Heads down, Doug!

I am a procrastinator. Maybe we all are procrastinators, but at least I know I am. And, like any good procrastinator, I wait until the last minute to do something.

So it is with the JLPT N2. I started really good this year (2011), and until about July, I was studying pretty hard, taking practice tests, learning vocab, etc. I took practice tests and felt that I was improving. However, my company is seasonal, and we’re quite busy in the last-half of the year preparing for Christmas, so then I became a lot busier, and I became a lot lazier about studying.

Recently a nice fellow online gave me some sagely advice about studying for Japanese: find something you enjoy reading then read til your eyes hurt. He stated with this simple advice he passed, and I put down the boring JLPT textbooks and went back to reading manga I enjoy (e.g. 宇宙兄弟、セイントお兄さん, etc). I also continue to watch lots of Disney movies in Japanese with my daughter.

But then, I found this excellent website by a smart and witty fellow who spent 18 months in very intensive study of Japanese without textbooks, and just by doing constant, constant exposure. If anything, do read his FAQ. It is pretty funny.

It may sound strange, but I’ve discussed this myself a little (here too), but the author of AJATT demonstrates that he is living proof of the “exposure” method. I have to admit it’s inspired me to restart my Japanese studies once again. This time, no more textbooks. When I passed the JLPT N3, I did it using almost no textbooks at all. I think with the N2, I was worried about the difficulty level, and felt I should study first, then do exposure, but the textbooks are slow and took longer than I expected, until I got too tired/bored to do them anymore.

Anyway, going back to the procrastination issue, I have 2 good reasons to start up again, and soon:

1. JLPT N2 is two months away. The test only happens once a year, and I would really hate to fail it.
2. I am taking my yearly trip to Japan at the end of the year (Daughter’s birthday, Japanese New Year’s, etc). If you’re in Japan at the time and in the Tokyo area, I’d love to meet you. I’ll be there in late, late December through the first two weeks in January.

As AJATT points out, it’s a question of “flight-time”. If you put in 10,000 hours worth, you will improve that much. Three months isn’t enough to get fluent, but I am not 100% beginner either. Let’s see what 2-3 months can accomplish. >:D

P.S. I do enjoy studying Korean as well, but if I intend to learn Japanese well, I need to set aside Korean for now until after 2011 (3 months from now). From there, maybe I can apply the same method as above. Then again, the author of AJATT argues a different method for learning a 3rd language (e.g. use the 2nd language to learn the 3rd one). If by 2012, I feel more confident about AJATT’s method, maybe I will try it his way.