Hiragana Trainer Review

I was very impressed by this handy app. Not only did it have a memory game for learning the hiragana but also a place to practice the strokes from memory.
A nice feature it has is that you check the hiragana that it draws out against your own and say if it's  right or wrong. This skips the hassle of those poorly performing recognition programs. Also you can replay the hiragana being drawn out animation and scribbled on top and trace. It's  definitely worth trying, it requires you to download an Adobe app to help it but its worth it!

I'd give it an 8 out of 10 simply because it takes a bit of set up and I would  like to see a kanji or katakana version too

Reviewing hello talk

This amazing app is great. The translation is a bit spotty but it is a pretty safe way to do language exchanges. You can search for online partners to talk to and speak or text or take pictures . it's like a language learning lab crossed with Facebook messenger. I was really impressed with this app and think it will be one that falls into regular use for me. I found it's the perfect supplement to the pimsleur course I'm doing (the review of which is on this blog).

It's definitely worth checking out if only to see if it's your cup of tea. You can talk to people of different languages and see what time it is inn their part of the world. It is automatically set not to disturb you between 11pm-7am.

I've put a link below but you can find it on the google play apps market.

This is my #HelloTalk# screen. HelloTalk – Social Network for Language Learning & Exchange with native speakers. http://hellotalk.com/iOS.html

Reviewing Lingua.ly Android App for Japanese

While lingua.ly is an excellent app for learning French or other European languages it performs poorly for Japanese. 5/10

Lingua.ly

What is Lingua.ly

Lingua.ly is a free language learning app available on the google play store

Features

Dictionary: the app has a Japanese-English basic dictionary. You use this to add words to your learning list.

Read: This feature currently isn't supported for Japanese (thus the low rating) but in future hopes to provide reading materials in the target language for learners. You can browse foreign news papers by topic and add words to your learning list but like I say this has not made it to Japanese yet.

Practice: a test where the Japanese word is shown and you are asked 'Do you know this word?' assuming you say yes you are given a multiple choice answer for the English meaning.

Scoreboard: keep track on progress including your score from the past seven days, how many words you've added, how many times you've practiced and articles read.

Positive Aspects

• It has an easy to use and interact with interface.
• Appealing colour scheme
• You choose the words you want to learn
• Everything is stored in the cloud leaving space on your device
• It allows multiple languages to be learnt at once (with a little configuration).

Where it Needs to Improve

• Everything is kept on the cloud meaning internet is required to use.
• It doesn't say the words in the dictionary or give you the hiragana/katakana/romanji for you to learn pronunciation.
• No support for reading Japanese articles

After notes

This app is good for French and other European languages but has yet to impress me with Japanese

Reviewing Pimsleur

I've just finished my first week of 'Pimsleur's Japanese' a very expensive Japanese course that people speak highly of and here is my review.

Positive

Confidence Boost

It does give you an immediate confidence boost as you quickly learn words and at the end of each half hour lesson are able to understand the conversation from the start. Each lesson makes you use words you learnt in a previous lesson which helps cement them in your memory.

Listening Comprehension

It really helps understanding actual conversation at normal talking speed, they don't slow it for you so you are forced to focus.

Fun Repetition

It's very much all about repetition. However, it is delivered ina manner that makes it fun.

Quick

You progress very quickly.

Negative

Not Quite Portable

It advertises itself as something you can take anywhere and do while doing anything but I say no absolutely not. Every lesson has you speaking allowed which isn't something you can do unless you're alone without looking like you've gone cookoo. Secondly, each lesson requires focus. I couldn't even draw and do the course at the same time because it divided my attention and made words harder to learn. I made a habit of going to bed half an hour early and doing the lesson there.

No Written Work

With a language like Japanese that has three alphabets, I'm sure you can understand why not having any lessons on writing hurts.

Limited

It doesn't really cover every situation and I know it can't but I really wish I'd learnt how to ask where the bathroom is in the first lesson. Also, I'm not American but it is assumed you are in the course.

Verdict?

It would be entirely possible to rig this up yourself using smiletalk but for the sake of ease having it all preplanned is nice. I recommend practicing this in bed as part of a learning japanese diet. Crunch a few kanji before, learn your alphabets and experiment writing the sentences you learnt in pimsleur.

