The Second Step

[Haruspex]

Basically i finished Ultimate Japanese Beginner-Intermediate and i stand before a problem now, while i can read and understand most of the sentences in the book, i still have difficulty creating sentences in my own, my question is, if i should continue with the Advanced book, or should i keep reviewing the first one? And another question, are the CD's any good? The Beginner-Intermediate ones i mean. Or perhaps do you have somemethod which you use to review?
Thank You.

 

[Mike Cash]

Devote some time to creating sentences of your own for a bit. Otherwise this will give birth to a frustration that will keep growing larger and larger.

 

[Haruspex]

Understood! Thank you. I will do that.

 

[ajmd20]

Personally I'd rather move onto new materials than continuously revise old ones. Of course a quick re-read of all the dialogues wouldn't hurt.

If you don't feel ready for an advanced book a good choice could be to read through an alternative beginner's level textbook. Slightly different explanations will likely help you better understand grammar points better and the new situations and expressions you encounter will broaden your knowledge of the language more than revisiting the same dialogues over again.

Another good option is to have a look through some supplementary books and grammar references before moving onto your advanced textbook. Things like "Basic Connections: Making Your Japanese Flow" or "A Dictionary of beginner/intermediate Japanese grammar". Things like "Jazz Up Your Japanese with Onomatopoeia: For All Levels" too are also well worth a read.


In any case I find reading new material to be far more motivating than reviewing old, which I think makes it much easier to learn.

While Mike's advice is valuable, and infact I would advise the same too, you should also bear in mind that the more new Japanese you encounter the easier you will find it to create new sentences yourself. It's also important to remember that production of language with correction is far more valuable than that without - so I suggest writing something like a public diary or blog and posting it on a site like here on Jref to receive corrections.

 

[Buntaro]

Derfel,

You said,

"...i still have difficulty creating sentences in my own...."

--> Practice makes perfect. This is a great place to practice. Give me 30 sentences in English that you would like to be able to say in Japanese, and give me your best shot at translating them into Japanese.