**You will find, further down this post, this thread’s initial post from September

21, 2010.**



My log for 2011 (TAC 2011 Team あ) starts on post 58, any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=23061&PN=1&TPN=8" >page 8.

Languages studied: Japanese, Spanish, Norwegian, Esperanto, German.



My log for 2012 (TAC 2012 Team ne nur) starts on language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=23061&TPN=32">post 249, page 32. My new

objectives for the year 2012 are written there.

Languages to be studied: Japanese, German, Esperanto, Finnish, Swahili, maybe

Korean.





Some notable posts that received a significant amount of votes:



My technique, post 83, TID=23061&PN=1&TPN=11">page 11

(Amended on post 126, language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=23061&PN=1&TPN=16">pa ge 16)

TID=23061&TPN=20&KW=self%2Dtalk#325750">Self-talk Exercise

How speaking helps improve listening: post 180, language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=23061&PN=0&TPN=23">pa ge 23





Some Norwegian posts starting on post 102, language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=23061&PN=0&TPN=18">pa ge 18

Some Esperanto posts starting on post 238, language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=23061&TPN=30">page 30

Sprachprofi’s evaluation of my German, post 247, language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=23061&PN=0&TPN=31">pa ge 31





Various links:



My main webpage

about pitch (under construction; hosted by Sprachprofi)

Japanese word frequency list

My Japanese electronic dictionary

Japanese subtitles





------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------



Sept 21, 2010 -- Introductory post



As a young branch heavy with buds, I shall bow under pressure and create my own

Japanese learning log.

However, I do so with reservation as only time will tell if I can maintain it

regularly.



Profile



I started learning Japanese in August 2008; self-study with occasional tutors.

I took an Advanced class in Sept. 2009 at the Cultural Centre (too inefficient).



Level (Sept. 2010): Advanced (C1). Back in March, my tutor determined that I was

B2/C1. I'd venture I'm now firmly at or above C1, seeing as she constantly tells me how

impressed she is with my rate of progress (I'll gladly take her word for it).



[EDIT, Sept 2011: I was probably B2 back then.]



Philosophy



To me, language is a social tool and I am convinced that the brain learns languages

best in a social

context. As a result, I put more emphasis on oral communication with people. I have

little interest in

literature.



Objectives



Long-term : near-native level.

Mid-term : translation from Japanese within 5 years from start date (3 years from

now).

Short-term : 1) Fix common errors and improve vocabulary, 2) refine speech (sound

more educated,

refine politeness levels), 3) improve pitch production. Increase portion of time I

spend thinking in Japanese.



Process



Language Partners



I currently have 3 language partners and my meetings with them form the bulk of my

learning. All meetings

follow a basic pattern whereby we help eachother for one hour each. Each is responsible

for preparing their

own portion.



I meet Partner 1 weekly since May 2009. Although we set out to work for 2 hours, our

meetings always

extend to 3 or 4 hours.



P2 teaches my wife and kids, and then sits with me for an hour afterwards. Since she

will occasionally

prepare lessons, I consider her more of a tutor.



P3 and I only meet sporadically, every second week or so. She speaks virtually

no English.



Other activities



I whimsically alternate between various sources, without structure:



-podcasts (japanesepod101 provides great exposure to real language)

-dramas (with some shadowing)

-lang-8

-other Internet resources (newsmanga, tangorin, lingq, smart.fm, Yahoo! Chiebukuro,

etc.)

-Anki: not a big fan of SRS, but I enjoy this workflow: look up words in Tangorin, save

to vocabulary list,

create a list every two weeks and export to Anki

-occasional mangas (reading 玄米先生の弁当箱 lately, mostly on the bus)



Purpose of this log



I hope this log helps me highlight my achievements and double-underline my failures, as

I cross-out

linguistic difficulties and issues one by one. I will document difficulties I encounter

and need to work on. I

might maintain a master list of issues.



Edited by Arekkusu on 22 May 2012 at 12:07am

6 persons have voted this message useful



