Jem's Grammar Drill Technique

[Jembru]

Another requested topic from our Line discussion group!

When I speak Japanese I tend to be too focused on what I'm saying and forget to pay attention to my grammar. Over time my grammar becomes more and more sloppy as a result of not checking myself. For this reason, every now and then I go back to the first textbook I ever used and use its exercises to drill basic grammar patterns.


The Book

The textbook is a now out of print book from the 80's called 'Colloqual Japanese'. Do not be fooled by the newer edition by the same authors though. It's nothing like the original and honestly, not that useful.

Colloquial Japanese is very technical, all in romaji, goes into weird details such as how conjugations affect the pitch accent on the words they inflect (and if that meant nothing to you, welcome to the world 'Colloquial Japanese'), and for a beginner the exercises are far too hard, assuming that you've fully memorised EVERY word so far introduced.

It was a terrible book to start off with and all I did was read it cover to cover over and over in the hope that it would stick. Some things did of course, but many of the grammar points covered didn't make sense to me until I met them again in Japanese for Busy People, many years later.

However, for pre-intermediate learners and above who aren't learning these structures for the first time, then this book is actually ideal for reinforcing what you have already learnt, and helping you to iron out mistakes. It covers pretty much everything that the entire 3 books of Japanese for Busy People covers (roughly N5-N3 but not in JLPT order), but often just gives one short paragraph then moves onto something else.

Although it might not cover more advanced grammar, what we call 'advanced grammar' is largely just fancy variations built around those basics you learnt as a beginner/pre-intermediate, so perfecting those basics will help ensure you masterfully execute your N2 and N1 structures! So it's definitely worth going back to basics now and then if this is something you struggle with.

I'll outline my grammar drill technique in the next post, exactly as it is outlined in my 2016-17 study program. It may be possible to tweek my plan for use with the textbooks you already have.

NOTE: There is one more reason I would recommend this book and that is the greetings at the start of each chapter. Question 4 on the JLPT listening test expects you to know everyday greetings/standard replies but it's not easy to find these all in one place. From 'okagesama de' to 'nochihodo mairimasu', Colloquial Japanese has you covered!

[Jembru]

The Basics

- My system was inspired by the the noticing hypothesis, which while still debated on the grounds that it can't be easily tested and is thus hard to prove, certainly rings true for me. In short, in order to use grammatical structures correctly, you first need to NOTICE the details. The fastest way to achieving this is to simply have a go and get it wrong! By getting it wrong, you're forced to pay attention to (ie notice) the correct structure. This gives the opportunity to correct the mistake next time and your Japanese will improve as a result!
-This structure is known as 'test teach test' or TTT for short and differs from the usual 'read the chapter/listen to the lecture then do the exercises' type structure in that it tests you before you study, letting you tangibly see your progress through the process.
- Like much of my study techniques, this method is based on speaking. However, if you can use grammar correctly in speaking, you will also be able to use it correctly in your writing.
- I study in 20 minute bursts and if I want to study longer, I make sure I take a short 5 minute break after every 20 minutes. Your brain is working hard during these sessions so don't ruin all your hard work by overloading it and forgetting everything you just learnt!


Step One 復習

This isn't possible the first time you try the technique, but begin your session by drilling the previous exercise again. Review is a very powerful memory aid so I urge you not to skip this unless you got 100% during step 2 below. There are 4 exercises at the end of every chapter, but I only drill one or two here.


Step Two 予習

Here you will check how well you already know the grammar structures by recording yourself doing the exercises at the end of each chapter, without reading up on them first. I pause the recording while reading the questions which just makes checking my answers quicker later.

Below is the exercises from chapter 8 to let you try the technique for yourself (the book is all in romaji I'm afraid). The language they use is quite technical so I'll do the first ones of questions A and B to show you what they're asking for.

A) Combine the following into a single sentence using an adjectival clause:

1 kinoo kissaten de tomodachi ni aimashita. kare mo Nihongo o benkyoo shite imasu. -> Kinoo kissaten de atta tomodachi mo Nihongo o benkyoo shite imasu. (When I did this one recently, I said 'kinoo nihongo o benkyoo shite iru tomodachi ni kissaten de aimashita', which was also an adjectival clause, but not what the book wanted.. that happens sometimes ^^).

2 shachoo no heya de hito ga matte imasu. Utenshu desu.
3 Anohito wa Suzuki san desu. Itsumo omoshiroi hanashi o shimasu.
4 Tegami o kakimasen. Hima ga arimasen.
5 Kamera o yushutsu shite imasu. Sono kamera wo taihen ii desu.
6 Nihonjin ga kaigaityokoo o shimasu. Sono hitotachi ga fuemashita.
7 Yuube paatii de onnanohito ni aimashita. Kanojo wa daigaku de Eigo o oshiete imasu.
8 Kore wa shashin desu. Yushutsu-buchoo ga torimashita.
9 Kinoo shashimi o tabemashita. Sore wa ikaga deshita ka.
10 Nihon ni gaijin ga kimasu. Karetachi wa sugu Nihon-ryoori ni naremasu.

