Comments on: How To Really Make the Transition to Monolingual Dictionaries http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/how-to-really-make-the-transition-to-monolingual-dictionaries You don't learn a language, you get used to it. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:37:39 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: SilverSpoon BigBoi: You Just Need A Framework That Works. You Just Need Some Direction. | AJATT | All Japanese All The Time http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/how-to-really-make-the-transition-to-monolingual-dictionaries#comment-141084 SilverSpoon BigBoi: You Just Need A Framework That Works. You Just Need Some Direction. | AJATT | All Japanese All The Time Wed, 05 Oct 2011 05:55:13 +0000 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/?p=284#comment-141084 [...] (in)famous never-ending monolingual transition — the one where people never quite get themselves to really turn Japanese and start using [...] [...] (in)famous never-ending monolingual transition — the one where people never quite get themselves to really turn Japanese and start using [...]

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]]> By: Special Announcement: SilverSpoon BigBoi — The SilverSpoon for Post-RTKers | AJATT | All Japanese All The Time http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/how-to-really-make-the-transition-to-monolingual-dictionaries#comment-128294 Special Announcement: SilverSpoon BigBoi — The SilverSpoon for Post-RTKers | AJATT | All Japanese All The Time Wed, 24 Aug 2011 06:42:36 +0000 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/?p=284#comment-128294 [...] (in)famous never-ending monolingual transition — the one where people never quite get themselves to really turn Japanese and start using [...] [...] (in)famous never-ending monolingual transition — the one where people never quite get themselves to really turn Japanese and start using [...]

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]]> By: 魔法少女☆かなたん http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/how-to-really-make-the-transition-to-monolingual-dictionaries#comment-124710 魔法少女☆かなたん Tue, 16 Aug 2011 12:14:31 +0000 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/?p=284#comment-124710 When I see 立ち入り, I expect 禁止 to come after, and think that maybe I shouldn't be going into somewhere. When I see 立ち入り, I expect 禁止 to come after, and think that maybe I shouldn’t be going into somewhere.

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]]> By: ライトニング http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/how-to-really-make-the-transition-to-monolingual-dictionaries#comment-124659 ライトニング Tue, 16 Aug 2011 07:44:58 +0000 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/?p=284#comment-124659 I have already gone Monolingual, And I'd like to share some experiences. Yes, At it may have been to some of you, it was intimidating to me at first. I first tried around 500 sentences. Bad idea, I must have over estimated my ability, look ups took too long. Not that I was too lazy, but I think 8 look ups is just a tad bit high. Then around 1200, I fully made the switch, and have not used english since. What I did/do is i get a lot of sentences. So If i need to make too many lookups (4+) I just skip it, I'm not ready yet. Luckily, since I get so many, I can skip a decent amount and still finish with a nice amount of sentences. It's great for thinking in Japanese. When I see 立ち入り, I don't think whatever it means in english, I think of ある場所に入ること. Great for starting to think in Japanese!! I have already gone Monolingual, And I’d like to share some experiences.
Yes, At it may have been to some of you, it was intimidating to me at first.
I first tried around 500 sentences. Bad idea, I must have over estimated my ability, look ups took too long. Not that I was too lazy, but I think 8 look ups is just a tad bit high.
Then around 1200, I fully made the switch, and have not used english since.
What I did/do is i get a lot of sentences. So If i need to make too many lookups (4+) I just skip it, I’m not ready yet. Luckily, since I get so many, I can skip a decent amount and still finish with a nice amount of sentences.
It’s great for thinking in Japanese. When I see 立ち入り, I don’t think whatever it means in english, I think of ある場所に入ること. Great for starting to think in Japanese!!

