Comments on: What A Forest Monk Can Teach You About Language Learning

By: thomas

thomas — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 06:17:07 +0000

Sorry guys for being so late on the comment replies. There’s an infant in the house :)

rikker: Reading novels is a good way to study while not making it seem like studying. I don’t do enough of it though. Actually, with a Japanese novel, I find that I have my nose in the dictionary more than in the book. It’s a side effect of not knowing all 2000 some-odd characters yet. It’s a big obstacle, because first I have to look up how to read the word before I can look up the definition.

Steve: Thanks for the kind words! I hope you’ll come back to read in the future.

Kelly: I’ve often studied on long train rides too, when I can get a seat that is. I used to try to keep vocab lists in notebooks, but I found that when I came back to them it was a mess. Now I draw funny little pictures for vocab words instead. Helps them stick in my head better, plus there are only eight per page at most so I don’t get lost in a sea of my bad handwriting.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 16:06:48 +0000

I certainly agree that it’s important to be consistent in your language learning. One month of hardcore studying followed by a month (or more) of no studying is no more effective than doing a little each day and every day.

I have a job that keeps me extremely busy but I try to find at least 15 minutes each day to look at my study books or simply go over vocabulary I’d learnt the previous day. Studying on a busy rush-hour train is not the ideal place but sometimes that’s the only time I can find to delve into my language studies. I keep a little notebook of new vocabulary in my handbag so that I can revise new words when I have a spare moment.

If all else fails, I try to listen to some Japanese podcasts at work or at home or simply watch an episode or two of one of my favourite anime series, Bleach. Any input is better than none. ;)

By: Steve Kaufmann

Steve Kaufmann — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 02:30:34 +0000

Thomas,

Congratulations on a very attractive and interesting blog. I would be happy to link with you. I will speak to Mark and figure out how we get you on our blogroll.

By: rikker

rikker — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 16:21:41 +0000

Nice post. This is why language learning outside of an immersion-type environment is so difficult. Nothing to force you to keep at it. Funny you mention Harry Potter–the first book in that series was one of the earliest books I tried reading in Thai, and probably like the third Thai book I read cover to cover.

In fact, this was my favorite way to grow my vocabulary: read translations of books I’ve read before in English. You can pick up a ton from context, though expect to still use the dictionary a lot for the first few chapters. It’s hard to get into the story sometimes if the language is too dense (I started The Hobbit in Thai two years ago and still haven’t made it past chapter 2), but once you do the momentum of the story will get you through to the end. It’s fun to look back after you’ve finished the book and see all the words you underlined in the first pages that you’re now able to use in daily conversation. It’s a great feeling of accomplishment. :)