Thursday, December 13, 2012
Sunday, November 11, 2012
PE2 Reflection & PE3 Goals
PE2 Reflection
-I focused on long vowels and moras much more this time, but while I think my pronunciation of long vowels improved a bit, i don't seem to be hearing and recognizing them any better.
-I'm also starting to forget which words have long vowels, which is particularly problematic when I write them (admittedly, not directly related to this pronunciation exercise, but I thought still relevant)
-I listened to some of the old textbook dictations on my ipod en route to Cyprus and found myself writing with an odd mix of uncharacteristic accuracy and uncharacteristic stupidity. Perhaps working on a plane after many hours of not sleeping is the cause: I'd miraculously remember something that I usually forget, and then I'd forget something that I always remember. I think i'm just going to pretend that didn't happen and try redoing the dictations (again) this PE cycle.
PE3 Goals
-know when I'm hearing long vowels and glides (I have difficulty distinguishing -yu glides in particular). i'll listen to the textbook recordings of all the vocab lists so far when i'm not exhausted
-listen to some popular japanese music with lyrics to improve intonation (I figure intonation is frequently exaggerated in songs, so that maybe it will be a little easier for me to detect the differences between tones). when my sore throat goes away, I'll probably try singing for one of the PE recordings. apologies to Shibata sensee in advance for my terrible singing
-attend Japanese language table again! These past few weeks I've either had orchestra conflicts or just been weighed down with the general horror that is midterms, but I enjoyed the Japanese table when I went and I miss the adorable Makino sensee. I'm not sure what specifically I'll gain from going, but I know it definitely can't hurt.
Where I'm meeting tonight with my group to work on the video project:
more importantly, what I'm going to eat:
cheers!
-I focused on long vowels and moras much more this time, but while I think my pronunciation of long vowels improved a bit, i don't seem to be hearing and recognizing them any better.
-I'm also starting to forget which words have long vowels, which is particularly problematic when I write them (admittedly, not directly related to this pronunciation exercise, but I thought still relevant)
-I listened to some of the old textbook dictations on my ipod en route to Cyprus and found myself writing with an odd mix of uncharacteristic accuracy and uncharacteristic stupidity. Perhaps working on a plane after many hours of not sleeping is the cause: I'd miraculously remember something that I usually forget, and then I'd forget something that I always remember. I think i'm just going to pretend that didn't happen and try redoing the dictations (again) this PE cycle.
PE3 Goals
-know when I'm hearing long vowels and glides (I have difficulty distinguishing -yu glides in particular). i'll listen to the textbook recordings of all the vocab lists so far when i'm not exhausted
-listen to some popular japanese music with lyrics to improve intonation (I figure intonation is frequently exaggerated in songs, so that maybe it will be a little easier for me to detect the differences between tones). when my sore throat goes away, I'll probably try singing for one of the PE recordings. apologies to Shibata sensee in advance for my terrible singing
-attend Japanese language table again! These past few weeks I've either had orchestra conflicts or just been weighed down with the general horror that is midterms, but I enjoyed the Japanese table when I went and I miss the adorable Makino sensee. I'm not sure what specifically I'll gain from going, but I know it definitely can't hurt.
Where I'm meeting tonight with my group to work on the video project:
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Fall Break
せんしゅう Cyprusに わたしわ いきました ちしつがくの くらすと. いつも ロックを わたしたち みました. どれ きらい ロックわ でも まいにち いいごはんわ たべました. きにょうびに はくぶつくかんに しょして うみに いきました. わたしわ あそこ にちが すき です.
We climbed mountains most days that we were there while simultaneously taking rock samples and carrying them with us. It was hardly a vacation, but it was super interesting. I just wish I were less jet lagged...
We climbed mountains most days that we were there while simultaneously taking rock samples and carrying them with us. It was hardly a vacation, but it was super interesting. I just wish I were less jet lagged...
Monday, October 22, 2012
The Midterms Are Coming!
So it's been a while since I last posted, and I should note that the most significant change that's taken place is the impending midterms.
This is not a good thing. I took ぶつりがく last week and my freshman seminar has a project instead of a test, but that still leaves 日本語 and すうがく this Wednesday and Friday. I have an oral midterm on Wednesday, which makes me particularly nervous because I've been slowly losing my voice for the past week and, more noticeably, it really freaks me out to speak in front of people, even in English. I also have an amusing tendency to replace Japanese words that I've forgotten with Spanish words, so there's the ever-present risk that I'll suddenly lapse into Spanish during the midterm.
One of my biggest issues is with particles--they're just so different from English grammatical structures. I'm the annoying person who is oddly fond of English grammar (an acquired taste after editing my high school newspaper for years), so it really bugs me that I keep getting this wrong. I'm going to summarize some of the particle uses here:
I hope this lifts your mood like it does mine--
This is not a good thing. I took ぶつりがく last week and my freshman seminar has a project instead of a test, but that still leaves 日本語 and すうがく this Wednesday and Friday. I have an oral midterm on Wednesday, which makes me particularly nervous because I've been slowly losing my voice for the past week and, more noticeably, it really freaks me out to speak in front of people, even in English. I also have an amusing tendency to replace Japanese words that I've forgotten with Spanish words, so there's the ever-present risk that I'll suddenly lapse into Spanish during the midterm.
One of my biggest issues is with particles--they're just so different from English grammatical structures. I'm the annoying person who is oddly fond of English grammar (an acquired taste after editing my high school newspaper for years), so it really bugs me that I keep getting this wrong. I'm going to summarize some of the particle uses here:
- -が is attached to the end of a direct object when the verb あります is being used.
