てがみ

 Here is my letter to my (imaginary) host family. I hand-wrote it to get better at writing. Since the pencil is a little hard to read I have typed  a transcript too.

 

田山さん、はじめまして。私のなまえはアンダーソンです。アメリカの

ミネソタのミネアポリスからきました。私は日本語の一年生です。

プリンストン大学でべんきょうします。日本はとてもおもしろいので、私は日本へ

いきたいです。日本のたべものやニンテンドのゲームであそぶのが大好きです。

それから日本のれきしがおもしろいです。日本語のじゅぎょうがむずかしくて、

たいへんです。でも、たのしいので、私のじゅぎょうの中で、一番好きです。

大学はたのしいです。でも、私はたくさんしゅみがあります。たとえば、

私のしゅみは友だちとトランプをするのや本をよむのや古いえいがをみることで

それから毎週の水曜日と金曜日に四時間がくようくでアルバイトがあります。

田山さんはどこでしごとをしますか。田山さんのしゅみは何ですか。

田山さんはやさしいです。私は六月にあいます。

おへんじたのしみにしてます。

アンダーソン

Funny SNL skit

Click here to watch a Funny old SNL skit with Japanese. If you pay attention you can recognize a few phrases plus all the numbers they mention.

たいへんなテスト

先週の木曜日に私は日本語のテストがあります。テストむずかしくて、たのしくありませんでした。テストがたいへんなので、私は今週の毎日にきょうしつのそ とで先生と日本語ではなしました。それからラング８で日本語でかきました。日本語のじゅぎょうはとてもむずかしいですが、でも私の一番好きなじゅぎょうで す。今週末にとしょかんで四時間日本語をべんきょうしにいきます。

Concert

Here is a conversation I made up between Mr. Peterson & Mr. Shibata discussing music.
It's interesting how with typing you can sometimes figure out the kanji for a word without ever having seen the particular kanji before.

柴田さん：ピーターソンさんは　どんな　おんがくが　好きですか。
ピーターソンさん：おんがく？ロックや　ジャズが　好きですよ。
柴田さん：私も　ジャズが　好きです。ピーターソンさん、日本のおんがくも　好きですか。
ピーターソンさん：ときどき　好きです。でも、日本のヒップホップが　きらいです。そのおんがくは　よくないです。
柴田さん：えっそうですか。
ピーターソンさん：そうですね。
柴田さん：ピーターソンさんは　アメリカのヒップホップが　好きですか。
ピーターソン：好きでも　きらいでも　ありません。柴田さんは？
柴田さん：私は　ときどき　アメリカのヒップホップを　ききます。日本のヒップホップも　ききます。
ピーターソン：そうですか。柴田さんは　金曜日　いっしょに　ジャズのコンサートへ　いきませんか。
柴田さん：どこで　コンサートは　ありますか。
ピーターソン：ニューアーくで。
柴田さん：ええ、いいですね。

Lang-8 Story 1

I discovered this really nifty website called lang-8.com. You post short stories in 日本語、and then native Japanese speakers correct if for you. In return, you are expected to correct short stories written in English. It's really helped me with my writing. I will be blogging some of my short stories next week after they have been corrected on lang-8. Keep in mind that they are almost always fictional.

Here's my first short passage:

 私のルームメートのおなまえはオルソンさんです。オルソンさんは私の友達です。昨日、オルソンさんは二時間半くらい　そうじを　して、私はオルソンさんが好きで す。昨日に私は日本語のテストがあって、ジムで　およいで、大学のとしょうかんで　こう学のべんきょうを　して、日本語の先生と　はなしました。昨 日は　やさしくありませんでした。私は　いそがしくて、りょうのそうじを　しませんでした。ルームメート、ありがとう！

(P.S. If you do decide to join lang-8, I suggest putting this "disclaimer" at the end of all your stories or else all the comments will have a lot of kanji you don't understand: "ひらがなで　かいてくれませんか。かんじを　かけません！かんじが　あまり　分かりません。ありがとう." )

PE Cycle 3

Reflecting on my goals from the last PE cycle,

(1) I went to 日本語のテーブル　one  of the two weeks. 火曜日　is a とてもむずかしい日 for me so this is acceptable.
(2) 私は　よく『office hours』いきました! I need to keep doing it however.
(3) The flashcards are a bit inefficient, but I'm using a more high-tech version this next cycle...

For this cycle, there are new difficulties.  新しいgoals are:
(1) Start learning かんじ seriously.
(2) Improve conversational fluency
(3) Try to practice more often with less time in each session rather than do a few marathon sessions.

