handwashing than baptism. Small. Useful. Here. Now. #
• To succeed at something, you don’t “keep” at it, you come back to it. You don’t start once, but restart many times. Come back. Again. Again. #
• Meander. Like a river. Go for the next easiest thing you could do in Japanese. This requires no “discipline”. #Immersion #
• Japanese commercials, baby!
  YouTube – カップヌードル・チーズカレー「昼下がり・ダブルチーズ・新発売」編 http://bit.ly/7zlt7X #
• #Immersion: There’s nothing grand about it. No “willpower” is required. It’s just thousands of small choices. One at a time. #
• Don’t wait until you’re “finished” to feel good about yourself. We don’t wait until a child becomes an adult to praise him for his growth. #
• 「私・・・男の人に憧れて・・・腋毛を・・・生やしちゃいました！」
  YouTube – #30 恥ずかしいけど見せます http://bit.ly/6kB2YL
  Armpit hair and over-kawaiiness for the win! #
• At every fork in the road, chose the turn that will bring you closer to Japanese fluency. Enough of these choices will add up. #
• Something you probably never thought of: read books about parenting *for yourself*. i.e. You = Parent and You = Child. It often works . #
• “No battle plan survives contact with the enemy”. Don’t get all hyped up about New Year’s. Change your identity and local choices instead. #
• Try reading parenting books *for yourself*. i.e. You = Parent and You = Child. The advice is often much gentler, m (cont) http://tl.gd/1d697 #
• Identity and lowlevel situational guidelines matter more than goals. You don’t live goals. You live an identity and local actions. #
• I’m finding that a single, massive abstract noun on my wall is more effective than a complex, numerical goal statement. #
• Boredom is intellectual pain. Like physical pain, it’s a sign that you need to change something. This is valuable info. Use it. #
• I love 坂本真綾’s work.
  YouTube – 坂本真綾　マメシバ http://bit.ly/87TF8c
  She sang the OP for 天空のエスカフローネ as well.
  http://bit.ly/8zx84Y
  Behold her vids! #
• Jonathan over @ http://study-shack.com/ shares his tips on using SRS for school study with you . Small blook but growing #
• I officially declare Amazon.cn the dog’s bollocks. Mainland China prices and good shipping rates (to Japan at least). Fast, too. #
• Question: does anyone know if there’s a Firefox plugin that will randomly visit one of your own bookmarked sites with one click? #
• Visit all those Japanese sites you’ve saved with this Firefox bookmark randomizer
  mozdev.org: randomflip
  http://bit.ly/7wEpTK
  (experimental) #
• “split-second timing and reflexive action…can be achieved only through repetitious practice.”
  http://bit.ly/85Kxn7 #
• The key to success isn’t to think of 10,000 hours (the wave) but of the next thing (the quantum) you’re going to do. #Immersion #
• It’s a (Japanese) Sign http://bit.ly/6bcpgT
  Cheers アメド #
• うわぁフィンランド語ってエルフ語そっくり！
  まあ指輪物語の成り立ちってか、
  起源を考えれば不思議じゃないけどね・・・
  縱情慾海 http://bit.ly/57zATB #
• On the day-to-day level, think small, small, small — almost insultingly so. Do the smallest valuable unit of work you can find. #
• 此間ユーチューブ上のコメントのレベルの低さを批判してた僕だけど・・・矢っ張り偶にはその俗っぽいところもオモロいよね。まあ俗っぽいというより、軽々しい突っ込み？かな。だーら、本気で規制されるとしたら、軽々しい突っ込みを保ったママが宜しゅうかと。（＾＾） #
• NY message @ my grocery store
  迎春 http://bit.ly/8NZLjZ #
• In life, kids, you’re never too young or too old for a piece of: KeyHoleTV: Watch Live Japanese TV Online!
  http://bit.ly/7DzXDC #
• YouTube – Paula Abdul’s Straight Up 中n Cantonese今天天氣呵呵呵–甄楚倩 http://bit.ly/8bmTWh #
• YouTube – The Lion King – I Just Can’t Wait To Be King (Cantonese) http://bit.ly/6rdmIl #
• Something you probably never thought of: read books about parenting *for yourself*. i.e. You = Parent and You = Child. It often works . #
• What is the smallest, easiest positive thing you can do? #
• Just squeezed 34 SRS cards out of 3′50″ of Cantonese audio… #
• When you focus on one thing, don’t think of it as giving up on other things, just think of it as scheduling. You’ll get round to them. #

It’s New Year’s.

So freaking what? It’s just another day. We all need to calm down a little. Even me telling you to calm down is probably just fueling the excitement, isn’t it?

Are you going to make a resolution? Good luck with that. I doubt you’ll even remember it by early March.

Screw resolutions. I’m going to show you how to actually get things done.

_{And while we’re ranting: I hate my writing. I hate this whole website. I even hate people who hate my writing because they remind me of all the hate I already have. If this site were a piece of paper, I’d have burned it long ago. Fortunately, the blog medium has largely prevented these perfectionistic tendencies coming out and destroying whatever little good some of you may gain from reading this.}

_{The reason I hate this mother is because it almost never comes out the way I’m thinking of it. There are these beautiful and rather tingly constructions in my mind and they come out so…bland. So tingleless.}

In “The Fork, The Choice and You“, I was trying to write something that it might perhaps be better to draw. So I went ahead and drew it.

Behold! The following paths of achievement (or lack thereof): the pothead, the planner and the player.

The Pothead Model

“Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if…whoa…yeah”.

Problems: Single, discrete point — a fantasy, a dream — which is a good start, but no path, no granularity, no action, no nothing.

The Planner Model

Problems: Has goal (point) and path (line), but the path lacks granularity and elasticity. It is conceptually beautiful and perfectly smooth, but unworkable except under perfect (i.e. rarely fulfilled) conditions. The planner’s inability to stay on the line is frequently a cause of stress, pain and ultimately failure.

At this time of year, society at large offers us the path of the planner. And those of us who take it tend to suffer so much that we fall off the graph. I submit to you that we should reject this model.

