One of my goals for November is to write in Japanese every day for a month. I have been thinking about how to write in a foreign language if you don't have a native to correct you, and I thought that I would write about it today. If you are like me, writing is not..
Impersonation and language learning
Today's post is about speaking, which is rare on my blog! What triggered it is this video I found on YouTube: https://youtu.be/zgqcQ6Z9Mtw It was a commercial, and for once, I didn't skip it after 5 seconds. This Korean guy learns English by doing impersonations of Sherlock Holmes from the series by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss. I always..
My new study method: the One-week challenge/immersion!
I think I got it at last! The method that suits me best to learn a language. Learning Japanese on my own has been a mess of trials and errors, of abandoned study plans and seemingly revolutionary but unrealistic study methods. But somehow, it has been fun trying different things, and designing study plans is..
Back to study mode!
I am back, after a two-week break from writing my blog. Even though I promised myself that I would continue learning Japanese, I almost did nothing to learn or be immersed in Japanese during these two weeks... Some say that taking a break from time to time is not a bad thing and some say..
Read in Japanese: self-improvement books
I am mainly talking about novels on my blog, but I am also reading some non-fiction books. I realised some time ago that self-improvement books were surprisingly easy to read in Japanese and can be a good start for anyone looking for easy reads. Of course, I haven't read enough books of personal development to..
Learning Japan Prefectures
Since I started reading the news in Japanese, I am telling myself that I must learn Japan prefectures. I have finally taken the first step by doing my own map with furigana and English. Why learn Japan prefectures and region? I suppose that Japanese learners who studied Japanese at school or university have gone through..
My method for the JLPT reading part
Last week, I got the results of the second session of the JLPT (December 2017), and I was happy and relieved to see that I passed with 156 points! I thought that I would pass because, after the test, I felt that my performance was similar to what I did in July 2017, when I took..
Bullet Journal: daily log or how to spare willpower
Even if I have a lot of things I want to do, I often end up spending most of my time wondering what to do next, overwhelmed by the multitude of materials to study. Every time that I have time to study Japanese, I think that I should make the best of it but I..
Collecting collocations: how to take notes to improve one’s writing skills
I am concerned about how to improve my writing skills and I have tried a method that seems to work well. The idea is to thoroughly study an article in order to collect collocations and expressions that we can use for writing. Until now, I have entirely relied on Anki to learn new words. This..
How I chose my electronic dictionary and why I love it
I bought a Casio electronic dictionary some time ago and I am using it all the time. I was very afraid to put so much money in a device I wasn’t sure to use. But I am so grateful that I did! In this post, I explain how I chose my dictionary and all the great features it has.
Learning strategies: working on intonation
On the importance of intonation and how to work to improve it
Environment vs Commitment
For a language learner, immersing oneself in the target language is essential. But the environment is not as important as our attitude toward this environment. This is the difference between an active and a passive learner and the quality of our environment has nothing to do with it.