2009 reflections

Well, I finished 2008 greatly. I had started using Genki, was more confident than I ever was and my japanese was skyrocketing, till The beggining of 2009 (I guess till March...). I stopped for a few weeks, dunno why, and when I "came" back I had forgotten most kanji. My confidence was over. After that, knowing that all that kanji hours I had spent, were nothing. I mean, I could read everything, but I couldn't write, I started looking for new methods, new tools etc. I had read some stuff about a book that would make anyone be able to write hundreds of kanji really quickly, but had never understood how.

It was James W. Heisig's Remembering the Kanji, has you have already guessed.

I asked in RevTK's forum how to use it, it it was worth it, if it'd make me be able to write all those characters. But yet I wouldn't buy, I never quite understood it. Then I decided to give it a try, in the trial PDF. With that I learned only a few really, but I liked. Nevertheless, I still hadn't understood the method! I bought the book. During the first 500 or so I wasn't using the book correctly. Then, I almost gave up, why? Because I was learning new Kanji, but could only review i on RevTK, and my internet connection was very, very limited, so I only reviewed them like once a week. Than I downloaded Anki.
It was awesome, and I could learn new kanji more quickly. And I finally started using RevTK's users's stories. They are/were awesome!
Then I started doing like 30/35/40 a day and it was just a matter of days/weeks till I was finished.

So, in 2009 I can only focus RTK. I finished it. I almost finished Genki and stuff, but at a realy slow pace. Now in 2010 I REALLY intend to finish both Genkis. Preferably in a fast pace. And then move on to IAIJ and ドラマを見る. As for ドラマ, I can't download them, but I know a site that has them, with subs, but I'll just cover them with something.

There's a quote from a member of RevTK's forum, that really, really inspired me, since my path is pretty much the same. bokuzukuri says:

"I passed level 1 after three long years.

kanji/vocab: 98/100
listening: 97/100
reading/grammar: 183/200 (92%)
total: 378/400 (95%)

genki 1+2 and an integrated approach, kanzen master 1+2, rtk1+2, a pocket pc loaded with stackz and jlpt lists and watching a lot of japanese tv shows (bittorrent) worked for me. imo, japanese is a really simple language and easy to learn."

And, this quote, as also inspired me a lot:

"Books used for grammar during my three years of learning Japanese:

Genki 1-2
An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese
Kanzen Master 2-1kyuu

No problems so far!

BTW, after having completed Genki one should watch Japanese variety shows. A lot. The level is usually lower than your average J-Drama, and the only subtitles you'll find are the integrated, colorful ones (which help a lot.)"

やった!

2010 Aims and Objectives

As far as Chinese is concerned:

-> To get better at pronouciation;
-> Be able to write loads of new characters, know loads of new vocabulary;
-> Use Anki a lot more (I have it, but don't use it, any advices would be awesome);
-> Listen to a lot more chinese music;
-> Surround myself in a Chinese/Japanese environment;
-> See Chinese TV (already do it, just to listen to the sounds);
-> Finish "Integrated Chinese 1.1 & 1.2. (what's weird is that both books say they're part 1/1);
-> Play videogames in Chinese;
-> Be one of the 2 best students of my class and get a scholarship to go to China in Summer to a Chinese course.

Now, as far as Japanese is concerned

-> Get to know more vocabulary;
-> Get to speak faster;
-> Finish Genki 1 and Genki 2;
-> Start "An integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese";
-> Use Anki more;
-> Starting to read and watch the news;
-> Listen to new music, I've been listening to the same for over a year, I'm tired of it.
-> Play videogames in Japanese.

I will make a post on my 2009 past goals too.