Learning Japanese is like sitting on a cold rock

I recently stumbled across Tumbleweed's Tips and Tricks for Learning Japanese. It's not the prettiest of websites, but it contains some wise words.

I've heard it described that learning Japanese is liking sitting on a cold rock. It takes a long time to get comfortable, but as soon as you get off that rock, it's like starting all over again.

There's a certain truth to this. The most valuable advice I can give anyone studying this language is to make it a daily habit. Keep that rock warm!

I did a little research and found this Japanese idiom:

石の上にも三年 【いしのうえにもさんねん】 (exp) perseverance prevails (lit: even the coldest rock will get warm if sat on for three years)

Once again, due to work (or is that an excuse?) I have let my daily routine of practicing Japanese slip. It's easy to do even if it's set as part of my routine, because I have no proper structure to my practice. I've got to try harder to keep my butt on that rock!

First thing is I'm going to start on RTK properly and stick to it until the end. I can see it works well, but it involves a level of commitment I haven't yet been willing to give. So I've been putting it off. No longer! That RTK rock is going to be nice and warm very soon ^^

Dumb Otaku said on Fri 2009/04/03 15:10 JST:

I do RTK and use Mnemosyn with the prebuilt RTK deck and it helps a lot. Actually I have been able to get quite far off of just 30 minues a day doing the SRS and reviewing new stuff.

xixi said on Fri 2009/04/03 15:14 JST:

interesting idiom.

it's all about perseverance!

joeellis said on Fri 2009/04/03 19:28 JST:

Perseverance is absolute key to anything you do. The more you view perseverance as part of the challenge and do a little at a time, the less difficult everything seems to be. Good luck man!

Brett Fyfield said on Sun 2009/04/05 01:31 JST:

Apparently sitting cross legged under a rock while meditating in a hot spring will stop you from floating away if you happen to fall asleep. Added advantage, the rock stays hot ;)

Jamaipanese said on Sun 2009/04/05 07:52 JST:

this reminds me that I need to study more -_-

Jonadab said on Mon 2009/04/06 09:51 JST:

Yep.

I coach quizzers (well, not this year, as we don't have any, but when we do have any, I coach them), and I always tell them, how many hours you study is much less important than how many *days* you study. Fifteen minutes every single morning (or evening, whatever) is FAR more valuable than one five hour block on Saturday afternoon. Every day. Study every day. It doesn't have to be hours of time, but do some studying EVERY DAY. The quizzers who actually *listen* when we tell them this stuff are the ones who end up memorizing thirty chapters of material and going to nationals.

If you can work it into your schedule, the really ideal thing is to get more than one study session in every day, at different times of the day. Morning *and* evening, if you can work it into your schedule, and maybe a little at lunch time too... keep that up, don't miss days, and soon you'll be learning at a good pace.

The other thing is, memorization is a learned skill. You get better at it with practice.

Chris Gaunt said on Mon 2009/04/06 10:58 JST:

Thanks for the advice. I think my initial attempts to learn was more about learning to learn than actually learning Japanese. After many mistakes I now have my own idea of how best I learn.

Following your advice, I'm now doing a small review session for RTK in the morning and then a larger 1 hour study session in the afternoon. I'll see how that goes and modifying as needed.

theillien said on Mon 2009/04/06 11:44 JST:

What is SRS?

Chris Gaunt said on Mon 2009/04/06 11:52 JST:

hehe I'll have to give that a try ^^

Chris Gaunt said on Mon 2009/04/06 11:55 JST:

It stands for Spaced Repetition System. Basically it's an advanced flashcard system. Wikipedia explains it best http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaced_repetition and a good SRS application is Anki http://ichi2.net/anki/whyreview.html

Hao said on Mon 2009/04/06 12:40 JST:

Interesting, though I've been sitting on my Nihongo for almost a decade now ( ! ) and I feel like it's the Arctic :D

Seriously speaking, I just found out that I'm just one year short for a decade since the day I learned "Watashi wa Hao desu". To know how much I've gone through since the day I learned that makes me happy that I never quit.

Chris Gaunt said on Mon 2009/04/06 12:44 JST:

Hehe :) I can't even imagine what it will be like for me 9 years ahead. Early congrats on your Nihongo anniversary ;)

Denis said on Mon 2009/04/06 19:29 JST:

I agree totally with the perseverance it takes. As well as the forgiving aspect of it. Without a daily practice, it is so easy to forget what you learned at the first place. You may learn kanji, if you don't see them again and again, you will forget it. So it is good advice to give to practice daily.
not comfortable indeed to sit on a rock. I don't know which one takes the form of the other shape, though!!!! The rock or the bum.

Realitybytes said on Mon 2009/04/06 20:05 JST:

I emphatically disagree. It is NOT like starting all over again. It's more like sitting on a cold rock again. If you've fallen off the Japanese study horse, and I think EVERYONE does, just get back on. Don't use the idea, that you'll have to "start all over again", and more incentive to not try. It's a failing, discouraging attitude, and incorrect. I know, and this year I will be studying for the 1 kyu.

Chris Gaunt said on Mon 2009/04/06 20:33 JST:

Good point, the quoted explanation is a little extreme. It depends how long you stay off the rock, I guess. The longer you stay off, the colder the rock gets.

Chris Gaunt said on Mon 2009/04/06 20:34 JST:

It depends how hard your bum is ^^ I think the rock is harder.

Andrew Cowan said on Mon 2009/04/06 20:38 JST:

I assumed that there was an end to RTK. I've stopped reviewing, and studying Japanese for that matter, and am toiling to write so many kanji I was owning back in the day. Since it's the start of a new school year, I'm gonna get back on that rock and like you say, it's really gotta be part of your daily routine.

I found the Reviewing the Kanji site - http://kanji.koohii.com to be great for RTK reviewing.

okinawa said on Tue 2009/04/07 00:04 JST:

Oh man, I have so far to go....I would be embarrassed to tell you how much Japanese I speak after being in the country for 10 years.

Tim Chambers said on Wed 2009/04/08 22:26 JST:

To keep you on your rock, I set up the first 500 Kanji and 3000 compounds on game software at http://bonajo.com. You can match and spell them in Romaji, you can spell them in Kana, but best of all every kanji used will be familar to you from start to finish.