Goodbye Silverspoon!

29 Saturday Dec 2012

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Five more days left on Silverspoon. It's been a fun ride.

Five more days left on Silverspoon. It’s been a fun ride.

Note:  I am still doing the old Silverspoon where you get a list of daily activities and links to do.  Neutrino is a little different and I haven’t played around with it.   I am kind of old school and like to see my “day” laid out for me.  Today I am going to write in bullets.

Why I Signed Up

  • I like Khatz and his writing.   I do business with people and support writing that I like. Shop loco.
  • I was turning into an Anki and iKnow zombie and not looking at real Japanese.
  • I didn’t have time to strategically think about how to shake up my Japanese learning.  I am a teacher and a father of two children. Nuff said.

How I Veered from the Silverspoon Path

  • I didn’t do every activity.  The bulk of my available time is in the morning.  Luckily most of the heavy lifting of Silverspoon came in the morning “sprints” when I have the most time to invest.
  • I still held on to doing iKnow (30 minutes a week), Anki, and Japanesepod101.com (sporadically at first–lately every day).
  • I didn’t do a lot of independent media watching, though we have TV Japan at home and my wife and children speak Japanese.
  • Um, well, I didn’t study every card that I made.   Thanks to Silverspoon, I got really comfortable with making monolingual flashcards.  However, I didn’t study those cards a lot because I was busy with other systems (iKnow and Anki) or just plain busy.  I also could have purged more cards (again thru Khatz’s tutelage) so I would have less of a やや　attitude towards my decks.

Benefits:

  • I have a rich, fun tank of Japanese websites on my Surusu web shuffler.  Every time Khatz sent a link via email or through the sprints, I added it to my shuffler.  It’s like a box of chocolates.  You never know what you are going to get.  If I could do anything over again I would do more of the web shuffling that Khatz recommends.  Real Japanese all the Time.  Real Japanese is the real rep.  Reinforce what you know through fun.   Get exposure to new material through fun.  Not fun?  Shuffle again.

    One of the nice things about the Silverspoon thing has been to get links to Japanese websites I never would have thought of. I add the links to AJATT's freee url shuffler tool and then I have it forever.

    One of the nice things about the Silverspoon thing has been to get links to Japanese websites I never would have thought of. I add the links to AJATT’s free url shuffler tool and then I have it forever.  These days my real shuffling comes from real books.

  • Motivational emails.  In Japanese and English.   Corny, but after a while you start to believe you can learn Japanese and more.  Combined with timeboxing, I also started to write more, using small moments to gain momentum.  The emails are also a daily reminder that I get to play around with Japanese.
  • Going monolingual.  Learning to make monolingual cards has been great.   Even if I don’t study every card I make, I get several minutes of deliberate practice of being monolingual in Japanese.
  • Different “hacks” for learning kanji, “speed reading”, and many more.

Results

Am I fluent?  No?  Did I do all of Silverspoon the way I was “supposed to”? No.  So what’s different?  Well, the big difference I can tell is that these days I just read Japanese for fun.   After the day’s work and studying is done or waiting for the train, I pull out my Japanese book of the day and read and learn and laugh, think, or just use the information for my life.  I understand more or just guess the context through my deeper knowledge of kanji.

The other big difference is that I am learning to hack time.   Small moments pile up like drops, carving out mountains.  Playing around with Khatz’s different timeboxing strategies, I’ve learned to take advantage of small moments.   “Don’t get it right. Get it started. Don’t get it good. Get it going. Don’t get it finished. Touch it. Don’t do it. Do three minutes of it.”  I’ve started writing (if you could call this writing 🙂 ) again, and more recently started playing and thinking about guitar and music theory.  Little pockets.  Little cracks in time.  Big difference.

Was Silverspoon worth it? Yes, yes, yes.  Should you get it?  Who the heck knows?  Enjoy your life.  Enjoy your year.

 

 

Study Hacks!: Samurai Book Preview

25 Tuesday Dec 2012

Posted by in Deliberate Practice, Guitar, Mind, Reading, Samurai Time Management

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Just started reading this book and already getting a lot out of it. Some positive reinforcement of things I already do and some fun "hacks."

Just started reading this book and already getting a lot out of it. Some positive reinforcement of things I already do and some fun “hacks.”

The other day Christmas came early when I bought Study Hacks by Ryuusuke Koyama.   (in Japanese) This book fits the bill of one of the main missions of samuraimindonline.com to bring you “books that explore study methods and how to better optimize learning and growth.”  (Plus, I got double stamps for buying $10 or more on day with a “three” in it. 🙂

There's nothing like a point card to motivate me to read Japanese. I get double points for buying books on any day with a three on it.

There’s nothing like a point card to motivate me to read Japanese. I get double points for buying books on any day with a three in it.

