Comments on: Make Japanese the Center of Your Life: The Only Time You Have is the Time You Make http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/make-japanese-the-center-of-your-life-the-only-time-you-have-is-the-time-you-make 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: Catherine http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/make-japanese-the-center-of-your-life-the-only-time-you-have-is-the-time-you-make#comment-179188 Catherine Mon, 26 Dec 2011 06:01:11 +0000 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/make-japanese-the-center-of-your-life-the-only-time-you-have-is-the-time-you-make#comment-179188 I'm so confused so....if you don't how to read japanese, how can you immerse yourself in books or should you just memorize them first? Also, do you just repeat words and say them outloud to get them? I feel so slow..and lost..;w; I’m so confused so….if you don’t how to read japanese, how can you immerse yourself in books or should you just memorize them first? Also, do you just repeat words and say them outloud to get them? I feel so slow..and lost..;w;

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]]> By: Merovingian http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/make-japanese-the-center-of-your-life-the-only-time-you-have-is-the-time-you-make#comment-79725 Merovingian Tue, 22 Feb 2011 01:19:46 +0000 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/make-japanese-the-center-of-your-life-the-only-time-you-have-is-the-time-you-make#comment-79725 Yes, of course. Who has time? Who has time? But then if we never *take* time, how can we *have* time? Yes, of course. Who has time? Who has time? But then if we never *take* time, how can we *have* time?

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]]> By: Rook_in_flight http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/make-japanese-the-center-of-your-life-the-only-time-you-have-is-the-time-you-make#comment-56791 Rook_in_flight Sun, 03 Oct 2010 02:42:59 +0000 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/make-japanese-the-center-of-your-life-the-only-time-you-have-is-the-time-you-make#comment-56791 @Accard: You are only in school for 6 hours, what do you do with the rest of your day? You should be using that time to read books, listen to CDs, hell even walking around and reading/looking up the kanji on billboards and advertisements is good practice! And Japanese IS structurally different enough from Spanish or English that you DO have to tackle it from a different angle. Even if the Japanese people you know want to speak to you in English that is OK, just keep right on speaking to them in Japanese...if they understand your Japanese they will reply with the equivalent ENGLISH answers and thats OK too cause then you at least know they did in fact understand you...i have friends who do that all the time! I speak Japanese, they correct me if i make a mistake, they reply in English and i correct them if they make a mistake, its good for learning! Also JapanesePod101 is an AWESOME sight for learning Japanese but it costs, it works for me though so i would recommend checking it out. @Jojo: DO NOT let that stop you. I am a mother of a 6 year old girl and I managed to study online alot with the same website i mentioned above (Japanesepod 101) and ive even managed to teach her some Japanese as well. Plus i am a full time commuting college student with a job and have been able to maintain a high GPA. So dont put yourself down! Where there is a will there is a way, and there must be some will or you wouldnt be on this site at all! @Accard: You are only in school for 6 hours, what do you do with the rest of your day? You should be using that time to read books, listen to CDs, hell even walking around and reading/looking up the kanji on billboards and advertisements is good practice! And Japanese IS structurally different enough from Spanish or English that you DO have to tackle it from a different angle. Even if the Japanese people you know want to speak to you in English that is OK, just keep right on speaking to them in Japanese…if they understand your Japanese they will reply with the equivalent ENGLISH answers and thats OK too cause then you at least know they did in fact understand you…i have friends who do that all the time! I speak Japanese, they correct me if i make a mistake, they reply in English and i correct them if they make a mistake, its good for learning! Also JapanesePod101 is an AWESOME sight for learning Japanese but it costs, it works for me though so i would recommend checking it out.

@Jojo: DO NOT let that stop you. I am a mother of a 6 year old girl and I managed to study online alot with the same website i mentioned above (Japanesepod 101) and ive even managed to teach her some Japanese as well. Plus i am a full time commuting college student with a job and have been able to maintain a high GPA. So dont put yourself down! Where there is a will there is a way, and there must be some will or you wouldnt be on this site at all!

