Ramen Fanatic - Latest Comments

Re: TextFugu: What’re you really getting?

guardianofvictory — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:03:10 -0000

This article was very helpful. Thank you. I think Koichi does an awsome job with textfugu, his youtube channel and tofugu.com.

Re: Why You Shouldn’t Prepare for the JLPT

:) — Thu, 10 May 2012 11:26:36 -0000

Putting N1 or even N2 on your resume is a huge plus. The same applies for schools even at a lower exam level.

Re: Why You Shouldn’t Prepare for the JLPT

bernician — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 04:20:44 -0000

Most jobs in Japan require JLPT1.
Most daily life, even at work in Japan, only requires somewhere between level 3 and 2.
Cramming like hell to pass the test does the trick there, you don't need to remember the level 1 stuff long term, you just need the bit of paper to get the job.

Re: ONE OK ROCK

Lourens — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 14:35:48 -0000

I never heard of this band untill now thanks a lot! :)

Re: Tutors: Awesomeness Wrapped in Bacon

College Tutoring — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 05:05:45 -0000

Nice post...................................

Re: Why You Shouldn’t Prepare for the JLPT

Skeptical but Not Cynical — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 01:28:48 -0000

I think you're looking at this the wrong way. For example, when you start off a big project, what's one of the first things most (successful) people do? They set up goals and respective deadlines. Would you tackle that long and difficult task by saying, "I will complete this project by the end of the year by working hard" or would you instead take an approach more akin to "In order to finish this project I must first finish tasks X, Y and Z?" It's the same here. These people have an ultimate goal of becoming fluent in Japanese. Consequently, they break up that ultimate goal into subsidiary prerequisites, and seek to fulfill them sequentially. While it is not necessary to pass the N5 to be proficient in Japanese, anybody who is proficient in Japanese would very easily pass the N5. Does passing the N5 have any significance in itself? No. Taking the N5 and claiming success over it would be like saying a rough draft is an accomplishment. And in some cases, it is. On the other hand, even if we drop this whole concept of ultimate goals, there is yet purpose in taking the N5. It is an exam, and what exams do is assess one's progress. If these people assessed themselves or asked friends for their assessments, it would be riddled with bias. An examination administered by an unknown proctor and graded and returned anonymously does not suffer this flaw and offers a less biased, if not more accurate, assessment of one's skill. After all, is it not logical to make sure one's foundation is sound before choosing to build upon it? Though, I do suppose confidence is a virtue...

Re: Japanese 101: Numbers

white master — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 13:41:11 -0000

Seriously... ?!

Now you are reviewing an application that you can't even honestly attest to?

You don't own an iPhone, so you can't really assess the quality or usefulness of this software, right?

Honestly... just... really?!... ugh... ::facepalm::

Re: Why You Shouldn’t Prepare for the JLPT

white master — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 13:31:19 -0000

No offence, but somebody with an essentially non-existent level of Japanese (such as yourself) really shouldn't be telling others what to do.

Your advice is completely based upon conjecture and speculation. If your suggestions possess any sibilance of correctness, it is merely luck.

Just because you purchase a bunch of Japanese stuff and register a domain name doesn't make you a credible authority on a topic. Stop giving advice to people.

You are simply under qualified. Perhaps you should stop talking about learning Japanese and just learn Japanese.

Re: Phase 1: Immersion and Heisig

white master — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 13:04:47 -0000

hmmm... shouldn't you be in Phase 3 by now?

How is all of this going? Are you so busy learning Japanese that you don't update your blog, or did you just end up buying a bunch of Japanese shit to convince yourself that that was the same thing as studying?

Re: Why You Shouldn’t Prepare for the JLPT

Ahelee_94 — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 09:47:54 -0000

thanks.
Now i know where i went wrong.
Actually I've known it all along, but ..-.-'

yeah.

Re: Why You Shouldn’t Prepare for the JLPT

Tom — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 15:26:51 -0000

Experts in the theory of language assessment would say that JLPT has poor construct validity - in other words the test doesn't actually test the specific abilities that it claims to measure. It claims to test people's ability to communicate in Japanese, but in fact it is a test of knowledge of grammar, vocabulary and Kanji.

Having said that, it IS very possible (in my experience, easiest) to broaden vocabulary and grammar knowledge by communicating in Japanese, and reading lots of interesting texts is probably the most efficient way to learn more Kanji. So I plan to do as much communicating as possible, with perhaps the odd practice test here and there, and see how I get on with JLPT N3 at the end of this year. The exam helps to motivate me.

