Comments on: Strategies for Overcoming Burnout

By: All Japanese All The Time Dot Com: How to learn Japanese. On your own, having fun and to fluency. » Taking A Break: The Third Way

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 04:21:08 +0000

[…] “burn-out” issue [as discussed here, here and here] is really interesting. Now, all you wusses out there — you know I’m just having fun […]

By: khatzumoto

khatzumoto — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 00:03:34 +0000

@quend
I learned to code by trial and error, but Joe Wright of http://www.joewright.org/ actually taught people to program using “input”, i.e. learn to understand code first. I think this is actually really important, because a lot of programmers (arguably most pros) spend as much if not more time reading code as actually writing it.

>Putting in examples of segments of code?
Yeah, that sounds right. And asking yourself what they do. Not in a vague way but in very specific ways. What is the value of foo…that type of thing. I’m sure you can think of cooler, more interesting questions.

Perhaps a mixed input/trial-error approach would be ベスト.

By: quendidil

quendidil — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 13:24:44 +0000

Ah O.K. thanks!

I am a newbie to programming besides some dabbling in C++ in the past, how would you recommend inputing a programming language in an SRS? Putting in examples of segments of code? However I do think that trial and error is alright in programming, no? Because you can get a right/wrong response from the compiler immediately?

By: khatzumoto

khatzumoto — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 17:26:34 +0000

@quend
Forgive me! You have not been forgotten. Um…yeah, I did buy Japanese books for PHP. NO single book was like suuper gold book to end all books, but then I guess almost no book ever is. The all had their strengths and weaknesses. I generally picked books that had good indexing and interesting, well-commented code examples. If I had to do it all over again, I would simply recommend to you the highest-rated books on Amazon.jp (I found my books at my local bookstore since I was in a rush or something [must have PHP boox NOW!], but if I were to do it all over again, I would buy highly-rated books from Amazon).

With that in mind:
http://www.amazon.co.jp/PHP%E3%81%AB%E3%82%88%E3%82%8BWeb%E3%82%A2%E3%83%97%E3%83%AA%E3%82%B1%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A7%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B9%E3%83%BC%E3%83%91%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B5%E3%83%B3%E3%83%97%E3%83%AB-%E6%B4%BB%E7%94%A8%E7%B7%A8-KJ/dp/4797332638/ref=sr_1_1/249-0487286-8125134?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199640004&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E6%94%B9%E8%A8%82%E7%89%88-PHP-%E3%83%9D%E3%82%B1%E3%83%83%E3%83%88%E3%83%AA%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%83%AC%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B9-Pocket-reference/dp/4774125024/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199640083&sr=1-1

I also recommend using the Internets. Just limit http://www.google.jp to 日本語 pages.

By: ruisu

ruisu — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 18:51:42 +0000

Hey Khatz…I’ve heard you say time and time again how important attitude is. And you’re right. There is definitely an energy right in my chest that feels like turmoil when I can’t seem to study, and feels like I’m swinging on the swings when I’m in the studying mood. I haven’t figured out out to control it yet, but it’s there for sure.

I have my suspicions that food and diet have something to do with it. Have you any thoughts on how your diet has affected your moods? If you can come up with a Khaztumoto-diet I will try it out. Dancing to the Kanji? Yes, I will buy that, too. Lol…

By: Chiro-kun

Chiro-kun — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 13:11:09 +0000

What about grammar burnout?
I’ve been trying for days and I still can’t get the deal about と言う,って orて when it comes to quoting/describing etc (and 家庭教師ヒットマンリボーン is full of it! ).

By: quendidil

quendidil — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:45:54 +0000

Khatz, you learnt PHP in Japanese right? Can you recommend a book to learn from? all the PHP books seem quite pricy on Amazon, which one would you recommend?

By: JDog

JDog — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 06:21:17 +0000

Yes, that’s it, thanks! Doh! I feel kinda dumb for it being in the sidebar. Oh well!

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 00:57:09 +0000

http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/10000-sentences-more-on-what-sentences-to-learn

Is that it? If so, it was on the sidebar.

By: JDog

JDog — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 23:58:04 +0000

Hi, I have been trying to find a post from you, Khatz, to no avail. I wonder if someone could point me in the right direction. I remember it saying something about not starting TOTALLY from scratch, but telling some things which should be learned as a base (such as particles, question words, pronouns, etc). Can anyone remember where that is?

Thanks in advance!

By: Charles A.

Charles A. — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 07:13:50 +0000

Has the online community for learning Japanese always been this supportive and inter-related?

I’ll be honest, before July 2007, my Japanese learning was PAINFULLY slow. Yeah, I had articles from Kanji Clinic that helped the motivation and got me into Heisig, but that was it. Then came Reviewing the Kanji website (from Kanji Clinic link no less). Oh, but look at that, on the forums was a link to All Japanese all the Time. Oh, look at that, both are talking about Anki. Oh, look at that, the Anki developer is talking to everyone there. All are not talking about how hard it is, they’re talking about how possible it is. All talking with others to improve what they have out there to help others learn Japanese.

