Week Two: Chunking

How do we learn? It's been noted that "action comes before motivation". We are motivated by our previous success, by a sense of efficacy. And once we have this we want to build upon it. So action comes first. By this logic, it's been recommended to have an easy, go-to study method or routine that you can always start with. Perhaps nearly mindless transcription in the language of study. And then that action can propel one forward. Accountability also helps to spur action, which is why Benny Lewis began interacting with a large audience that looked forward to new blogs and videos documenting his progress. I am impressed with Shannon Kennedy and Olly Richard's persistence and dedication to learning. Also notable is Richard's use of comprehensible input, that means always trying to read slightly above your level. 

But with what action do we begin? If we learn by chunking, in a hierarchical, fractal "memory palace", then how do we know which chunks to form? Perhaps we begin with the opposite of chunking, that is "divide and conquer". Begin with the entire unformed "mass" of language, then try to “carve nature [language] at its joints” until we can get divisions that are small enough to be called chunks. And then we begin the laborious process of putting the entire mass back together again, in its complete fractal structure. This reflects a three part process. Recall Seigen Ishin's saying: 

"Before I had studied, I saw mountains as mountains, and waters as waters. When I arrived at a more intimate knowledge, I came to the point where I saw that mountains are not mountains, and waters are not waters. But now that I have got its very substance I am at rest. For it's just that I see mountains once again as mountains, and waters once again as waters." 

The process of adult language learning is not unlike that. We begin unconscious of words and phrases, then we become very conscious of them, and finally with fluency we forget the words and can (hopefully) navigate conversations effortlessly. As Feng Youlan notes, this is the meaning of the common Chan saying: 

"To eat all day and yet not swallow a single grain; to wear clothes all day and yet not touch a single thread." 

Language tutors counsel the importance of finding an area of interest or objective to pursue when studying. I find that I must face the reality that intuition is present everywhere and in all cultures, not only in, say, the "enactive intuitionism" of Nishida, and that the cosmos is conscious (as Whitehead and McGilchrist aver), and that in distinguishing between kataphatic (to affirm) and apophatic (to deny) descriptions, we can be aware of the power of the "not looked at, the implicit, the thing that has to remain outside our diminishing consciousness, our world of words, because it simply is too great for it and can only be conveyed through imagination". This is all true, but it doesn't help me... There is a cultural renaissance that awaits. Is it close to Whitehead's "philosophy of organism", to the Gaian superorganism of Lovelock and the ecological civilization of Arran Gare? In such a cosmopolitan Gaian culture, we are all autopoetic, learning from ourselves and teaching ourselves. Again, all true. But what is it that we learn and teach? We learn that perspectives come in no fewer than two main sorts. In the first we see narrow, fragmented, disembodied, and unrelated parts. In the second we see broad, continuous, embodied, and relational wholes. We see that these apparent opposites are complementary and coincide in a cosmic culture. We can attend from both perspectives, or from just one. If we attend in both ways we may be preserved whole. If we attend in just one way then, thus blinded or hobbled, we suffer and die prematurely. We need them both for different reasons. Effective action comes from being able to attend to the world from both perspectives, not just one. So as I study Japanese, I can see that the ways in which language either opens up or closes down on these views, and I can shape the "chunks" within my memory palace under that perspective. This is the process of teaching myself and others the two views of the twin brothers in Iroquois myth.

In order to cultivating a more intuitive understanding of Japanese I first see the main divisions:
Hiragana and Katakana (kana)
Kanji (composed of 214 radicals, aka graphemes)
Words and Phrases

These further subdivide into ad hoc chunks based on my resources. And this is where I'll be breaking new ground. I'll first refresh my kana memory. Then basic vocabulary. Then I'll go through the Genki textbooks I have. Interleaf: extensive reading and writing, retrieval practice (SRS), accent mimicry, and listening comprehension. Then I'll add more kanji and phrases using Halpern's dictionary and Andrew Scott Conning's book. All the while chunking, and tracking my total vocab count/ chunk count for progress.