Summer goals?

[phreadom]

Make it through winter which started on 1 June.

I always forget that about our friends in Oz.

(And I have some other friends in Argentina, etc... same thing for them.)

[hyperconjugated]

Hey, do they use this kind of maps down there? I've read from somewhere that's not that uncommon...
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_n9DGA9Surj4/SJJP0-FpVAI/AAAAAAAAAQ0/LWek8Jx7ZtE/Upsidedown+Map+Of+The+World--Optimized.JPG

[Dustin]

To not abandon my Japanese studies.......again

[chikara]

Hey, do they use this kind of maps down there? I've read from somewhere that's not that uncommon...
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_n9DGA9Surj4/SJJP0-FpVAI/AAAAAAAAAQ0/LWek8Jx7ZtE/Upsidedown+Map+Of+The+World--Optimized.JPG

That map is the right way up.



Seriously, we don't use upside-down maps. North is still considered up.

As for my winter goals, I'm with Dustin-san. I aim to do at least a few hours of Japanese study, not counting being on this forum, every week.

[Harisenbon]

My summer plans are to finish all my work without succumbing to 過労死.

Hopefully I'll also get to work on my site (which I have barely touched in weeks) and spend time with my daughter before aforementioned 過労死 :/

[Musiflare]

My summer goals amount to something like:

1. Continue to do awesomely at my internship at the Japan-America Society here in Atlanta.
2. Find some people that will actually hire me for a part-time job that pays.
3. Complete the 日本語中級Ｊ５０１ textbook so I can test up to level 5 when I go to 早大 in September.

I'd say compile my beginner's Chinese textbooks into an Anki file so I don't lose my one year of Chinese while I'm abroad in Japan, but I'm really focusing on improving my Japanese so I might not have time yet. As long as it's before I start 2000-level Chinese.

[kevlar551]

Does this sound reasonable:

1. Learn all the hiragana including the dakuon and yoon

2. Learn all the katakana.

That should be good prep for formal classes right?

Thanks.

[becki_kanou]

My summer goal is to get more students, especially kids!

Hopefully I'll also get to.....spend time with my daughter .... :/

A bit late, but congratulations! When was she born?

[Dustin]

Does this sound reasonable:

1. Learn all the hiragana including the dakuon and yoon

2. Learn all the katakana.

That should be good prep for formal classes right?

Thanks.

I have seen many people get a pretty good grasp of the kana in only a few days.

Much review is required to retain the information and process it quickly enough to be useful, however it should be very easy for anyone to accomplish this goal over the course of a summer.

I would get some basic grammar, greetings in etc as well

[iyakamae]

My one summer goal is to learn Hiragana and to not get frustrated with myself as I learn.
The big thing is to make sure that I keep motivated. That's the biggest challenge.

[furrykef]

I agree with Dustin. One of the things I did back when I was learning kana -- I'm almost surprised I still remember, since it was probably in 2003 -- was I took pencil and paper with me to restaurants (I always do this in case I feel like drawing while I wait; it annoys the heck out of my mother) and just wrote all the kana from memory. After a couple of days I had no need to have a kana chart with me to check my work; I relied solely on memory. This doesn't mean I always remembered them all... often my chart would wind up with a blank or two and I'd go back and fill it in if I happen to remember as I completed the rest; if not, I'd look it up when I got home. But it almost always ended up being that either I remembered a character correctly or I didn't remember it at all; I almost never misremembered a character or put them in the wrong order. It wasn't too long before I read enough kana in my studies that I could drop the exercise completely, but I still did it at bored moments in restaurants on rare occasions just to be completely sure.

By the way, it'll be easier if you break them up into chunks. Maybe learn half of the hiragana, then learn the second half, then the first half of katakana, then the second half. Or you could go slower, one row per day, if you think it'll help.

[Dustin]

I started with flashcards, and introduced kana a line at a time

a i u e o

once i can correctly recognize these....

ka ki ku ke ko

etc.

Small manageable bites makes it very easy, and you get through them in no time!

[spin13]

1. Learn all the hiragana including the dakuon and yoon
2. Learn all the katakana.

I have seen many people get a pretty good grasp of the kana in only a few days.

This doesn't mean I always remembered them all...

I've always been surprised that some adolescents and adults have trouble remembering the kana in only a few days. It's to be expected that you'll forget some of the less often seen kana every now and then for some time, but I would expect it to take no more than 3 or 4 days to be able to write both charts from memory.

A more reasonable, but still modest, summer goal for beginners might be:
1) Learn all the kana (hiragana and katakana).
2) Learn 100 kanji (learn to read and write each kanji in at least one word). The JLPT 4kyuu (N5) list is a good place to start.
3) Learn the basics of は、が、も、を、に、で、の and use them to construct simple sentences.

If this sounds like a lot, consider it this way: you have 3 months to be able to read, write, and say basics like "My name is" and "I eat at 8 o'clock" and "I will buy the book at the store."

[Harisenbon]

A bit late, but congratulations! When was she born?

No worries. I didn't announce anything on the boards since I've been so busy.
She was born March 26th, so she'll be the smallest one in her class most likely.

Good luck on getting new students!

[Dustin]

1. Learn all the hiragana including the dakuon and yoon
2. Learn all the katakana.

I have seen many people get a pretty good grasp of the kana in only a few days.

This doesn't mean I always remembered them all...

I've always been surprised that some adolescents and adults have trouble remembering the kana in only a few days. It's to be expected that you'll forget some of the less often seen kana every now and then for some time, but I would expect it to take no more than 3 or 4 days to be able to write both charts from memory.

A more reasonable, but still modest, summer goal for beginners might be:
1) Learn all the kana (hiragana and katakana).
2) Learn 100 kanji (learn to read and write each kanji in at least one word). The JLPT 4kyuu (N5) list is a good place to start.
3) Learn the basics of は、が、も、を、に、で、の and use them to construct simple sentences.

If this sounds like a lot, consider it this way: you have 3 months to be able to read, write, and say basics like "My name is" and "I eat at 8 o'clock" and "I will buy the book at the store."

For the most part I agree

I was able to put my flashcards of both hiragana and katakana organized into proper charts within only a couple hours, and reproduce the charts from memory in a day or two.

I think this would be a much better goal set. If you can't get this done in 3 months or so, or at least close, then it will take a lifetime to be proficient in the language and you may need to evaluate why you want to learn it and whether this is viable for you.

I hope you're able to set and achieve some decent goals and wish you luck, keep us all posted