楽しいながら成果が上がるスキルアップのコツと習慣：  Improve Your Skills While Having Fun

Study Hacks begins with three glossy pages with photographs of the essential goods you can use to improve the effectiveness of your studying and introduces three key points:

  • Get goods that will help you concentrate wherever you are.
  • Use your ears to study. [ラク耳勉強法」Shut out distracting background noise.
  • Get the “goods” that will help you multiply your study results and passions.

Top Study Hacks! Recommended Goods

  • Noise cancelling headphones:  Koyama displays the same model of earphones I own, good for increasing concentration and “ear study”
  • IC Recorder:  hey, it’s a voice recorder.  Keep your learning on an audio loop
  • iPod:  listen to podcasts in your target language or for your target interest.
  • Massage oil aroma oil:  use aromatherapy when you are tired and concentrate–news to me!
  • Herb tea:  herb tea?  chamomile, vile weed!  I’ll have to get back to you when I get later into the book.
  • Shadowing materials:  Koyama suggests CNN English Express for Japanese speakers to mimic the sounds of English through “shadowing” . . . if you are learning a foreign language find podcasts, youtube materials of things that you would normally be interested in and just mumble through it . . .
  • “Evernote:  make your own dictionary” . . . .Take advantage of the little chunks of time and use this “remember everything” platform to make your own personal learning dictionary

Hello Evernote

I have to admit, I don’t get out much.   Last week I  heard about Evernote from a dad I met in the playroom who said he remembered all our names because he had put th

Just started playing around with this tool to play around with music theory and Japanese!

Just started playing around with Evernote to play around with music theory and Japanese! So far so fun!

m into  his Evernote program.  However, it took reading it in a Japanese book before I actually looked up the program and began playing with it!

So far so good!  I’ve been using it to capture my notes from the Jamplay website to remember things like scale patterns and the Circle of Fifths.  I’ve also recorded a few of my “jams” (so not ready for public consumption) since I read in the Advancing Guitarist that it is good to record yourself and periodically listen.  Evernote makes it easier to keep track of it all.

I’ve also taken pictures of Study Hacks at junctures where I think there are really interesting ideas.  What’s really been fun is that I’ve been able to clip dictionary definitions from Midori into my notes for each image.  I’ve also started reading the passages outloud with the voice recording tool.   (So far I’ve learned that I need to work on the tonality of my voice.  🙂 )

So far, I’ve gotten a lot out of my $14 besides the extra stamps.   Yes, I have read tons of study and brain books and some of this book is repetitive.  However, it is interesting to me and motivates me to find new vocabulary and incidentally introduces me to new uses of kanji.  It’s not boring.  When it gets boring I stop.  Boredom kills.

I could read Murakami in Japanese but I am not interested in it right now.  I’m learning about learning to learn more Japanese and to help others learn more.  Quadruple stamps!

 

“Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later Than You Think)”

22 Saturday Dec 2012

Posted by in Deliberate Practice, Guitar, Reading, Samurai Time Management

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I love it when a song pops in to your head and it fits what you’ve been thinking and reading about.   Enjoy yourself (it’s later than you think).  I just discovered the Louis Prima version but I was introduced to the song by a ska group called the Specials.

Sometimes you just have to jump into your desired skill to enjoy it. The sign from this ice cream shop in Japan says, "If it drinks and it eats the dessert, it becomes happy feelings about this shop." That's my philosophy about deliberate practice in one confusing sentence. :)

Sometimes you just have to jump into your desired skill to enjoy it. The sign from this ice cream shop in Japan says, “If it drinks and it eats the dessert, it becomes happy feelings about this shop.” That’s my philosophy about deliberate practice in one confusing sentence. 🙂

Hi my name is Juan and I’m going to enjoy myself first.  (obscure song reference 🙂 )  What got me thinking in this vein was a quote from my current carry around town book,  1分スピード記憶勉強法:  Study Method with One-Minute Speedy Memorizing:

好きで興味があるところだかららくに読め、くり返すことができ、どんどん言葉になじんでいくでしょう。この「いい環境」の波に乗ることばでりば、頑張らなくてもどんどん「英語を読む」ようになっていくのです。

If you read things you are interested and read in a relaxed way,  reviewing is easier, and bit by bit the you will be steeped in more vocabulary.    If you ride the waves of this “Nice  Environment”,  you will be able to [read English] without knocking yourself out.  Masami Utsude

I actually finished this book a while ago but decided to just carry it around for subway rides, waiting for appointments, etc.  It’s fun, easy but with a lot of new vocabulary, and just reinforces positive thinking and methods I want to incorporate into my life and learning.  It’s like All Japanese All The Time except it’s written in Japanese most of the time!  (There are sample English sentences for Japanese learners who want to learn English.)

