Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
New tools!
After a weekend of not much Japanese-practicing (dedicating two days to watching football and drinking specialty bombers will do that), I am back on the horse!
I have been reading AJATT and so started a surusu account today to do the digital flashcard thing. I also like his advice about the "critical" listening level, which is an idea that you need to familiarize yourself to the language by listening to it, and this primes you for learning much quicker. You dont have to understand what is being said, but getting used to the flow and how words are broken into sentences and all that helps. That is the idea anyway. He also has an idea where you should be exposed to the language many times per day, and that continuous exposure is not necessary. He thinks that 2 min/ hour is good enough. Well, I dont know how good I'm going to be at that, considering work and all of that, but it is a nice idea and shows that repeated exposure, not overall exposure, is important. And variety, of course.
So far, my Japanese learning tools are:
erin.ne.jp
surusu.com
Pimsleur's Japanese tapes
notes from conversational Japanese
I have been reading AJATT and so started a surusu account today to do the digital flashcard thing. I also like his advice about the "critical" listening level, which is an idea that you need to familiarize yourself to the language by listening to it, and this primes you for learning much quicker. You dont have to understand what is being said, but getting used to the flow and how words are broken into sentences and all that helps. That is the idea anyway. He also has an idea where you should be exposed to the language many times per day, and that continuous exposure is not necessary. He thinks that 2 min/ hour is good enough. Well, I dont know how good I'm going to be at that, considering work and all of that, but it is a nice idea and shows that repeated exposure, not overall exposure, is important. And variety, of course.
So far, my Japanese learning tools are:
erin.ne.jp
surusu.com
Pimsleur's Japanese tapes
notes from conversational Japanese
Thursday, January 12, 2012
First week Japanese
SOOOOO...
It has been a week since I made my promises to learn Japanese well enough to achieve my various goals! This week, I spent a lot of time learning basic verbs that are both useful and fun. Like "to want" and "to fly!" I have also been going over some of my notes from my conversational Japanese course I took last spring (a year ago)! That stuff is coming back to me pretty quickly! So I know things like the days of the week, calendar days (theres a different numbering system for counting things like days and people, dont even ask me about counters!). Clay, my bf, also got me the Pimsleur Japanese 1 course, which I have been listening to and learning a few things, but it is pretty basic. I also have been trying to get a grip on the dictionary forms of words and briefly touched on the 'te' form and stuff like that.
I've also discovered a new site, Erin's Challenge, which I think will be pretty helpful for learning more conversational, young-people style Japanese. Some of the dialogue is pretty basic, but some of it is also very complicated, so in all, I think it is a pretty good resource! It is obvious there are a lot of weird things you can do with verbs though that I have no idea about.
I AM slightly behind schedule, because I also wanted to learn different titles for people, like brother, boss, boyfriend, etc. But I have learned a lot of verbs, so I think its going pretty well!!
It has been a week since I made my promises to learn Japanese well enough to achieve my various goals! This week, I spent a lot of time learning basic verbs that are both useful and fun. Like "to want" and "to fly!" I have also been going over some of my notes from my conversational Japanese course I took last spring (a year ago)! That stuff is coming back to me pretty quickly! So I know things like the days of the week, calendar days (theres a different numbering system for counting things like days and people, dont even ask me about counters!). Clay, my bf, also got me the Pimsleur Japanese 1 course, which I have been listening to and learning a few things, but it is pretty basic. I also have been trying to get a grip on the dictionary forms of words and briefly touched on the 'te' form and stuff like that.
I've also discovered a new site, Erin's Challenge, which I think will be pretty helpful for learning more conversational, young-people style Japanese. Some of the dialogue is pretty basic, but some of it is also very complicated, so in all, I think it is a pretty good resource! It is obvious there are a lot of weird things you can do with verbs though that I have no idea about.
I AM slightly behind schedule, because I also wanted to learn different titles for people, like brother, boss, boyfriend, etc. But I have learned a lot of verbs, so I think its going pretty well!!
Friday, January 6, 2012
Basic Verb Practice!
In order to learn some basic verbs, I decided that it would probably be better to use them in sentences, in context, instead of just trying to memorize them from flashcards. They will be pretty boring sentences since I only know a few nouns. I am mostly going to be using the informal (dictionary) and formal present tenses while I am still trying to remember the meaning of the words. Here we go!
