Suggestions on Memorisation. Hi everyone, a few years ago I was doing Japanese classes… - Feed Post by Akai_Malice
Suggestions on Memorisation.
Hi everyone, a few years ago I was doing Japanese classes but well I moved away,
Since then I decided on self study; which included going over old notes, listening to Japanese music, listening to Japanese drama, anime and movies and reading the manga in Japanese, and eventually Japanese games. This is like a game kind of to me.
The thing is though I haven't been able to remember what I've been learning, well there is so much of it for starters, and don't get me started on the kanji -_-
When I was doing Japanese classes I remember most of what I learned.
I'm teaching myself now, and I'm going through a lot of content, I recall some things but I can't retain most of my knowledge.
How do you guys memorise the Japanese?
My life is so busy, that I struggle just to put aside the time for this Japanese game too.
Do you have any simple study plans to memorise Japanese, something that isn't time consuming perhaps? If you do, please share with me!
Hi everyone, a few years ago I was doing Japanese classes but well I moved away,
Since then I decided on self study; which included going over old notes, listening to Japanese music, listening to Japanese drama, anime and movies and reading the manga in Japanese, and eventually Japanese games. This is like a game kind of to me.
The thing is though I haven't been able to remember what I've been learning, well there is so much of it for starters, and don't get me started on the kanji -_-
When I was doing Japanese classes I remember most of what I learned.
I'm teaching myself now, and I'm going through a lot of content, I recall some things but I can't retain most of my knowledge.
How do you guys memorise the Japanese?
My life is so busy, that I struggle just to put aside the time for this Japanese game too.
Do you have any simple study plans to memorise Japanese, something that isn't time consuming perhaps? If you do, please share with me!
posted by Akai_Malice
Comments 4
1. Studies show studying with no distractions at all for 25 minutes then relaxing or having fun then studying hard again for 25 minutes helps retain information. My friend does that and she's very good in Japanese.
2. Studies also show studying after a nap or rest helps the brain retain more since your brain is refreshed.
3. Studying everyday is not good for the brain. It's like exercising everyday wares you out, it's the same with the brain. For example, study Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and Saturday but don't study Friday and Sunday. Do whatever works for you but try not to have the break days next to each other. Have at least 2-3 break days. Studies also show trying to memorize things when you're upset doesn't work.
4. DO NOT WATCH JAPANESE SHOWS AND MOVIES WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES. Your brain will only pay attention to the English instead of the Japanese words. WATCH THEM WITH JAPANESE SUBTITLES. My mom, a Spanish speaker, learned English by watching English reality TV and sitcoms with English subtitles. It helps with listening skills. And anime won't help much because you can't make out the words as well if you don't see how the speaker's mouths moves. For example, sounds like fa and ba get confused easily if you didn't see how the lips moved. And if you listen to the music you should read the lyrics to the song so you can understand what they're talking about.
5. People that do competitive memorizing always say the same thing. Connect whatever you are trying to remember to something else you think is interesting or funny or something along the lines. Like the word mouth in Japanese is 'kuchi' and 'coochie' in english means crotch so I think that's funny. 'haru' means spring and 'hiru(gohan)' means lunch, spring is my favorite season and lunch is my favorite time of the day and they sound similar. This method helps me SOOOOOOOO much with languages and it's the only reason I remember anything. I speak Spanish, English (obviously), Portuguese, some French and I am learning Russian and Japanese and can read Korean. This works with kanji too, connecting them with drawings or pictures. This one is my most recommended tip.
6. How I learn kanji is by memorizing a whole section of vocabulary then studying their kanji like all of level 1 vocabulary then studying level 1 kanji. Making the connection between the kanji and the vocabulary REALLY helps memorize the kanji.
7. You have to know the radicals if you want to properly memorize and tell apart kanji. Making the connection to the kanji and the radicals helps me A LOT cause I mix up them up quite a bit. I'm sure you know that already but still saying it just in case. I find that Kanji Damage is a great site for learning kanji and their radicals. It's a lot of fun. All you have to do is copy and past the kanji into their search bar and they'll break it down for you. Make sure too know the radicals of the radicals. The most basic. They teach you from number one if you want that. If you are not okay with vulgar jokes then you could find another way to learn radicals. Kanji are really not hard to remember when you learn the radicals also when you learn their vocab before hand.
8. Practice with your family or friends. telling them to turn off the tv in Japanese or asking them how their day was. Even if they don't understand you. if you don't want to do that you can pretend you're talking to someone when you're alone. Tell the fake person to turn on the tv or ask them if they want to watch anime and you go to watch anime.
9. Chatting with a Japanese native helps too. You can look up 'Japanese pen-pals' or 'language exchange' in google.
10. Don't bite off more than you can chew. Break down everything you have to learn in order and do it in that order. Try to avoid doing the Kanji before the vocab, you can confuse yourself. Or learn the kanji in the vocab you just memorized, whatever works for you. And don't try to read legit adult Japanese without learning any kanji.
Also, please remember to take your time and don't stress it. Have fun.
Thank you, those methods look really helpful, I'll try some out :D
I try to think of JAPANESE vocabulary and Kanji whenever I can.- close your eyes when you listen, it helps to focus!