A big part of learning involves controlling and nurturing your environment and ensuring that you will both push and relax into your hoped for skill.   In the morning I create and study flashcards and all that other Silverspoon-push stuff.   In the off moments, I may be listening to Japanese music or watching snippets of Japanese youtube videos.   Then, I “read” my Japanese books.   I may read every word on every page or just read the chapter headings or the table of contents.  I don’t worry if I know every word.  I may look at a new kanji compound and think, “Wow, I haven’t seen you before.”  And then, I move on.   I’m light years away from where I was months ago, when a page of Japanese text put me into a cycle of self-loathing.

Whatever you are doing or try to learn, there is a place for “pushing” and practice but an equally important place is relaxing and enjoying your skill.  Create a “nice environment””

  • Begin by being nice to yourself.  Be as nice as you would to a child learning to walk.
  • Think in terms of games.  I just realized that some people have crosswords and sudoku and I have kanji.  I’m not going to master “kanji”  I’m going to play kanji.
  • Find the teachers and tools that you enjoy or at least choose to enjoy your teachers.  Currently, I am watching Steve Eulberg’s lesson on the Circle of Fifths on Jamplay.  (They have a sale in December!  Follow the link on the right)  It’s wracking my brain but, hey, I like the guy.
  • Make time on your side.  Use timers to turn the “pushing” part of your day.   Lately, I’ve been going at the Japanesepod101..com lessons (check out yet another link on the right) but using incremental and decremental timers (an AJATT tool) to make it all mission-impossibly fun.  It’s also part of adding speed to my game.
  • Let yourself play and play “bad.”  I’ve been playing a lot more guitar since I’ve given myself the opportunity to play badly.  In fact, it’s been liberating to give up.  Nope,  I am not going to play like Keith Richards tomorrow.   But I can practice this G scale pattern and noodle around afterwards.

I’m glad we all survived the apocalypse.  But the timer is still ticking.  Enjoy yourself.  It’s later than you think.

“Don’t Give a Pluck, Guitar Samurai: “.ooooo1% is better than 0”

15 Saturday Dec 2012

Posted by in Deliberate Practice, Guitar, Mind, Reading, Samurai Time Management

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One of the nice things about signing up for Silverspoon, an internet Japanese immersion service, is that you get daily servings of corny motivational phrases.   After a while they start to rub off on you, and you start to believe that you can accomplish things.  (Motivational reps–resistance if futile 🙂 )  Yes, I am not completely fluent in Japanese.  (I’ve been doing/not doing Silverspoon my own way so it’s not really an issue for me.)  Yep, just having a hell of a lot more fun doing stuff in Japanese, writing more (in so-called English), and otherwise tripping the light fantastic.

Talk about life long learning. I love that there is a book dedicated to teaching seniors how to play The Ventures. But why wait until you retire to do what you want to do?

Talk about life long learning. I love that there is a book dedicated to teaching seniors how to play The Ventures. But why wait until you retire to do what you want to do?

 

A recent “casualty” of the corny motivational Silverspoon phrases has been my guitar playing.  I haven’t gone anywhere near my Jamplay.com  account in months.   It will expire at the end of the year.  (Check around Christmas time to New Years–they often have discounts if you are interested.  Follow the link on the bottom right of this page.)  I was doing the usual response:  avoiding thinking about guitar or silently beat myself from it.

Then I got one of the 100’s of emails I get from Silverspoon that said:  “.000001% is better than o.”  That little phrase motivated me to pick up and tune my Fender and do a little Jamplay.  Luckily, I had created Anki cards for my guitar lessons and was reminded to go to beginner lessons by Steve Eulberg.   I like his lessons not only because they are clear but also because he is cheerful, hopeful, and teaches you how to keep on learning.  I’ve been doing ten minutes before I get to bed.  I’ve been learning about the logic of chord progressions and playing them. More importantly, getting to the lessons means that I end up with a guitar strapped around my neck and often just end up playing around.

I can’t promise you that I will keep on playing.  It’s a one day at a time thing.  However, I can take the opportunity to provide you with some pithy “take-aways” from guitar to help you with any skill you want to take on:

  • don’t wait for the right materials.  Don’t fret about the “right materials” or method.  You need momentum.  Use the “crappy” materials while you find better stuff.  Jamplay is actually excellent but I found myself fretting about the dozens of materials instead of actually picking up the guitar.  Luckily, I had created an
    If you make the happiness decision then maybe you can experience more creativity in your life. Self-loathing and criticism aren't going to help you. I finally got around to getting out my Japanese guitar books. Learning through love. Trying to make the happy decisions. Two birds no stone.

