Author Archives: Ryan
Ask Ryan: Going Monolingual and Trusting Yourself
Today we have an e-mail from Alan, who has managed to get through what I think is the hardest part of learning Japanese: kanji. Now Alan is kind of worried about where to go from here. Here’s what he writes:
Ryan,
I’d be a liar if I claimed to be a long-term reader of your blog- I [...]
Moving On Up
Alright. Last time we talked, I was looking at this picture. These books were going to be the backbone of my study material over the course of my summer vacation while the students are off doing their thing.
For those of you who can read here, you can gather that I’m probably taking a bit of [...]
I Told You . . .
. . . That one day you’d need to know the kanji for crocodile.
「鰐に注意」
New post tomorrow.
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Posted in Fun Stuff 17 Comments
Not Welcoming Our Robot Masters
So I was wandering around on The Metropolitician’s web site (which is a highly recommended read for social commentary on the Koreas, in my opinion), and I was introduced to this little gem here.
I’ve actually foreseen this coming. I’ve told a couple of people about it, and now it’s actually coming true. I also expected [...]
It will come – Developing Meaning Over Time
For the longest time, I had no idea what 及んで meant. I’d do tons and tons of extensive reading, and I would see it all the time (I was reading particularly formal documents at the time, it’s a hint for you), but I would be frustrated because even though I obstensively knew the kanji and [...]
Posted in Extensive Reading, SRS 29 Comments
Play the Rules, Break the Rules, Make the Rules
Going the Distance
Apparently the last post was pretty popular. I was blown away by the activity on the blog, so I’m resolving to write this article as well in response.
I wrote last time about AJATT, and what I think is the real secret of the 10,000 sentences/hours. The purpose of the structure is that the structure lasts [...]
Posted in Language, Learning, Motivation 14 Comments
Life After 10,000
Life after 10,000 sentences and hours on the AJATT method.
I’ve been wanting to write this one for a while. Truth be told, I’ve been wanting to write it for over a year now, ever since I finished. I’ve wanted to write it before I even started the blog. There’s a couple of reasons why I [...]
Posted in Language, Learning, Motivation 23 Comments
Anki Tip: The Weekly Cycle
A cool trick I learned in the past few weeks to manage time. Here’s the backstory.
I’m a teacher, so naturally I do have to take a break from teaching myself languages and then go and teach languages to other people (namely English, although I do sometimes help other people learn Japanese). In addition, my class [...]
Posted in SRS 24 Comments
When Your Listening and Subs Don’t Match