The Player Model

• The player has fun because it’s all a game.
• Unlike the planner, who has this perfect, smooth, continous line she’s trying to force herself onto, the player deals in tiny, discrete, individual points (AKA choices/forks). The player’s path is digital. Over time, she causes the points to form a trend, but there is no actual line.
• At every point, she makes a choice that is both fun and takes her closer to the goal.
• There are thousands of these points.
• The player has a goal but the focus is on the immediate next action.
• The player does not allow the goal to overwhelm her with its vertical or horizontal distance.
• The player does not allow “imperfections” and deviations to perturb her. She accepts deviations, and then corrects or even exploits them.
• The player may often actively seek new, advantageous deviations through playful experiments. She’s on for the ride.

Beyond immediate necessity, the player forgets about both the past and the future. There is no burden of regret, no crushingly grand aspirations (there are grand aspirations, she just doesn’t let them get in the way). The real question is: Right here, right now, what do we do next? What do we play next?
_{[By the way -- this idea of using time rather than being used by it is one suggested by Eckhart Tolle in his "The Power of Now" -- don't be deterred by all the shady quasi-religious hype; between the covers is actually one of the best books about focus and concentration ever written].}

Japanesewise the key is this: there are gaps. Gaps in your immersion. Gaps in your implementation. Gaps in…I dunno…your teeth? You may make mistakes, you may fall off the horse. Fine. Big deal. What matters is what you do next. Every moment is New Year’s. Every moment is a chance to reset. Every moment, pretend the entire world has just been recreated and redrawn from scratch.

It is a game. If you’re not having fun, it’s because you’re doing it wrong. Which is not to say that there’s only one right way — there isn’t. But if you’re bored, then the way you’re doing it clearly has problems. Make it fun. You will know when you’re having fun. Don’t, don’t, do not be anal retentive and start asking what “fun” is. You know what it is. And if you don’t, then you’re gone in a way far beyond my ability to help you . I officially refuse to define fun.

When you touch something hot, you feel pain: this is your body trying to save your hand from being hurt. Boredom is intellectual pain. Boredom is your body’s way of telling you to change the situation. Ignore it to your own detriment. If you try to just fight through the boredom, your brain is just going to puke it all up anyhow. Your brain is trying to help you out by telling you: “Hey!…Nothing’s getting remembered or learned right now”.

Be A Player: Poke Dots Into Reality. There Is No Line

As you read this website, I do not want you to follow my advice. I do not want you to take my advice. I want you to use my advice. You cannot be me, nor would you want to. You can be much better than that. Much better. You will be faced with situations that I never faced; you may have preferences that I do not. Follow my trend — I think I offer a good one — but pick your own points: there is no line.
_{[Case in point: my least favorite type of question is "how many kanji/sentences should I do per day"? As many as you pleasantly and consistently can. Stop asking to be commanded (ironically enough, if you were to stop asking to be commanded because of that last sentence, you would in fact be obeying a command...but anyhoo). Do what you want. Try a few "points" and see which ones work for you.]}

The planner’s path is goal-focussed. Contemporary personal development literature is awash in goalism. It’s well-intentioned, but it’s not working. When’s the last time a goal got someone to stop smoking? You can goal it up up the wazoo and nothing will change. The goal part is trivial. You can make up a goal half-asleep. I think we already set goals naturally — whenever we want something, that’s a goal. And don’t give me this “a goal is a dream with a deadline” crap, because if it’s a cool enough goal, there’s probably no way you’re going to know enough about the domain to set a real final deadline, so now you’ll just be scaring yourself with images of death (deadline).

Timeframes, yes; timeboxing, yes; deadlines, no. What you really need is (1) a new identity which can produce (2) simple guidelines _{(I’d say one guideline is enough, three is the max — you have to be able to recall them instantly)} for point-by-point behavior, “rules of engagement” if you will — the simple AJATT algorithm in “The Fork, The Choice and You” is a good example.

On the player’s path, each of those points/forks/choices is a chance to change the future — to alter reality itself in a small way. Be a player. I’m not saying “abandon all thought of goals” — never let ideology get in the way of something truly useful — but I am saying let it go; leave well enough alone; it’s not helping like you think it is. Stop massaging these great big “mission statements”; that crap is nothing but empty prose. Stop getting aroused, confused and intimidated by all these “goalistic rituals” that are taking over our society and start poking tiny, pin-sized holes into reality. No one fails for lack of a goal, only for a lack of dots. Dot, dot, dot, dot…………………………

Playing The Meta-Game of AJATT

A lot of what we call personal development was and is actually made for corporate and military training.  Stephen Covey? David Allen? Those boys are just manual writers for corporate soldiers, especially ones at or aiming for the “colonel” level. And maybe stuff like that works in large armies and corporations, who struggle just to communicate intentions and keep everyone singing from the same songsheet. But individuals and tiny groups aren’t like that.

We don’t have the sheer man-hours to waste writing impressive plans that are just going to be thrown out anyhow. But we can be nimble. We can be ad hoc. We can be point-by-point. We may appear to have less and be less, but we end up using it far better and thus accomplishing more and becoming more. We — individuals and tiny groups — can fail more because failure is cheaper for us; we can correct and exploit any situation — failure or otherwise — almost instantly.

Have you ever seen those big, round magnifying mirrors that chicks use to do their make-up? You know, the kind that show all your skin’s pores and tiny blemishes and make you depressed to be alive — even if you’re a guy who thought he was decent-looking? I finally understand why women use foundation — it’s the only thing that makes looking at yourself in one of those things bearable. Anyway, a large organization is like one of those. A large organization is like a huge magnifying device. And since a large organization magnifies everything, it also magnifies screw-ups.

A large org can make 10 million good things, but if it makes a mistake, it now has 10 million c-r-a-p things! Result? Large orgs (schools, companies, etc.) are defensive — they don’t try to be good, and they definitely don’t try to have fun, they just try to not-screw-up, not-make-misakes, follow-the-manual. This means that a large org has to suppress both success and failure for its own safety and indeed for the safety of the world at large. We couldn’t well afford to have elephants tripping up all over the place. When 10 million Firestone tires blow up, we have a freaking problem. And a giggly little: “Whoops! Haha – I meant to do that!“, will not cut it.