    If you make the happiness decision then maybe you can experience more creativity in your life. Self-loathing and criticism aren’t going to help you. I finally got around to getting out my Japanese guitar books. Learning through love. Trying to make the happy decisions. Two birds no stone.

    SRS flashcard deck out of many of the lessons and that gave me ideas of where to begin.  Continue.

  • have some fun once the “heavy lifting” has begun.  Once I had my guitar and stumbling through a lesson, I also had the guitar in my hands and ready to play around.
  • just a little bit keeps the conversation going–when you are learning a skill or  learning a language.   A little bit each day keeps the skill in play even if not perfected.   I started thinking about chord progressions after a short re-exposure to one of Steve Eulberg’s lessons.   Light the matches until you can burn the candle.
  • put your money where your mouth is–pay for a service.   The fact that I paid X dollars for Silverspoon keeps me going.  The fact that I have to decide whether to renew Jamplay got me back to the guitar.
  • cross-pollinate your interests and “leverage” your interests.  I want to know more about music.   I could bash myself and note that I don’t know every band that Eric Clapton was in or I could just have fun.  Lately, I have been making Japanese
    This is a reference manga for the manga series, "Beck." The manga is about a 90 lb. weakling who joins a rock band. (I didn't end up following the manga or the anime.) The music guide gives background to all the characters and all the real-life music influences that run throughout the manga. If I read this, not only will I know more Japanese, I will also know more about rock and roll music history. Amazon Japan Link.

    This is a reference manga for the manga series, “Beck.” The manga is about a 90 lb. weakling who joins a rock band. (I didn’t end up following the manga or the anime.) The music guide gives background to all the characters and all the real-life music influences that run throughout the manga. If I read this, not only will I know more Japanese, I will also know more about rock and roll music history.

    flashcards about Happy End and Harumi Hosono, some of my favorite old style rock groups.  Two birds rocking and rollin’.

A New Year is approaching but don’t wait until then.  Give it .00000001%!

The Things I Carry: A Day in the Life of a Silverspooner

10 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by in Deliberate Practice, Mind, Reading, Samurai Time Management

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I am on day 572 of 595 in Silverspoon, an internet service designed to help people immerse themselves in Japanese and become fluent.   I like the fact that there are limited days.  These past weeks I’ve passed over opportunities to immerse in English media because in the back of my mind, I am always thinking, “I only have x days left.”   Time limits good.  Goals with time limits are powerful and effective.  The “race” is on.

Some of the things I carry: headphones, Heisig cards, One Minute Study Method Book, and kanji cards designed for Japanese fifth graders. Music or podcast is usually always on. Depending on my mood and travel conditions, I may pull out any of the other materials.

Tim O’Brien wrote a very powerful book about the Vietnam war called The Things They Carried.  The novel reads more like a poem describing the different objects, memories, and stories that the soldiers carried on their tour.   In a completely different vein, I just want to take a minute to describe some of the things that I carry as I try to immerse myself in Japanese.

A quick word about the methodology of Silverspoon, or at least how I interpret it.  When I log on to Silverspoon, everyday I open up a link and follow the day’s “sprints.”  This could involve anything from making monolingual (Japanese-Japanese) flashcards about a mouthwash ad to just doing flashcard repetitions in various time configurations.   These pushes are followed by “chillax” periods where you may have Japanese in the background but you aren’t consciously pushing on the language.

The pushes are punctuated throughout the day, which is a smart way to work because of the way memory and Spaced Repetition Systems work.   It is better to space out studying over the day than drill to kill.    As the memory of a new learned fact begins to “decay”, you get the opportunity to revive this fact and move it closer to storage in long term memory.

1分スピード記憶勉強法　　(Study Method with One-Minute Speedy Memorizing) uses a matches to candle metaphor  for this process.   A fact learned with your short term memory is like a match.   If you don’t do anything eventually the fact will just extinguish it.  However, if you repeat it again, you can use it to light another “match”  and then another until finally all the last match can light the candle of long term memory.   A candle burns longer and is more dependable than a match.

On the back of these cards are Japanese definitions, sample sentences, and a humorous strip to reinforce the words. A lot of times the vocabulary is beyond my grasp. I give it a read and throw the card away. My thinking is that I will have other opportunities to have fun with this word. I stop looking at these cards when it feels like a chore.

Fun illustration from １分スピード勉強法。　Short term memory expires quickly. However, through repetitions the memory can cover the distance to light the candle of long term memory.

Most of the “heavy lifting” in Silverspoon comes in the morning, when I make new flashcards and to the longest repetitions.   There are flashcard repetitions throughout the day, but they are interspersed with a lot of “chillaxing”  (or in my case, work and child care).

The nice thing about Silverspoon is that you get links to Japanese content that I wouldn’t have thought of before. I also do a lot less to almost no movie or anime watching than Silverspoon recommends.  I just don’t have a lot of time, so the links are really helpful.

