試験を受かった!

Saturday, March 1st, 2008

やった!

d=====( ̄∇ ̄*)bイエーイd(* ̄∇ ̄)=====b

I passed JLPT3 with 70%, a comfortable pass.
That listening score is low, but not bad considering I don’t think I really understood anything. But I would really have preferred to pass that section as well.
I must do some work on it.
JLPT2 next…
…decade sometime. It’s a huge leap.

Adventures in Heisig • week 2

Sunday, February 17th, 2008

…in which I stray from the path

Heisig isn’t really working for me straight from the book. So I’ve decided on my own Shiawase system. It takes longer. So it’s not the speed system that Heisig mk1 might be.

What I’ve decided to do is incorporate it into more standard learning. I go beyond the keyword and kanji and I look up Jack Halperns keyword in the Kanji Learners Dictionary, because I don’t trust Heisig sometimes, and I believe Halpern is more accurate. I look up the onyomi and kunyomi. Most importantly I look up example words. Preferably words I already know, and preferably compounds.
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Adventures in Heisig • day 3

Saturday, February 9th, 2008

…in which I persevere.

But I wonder if it’s truly worth it.
I find the kanji character can be memorised fairly quickly, and I can produce them when prompted by keyword. But what I’ve learnt is of no immediate use. Even when I look up the kanji a lot are fairly obscure.
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Heisig — Snake oil or Solution?

Friday, February 8th, 2008

Heisig 1

Remembering the Kanji 1 James W. Heisig. pub: University of Hawaii Press

Heisig is the Marmite (or Natto) of Kanji learning. It’s mostly a love it or hate it affair. It also seems to have cultish tones with talk of unbelievers and converts amongst its fans. 溜め息

But because it has so much written about it I decided to give it a try.
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Adventures in Heisig • day 2

Friday, February 8th, 2008

…in which I begin to have doubts.

Already.

I’m coming up against the 2 huge faults the detractors of Heisig come out with.
The “stories” are long-winded nonsense.
The “meanings” given to components are often very forced and sometimes just aren’t true.
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