Here is the second video with Charith. After we had finished the first interview he had some more he wanted to say. At first he starts talking about watching TV even when you don't understand any of it, and about not using a dictionary. He says that the words will enter you and you will acquire them naturally. But then he goes on to give some more tips and advice. At the end of the 5 minute video I have provided a list of the points he makes. I put the list up in Japanese and in English. You can just hit the pause button to read the list.
I have also subtitled this video, in Japanese and in English. Go to the YouTube site to get the subtitle functionality. You can turn it on or off in the lower right corner of the player. It is called 'CC' for closed captioning. I think this will be the last time I try to subtitle a Japanese video. It takes too much time. But since I figured many people here who don't learn Japanese will want to watch the video and know what he says, I subtitled this one. After writing all the Japanese down, creating the English translated subtitle file is easy. It's just the Japanese part that is difficult because I have to keep listening to parts over and over trying to catch the exact words used.
What's interesting about that is that I will have a part already transcribed and I'm trying to hear what is said after that part, and so I rewind and listen to it again but my mind gets stuck on what is being said and when the part I'm supposed to be listening for comes along, I miss it because my mind was preoccupied. That can happen like 3 or 4 times in a row!
Tips for Learning Japanese from Charith
I think those are good tips, but I disagree about not using the dictionary. I don't think it's necessary by any means, but it can be a helpful tool. When you can pick out a word and know how to say it, but no idea what it means, that's a good candidate for looking up in the dictionary. If you hear it multiple times, that's an even better candidate.
ReplyDeleteI've noticed that the words I understand the best are the ones that I learned through studying or the dictionary, then heard in context in on the TV. The more I hear them in context, the easier they are... But knowing the word beforehand seems to be a big help as well.
At the least, you increase the number of new words you learn this way if you don't have to heard the word 20 times before you get it, but instead only heard it 5 and then look it up. The next 15 times are reinforcement, instead of guessing that way.