Day 1
I woke up at 7:30 this morning but didn’t get around to studying until 12:00 after finishing up my a.m. work. My schedule was (and will continue to be) the following:
7:30 – 12:00: Work + listening in the car
12:00 – 12:30: Study + lunch
12:30 – 3:30: Work
3:30 – 4:30: Study
4:30 – 5:30: Work + listening in the car
5:30 – 6:20: Study
6:20 – 7:10: Work
7:10 – 7:45: Study
7:45 – 8:35: Work
8:35 – 9:00: Study
9:00 – 9:30: Go home + listening in the car
9:30 – 9:48: Dinner + write this post
9:48 – 12:00: Study
Today’s study result comes out to plus or minus 5 hours and 35 minutes. Tuesdays are my busiest days, meaning I have the least amount of free time to study, so I’m hoping tomorrow and Friday (short work days) I’ll be able to pick up a ton of study hours.
I’ll continue this through next Tuesday, and congratulate myself with a few days of well-deserved and long-overdue dates – One in Sendai for some shopping and Starbucks, and one at the movies over a shared bucket of popcorn. Needless to say I’m going to bust out with all of my newly acquired 8-day-study-session terms during the dates.
“監督がどのようなメッセージを伝えたいかはっきりわかんないけど、たぶん、「限りある資源を大切にしよう」ということかな。”
Day 2
Day two of my study session went pretty smoothly, although I found myself taking a couple quick 5 minute “refresher breaks” during my timeboxes because I started getting drowsy. (Probably because I was studying in warm rooms on a winter day) Here’s how it went:
8:15 – 9:35: Morning stuff
9:35 – 9:50: Quick study session
9:50 – 12:30: More morning stuff
12:30 – 2:05: Study
2:05 – 2:20: Breather
2:20 – 6:00: Work
6:00 – 8:00: Study
8:00 – 9:45: Work
9:45 – 10:00: Dinner + blog (now)
10:00 – 12:00: Study
Total study time: Approx. 6 hours.
I’m finding two simultaneous courses on iKnow to be inadequate given this study load, but that forces me to switch up study topics so maybe it’s a good thing. I might end up cracking open some サラリーマン金太郎 tonight.
Interesting side note: While 上京する (“head for Tokyo”) is still in fairly common use in Japanese, the equivalent phrase in Korean (상경하하다 - “head for Seoul”) has fallen out of use in just the last few years. I have no theory to offer about why that is.
Day 3
Day three of my studies started off with a shocker – I overslept an hour and a half!
But getting further into the day, I found more opportunities to study, and fought off my enemy (distractions) like Russians in the Battle of Stalingrad. なめんじゃねェ！
During my “forced downtime”, I’ve been thinking about a couple of more Japanese projects to start/restart here, and I’m hoping to get more people involved as a sort of “Japanese study community“. I’ll have some more time to flesh out some of the ideas and install the proper softwares after my study binge/winter dates end just before the New Year begins. What better time to start a new project than the New Year, after all?
Total study time today: Approx. 5 hours.
Day 4
I’ve reached the halfway point of my 8-day study binge session, and I’m feeling pretty good about everything, except for my tongue which is being burned by this scalding oden I’m trying to eat at the moment.
You’d be amazed at how many basic words there are that you simply forget (how) to use because you’ve developed particular speech patterns that you’re comfortable with. No matter what your level, sometimes it’s good to go back and review a few of the foundational terms that we know when we hear but don’t put to good enough use. At least that’s what I’ve been getting out of these sessions in the past few days, along with a new range of terms I was never before comfortable with.
Total study time today: Approx. 5.5 hours.
Day 5
I learned a new title for myself: ガリ勉. It means “a swot”. For any U.S.-English-speakers who don’t know what a “swot” is, it’s a “a grind”, as in someone who throws their self into studying.
So Saturdays are pretty busy days for me, so I didn’t have as much time for studying as I do the rest of the week, but I’ll be able to make up for it on Monday (no work!).
I’m looking forward to getting this Aozora Bunko study group up again. My wife works on a similar project in Korean, but they focus on translations. She says it’s a pretty good motivational system, as she wants to keep up with all of her peers on the forum. I hope we can recreate it here!
Total study time today: Approx. 3 hours.
Day 6
Just a brief update for my sixth day of study.
I was really pressed for time today, so I’m going to have to pull a last-minute cram this evening.
I’ll be able to thoroughly complete all that iKnow will let me tomorrow. I’ve also got a pile of books I intend to get through, although I’m being pulled away from “serious reading” by Salaryman Kintaro and his 男の中の男 shenanigans.
I’ve got about 15 draft posts on queue and another 5 or 6 floating around in my head, but I won’t get around to putting them up until this study binge is over after this coming Tuesday. They’re going to be packed with information, I promise.
Until then,
ガリ勉中！
Total study time today: Approx. 2 hours.
Day 7
I got me some studying done today!
Mondays are always my most productive days (no work), so I took full advantage of my time to make up for the last couple of days when I was pressed. I’m still going to get a few more hours of study in this evening.
But before that, I’ll head out to the local Book Off to pick up some 105 yen manga from a few different series; maybe even the last couple of Harry Potter books in Japanese if they’ve got them in stock.
ファイト、おぉ！
Total study time today: Approx. 7 hours.
Day 8
My study binge session comes to an official close after I go to sleep tonight. But it (as in the proverbial ‘it’) is not over yet.
It’ll never be over. Ever. Even after I can claim full, complete-annihilation mastery through either shiny certifications or just of my own assessment, I’ll never stop learning. If it’s not Japanese, then it’ll be Korean. Or Chinese. Or sociology.
Student4Life
I’m rewarding myself with a date in Sendai tomorrow. After that, more studying.
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