The trouble of learning two languages at once

Last year I lived in Spain and faced the inner trouble of trying to learn two languages at once.

For a job opportunity I moved to Spain and I wanted to take advantage of living in another country by picking up the Spanish language.

I used the Memrise app for getting more and more vocabulary and created my own Anki deck to collect more words myself which I either saw on streets, heard in conversations or in social media. I also started following Spanish social media sites covering my interests - like anime. Even acquired a Spanish One Piece manga.

As for the work in the company I didn't necessarily need Spanish, but sometimes emails were in Spanish - same as conversation between colleagues depending on their background. I tried to immerse to get more and more palabras, but having conversations was still troublesome. I felt more comfortable in reading as it gave me time to understand.

And I didn't start from zero, a few years before I started some self-studying and participated in a course in Valencia, yet still a lot to be learned.

But I was in a conflict: I was also studying Japanese. I even brought a few Japanese manga to Spain to read sometimes. And as Japanese is a much bigger challenge to learn - especially character-wise, I actually didn't have the time to do both. It's actually too much.

Some people asked, if I don't mix it all up, and at first I interestingly replied that it wouldn't be a problem, since it's about two completely different languages. So I thought, but in hindsight I was totally wrong...

It actually caused chaos in my brain, because while trying to speak Spanish I sometimes accidentally almost (and possibly sometimes did) mixed it up putting a Japanese word into a Spanish sentence.

A funny example was the usage of "to drink". In Japanese it's 飲む (nomu) and in Spanish it's "beber" and "a drink" would be "la bebida". However, as I mixed it up, I created a new word called "nomida". So basically my brain took the Japanese infinitive of verb to create a Spanish noun. Total mess, but kinda funny.

There were probably more examples, but that's the funniest one. As mentioned before I filled my memory with lots of vocabulary using Memrise and Anki in Spanish, but I did the same for Japanese. Probably because the learning process was kinda similar (even though) different characters - the way of remembering vocabulary remained in a similar pattern.

As Spain also has anime conventions I went to one where I you could watch the movie "Your Name (君の名は). It was in Japanese with Spanish subtitles. And it really summed up both my back then language priorities. I was able to understand most of the movie, partially the listening Japanese and also through Spanish subs.

Still apart from that, my priority was Japanese and it definitely distracted me from Spanish. For language learning it's definitely better to have full focus on only one like I have now with only looking into 日本語 - that's the best way to actually learn a language. After leaving Spain and now living in Japan, it's really effective with setting my priorities straight.

My personal conclusion was actually also like: As Japanese is for many reasons more difficult to learn I figured that it's also better to learn it the earlier the better. Maybe one day, I go back to learning Spanish again, although I still passively absorb it by social media or listening to working colleagues talking.

Did you have a similar situation with setting priorities on languages? Please tell me yours in the comments!

Confronted with Chinese characters while learning Japanese

As I started learning Japanese from last year more seriously than before I faced a few times the situation that I saw Chinese characters and got extremely curious about their meanings.

Is it being at the airport, running through Chinatown or working in a factory, it's so easy to be confronted with Chinese characters. But when you are studying Japanese it can be confusing: You notice characters which look familiar and some you've definitely seen before. You even know their Japanese readings and also what it means... But you don't speak any Chinese language!

But as an learning addict your mind wants to figure out the meanings. Looking at food menus you often get an idea on what it means, but on the other hand I noticed some train stations in Singapore which I couldn't understand properly.

Then I was in a factory and I could read characters for example for milk. The characters don't feel like 'unreadable' anymore, it's amazing. 

You even start looking up characters via radical search with your Japanese dictionary app (e.g. Jsho) only to find out that the character is only not really used in Japanese. For example I found this on a package of a box:  姆

Looking at the radicals it means "female" and "mother", so it made me curious of course.

Also, I guy from Hong Kong I met in Australia told a good example of how meanings of a Kanji can differ by the example of 湯. In Japanese it's ゆ and a common term for hot water - especially at places like onsen. However, in Chinese the meaning would be "soup" (tang). I found that quite interesting. 

I'm aware that there are lots of examples, so if you know an interesting one, just let me know in the comments.

And how do you feel as Japanese learner being confronted with Chinese characters? Okay, of course it's clear to me, that Japanese Kanji are based on Chinese ones, so maybe I should rephrase: Are Chinese words confusing Japanese learners or make them rather curious?

Let me know^^

My 2018 JLPT N4 experience!

Last Sunday I finally participated at the JLPT N4 test in Düsseldorf. Let's review how it went...

During my time in New Zealand earlier this I decided to do the JLPT test level N4 during my 'summer break' in Germany. Back then I knew that there are a lot of kanjis to be memorized, lots of vocabulary to be learned and so many grammar rules to be understood and applied.

After failing an attempt for the N5 test two years ago I made huge steps recently making me confident enough to go even further. I could have played save trying the N5 again, but that wouldn't be the kind of challenge I needed now to move forward.

Back then I failed mostly because my reading speeding was way too slow for being able to finish and a lack of many kanji and grammar rules.

Ready for the test I arrived in Düsseldorf as many more than 500 other people did. Interestingly the most of the participants were applying for the N2 test which I found quite interesting leaving me respect for those reaching that level.

Of course also many were in the N5 one - most of them probably giving it their first shot. 

The test

In any case: I gave it a shot in the N4 test and the first session was the vocabulary and character test for thirty minutes. My general impression was quite positive, but in some cases I had to guess the answer since two kanji looked quite similar, but of course just one was the right one. 