But in the meantime, I have the things I carry:

  • iphone and a Bose Headphones:   Lately, I’ve been pushing a little bit by taking fifteen or less minutes to listening to japanesepod101.com lessons on my 40 minute walk to school.  The rest of the time I listen to Japanese music.  Lately, I’ve discovered a Japanese podcast called ラヂオ版　学問ノススメ　Special Edition.  I discovered it by doing an iTunes search for Kenichiro Mogi  (茂木建一廊）、a Japanese brain scientist, author, and former television host.  I don’t understand most of the interviews but I listen for the tone.   Besides “chillaxing” I use the iPhone for the spare moments on line or waiting for the elevator to keep the matches lit.  I always keep a few iPhone windows always open to anki, surusu, Japanesepod101 and random Japanese  websites.
  • a wallet full of cards:  just in case I have a spare moment and don’t want to seem completely rude I have Heisig flashcards and a Japanese 5th grade cards that have

    I bought these cards for a $1 when the Asahiya Book store closed. 🙁 They come in a book that you can tear up. On the front of the card is the stroke order and some Japanese mnemonics to remember how to write it, in addition to the Japanese and Chinese readings.

    mnemonics on the front and sample sentences on the back ….

  • a man bag with at least one Japanese book in it:   I pull this out when I can get a seat on the subway or when I am waiting at a doctor’s office.  Right now, I just read for fun and skip over words and kanji I don’t understand.   Really, relaxing and having fun with target language material is the ultimate “repetition.”  Reinforcing through fun.  Exposure to new material without that high stakes, “gotta study” feeling.
  • If I can’t get a seat on the subway or the trip is very short, I pull out the Midori flashcard app on my iPhone.   However, I’ve realized (even though it’s been drilled over to me by the likes of AJATT since Day 1) that studying single vocabulary words without the context of sentences is one of the least productive things to do.  However, it’s nice to keep moving when I have a few minutes.

Stay in motion. You learn the things that you carry.   What’s in your wallet?   What are you trying to learn?   What do you carry?  What could you carry?  What would be fun?   Keep in touch and let us know.

One-Minute Tips for Effective Studying: A Samurai Minute Review

01 Saturday Dec 2012

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図解　Version of 1分勉強法　　Richly illustrated with graphics and drawings, I felt like I was “cheating” by not reading the mostly text version. But hey, I am learning a new language here and trying to keep it fun! Fun is an important element according to the book.  “Your ability to learn is limitless.”

I am on a “one-minute” book roll.  This weekend, I had to spend expiring gift certificates at a Sanseido bookstore in New Jersey.   So many books so little time.  Fortunately, I chose an “illustrated” version of 1分間勉強法:  One Minute Tips for Effective Studying.   If picture books work for my five and two year old as they learn Japanese and English, why not give myself a break and have a book that is richly illustrated with diagrams and drawings as I baby myself into Japanese?   Over Thanksgiving break, though I was busy with school planning and family, I got pulled into 1分間勉強法 partly because I could look at the diagrams.   Then I  read relatively small amounts of text in between the diaper changes and being challenged to sumo matches by my children.  (How do I always manage to lose?)

 

Time Magic/Color Magic [タイム＊マジック」／「カラー＊マジック」

This is one of those books that appears simple but where I wish my Japanese was a little higher to catch the subtle points.  Basically, Takashi says that you should take advantage of “shrinking time” and using the right brain through his “Time Magic” and “Color Magic” methods.   “Time Magic” involves speeding up the reviews of a book.  He suggests that you practice turning every page of a book within ten minutes, then five, and one.  He has very specific information on how long to stay on each page and even how to turn pages quickly.   From what I can understand, Takashi claims that a few things work when you do these quick page turning exercises:

  • You are using your subconsciousness （潜在意意識) to “read” a book just like you can use your intuition to “read” a person at first glance
  • The discombobulation that comes from turning pages so quickly creates a healthy confusion that helps you get a lot out of each book
  • The “time magic” forces you to squeeze a lot out of each reading and can also be more fun
  • Time magic also works with his philosophy of taking quick and repeated jabs at memory in order to achieve a knockout.  (Spaced repetition)  It reminds me of a recent phrase AJATT shared with Silverspoon members:  “Get started. Momentum is more precious than well-argued ideas. #immersion #SRS”

    An excellent example of some of the graphics that help you understand the １分　process. After mastering the “one minute” process of reviewing a book, the focus is on “color magic.” Basically, you organize information from the book into colored sheets. You can create one sheet for each book and eventually, review 60 books in one minute.

