Comments on: Three Ways to Overcome Burn Out http://www.goddesscarlie.com/language/three-ways-to-overcome-burn-out/ Learning Japanese through Drama, Food, and staring at Japanese boys Sun, 10 Apr 2011 12:52:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Daniel http://www.goddesscarlie.com/language/three-ways-to-overcome-burn-out/comment-page-1/#comment-2028 Daniel Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:05:44 +0000 http://goddesscarlie.com/?p=462#comment-2028 I've always found burnout funny, because I experience the opposite (cool down?). I try to expose myself to such much Japanese media that I tend to run out before acquiring more and start to cool down... So the solution is always more media! I’ve always found burnout funny, because I experience the opposite (cool down?). I try to expose myself to such much Japanese media that I tend to run out before acquiring more and start to cool down… So the solution is always more media!

]]> By: GoddessCarlie http://www.goddesscarlie.com/language/three-ways-to-overcome-burn-out/comment-page-1/#comment-287 GoddessCarlie Fri, 30 May 2008 12:22:50 +0000 http://goddesscarlie.com/?p=462#comment-287 Thanks for the comments everyone. I will be responding to your comments in future posts :) Thanks for the comments everyone. I will be responding to your comments in future posts :)

]]> By: Atreya http://www.goddesscarlie.com/language/three-ways-to-overcome-burn-out/comment-page-1/#comment-265 Atreya Sat, 24 May 2008 10:58:37 +0000 http://goddesscarlie.com/?p=462#comment-265 I guess I take active breaks every now and then. I usually watch Japanese Dramas with Japanese subtitles (only shows from last season, can't seem to find subtitles for older shows <_<) to reinforce the Kanji that I know and of course vocabulary. Then again, I don't understand 95% of what's being said anyway... ^_^ I have never taken a complete break from Japanese (so far... and I hope that I don't take a complete break either). I have loaded Japanese Language support in my Phone and have dictionaries. A.M., P.M., days of the week, are all in Japanese. My PC has the Japanese Version of Windows XP as an alternate operating system. So whenever I am not actively reviewing Kanji/Grammar/Vocabulary, all these make sure that I am learning japanese, at least passively. I guess I take active breaks every now and then. I usually watch Japanese Dramas with Japanese subtitles (only shows from last season, can’t seem to find subtitles for older shows <_<) to reinforce the Kanji that I know and of course vocabulary. Then again, I don’t understand 95% of what’s being said anyway… ^_^

I have never taken a complete break from Japanese (so far… and I hope that I don’t take a complete break either). I have loaded Japanese Language support in my Phone and have dictionaries. A.M., P.M., days of the week, are all in Japanese. My PC has the Japanese Version of Windows XP as an alternate operating system. So whenever I am not actively reviewing Kanji/Grammar/Vocabulary, all these make sure that I am learning japanese, at least passively.

]]> By: Steve Kaufmann http://www.goddesscarlie.com/language/three-ways-to-overcome-burn-out/comment-page-1/#comment-249 Steve Kaufmann Fri, 16 May 2008 23:53:12 +0000 http://goddesscarlie.com/?p=462#comment-249 Stay with what turns you on has always been my motto. Listen to content where the content is interesting and the voice pleasing. Some degree of word review is useful, and can be addictive but the condition is that the words come from content that you have read and listened to and is familiar. I lived in Japan for nine years, did business in Japanese after one year, but always found the dramas difficult to follow. I am a great believer in the power of the little MP3 player and repetitive listening to content I like. Right now I am on to Russian. Anyway, good luck and keep it fun! Don't let the teachers take the learning enjoyment away from you. Oh and a break from learning is a good thing. Your language skills can actually ferment and mature during periods of benign neglect. Stay with what turns you on has always been my motto. Listen to content where the content is interesting and the voice pleasing. Some degree of word review is useful, and can be addictive but the condition is that the words come from content that you have read and listened to and is familiar.