All of which explains why big companies keep buying up little ones — the little ones are able to think and twist and spin and pivot and maneuver and act and react and fail and deviate and correct and exploit far better and far faster. A big company is just happy to be alive and walking straight. A big company has to kill its creativity, because creativity is all these messy points and a big company wants — needs — a perfect, straight line. When working at full scale, a big company cannot safely and continuously invent and refine cool processes, it can only execute them. _{Even the great Sony purchases more of its technology than meets the consumer eye, despite having 100,000 incredibly smart employees and dedicated R&D labs.}

And that, my war-oriented friends, also explains why a regular army can essentially never win against guerilla tactics. The flexibility and speed of adaptation does not even compare. Guerilla tactics are why America has a President and not a Queen, why Mao came to rule China, why Vietnam is a single country, why I can live wherever I want in Kenya, why even Alexander the Great and Napoleon got royally pwned (in Afghanistan and Russia, respectively) and why an AJATTeer can absolutely d-e-s-t-r-o-y someone who depended on Japanese classes. Because even if the raw AJATT process weren’t better, the meta-process — make it fun, iterate lots, fail lots and tweak to win — is virtually indestructible.

This is also why school sucks for learning, because it kills your maneuverability in order to get you to follow someone else’s plan that’s easier to grade. Schools couldn’t give a pygmy shrew’s buttocks whether you learn or not; they’re just happy to be alive and walking straight. Schools just want you to look good, sit still and shut up so they can push you down the conveyor belt and yell out “next!”. They may not be intentionally callous, but they certainly end up being about as warm as Ann Coulter on a December evening in Minnesota _{(Minne-freaking-sota winters…oh my gosh…MOMMY, WHY DOES IT HURT MY LUNGS WHEN I BREATHE? And why do shrill, somewhat racist, slightly anti-Semitic women…turn me on? It’s like: “if you wanna get with me, Khatzumoto, you have to alter my fundamental beliefs about humanity! *Diagonal* *Finger* *Snap*!”)}. Good for the school. Not good for you.

So don’t treat AJATT like school and try to mold yourself to fit The Plan^TM, because even AJATT will suck if you do it like that. Mold the plan to fit you as you go along. I didn’t make this so you could be a cog in the machine, I made it so that you would own the machine, use the machine, customize the machine. You don’t need a license, just open the box and fiddle with it. _{[I think we'll see an explosion of learning and invention when more concrete and abstract "boxes" like this -- creation, discovery and execution processes -- are open for us to see. In that sense, and that sense alone, people's questions about AJATT minutiae are legitimate, if not necessarily important.]}

You know, I’m always amused that people are impressed that I learned Japanese without classes. I say, I want to meet the guy who did get fluent because of classes; that shiitake mushroom would impress me!!! If that guy writes a book or blook, listen to HIM! It never surprises me any more that people like Edison, the Wright Brothers and young William Kamkwamba had little or no formal education; it would surprise me if they did.

Anyway, that’s it. That’s the basic idea. Kinda. Sorta. It still doesn’t read the way it actually looks in my mind, but hopefully this all makes things a little clearer. I don’t know if what I’m saying applies that widely. But it applied for self-directed learning/acquisition/becoming Japanese. If you have any questions or insights, feel free to share them with the whole gang.

What deserves your closest attention is neither your ultimate goal, nor your track record, nor your overall plan, but your next choice.

What are you going to do next?

Ultimate goals are heavy; they weigh on the soul. They’re useful and everything, but you can’t have them in your head all the time because the difference between that ultimate goal and your current state can be quite heart-crushingly large.

Track records can be depressing. You’re just going to be seeing all you haven’t been doing. I wouldn’t say never look at these, but if you don’t keep your exposure down, it will make you sick.

Overall plans are similarly crushing. The thought, the sight of all that’s still left to do — that long, empty, open road — is not exciting.

Which leaves your next choice. Your immediate next action.
It’s just one thing.
It’s simple.
It’s practically instant gratification.

Let’s say your ultimate goal is Japanese fluency.
Your track record is spotty or non-existent.
Your overall plan is to follow something along the lines of AJATT/AntiMoon.

What is your next choice?
Simple: Do something. Anything. In Japanese. Anything counts.
ANYthing.
Any. Thing.

One simple choice. Through this one simple choice. you’re bringing yourself closer to the ultimate goal; you’re building a new, better track record and you’re following the overall plan.

That’s all there is to it.

When I say I am not smart, have no talent, and have no willpower, a lot of people think I’m being modest. Trust me. I am neither smart nor talented nor “disciplined”.

With Japanese, I just made simple, local choices. At every fork in the road, I chose Japanese. That is sum total of “the plan”. If there is truly no choice, then it’s obviously not a fork. But you would be surprised how many opportunities there are to fit Japanese in some crack somewhere somehow (because concurrency counts).

This is an incredibly dumb algorithm. It is so dumb that a computer could do it. Even a lazy, good-for-nothing boy from Kenya who forgets to shower all the time — such a boy could execute this algorithm.

Observe, a pseudocode implementation of the basic AJATT algorithm.

while ( breathing )
    if ( anyOpportunityExists )
        doJapanese(anything)
    else takeNextOpportunity(asap)

It’s that simple. Make the big plans if you want. Keep the logs if you want. But know that the forks in the road are where things actually get decided.