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]]> By: Zach http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/how-to-really-make-the-transition-to-monolingual-dictionaries#comment-93473 Zach Tue, 19 Apr 2011 07:23:30 +0000 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/?p=284#comment-93473 @Rum: Monolingual dictionary will not contain furigana, no. There are a couple ways: 1) Learn the SKIP method for indexing kanji so you can look them up in a kanji dictionary 2) Install the Microsoft IME in windows and use the handwriting tool to "draw" the kanji with your mouse, then paste it into an online dictionary (e.g. http://www.gokanji.com/cgi-bin/j-e/jis/S=64/FG=r/dict?sDict=on&COMMON=1&&LI=1) @Rum: Monolingual dictionary will not contain furigana, no. There are a couple ways:

1) Learn the SKIP method for indexing kanji so you can look them up in a kanji dictionary
2) Install the Microsoft IME in windows and use the handwriting tool to “draw” the kanji with your mouse, then paste it into an online dictionary (e.g. www.gokanji.com/cgi-bin/j-e/jis/S=64/FG=r/dict?sDict=on&COMMON=1&&LI=1)

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]]> By: Rum http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/how-to-really-make-the-transition-to-monolingual-dictionaries#comment-81322 Rum Thu, 24 Feb 2011 21:35:29 +0000 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/?p=284#comment-81322 But how do you figure out the correct reading of a kanji? Dictionaries don't use furigana in the definitions do they?.. But how do you figure out the correct reading of a kanji? Dictionaries don’t use furigana in the definitions do they?..

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]]> By: Spot53 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/how-to-really-make-the-transition-to-monolingual-dictionaries#comment-61408 Spot53 Wed, 24 Nov 2010 03:02:51 +0000 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/?p=284#comment-61408 So after spending tons and tons of hard-earned お金 on Japanese movies, music, books, etc...I found that I still sucked. Having Japanese stuff didn't instill within me a sense of permanent motivation OR even a decent level of Japanese. I had almost given up, thinking that all of the racist bull-honky about Asian languages was true. In all of that time I had not listened to Japanese without subtitles, or even watched the news. Why didn't I? I thought subtitles would help a guy out. Nope. Don't believe the prevailing opinion of anime nerds everywhere. English subtitles make you better at English, not Japanese. All of my オタく friends say "kawaii" and "neh", but speak no Japanese... I found this website after trying every hair-brained thing that people suggested to me (because, ya know, thinking for yourself really sucks). Yeah, I found it but I still worked too hard at Japanese. I punished myself into doing Heisig 1 in about a month while immersing. When I completed that last card...The train stopped, or exploded, or something...anyway I HATED Japanese at that point and could not bring myself to do any no matter how hard I tried. I gave up learning Japanese to pursue a career in songwriting (I'm not kidding) for about 6 months, forgetting almost all of my kanji and much of everything else...After that side-quest I came back and decided to do the Japanese thing sanely (Cause I missed my baby and I was sorry 'dat we fought)...and its been real smooth, easy, fun...until I had to go monolingual. I had the dictionaries and everything, but could not bring myself to learn without the taint of English on the back of my SRS cards. I don't know how many times I read the monolingual posts here and elsewhere in the interwebs, but I couldn't understand how to do it. It didn't work. I looked up words I knew-no good the definitions were gibberish (granted, gibberish that I recognized as writing O:) ). I tried to use the sentences from the QRG-no good. Even those were out of my league. I was getting all down on myself and considering quitting again or never going monolingual, when I had an interesting idea. I read through my dictionary, ignoring key words, until I got to a definition sentence that I aaallmost understood (one word missing). Here is that first card: Front: よく晴れた空のような色。(I took this from the definition of the word blue) Back: 青［あお］(the place where I got it-i knew this word so I figured it would help me out with the meaning of the sentence) 晴れ［はれ］。天気［てんき］がよいこと。(I google imaged this mother, but it didn't help so I looked it up in my monoDICT and googled words from THAT definition until I understood this one.) 空［そら］。天［てん］(I knew this word so I put a synonym in instead of a mile long sentence) 色［いろ］。赤。青。(I like this definition straight from the dictionary-This simple brevity is one reason that I love Japanese) This had me bouncing around the dictionary and I can honestly say its a thrill. I am having a blast knowing that I understand this card in Japanese. The advantage of starting with simple DEFINITIONS is that they come in sentence/phrase form and you don't have the problem of looking at a word like 青 on the front of the card and saying: "yeah, blue-faiyke! that's not the Japanese definition at all!" I made a rule for myself: If I can't comprehend the sentence upon researching it in Japanese only, it is not what Khatzumoto calls "A low hanging fruit." I am very excited! When I get excited I do crazy things like tossing away all of my old sentence decks...This time I will not. I will let those J-E cards continue until I'm bored with them. Now that I have a monolingual deck, though, my criterion for deletion in my J-E has just gotten much, much stricter. Moral of my story on this AJATT journey: As an individual I have to take responsibility for my learning. If I can see the goal as a mountain in the distance, it is nobody else's fault that I don't take the necessary steps toward the mountain. Maybe I walk with a limp, or don't own a car, so I can't get to the mountain the same way Khatzumoto did, but as a creative individual I will find my own way to that mountain even if I have to commit metaphorical grand theft auto to make it happen...Has this metaphor spun out? I think so. Be Creative. Be you. Succeed on your own terms. WHOO. So after spending tons and tons of hard-earned お金 on Japanese movies, music, books, etc…I found that I still sucked. Having Japanese stuff didn’t instill within me a sense of permanent motivation OR even a decent level of Japanese. I had almost given up, thinking that all of the racist bull-honky about Asian languages was true. In all of that time I had not listened to Japanese without subtitles, or even watched the news. Why didn’t I? I thought subtitles would help a guy out. Nope. Don’t believe the prevailing opinion of anime nerds everywhere. English subtitles make you better at English, not Japanese. All of my オタく friends say “kawaii” and “neh”, but speak no Japanese…

