How can I keep up my Japanese?

[lauren ashley]

So, in 2006 I was an exchange student in Japan for a year.
I had never taken a formal Japanese class but while I was in Japan I learned Japanese pretty good. To the point where I could hold a casual conversation in Japanese. And my reading and writing is decent.
Since I have been back in America I have been trying hard to keep up my Japanese skills. There are no Japanese classes available where I live and I can only do so much with books and software programs.
In 2 years I will be transfering to San Francisco State University where I will be able to take Japanese classes, but untill then, whats the best way for me to keep study Japanese?

 

[Glenn]

Have you ever heard of an SRS? They're good for learning new things and reviewing things you already know, but may not have come across in a while. I'd say to use one. Anki seems to be pretty popular for Japanese, and it comes with the James Heisig book 1 cards already loaded in it. I use sentences with mine, ala Khatzumoto, as I find learning words in context is helpful for being able to use them.

If you need reading practice you can go to Wikipedia and pick anything you want to read about. It's nice in that headwords pretty much always have the readings written after them, so if you see a word that is a hyperlink and you don't know how to read it, you can just click on it and get the reading. Oh, and if you want to read about something in Japanese and don't know what it's called, you can just type it into the English version and then look for 日本語 under "languages" on the left side of the page, and it'll take you to the Japanese page if there is one. There isn't always, but I've found that the topics that don't have Japanese pages are pretty specific to some other country, or just in some way not all that relevant to Japan.

For listening and reading practice at the same time (or separately, however you want to do it), there's ANN News, from Asahi TV. It's great in that you can watch the video and follow along with the text, which is an exact match to what they're saying the vast majority of the time. All you need is Windows Media Player or Real Player and some speakers.

So, there you have it. That's pretty much how I keep up my Japanese. You could also try to look for some message boards on some topic that you're interested in to read through: that way you'll develop a good knowledge of the terms used in that field or area, along with getting some conversational practice, which will lead you to being able to talk about it with people. Hope this helps!

 

[HarajukuxBoy]

Get a textbook. Genki is a really good series.

 

[cacawate]

Download Skype and look for a few Japanese Skypecasts. People gather in there and speak to each other about all types of things. That should keep your conversational level ok.

Also, check out Lang-8. There is a link to it in my signature.

 

[Ichiro614]

If you have access to any Japanese videos or a Japanese cable TV station, I think this is the best way to stay up with the language.

After my first year in Japan, I was in roughly the same boat as you. Right before I left I had taped the entire series of the drama "Long Vacation" (I'm dating myself here!). I spent the next year watching the entire series probably 20 times, to the point where I practically had the entire dialogue in my head. Needless to say, this went a long way toward not only refreshing but improving my Japanese.

Japanese TV = real Japanese in context, so IMO once you have the basics down this approach is more effective than a textbook. Good luck!

 

[cacawate]

You can access Japanese TV through this program, which streams it:
TVU Networks | Live video transmission and streaming production over IP

 

[Soloistic]

You can access Japanese TV through this program, which streams it:
TVU Networks | Live video transmission and streaming production over IP

Wow, thanks for the link. I didn't know you could get Japanese TV over the internet like this.

 

[tada]

Wow, thanks for the link. I didn't know you could get Japanese TV over the internet like this.

I've tried in the past from the official websites, but it wouldn't let me view stuff because my IP was outside Japan.

Thanks for the link!