Some 新しい  plans for 今週:
(1) I recently got an 新しいiPhone, so I am trying to use its capabilities to learn 日本語。I've started using an app for flash cards that uses something called spaced repetition system. The idea is that if you get a vocabulary card correct, the app will show it less and less often, but it will show hard ones more often. Plus its much easier than carrying hundreds of flashcards around, and it ensures you never forget vocabulary from long ago, because they never go away forever, they just reappear less and less frequently. But the system depends on you using it daily! So my goals is to use it 毎日 this cycle.
(2) In line with my iPhone theme, I also got an app called iKanji which teaches you かんじ, even the writing. The beauty of using apps is that I can practice 日本ご anywhere now. No more time wasted waiting in lines or walking across キャウンパス - I can use it for micro study-sessions. So my goal is to use iKanji this cycle whenever I am waiting and have nothing to do but twidle my thumbs.
(3) Of course, apps are great, but it can only supplement actual conversation in 日本語. This weekend I want to practice 日本語 with a study buddy.

テスト！

私は日曜日にコンピュータこう学のきょかしょうよみました。きょかしょはよくかいません。でも、私のコンピュータこう学の先生はりっぱです。毎週末よく私のりょうでべんきょうします。今週テストが四つあります！今晩はごぜ九時半にねます。　

PE 2

Reflecting on my three goals & respective activities for the first PE cycle:

(1) I have improved my "r" sound and it is becoming much more natural. I went to さとう先生の　office hours to practice it.
(2) I did do the required shadowing. My speaking speed is better, but I can improve it further. As for reading, it is still far too slow. It may be because I practice too much translating English to Japanese and not enough translating Japanese to English.
(3) My pitch is decent. I have made flashcards that have the correct pitch on them and practice them meticulously  now. I also listened to the audio multiple times, so for many words I do not have to think about the pitch at all because it has become natural. As for practicing the textbook conversations daily, this turned out to be impractical because there simply aren't very many passages in the textbook.

Which means it is time for PE cycle にち!　

 My main problem now is speed. Speed, speed, speed. It will be the overall goal of this cycle.
Namely, I need to improve
(1) Reading speed
(2) Speaking speed
(3) Dictation speed.

It's almost midterms which means I am going to be extra ambitious in my PE goals.
(1)  ぼくは　火曜日に日本語テーブルでばんごはんを食べます。　
No more excuses - Forbes isn't that far away.
(2) Office hours are very helpful, so I am going to go as often as I possibly can this week.
I need all the practice I can get for the midterm. I can practice dictation and speaking there, and
then practice reading on my own.
(3) Practice my flashcards until I know them so well that I can go through the whole deck
without pausing to think. I can't afford to be thinking and pausing for every word I speak.

Transcript:
はじめまして。アンダーソンです。
私はプリンストン大学の三年生です。
ミネソーターの ミニアツピリスからきました。
私の　せんこうは　[工学]です。
どうぞよろしく。

My apologies for uploading this so late. I was having technical difficulties.

New Goals

Some goals for the first PE cycle.
(1) Improve my Japanese 'r' sound,
(2) Improve my reading and speaking speed, and
(3) Practice using correct pitch.

To do these goals, I will
(1) Go to office hours to practice words with lots of 'r' sounds,
(2) Shadow two recordings (which recordings to be determined), and
(3) Practice the conversations in the textbook daily.

Self-Introduction

こんにちは。はじめまして。アンダーソンです。三年生です。どうぞよろしく。

Japanese 101

こんにちわ。はじめまして。

I am Theo Anderson, and this is my very own blog dedicated to the trials of learning Japanese.
I will be telling you of the excitement and difficulties of learning Japanese. As I currently know
just a few phrases and words, the blog is primarily in English, but as my knowledge of Japanese grows I will use it in my blog more and more often.

I have always wanted to learn a foreign language, but I have never had the motivation until this
year. The timing is also opportune. The University offers so many resources to help learn Japanese.
Moreover, it is more difficult to learn a language the older you become. So I have decided to take action and learn Japanese now. I expect it will be a slow and difficult, but highly rewarding endeavor. Learning a foreign language is exciting to me because it opens up new places to travel, books to read, and people to speak to.

So, why Japanese? Why not German, French, Chinese, Swahili, Korean, Russian, or Portuguese? There is no quick answer for this. For one, a major advantage of learning a language is being able to travel to the respective country. Japan is an exciting country to me, whereas I don't think I'd ever step foot inside, say, China. Secondly, a relatively small proportion of the Japanese speak English, whereas the French or Koreans are more likely to already speak English. Thirdly, Japanese is relatively easy for native English speakers to pronounce. Fourth, I am excited about the challenge of learning an East-Asian language as an American. Fifth, I like Japanese culture. For example, I like sushi, and I spent many hours of my childhood playing Nintendo video games.

The first few days I have been learning Hiragana, and I admire the elegance of the Hiragana characters. Although I can pronounce the sound when I see a character, it has been difficult for me to write the characters. It's hard because the characters look so different from the Latin alphabet and I have to remember which character to draw for each sound. I will simply have to keep practicing.