I found this website after trying every hair-brained thing that people suggested to me (because, ya know, thinking for yourself really sucks). Yeah, I found it but I still worked too hard at Japanese. I punished myself into doing Heisig 1 in about a month while immersing. When I completed that last card…The train stopped, or exploded, or something…anyway I HATED Japanese at that point and could not bring myself to do any no matter how hard I tried. I gave up learning Japanese to pursue a career in songwriting (I’m not kidding) for about 6 months, forgetting almost all of my kanji and much of everything else…After that side-quest I came back and decided to do the Japanese thing sanely (Cause I missed my baby and I was sorry ‘dat we fought)…and its been real smooth, easy, fun…until I had to go monolingual. I had the dictionaries and everything, but could not bring myself to learn without the taint of English on the back of my SRS cards.

I don’t know how many times I read the monolingual posts here and elsewhere in the interwebs, but I couldn’t understand how to do it. It didn’t work. I looked up words I knew-no good the definitions were gibberish (granted, gibberish that I recognized as writing O:) ). I tried to use the sentences from the QRG-no good. Even those were out of my league. I was getting all down on myself and considering quitting again or never going monolingual, when I had an interesting idea. I read through my dictionary, ignoring key words, until I got to a definition sentence that I aaallmost understood (one word missing).

Here is that first card:
Front:
よく晴れた空のような色。(I took this from the definition of the word blue)

Back:
青［あお］(the place where I got it-i knew this word so I figured it would help me out with the meaning of the sentence)

晴れ［はれ］。天気［てんき］がよいこと。(I google imaged this mother, but it didn’t help so I looked it up in my monoDICT and googled words from THAT definition until I understood this one.)

空［そら］。天［てん］(I knew this word so I put a synonym in instead of a mile long sentence)

色［いろ］。赤。青。(I like this definition straight from the dictionary-This simple brevity is one reason that I love Japanese)

This had me bouncing around the dictionary and I can honestly say its a thrill. I am having a blast knowing that I understand this card in Japanese. The advantage of starting with simple DEFINITIONS is that they come in sentence/phrase form and you don’t have the problem of looking at a word like 青 on the front of the card and saying: “yeah, blue-faiyke! that’s not the Japanese definition at all!” I made a rule for myself: If I can’t comprehend the sentence upon researching it in Japanese only, it is not what Khatzumoto calls “A low hanging fruit.”

I am very excited! When I get excited I do crazy things like tossing away all of my old sentence decks…This time I will not. I will let those J-E cards continue until I’m bored with them. Now that I have a monolingual deck, though, my criterion for deletion in my J-E has just gotten much, much stricter.

Moral of my story on this AJATT journey: As an individual I have to take responsibility for my learning. If I can see the goal as a mountain in the distance, it is nobody else’s fault that I don’t take the necessary steps toward the mountain. Maybe I walk with a limp, or don’t own a car, so I can’t get to the mountain the same way Khatzumoto did, but as a creative individual I will find my own way to that mountain even if I have to commit metaphorical grand theft auto to make it happen…Has this metaphor spun out? I think so.