Narendra Modi Calls For Japanese to be Taught Online

English: Image of Narendra Modi at the World Economic Forum in India (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Prime minister Narendra Modi (the 15th Prime minister of India) wants Japan to take the time to create Japanese language courses online so that more people can learn the language. He said that Indian languages could also be introduced to Japan, but what prompted this?

In India they had introduced Japanese as a language to be learnt in schools. However, there was a shortage of Japanese teachers to teach the subject. If Japanese was more readily available to learn this could be prevented. Narendra Modi believes that mutual language learning support would help their countries.

Modi arrived in Kyoto on Saturday and was received by Shinzo Abe and is scheduled to hold a talk with him.

I certainly would not object to more Japanese language learning material becoming available, especially if it was free and open source and hopefully all in one place!

What support do you think the Japanese government should add?

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Get 'Write' In!

Writing down notes help your brain to remember information. You will remember note longer if you handwrite them rather than type or download the notes to read through.

The psychology of memory

The brain is divided up into different areas that deal with various tasks and problems. These may be visual or auditory stimuli or emotion or problem solving etc. These areas do communicate with eachother (for example if you hear a scream you might feel fear or if you see dog poo you might feel disgusted) but specialize in their own niche skill.

When we activate multiple areas in our learning process we are far more likely to remember the content. This is where writing comes into play, writing provides visual, kinetic and if you read out loud while you write; verbal and auditory. By activating multiple areas of the brain at once you create connections more easily which helps you remember it clearly. Listeing to your own voice is especially good for memory.

So what are you waiting for? Go write up a storm!

Brain Connections

Many people have a false belief that your brain is a library that you can keep shoving books in and expect to remember. It is not, your brain is an amazing piece of tech that remembers things by their relevance to you. That's why if I say 9/11 you think of the twin towers and not what you were wearing. The brain sorts information and creates connections and things are more easily remembered when they have multiple connections.

When I started studying physics and biology I also took some time to learn some latin roots and it has been invaluable to me for remembering terms. In my head if I hear a word that has 'photo' in it I know that photo means light so when I see photosynthesis I see the two words photo=light synthesis=unification/construction/making something and then it is easier to remember that photosynthesis is how plants make their food from light.

That is just a simple example but their are much more crazy things, for example memorizing some of the periodic table. Harry Had Little Brilliant Bananas Coming Out From Near Nanna's Mouth And She Put Some Containers And Ketchup Sideways To Virtually Corrode My Feet Cos No-one Called Zoey.

And so on, the sillier the better because now I don't need to the silly phrase to remember but it certainly helped.

Even better than that Memrise lets you create flashcards that have silly pictures to help you remember as well as phrases. I remember the one for remembering the kanji for noisy and it had three women shouting (because the kanji for noisy contains three kanji for women). Very simple but still very easy to remember.

So remember brain connections are the way to learn!

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An Important Note on Immersion Learning

Many people herald that immersion learning is the absolute best way to learn a language, but I say all things in moderation. Our brains will always take the easiest road to understanding something and so when you are totally immerged in a language you're brain will be looking out for words in its native tongue. The trouble with this is that your brain switches back into your native tongue when it finds it and this is not good for your learning. What can also happen is that you become overwhelmed and stressed out by being plunged into a new culture and language constantly and need escape.

These are the two cons of immersion learning but with artificial immersion you can avoid them. Artificial immersion is used by people who usually cannot afford to travel to their destination to learn and instead create that sort of environment from themselves. It is a very handy technique that you can utilize from the comfort of your own home with very little effort.

First you'll need a space that you can fill with things covered in your target language, magazines, books, posters, online radio in that language, videos and whatever you can lay your hands on. Remove anything in your native tongue or throw a sheet over it so you can't see it. Now discipline yourself to spend an hour in there each day in the morning. I say morning because if you put it off than it will be harder to do it.

That's all it takes to have a little artificial immersion in your home!

Lesson Plan: 1

Weeks 1-2

Day 1: Today you start to learn Japanese from the very start. It may be intimidating at first, but we are going to take baby steps. The first thing you need to do is get a sum copy (that's the one with the boxes) for this first week you have to learn to read and write hiragana. I've already written an article about the importance of learning hiragana Here that includes some resources but I recommend using Lentil, an online memorization tool to first learn to recognise them.

This is a link to Lentil

Using this program it should be easy to learn how to recognize the characters.

