lucienotebooks-blog

[lucienotebooks-blog]

Kanji radical flashcards

Recently, I made some flashcards to study kanji radicals. I found the list of all the radicals on Wikipedia and I made 42 flashcards for what they called the "top 75%" which means they represents 75% of jouyou kanji.

I will be studying them with the Leitner method (an analog SRS method). I bought an address card box, I thought it was the quickest and easiest way to have a Leitner system. I did not want to spend too much time or money on krafting a box with dividers and on making cards. It is kind of ugly, not "study inspiration" worthy but I am fine with this lol

I used some washi tape to identify the cards by their jouyou frequency: red for the top 25%, green for the top 50% and blue for the top 75% (each category includes the preceding one). I used a white pen to mark their number in the Wikipedia table and a black pen to write down the radical and its pronunciation on the front and its meaning on the back, nothing fancy.

I am thinking on doing this later for kanji and vocabulary but I worry about the number of cards. I should use an app like Anki but I tend to not use apps and stuff like that and I really like writing, paper, pens etc.

That was all for today. Have a nice weekend! (And I am sorry for that brutal article ending, I have been thinking on it for the last 10 minutes but I have not found any smooth transitioning ^^')

[lucienotebooks-blog]

This weekend I studied the て verb form (consecutive actions) and some other grammar points in the lesson.

I started to learn the kanji radicals. It seems that their usefulness is a bit controversial from what I saw on the internet.

They are primarily use as keys to look up word in a Japanese dictionary. But I thought it may be useful to know them to learn complex kanji, even if the meaning and pronunciation cannot be deduced from the kanji's composition. At the very best, the key can tell you that a kanji is about water, grass or something like that, but it supposes you know which component of the kanji is the key.

I thought I should try it because instead on focusing on the traits one by one, I would probably be able to remember a kanji by its composition, I think it is easier to remember 4 components than 23 traits.

That's all. Have a nice weekend ending and a nice coming week !

[lucienotebooks-blog]

Study session #2

Hi everyone !

Soooo, this was the second time I sat at my desk to study Japanese. I am proud of myself, even if I am still not following my study plan... But I am thinking, either I am not the type of person that can follow a plan or my study plan was just plain shibiiiiip...

I had a day off on Friday so instead of studying on Saturday and Sunday, I studied on Friday and Saturday (innuendo: tomorrow, I am going to be very lazy !). 

Yesterday, I studied kanji - three in the morning, three in the afternoon. I actually enjoyed studying them. I already knew them and their associated vocabulary but for some pronunciations, my memory was kind of blurred. I think it is my weak point, I associate the kanji and the meaning easily but the pronunciation does not stick so well.

I wrote each kanji and its basic vocabulary (in the book Kanji in Context) in my kanji note book. You can see that the page is folded, so I can hide a part to test myself (either kanji -> pronunciation/meaning or pronunciation/meaning -> kanji). Since I am bad at remembering the pronunciation, I focus on the kanji -> pronunciation testing. I also used an old notebook to write over and over the kanji/vocabulary and their pronunciations. On the picture above, you can see some of them are framed in pink, it means it was difficult for me to remember the pronunciation.

I have noticed that because I am writing them over and over, and quickly too, my handwriting can lack rigour... I do not if it is "allowed”, like for the latin alphabet we learn how to form the letter and then our handwriting changes and can become pretty messy, or if I should really focus on making them neat. I mean, my 四 sometimes looks like a Japanese sandal...

This morning, I studied three more kanji and in the early afternoon I studied grammar. I did a lesson of the book Try! N5 and also searched additionnal information in the Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar. 

I worked especially on 〜が ほしい (”to want something”) and my grammar book mentionned some usages to be careful of. I could see why ほしくないです could be taken as rude, even in French or English, just saying “No, I don’t want some” could be rude, that’s why we tend to say “No, thank you” (which is what けっこうです means). But as for  〜が ほしいですか, I was more puzzled. Is it because it is too direct/inquisitive ? If anyone knows, please let me know, thank you. 

That is all for today. Thank you for reading my post. Have a nice weekend !

See you !

[lucienotebooks-blog]

Hi, I noticed you own the ‘dictionary of basic japanese grammar’ which I just bought! How do you go about using it in your language learning? I.e. do you just look up something when you want more information or do you choose a subject and study it from the book or do you use it differently?

Hi !

