Hey Guys! I'm Loretta / KemushiChan!
Welcome to 2017!
Yes, I know, it's already February!
If you are anything like me, that means by this point
you should have been studying and
instead you have probably given up already
on your New Year's resolutions...
You know what, it is only February
so there's plenty of time to start this year
off on the right foot.!
So today I would like to share with you guys
and confess a few more of my own
detrimental study habits.
Which is why, today I'm going to present:
7 Japanese Study Habits I'm Ditching in 2017!
These are the most common mistakes I've made
and continue to have made for years
So, let's get started!
The 1st, most common mistake I always make
is failing to even get into the conversation
in other words, "Being Unprepared".
When you live in Japan, one of the most
complaints you'll hear from other people in Japan
is "Japanese only speak English to me!!"
or "All I said is one word and they think [I'm so good]!"
When the truth is, for a lot of people,
when Japanese people do speak to you
in real Japanese at real speeds
half of us don't even know what they're saying
or how to respond anyway.
The rest of conversation just goes over your head.
Conversations and basic human interaction
is a lot more predictable than you think
and one of the ways to avoid freezing up
and avoid not being ready for a conversation
is to spend a few minutes in your morning, while you get ready
just rehearsing things you think you'll have to say.
I keep getting caught off guard and I realized
It's because I haven't been doing that recently.
So, my tip to you is:
to avoid freezing up,
rehearse your Japanese aloud before you go out.
Next, I am also guilty of:
CRAMMING!
I noticed that I tend to overuse one word in Japanese:
ISOGASHII or "busy".
I did it in English and now I do it in Japanese:
"Ugh, I'm so busy!"
= " cho isogashii!"
"saikin isogashii!"
What is with the humble bragging?!
I do it in English and Japanese...it's gotta stop!
Those are just excuses. I've seen my everyday!
I know what it is that I do everyday
and I'm not just too busy to study
the problem is, I just don't prioritize it!
You know, the real problem with cramming is
you may actually pass whatever test you crammed for
or you may get through whatever you last-minute prepared for
but in the long term
whatever it is that you shoved into your brain
is going to bounce right off of it
and be forgotten in about a month!
Back in High School, it was different
I had to study Japanese and work with it everyday
because I had classes everyday
and that was a lot more beneficial.
Those are the things I remember even to this day.
The things I was constantly seeing every single day.
So my advice to you is:
yeah, cramming may help,
but in the long run, if you really want to be able to speak a language
and really build and be able to use it in the future
DO NOT CRAM.
Study a little bit everyday.
The next thing I'm guilty of
is buying too many things JUST BECAUSE they're Japanese
I'm talking about apps, books, NOTEBOOKS especially!
These are just 5 I've gotten in the last 2 months
I've already got all of these empty notebooks this year
I don't even like Star Wars?!
YEAH I SAID IT
The moment I see a Japanese book I'm like
Oh it's Japanese...so I should buy it!
But I don't actually need it?!
I don't actually use it?!
You don't need all of that???
The problem is, you spend all this money on stuff
and books that you think you need
but before you even bought them
were you studying to begin with??
Buying all this stuff doesn't make you more fluent
if you weren't really trying to study to begin with!
So before you try to figure out what to buy
figure out what it is you need to learn
and then see what tools can help that goal.
I mean seriously, sometimes I open my closet like
"Who are you?!" 👻 and
"HOW LONG HAVE I HAD THIS BOOK?!"
First, work with what you have around you already
and then go from there!
When I DO study,
one of the most common mistakes I make is
obsessing over every iteration of every kanji
it's this idea that I have to learn every single
Japanese word that I encounter
the moment that I encounter it
but obsessing over every bit of Japanese that hits you
is just going to exhaust you
and probably not going to stick.
So one of the most common words in Japanese: SUKI (to like)
If you look it up in a dictionary, you'll find readings like
SUKI, KONOMU, YOI, KOU
and suddenly you're like "WAIT I thought it was just 1 word?!"
"Which ones am I supposed to learn?!"
"WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!"
Look at how many sentences there are. Look at this:
Kanari ooku no amerikajin ga sushi wo KONOMU.
Himono wa, watashi no KONOMI ni awanai
SUKIkirai iwanaide zembu tabenasai.
sono geki wa KOUHYOU wo eta.
Kono eiga wa, kodomo ni KOMONASHIKUNAI eikyou wo ataeru kamoshirenai
Even one of the most common, simple kanji
Has SOOO many different sounds and sentences
And you really think you're supposed to
memorize them all like THAT??
For kanji, pick one or two readings
For words, pick 1 or 2 sentences to learn along WITH the word
because honestly, you can always come back later
its better not to bog yourself down.
Just looking at all the readings there it's like
No wonder you don't study everyday!
Learning all this would take you ALL day!
AIN'T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT!
Next is one I'm most guilty of is
STUDYING ONLINE too much!
Just like stop and listen for a second
If you're only like clicking
and browsing
and watching and listening
but you're never actually saying anything
chances are, YOU ARE NOT LEARNING JAPANESE!
For me, when I study online
I'm usually only taking in information
which is very passive and it's not
going to help you learn to actually SPEAK Japanese.
To do that you have to actually practice
and that's something I need to get back into.
Another mistake is Studying the Wrong Content
If you are an intermediate to advanced speaker
you probably know what I'm talking about but
I will pick up almost any book or magazine
just because it's Japanese
but it may have nothing to do with the types of conversations
or content that I'd like to be able to speak about
or perform in....or about
...that was great English.
Like for me, I want to learn more about coding
and design and graphic design
but I don't own anything in Japanese on those topics
so, I can't talk about it!
For example, I want to get a job and talk about business!
...but all I've bought so far
is novels and nothing relevant to that at all!
People are not typically fluent in all parts of a language
they focus on the parts they need for their daily lives.
So for you, if that's a hobby or career
or just something fun you like to talk about
start focusing on THOSE specific topics
so you can do that in the foreign language you're trying to speak.
The last one is probably the biggest one
that will slow your progress in learning Japanese
and that is studying the wrong fuction of languages.
I made a video in the past called "Am I Fluent?"
that talks about this, but basically,
with languages you can SPEAK, LISTEN, WRITE or READ
When you SPEAK or WRITE you create language
and when you LISTEN or READ you're just taking it in.
Most people study very passively.
They are reading to things and listening to things
but they're not actually practicing
producing the language.
So if you want to speak, you need to practice speaking.
You need an audio diary or a native speaker to work with
If you want to be able to write better
you need to practice writing
keep a diary, start writing!
Find someone who can check you!
To get better you don't need to study a language
you need to practice it.
And that's definitely something I need to improve this year!
So those are my 7 biggest road blocks
when it comes to learning Japanese
1 Not Rehearsing 2 Cramming
3 Buying Useless Things 4 Obsessing over Kanji
5 Studying Online too much
6 Studying the Wrong Content and
7 Studying the Wrong Way
Don't do these things!!
Which one are you guilty of?
Me?...ALL OF THEM!
But we still have 10 more months this year
to get a little bit better.
At least, that's what I keep telling myself
LET'S DO THIS!
That's all for today!
If you have questions/opinions leave me a comment
or send them over twitter! (@KemushiJP)
Thanks for watching this video!
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See you guys next time!!