Quote:
Originally Posted by kaoken
Thank you for that insightful rant 
I agree that vocabulary is important but where do you start? You don't just find a dictionary and start at A, err this case あ and go down the list. Rather, you should learn the vocabulary as you see them in sentences. In this way you get a grasp of the grammar and also learn new vocabulary. For example just start out with reading a book at your level and dissect the book sentence by sentence. |
Oh, right you are! Again, I didn't mean toss grammar out! But, as a simple example, let's say you found a text book you like. I think it very important that you have the vocabulary for a particular lesson down pat before even attempting the grammar part of the lesson. Spend a day, 3 days, a week, whatever it takes to know the vocabulary inside and out for that lesson!!!! (And if you have sound files, tapes, whatever, for that lesson, listen to them first BEFORE reading a single japanese word in Romaji. Our english speaking brains will automatically put an accent in english spelled japanese.) But back to the point: grammar will come much more easily if you don't have to think about the meanings of the words. So sorry that the rant wasn't very clear about that!! Thanks for straightening me out.