Claymore chapter 93

Claymore was one manga that I started to read in English and then reread it completely in Japanese. Definitely worth it. Specially these last chapters are getting more and more tense.

Professor Layton for DS

Warning: This post is for you, even if you are not a gamer/anime freak.

Unless you lived under a rock, like me, you probably heard about Professor Layton games for Nintendo DS. I just started it yesterday. I'm in the 7th riddle (very beginning). It is an adventure game that requires you to solve small riddles, unrelated to the story, in order to progress. The game has an inexplicable charisma.
I strongly recommend it. Even if you are not a gamer.

Finished Jump Ultimate Stars, for nintendo DS

Today I finished Finished Jump Ultimate Stars, for Nintendo DS. That means, I got all characters, played all the scenarios in the story mode and reached all the objectives for each of them.

It is a fighting game, but it has a mission description for each stage, that requires understanding. Character names and skills are all written in Japanese. But the most important is that the game is addictive. Specially for this last one, I strongly recommend it.

One of my favorite characters in the game is Allen Walker, wich I knew it was from D.Gray-Man, but I never watched it. Now I'm doing it. It also seems like a nice series. I still not recommend it, but definitely try Allen when playing Jump Ultimate Stars.

Caught up to Evangelion

Wheew, for EVA I had to use the dictionary for some terms. I thought that EVA would be one of the hardest series to understand, but maybe because it is so familiar for me (I've seen the anime + the movie a 100 times) it was easier then Naruto. Wich btw, remembered me that I still need to read that last One Piece.

Caughting up to Naruto and One Piece

I had read Naruto until volume 44 in English. Now, last week, I've read the volumes 45 and 46 in Japanese. For One Piece there are still 1.5 volumes left.

On how to learn Japanese: 2nd phase

I wanted to go to Japan, but today I assumed a great commitment. This commitment will keep me where I am for at least 3 more years.

Reaching fluency was an urgent matter, but now that things are different I'm here to announce the second phase of my Japanese learning.

I decided to stop worrying about how many hours, how many words, how much time, what dictionaries to use, what kind of input is best, how much I got better with how much time.

I'm glad with the Japanese I got until now. I discovered I can read manga and 小説 just for fun. And I'll keep doing that. For fun, not for learning purposes.

I'm confident that just by doing that, in a few years (not 18 months anymore, but just in time for my real goals), I'll be fluent.

AJATT quiz

Recently the following thread appeared in kanji.koohii.com forum.
http://forum.koohii.com/viewtopic.php?id=3360

I felt compelled to answer.

1. How many facts (production and recognition are only 1 fact) do you have in your SRS?

3937 seen facts, 482 unseen. Taking off RTK.

2. What sentences have you and are you putting into your SRS?

Half from dictionary, about ~200 are names., others are from
anime/dorama/newspapers. I have not kept track of data.

3. Do you do production (audio/hiragana to kanji) and/or recognition (kanji to meaning) or something else? Is there an order (eg production and then recognition)?

I do only recognition. My cards are full kanji, I have the readings
and Japanese definitions in the answer field.

4. Do you use any kind of special techniques when you review an item with your SRS? eg. dictation, role playing etc.

The movie method for unknown readings. I use no special review system for it.

5. How many cards on average do you add to you deck per day? Or if life is getting in the way of this, once things settle down how many do you intend to add per day?

At total, 8.5/day. With peaks of 80 cards/day and valleys of no cards at all.

6. How much exposure (immersion) to Japanese do get (or intend to get) on average each day or week? In what form?

3-4 hours/day.
Mainly from anime, doramas, Jmovies, newspapers, 2chan, 知恵袋, etc.

7. Describe your level including any strengths and weaknesses.

I can read the news, but I can't decipher them only by listening.
I can read light novels, but I need the dictionary much more for
them than for the news.
I've took 5 months to read one light novel(ハルヒ涼宮の憂鬱),
but now I'm at 30% of my second one (十二国記), after 1 week.
I can read almost anything from Internet, with an
occasional dictionary lookup, but I can only type simple posts.
I can understand understand some doramas perfectly even without Jsubs,
but there are still doramas than I can't understand even 30%
and I can't speak much more than I can write.
Same for anime.
I'm playing trough FFIV remake for the DS with almost 100% understanding,
if you take of the hiragana items.

8. Are you satisfied with your progress and the techniques you are using?

Quite satisfied. The only painful part is the SRS review time.
Adding news sentences is fun.
Currently I only read, watch and listen things I like.

9. Are you satisfied with your level?

Nope. I'm not even close to my goals.

10. How far do you want to go with Japanese?

Native-like ability for listening, reading and writing.
Strong oratory skills.

11. How confident are you of getting there?

Strongly confident.

12. From when you started adding items to your SRS, aside from your process evolving bit by bit, are there any major things you would do again differently if you could?

I'd like to try the movie method instead of RTK.
I'd avoid rikai-chan. It is more addictive than cigar.

13. How long have you been studying?
13 months, ~15 days.