• “Delete bad SRS cards or they will deplete you”.
  Momoko #
• Watching a Korean drama in Cantonese…Bobby Lee wasn’t kidding. It’s been 10 minutes and three well-chiseled men have cried already. #
• I am feeling this rather intense desire to end my sentences in “innit?”.
  可笑しいｲﾆｯ #
• An SRS deck is a fluid, living system. It is natural that unhealthy “waste” products (bad cards) be removed for the health of the whole. #
• The excuse you make today for why you “can’t” do something may one day be used as a reason to prohibit people like you from doing that thing #
• Excuses abound. Age is one of them. Ethnicity is another. Take them if you want. They only invite discrimination, and they only hurt you. #
• Excuses only hurt you. I don’t care if you think you’re “too old”. But is that the life you want? Forever helpless and hopeless? #
• Being misunderstood online is really annoying. Attempts to clarify the misunderstanding tend to fail.
  Conclusion: fora = huge waste of time #
• Many of us expatriates are acutely aware of our image in the host country. But we rarely seem to propose acting on (cont) http://tl.gd/1aur4 #
• 西洋ではよく、日本人が排他的な民族だという。しかし仮にそうだとしても、その排他性が無ければ、世界中の「先住民族」と同様に疾っくに侵略・奴隷化・虐殺される破目になっていただろう。適切な警戒心があったからこそ、日本の言葉・文化・民族が無事生き残れたのではないか。 #
• Proper nouns are important to learn, too. Ever met a person from Japan who can kind of read English, but can’t sound out “Caroline”? Yeah… #
• Every moment you spend making excuses is a moment you could spend solving the problem. #
• I’ve said this before, but never loud enough: TRAVEL PHRASEBOOKS ARE A GREAT SOURCE OF SENTENCES for SRSing. #
• Maybe your parents didn’t give you every freaking opportunity in the world as a kid. But what have YOU done to parent yourself? #
• Are you being a good parent to yourself? Or do you keep abusing yourself with assurances that you are a hopeless loser? #
• “Many a man has taken the first step. With every additional step you enhance immensely the value of your first.”
  Emerson #
• You already own a time machine. It’s called “this moment”. Get inside it, and you can alter the future. #
• Today’s “valid” excuse to limit yourself is tomorrow’s reason to bar you from social advancement. #
• Do you want to live a life where everything “should” have been done in your childhood but is now conveniently “too late” to start? #
• Animaniacs in Japanese! Thanks Ed!
  http://bit.ly/5Z0BYJ #
• Do you want to live a life that is the negative sum of the extracurricular lessons your parents failed to provide you as a child? #
• Today, you’re telling yourself you can’t learn Japanese. Tomorrow, Japanese people are refusing you work because you “can’t” learn Japanese. #
• 『中には、「暗記は思考ではない」と考える人も居るでしょうが、・・・・学習は先ず暗記から始まるのですから、其処で集中出来ない様では創造性など育たない』http://bit.ly/6dvg89 #
• Don’t lower your expectations per se. Shrink them. And then repeat a chain of these shrunken expectations. #
• Reading is certainly a worthwhile pastime, but most books simply aren’t worth reading. Your job is to find the ones that are. #
• ユーチューブの言い争い面白いね（笑）。押し並べて低俗だが、偶には巧みな言い回しを披露する奴も居る。まあ殆ど無いけど・・・ってか一層の事コメント機能自体を制限するか、無効にした方がいいかも。ちゃんと制限してないから馬鹿が蔓延るんだよ。
  或る意味で制限があってこそ初めて自由がある。 #
• I might be wrong about everything. Keep that in mind whenever you read my stuff. #
• ザ＝シンプソンズって、面白かったり皮肉を込めたりするとは言え、最終的にゃ滅っ茶苦茶アメリカの「中流の平凡さ」の肯定論だね。「何も変えなくていいぞ」、「そういう他人どころか自分の生活向上にまで無関心な貴方は、いいよ」って。一代にして億万長者になった人達が言うべき事じゃないだろう。 #
• At one time, it was illegal to teach foreigners Japanese. Why? Because (1) They had bad intentions, and (2) They had the ability to learn it #
• Don’t try to get it all done. Don’t even try to do the most important thing. Just do one, tiny thing that moves things forward. #
• I think I’m far too pessimistic on the multiple simultaneous language thing. Having said that, I do think a staggered start is best. #
• 「傳說中有一個傳說中嘅戰士。佢嘅功夫勁到好似傳說中嘅傳說一樣！佢到處流浪去搵武藝高強嘅對手・・・」http://bit.ly/7gnVYb #
• Perhaps there is such a thing as on optimal load of simultaneous languages. Too many and you’re overwhelmed. Too few and you’re bored. #
• It doesn’t matter if it’s a “good book” or a “classic”. If the pages aren’t moving, it’s time to move it out and move on. #
• The longer the road, the nicer you need to be with yourself. You can’t make it there without you. #
• For success with AJATT, I think the most appropriate attitude is one of experimenter. You’re not just dutifully ex (cont) http://tl.gd/1bd7k #
• Screw around. You don’t have to absolutely know what you’re doing…that’s why you screw around — to find out. #
• Language knowledge is like a fire. It needs heat (interest), fuel (media) and oxygen (fun). #
• Tools are great. But remember — you’re the most important tool of all. You tool. #
• If your parents had forced you to learn Japanese as a child, you’d have hated them and skipped out on it anyway. So, no more “if onlys”. #
• I wish more of the cool stuff that goes on in the world would get recorded . #
• Updated the AJATT FAQ. Just FYI. It’s a bit less OTT than before. I hope this isn’t TMI…
  http://bit.ly/8xZKFr #
• RT @sevarg We should take it a step further and SRS personal development book excerpts in our target language. 一石二鳥, baby… // Heck yeah #
• Ever notice how long lifelong-active academics (e.g. Erdos, Chomsky, Chalmers Johnson) seem to live, despite not being very fit? #
• When I say “do whatever you want”, what I really mean is “try whatever you want”. Run experiments. You may discover something. #
• Japanese governments of centuries past would not have made it illegal to teach foreigners Japanese if they weren’t capable of learning it. #
• I think the most frustrating thing about learning a language is how big you can think and how small you can actually act. #
• “working for a large company is like being waterboarded.”
  http://bit.ly/58jKMt #
• Do you know how to read symbols (<*?.,) in Japanese? Learn how!
  記号の読み方辞典（音訳の部屋） http://bit.ly/5JhtD0 #
• I love Twitter. Short. Concise. It really brings out the heartless jerk in me #
• YouTube – 小鹿斑比 Bambi – Little April Shower (Cantonese) http://bit.ly/8iUYpw #
• I swear like half my tweets are like: “SHUT THE HECK UP AND GET BACK TO WORK”…I’ve got to…soften that tone… #
• YouTube – The Lion King – Hakuna Matata (Cantonese) http://bit.ly/4XvcrM
  Momoko says: Good dub. Great voices, rhythm, rhyme. #
• You really shoudn’t read my tweets, you know. No good can come of it. Go ahead. Unfollow. #
• The most important thing is not necessarily the suckiest thing. #
• I think searching for highest-priority action steps can often be a huge waste of time. Just do something. #
• Seriously though, if you have to eat a frog every day, maybe you need to start finding ways to not have to eat frogs. #
• Persist. At times it can seem like you’re facing serious opposition, but really people are just trying to see if you’ll flinch. #
• YouTube – DJ KRUSH – Journey of Time (時の旅路) http://bit.ly/8yQ6Hv #
• Social resistance is like a test to make sure you’ve got the ovaries to go all the way. Brush it off. I don’t even *have* ovaries. #
• When you don’t give up, people give up trying to get you to give up. #
• Personal development is goofy and uncool. But then, so is having problems that reading a couple of $10 books might help solve. #
• I could be wrong about EVERYTHING. Remember that. #
• RT @unmodify “Language and life aren’t separate” #
• “The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.”http://bit.ly/5BsYbF #
• I am not special. But I do make a habit of *thinking* of myself as special. The results can be similar. #placebo #
• For success with AJATT, the most appropriate attitude is one of experimenter. You’re not just executing the “right” answer, you’re exploring #
• Be half-a**ed. Get it only half done. Do only a little. Be imperfect. Be incomplete. Just be sure to repeat. #
• You’re the most important tool of all. How do you feel? What do you want? What’s your operating temperature? #
• A lot of my learning has been unlearning. I’ve basically gone in one big circle, restoring myself to me circa 1988, age 5. #
• I think the most frustrating thing about learning a language is how big you can think and how small you can actually act. #
• The way to think of my advice is not as a set of laws to be followed but rules for a game. You can make new rules if you want. #
• Actively learn the simplest, most basic things, but passively expose yourself to the language in its full native glory. #Vocab #
• The key learning a language is to shorten the empty intervals of time where you’re not being exposed to it. Shrink the gaps. #
• There’s really no such thing as doing great things. Only doing an interrelated series of small things. #
• Your destination can seem so distant as to be meaningless. Keep going anyway. #
• Immersion: When, for whatever reason, you have to use English, don’t let it get comfortable. Interrupt it with Japanese “suppression fire”. #
• “Suppression fire”…Someone’s been watching far too many action movies this winter ~ #
• D-star recommends and desribes this article as “AJATTian”
  The Science Behind Failed Resolutions – WSJ.com http://bit.ly/7sxQpa #