***Please don't use these sentences for instructional purposes, as I am a beginner and I don't know what I'm doing!!***
ならう：私は 日本語のたんご ならう。ならう ならいます 習う。かんじが むずかしい です。かんじが ゆっくり ならう。日本りょりが ならう。
ほしがる：私は かつどんを ほしがる。おすしが ほしがります、ください。ねこねこが とても ほしがる。も いぬいぬ が ほしがる。ビーるが ほしがって のむ、ください。おさけが ほしがって のむ も。
かく：日本語の たんごは かく。日本語の たんごは かきます。私は 英語の たんごが じょず かきます よ！
いる（要る）：日本に 日本語が いらない。日本語が いりません。 でも、いい です。たべものは いる。のみものは いります。ねこが いらない、でも ほしがる！
きく：日本に 日本語が きく。ステジオジブリが みって 日本語を ききます。ジャーポプが 日本語を ききます。私のあいするを たぶん ききます。
かんがえる：私は ときどき かんがえる。しごとに、私は かんがえます。ときどき もずかしい かんがえて です。いま、日本語を かんがえて むずかしい です。ねこを かんがえって むずかしい じゃありません。かんがえるは むすかしい ですよ！
りょり：私の あいするは 日本語のたんご おしえる。りょりが です。この たんごは いいです。日本りょりも いいです。おいしい ですよ！ アメリカりょりが ときどき おいしい です。
***Please don't use these sentences for instructional purposes, as I am a beginner and I don't know what I'm doing!!***
ならう：私は 日本語のたんご ならう。ならう ならいます 習う。かんじが むずかしい です。かんじが ゆっくり ならう。日本りょりが ならう。
ほしがる：私は かつどんを ほしがる。おすしが ほしがります、ください。ねこねこが とても ほしがる。も いぬいぬ が ほしがる。ビーるが ほしがって のむ、ください。おさけが ほしがって のむ も。
かく：日本語の たんごは かく。日本語の たんごは かきます。私は 英語の たんごが じょず かきます よ！
いる（要る）：日本に 日本語が いらない。日本語が いりません。 でも、いい です。たべものは いる。のみものは いります。ねこが いらない、でも ほしがる！
きく：日本に 日本語が きく。ステジオジブリが みって 日本語を ききます。ジャーポプが 日本語を ききます。私のあいするを たぶん ききます。
かんがえる：私は ときどき かんがえる。しごとに、私は かんがえます。ときどき もずかしい かんがえて です。いま、日本語を かんがえて むずかしい です。ねこを かんがえって むずかしい じゃありません。かんがえるは むすかしい ですよ！
りょり：私の あいするは 日本語のたんご おしえる。りょりが です。この たんごは いいです。日本りょりも いいです。おいしい ですよ！ アメリカりょりが ときどき おいしい です。
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Konnichiwa! こんにちは！
My name is Michelle and I am committing to learn colloquial Japanese in the coming months. (The site is named after my cat, Georgie, who is super cute, following the trend of my other blogs)
I have a few goals specifically to help me with my quest, per Fluent In 3 Months' the Language Hacking Guide!
1) By 5Apr2012, I will watch Studio Ghibli movies (thinking specifically Ponyo and Totoro, maybe Spirited Away) and understand at least half of it. Additionally, I would like to be able to talk about it in depth. This requires listening and speaking skills. I will also practice reading skills.
2) By 5June2012, I would like to be able to play Ni no Kuni (Japanese release Xmas present from my mom) and understand at least half of it to get the jist of what is going on without a dictionary. I would also like to be able to discuss this game. This will require a lot of reading skills, as well as listening and speaking.
3) By 5July2012, I would like to be able to comfortably get around using Japanese and have conversations with native Japanese people. This goal will be most helpful if I receive the grant I applied for to work there over the summer! This will require a lot of listening and speaking skills, and some minimal reading skills, which hopefully will be pretty well set from Goal 2.
I have been trying to formulate different groups of words I will need to pursue my first goal. I am not going to focus too much on grammar at all, as I sort of have an idea of how basic sentences go. One problem may be conjugating verbs but I am ignoring that right now in order to attain more understanding and breadth over depth. Additionally, I am going to try to translate these posts into Japanese but obviously this will be very limited at first, and I am thinking of going back and editing them as I become more fluent.
Stay posted and wish me luck!
ミッシェルです。私は日本語のがくさいです。なまえの私のねこはギオルギです。ギおるギはとてもかわいいです。
１）このねんの四月の五に、ステジオギブリのえいがはみますとわかります。
２）このねんの六月の五に、二の国はわかります。
３）このねんの七月の五に、人の日本語はわかります。
がんばりたい！
I have a few goals specifically to help me with my quest, per Fluent In 3 Months' the Language Hacking Guide!
1) By 5Apr2012, I will watch Studio Ghibli movies (thinking specifically Ponyo and Totoro, maybe Spirited Away) and understand at least half of it. Additionally, I would like to be able to talk about it in depth. This requires listening and speaking skills. I will also practice reading skills.
2) By 5June2012, I would like to be able to play Ni no Kuni (Japanese release Xmas present from my mom) and understand at least half of it to get the jist of what is going on without a dictionary. I would also like to be able to discuss this game. This will require a lot of reading skills, as well as listening and speaking.
3) By 5July2012, I would like to be able to comfortably get around using Japanese and have conversations with native Japanese people. This goal will be most helpful if I receive the grant I applied for to work there over the summer! This will require a lot of listening and speaking skills, and some minimal reading skills, which hopefully will be pretty well set from Goal 2.
I have been trying to formulate different groups of words I will need to pursue my first goal. I am not going to focus too much on grammar at all, as I sort of have an idea of how basic sentences go. One problem may be conjugating verbs but I am ignoring that right now in order to attain more understanding and breadth over depth. Additionally, I am going to try to translate these posts into Japanese but obviously this will be very limited at first, and I am thinking of going back and editing them as I become more fluent.
Stay posted and wish me luck!
ミッシェルです。私は日本語のがくさいです。なまえの私のねこはギオルギです。ギおるギはとてもかわいいです。
１）このねんの四月の五に、ステジオギブリのえいがはみますとわかります。
２）このねんの六月の五に、二の国はわかります。
３）このねんの七月の五に、人の日本語はわかります。
がんばりたい！
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