Study Time

I have been extraordinarily bad with my blog lately.

I am actually studying to take the JLPT 3 in July. I am not really starting to study now, but I am more seriously starting as of now (like 4-5 hours a day - whenever I am not in class). I have had no formal training, classes, or anything. Pretty much the only thing I have going for me is that I took Chinese years ago and some of the kanji is similar. Oh and I live in Japan. I guess that is a pretty big influence on me as well.
Well in any case, I have been devoting the time I would normally take to write in here or put pictures up or promote it into studying lately. I will of course keep you updated with my progress and results as it happens, but for now I thought I would share some awesome learning sites for everyone who is learning more or less anything.

First I would like to recommend Memrise a pretty good site for pretty much anything you want to learn, but especially languages. I really like their JLPT section featured by JLPT Boot Camp. This site is really awesome because it has a strong focus on long term memory. You first start out and learn your words through a series of multiple choice and typing from memory as well as a repetitive vocalization of the word. And then you progress into testing yourself hours later on how well you can recall the words. And then you are tested again at different intervals depending on how well you remember the words. Like if you remember a word every time, the intervals would seem something like 4 hours, 12 hours, 2 days, 4 days, 7 days...etc but if you forget at 7 days, and you quiz yourself, the next interval might be set at 4 days so as to prompt your memory sooner and ingrain that long term recall. Pretty neat right? Not enough for you? They also have a little side scoreboard that lets you track your progress through the week, month, and all of time versus the other users. It would be a lie if I told you I wasn't secretly competitive about it...

Next I would like to recommend Study Blue this is another type of flashcard site that track your progress for individual cards and a deck as a whole. You can either make your own flash cards or search and practice with someone else's pre-made deck. An additional bonus is that when you make your own it will prompt you with several pre-made selections for the definition side if you should choose. This is quite handy because there is a mobile app for it as well. So you can study on your computer as well as on your phone. It is pretty nifty in that it saves where ever you happen to stop, so you can resume your study session from where you ended it. Even from your phone to computer.

Anki is one that I have, but I have not used yet as I have been so busy with memrise that I just have not found my way there yet, but I have been told that it is a site much like memrise and will focus on long term memory storage. I will probably start using it more once I have completed all my memrise flashcards. It also has a mobile app that you have to pay for (thus deterring me).

Next is the JLPTbootcamp. I originally found their stuff through the Memrise site and have yet to really explore their site, but I can tell you that I have their podcasts on my computer.

Lastly is Japanesepod101 I even got a premium account with them, not that you need it. But I have their stuff on my phone as well and it is perfect to listen to on the way to and from work in the morning. It is a really nice way to remember certain things and make yourself feel better about knowing them. I really like the format that they have done things in, both English and Japanese. The Japanese is not fast and is spoken in a really neutral way so that it is nice and easy to understand. Also they have some pretty good tips for the JLPT in their podcasts.

I have also been using the Genki book. Well I have two books. One is the Genki book(s) and the other is a pretty good book called JBridge. It might be some kind of Cambridge knock off? Well either way, it is a pretty good book, but it requires more effort as more is required of you. You really have to study what they want you to do. Both books have CDs to test you listening as well as reading and writing. Genki is nicer in that it really takes the time to explain the grammatical points to you in English. I think Genki is a bit slow, but that might be due since I started on the other one and then decided I needed a little more help before I continued it. It is said that after you finish the Genki series you should be ready for the JLPT 3. Well let's hope that is true!

I will update and post more as I find them and decide upon their usefulness