Comments on: shifting goalposts http://japanese.nearlythere.com/2005/08/09/shifting-goalposts Notes from my self-study and my Japanese lessons Tue, 06 Jan 2009 04:32:19 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.2 by: Joshua http://japanese.nearlythere.com/2005/08/09/shifting-goalposts#comment-24 Sat, 13 Aug 2005 02:22:56 +0000 http://japanese.nearlythere.com/2005/08/09/shifting-goalposts#comment-24 Recently I've temporarily diverted my focus from learning japanese to learning all the ways to enable japanese input in linux and bsd. I have my reasons for wanting to do this. One goal I have is to make writing japanese on my PC as easy as it is on my phone. But my phone uses a super predictive input method that practically leads me along. If I hit the [1] key on my phone twice to produce: い the completion are is already offering me the following　words: 今　家　います　行き　いしよう　いつも　１　１－番　いや　 Suppose I choose 今　＝いま　meaning 'now' then it instantly, without me having to even start typing another syllable, provides me a list of words and particles that commonly follow directly after 今. And if I choose one of those, it continues. What one realizes quickly is how incredibly narrow the range of things are that one normally has to say when writing an email from your phone. The phone pretty much always knows what I was planning on saying. Recently I’ve temporarily diverted my focus from learning japanese to learning all the ways to enable japanese input in linux and bsd. I have my reasons for wanting to do this.

One goal I have is to make writing japanese on my PC as easy as it is on my phone. But my phone uses a super predictive input method that practically leads me along. If I hit the [1] key on my phone twice to produce: い

the completion are is already offering me the following　words:
今　家　います　行き　いしよう　いつも　１　１－番　いや　
Suppose I choose 今　＝いま　meaning ‘now’
then it instantly, without me having to even start typing another syllable, provides me a list of words and particles that commonly follow directly after 今. And if I choose one of those, it continues.

What one realizes quickly is how incredibly narrow the range of things are that one normally has to say when writing an email from your phone. The phone pretty much always knows what I was planning on saying.

]]> by: David http://japanese.nearlythere.com/2005/08/09/shifting-goalposts#comment-23 Fri, 12 Aug 2005 08:05:05 +0000 http://japanese.nearlythere.com/2005/08/09/shifting-goalposts#comment-23 Heather, That all seems right, and good luck! I'd recommend the Oxford Starter Japanese Dictionary, which has both hiragana/katakana and kanji. Now you're back at work, be sure to keep posting! David Heather,

That all seems right, and good luck! I’d recommend the Oxford Starter Japanese Dictionary, which has both hiragana/katakana and kanji.

Now you’re back at work, be sure to keep posting!

David

]]> by: teep http://japanese.nearlythere.com/2005/08/09/shifting-goalposts#comment-22 Wed, 10 Aug 2005 10:49:32 +0000 http://japanese.nearlythere.com/2005/08/09/shifting-goalposts#comment-22 The "right" way -- I know what you mean! Since I'm self-taught, I have some pretty bad gaps in my knowledge. There are words I hear/know but don't read/know, words I read/know but can't pronounce, buckets of words I can read but not write because I don't have the kanji for them... Sometimes I think that with a more organized course of study, I would not have these problems. I try to work on what is most frustrating me at the moment. Right now, vocabulary is the problem, particularly linking up kanji compounds with sound-and-meaning... so I'm making flashcards for that. Resources: I'm using the MIT quicktime movies (http://web.mit.edu/jpnet/ji/kuten/index.html) for how to write the characters properly. Not all kanji listed have movies, but most of 'em do. For vocabulary, I'm pulling words from the JLPT 4 list because they're words that at least someone thinks are useful for beginning students of the language. I got my list here: http://www.manythings.org/japanese/jlpt/ The “right” way — I know what you mean! Since I’m self-taught, I have some pretty bad gaps in my knowledge. There are words I hear/know but don’t read/know, words I read/know but can’t pronounce, buckets of words I can read but not write because I don’t have the kanji for them… Sometimes I think that with a more organized course of study, I would not have these problems.

I try to work on what is most frustrating me at the moment. Right now, vocabulary is the problem, particularly linking up kanji compounds with sound-and-meaning… so I’m making flashcards for that.

Resources: I’m using the MIT quicktime movies (http://web.mit.edu/jpnet/ji/kuten/index.html) for how to write the characters properly. Not all kanji listed have movies, but most of ‘em do.

For vocabulary, I’m pulling words from the JLPT 4 list because they’re words that at least someone thinks are useful for beginning students of the language. I got my list here: http://www.manythings.org/japanese/jlpt/

]]> by: Nuno Barreto http://japanese.nearlythere.com/2005/08/09/shifting-goalposts#comment-21 Tue, 09 Aug 2005 15:34:58 +0000 http://japanese.nearlythere.com/2005/08/09/shifting-goalposts#comment-21 The dictionary I have and recommend is "The Oxford Starter Japanese Dictionary". For each word, there is a furigana version and tha kanji version (if there is a kanji for the word. And no romanji, which is a good thing. The dictionary I have and recommend is “The Oxford Starter Japanese Dictionary”. For each word, there is a furigana version and tha kanji version (if there is a kanji for the word. And no romanji, which is a good thing.

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