But as long as you enjoy the process and succeed in reaching your fluency goals, it matters not what methods you choose!

Keep up the good work on the blog!

I half-used the system, and I half didn`t. I did remember characters and readings through Heisig`s stuff, but I didn`t bother learning mini-stories for each one. I trusted my SRS technology to just remind me over and over again when it was time to review. Haven`t had a huge problem.

I, too, am glad to meet more people who are out doing this. They can be really hard to find in person, but it`s great to know that they`re online working as well.

Thank you for the comments on the blog. It`s young, but I`m hoping it will grow into something pretty nice. Take care.

Ryan

I continue to be blown away by how many of us are out there fighting to expose the inefficiencies of traditional language education. I have also worked in Japan and have seen the horrid effects of a test-obsessed learning culture.

With regard to learning kanji, the only method that has worked for me (and others I know who have reached full literacy in Japanese) is James Heisig's "Remembering the Kanji" (http://l2mastery.com/language-specific-tips/using-imaginative-memory-for-chinese-characters). Have you used this system?

I have enjoyed your blog and look forward to reading more.

Of course, as you mention, that style of question and answer is required on university entrance exams. But in Japan, it gets even worse because a high TOEIC score is also often required for promotion through the ranks in large corporations.

As a fellow blogger about language, I must say I love what you guys are doing. Here in Japan I`m working on fighting the good fight to teach students how to teach themselves a language, whether it be English or Japanese.

Ironically, the frustration point that learners of Japanese get the most is figuring out that kanji can only be taught and not learned. But illiteracy is one of the biggest barriers to getting good at a language and really exploring it like you say.

Sorry, but I don't speak slowly. I can now speak and read German almost as quickly as my native English. What I was saying was that I USED TO SPEAK it slowly while I was learning.

I'd say it took me about 6 months living in Germany to reach basic fluency, and a further 6-12 months to reach high-advanced level. If you say there is a method which would deliver the same results as these in just 25% of the time…well…it's a nice idea!

You speak slowly because you have tried to add German to your native language and were able to speak very slowly because you were using cross-translation tool, i.e. you have thought and devised your phrases in your native language and then subconsciously translated them into German. It is a typical approach of every language student and that is why: the conventional language methods failed!

With the time you were able “building up the subconscious tools to speak fluently”, but very few people can do this because it requires faster cross-translation and is very strenuous on our mind.

Here is another famous ESL teacher who has half a million followers; A.J. Hoge writes: “grammar rules are not the key to speaking a language easily, correctly, and automatically?” http://effortlessenglishclub.com/get-the-advanced...

Read my above comment again and you will notice that my purpose was not to explain or justify your past experience in learning German but to offer a new approach which allows learning any language 4 times faster.

I hear what you are saying about getting adequate exposure before starting to produce output – that is certainly an important point on which we can agree.

As regards my other point, I think you aren't quite following me. I probably didn't express myself as clearly as I could have done, but if you read my first comment again you will see that I do NOT distinguish between 'simple' and 'complex' grammars – rather I distinguish between the 'regular' (including the highly complex) and the 'irregular'. (i.e. a language like Japanese is complex but highly regular, while languages like Icelandic or Russian are complex AND highly irregular.)

In my experience it is irregularity of grammar which causes most difficulties – not the complexity.

My own experience of learning German was as follows: for a long time, I could only speak slowly – or VERY slowly if I was also trying to apply the correct rules of grammar! However, I believe that knowing the rules acted as a kind of guide line while I was gradually building up the subconscious tools to speak fluently. When I eventually reached fluency I found that I was much more accurate than those people like my friend (mentioned in my last comment) who tried to learn the language by 'flying blind'.

I don't entirely disagree with folks like John (and Steve Kaufmann.) But I do think there is maybe a middle road to be found here. For me it isn't a question of grammar or no-grammar. For me you can learn language the natural way AND learn the rules of grammar as well. Why not?