original thread: [archived] ウードカットのStudy Log
College is over, life is stabilizing. Let’s just say, we’ve never been so back. My strategy and philosophy about learning has changed substantially since I first started in 2022, but my goal remains the same. That is, to become PC-98 literate in the minimum amount of time.
After my first “failed” attempt, I have developed what I think will be a much more effective strategy towards Japanese literacy. It is now my belief that the fastest way to become literate, is actually to learn the spoken language before or alongside the written language, and not to focus solely on writing. I am not a linguist, and I think I will fail to articulate why I believe this in this post, but I absolutely think it’s actually the case that many of the aspects that are most confusing about the written language, i.e. memorizing conjugations, will become obvious if I focus on learning the spoken language as a 1st priority. It is also my belief that learning the spoken language should be much easier than the written language, given I find the correct Japanese content to liberally consume. Having a native speaker on-hand would be even better, but probably I will have to settle with text-based chatting later on rather than having that up front.
I found a grammar book that’s made for individual use rather than a classroom setting, so that’s changed my tune on the use of a grammar book.
I’ve spent the past week powering through chapter 3 of Tae Kim’s guide for about an 45 mins a day, and feel ready to build up my vocab again to try and make another run at this.