Re: Why You Shouldn’t Prepare for the JLPT

seriously — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 10:52:01 -0000

Oh, you can't win your argument fair and square so you have to try to make some false character assassination about whether I am happy or not. You would have no idea whether I am or am not as you know not a thing about me. I hate fake people. "Have a nice day." What a fake you are. I tell the truth. I frankly don't give a damn about what sort of day you have. So I do know one thing about you. You are a passive aggressive fake.

As to the matter at hand ignoring red herrings, it is moronic to pay money and take time out of your day (including travel and a hotel room for many people) in order to take a test that only proves one's incompetence in a subject. If these people are going to be competent at Japanese later then it would be much more practical and make more sense to wait until LATER to take a test that does show some competence rather than actually spending money to take one that only shows their extreme level of incompetence. And it is pretty pathetic that someone would find "SUCCESS" in such a test that covers only the most remedial knowledge of a subject. And exactly why is it that they need to take these remedial tests before they "work hard" and achieve any measure of actual proficiency? Why do they have to dangle this sad little test in front of their own noses like a carrot in front of a horse in order to have the motivation to study? Do they lack will power, too? I think I have to add weak to foolish in my assessment.

Re: Why You Shouldn’t Prepare for the JLPT

FlushingAccountant — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 12:23:00 -0000

I am not insulted personally (since I have already taken and passed my lower-level JLPT exam.) I am just surprised that you would be scornful of people who are proud of their own success. Of course, passing a low-level JLPT exam is not a success for you. But it is a SUCCESS FOR THEM. And maybe now they will work hard and be able to learn enough Japanese to take a higher-level exam (if they so choose.) Not to mention the fact that they are simply weak at Japanese RIGHT NOW. That doesn't mean that they won't get better in time. If people weren't able to learn over time, there would be no point in school since you either know everything right at the start or you are horrible, correct?

The fact that you are calling other people morons and fools for taking a test (as if they were committing a crime or something)... I'm sorry that you're not happy, in general. Please try to have a good day. That's all.

Re: Why You Shouldn’t Prepare for the JLPT

seriously? — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 10:18:07 -0000

Whether a test is remedial or not has nothing to do with the passing rate. The people who choose to take the N4 and N5 are generally those with extremely low Japanese proficiency. So what their passing rate is is irrelevant. If a bunch of people who are horrible at something have trouble doing well at that thing, that is no indication that the thing is difficult. It is foolish of these people to waste their time and money on taking a remedial test. And it is laughable that after they take it, if they pass, they pat themselves on their own backs for success. What success? Success in passing something remedial? These levels of the jlpt are nothing but a scam. Many websites are parasitically feeding off of and encouraging this scam because they make money through commissions when new learners buy jlpt study materials through links on their sites. This is why so many sites encourage the taking of the lower levels of the jlpt. It is about time someone told the truth about it. These low levels of the jlpt are a complete waste of time. They gain the taker nothing that the person couldn't better have without taking it and they only prove incompetence in the language. If you find the truth insulting, well, maybe you need to absorb what that means and learn something from it.

Re: Why You Shouldn’t Prepare for the JLPT

FlushingAccountant — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 23:43:26 -0000

Why would you need to insult people who want to take the N4 or N5? It is great that you are so proficient in Japanese but let people learn at their own pace :) The lower levels are only remedial to people who know a lot of Japanese. There are many people who do not consider N4/N5 remedial since the passing rate is around 50% in the United States. Putting down other people won't make you feel any better about yourself.

Re: Why You Shouldn’t Prepare for the JLPT

FlushingAccountant — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 23:40:59 -0000

See below.

Re: Phase 1: Immersion and Heisig

J1979c — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 23:55:54 -0000

Yes you're right. The whole daily routine stuff really helps a lot. After watching 80+ dramas at least twice each and try to not read the subtitles as much as possible, JLPT listening test is a piece of cake now.

Need to start the heisig method soon and probably the Sake/Japanese Beer thing... 乾杯！ :)

Re: Why You Shouldn’t Prepare for the JLPT

seriously? — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:34:19 -0000

edit: take the n4/n5.