Answers in Spoiler Bar:

SPOILER: Click to show

2 Shachoo no heya de matte iru hito wa utenshu desu.
3 Anohito wa itsumo omoshiroi hanashi o suru Suzuki san desu.
4 Tegami o kaku hima ga arimasen.
5 Yushutsu shite iru kamera wa taihen ii desu.
6 Kaigairyokoo o suru Nihonjin ga fuemashita
7 Yuube paati de atta onnanohito wa daigaku de Eigo o oshiete imasu.
8 Kore wa yushutsu-buchoo ga totta shashin desu.
9 Kinoo tabeta shashimi wa ikaga deshita ka.
10 Nihon ni kuru gaijin wa sugu Nihon-ryoori ni naremasu.

I move onto Step 3 after each section, so would come back to step 2 later to do question B below.

B) Expand the following sentences by incorporating the words in brackets. Make any other changes the sense demands;

1 Nihon de Nihongo o benkyoo shimasu. (koto ni suru) -> Nihon de Nihongo wo benkyoo suru koto ni shimashita.

2 Jidoosha o unten shimasen. (dekiru) (NB: this is the chapter I mentioned in the なさそう and other lies.. thread, so despite being told earlier in this chapter to drop 'suru koto' with noun + suru verbs, you actually don't here..)
3 Yooroppa no inaka ni sumimashita ka. (koto ga aru)
4 Sono hako o akemasen ka (dekiru)
5 Moo machimasen. (dekiru)
6 Hanbai-buchoo wa rippa na uchi ni sunde imasu. (deshoo).
7 Yama no keshiki ga kirei desu. (deshoo)
8 Otoosan wa oyogimasu ka. (dekiru)
9 Kono subarashii jidoosha o mite urayamashii desu. (-katta deshoo)
10 Konban wa koten-ongaku o kiki ni ikimasu. (koto ni suru).

Answers in spoiler bar

SPOILER: Click to show

2 Jidoosha o unten suru koto ga dekimasen.
3 Yooroppa no inaka ni sunda koto ga arimasu ka.
4 Sono hako o akeru koto ga dekimasen.
5 Moo matsu koto ga dekimasen.
6 Hanbai-buchoo wa rippa na uchi ni sunde iru deshoo.
7 Yama no keshiki ga kirei deshoo.
8 Otoosan wa oyogu koto ga dekimasu ka.
9 Kono subarashii jidoosha o mite urayamashikatta deshoo.
10 Konban wa koten-ongaku o kiki ni iku koto ni shimashita.

It's getting late so I'll come back another time to post the next 2 exercises, but they're basically translating Japanese into English (question C) and then English to Japanese (question D). However, I only ever do English - Japanese, so I use the answers as the prompt for question C, and return to the chapter to check how I did.

Also, there are short conversations at the start of the chapter with Japanese on one side of the page and the English translations on the other. These conversations all use grammar from the chapter, so when you have done all the questions from the end of the chapter, you can then test your knowledge further by trying to reproduce the conversations using the English prompts. 

[Jembru]

Step 3 学習

After playing back your voice recording while reading the answers, and making mental notes of your mistakes, you can then read the relevant section in the book to reinforce your understanding of the grammar point you mixed up.

As you don't have the book, below are links to the grammar points covered in the above exercises.

koto ni suru

koto ga dekiru (not the best link.. I've already spotted a typo; 'noun + koto ga dekiru' just doesn't happen.. koto IS a noun duh.. ^^).

adjectival clauses (a type of subordinate clause used to describe a noun)

koto ga aru

Deshoo

If there's something I continually get wrong, I'll add the sentence to anki to keep reminding myself, but generally I don't bother taking notes at all during these drills. 

You'll probably also discover mistakes outside of the target language, in which case it's up to you if you feel it's something you need to look up. I don't work through the book in order, but rather check the index and go to the chapter that covers a grammar point I noticed I was getting wrong, so maybe make a note and practice that grammar again at a later date. This isn't always necessary though, as getting it wrong once is often enough to remind you that for example, it's ~ta hou ga ii, but ~nai hou ga ii in the negative and not 'nakatta hou ga...'


Step 4 練習

The 20 minutes is usually up by now anyway, but if not I like to take a short break before moving onto step 4. With my new knowledge of how to do it properly (and how NOT to do it thanks to my mistakes still ringing in the back of my mind!), I return to the exercise and try again. It will probably feel much easier this time, but if you like you can repeat the exercise over and over here until you're getting it more or less perfect each time (I like to try to beat the time of my previous recording to encourage me to speak faster).

Then to quote my instructions in the study plan, 'Now just sit back and bask in the glory of your linguistic awesomeness'. ^^

If you're on a roll and want to keep going, return to step 2 and move onto the next exercise. If you've had your fill for one day or time is short, next time you return to your grammar drill, be sure to start from step 1, drilling the exercise you did last. When you do this you may find that you slip up again somewhere but that's good, because you've just reminded yourself 'oh yeah, it's koto ni shimashita!'

Hope this helps. Also, I chose the exercises to be relatively easy while still offering a challenge for an N3 level learner, but if anyone wants to try an easier chapter before buying the book let me know and I'll add that to section 2 for you.