FredK
I was taught go in the summer of 1969 but didn't take it up with enthusiasm until the mid-1980's. At about that time, the Ishi Press was distributing some Japanese texts in the United States. This kindled the notion in my head that much information, not available in translation, might be found in various Japanese go books. One thing led to another, and over a period of some years I eventually taught myself enough Japanese to read go books, though I still need constant dictionary help. What I do is to annotate the books, page by page, with vocabulary footnotes where necessary. This was slow going at first, but it ultimately has forced me to study go and Japanese simultaneously, double pleasure. (And my vocabulary has increased, reducing the amount of annotation necessary.) Have a look at my page of Japanese book reviews.
Apart from the books, my grasp of the game took a great leap when I attended a number of go workshops led by Yi-Lun Yang. His instruction opened my eyes to many concepts, and also made it possible to get far more out of the books I was already reading.
I have been stalled at about 3 kyu, AGA, for some years. But now that both of my daughters are away at college, I expect to have more time to pursue the shodan level. (For one thing, our home computer will now be available to me in the evenings for Internet go playing...)
When I am neither playing go nor spending time with my family, I am a mathematician. (Actually, mathematics is frequently running in background in my head even when I play go or spend time with my family; but that is another subject.)
I can be reached at fkochma@aol.com .
--Fred Kochman