Hey. It’s chilly outside. It’s toasty inside. I’ve got this…Honeywell space heater action going here. Movies get watched, okay?

Today’s transcript is from Gladiator. One of my favorite movies. I didn’t get round to seeing it until about 2005. Being a man of extensive huevos, I personally did not cry at the end, but, my…friend did. Anywhere, here’s the English and Japanese. Also, the Japanese audio of the speech.

Commodus: How dare you show your back to me! Slave, you will remove your helmet and tell me your name.

Maximus: [removes helmet and turns around to face Commodus] My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.

コンモドゥス：「余に背を向けるのか？無礼者！兜を脱ぎ、名を名乗るのだ！」

マキシマス：「名はマキシマス＝デシマス＝メリディアス、
北軍の司令官、フェリキス軍団の将軍、
真の皇帝、マルクス＝アウレリウスの家臣。
殺された幼子の父、殺された妻の夫。
今生でなくば来世で（その）復讐を果たす。」

I like how the Japanese pronunciation (vowels, especially) is much closer to what we presume (?) Latin sounded like…well, the “Marcus Aurelius” part at least; Maximus’ name seems like it was modeling the English. Anyway, enjoy!

I got this really cool comment in response to this article where I urged people to calm down and focus on one language at a time:

Said Jimbo:

Surely, if a child can be raised natively in three languages, it would be just as possible and in fact easier as an adult to do the same thing? Surely one could simultaneously learn, say, Japanese, Chinese and…I dunno, French? Why just one at a time?

You know what? I have a feeling it could be done.

1. I just don’t know how, but
2. I do know that this frantic, type-A, “I HAVE TO DO THIS AND YOU’D BETTER TELL ME HOW OR ELSE THE WORLD IS GOING TO END” sort of breathless email that I occasionally get is going to cause more ulcers and heart attacks than language learning. There is such a thing perhaps as eustress and a healthy tension — I myself used to pretend that my life would depend on my ability to impersonate a Japanese person — but this isn’t that; this is panicking. This is headless chicken mode.
3. I am not always impressed by the multi-lingual people I meet, to tell you the truth (there are definitely exceptions, of course). They often have annoying gaps in their knowledge. They function in the languages, but, for example, they can’t handle a lot of nuances, subtle humor or cultural allusions. That bugs me. Now I have to talk to them in a truncated, flavorless, sanitized version of the language. It’s like drinking flat Sprite. Having said that, any level of language skill is still useful, and you can’t (indeed, don’t need to) be good at everything, it’s just not always that much fun to interact with.

What really ticks me off is how these “I HAVE TO KNOW ALL THESE LANGUAGES AT AN ACADEMIC LEVEL — STAT!” kids write as if it were my responsibility to sort out their lives, and I’d BETTER GET ON IT RIGHT NOW, MISTER! Maybe that’s just me being oversensitive. But they’re so pushy, it’s like “OK, stwop it! Stwop it! Mmm kay?”

With patience — not procrastination, but patience — humilty, and a relaxed, stable frame of mind, I think it could be done. I feel like it would require a deep love for the languages and a tortoise-like attitude — habitual plodding rather than binge-and-purge franticness (“bulimic learning”).

It would require letting go of any attachment to speedy results, and latching onto just doing little things, all day every day. And not caring that people thought you were crazy and going nowhere — which is already the case with self-directed learners of just one language.

In that sense, it’s not unlike learning one language, just triple the patience, triple the humility, triple the thick-skinnedness, and triple the materials costs.

The hare-like, business-oriented, NOW NOW NOW people are not demonstrating the mental stamina to disconnect from the idyllic end and focus on their daily habits. With their current attitude, they are going to crash and burn mentally from the lack of instant ultimate gratification long before even the lack of short- and mid-term monetary and social return starts to hit them. And then, to top it off, they’re going to go looking for someone or something other than themselves to blame, as if they were tricked into it(!)