The second part was the one hour grammar and reading test. I didn't felt really sure in much of the grammar questions since I often couldn't see THE answer, in my view many could have made sense. The texts were alright, I felt like I generally wasn't quick enough and fully focused. I felt that the time is running out and that I should get the 'save' points first, but generally it had an impact on my concentration. Not too mention, that it was also a very hot afternoon.

And as by the end the time really ran out, I had to guess the rest. Not sure, if I reach enough points to get through, but next month I'll know more.

Finally, the listening part came and it was definitely one where I felt I could make up points. The level of the conversations being played were way lower than the previous texts and mostly really easy to understand. The only thing was where I and others I talked to afterwards lost points was - again - the focus. If you drift away when the conversation begins and the questions are asked, you found yourself like: 'Ok, I understood the question, but what did they talk about?!' 

But definitely the easiest part of the whole test!

Final thoughts

The question is of course: Did I pass or did I not? Generally this test showed me in which areas I definitely need to improve and although I can read way quicker now then I used to, there's still a lot to be done.

For example certain grammar, I need to understand why certain things are correct and others are not. Plus: I noticed that in terms of kanji I rely too often on furigana. Definitely not the best idea, even though it's convenient. Maybe I should switch them of more often while reading the NHK Easy News.

So, what's next? With myself intending to go on Working Holiday in Japan by the end of next month I definitely plan to do some more courses in Tokyo. Will I even prepare for N3? Probably too soon, maybe I will even do N4 again.

Nevertheless I'm already increasing the vocabulary towards N3 level. Maybe in case of repeating the N4 one it's easier to be a bit more beyond this level. 

I met one guy in Düsseldorf even tried the N4 test now for the third time - without being certain if he made it this time.

So time will tell...

ではもっともっとがんばります。

How much you understand and how much you don't...

With my current chance to live among many Japanese people in a hostel I'm daily confronted with Japanese - in terms of listening to conversations and speaking a bit myself.

On the one side I notice already how much I understand, even if it's just a bit or sometimes even whole sentences. However the lack of knowing the context or certain vocabulary or grammar rules makes it difficult on the other side.

First you have the relief seeing your progress getting more and more understanding and being able to have easy conversations yourself or even shocking some Japanese people by being able to talk to them in their native language.

The latter is certainly funny and I tell things like: '自分で勉強します。(I'm studying myself). It's definitely nice to be praised for your effort learning Japanese - personally I'm satisfied on the one hand - just comparing myself to last year - but I want more.

I noticed my ability to read manga or even some Facebook comments, news articles with furigana and similar stuff got faster. 

The biggest issue stopping me from reading faster is the lack of Kanji and certain vocabulary. But luckily I could see some improvement in that regard.

Through these daily conversations - also on FB messenger - I can increase my Japanese skills gradually which is really motivating.

But still, it's a long way ahead which I'm willing to follow.

New Japanese vocabulary - Mid-February 2018

As I'm currently continuing to improve towards my goal learning more and more Japanese I'm currently surrounded by many Japanese people which helps me getting more and more vocabulary - these ones I found quite important this week:

休憩きゅうけい
Meaning: break, recess
Comment: It's an important word for being at work. I memorized this word by using the following sentences to my Japanese working colleague: 休憩までは１０分。=> 'It's 10 minutes until the break.'

個室こしつ

Meaning: private room
Comment: As I switched to a private room that week I was taught this important word. I especially to a closer look at the second kanji: 室. It means 'room' and is one of the level N4 ones which I can remember now.

連絡れんらく
Meaning: to contact, to get in touch

Comment: Actually an easy and common one, but as I had it in several conversations (LINE and 'real') this week plus I still struggle to memorize the Kanji it made sense to put it into this list. Despite it's seems quite often used, the Kanji characters are for JLPT N2 and N3.

渡るわたるMeaning: to cross over, to go across
Comment: After work, a street needed to be crossed and like 'koeru' 'wataru' can be used. How I memorize it? Wataru is also a Japanese name and the first thing which comes to mind is Takagi Wataru (police guy from Detective Conan, 名探偵コナン). So I thing like 'Takagi is crossing the street' and here we go^^

Application out for JLPT N4!

This year it's time to go for the JLPT again. But unlike two years ago I will go one step further and will try the JLPT N4.

It's time to raise my game and give my ambitions improving my Japanese a new challenge. Two years ago I failed passing the N5 test, but back then I wasn't really used to read Japanese and my Kanji and vocabulary knowledge was quite low.

Especially the ability to read is important which I noticed during the test in 2016. I wasn't used to it and way too slow. I couldn't really read the longer text at the end and ended up guessing the answers without having gone through the text through the lack of time I had.

Additionally I wasn't that confident with the N5 Kanji and I guess I even made silly mistakes in that regard.

But the situation now is different: Just a few months after failing that test a acquired some manga in Japanese on my travels and kept me more into reading the language plus it also plays a huge role in learning new words. My Anki deck is getting filled with lots of vocabulary and especially words directly written in Kanji (but with furigana).

I found with Obenkyo an interesting recommendation for learning Kanji and the necessary vocabulary.

But surely it's not just that: Many grammar rules are important and are needed to be understood and learned. It's something where I definitely need to catch up.

Recently I was indecisive about taking N5 or N4, but I felt like that I could already easily pass N5 by now, but as it's still a few months to go until July I figured that it would be best to aim one step higher and go for N4.

So with currently being in New Zealand I had to sent my application via post delivery to Düsseldorf in Germany as they don't have the option yet to apply online. I found out that other places have that possibility already and that it's really easy in Japan as well of course.

But anyway, the application is out and now I can fully focus on passing N4 in July.