Day 2: Test yourself with flash cards on paper to make sure you know the hiragana you have learnt so far. You should know at least twelve by now. Continue using lentil and start practicing writing the ones you have learnt already. Repeat this process over the next couple of days.

Day 3: Be creative and get an A3 or A2 sheet of paper and add your neatest Hiragana characters to it ad stick it to your wall. Be sure to save enough space to add katakana later. Slowly add to it as you learn your Kana.

Day 6: Look up some Japanese words and practice writing them in hiragana, be sure to use Smiletalk to make sure you are pronouncing them correctly and be sure to say each hiragana character as you write it to reinforce the link in your brain.

Day 7: Review your progress and see how well you have learnt hiragana. If satisfied you can recognize and write them correctly then repeat all the above steps substituting hiragana with katakana.

Goodluck!

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Learning About Learning

So you've decided to pick up a second language. That's great! But it's a big undertaking and learning how to learn can be half the battle! This is going to be a simple list of things you should read up on to maximize your learning potential.

How Your Brain Learns Things

Some people think that the brain is like a library and the things you learn are simply filed away. This is not quite how it works the brain uses connections to learn things. The more connections you have to something, no matter how strange and obscure the better.

Types of Learner

Not all brains learn the same way, you need to determine what type of learner you are. Perhaps reading out of books is how you learn or perhaps you need someone to read to you.

Flash Cards Are Important

Flash cards or flash card programs are easy tools to use when learning anything. You can download free apps on your phone (try memrise) that you can use anywhere just to refresh yourself. Doing this regularly helps you learn words.

The Pen is Mightier Than the Sword

Writing is a powerful tool to help the memory, it forces you're brain to concentrate in ways that typing and reading cannot.

Artificial Immersion

One of the advantages of having smiletalk but when learning a language you need to set aside an hour a day where you immerse yourself in your target language. There are online radios where you can listen to your target language but be sure to try and read and write some too. During this time allow no English articles to clutter your space as it hinders learning.

Timing is Everything

Try and aim your learning sessions for a comfortable time in the morning, preferably just after breakfast where you are less likely to be disturbed or distracted.

Time Without Effort Equals Nothing

Only have short sessions of learning, longer than an hour at a time will lead to a dip in concentration and a hatred of the subject you are trying to learn. Spread your learning throughout the day and as long as you get your main session in the morning than don't pressure yourself.

Love Learning

If you don't love what you are trying to learn than it will always be a struggle. Learn to love the culture your target language comes from!

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Things I Love About Japanese Culture 1

This is a new section that is dedicated to finding little examples of Japanese Culture that make you smile!

Japanese Clean Up Football Stadium

After Japan's crushing defeat in the World Cup fans made sure the stadium was free of litter. Fans stayed behind and cleared up the stadium, something which I think most people would find surprising especially considering they were defeated. The bathrooms were also cleaned by the time the fans had left.

Why Did They Do This?

One fan when questioned about this said “It's our tradition. Living without waste is much better,”

In relation to Japan

In Japan it is thought to be proper to clean up after yourself in public, even if it means taking the rubbish home.

Why we love it

Imagine if every country in the world did this! The results would be amazing but alas right now it's only in Japan but maybe you can change that ;-)

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Benefits of Being Bilingual

Not having a second language these days is almost like being illiterate these days, almost everyone wants the numerous benefits of having a second language. Aside from the obvious benefit of being able to communicate more easily with people were you aware of the benefits to you're brain?

Benefits of a Bilingual Brains

Being bilingual is a mental workout for the brain that keeps it agile and eager to learn, as a result bilingual children often outstrip monolingual children in the classroom if the task involves paying attention. That's not all Bilingual children are often better at understanding language and articulating themselves better. The mental work out can also delay cognitive decline by two years.

Even more benefits

Remember your career guidance teacher singing the praises of having a second language, well they were right since on average bilingual people earn 25% more than their monolingual counterparts. Having a second language is attractive to an employer and demonstrates a level of intelligence that will be appreciated in the work place.

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Smiletalk Updates That'll Put A Smile On Your Face

It has finally happened! Smiletalk now has an option to listen to Japanese talks!

Now you have a supply of Japanese listening comprehensions that will undoubtably be invaluable resources to you! You should check out our article on how to effectively use listening comprehensions. Don't forget to help support learners in Japan by contributing your own talks!

Don't forget to check out the facebook page for more information and of course the actual website. If you have any ideas please drop them in the forum where I personally read all of them.

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