Mastering Japanese-Lesson 4-The Marathon Begins!

Dear Reader,

By the time you get to this lesson, I trust that you have throughly
familiarized yourself with the contents of the first five conversations
from the textbook you purchased. Remember, you don't have to necessarily
master the contents, just familiarize yourself with the contents and make
sure that there aren't any phrases or words that you can't understand.
A quick run-through will be sufficient. Remember, once you start the
listening sessions, trust me, you'll be reviewing the contents plenty
over and over and over and over and over and over again.

Alrighty. I'm feeling REALLY excited. We have finally arrived at
the point where you're about to begin your listening marathon sessions.
(Please don't be intimidated by the word "marathon". I mean it in
a very positive sense with all of the accompanying benefits to be
gained.) For Lesson Four, now that the stage is set and all of the
groundwork has been laid, I want to quickly go over the basic logistical
points that should be adhered to while engaged in your listening
sessions.

First, get your MP3 player (assuming that you have downloaded
the first five conversations into your Mp3 player, I normally just
download the whole CD at once into my MP3), your textbook and a
ballpoint pen. Your next homework assignmet starting next Monday,
May 10th, will be the following super-duper two simple steps
to be done EVERY weekday this week:

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SUPER-DUPER SIMPLE STEP #1
Sometime in the morning, find a quiet place where you will not
be disturbed for about 15 to 20 minutes, open your textbook
to conversation one, press play on your MP3 player and read
along with your textbook while listening to conversations
1 thru 5.

After finished, with your pen, put a check mark somewhere
on a blank spot in your textbook to indicate that you've listened
to the set of five conversations once.

Rewind back to Conversation 1 and repeat four more times.

SUPER-DUPER OUTRAGEOUSLY SIMPLE STEP# 2:
Sometime in the evening, find a quiet place where you
will not be disturbed and repeat the above super-duper
simple step #1. (At the end of the day, you should have
listened to one set of five conversations 10 times.)
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And that's it! Pretty simple heh? Regardless, rest assured
you're on your way towards building a strong foundation. The great
thing about this program is that you actually really learn and retain
what you study unlike practically every class one takes in college
or otherwise.

Before wrapping up, here are answers to some anticipated FAQs
that might be stirring around inside your head.

***********************FAQ***********************
QUESTION:
Dude, what's the deal with having to put down a check mark
with my ballpoint pent every time I've listened to a set once?
I can count up to five in my head. Do I really need to do this?

ANSWER:
Dude, I know it might seem ridiculous but the truth is and I'm
speaking from experience here, I don't know how many times I've
lost my place during my listening sessions and have had to
start over again simply because I didn't track of where
I was with a pen. I know it sounds ridiculuous but during the
sessions, trust me, your mind will wander. You'll start to day
dream or maybe the phone will ring or you'll have a sudden
urge to use the bathroom or whatever. After one of these
momentary lapses of concentration, once you come back, you'll
be kicking yourself in the shins as you as futilely ask yourself
"Have I listened to a set 3 times or 4 times?" Trust me. Use a
pen to mark off where you are and you'll save yourself a lot of
time and frustration.
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QUESTION:
Do I have to physically read along with the textbook while I'm
listening to the conversations? Sometimes I'm pressed for
time in the morning or in the evening and would rather just
let the tape roll while riding the train or driving to work etc.

ANSWER:
NO and you'll thank me later for being firm about this. The
reason is because while you're reading along with the text
while the recording is playing, you're also simultaneously
strengthening your kanji reading ability right along with your
listening and comprehension skills. Trust me. You'll see.
One day, about six months down the road, you'll pick up
a manga or a Japanese magazine off the upper shelf of a train
(assuming you're in Japan that is) you're on, you'll randomly
be flipping the pages and then all of a sudden blurt out to
yourself, "Dang brother, I can read quite a bit of this thing."
You'll get off the train and a big, unstoppable smile
will spread across your face as you say to yourself, "Yeah,
Rich was right."
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QUESTION:
Do I have to divide my listening sessions into the morning and
evening? What if I do one session in the afternoon and one
session in the evening? Or what if I have just one long session
and listen to a set 10 times all at once.

ANSWER:
Absolutely no problem. Dude. Do whatever is most convenient
for you. Practically speaking, I don't care when you do it, as
long as within the 24 hours of a given weekday, you absorb
a set 10 times within that day. Personally, I have just found
that listening to a set five times in the morning and night has
been most convenient. To be honest with you, there have
actually been times when due to uncontrollable circumstances
I have had to do a long 10-times-at-once session which I
found to be a bit tedious and frustrating. And there have been
times when I just fell asleep early some nights and then had to
listen to a set 15 times the next day etcetera. I mean life is
life. Sometimes you'll have to be flexible in order to meet your
goals. However, in general following the "inch-by-inch, its a
cinch" principle is most effective. For me, this translates into
listening to a one set of five conversations five times in the
morning and five times in the evening.
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I'm going to wrap up this lesson here. Anyway, good luck with
your listening sessions. And please do not hesitate to comment
should you have any concerns or questions.

In our next lesson, I'm going to reveal the absolute number one
reason why people throw in the towel midway to achieving their
goals. Stay tuned.