Once you’ve mastered this quick method of looking through a book, it’s time to use “color magic.”   According to Takashi, organizing the information from the books you have read involves right brain activity by using color.   It works like this:

  • Once you’ve finished reading or reviewing a book, take out a special colored sheet that that has red, green, yellow, and blue squares on it  …. you can download a sheet here
  • red is for the information that you feel is key, green is for information is also important, etc….blue is for interesting but not necessarily important information
  • once you’ve made this sheet you can use the one second review technique to review the book….over time you will be able to review 60 books in one minute

I haven’t totally incorporated this system but I like the idea of page turning.  There  are so many unread books on my shelves that it is intimidating.   However, just flipping through the pages and catching random chapter titles is both a learning experience and helps me develop a road-map for what I want to read.

I haven’t methodically used the one-minute review system, but I’ve found that it has really helped to get me reading again.  I do a quick “speed date” with some of the books that have been lingering in my apartment.   It reminds me of why I picked them up in the first place and gives me a preview of what I want to read for.  Then I just read in the normal fashion.

Here are my notes on the multicolored paper. Crucial information is in the red box. The least crucial information is in the blue box. I’m not sure if you make these after just reviewing a book for one minute or whether you do this after a longer reading. This is my sheet for 1分勉強法. Time will tell if I will continue with this method.

However, with Japanese books, I have given up looking up new vocabulary when I am just reading for fun.   I just enjoy meeting a new word for the first time.   I know more and more kanji everyday and can figure out the meanings of a lot of words.   I also know that I have time every day when I study new vocabulary more intentionally.

Having a mid-life reading crisis?  Don’t give up on reading.  Add some speed and a lot of color.   It’ the 1分 way!  Reading is fun for da mental!

 

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One Minute Review: Enjoy Yourself to Learn a Foreign Language

24 Saturday Nov 2012

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I’ve been dipping into this book by Masami Utsude about adding speed to your learning methods. He recommends learning English by watching and reading materials that you enjoy. Good advice for learning any language!

As part of my Japanese immersion project, I have Japanese books stashed all over the place: in  my man bag, by my bedside, by the computer, etc.  At the Writer’s Room, where I spend 45-60 minutes each morning studying or working on my writing, I have several books.  At the top of the pile is １分スピード記憶勉強法：　Study Method with One-Minute Speedy Memorizing by Masami Utsude.   I dip into this book every now and then because it is simply laid out, has a lot of pictures, and is inspirational.

A whole section is devoted to learning English,  but these methods and ideas can be applied to any language–for fun and profit :).  Here are some of my dash of soy sauce translations of some of the best ideas.  [I put brackets around where I mistranslated “English” into “foreign language.”]

Guarantee Improvement While Having Fun!:  One Minute English Study Method.“楽しいながら確実に上達!「１分スピード英語勉強法」”　　

Unless the text is completely compelling, these days I am choosing Japanese books with pictures. 1分　has a lot of fun pictures. This one emphasizes that it is more fun and easier to learn a foreign language through quick and repeated reviews.

Utsude argues that one of the main reasons Japanese people don’t learn English is because they don’t give themselves enough opportunities to read, speak, and hear English.   The best way to actually review is to read, speak, and hear materials that you enjoy in a foreign language.

The Shortcut to Learning a [Foreign Language] is Repetition“英語上達の近道は｢くり返し」増やすことに尽きる”　　

Utsude explains that you wouldn’t expect to become a better swimmer by reading a book and getting into a pool once.  To become better you need hundreds of hours of actual practice.  Utsude was writing about English but you can fill the blank above with any language or skill you want.

What are the Two Walls that Keep (Japanese) People from Learning a [Foreign Language]?日本人の英語勉強を阻む｢２つの壁」とは？  

  1. Your Environment:   Are you surrounding yourself with good materials in your target language?  Ajatt.com recently echoed this sentiment by explaining how learning a language is a lot easier when you modify your infrastructure: “So any issues an able-bodied, sound-minded adult is going to have with learning (getting used to) a language will be entirely due to infrastructure, not linguistics, not biology.”
  2. Your Self (自身）  Are you clear and confident in your goals and motivation for learning a foreign language?

In Order to Remember/Review Your [Target Language]  Relax and Surround Yourself With Materials You Like ラクにくり返しをして記憶するための一番コツは、あなたの「好きなこと」「得意なこと」と英語を結びつけてしまうのです。


It’s the infrastructure issue all over again.  Masami Utsude urges his readers to “review” while having fun learning from English dramas, movies, newspapers, etc.  It’s the reason that I am reading Japanese books about learning.  I have a natural motivation that keeps me motivated and moving forward.  No birds.  No stone.