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]]> By: Jojo http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/make-japanese-the-center-of-your-life-the-only-time-you-have-is-the-time-you-make#comment-43334 Jojo Tue, 18 May 2010 05:49:02 +0000 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/make-japanese-the-center-of-your-life-the-only-time-you-have-is-the-time-you-make#comment-43334 Man, I wish to learn Japanese, but I'm a full-time stay at home momma to my beautiful little 7-month old girl, and I'm taking college online. I wish I could use Japanese, but life just seems so hectic; I'm just not sure how I am going to do this, but I'll be d---ed if I don't try. Man, I wish to learn Japanese, but I’m a full-time stay at home momma to my beautiful little 7-month old girl, and I’m taking college online. I wish I could use Japanese, but life just seems so hectic; I’m just not sure how I am going to do this, but I’ll be d—ed if I don’t try.

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]]> By: マッカ http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/make-japanese-the-center-of-your-life-the-only-time-you-have-is-the-time-you-make#comment-22462 マッカ Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:15:29 +0000 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/make-japanese-the-center-of-your-life-the-only-time-you-have-is-the-time-you-make#comment-22462 Accard, get the hell out of there! I know exactly what you mean. Japan can be the hardest place to learn Japanese. I did a month exchange to Japan and felt that there would be some magic force that would allow me to learn Kanji easier. It was 10 times as hard an ineffective as learning Kanji by myself, and eventually I found RTK anyway. I love Japan, but I absolutely love the freedom I have here at home, being able to bend my school schedule so that I have 5 free lessons a week, listen to my iPhone at recess and lunch (albeit discreetly), and read manga during class all the time (unfortunately my iPhone was confiscated once for doing Anki reps in class). My advice to you, if you want to become fluent at Japanese, get the hell out of Japan, or do your best to ignore your environment. You can't read manga in class, read a novel! (put it inside a textbook) Listen to your iPod at recess and lunch discreetly! Force yourself to speak Japanese all the time. If someone speaks to you in English, reply in Japanese; that's what I did when I exchanged to Japan, and while annoying my host brother, it helped me gain that bit of extra proficiency. The last bit of advice I have for you: buy as much manga, newspapers, novels/books and perhaps CDs as you can while you're in Japan. They'll be invaluable learning resources when you return home. Accard,
get the hell out of there!
I know exactly what you mean. Japan can be the hardest place to learn Japanese. I did a month exchange to Japan and felt that there would be some magic force that would allow me to learn Kanji easier. It was 10 times as hard an ineffective as learning Kanji by myself, and eventually I found RTK anyway.
I love Japan, but I absolutely love the freedom I have here at home, being able to bend my school schedule so that I have 5 free lessons a week, listen to my iPhone at recess and lunch (albeit discreetly), and read manga during class all the time (unfortunately my iPhone was confiscated once for doing Anki reps in class).
My advice to you, if you want to become fluent at Japanese, get the hell out of Japan, or do your best to ignore your environment.
You can’t read manga in class, read a novel! (put it inside a textbook)
Listen to your iPod at recess and lunch discreetly!
Force yourself to speak Japanese all the time. If someone speaks to you in English, reply in Japanese; that’s what I did when I exchanged to Japan, and while annoying my host brother, it helped me gain that bit of extra proficiency.

The last bit of advice I have for you: buy as much manga, newspapers, novels/books and perhaps CDs as you can while you’re in Japan. They’ll be invaluable learning resources when you return home.