Which brings me to a pertinent topic — economics. Economically, all this language study could potentially detract from time and monetary resources needed to invest in other activities and/or skills. Depending on one’s location, there could be considerable cost issues involved with acquiring the native materials necessary to simulate “growing up”. Again, these issues are multiplied by as many languages as there are in question.

Learning a language is going to cost a lot of time and some amount of money before it pays back anything other than enjoyment; for a long time, it has to be an end unto itself and not a means to anything but a good time. All these costs are typically hidden from us growing up in our native language(s), because they are incorporated into daily life — a kid growing up in Japan doesn’t buy a “Japanese” comic book, she just buys a comic book; she doesn’t hang out with “Japanese” people, she just hangs out with people; she doesn’t watch “Japanese” TV, she just watches TV — but these same costs become very clearly visible when we’re now recreating a childhood remotely and from scratch.

But it could be done. I’m quite sure of it. It is totally doable. It’s not really a matter of the raw capability of the human hardware, more one of PPL: patience, priorities and logistics: the patience to continue priority-investing in the exposure and infrastructure necessary to acquire a language, all for no immediately visible return, over an indeterminate timescale, against any and all significantly deleterious objections and interruptions from other people, because it’s going to take as long as it’s freaking going to take, and if you stop, you lose.

And once you’ve built your beautiful linguistic house, you don’t just let out a satisfied sigh, wipe your hands and walk away; you keep maintaining it lest the termites of memory decay* should eat into your wonderful imported Brazilian hardwood frame and bring the whole thing crashing down.

One doesn’t so much learn a language as one does become a person who habitually comes into contact with it. Can you establish and maintain robust, high-bandwith, long-lasting, simultaneous input streams across all the languages you want to learn? If so, then go for it!

I may be completely wrong in my caution; I may just be “projecting”; I would be happy — overjoyed — to be shown to have been too conservative. Either way — if you want to do something, don’t waste another moment of your time talking to people like me: the way to prove it…is to do it. In cases like this, you don’t win by being right, you’re right because you win.

_{*Since we’re belly-aching today, I might as well belly-ache you this: It really tugs on my tampon strings (what-the?!) when someone’s like “oh yeah, I know language X, I’m just a bit rusty”, and then proceeds to speak in such an incomprehensible accent and make so many fundamental grammatical errors, that you just want to move to the Netherlands and have yourself euthanized.}

_{I myself have lived in a few too many countries now, such that I have a unique tapestry (trainwreck) of an accent in English, but, I mean…I’m pretty tolerant of variation, so I think that my grievances actually carry even more weight than those of, say, an American who doesn’t own a passport and tells tourists from the UK that they: “need to learn English properly” (actually happened to a friend of a friend ).}

_Anyway!