- -に is attached to the end of a location when the verb あります is being used; it can also indicate a direction with other verbs
- -で indicates a location, regardless of the verb
- -を indicates a direct object when verbs other than あります are being used
- -は indicates the subject of a verb, like in わたしは, which is the subject form of I (for the longest time I thought this was a verb for some reason...)
I hope this lifts your mood like it does mine--
Sunday, October 14, 2012
PE 2 Goals and PE 1 Reflection
PE 1 Reflection
So I'm still making baby noises and annoying my roommate, but hopefully in a slightly more accurate way. When I practice Japanese, the feature of the language that stands out most to me is the intonation--the ups and downs of the words--that sound so musical. Thus, I've been paying the most attention to that and trying hardest to get that right potentially at the expense of other important parts, like loooong vowels and glottal stops. I think intonation can help a little with loooong vowels because, if I'm not hearing incorrectly, native speakers vary their tone a little bit while pronouncing long vowels to indicate a longer mora. So, what I'm trying to say is that maybe if I'm really, really lucky, my long vowels will improve a little bit as a side effect of focusing on intonation.
I've lined up some anime shows (though I haven't had time to watch any yet what with this weekend being parents' weekend). I think I'm going to start with Full Metal Alchemist. I considered Naruto, but I've gotten mixed reviews of that one. Maybe my reward for myself after taking the Japanese test this Thursday will be to watch some anime.
I have tried listening to Japanese music. It hasn't really helped. I get distracted and just end up listening to the music, so maybe I like music a little too much.
I went to the Japanese language table the first week and enjoyed it a lot (Makinoせんせい is adorable!) and plan to go more in the future.
PE 2 Goals
-Put some actual, concerted effort into understanding and making use of moras/rhythm by listening to the textbook recordings (I'd forgotten I have those lying around, they're actually quite helpful)
-Focus on long vowels, which I can neither pronounce nor understand right now. I'm going to try to re-do some of the old dictations involving long vowels so I can practice hearing them and hopefully improve my painfully slow writing at the same time
So I'm still making baby noises and annoying my roommate, but hopefully in a slightly more accurate way. When I practice Japanese, the feature of the language that stands out most to me is the intonation--the ups and downs of the words--that sound so musical. Thus, I've been paying the most attention to that and trying hardest to get that right potentially at the expense of other important parts, like loooong vowels and glottal stops. I think intonation can help a little with loooong vowels because, if I'm not hearing incorrectly, native speakers vary their tone a little bit while pronouncing long vowels to indicate a longer mora. So, what I'm trying to say is that maybe if I'm really, really lucky, my long vowels will improve a little bit as a side effect of focusing on intonation.
I've lined up some anime shows (though I haven't had time to watch any yet what with this weekend being parents' weekend). I think I'm going to start with Full Metal Alchemist. I considered Naruto, but I've gotten mixed reviews of that one. Maybe my reward for myself after taking the Japanese test this Thursday will be to watch some anime.
I have tried listening to Japanese music. It hasn't really helped. I get distracted and just end up listening to the music, so maybe I like music a little too much.
I went to the Japanese language table the first week and enjoyed it a lot (Makinoせんせい is adorable!) and plan to go more in the future.
PE 2 Goals
-Put some actual, concerted effort into understanding and making use of moras/rhythm by listening to the textbook recordings (I'd forgotten I have those lying around, they're actually quite helpful)
-Focus on long vowels, which I can neither pronounce nor understand right now. I'm going to try to re-do some of the old dictations involving long vowels so I can practice hearing them and hopefully improve my painfully slow writing at the same time
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Hello My Little Cave
While my roommate tries to generate snowflakes on her computer (ok, so it's recursion homework for cos) I practice long vowels in preparation for a miniscule 12-second video. It's awfully quiet out here in Forbes...
Sunday, September 23, 2012
PE Goals
Alas, it's time for me to stop making baby noises while I pace around my room, practicing Hiragana and annoying my roommate, and to start forming actual Japanese words. The sounds and intonation in Japanese are very different from those in the two languages I currently speak (the other one is Spanish), so this might be a very long and rocky road.
Goals:
-Focus on glides (you know, the や, ゆ, and よ combined with the き,し,ち,に,ひ,み,り) because to me they sound oddly interchangeable with the non-glides and the glottal stops (my approach to glottal stops right now is to abruptly stop speaking and then continue 2 seconds later, which probably isn't the way I'm supposed to do it)
-Intonation will be tricky because it's not something I would naturally do, but I'm hoping my background with music will make this a somewhat less arduous process
Methods
-Start watching anime! I'm going to solicit recommendations from Japanese friends and then try to shadow the more normal characters, so I don't come out of this sounding like a wizard or a villain
-Talk to real people who speak Japanese (I found some! They really nice!) whenever I can
-Listen to Japanese music and follow along with the lyrics (I love music, so this should be relatively painless)
Monday, September 17, 2012
こんにちは。...
...is just about all I can say right now. "Hello." I primarily speak English, but I can also communicate in Spanish (at the level of a small child), Matlab, and Java (though I can really only talk to my computer and other programmers with the last two). Although I studied Spanish for 7 years and probably could've placed out of most of my language requirement with it, I opted to start from scratch with Japanese 101 freshman year. I wanted to try something completely new for reasons I can't quite pinpoint. When I talk about my Japanese class (which I do quite a bit), my friends usually say something along the lines of "how brave!" but I know they're really thinking "idiot." I understand the sentiment; languages are certainly not my forte and I've been struggling to memorize even just the alphabet (albeit a lot of the alphabet all at once) when it seems like my classmates either already learned it or are coasting right through with their eidetic memories (ohhh, princeton, I can never tell with you). Nevertheless, i think it will be incredibly neat to speak a language that's completely different from English and it will be even neater to show up my many bilingual friends--most of whom speak Mandarin or Korean--in at least one Asian language.
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