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]]> By: Souza http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/make-japanese-the-center-of-your-life-the-only-time-you-have-is-the-time-you-make#comment-17451 Souza Fri, 27 Mar 2009 14:11:21 +0000 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/make-japanese-the-center-of-your-life-the-only-time-you-have-is-the-time-you-make#comment-17451 hello kazumoto, i like very much your message behind the articles, I,m from Brazil and start to study japanese 4 years ago. I just start to speak japanese when I made japanese friends and meet than every day, thinking and speaking japanese every time. I already transforme my roon in to a “japanese traditional roon” with shoji, tatami and cool things like an samurai armour, kanjis and a lots of books. People usualy say that “you need to stop thinking about japan’, the japan you imagine dont exist’, japs sucks….. and a lots of bullsh**. I went to Japan 3 years ago and I like what I saw, and start to study more about the language and culture. The hardest thing I want to do is leave in this “leatle Japan” you sugested. I study graphic design at university, and my repertory have to so f***ing large.I have to know a lots of things about every thing, so if I dont, my network and my own work become hard to work out. Thats why I cant stop learn about another things…. and cant turn every thing in japanese. But I want to study in Japan and dont forgot about that litle japan. Im tired of non productive japanese classes hello kazumoto, i like very much your message behind the articles,
I,m from Brazil and start to study japanese 4 years ago.
I just start to speak japanese when I made japanese friends and meet than every day, thinking and speaking japanese every time.

I already transforme my roon in to a “japanese traditional roon” with shoji, tatami and cool things like an samurai armour, kanjis and a lots of books. People usualy say that “you need to stop thinking about japan’, the japan you imagine dont exist’, **** sucks….. and a lots of bullsh**.
I went to Japan 3 years ago and I like what I saw, and start to study more about the language and culture.
The hardest thing I want to do is leave in this “leatle Japan” you sugested.
I study graphic design at university, and my repertory have to so f***ing large.I have to know a lots of things about every thing, so if I dont, my network and my own work become hard to work out. Thats why I cant stop learn about another things…. and cant turn every thing in japanese.
But I want to study in Japan and dont forgot about that litle japan.
Im tired of non productive japanese classes

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]]> By: Accard http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/make-japanese-the-center-of-your-life-the-only-time-you-have-is-the-time-you-make#comment-13633 Accard Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:46:09 +0000 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/make-japanese-the-center-of-your-life-the-only-time-you-have-is-the-time-you-make#comment-13633 I am working hard to learn Japanese at the moment, but my effort is somewhat hampered by the fact that I am an exchange student in Fukuoka. Counterintuitive as it may seem, it is actually a problem: not only am I unable to immerse myself in Japanese all the time, because I have to attend various English-speaking festivities and whatnot, but I am also obliged to attend lessons of the worst variety no less than three times a week. All we do--me and the other exchange students, who sadly prefer to speak in English rather than try their hands at Japanese conversation--is sitting around and reading dull dialogues from textbooks, practicing kanji in illogical ways, and doing what you referred to as "filling in blanks." Our teacher falls into the 'condescending' category that you mentioned, and answers virtually any criticism of the teaching methods with some bullcrap along the lines of "in Japan, you have to obey the teacher no matter what." That same teacher also said that if you have fun when learning a language, you never learn it well. Some other Japanese person told me, with straight face, that Japanese is structurally so different from any other language on Earth that you can't learn it the same way you learn English or Spanish or whatever. Being an amateur linguist who's read grammars of languages from all over the world, I could immediately identify this as sheer idiocy. Another exchange student, who's been here for nine months and has had lessons with the aforementioned teacher, speaks Japanese, but it is awful, and I don't think he writes or reads very well. Furthermore, I have to attend a Japanese highschool. The lessons are mind-numbingly boring, and I think I could spend my hours listening to or watching more fun material, having recently discovered the blessings of anime and comedy gameshows. I don't get much either way, but I prefer to watch, say, Neon Genesis Evangelion, than listening to half-assed English lessons. I waste around six hours every day, five days a week, in school, in other words, and the school rules would forbid me from listening to Japanese music on my iPod or reading manga or whatever during lesson time (I can honestly say that Japanese highschools are hell on Earth). Not to mention the fact that people here want to practice their English on me, rather than letting me practice my Japanese on them. I can't blame them, though: I'm neither a good nor a very fast speaker of Nihongo even though I've been here for nearly three months, and I don't understand too much of it either. So my question is: Does anyone have any idea how I should handle this situation? I am grateful for any help, though I reckon my question is not one that is readily answered. It's not that I don't think you can learn foreign languages--I was born to Swedish parents and have lived my entire life in Sweden, and yet I can write and speak English at near-fluency level, better than most of my countrymen--but that it simply feels, sometimes, as if the Japanese themselves are trying to slow down your progress. (I'm sorry for the verbosity, but that's what I'm like. I enjoy being verbose and using words that'd make H. P. Lovecraft dive for the dictionary, and it is my great hope that I one day will be able to be verbose and baroque in Japanese as well.) I am working hard to learn Japanese at the moment, but my effort is somewhat hampered by the fact that I am an exchange student in Fukuoka. Counterintuitive as it may seem, it is actually a problem: not only am I unable to immerse myself in Japanese all the time, because I have to attend various English-speaking festivities and whatnot, but I am also obliged to attend lessons of the worst variety no less than three times a week. All we do–me and the other exchange students, who sadly prefer to speak in English rather than try their hands at Japanese conversation–is sitting around and reading dull dialogues from textbooks, practicing kanji in illogical ways, and doing what you referred to as “filling in blanks.” Our teacher falls into the ‘condescending’ category that you mentioned, and answers virtually any criticism of the teaching methods with some bullcrap along the lines of “in Japan, you have to obey the teacher no matter what.” That same teacher also said that if you have fun when learning a language, you never learn it well. Some other Japanese person told me, with straight face, that Japanese is structurally so different from any other language on Earth that you can’t learn it the same way you learn English or Spanish or whatever. Being an amateur linguist who’s read grammars of languages from all over the world, I could immediately identify this as sheer idiocy.

