Hello everyone. I wanted to ask; where do you guys find the time to practice and learn? I find I'm… - Feed Post by TornadoC
Hello everyone. I wanted to ask; where do you guys find the time to practice and learn? I find I'm struggling to get find the time to get on the site and I'm wondering how much of that time is productive. As you can see, I'm only averaging about 2000 XP per week at the moment, and I see there are people who manage that consistently every day. Any tips on learning strategies would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
posted by TornadoC
Comments 6
In a recent post didn't you say you are currently unemployed? I would've assumed you'd have at least a reasonable amount of time to get some practice in.
A few months ago I started my current job as a van driver, doing multi-drop delivery. I'm out driving for 30~90 minutes at a time making a few quick drops, then back to standing around at the depot for a few minutes, then back out on another run.
I probably have over 6 hours worth of actual driving time each day, on my own, doing whatever I want to pass the time. The vans have bluetooth audio capable sound systems, meaning I can pair my phone with it. So I simply make sure I have endless hours of Japanese related audio on my phone for Japanese practice. So that's one way where I've managed to find over 30 hours a week for Japanese practice, just while I'm at work, and getting paid to do it! :P
I think I've been pretty creative with some of the things I've put on my phone to listen to at work. One of the things I tried was using Japanese radio apps on my phone, but this requires about a 6GB data package to sustain every working day for a month. I then started simply leaving my computer at home running overnight to record several hours of Japanese radio as an mp3 file and then put this on my phone instead, with the added bonus of being able to pause and rewind the audio this way too (and not having to worry about weak mobile signals cutting off the audio). ^^
I've also tried listening to some audio books. There are websites with free to download Japanese audio naration for childrens stories which is good too, like this site:
http://hukumusume.com/douwa/
Some sites like Erin's Challenge let you download the audio of their lessons too, which is pretty neat listening practice for after you've completed the lessons, helping to keep it in your memory:
https://www.erin.ne.jp/en/
But the main thing I like doing is listening to anime episodes. I either convert it to audio only, or simply play the videos with the screen turned off. So far I've listened to all 43 episodes of Great Teacher Onizuka, 10 episodes of Cowboy Bebop, 52 episodes of Maison Ikkoku, as well as a number of episodes from other animes. Some anime work great as audio only listening practice, almost as enjoyable as if watching them. ^^- Anyway, I wouldn't be too concerned about how much EXP you are earning at the moment. Doing regular practice requires a lot more willpower and feels much harder when you are just starting out on the site. 2,000 EXP a week is actually quite a lot for a level 2 user. ^^
At the early stages it feels tough to want to log in and spend much time practicing, as it feels a bit like you are taking some exam for how much effort and concentration it takes to answer questions. At later stages it feels relaxing and like a game, and it's easy for people to spend time practicing when it feels like this for them. It will get more relaxing and easier for you too eventually. がんばれ～ :) 
"...didn't you say you are currently unemployed" - Yes, but not by choice I'm afraid. I was declared unfit for work almost 2 years ago now. Unfortunately my condition presents with chronic fatigue, chronic pain, severe migraines, and regular seizures. I sleep around 14 hours a day, and struggle to use a computer for extended periods without it causing a seizure or migraine. I also lost the use of my legs and have limited use of my left arm, though they don't effect my ability to study, they do limit my mobility considerably, so something like, taking a shower, takes me far longer than it usually would. Then there's doctors appointments; I also spend a lot of time at the hospital with my specialists, or in bed following a doctors consultation, as they tend to take my energy away.
In the end, I've found my effective free time is loosely similar to that of my friends Rob & Dave who both work full time 40 hour/week jobs. I've based that on things like how long it takes me to get through a show on Netflix or play though a video game, as I find I tend to finish those things at about the same rate they do because every hour or two I spend active (even if it's just watching TV), usually requires the same amount of time in bed so I don't overstress my system. I know it's hard to relate, but that's my situation at the moment; and while it's boring doing nothing most of the time, I sadly don't have the energy or I'm in too much pain to do more than I currently do. Which is why I need to maximise the effectiveness of the time I can devote to learning.
Thanks for asking though, I know a lot of people get defensive if their disability is questioned but I see it as an excuse to raise awareness.
I'll try that, when I'm not feeling well enough to use the computer I may still feel up to having Japanese audio playing in the background while I lay in bed. My only problem is I tend to sleep when I'm in pain so I'll probably have very little of it sink in, but I've got both the Genki Audio CDs and the Collin's Easy Learn Japanese Audio-books; so I'll give it a go. Thanks.- Ah, ok. I struggled quite a bit over how to word my first paragraph, as I was fully aware of the disability part in your other post but knew nothing specific about it. I added the word "currently" to make sure it didn't sound like I was suggesting that you've never worked or never want to work. And I made sure the second sentence was written using past tense, such as "would've assumed [prior to your post stating you struggle to find time]". I'm glad now that I didn't leave it the blunt way it originally came out when I first typed it. :D
I almost deleted a large chunk of my post too, thinking what I wrote about having a job and getting paid while learning Japanese might be a bit insensitive towards someone who didn't have a job and who might never be able to get even the job I have. In the end I took a chance on leaving it in, as I didn't have a lot else to say outside of this. I feel kind of bad now that this turned out to be true, but I'm relieved you don't appear to have taken what I wrote as being overly insensitive.
Now that I know much more specifically what your situation is, I can't actually think right now of anything terribly helpful for you. You're right that it's hard for me to relate. I hope some of my ideas about listening practice do turn out to be helpful, if just listening might consume less energy than watching/reading stuff allowing you to spend more time learning. ^^ - Oh yeah, Collin's Easy Learn Japanese was one of the audio books I started listening to recently. However, I didn't get very far through it before I couldn't take any more... Especially what it said about こんにちは, saying to think of it as "corn itchy wow" and something about having itchy feet... Maybe I should give it a second chance, as it may not be that bad the whole way through. I think it might still be ok for learning some absolute basics, like a travellers guide of speaking Japanese.
Some of the other audio books I've liked are the "Teach Yourself" ones.
But I hope you get on much better with it than I have so far. ^^ 
Anyone have podcast channel recommendation for listening practice ?