• Be a mang. Play hard. But play fair.
  Grow some ovaries. If you have a problem, say it to Japanese people’s face. Politely. In Japanese. #
• “It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.”
  Confucius (?)
  http://bit.ly/5WeS9K
  I used to love collecting these #
• Learn your Japanese animal sounds in a rap song!
  YouTube – ＫＲＥＶＡ – あかさたなはまやらわをん http://bit.ly/8PRw6j #
• For best long-term results, you may want to SRS this type of thing.
  http://bit.ly/5WeS9K #
• Why to use a monlingual dictionary: “…glory consists not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
  http://bit.ly/5WeS9K #
• “People of mediocre ability sometimes achieve outstanding success because they don’t know when to quit.”
  http://bit.ly/6iAvsP #
• From last link:
  “He who would do some great thing…must apply himself…with such a concentration of his forces as…looks like insanity.” #
• “drops of rain make a hole in the stone, not by violence, but by oft falling.”
  Translated: Immerse always. SRS often.
  http://bit.ly/5WeS9K #
• “The man [or woo man ] who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” #
• From last link
  “Those who would attain to any marked degree of excellence in a chosen pursuit must…[play] hard for it, prince or peasant. #
• “with ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable.”
  http://bit.ly/5WeS9K #
• “Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another.”
  http://bit.ly/6iAvsP #
• This is my SONG, dawg.
  YouTube – Yuzu – Natsuiro (PV) http://bit.ly/7Tneuq
  Do people even say “dawg” any more? #
• “Success seems to be connected with action. Successful men keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.”
  http://bit.ly/6iAvsP #
• “It is a shameful thing for the soul to faint while the body still perseveres.”
  In AJATTese: don’t fall for the age excuse. #
• The key to success, folks, is substance abuse. Find an “addictive substance” in your language of choice. And it will almost learn itself #
• I remember this show…it was cool.
  RT @Jamaipanese Stand UP!! – Japanese Drama review – http://bit.ly/5WqbU0 #
• Khatzumoto Confession: I do most of my SRS reps lying down. And you thought I was just being metaphorical about laziness. #
• Don’t just go running to your gaijin buddies for beer and whining. If you have a problem, say it to Japanese people’s face. Politely. 日本語で. #
• 落語baby! All you Tiger & Dragon fans, check out the real deal!
  RT @danielpwright
  「三枚起請」
  http://bit.ly/5Roo67
  「饅頭こわい」
  http://bit.ly/53QKkM #
• For gaijin, comfort in Japan = (Japaneseness) x (Gaijinness). Like your hands, you’re best off when able to use both of them. #
• Some people will refuse to speak their language to you until your ownage is overwhelming. 冇問題. It’s not like they’re your parents. #
• Gaijinness is a great asset in Japan, but it only reaches its full potential when combined with the ability to assimilate as/when needed. #
• The less time you have, the better work you will do. Make Japanese seem fast-paced using timeboxing and Massive Turnover. #
• Being foreign is perhaps the best way to make friends in Japan. But being “Japanese” is perhaps the best way to keep them. #
• Timeboxing is to work as nearby power lines are to a moving car. It makes it look like you’re going faster, and that itself motivates speed. #
• Efficiency increases as allotted time decreases. Increase your Japanese progress by always pinching your time. #
• Bored? Either replenish or keep switching through your Japanese media collection. Turnover. Turnover. Turnover. Something cool will come up. #
• Many people contact me, wanting me to soothe their uncertainty with busywork. You can only force things so much — just chill and have fun. #
• “In truth, there are no masters, only students who are at one point or other on the journey”.
  http://bit.ly/5HVhfg #
• Boredom is merely a sign of ignorance, albeit (hopefully) of a form temporary in nature. #
• SRS: Busywork and boredom get in my way the most. Remove the cards/processes that cause these. #
• Random HK blog
  traccc on Xanga http://bit.ly/8hNwyk #
• Hunch: we do our best reading when we’re not trying to read at all. Treat books as something to be processed, rather than read. #
• A quick tip to get you to read more: Treat your house like a bookstore — *read standing up* until you tire out from it. #
• (Written) explanations of how to make a sound tend be inCREDibly useless. I’m sure there are exceptions but…dang. #
• For gaijin, comfort 中n Japan = (Japaneseness) x (Gaijinness). Like your hands, you’re best off when able to 使se 両oth 之f them. #
• I know you’re scared that “just” playing won’t get you anywhere. Go experience pain and boredom for a while, and see how that goes. #
• Use this to make sure you actually visit all those Japanese websites people send you links to http://bit.ly/78ojmB #
• Most arguments aren’t about what they’re about. They’re about face. That’s why it’s useless to get into them at all. #
• Maybe “weabo” is just a term that internationally maladjusted people use to make themselves feel better. ~ #
• Social power’s always connected to language. Long-term, not knowing Japanese in Japan is voluntary self-exclusion from power. #
• I loved this skit back in the day. The middle part is funny even with no Japanese knowledge. YT: ドランクドラゴン 変な新幹線http://bit.ly/5sRTHd #
• Boredom is merely a sign of ignorance — ignorance of what cool stuff there is to do “out there”. #
• Boredom is ignorance. Expose yourself to more, and you will find the fun. (To me, “out there” often = unexplored corners of bookshelf ). #
• Immersion = live your life. Just in a different font #
• Respect books less, and you will read them more. See more pages, and you will read more. Touch more units, and you will read more. #
• Timebox yourself. Time is to productivity as a squeezing hand is to a tube of toothpaste — you need that pinch, to get it out. #
• Tip for AJATT success: don’t try to give a care about things you don’t give a care about. #
• 何と言ってもやっぱり独立記念日こと「インディペンデンスデイ」は凄かったわ。ウィルス・ミスかっこいい！（＾＾）http://bit.ly/8FKVQg #
• 「嗚呼、おい、緑の変なモン撃って来るな！」
  “Oh no you did NOT shoot that green **** at me!”
  http://bit.ly/6Hh2Ed #
• 「嗚呼、おい、緑の変なモン撃って来るな！」”Oh no you did NOT shoot that green **** at me!”http://bit.ly/6Hh2Ed #
• 「ユダヤじゃない！」
  「誰にも欠点はある！」
  “I’m not Jewish.”
  “Nobody’s perfect.”
  http://bit.ly/6Hh2Ed #
• People who never actually do anything, always seem to have very clear ideas as to what “should” be/have been done. (Finally got it right ) #
• Not-reading — weeding out, triage — is the true work of the reader. #
• Information is no respecter of persons.
  And a language is nothing but information. #
• Basics. Basics. Basics. Do the easy things. Do the simple things. It’s not “too easy”. It’s not “childish”. It matters. Du za shimpuru 日本語. #
• Don’t branch out for the sake of branching out. If you’re enraptured in Japanese “Stargate” right now, then let the passion run its course. #
• RT @tummai I agree on the value of easy stuff. I’ve had great success with children’s shows and books: http://tinyurl.com/yzsqmw3 #
• インディペンデンスデイを見たセイで、「plausible deniability」がちゃんと和訳したくなっちゃった。今のとこ候補として：『有理否認性／許容可能否認性／合理的否認性／条理的否認性／有り有り否認性』がある。ご意見・ご訳案お持ちの方、お申し付け下さい！ #
• [前呟参照]因みに・・・「合理的否認性」の使用例は一件あり！
  http://bit.ly/7k53OU #
• Monodics and circumlocution FTW! Don’t know how to say “purr”? Be like: “that ‘rrrrrr’ sound that cats make when they’re happy”. #
• Get over the tall tales, the excuses, the whining.
  You can learn to read Chinese just fine.
  It’s just a human language. #
• ﾂｲｯﾀｰ流行用語「なう」の解説 : モニ太のデジタル辞典 : コラム : ネット＆デジタル : YOMIURI ONLINE（読売新聞） http://bit.ly/6ENSpY #
• Repeat the basics. Repeat the basics. Repeat the basics. Learn all kinds of combinations of the same basic words. And repeat them. #
• あのさー、思うんだけどさ、日本の若者って、「ちわっす」とか挨拶して軽く連発会釈をする時って、「ファミリガイ」のQuagmireに似てない？ｷﾞｷﾞﾃﾞｨｷﾞｷﾞﾃﾞｨｵｰﾗｲ #
• This is the real shizzle. A book about formal speaking, by Japanese people for Japanese people. Tons of set phrases.http://bit.ly/6JHEQ2 #
• If you don’t actively get rid of the books you dislike, you won’t just dislike those books, you will start to dislike all books. #
• If you don’t actively get rid of boring stuff in Japanese, the boredom spreads like a cancer until you just hate ALL of Japanese. #
• Gosh, I hope Twitter’s been down so no one had to see that last corny tweet #
• Dangerously silly idea: I can only take a small action, so I might as well do nothing. You used to be a cell. Don’t knock small. #
• RT @TheoOliveira free pdf manga about ubuntu in japanese.
  http://bit.ly/8AOIU7 #
• The worst way to repair a backlog is to work yourself even harder to make up for it. That’s what got you in trouble to begin with. #
• The way to take care of a backlog is to work small: to teach yourself that incremental, slow and steady does win. #
• “Delete bad SRS cards or they will delete you”
  (Paraphrased from Zeeree…paraphrased from me(?) lol)…
  http://www.thezeeree.com/ #
• Sometimes I do like silence. But I maintain some “visual immersion” by having a video playing on mute. #
• “there is no support for age as a barrier to mental development…including foreign language learning”
  http://bit.ly/5UXUNj #
• Learning a language is more logistics than linguistics: you need to establish and maintain a supply line of native materials. #
• It’s not the language. It’s not you. It’s your habitual behavior. #
• In the time you spend beating yourself up and calling yourself an idiot, you could just fix the problem. #
• People, I don’t think you quite understand. They are the Gummie Bears, and that’s all there is to it! (Video @ bottom) http://bit.ly/5Upfnh #
• These people, these, mammals…they don’t mince words. They are the Gummie bears. That’s how they roll. http://bit.ly/5Upfnh #
• Approach learning a language like a game or an experiment. By definition, there’s no wrong way to have fun or try stuff out. #
• You don’t really realize just how repetitive your thinking is until you look back on your own writing (ID4/AFGM/CT). http://bit.ly/8dk9LS #
• The zeroth law of language-learning: Zero in, zero out. If you stop, you lose. If you walk, you win. #
• You can’t sprint long distances. Don’t be a hero. Walk. The point is to get there. As long as you’re moving, you’re winning. #
• This isn’t one of those things one admits in public, but…「にゃんこい！」 is like my favorite anime right now. Dang. #
• I don’t think liking 「にゃんこい！」 makes me a punk: the main cat is voiced by TANAKA Atsuko = Motoko from GITS. That’s pedigree, man. #

