Argh. I’m actually really disappointed in myself because of the endless excuses I made during the weekend. This being the first weekend since June I didn’t have to think about studying for #school I promised myself I would be studying Korean all weekend. Like a marathon.
What marathon? It didn’t happen, and that makes me angry at ME
It was the perfect time to study and get back into motion with the system, but clearly it didn’t happen and how it started is kinda …no very frustrating. I actually was reading and studying Korean most of Saturday morning till I went out, and decided to take my books along with me.
That’s good right?
No!
I didn’t touch them, instead I sat in the car watching a playlist of music videos!!!!! To me thinking about it right now I am thinking “WTF” those kinds of thoughts. Didn’t end there sadly, got home and forget them in the car. Told myself I would get them after I had a little nap…we all need naps right!? It’s cool.
It’s 1pm on Monday and I still haven’t left the house to get my books out of the car ㅠㅠ I feel
Ike I let myself down on this issue. Why did I make so many excuses like :
“I’ll get them later” and “I’ll just use some online resources instead of getting the books!!”
So now I don’t think I am going to make stupid excuses, when I am making them its a bad move and subconsciously I know it’s a bad move. So when I even think about making an excuse I’ll just say to myself “Excuses are not allowed!!!” that should snap me out of the crap right!
Going to get my books finally haha. Although actually this morning I did study with online resources because I saw my mistakes in making those silly excuses, and wrote a diary which sadly I don’t think makes a whole lot of sense.
Korean studying….
The break was a little long when it comes to grammar studying 🙂 need to put back in some effort when it comes to grammar and I have just the books for it both Yonsei and Korean Grammar In Use together obviously with my trusty koreanclass101 ^ ^ got a subscription for the month to get myself back!!
Japanese studying….
I want a Japanese textbook ^ ^ it’s really sudden for me and I am not going to use the textbook this year or even next year. I’m actually not going to touch anything regarding the Japanese language till 2015 hehe makes plans ahead of time. It’s not my style to be honest but I have committed myself to doing it in the future and I want to have a reminder that I am doing it by having a textbook on my shelf.
I’ll appreciate any recommendations on textbooks and sites to get them ^ ^
……language studying begins now!!! Good day 🙂
All the best!:D
Sharmaine
http://seoulsuitcase.blogspot.com
Seriously I just found your blog…I’ve been trying to learn Korean for almost a year now and I ALWAYS make excuses as to why I can’t study today,or tomorrow or the day after that 😛 But your blog gives me strength and hope that I can make it xD Thank you for all these wonderful stuff you organized so well!! 😀
감사합니다 ^.^
Wow. Really? So cool 😀 hope you like it hehe
Hey don’t be so hard on yourself! Give yourself a break after all those school exams. You have been doing so great this whole time, and I’m always so impressed by how far you’ve come at such a young age. Though, how far away is this car? Mine is three feet away from me in our garage, but getting to the car seemed so daunting in your post. 🙂
Guess I shouldn’t ^^ that made me feel better. And yeah its not close hehe, my house is actually on a hill so there are stairs which lead down to the bottom where the garage is!! and that is where I didn’t have the energy to move, I usually just jump from the top (there is a drop to the bottom!) rather than walk on the pathway to get to the stairs and walk down. But my ankle was just a little bit sore so I couldn’t jump from the top to the bottom. Walking seemed like a waste of time, and it was raining hahaha
I’ve been promising myself to do a study marathon as well or just study more in general- especially for Korean- but oi dale COLLEGE OTL
What level materials are you looking for for Japanese? I can recommended a load of stuff. XD
Haha well holiday’s are coming up soon so there u will have more than enough time XD
I’m looking for Beginner haha ~ because I don’t know anything. I don’t even know the Japanese alphabet (seems like there is more than one…how very daunting and intimidating ㅠㅠ) so I would appreciate any recommendations 🙂
Okay… Let’s do this. /inhales/
Hmm… for beginning textbooks, in my opinion, there’s good, but not great.
Genki
There is Genki I and Genki II. I’m currently on the II book with my college class and I like it better because things finally get challenging there. The series is very popular in English-speaking countries and is very classroom oriented. I’ll be honest and say that I don’t like the exercises in the books. They’re too simple, most of them are partner work, and I don’t feel that it really solidifies what you’re learning. The workbooks on the other hand are GREAT practice. If it wasn’t for the workbooks, I wouldn’t get good practice in because those questions force me to recall vocab and grammar and think. Sadly, I think the answers to the WB are in a separate book. D:
Minna no Nihongo
This series is very popular in Japanese classes in Japan. For just one level, there are many many books. There is the main textbook- completely in Japanese, English translation and grammar notes, kanji, workbook, reading, listening, and I think one more… This is all for one level. XD Each level has all of those books. It would be too much money for me to try buying all of them so instead I downloaded it online just because I could, haha. It will get you very immersed in Japanese, but it can be daunting. You’ll learn more kanji and vocabulary in these books vs Genki. I haven’t actively used the series so I can’t say too much on it.
TONS of free pdfs of Japanese books: http://studyjapanesenet.blogspot.com/
If you’re ever looking for a great intermediate textbook: TOBIRA. That is all. XD
Now for side books… Can I call them side books? OTL I have a nice list. 😀
Dictionaries
Kodansha’s Furigana Dictionary (complete volume)
[English – Japanese (look up English words only volume)] [Japanese – English (look up Japanese words only volume)]
I purchased used books separately vs the one large volume because it was cheaper for me that way on Amazon. What I LOVE LOVE LOVE about this dictionary is that when you look up a word, it will tell you how that word is used and always gives example sentences. (Ex. If you look up “look up” they will show you how it’s used as “look upwards” and “look up to someone/respect”.) It’s amazing. ;-;
A Dictionary of Japanese Particles by Sue A. Kawashima
This is actually written by one of the professors at my college. It’s really useful for grasping all the different types of particles and the different ways they’re used. She also puts lots of example sentences with her explanations.
A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar
There is also the intermediate and advanced version. These books are gold to me. XD It gives in depth explanations of various grammar points (about 200 per book) with example sentences and (the best part) they tell you when and when not to use certain grammar points (with more examples!).
I think these are on the studyjapanesenet site too.
Your best bet is a “main textbook” and using A Dictionary of Japanese Grammar to get more information. Kodansha’s dictionaries are amazing, but I don’t wanna suggest too much at once… Wait I kinda did suggest a lot. Whoops. >.>
Thanks for the mass of resources xD I appreciate it all 🙂