I am a 16 year-old from Brazil.
I always loved maths and consider it to be the most beautiful of all sciences, however we do not have any soroban schools here where i live.
Today was my birthday and i asked a soroban for my parents as a birthday gift, since i always wanted to improve my mental calculations skills, however along with the soroban i also got the realisation that i am getting old and most kids that learn the soroban start very young(around 9 to 12yo).
i am also thinking of buying "The Japanese Abacus:It's use and theory" since its the book i most see people talking about it online.
I also fear not having enough time to dedicate to Soroban, since i am already enrolled in Kumon, Violin School and am still to finish High School.
If there is anyone out there that can give me at least some advice i would be extremely happy to hear it.
I don't think 16 years old is too old to start learning soroban.
I started myself at 40 years old. I was around 6th kyu after some months. However, It was more difficult for me to improve at anzan.
Unless, you want to start to compete at high level, and expect to achieve very high level and very fast, you are not too old to start the soroban/abacus.
Even with 30 minutes each day, you can improve quite fast.
You will hit "plateau" for some time, but you will need to continue to train and try slightly harder exercises than you current level to improve.
The higher you want to go, the more time you will need to invest to train.
Hello, Thank you for reading my message.
I already got my soroban with me, however i do not have any soroban schools around where i live, so i also bought "The Japanese Abacus: It's use and Theory" in order to improve and practice.
I would really apreciate if you could give me some more advice on how to get better at the soroban and how to properly self-study a instrument such as the soroban.
You could also read and work with "Soroban" from THE JAPAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
THE LEAGUE OF JAPAN ABACUS ASSOCIATIONS. We have links on our main page at https://www.sorobanexam.org
I tried to sum it up on the https://www.sorobanexam.org/basics.html#... page, but this might too harsh to learn, at first. May be as a second read.
The first step is to understand how to represent a number on the soroban.
The second step is to master the mechanic of adding each digit to each other. You can take your time to think on how to to do it at the beginning, but this must become an automatism very soon.
You can train on our training page at https://www.sorobanexam.org/training.htm...
For each technique, there are exercices to train you.
Then, you can start to learn how to add numbers. With 2 digits. that is almost the same, with the carier, if needs be.
When you improve, finding it more easy to do a 2-digit sum, and going faster at it, you can try with 3 digits. and so on.
A good way to measure your progress, is by using the exercises of the generator, we have here https://www.sorobanexam.org/generator.ht...
You can set a limit to finish a page, like 30 minutes. And when you are easy, and correct in your responses; try to do the next level. If it is too hard, fall back to your previous level, exercise a bit again, and then retry the new one.
Remember than 13th is the easiest level, and the first one to master easily, while the 8th, or 1st kyu (level) are harder.
You can learn the multiplication once, you master enough the additions. Do it at your own pace.
Thank you very much.
I've been using your website a lot to learn the soroban, and thanks to it i am starting to feel as i am making progress.
I will try to practice as much as i can until i start to visualize the soroban in my head nad get to learn a bit more about kyu's and the overall comunity.
Thank you Very Much!
Hugs From Brazil!
oh and I forgot to mention anzan. I was talking about the real soroban.
You must feel really confortable with it, before starting to try anzan and try to perform operation visually.
Also, there is always a difference in your level in anzan and with a real soroban; as it is always harder to visualize than with a real one.
Yes, actually i was going to ask you just that.
I started by the book by The Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, i am going slow, just barely 20 minutes a day, but i always trya to get the most out of each exercise.
However i am already starting to feel a difference in my mental calculations, i cant tell if its psychological or if it really is starting to make effect.