My Big Thread of Questions

[ImNotJapanese]

First, sorry for the length of this post. Simply put, I have so many questions all at once that spamming the board with multiple threads wouldn't exactly be the best thing in the world to do. Anyhow, on with the show:

I just polished off hiragana (again), and I'm starting on katakana (again). Only thing is, I've finished all the hiragana practices in my little booklet. Does anyone have any ideas for some kind of daily exercise I could do so that my skills don't just fade away, like the first time?
I don't know any grammar/vocabulary that I could practice with (just the stuff I've picked up from watching Japanese television shows I download from my newsgroup), and I don't know whether writing down all the hiragana characters a few times every morning is going to help either. Remembering the stroke order is easy, so this would be tedious and unnecessary. I was thinking of making flash cards using a black magic marker, then shuffling them and going through the stack a few times each day as a "warm up" for the rest of my studies.

Also, I plan on attempting to tackle some kanji in the near future (along with grammar, etc). Is there such a thing as a "good starting point" for kanji, or should I just jump in and try memorizing random characters? I'd rather have some kind of method to my madness, and tackle kanji with a divide and conquer approach.

My goal is to take the first JLPT test by spring of next year (after I've got at least one Japanese language course under my belt at UMBC, plus my own self study). Am I aiming high, or just being crazy? I'm trying to get into the Japanese LLC (Living and Learning Community) at UMBC so I can be about as immersed as I can be in the language while still remaining on the east coast of America.

My greatest enemy in all of this is motivation (well, my lack thereof). What personal methods do you use to say on track and focused?

Thank you for taking the time to read all of this/respond. You have no idea how much I appreciate it.

--Mike

p.s.
I'm currently working with the following books/resources:
Easy Kana Workbook by Rita L. Lampkin and Osamu Hoshino
Colloquial Japanese: The Complete Course for Beginners by H. D. B. Clarke and Motoko Hamamura
Instant Immersion Japanese audio CDs only (Didn't come with a workbook, dangit.)

The Coloquial Japanese book is ok (I guess? I've only skimmed the first chapter), I picked it up because it didn't use romaji for everything like all the other Japanese language books at Borders. If anyone has any reading suggestions, fire away please.

 

[PaulTB]

First, sorry for the length of this post. Simply put, I have so many questions all at once that spamming the board with multiple threads wouldn't exactly be the best thing in the world to do.

I honestly think four or so would be no problem.

Only thing is, I've finished all the hiragana practices in my little booklet. Does anyone have any ideas for some kind of daily exercise I could do so that my skills don't just fade away, like the first time?

Just write stuff.

If you've got Windows XP then you can switch to using the 手書き pad when ever you write something in Japanese.

Is there such a thing as a "good starting point" for kanji, or should I just jump in and try memorizing random characters?

First two grades should be about right, IIRC. A program like Kanji Gold is nice for reading/recognition practice.

My goal is to take the first JLPT test by spring of next year. Am I aiming high, or just being crazy?

Level 4? Should be no problem.

My greatest enemy in all of this is motivation (well, my lack thereof). What personal methods do you use to say on track and focused?

On track and focused? Who do you think I am?

If you're attending a class you should have plenty of 'ordered stuff'. For the self study stuff I recommend quantity over quality (although that may just be me

 

[ImNotJapanese]

Actually, today I just realized that I have a crap-ton of imported Dreamcast games. I bet I could go through a title like Miss Moonlight and practice reading kana using that. Of course I still won't have any idea about what's going on, but it should boost my recognition of the characters plus any vocabulary that I've allready got.

First two grades should be about right, IIRC.

I have no idea what this means. *blank stare*
First two grades? Could you explain this more to me please?

Thanks for your input
--Mike

 

[David Hallgren]

I think he means the first two grades of the jouyou kanji. Check your private message for more information about these.

 

[mdchachi]

There is an order that Japanese kids learn Kanji. So many in first grade, second grade, etc. So learning in that same order -- at least at the beginning -- makes sense. I've never used it but a lot of people seem to like Heisig's method as well.
Remembering the Kanji, Vol. 1: A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters (English and Japanese Edition): James W. Heisig: 9780870407390: Amazon.com: Books

 

[Ewok85]

Kanji Gold has the kanji grouped into appriate 'grades' dunno if its to do with the jouyou kanji listings.

To keep the hiragana and katakana fresh writing is the best way, just reading flash cards will only make your brain do minimal work. write write write!!

Go for it, do the JLPT (4th grade, 1st grade may be a little too hard ). Theres a goal and some motivation. My personal motivation atm is to pass 3rd year advanced Japanese at uni and show the other people in my class up (im a first year student doing 3rd yr Japanese hehe)