ATLJAPANESE

kanji

Kanji are in effect the third alphabet of Japanese and are required for anyone series about obtaining fluency in reading native materials. With ATLJapanese, a student can expect to learn the 1000 most common kanji in 4-6 months. This amount of kanji accounts for 95% used in Japanese media and generally takes college students four years to learn.

The ATLJapanese teaching order for kanji differs greatly from the typical "school order" used by Japanese children and American college students. Inspired by the acclaimed Kodansha and Heisig methods, I teach kanji in an order conducive to efficient memorization. Characters will be learned according to their shared components. For example, 一 (one) and 口 (mouth) are taught before 言 (say) and 兄 (brother), which are both taught before 説 (theory). We will use kanji component parts (known as radicals) to create mnemonic stories that will help you to recall the kanji’s meaning. You will also learn a single word along with every kanji character, so that you can improve your vocabulary while learning kanji. This method makes memorizing similar looking characters (of which there are many) much less laborious.

This may seem logical but it is not the order or method that most American college-level Japanese programs or the Japanese Department of Education follow. In those institutions, usefulness and frequency of the kanji is prioritized. However, if fluency is your goal, then learning the 2,136 regular use kanji in the most efficient method possible can save you years of study time.

mass immersion method

After you become comfortable with the kanji and grammar, we will focus on vocabulary building through mass immersion using native reading and listening materials. Outside of lessons, the student will regularly engage with the media of their choosing, generally a manga, anime, or dorama just beyond their level of comprehension.

I am a proponent of USC linguistics professor Stephen Krashen’s “input hypothesis,” which states that language is not learned but “acquired” through massive amounts of engagement with the language itself. Fluency does not emerge after reaching a critical mass of grammar or vocabulary. Rather, one gradually acquires the unspoken and unconscious “rules” of a language. These rules are intrinsically understood by native speakers but rarely mentioned in textbooks. For example, consider that in English the phrase “don’t you want to” is often pronounced “donchyawanna,” which is all but unrecognizable to a non-native English speaker. Also consider that the phrase “big red dog” sounds more natural than “red big dog.” There are thousands of “rules” like this that one must become used to hearing and reading before native level language ability can be achieved.

MATERIALS

All learning materials, including textbooks, custom flashcards, and native reading, listening, and viewing material will be provided to students FREE of charge.

Our most important resources will be a spaced repetition flashcard program and the Genki and Tobira textbook series. A spaced repetition system systematically reorganizes the scheduling of your flashcards based on the relative success you have in recalling their answers. Custom-made flashcard decks will be provided to all students and will help them to review kanji, vocab, reading, and listening in the most effective manner.

Our textbooks will be Genki I & II, the standard for college level Japanese. It alternates between teaching new grammar and vocab and testing the student with reading and kanji exercises. More advanced students will utilize the Tobira series and the Dictionary of Japanese Grammar.

To keep lessons fun, I also often incorporate elements of Japanese culture, such as origami, calligraphy, anime, and Japanese cooking lessons. As there is nothing more important for motivation than the student's love for the culture, we will use whatever the student is interested in to help he or she to maintain interest in the language. I welcome the curiosity of students who wish to learn more about Japanese culture.