 

How to Smoothly Read [Foreign Language]  Books 英文がスラスラ読める効果的な方法

  1. Read the Table of Contents First–It Gives You a Road Map and Gives You a Native Experience of the Foreign Language
  2. Relax and Read without a Dictionary
  3. Read the Titles
  4. Make Sure You Are Reading the Genres You Enjoy

Getting The Most out of Watching [Foreign Language] Television and Movies「好きなテレビドラマー映画を楽しんで観る」がコツ　

  1. Watch without subtitles.   Even if you don’t understand just enjoy the atmosphere of the movie and let it fill your heart.
  2. Repeat scenes that you love over and over again.
  3. Let yourself feel like you are part of the movie or drama.  “Shadow” the dialogue and repeat what they say.

 

1分スピード記憶勉強法　has a lot more great ideas about learning foreign languages.  If you are a follower of AJATT or antimoon, these ideas are not new.  In a way, that’s why I chose the book–because it affirms messages that I already understand and know.   Reading about these methods reinforces both the positive advice and Japanese itself.

In learning a foreign language there is a time for pushing and a time for relaxing into the language.  Both are important.  I push by making new flashcards, reading definitions of Japanese words in Japanese, and studying flashcards.   I relax into the Japanese by listening to Japanese music, television, movies and by random channel and web surfing.   I’m not “fluent” yet but I consider it a milestone that I just read Japanese books for fun now.

Don’t give up on your dream of learning a foreign language.  Take a minute to have some fun.

 

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The Split Second Samurai: Love it or Leave It

19 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by in Deliberate Practice, Mind, Reading, Samurai Time Management

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As I approach learning and writing, I’ve noticed the power of not only small minute blocks of study but also the power of a second, or even a nano-second.   There is a split second, draw your katana decision.  Will you  1)  hate yourself for what you didn’t know? 2) throw out the fact because it isn’t interesting any more?  or  3) breathe and smile into it and find something to love and have fun with?  The point is not to ever feel bad, but to take advantage of the moments when you can make a decision to turn that moment into a learning, loving moment.

I’ve been dipping into this book by Masami Utsude about adding speed to your learning methods. He recommends learning English by watching and reading materials that you enjoy. Good advice for learning any language!

Part of the reason that I am so obsessed with the small is because I am doing a Japanese immersion program called Silverspoon.   I get all kinds of study suggestions, funky Japanese links, and inspirational quotes in English and Japanese.   A lot of these quotes emphasize doing rather than not doing.   Today’s “sprints” had this banner over it:   “Good Enough Now > Perfect Later.”   It also included a link that led me to my youtube page, which is crowded with all sorts of Japanese content.

Khatzumoto, the not-so-evil genius behind Silverspoon, has gotten subatomic and created a study program called Neutrino.  I haven’t really given it a spin but I love the smaller than an atom principle.   It’s the power of the teeny tiny, the force of the small–drops wearing down mountains.

Lately, I haven’t had much time for writing.  This post has been written in five minute chunks.   Sentence by sentence.   It’s better to push a little bit than let your dreams and ideas slip away.

According to Janis Joplin,  “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose…”   Get small and in that subatomic moment lovingly choose your direction.   Be a split second samurai.

Create Your Own Microclimate but Don’t Live In a Bubble

04 Sunday Nov 2012

Posted by in Body, Deliberate Practice, Mind, Reading

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As I write this post, the streets are teeming with people jostling and getting ready for the possible onslaught of the “Frankenstorm” Hurricane Sandy.   I hope it is just the hyperbole of the century.  I’m trying not to get sucked in to the news, into Facebook, etc.  It’s good to stay informed but the news and media have certain pull that can debilitate with fear and fascination.

 

Miraculously, no one was injured when this building’s facade came crashing down. This building is on the way to my walk to the Writer’s Room. The real damage from this storm was on the subway system, Staten Island, the Rockaways, and on the Jersey Shore.

You can spend your whole life

building something from nothing

One storm can come and

blow it all away . . .

Build it anyway.   — song quoted in Steve Chandler’s  Wealth Warrior

[11/03/12 Hurricane Sandy was devastating to the region, but I wanted to keep my words up there as a little time capsule of where my mind was before the storm.   (Even the title is ironic.   I can create my own microclimate, but I live in a world where the climate is bigger than me.)   My family and I were okay except for minor inconveniences:   neighborhood grocery stores without power, no cable service, etc.  Folks got hit hard in New Jersey and New York (especially the Rockaways and Staten IslandFor folks who can get away from families and take action here are some recommendations.   If you are reading this after the area has recovered consider giving to the Red Cross, the United

Compared to other folks in the region, we had to deal with minor inconveniences. No subway, local grocery stores without power, and gas shortages. Luckily, I could walk to a neighborhood with power and get groceries for my family.

Way and many of the organizations listed here so they can continue to serve and prepare for future disasters.]

