Comments on: Tae Kim’s Language Studying Tips

By: RichardA

RichardA — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 11:10:46 +0000

Great post, very motivational and inspiring.
I had very similar experiences with Korean, and your post formulates it so well that it applies to all language studies.
I especially liked the part of incorporating things you like, such as music, books and films, into your language studies.

By: Laerte Almeida

Laerte Almeida — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 01:05:34 +0000

Posts like this one, that makes ourselves more confident! This thing about drawing a line in sand near the tide, in my opinion, reports exactly what learning a language is. I’ll try to spread these words here in brazil, to motivate my friends too. If just with you Guide to Japanese Material, i was your fan, after this post, just increase my admiration. Congratulations!

By: Nanshi

Nanshi — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 04:01:16 +0000

That was nice.! I was clicking around the internet to help me get a headstart on my Japanese classes (I’ve been studying it for one semester at uni so far) — I’ve been trying to watch Japanese television without subtitles and it’s usually their grammar that stumps me — and I stumbled across your site/blog. I’ve always been fascinated with Japanese culture (but now Korea is slowly inching its way up, I’m a bit disappointed that I didn’t take Korean instead)… but I was beginning to get a little discouraged with all the…dissonance between your guide and what I’m learning in class. Nonetheless, I do wish my school system did have a structure that is more conducive to learning an Asiatic language (most of the tutoring classes are for the Romantic or Anglo languages)… but I do thank you for all your tips! And I heartily agree about the practice thing. I’m a native Chinese and English speaker (fluent in both, semi-literate in Chinese)… and well, I know plenty of people like me who’s Chinese just plain sucks because they don’t practice it anymore (I speak it at home with my mother who knows virtually no English at all). And personally, from what I’ve heard… after you’ve taken a year (or even just a semester) or a language… try your hardest to see if you can get into a language immersion course abroad. I had a friend who did that in China (he’s Caucasian and knew no Chinese whatsoever), and when he came back from Beijing he could understand me perfectly and even spoke to me with relative ease (of course, this is taking into account the fact that Chinese is very similar to English).

By: Marc S

Marc S — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 07:59:59 +0000

I think Kim-san forgot to add 1 more tip.

For those who are in college, finish all your core requirements and the core requirements for your degree before you take foreign language class. Foreign language class does eat a lot of your study time. Take the pressure off your back by finishing your core requirements.

By: charizardpal

charizardpal — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 22:37:55 +0000

I know its difficult to learn a language, but its distressing to hear about just how hard it actually is. Especially since I harbor dreams of fluency in a secound language, and familarity with Chinese, Japanese and Korean. (I’m actially thinking about taking courses in Chinese and Japanese simultaenously next semester.) 怖いですね?

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 07:54:14 +0000

本当に、ありがとう。最近、僕の進歩がとまったように感じ始めたのに、心配し始めてしまいました。このポストを読んで、ちょっと安心しました。書いてくれて、ありがとうございました。頑張ります。

I’m quite fond of your blog, by the way.

By: Will Jasprizza

Will Jasprizza — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 04:02:11 +0000

Tae Kim, fantastic post. I always appreciate the way you take the tough love approach because I think it helps people immensely to know from the outset what kind of work is involved in learning a foreign language. Kudos.

Will

By: Tae Kim

Tae Kim — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 16:37:23 +0000

Thanks, I’m glad you like the blog. Sometimes I worry that I’m the only one that finds this stuff interesting.

I think you are currently doing all the right things in order to improve your Japanese in general. Regarding the problem of focus and not being able to say specifically what you want to say, might I suggest trying anyway perhaps in simpler terms and seeing if the other person can help you out with the necessary vocabulary and/or grammar? For instance, if you don’t know how to say “alimony”, you might ask 「離婚した後、離婚した人に毎月払わないといけないお金を何というの？」 (I don’t even know if they have anything like alimony in Japan, which I think is different from 慰謝料, so it’s an interesting question.) If possible, it would be even better to have the person write down the things you didn’t know so that you can take it home or you can punch it into an electronic dictionary and have it in the history function. (I usually always carry one around in my bag.)

By: Jen

Jen — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 15:00:55 +0000

Good article, and I feel quite reassured by what you were saying in the comments about the intermediate level.

I didn’t really ever practise my conversation before I came to Japan, and so during the first few weeks here I had a dramatic increase from hardly being able to speak/decipher what anyone else was saying, to being able to understand about 80% (it’s generally just a vocabulary problem) and being able to have interesting conversations with people. I think it’s because I already had all of the knowledge from all of the reading/writing which we did in lessons, I just had no idea how to process it so that I could speak.

I have however now reached a sort of lull in how much I’m improving, and I quite often feel frustrated when I know that I want to say something, but can’t work out the grammar or I don’t know the vocabulary required to say it. The problem is I think that there’s only so much preparation you can do for conversation, in that I almost never have any idea what I’m going to end up talking about on a certain day, so sometimes I am able to say everything that I want to, and sometimes I can’t say anything at all.

Do you have any advice on what to do to improve this? I’m trying to hang around with Japanese people as often as possible, I’m reading a novel in Japanese, I read my friend’s blogs on mixi, I write things occasionally (this is the one thing which I’m not doing a lot of focusing on because it’s not that important to me right now), but I feel like I’m missing out on doing something which would help me to retain stuff more easily.

Hmm! I really like your blog though, it’s always an interesting read.

By: じゃっく

じゃっく — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 00:50:41 +0000

I think to learn a new language, interest in the language is most important. I started learning Japanese about a year back simply out of interest. Although I can hardly understand 10% of what is said on NHK Radio, I am still pressing on because of interest. I therefore completely agree with your assessment that attitude counts a lot. Good luck to you in learning Chinese. I am conversant in Chinese and though as it may be, it is an interesting language of itw own.