I study grammar with another textbook and for each grammar point, I check it in the dictionary to look for additional information (even if I already understood the grammar point).

Sometimes there is more than one entry for the same term. For example, の has four entries if I remember correctly. In that case, I take a separate sheet of paper and do a sort of mind map to gather all the different meanings of the term at the same place.

Also, if an entry has a related entry, for example one meaning of の is related to こと which are two ways to nominalise a verb, I mark it down on my current mind map and create a new one for the related entry.

I do this even if it means I may be learning grammar that is not in the JLPT level that I am studying. Because, first, I do not intend to take the test, it is just a way to structure my learning process; second, because I learn better when I know right way the differences and similarities between things.

I hope I have answered your question. Have a nice day !

[lucienotebooks-blog]

Study session #1

This weekend, I felt tired so I did not do any "intensive" pomodoro, I kept it simple/slow/chill/whatever, I just studied while watching Terrace House (not really watching, more like listening and glancing from time to time). I have watched the available seasons on Netflix countless times, I use it as a background noise when I study Japanese.

I finished a lesson (from TRY! N5 book) and a mind map (from entries of A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar related to the lesson) I had started months ago.

I drew a silly comic about a cat for my boyfriend and I wrote the lines in Japanese (he does not speak Japanese but he is curious about it).

I read a page of Minikui Ahiru no Ko (The Ugly Duckling - Hans Christian Andersen), I should have take some notes for the unknown vocabulary but I did not...

I reviewed the grammar notes I previously had made.

I start studying one of the scarce ressources written in French (not translated from English) for learning Japanese. A book called Des particules japonaises (Japanese particles) by Reiko Shimamori. I only did the first chapter on the particles wa and ga. I do not think the purpose of this book is to teach particles to learners but rather to explain it to linguists who do not speak Japanese or to further the comprehension of those who already know them (and who also have a prior knowledge of linguistics terminology).

I did not study kanji...

So, this weekend have not been a success regarding following my study plan, but I do not think it was a failure either because at least I have been productive...

I tried to take a photo of what I have done and used but obviously, I do not know how to take nice picture of my study session yet. Bear with me please, I will try to get better at this ! x)

See you !

[lucienotebooks-blog]

Self introduction

Basics

Woman

French

28 years old

Web developer

Ravenclaw: I have never been studious though. It may come from my nerdiness for linguistics, literature and arts

INFP: I guess it says it a lot about me, I am bad at expressing myself but I am good at understanding others

Language levels

Native in French

C1-C2 in English

A2.2 in Spanish (but it is dying in my memory since 2008)

A1.1 in German (also dying since 2011)

A2.2 in Japanese (but with obvious gaps of knowledge), should be around a JLPT N4 level

Goals

To have a solid JLPT N3 level by the time I am 30 (August 2020)

To be able to communicate with natives in Japanese when I am going there

To be able to read novels, watch movies etc. in Japanese without relying on translations

To start learning Chinese and Korean (long term goals. I am going to focus on Japanese first)

Study plan

As I said, I have gaps to fill, especially in the kanji area… I need to study the N5-N4 materials before diving into the N3 ones. Also, I am not comfortable speaking to people I do not know, especially in a foreign language, so I have to gain confidence by speaking aloud, alone, to myself.

I tend to plan too much and to not be able to keep up with it. I know I do not have the will to study after a workday, some days I do not even have the spirit to chill by playing video games or drawing. So, I am going to “book” two study sessions on the weekends.

Session 1: 4 pomodoro (1 pomodoro = 25 minutes followed by a 5 minutes break)

#1 Testing myself (exercises, mock tests, quizzes etc.)

#2 Learning new grammar point(s)

#3 Learning new kanji/vocabulary (I want to learn words for each kanji)

#4 Shadowing

Session 2: 4 pomodoro

#1 Reading something (short texts, ads, news articles etc.)

#2 Writing something (like a diary)

#3 Review previous grammar points

#4 Review previous kanji/vocabulary 

See you

[lucienotebooks-blog]

First post

I have browsed Tumblr for quite a long time but I have never created an account. I am trying to understand how it works from this side 🤔

Anyway, when I created my account tonight, the form made some suggestions regarding my username and I found them hilarious. Some of them did not even make sense. But really, LoudFartStudent was the best 🤣 I thought I should use it, just for fun... But I did not 😅

I am going to make an introduction of myself and the purpose of this Tumblr soon.

See you 🤓