How do I memorize a zillion words in three months?

September 9, 2007 9:15 AM

I'm studying to take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test in December. I have a shitload to learn and it seems nigh insurmountable, but I can do it. What are the best ways to study for this?

I've been learning Japanese for a long time, but in the past two or three years I've slipped and lost a lot of it. I'm trying to make it up to myself now, but don't know how.

I have a couple thousand words and kanji to squeeze into my pea-sized brain in three months, and I have no idea how to go about memorizing that much. Flash cards? Osmosis? Help!

posted by borkingchikapa to education (8 answers total)

A little and often. Use flashcards, and just carry a bunch with you to look at when you have a moment.

You may also find the following article helpful:
Spaced Repetition

I tried to find the Wikipedia article on the Leitner System, but it seems to have been changed for the worse since I last looked. Basically, have five boxes. Put all your cards in the first box. Any card you can remember gets put in the second box. Later, look at the second box. And card you remember goes to the third box, and so on. The trick is to test yourself on the first and second boxes more that the fourth and fifth, so that the ones on the later boxes go into your long-term memory.

A quick Google pulled this up.
posted by djgh at 9:39 AM on September 9, 2007

which level?

I assume it's mostly the same, regardless of level, but by far the most important thing to study for level 2 is the vocab, IMO. Listening was a cake walk and the reading is generally going to the hardest part, so getting a perfect score on the vocab is an easy way to up your score.

Don't study the joyo kanji. They are irrelevant to the JLPT. Instead, find a website that has the full vocab list for your level, and then make your own flashcards. By hand. Thrice. If you know the on and kun readings and english translation for most of the vocab words, you'll ace that section.
posted by kickback at 11:22 AM on September 9, 2007

I am indeed taking level 2, and so far I've managed to plow through two packs of flash cards (and I'm only on ko-, jesus). It'll be a long road, but ultimately for the best I guess.
posted by borkingchikapa at 12:01 PM on September 9, 2007

I like speedanki.com.
posted by martinrebas at 12:06 PM on September 9, 2007

Read in context, lots. Find some stuff to read that has a lot of the vocabulary and syntax you're working on but is still comprehensible to you, so that you can read it without pausing much. There's a lot of evidence that language learners can retain vocabulary far faster that way than with forced memorization (e.g., flashcards). Flashcards are OK as a supplement, though.

がんばってね
posted by wintersweet at 7:04 PM on September 9, 2007

The best investment I ever made in Japanese was buying a pda with Supermemo and Japanese OS and input software.

Supermemo is basically an electronic flashcard system that keeps track of your rate of forgetting, and the specific difficulty you have with each card, and only presents you with review of the cards that you are on the verge of forgetting. This is a huge time maximizer, as anyone who has made flashcards will see.

Try putting 3,000 flash cards in your pocket and reviewing them at a stoplight... The convenience factor alone is immense considering any downtime you experience can instantly become ultra-targetted review time. I've used it in doctor's offices, in line at the supermarket, in heavy traffic, at boring parties, waiting in movie theatres, it's fabulous.

I have a couple thousand flashcards in my supermemo, and I generally get a review of about 100 per day, which is extremely manageable considering.

Another good tool is simulated immersion, download and watch Japanese dramas and write down/look up words you don't know, listen to Japanese music, and my personal favorite, and ultra secret power technique: talk to yourself like a crazy person!

This is really an extremely effective method for working out the mental kinks that slow down fluent speech. Keep repeating things to yourself out loud, over and over until it flows. Force yourself to think in Japanese about how you would say any given thing, for instance the last sentences of any conversation you have with someone. Walk away saying it quietly in Japanese. Think about and talk out loud to yourself about how you would explain the process of making toast to a native Japanese. Simple habits like this force you to actually use your book learning in a practical way, and the speaking out loud reinforces it in memory through multiple senses. I find creatively cursing at people in traffic a fabulous way to sharpen spur of the moment idea expression, as you may have discovered yourself.

For Kanji, I'm not sure the best way for the test, but King Kanji is a pretty cool program for the Palm os. It's good for ingraining a good sense of stroke-order, and writing practice. The Heisig Method generally yields good results as well.

Good luck!
posted by Redruin at 8:33 PM on September 9, 2007 [1 favorite]

Kotoba is really nice software for Mac.
posted by m3thod4 at 12:38 AM on September 10, 2007

I second reading in context. The reading and grammar section of the test is the most difficult for most test takers, and it's also the one that's worth the most points. Also, it is very easy to run out of time during that section, so time yourself reading so that you have a good idea of your own time management needs. When I passed Level 2, I skipped ahead and did the grammar first, then all the reading. In the end I had just enough time to finish both, but it was a close thing, and I'm glad I started with the easy part (for me).

I know the JLPT does not test writing, but It's easier for me to learn new kanji if I write them. You can find sheets of kanji practice paper online. What I do is find a good compound word that contains the kanji I'm trying to learn. It's especially helpful if it's a word I already know. Then I write it over and over, saying the word out loud each time. When I am done writing each row, I use the new word in a sentence, again out loud. You can also do the same for kun-yomi, too. It's hard to be disciplined about this because it feels a little silly, but boy does it work for me. I have tried other methods, and my retention of new words is not as good. For me, flashcards are more of a backup for this method.

Other than that, I like Unicom's JLPT textbooks, and the Kanzen Master series JLPT of workbooks. The JLPT is a very idiosyncratic test: it is important to know the vocab and kanji they test on, but it's also important to be familiar with the test itself. Fortunately that's easy, as they sell the tests from previous years. Try The Japan Shop. Also -- and I wouldn't know anything about this, and definitely could not hook you up via email -- some of the older tests are available in PDF form on something that starts with bit and ends with orrent... but even so, you should buy at least one of the recent tests, because having the CD for the listening section is more than worth it.

What I did is get two different tests. I used one to study with, and one to test myself a few days before the actual test. I sat down with a timer and ran through the test just as though I were taking it officially. This really increased my confidence. ALC publishes some books of practice questions for the test -- if you can find one of these, use it to study and then test yourself on the real test. These books are A LOT harder than the real test is, so if you can get through them, you should be OK at the test.
posted by vorfeed at 4:21 PM on September 10, 2007