Re: Why You Shouldn’t Prepare for the JLPT

seriously? — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:33:16 -0000

I can understand if someone takes the jlpt to get a job. But I don't understand these fools who are taking it as motivation or a stepping stone or to see where they are at. Those are the most common reasons I hear people giving for taking it. There is a fool born every minute. Anyone who passed the lower levels of jlpt is a moron because only a moron would the n4 or n5. Imagine taking a test that is remedial and only proves that your ability is remedial and then being proud of yourself for passing it. It is so ridiculous.

Re: Phase 1: Immersion and Heisig

Pinkhanarep — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 10:30:14 -0000

What do you read/play on your DS? I'm looking for more games or software for my DS (I already bought the Kanji Sonomama dictionary that is worth it's weight in gold!) becuase I'd like to study at work : )

Re: TextFugu: What’re you really getting?

Happytako — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 20:43:14 -0000

eeeee http://www.123japanese.com is better because its free and more lessons

Re: Phase 1: Immersion and Heisig

Guest — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:26:04 -0000

I should have proofread. This "in the first study book chapter on adverbs page 156, there is a sentence that is supposed to used the kanji for far 'fast' (speed/distance not" is supposed to read like this "in the first study book chapter on adverbs page 156, there is a sentence that is supposed to used the kanji for 'fast' (speed/distance not..."

Re: Phase 1: Immersion and Heisig

Guest — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:23:40 -0000

Hi Yvonne,

Nobody answered you?! Well, if you are still reading...I have all the books in the series. I like them. I'll try to tell you what you won't like and then what you will like. The bad...There are a lot of typos in the books. For example, in the first kanji book there is a place where they intended to write something about a pretty baby (kirei na akambou) and instead they wrote hated baby (kirai na akambou) and in the first study book chapter on adverbs page 156, there is a sentence that is supposed to used the kanji for far 'fast' (speed/distance not time) 速 but instead it uses the kanji for 'far' 遠. As you can see, they are somewhat similar. Especially when the font is small or muddy. If you can't see the difference in the print here, I'll explain it. In 'far' the little character is drawn like tsuchi (earth) and in 'fast' it is drawn like juu (ten). And there is an extra little line where your last stroke for the character is in 'far.'

I am a pre-intermediate so the mistakes don't hang me up too badly. They just usually set me back for a second while I go, wtf and then I see they made a mistake.

Another bad thing about the books is that the cartoons are really not so great. I don't find the cartoons to be really very interesting.

Now here is the good things about the books. The font or printing in the books is very clear and nice (except for the dakutens). You can easily discriminate the kanji characters so in the book you can clearly see the difference between 'far' and 'fast' (speed). The dakutens are hard to read in the example words in the kanji book. That is because the example words are printed very small. So it can be hard to see whether it is a 'ba' or a 'pa' character. I'm nearsighted so when that happens, I take off my glasses and hold the book to my nose. Other people might need a little magnifier.

The other good thing about the books are that the grammar explanations are very clear and very organized. That is why I am using them. I have self-studied so there are some holes in my learning. The mangaland books are clearing up some questions that I had. And there is the intangible of whether a book overall gives you a good feeling and makes you want to keep opening it up and studying. A book could be great but if you don't want to learn from it then it doesn't matter if it is great. I like using the Mangaland books so I keep moving on to the next chapter or the next book. Which means I keep learning something.

By the way, I don't know if you know this but the series so far has Japanese in Mangaland 1, 2, and 3, practice workbook 1 (to match text 1), and kanji books 1 and 2. Kanji book 3 is in the hands of the publisher as I understand it and should be released sometime in 2011. Kanji book 1 teaches first and second grade kanji. Kanji book 2 teacher third and fourth grade. I think kanji book 3 is going to teach fifth and sixth. That is all the kanji for the jlpt 2 but if you are trying to pass the jlpt 2, then I don't think the series would be enough for you to do it. You would have to also read newspapers or get books that have a lot of reading sections in them so you can practice actually reading Japanese and seeing kanji in context. The Kanji in Mangaland books don't provide that.

Re: Phase 1: Immersion and Heisig

Yvonne — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 08:44:27 -0000

Do you recommend the Japanese in Mangaland series? Good luck on your studies, by the way!

Re: ONE OK ROCK

ckino — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 04:53:16 -0000

erm...they not similar but of you like loud, noise and fast music you can try 9mm parabellum bullet. I live both One Ok Rock and 9mm coz they LOUD kehkehkeh