Pushing past the BEGINNER/INTERMEDIATE status

[Infidel]

Mukade wrote:

TrilinguisT wrote:

Infidel wrote:
I'm at the same stage. I'm becomming convinced that to progress pass beginner it's necessary to stop using Japanese passively (reading). It's time to start creating your own sentences.

what's up with you and this anti-passive thing?!? *scratches head*

what's wrong with speaking passively? or writing passively? or doing both?

By definition, reading and writing are active skills, whereas listening and reading are passive skills.

The difference is in only having to recognize something (as in passive skills), and having to recall it from memory (as in active skills).

Hehe, you mean speaking and writing are active skills Mukade got my point. I wasn't talking about active and passive voice. Which is what Tri san seemed to be refering to.

[richvh]

Ryno wrote:
yes I also think i've got to start reading REAL books...i read akira(ok this is manga)..or half way through it..but it has NO furigana and i constantly have to look up a word...so is there an easy read maybe ..just to get comfy with japanese all the time ??

Any recommended books ?

Well, people have been telling me that the story I'm writing would make a good intermediate reader. http://www.citlink.net/~richvh, and choose the version with or without furigana.

And yes, writing 「ゆきの物語」 has been a good learning experience.

[p2dski]

when I got to that level that began to expect you to learn in ALL japanese. I can't find any advanced books that have explanations written in english these days. (maybe because they think only chinese people get that good?)

[Schattenjedi]

There are plenty of places online to find intermediate reading material. Try typing in 小説 into google and browse some of those sites. Here is one that I found to be at a comfortable level: http://s.freepe.com/std.cgi?id=sibafumi&pn=02

[mteric]

TrilinguisT wrote:
http://www.guidetojapanese.org

a very good place to learn casual japanese

That's an awesome site! Thanks.

[hungryhotei]

Ryno wrote:
Yeah , that is ANOTHER thing...i have nothing to aim for..My country is not listed for the JLPT...

You don't actually have to take the actual test to get the benefits from studying from it. I recommend getting the kanzen master 2kyuu grammar book and maybe a practice question book. I moved from 3kyuu to 2kyuu using pretty much only them and lots of manga, I'd only read one 'real' book (Potter) before I took 2kyuu. I would also recommend writing as much in Japanese as possible (on this site for example, next time you have a question, try aksing it in Japanese).

[CajunCoder]

Reading in Japanese is actually much more active in comparison to other languages, due to kanji. You have to actively remember the pronunciation of kanji. Very often I find myself understanding the meaning of kanji, but not knowing how to pronounce them without using the dictionary.

Reading is very important, however actually conversing in the language is also very important. Find japanese people to talk with, or if you like games, join some japanese MMORPGs. I have japanese friends that speak no english, so its very good practice since I have nothing to fall back on.

[Ryno]

Thanks everyone

よし！頑張るよ！:D