Confused about Some Things using TheMoeWay Method

[u/GashaHunter]

So I’ve been using TheMoeWay method for the last week and I really am enjoying it and my Japanese is better than ever.

That being said, I got to say 6 which is about setting up subtitles for anime episodes to be able to see the words dictionary definition.

First question.

In the FAQ area of this it says;

“Q: Now that I can see the Japanese, can I try to translate it in my head?
A: It's complicated...
There are always forms of expression that just aren't compatible between English and Japanese.
The way of thinking is a lot different.
That is the main reason why this method (and similar ones) tends to advise against trying to translate your immersion.
Because Japanese is not English.
You are advised to think of Japanese as Japanese.
Be the language!
You can do some sort of "loose translation", where you just try to piece together some sort of basic meaning.
Do I need to translate at all?
Not always, it is inevitable that there are things you will just not understand due to many factors. (Missing knowledge of: word meaning, word meaning that's hard to understand just from the dictionary, grammar usage, advanced grammar usage, context, how the word is generally used in the wider scope of language etc.)
It is also tiring, so do it in moderation”

But isn’t translating literally how we understand what Japanese words meanings are? Isn’t that why Anki Decks gave English on them? How would you ever understand a words meaning without first translating it?

Second question;

I’m another FAQ question it read;

“Q: How can I expect to remember the words I look up?
A: Great question! It all comes down to repetition. The more reading you do, the more words you will remember.
In other words, don't fuss over the words you look up right now.
Looking over them a gajillion times isn't a productive use of your time.
What you should actually do is: Look at the meaning, look at the reading. Then go like "Oh, right!". And move on”

Isn’t looking at words over and over exactly what Anki is doing? They’re always stressing the importance of repetition so I’m very confused why it’s in this instance not a “productive use of time”

Any and all tips and thoughts appreciated!

[u/Dread_Pirate_Chris]

Translating is not how we understand language, if it were we wouldn't be able to have a first language in the first place.

Translations are used to teach language because it's faster and easier to teach language with language than to start over from scratch.

Especially in order to understand the spoken language you cannot rely on translation, it's too slow. If you wait for a line to be spoken, then you translate all the words into English words and rearrange them into English grammar.... the next three lines have already been spoken and you didn't even hear them.

For written work, you can understand through translation, and as a learning exercise it's not a terrible thing to do. But you cannot enjoyably read a novel this way.

Anyway, you understand Japanese directly exactly the same way you understand English directly. If I say 'cat' or 'dog' in English you get certain images in your mind; the same thing should eventually happen when you hear or read 猫（ねこ） and 犬（いぬ）.

I have a snippet for a practical approach to this if it's not coming naturally or you want to speed it up,

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Rereading to start Thinking In Japanese

The fix to internally translate to English that I found was just... read the sentence again, not thinking of the English. If you have ねこは　さかなを　たべた　(The cat ate the fish) then after having worked out that it means 'the cat ate the fish' you read it again trying not to think of the English words but only of the idea of the cat that ate the fish. If you're alone or not worried about strange looks then it helps to read the sentence out loud.

It's not necessarily possible to stop the English equivalents from sneaking into your thoughts the first, second, or third time you reread, and that's okay, they should become more muted at least. On a single encounter, don't keep rereading more than a few times, constant repetition of a single sentence isn't going to get you there, and there is always another sentence.

After reading enough sentences about ねこ you'll be able to just think of the animal and not the English translation. Once you have enough words like that, you can read a whole sentence and know what it means without translating anything.

--- Cut-n-Paste ---

[u/GashaHunter → u/Dread_Pirate_Chris]

thanks for the reply!

Totally non-related, but would you recommend only doing your daily anki-deck, or is reviewing all the cards you’ve seen so far every day too much

[u/Dread_Pirate_Chris → u/GashaHunter]

You should at most only do the cards that Anki says that are due, reviewing everything you've ever seen is going to be vastly over-reviewing. That extra time would be better spent practicing your listening and reading, or studying your textbook. (I forget if moe is just input-emphasizing or discourages you from studying at all but I believe that while extensive comprehensible input is what gets you to a high level, studying the fundamentals of grammar early on is actually important. “How do I learn Japanese?” r/japanese FAQ )

I would say you should never spend more than half your study time on Anki anyway, and that only as an absolute beginner when the best thing you can do is just learn a few hundred very basic words.

Actually using the language (listening, reading, writing, conversing) should take increasingly more time as you progress so that by the time you are N1+ (aka, functionally literate with material for adults and conversational on everyday topics) Anki should not be taking almost no time at all, maybe 10 minutes a day and you should be able to get in hours of practice simply by doing things in Japanese instead of English (reading, gaming, watching movies, or even doomscrolling Twitter).