For me, reading was the key to learning
Japanese. A good story would grip me and keep me coming back, even
though the actual process of reading would quickly tire me. As a
college student attending courses full-time and working a
part-time job, it was often difficult to find the time to read. For
some reason I thought that I'd magically find reading time if I just
kept working, but it never happened. The I realized the truth...
I needed to make that reading time
for myself.
I tried to find
periods of time during the day to read, but would usually get
distracted by other things and not get around to it or would make
very little progress. Eventually, I found something that worked - reading
in bed for an hour before going to sleep.
Why you should read before sleeping.
Reading at night
was great. Instead of being work, it was a relaxing and enjoyable way
to stay connected with Japanese. I didn't fuss over adding everything
I saw during this time into my Anki deck, instead jotting down a word
here and there on some scrap paper to add the next morning.
Despite the lax
mood with which I approached this reading, it definitely helped me
with my Japanese. For one thing, it served as a daily reminder of my
progress with the language. It also provided those few words each
night to boost vocabulary. Reading also reinforced all of the things
I had already learned. Plus, reading Japanese right before going to
sleep meant that I'd drift off with my head filled with the language.
But most importantly, it made Japanese fun.
That's not to say
that a serious approach to learning Japanese is a bad thing, but it's
so easy to get burned out when you only focus on efficiency and
maximizing productivity. Taking an hour each day to read helped me to
relax and unwind with the language - reminding me that I didn't have
to become a fanatic about adding sentences in order to learn.
So give it a try.
Go to bed a bit
early and relax with a volume of manga, a novel, or a
newspaper/magazine. Don't worry about looking up every word that you
don't understand, instead focus on enjoying yourself. Give yourself
another reason to do your reviews and additions the next day. Trust
me, it'll help.
Related Articles:
Do you add all the vocab you find from different places to the same deck?
ReplyDeleteI'm asking, because right now my main vocab deck is almost entirely from Genki 1 & what I have so far from 2. Right now I'm going through Yotsuba and finding a ton of vocab I haven't run into yet. Should I just throw what I find into there or would making a separate deck be more appropriate?
I guess this could be more of a preference thing, but I'm curious as to how you organize.