Be Creative. Be you. Succeed on your own terms. WHOO.

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]]> By: All Japanese All The Time Dot Com: How to learn Japanese. On your own, having fun and to fluency. » When Will I Get Funny? http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/how-to-really-make-the-transition-to-monolingual-dictionaries#comment-25727 All Japanese All The Time Dot Com: How to learn Japanese. On your own, having fun and to fluency. » When Will I Get Funny? Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:36:38 +0000 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/?p=284#comment-25727 [...] You will get there. But to get there, you need to let go of both your starting point (English) and your goal (Spanish) and just focus on the road — doing Spanish things here and now. Let go of the wall of the rink, and forget about the other side. Just skate on the ice you’re on now. That means, it may well be high-time for you to go monolingual. [...] [...] You will get there. But to get there, you need to let go of both your starting point (English) and your goal (Spanish) and just focus on the road — doing Spanish things here and now. Let go of the wall of the rink, and forget about the other side. Just skate on the ice you’re on now. That means, it may well be high-time for you to go monolingual. [...]

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]]> By: Paula http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/how-to-really-make-the-transition-to-monolingual-dictionaries#comment-21468 Paula Fri, 26 Jun 2009 02:32:03 +0000 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/?p=284#comment-21468 Look what I found, thanks to that link to 三省度 Web Dictionary: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=298900721&mt=8 Sanseido for iPhone/iPod touch. $16 USD. I'll be using this <3 Now I don't have to rely on the one on my computer =/ Look what I found, thanks to that link to 三省度 Web Dictionary:
itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=298900721&mt=8

Sanseido for iPhone/iPod touch. $16 USD. I’ll be using this <3 Now I don’t have to rely on the one on my computer =/

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]]> By: Mallory http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/how-to-really-make-the-transition-to-monolingual-dictionaries#comment-10052 Mallory Thu, 21 Aug 2008 04:17:12 +0000 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/?p=284#comment-10052 YAY! I love it!! I understand the definition! ありがとうございます YAY! I love it!! I understand the definition! ありがとうございます

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]]> By: Thai Wikipedia Excerpt #1 « Learn Thai from a White Guy http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/how-to-really-make-the-transition-to-monolingual-dictionaries#comment-9994 Thai Wikipedia Excerpt #1 « Learn Thai from a White Guy Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:43:43 +0000 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/?p=284#comment-9994 [...] Wikipedia Excerpt #1 Khatzumoto of AJATT offered a really good suggestion recently - when you want to start using a monolingual dictionary in the language you are learning, [...] [...] Wikipedia Excerpt #1 Khatzumoto of AJATT offered a really good suggestion recently – when you want to start using a monolingual dictionary in the language you are learning, [...]

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]]> By: ジェームズ http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/how-to-really-make-the-transition-to-monolingual-dictionaries#comment-9724 ジェームズ Sat, 26 Jul 2008 00:00:38 +0000 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/?p=284#comment-9724 俺；　お前のママは氈鹿だよ 勝元；　ええ、殺すぞこの野郎 俺；　お前のママは氈鹿だよ
勝元；　ええ、殺すぞこの野郎

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]]> By: Rob http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/how-to-really-make-the-transition-to-monolingual-dictionaries#comment-9693 Rob Wed, 23 Jul 2008 02:02:40 +0000 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/?p=284#comment-9693 Does anyone know of a good freeware J-J dictionary to install on my computer so I don't always have to rely on online dictionaries? Thanks in advance. Does anyone know of a good freeware J-J dictionary to install on my computer so I don’t always have to rely on online dictionaries? Thanks in advance.

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]]> By: Brian http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/how-to-really-make-the-transition-to-monolingual-dictionaries#comment-9663 Brian Sat, 19 Jul 2008 09:31:52 +0000 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/?p=284#comment-9663 cool thing that you put this little article up because it was basically the first way I started experimenting with japanese-only dictionaries. I would just look up words I already know and after a while you realize that the dictionaries, like english ones, have the same grammatical syntax and same words used over and over again to describe things and so far, using a japanese-only dictionary isn't a problem at all. After a while, it just all builds up until you pretty much know like 80% of the words that the dictionary uses to describe new words....it's like a big long endless circle of getting smarter. cool thing that you put this little article up because it was basically the first way I started experimenting with japanese-only dictionaries. I would just look up words I already know and after a while you realize that the dictionaries, like english ones, have the same grammatical syntax and same words used over and over again to describe things and so far, using a japanese-only dictionary isn’t a problem at all. After a while, it just all builds up until you pretty much know like 80% of the words that the dictionary uses to describe new words….it’s like a big long endless circle of getting smarter.

