Comments on: Why Learning Japanese Can Be Frustrating http://micah.cowan.name/2009/04/17/japanese-language/why-learning-japanese-can-be-frustrating/ The random ramblings of Micah Cowan. Programmer, musician, typesetting enthusiast, gamer… Sun, 04 Dec 2011 12:15:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: micah.cowan.name » Why Learning Japanese Can Be Frustrating, Part Two http://micah.cowan.name/2009/04/17/japanese-language/why-learning-japanese-can-be-frustrating/#comment-122914 micah.cowan.name » Why Learning Japanese Can Be Frustrating, Part Two Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:27:41 +0000 http://micah.cowan.name/?p=182#comment-122914 [...] the frustrations of learning the Japanese language. The foregoing assumes you’ve already read part one (though you should be able to get along without it: it’ll just start somewhat [...] [...] the frustrations of learning the Japanese language. The foregoing assumes you’ve already read part one (though you should be able to get along without it: it’ll just start somewhat [...]

]]> By: Micah http://micah.cowan.name/2009/04/17/japanese-language/why-learning-japanese-can-be-frustrating/#comment-118130 Micah Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:09:49 +0000 http://micah.cowan.name/?p=182#comment-118130 I've often been grateful that I learned English as a native speaker. I think English as a spoken language would be very tough to learn. It doesn't have gendered nouns or verbs, nor as many conjugations as some languages like maybe Russian and Greek, but the rules that it does have, it never sticks to. I think learning to read English would be almost as hard as learning to read Japanese: some of the same things I'm going to gripe about in part two have analogies in English (such as, when you see the word "read", should it rhyme with "red" or "reed"? and what's up with "pint" anyway, and "though" and "tough" and "cough" and "bough"?). And unlike Japanese, our spoken language may be almost as screwed-up as our writing system. I’ve often been grateful that I learned English as a native speaker. I think English as a spoken language would be very tough to learn. It doesn’t have gendered nouns or verbs, nor as many conjugations as some languages like maybe Russian and Greek, but the rules that it does have, it never sticks to. I think learning to read English would be almost as hard as learning to read Japanese: some of the same things I’m going to gripe about in part two have analogies in English (such as, when you see the word “read”, should it rhyme with “red” or “reed”? and what’s up with “pint” anyway, and “though” and “tough” and “cough” and “bough”?). And unlike Japanese, our spoken language may be almost as screwed-up as our writing system.

]]> By: best4future http://micah.cowan.name/2009/04/17/japanese-language/why-learning-japanese-can-be-frustrating/#comment-118101 best4future Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:41:40 +0000 http://micah.cowan.name/?p=182#comment-118101 Not only learning Japanese can be hard, learning English as a second language can be frustrating too. I learned English as a second language, so I understand investing in becoming a bilingual can be time-consuming. I always try to find the most efficient way to learn a second language. Right now I am teaching my baby to learn Chinese, hoping she will become a bilingual in the future and not worry about spending lot time and money in learning a second language.  Not only learning Japanese can be hard, learning English as a second language can be frustrating too. I learned English as a second language, so I understand investing in becoming a bilingual can be time-consuming. I always try to find the most efficient way to learn a second language.

Right now I am teaching my baby to learn Chinese, hoping she will become a bilingual in the future and not worry about spending lot time and money in learning a second language. 

]]> By: Micah http://micah.cowan.name/2009/04/17/japanese-language/why-learning-japanese-can-be-frustrating/#comment-117820 Micah Sun, 19 Apr 2009 07:14:26 +0000 http://micah.cowan.name/?p=182#comment-117820 Hi Tim, Thanks for the links, your site looks interesting. Yes, I do plan to discuss techniques for learning kanji; my "technique" is still a work in progress, however, as I'm still very much in the first few-hundred stages of learning kanji. But I've had a lot of opportunity to think about what works and what doesn't for me, and what I like about existing systems, and what I believe to be lacking in them. I hope to talk more about that in a follow-up article. Hi Tim,

Thanks for the links, your site looks interesting.

Yes, I do plan to discuss techniques for learning kanji; my “technique” is still a work in progress, however, as I’m still very much in the first few-hundred stages of learning kanji. But I’ve had a lot of opportunity to think about what works and what doesn’t for me, and what I like about existing systems, and what I believe to be lacking in them. I hope to talk more about that in a follow-up article.

]]> By: Tim Chambers http://micah.cowan.name/2009/04/17/japanese-language/why-learning-japanese-can-be-frustrating/#comment-117698 Tim Chambers Sat, 18 Apr 2009 09:49:38 +0000 http://micah.cowan.name/?p=182#comment-117698 Micah, I was interested in reading your blog about learning Japanese. I am curious to know your method for learning Kanji. I have tried rote memory with flash cards and learned a couple dozen before giving up, out of sheer boredom with rote learning. Several years later I hit on a way to teach the Latin derivations to Japanese students by decoding Latin morphemes into Kanji. After rewriting 3,000 words for a course I do on the net, I realized I had learned about 400 Kanji in the two months it took me to do it. With your interest in things cryptological, you might like to check out my blog on the subject, especially the explanation page. When that project was finished, I turned to learning Kanji again and set up a website using word game software in place of e-flashcards. You have the url for the Kanji classes, the blog is at http://kanjiofenglish.com. Like you, I'm a mac man but my knowledge of Unix is confined to to the things I need to do on the Monitor. Micah,

I was interested in reading your blog about learning Japanese. I am curious to know your method for learning Kanji. I have tried rote memory with flash cards and learned a couple dozen before giving up, out of sheer boredom with rote learning. Several years later I hit on a way to teach the Latin derivations to Japanese students by decoding Latin morphemes into Kanji. After rewriting 3,000 words for a course I do on the net, I realized I had learned about 400 Kanji in the two months it took me to do it. With your interest in things cryptological, you might like to check out my blog on the subject, especially the explanation page. When that project was finished, I turned to learning Kanji again and set up a website using word game software in place of e-flashcards. You have the url for the Kanji classes, the blog is at http://kanjiofenglish.com. Like you, I’m a mac man but my knowledge of Unix is confined to to the things I need to do on the Monitor.

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