I lived in Japan for nine years, did business in Japanese after one year, but always found the dramas difficult to follow. I am a great believer in the power of the little MP3 player and repetitive listening to content I like.

Right now I am on to Russian. Anyway, good luck and keep it fun! Don’t let the teachers take the learning enjoyment away from you.

Oh and a break from learning is a good thing. Your language skills can actually ferment and mature during periods of benign neglect.

]]> By: アカン http://www.goddesscarlie.com/language/three-ways-to-overcome-burn-out/comment-page-1/#comment-238 アカン Thu, 15 May 2008 14:46:55 +0000 http://goddesscarlie.com/?p=462#comment-238 Carlie, I have a question. Since you watch a lot of Japanese dramas, how do you handle listening comprehension? Do you understand most of the dialogue on your first go and keep looping the video or.....? As for burnout, I just follow Khalid's (from Feed Me Japanese) advice: keep review/studying to a minimum. The words and sentence patterns I'm most familiar with today are largely due to interesting content and NOT boring and repetitious review. The only sentence (yes, only one) that helped me (from a dictionary) is: 君のようにスキーが出来るといいな。 (That too, I didn't need an SRS to remember it). "Learning a language is not fun and easy all the time. If it was we all know multiple languages by now." This is just my opinion, but I think it can be. I say this from my limited experience, since I keep SRSing and review to a minimum nowadays. You can check out Steve Kauffman's blog: http://thelinguist.blogs.com (Yes, he is a polygot). Carlie, I have a question.

Since you watch a lot of Japanese dramas, how do you handle listening comprehension? Do you understand most of the dialogue on your first go and keep looping the video or…..?

As for burnout, I just follow Khalid’s (from Feed Me Japanese) advice: keep review/studying to a minimum. The words and sentence patterns I’m most familiar with today are largely due to interesting content and NOT boring and repetitious review. The only sentence (yes, only one) that helped me (from a dictionary) is:
君のようにスキーが出来るといいな。
(That too, I didn’t need an SRS to remember it).

“Learning a language is not fun and easy all the time. If it was we all know multiple languages by now.”
This is just my opinion, but I think it can be. I say this from my limited experience, since I keep SRSing and review to a minimum nowadays. You can check out Steve Kauffman’s blog: http://thelinguist.blogs.com (Yes, he is a polygot).

]]> By: Julia http://www.goddesscarlie.com/language/three-ways-to-overcome-burn-out/comment-page-1/#comment-234 Julia Wed, 14 May 2008 10:26:18 +0000 http://goddesscarlie.com/?p=462#comment-234 Thanks for the tips! I can identify, as I experienced a time of burn-out around last August. It was definitely because I had overdosed on the language learning, and I got so sick of it I started doing other stuff. But then, I somehow got back into it - and I'm glad I did. ^^ I liked your suggestions for the "active breaks"; only thing is, I think I take too many of those. (E.g., spending too much time watching J-dramas and looking at Japanese boys.) I guess the key to language learning is a slow yet steady pace, ね? Oh, and kind of off topic, but thank-you for your referrals to Anki and Reviewing the Kanji - I now use those all the time for vocab and kanji respectively, and I most likely never would have found them if you hadn't mentioned them. So ありがとうね！ Julia Thanks for the tips! I can identify, as I experienced a time of burn-out around last August. It was definitely because I had overdosed on the language learning, and I got so sick of it I started doing other stuff. But then, I somehow got back into it – and I’m glad I did. ^^ I liked your suggestions for the “active breaks”; only thing is, I think I take too many of those. (E.g., spending too much time watching J-dramas and looking at Japanese boys.) I guess the key to language learning is a slow yet steady pace, ね?

Oh, and kind of off topic, but thank-you for your referrals to Anki and Reviewing the Kanji – I now use those all the time for vocab and kanji respectively, and I most likely never would have found them if you hadn’t mentioned them. So ありがとうね！

Julia

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