Another exchange student, who’s been here for nine months and has had lessons with the aforementioned teacher, speaks Japanese, but it is awful, and I don’t think he writes or reads very well.

Furthermore, I have to attend a Japanese highschool. The lessons are mind-numbingly boring, and I think I could spend my hours listening to or watching more fun material, having recently discovered the blessings of anime and comedy gameshows. I don’t get much either way, but I prefer to watch, say, Neon Genesis Evangelion, than listening to half-assed English lessons. I waste around six hours every day, five days a week, in school, in other words, and the school rules would forbid me from listening to Japanese music on my iPod or reading manga or whatever during lesson time (I can honestly say that Japanese highschools are hell on Earth). Not to mention the fact that people here want to practice their English on me, rather than letting me practice my Japanese on them. I can’t blame them, though: I’m neither a good nor a very fast speaker of Nihongo even though I’ve been here for nearly three months, and I don’t understand too much of it either.

So my question is: Does anyone have any idea how I should handle this situation? I am grateful for any help, though I reckon my question is not one that is readily answered. It’s not that I don’t think you can learn foreign languages–I was born to Swedish parents and have lived my entire life in Sweden, and yet I can write and speak English at near-fluency level, better than most of my countrymen–but that it simply feels, sometimes, as if the Japanese themselves are trying to slow down your progress.

(I’m sorry for the verbosity, but that’s what I’m like. I enjoy being verbose and using words that’d make H. P. Lovecraft dive for the dictionary, and it is my great hope that I one day will be able to be verbose and baroque in Japanese as well.)

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]]> By: The Time You Make... « bilingually | bilingualmente http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/make-japanese-the-center-of-your-life-the-only-time-you-have-is-the-time-you-make#comment-320 The Time You Make... « bilingually | bilingualmente Mon, 23 Apr 2007 02:33:46 +0000 http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/make-japanese-the-center-of-your-life-the-only-time-you-have-is-the-time-you-make#comment-320 [...] Posted by Lingo on April 22nd, 2007 I’ve been reading through the backlogs of AJATT lately, and this was another interesting entry. Here’s an excerpt: The only time you have is the time you make. [...] [...] Posted by Lingo on April 22nd, 2007 I’ve been reading through the backlogs of AJATT lately, and this was another interesting entry. Here’s an excerpt: The only time you have is the time you make. [...]

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