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]]> By: nacest http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/how-to-really-make-the-transition-to-monolingual-dictionaries#comment-9662 nacest Sat, 19 Jul 2008 07:28:16 +0000 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/?p=284#comment-9662 I don't usually use the definitions because they can be a little boring, except one case: when they're descriptions of a specific object/thing. I've created a "Quiz" tag in anki, and when I find a word I want to learn and of which I don't have a good sentence, I put the definition in the Question Side, and the word in the Answer Side. For example: Q: 種から芽が出たばかりの植物：？ A: 苗（なえ） Q: 水が浅くて泥が深く、自然にできた池：？ A: 沼（ぬま） Q: き の かん や えだ の さき：？ A: 木の幹や枝の先：梢（こずえ） Of course one can do it both kanji>reading and the other way around. I don’t usually use the definitions because they can be a little boring, except one case: when they’re descriptions of a specific object/thing.
I’ve created a “Quiz” tag in anki, and when I find a word I want to learn and of which I don’t have a good sentence, I put the definition in the Question Side, and the word in the Answer Side. For example:

Q: 種から芽が出たばかりの植物：？
A: 苗（なえ）

Q: 水が浅くて泥が深く、自然にできた池：？
A: 沼（ぬま）

Q: き の かん や えだ の さき：？
A: 木の幹や枝の先：梢（こずえ）

Of course one can do it both kanji>reading and the other way around.

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]]> By: Rokii http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/how-to-really-make-the-transition-to-monolingual-dictionaries#comment-9658 Rokii Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:04:30 +0000 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/?p=284#comment-9658 This is a good idea, especially with simple nouns. Also this might be a no brainer for most but it took me a while to figure out: give definitions their own entries! A lot of vocab gets repeated in dictionary entries. Also they're a nice length, so this definition from the デジタル大辞泉 【使い分け】場合に応じて使い方・使う物などを区別すること。 yields two entries: 【使い分け】場合に応じて使い方 【使い分け】使う物などを区別すること A nice side effect is you learn the word in question really well. This is a good idea, especially with simple nouns. Also this might be a no brainer for most but it took me a while to figure out: give definitions their own entries! A lot of vocab gets repeated in dictionary entries. Also they’re a nice length, so this definition from the デジタル大辞泉

【使い分け】場合に応じて使い方・使う物などを区別すること。

yields two entries:

【使い分け】場合に応じて使い方
【使い分け】使う物などを区別すること

A nice side effect is you learn the word in question really well.

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]]> By: Stephen http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/how-to-really-make-the-transition-to-monolingual-dictionaries#comment-9656 Stephen Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:13:30 +0000 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/?p=284#comment-9656 Thanks. Not quite there yet, but I'll keep it in mind. :) Thanks. Not quite there yet, but I’ll keep it in mind. :)

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]]> By: Chiro-kun http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/how-to-really-make-the-transition-to-monolingual-dictionaries#comment-9647 Chiro-kun Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:52:58 +0000 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/?p=284#comment-9647 Ryanの言う通りだぜ！ どこだろう...「18ヶ月間の坊主の武者修行」のムービー版は... Ryanの言う通りだぜ！
どこだろう…「18ヶ月間の坊主の武者修行」のムービー版は…

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]]> By: Ryan http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/how-to-really-make-the-transition-to-monolingual-dictionaries#comment-9644 Ryan Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:17:30 +0000 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/?p=284#comment-9644 「勝元：ザムービー」は？ 「勝元：ザムービー」は？

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]]> By: godai http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/how-to-really-make-the-transition-to-monolingual-dictionaries#comment-9643 godai Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:20:03 +0000 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/?p=284#comment-9643 Hey Katz, This one was like your shortest post ever! Are you sick, or something like that? Thanks for the input, anyway. Hey Katz,

This one was like your shortest post ever!
Are you sick, or something like that?

Thanks for the input, anyway.

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