The mid-1990s movie speech nostalgia party continues.

Today the objet of our adulation is that space-themed romantic comedy romp, Crimson Tide, starring Denzel Washington and Aragorn.

Gene Hackman’s Captain Ramsey gives that speech early on in the film before they board the U-boat. It’s one of my favorites, so I went ahead and transcribed it. Don’t ever say I never did nothing for the peoples!

Anyway, enjoy, and here’s the text of the original speech. Also, here’s a link to the Japanese audio for the little speech.

『全員整列致しました！

家鴨共よ！
露西亜でトラブルだ！
それで呼ばれた。
だから我々は行く（ﾕｸ）！
但し、最も凶悪な殺しのマシーンに乗って、だ。

その気に成れば、
戦争の歴史を塗り替える程の、強力な兵器を発射出来るのだ。
目的は唯一つ！祖国を護る為だ！
我々は国防の最前線に就き、
同時に最後の防衛線と成る。

諸君に望む事は、
最善の努力だ。
それが出来ない者は、空軍に入って貰いたい！
最高司令官は大統領であるが、
これは私の艦(ﾌﾈ)だ。
それに乗る以上は、私に従って貰いたい。
それが出来ない者は、ケツの辺りに刺激的な感覚を覚えるであろう。
私の蹴りが入るからだ！

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

ミスター＝コッブ！

はい、艦長！

この艦(ﾌﾈ)の名前を知っておるか？

よく知って居ります！

それは誇り高い名前であるか？

誇り高い名前であります！

乗組員は優秀であるか？

極めて優秀であります！

偉大なる国に住む者か？

偉大なる国の者であります！

其処は世界に冠たる国であるか？

世界に冠たる国であります！

この艦(ﾌﾈ)の名は何だ？

「アラバマ」であります！

気合を入れろ！
行け(ｺﾞｰ)　「バマ」！

行け(ｺﾞｰ)　「バマ」！

艇長！　乗組員解散！

乗組員　解散！了解しました！
乗組員！これより解散して、銘々の部署に就く！
解散！』

As much as it pains me to admit fallibility, there are two words there’s a bit at the very end that I just couldn’t make out clearly. I think #1 is 「以上」 and #2 is…#2 I just have no freaking idea: it sounds like 「命令」, but that doesn’t seem like it would make much sense.

Anyone with a clearer idea…feel free to share .

[Big thanks to KREVA for totally wiping up my mess! I mean covering me!  I mean...yes!]. By way of more late-breaking news — it turns out there at least two other people online who’ve already transcribed this, so check them out here, and here.

I think maybe I’ll do the “you can’t handle the truth” exchange from A Few Good Men next…if I feel like it . Not feeling like it yet…

I was feeling nostalgic last night, so I swiss-cheesed Independence Day like three times — in fact, I’m watching it as I write this.

Anyhoo, that famous President’s speech is so cool, and the subs in the Japanese version are so unlike the dub (most likely made at different times, on different timelines, with different intentions, by different people), that I thought it fit to, since I can, transcribe the Japanese speech for you and put it up here.

Needless to say, all this is copyright 20th Century Fox or whoever, i.e. not me, so…if they want it down, it goes down . Just for kicks, here is a sound clip as well. If anyone whines about the quality, I josh you not, choking will occur .

This film’s got great pacing. I’d always thought it was 90 minutes long. It’s actually two and a half hours.

早う。
お早う！

一時間後には、
諸君は飛び立ち、
世界中の仲間と合流する。

そして人類始まって以來最大の空中戦に臨む事に成る。
然う、「人類」。
この言葉に今日、新しい意味を持たせよう。

これからは、些細な違い等にコダワって居ては行けない。
我々は共通の目的で団結する。

この日が、七月四日だというのも不思議な巡り合わせだ。
我々はもう一度独立の為に戦う。

敵が求める物は、弾圧や迫害ではない。
人類の滅亡だ。
生き殘る権利を賭けて戦おう。

必ず、勝利の旗を掲げ、
七月四日という日を、
単なるアメリカの独立記念日ではなくするのだ！

世界が声を揃えて宣言した日だ！

「我々は決して音無しく死の闇に消えたりはしない！

我々は決して戦わずして死にはしない！

皆で生きるのだ！

生き殘るのだ！

今日　我々の　独立記念日を祝おう！」

Ｕ・Ｓ・Ａ！
Ｕ・Ｓ・Ａ！
Ｕ・Ｓ・Ａ！

Enjoy. Go here for the original English text of the speech. And if you haven’t got your Japanese DVD yet, either visit your rental store or the AJATT Amazon store, or, or something!

_{※音無しい（おとなしい）is a non-standard — but not non-existent — kanji representation of 温和しい/大人しい. I like it because it reflects precisely what the President was saying in the original English: “We will not go quietly[=soundlessly] into the night!”, as you can see from the characters.}