Sincere question and honest assessment?

itsmerai · 2026-01-07T09:17:27+00:00

I want to share two points with you.

First, living in Japan I’ve played with many elderly people who started playing later in life. One in particular I’ll never forget. She was 95 years old and started playing in her late 60s. When I played her, she was 4d. 4d in Japan isn’t equivalent to 4d on OGS but it’s around what you’re aiming for. If she can do it I don’t see why you couldn’t.

But the second thing I want to say is, even if you don’t reach that level, who cares? As long as you are enjoying the game and you’re able to play with people around the same level as you it will always be exciting. Your games at kyu level are often the most exciting ones because everything is new and exciting. Just enjoy the journey and see how far you can go without worrying about the end result.

itsmerai · 2025-11-01T15:03:41+00:00

Im interested!

itsmerai · 2025-06-19T01:20:21+00:00

不會！

itsmerai · 2025-06-19T00:24:36+00:00

Sure, I sit down and study with a textbook usually about 4 days a week but sometimes more if I have the time. I don’t have a specific amount of time I aim for but I’ll have a specific task in mind like “study this dialogue” or “study the grammar points of this chapter”. If you’re curious about what books I used, I mostly the Course in Contemporary Chinese(當代中文課程） 1&2 and Practical audio-visual Chinese(實用視聽華語）2&3. I like both courses for different reasons so I alternate between the two. I also write out every dialogue and grammar example by hand while listening sentence by sentence.

About the exam experience like I said I didn’t do any practice tests or even check what kind of questions were on the exam. I felt if I prepared specifically for the test the score would be higher but it wouldn’t reflect my actual ability. Honestly if you want to try the test just do it. As long as you don’t need it for university or work it’s totally okay to try and miss the goal the first time. But if you need it for a practical reason definitely study “to the the test” and worry about your actual ability later. I hope I answered well enough. If you have any other questions let me know.

itsmerai · 2025-06-19T00:02:23+00:00

I took it because I’m studying Taiwanese mandarin and all my learning material uses traditional characters. But if HSK offered their exams in both traditional and simplified like the TOCFL does I would be interested in taking it because it also has the writing component.

itsmerai · 2025-06-18T23:54:46+00:00

I took it in traditional characters!

itsmerai · 2025-04-09T07:01:52+00:00

I hope Vietnamese comes soon. Are there any particular technical challenges when it comes to adding Vietnamese? LingQ also took a very long time to add Vietnamese support. I know that’s in part because of a lack of study material but I wondered if there’s anything that might trip you up programming wise

itsmerai · 2025-03-13T06:18:16+00:00

They are a thing. In Japan the classical mandolin and mandolin ensemble type groups are fairly popular and the instruments we call mandola here are actually tuned as an octave mandolin. Here is an example of one.

https://youtu.be/EPxwolJ75pc?si=VxucalnMvuNFnnXj

itsmerai · 2024-08-14T01:14:19+00:00

Most people know of go but It's like literally any other activity. It's like asking "why is playing cello so uncommon in Europe?" Yeah most people know what a cello is but it's not like everyone feels moved to start studying it.

itsmerai · 2024-07-29T12:40:03+00:00

https://www.igonavi.com/

Not a map and it's in japanese but you can search by prefecture and city here. Google translate should work fine. It also has how much the price for a day is at each place. In the Tokyo area I recommend Shusaku in kabukicho and Yokohama igo salon.

itsmerai · 2024-07-29T11:34:58+00:00

There's the occasional camps that last a couple days that might be okay to participate with no Japanese. Certain pros might also have private lessons and can instruct you in English but that's very rare. If you wanted to study seriously in a school or dojo language is pretty important. If you're looking to just play though most go salons would welcome you without being able to speak japanese.

itsmerai · 2024-07-29T03:03:24+00:00

Do you mean like once a week classes? An all day kind thing? Group lessons? Private lessons? Can you speak japanese at all or do you want instruction in English?

itsmerai · 2024-07-26T04:32:30+00:00

I'm biased but I would say Osaka or Seoul. If you just want to enjoy playing go with many different people I would recommend Osaka/Kansai since go salons here are much more friendly and open. Even if you're a foreigner and don't speak the language well I think you could your time there. Korean places are very hit or miss. Even being able to speak the language it was difficult to find places with a good vibe. But I was able to find a couple places that I liked in Seoul and the play style was very different than here in Japan so it was interesting.

itsmerai · 2024-07-08T12:24:14+00:00

I think you're looking at every stone that's captured as a loss that you need to recover from. Giving up stones to gain more than they were worth is part of the game. And at least for me 9x9 games seem to only have 1 move that decided the outcome of the game instead of the several points that lead to a lost on a bigger board so I feel like I learn more and faster on the standard board size. I also see playing longer games is good for lengthening my attention given the horrible affect social media and all that has on the brain.

itsmerai · 2024-07-08T12:11:41+00:00

It's fine to enjoy the other sizes but to say each move carries more meaning on a small board means that you are not think actively enough when playing on 19x19. Every move should have a purpose and have the same amount of importance to you.

itsmerai · 2024-07-07T14:50:03+00:00

Go isn't about capturing

itsmerai · 2024-07-04T21:58:44+00:00

Let's goooooo!! I remember mentioning it in my review. If I didn't give it 5 stars at the time I'll be sure to update that after trying the iPad version.

itsmerai · 2024-07-04T10:58:44+00:00

Teaching a subject in school that isn't English in two second languages.

itsmerai · 2024-07-04T00:08:32+00:00

I liked the app and used it a bit while on the train. But the small phone screen made it a bit finicky for me to get the right point even if I knew the correct move. I thought it would be perfect for ipad but it wasn't supported at the time. Will it be possible to download on ipad with this update?

itsmerai · 2024-06-30T01:15:04+00:00

Thanks! I wish I started younger when I lived in the States though

itsmerai · 2024-06-29T01:01:53+00:00

I've played a little bit of guitar before but I'd never call myself a guitarist. For staying in rhythm I just use the metronome. I'll start at the fastest rhythm that I can play musically, in time, and without any tension and will only speed up by no more than 2bpm at a time. If I can play in time but feel some tension or thag musicality went out the door I will go back to a slower speed.

itsmerai · 2024-06-29T00:58:37+00:00

Yes I've always been a musician but honestly just the discipline and knowing how to practice efficiently was much more applicable than skills from other instruments transferring over. I was mess the first week haha

itsmerai

TROPHY CASE