Comments for Tae Kim's Blog

Comment on Can one raise a quadrilingual child? by qklilx

qklilx — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:42:59 +0000

It’s possible and it’s actually common in some cultures and regions. You’ll have to provide a lot of input from all the languages. I would suggest putting on some music in Mandarin and Korean so your child hears the proper sounds. A big hurdle later on is getting your child to actually speak the languages. It’s a big reason why people who grow up bilingual aren’t as good as they should be in one of their languages. They resort to speaking the one they’re more comfortable with at any opportunity.

Comment on Learning Japanese via anime/manga by Danielle Pennykettle

Danielle Pennykettle — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:18:15 +0000

I’m learning Japanese with boring grammar books and such. But to keep me interested, I watch anime without subtitles to enforce it. I know Japan is nothing like anime, but I learn a lot about pronunciation.

Comment on A gentle introduction to Kanji by Fourteenth Linkfest

Fourteenth Linkfest — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:36:23 +0000

[...] Tae Kim: A gentle introduction to Kanji [...]

Comment on Can one raise a quadrilingual child? by Saoirse

Saoirse — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 03:30:02 +0000

It is possible to raise a child but the amount of time spent on communicating in 4 different languages will have to be the same.
I am bililingual from young (learning English and Chinese). I have learnt Korean Language for about 4 years and am currently self studying in Japanese Language. I hope to learn an European Language after I attained a certain proficiency in Japanese. Your website really helps me a lot! Keep up the good work!
Do check out my Korean Language blog: http://bitsnpiecesofkorea.wordpress.com
Please feel free to give me comments and correct me if I am wrong!
Thanks! ^^

Comment on Can one raise a quadrilingual child? by Stephanie

Stephanie — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:43:12 +0000

I can’t think of anyone I know who has grown up quadrilingual but I have known several trilingual people (yes, I’m jealous!!!!) so I don’t see why not. Another commenter mentioned this but don’t be surprised or worried if your daughter seems slower to speak than monolingual kids. This seems to be very common for kids who grow up bilingual.

Comment on A gentle introduction to Kanji by Dan aka Harbl_the_Mage

Dan aka Harbl_the_Mage — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:22:59 +0000

I’ve been using http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~ik.....anji1a.htm to learn kanji. I like it, because it’s like a quiz type of thing and also has flashcards.
It doesn’t have stroke orders, though, but it has onyomi and kunyomi and also rough translations of their English meaning, which is a minor detail, I think, since I can look up additional meanings and so forth, on jisho.org

Comment on Highlights by taekk

taekk — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:11:29 +0000

Looks like you’re working hard to learn Mandarin! Good luck, I’ve added your blog to my feed.

Comment on A gentle introduction to Kanji by Tiffany B.

Tiffany B. — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:00:29 +0000

Hi Tae! I just recently found your blog and I must say, it’s been very helpful for me. I’m currently studying in Japan for my graduate studies, yet I don’t really speak Japanese…nor can I read/write kanji (I’m in the English graduate program of course). I hope to keep following your blog to improve my lack of Japanese skills, especially since my “spring break” just started. Keep up the good work and thanks!

Comment on Highlights by Layinka

Layinka — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:53:00 +0000

Hi Tae Kim,

I just found your blog. I don’t know how come I did not find you sooner because you’ve been around for awhile. Anyway, thank you so much for your very honest account of your Japanese learning experience. I read your chapter on ‘It started with a language requirement’ really impressive and really inspirational. I agree that it all comes down to two things: hard work and consistency. I first tried Japanese lessons exactly 10 years ago and I am so ashamed to say this because if I had continued then, today I would have 10 years of Japanese learning. (sniff) I must say that I prefer your school’s approach, that is class every day. I studied in a private Japanese school in Paris, three times a week and often it clashed with the Maths courses that were compulsory at university. I gave up because of the clash and I feel bad when I think about it.

Today, I still really want to learn but there is a twist now. I am currently learning Mandarin (8 weeks and counting) and in 2 months time I’ll add Japanese. Both being completely different and Chinese (to me) being much easier than Japanese, I feel that Chinese is demystifying the Japanese Kanji and that really boosts my confidence and gives me more energy to trudge forward.

I really really appreciate your blog, I have added you to my blogroll and will be following you starting from the beginning and I hope someday I’ll be in Japan sipping the Mighty Sake from a straw and probably draw the attention of the curious, why? So that I’ll be able to talk to them and explain to them the reasons for my bizarre bar manners.

The failure I encountered last time, I believe is largely due to not documenting my progress in any way. My blog represents my diary and once a week we meet up and I write down the week’s progress and how I feel. It helps to reflect.

Thank you ever so much!!!

Comment on Can one raise a quadrilingual child? by taekk

taekk — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:49:14 +0000

Well, I’ve been trying to speak some simple Mandarin, Korean, and Japanese to her. Hopefully, my accent isn’t too bad to mess her up especially with Mandarin and Korean. So far, the response has been “da da” and “ma ma”.