Yeah, you mentioned in a previous blog to avoid the various japanese forums. But I think this blog’s comments and the forums of Reviewing the Kanji offer better motivation to help with the learning. Perhaps it has alot to do with a group of people interested in efficient self study.Though most other forums I’d recommend not wasting too much time in.

By: 名無し

名無し — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 06:58:59 +0000

Phauna said:
>>Can you suggest some Japanese movies, rather than series, that you thought were >>interesting or useful or whatever? Also, a post about easy starting mangas wouldn’t go >>astray. The first one I bought was Dreamking, and I was completely lost until I found >>some kids ones, クラヨン　しんちゃん　and ガッジュ”.　I have absolutely no idea what they are >>about, and would have liked to get some that I knew at least the theme of. I got them at >>the kombini though, so the range wasn’t the best. Thanks in advance.

An advice: chose a manga that has its own anime, and watch the anime at the same pace you read the manga. That way you reinforce everything you read/watch, and its a really fun and motivating expierience.

Just pay attention to 1 aspect: some anime don’t follow the original manga, so make your chose wisely.

If besides manga and anime, the same story has videoogames, then great! Watch, read and play, and ENJOY the same story from different perspectives at once!

By: Chiro-kun

Chiro-kun — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 04:29:33 +0000

*sniff*
負けない。。。絶対負けない!!
ありがとう!!!

By: Tony

Tony — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 00:12:08 +0000

Number 7 (for me at least): It feels really awesome when you correct a Japanese person’s kanji :D.

The first time it happened for me was when this girl challenged me to write “帽子” so I did and she said that it should be 日 over 日　not 目. So I got the dictionary and showed her she was wrong. Then yesterday my friend wrote 睦子 (another person’s name) but instead of 目 wrote 月. So I corrected it and the risk of not knowing that there is a kanji with 月 that I just didn’t know.

Or when you ask why じゅうぶん　is sometimes written as 十分 and sometimes as 充分 to a Japanese teacher and they look at you like you’re crazy for asking.

By: Christina

Christina — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 22:32:17 +0000

Wow thanks for posting this. I was going through a major burnout just now until I read this post. I dont have any questions or anything, I just wanted to reply and say thank you!

Rock on.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 20:51:14 +0000

Ha, I do the same comparison game for motivation Katherine. Whenever I think “Learning Kanji takes to long!” I remember that kids in Japan spend 12 years learning these, when we only invest 3-6 months.

By: OCCASVS

OCCASVS — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 18:03:37 +0000

Thank you for the post and the comments.
I’ve found many useful advices here.

RTK did threaten my motivation and I eventually stopped learning Kanji for two months.
Now I’m studying them again and I’m writing this message because I’ve taken a short break.

/me is back to review Kanji

By: Katherine

Katherine — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:30:47 +0000

Avoiding burnout is one reason why I don’t think Heisig’s advice to *only* do RTK is good. It can be tremendously motivating to be slogging through the kanji and realize that *ping* “Hey, I know that one!” from some other source. It’s also motivating to see yourself recognizing more and more of the kanji from whatever you’re trying to read.

The RTK rapid fire approach is motivating by itself, too. When you’re stuck at “only” one thousand or so, remember that that’s two years or more of a standard university sequence.

By: dave

dave — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:29:55 +0000

Back when I was doing RTK I found that it was helpful to not think of how many was left in total but to think how many I should do for that day. I was really motivated to study back then so I was doing around 100 a day. I would split my target throughout the day so I would do 50 in the morning and 50 at night. I found that if I just made sure I reached the target everyday and not think about how many were left in total, I was able to do this daily without burning out.

I think people should think this way about the sentences too. Don’t think about the number 10,000, just think about getting 50 done today or whatever your target is daily. If you keep thinking of the huge number you’re just going to get stressed about how far away that target is.

If you keep up your daily routine of doing RTK, really before you know it you’ll be half way, then three quarters through and then finished with it.

By: Brittany

Brittany — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 16:31:25 +0000

Looking back really helps me. When I get frustrated and start saying things like “it’s never going to happen, blah blah blah” my boyfriend laughs at me and reminds me how far I’ve come. I used to not be able to read hiragana! Or katakana, yeesh that took me forever! My handwriting was atrocious! I couldn’t remember a simple phrase in Japanese (specifically, Choco Mochi onegaishimasu). I COULDN”T REMEMBER THREE WORDS IN JAPANESE! That is crazy to me now, and the fact that it’s crazy is proof of my progress.

@nacest: I guess I should go through my RTK book and erase all the “1237 left to go!!”? Haha. I should try to enjoy them more. I’m an artist and I definetly see calligraphy in my future so I really should appreciate the kanji for themselves rather than appreciating them for having one less to learn…