I recently received a copy of Wealth Warrior by Steve Chandler.  I agree with a few of the political points Chandler makes out but I really appreciate the distinction he makes around how CREATORS deal with their media climate versus reactors:

CREATORS create their own community

*  create their own media resource list

*  create a lot of silence zones

* create periods of solitude . . . .

REACTORS turn on the so-called news and REACT to it

*  go to every new movie no matter how violent, frightening or gross, and react to it

*  react to whatever gets posted that day in social media

There’s a line between being informed and being totally drained by the news and social media.  I haven’t figured out how to surf that line.   As Hurricane Sandy approached, I followed the news and did my best to inform friends and former students to pay attention.  As it hit and in the aftermath, I continued to monitor the news and social media to see how my friends and former students (some who live in evacuation zones) were doing and to inform people about food distribution zones.  But after a while, following so much media and not taking any action was just draining.

The Writers Room had no power and no working elevator so I didn’t have my usual quiet “mad scientist in the lab time.” On one of my grocery runs, I spent an hour at a manga cafe to enjoy the normalcy of studying Japanese and doing my “reps.” Sometimes you need to “power up” with quiet time for yourself.

Yesterday, I took a modified media break.  I just took a few minutes every hour to check on what was going on.   At one point, I just took a long nap and lingered in bed.  (Not an easy thing to accomplish with children.)  I studied Japanese and shuffled around websites.   It was a luxury that many people in the area can’t afford, but what good am I going to be the world if I arrive exhausted, stressed out and on information overload?

Be on the lookout for media overload in your life.   How can you serve if you don’t know who YOU are amongst all the media chatter?  Make time for silence.  Create your own media micro-climate but don’t stay in a bubble.   Power down so you can power up and be a steady shining light.

Power Your Morning! Samurai Disappearing Acts

26 Friday Oct 2012

Posted by in Deliberate Practice, Mind, Reading, Samurai Time Management

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Greet the morning with what you want to make happen–in your mind or your “practice.” Thirty minutes a day for your life. Photo source: unprofound.com.

Hello, I am back!   I have been in the all-consuming depths of teaching and all the work and preparation that this entails.   Additionally, I am in the final months of my Silverspoon Japanese immersion experience.   Every morning, I wake up and get suggested “sprints” for Japanese immersion.    Silverspoon usually includes scheduled “chillax” periods where I can do other non-Japanese related stuff while having Japanese in the background. It is usually in these 5-10 minute breaks that I play around with the blog and write.   Lately, by the time it is time to have a “chillax” period, it is time for me to leave and go to work.

Lately the Silverspoon mornings are “packed.”  Yesterday, I flipped through a Japanese book, did sentence and kanji flashcard repetitions, and made new flashcards from “Scuzzy” sentence packs that I chose fun sentences from.   After a little more flashcard reps,  shuffled through Japanese websites using Khatzumoto’s url shuffler.  Fun stuff, but the time ran out and I had to leave the Writers Room and head to work.  (There’s not a lot of time for writing these days, but in 74 days I will have my own schedule “back.”  Right now I am creating a rich Japanese environment of websites, flashcards, and just plain old fun immersion experiences that will be there for me for a lifetime.)

My copy of Furuichi Yukio’s book on how to incorporate mornings into your life. For coolness factor he adds an English subtitle: “The early bird catches the fortune.”

This all reminds me of a Japanese podcast that asks listeners to “Power Your Morning.”  I used to go my favorite coffee shop that opens up at 7 a.m. and then get to the Writer’s Room and only have 15 or 20 minutes to write, study, and do “me.”  Now I am making my coffee in the Writer’s Room and getting an extra half hour every day to write, study Japanese, and play it forward.

It was a shock at first but I am enjoying the benefits of the morning and I think you can, too:

  • You start the day with a “win” towards your “goal.”  If you can do it in the morning, it might slip into the rest of the day.  If you are too “busy” then you will get your win in for the day.
  • The morning can be the most free from outside distractions.
  • There is an after-burn.   The idea you are trying to work on in the morning might kick around for the rest of the day.
  • Your mind and body might get used to showing up on a daily basis and help you produce more constantly.  Creating, learning become a habit.
  • When you “disappear” in the morning before most people are awake you don’t have to explain or justify yourself.   You just go into your mad scientist lab and create your own Frankenself.

I wasn’t into the book a month ago, but I might give it a whirl again. I left the $2.00 Book off sticker. You don’t have to bust the bank to have a Samurai Mind.

This morning I am shaking it up.  Silverspoon is saying I should be watching anime all day.  I am watching “My Little Monster” but only for five minute stretches, while working in writing and a little exercise (also in five minute) stretches and then I have to go to work.   I am designing the precious time that I have in the morning.

Design your morning.  Power your morning.  As Bob Marley says, “Wake up and live!”

 

 

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