これは手紙です。

サンクスギビング休み

今年のサンクスギビング休みはとても楽しかった。わたしはカリフォルニアからきましたから、やすみにかえりませんでした。でも、ともたちのうちにいって、サンクスギビングのばんごはんをたべました。ともたちのかぞくはおきいくて、パーテーはにぎやかでした。ともたちはインド人ですから、たくさん美味しいなインドたべものがありました。
今年のサンクスギビング休みはよかった。

Revised Goals for this Year

It is very natural for people to be overly optimistic with their goals for their future. This is what happens in New Year’s resolutions, in children’s visions of their future selves, even in our perceptions of tomorrow. What I guess I mean to say was that I although I did not consciously write unrealistic goals, I guess I subconsciously expected some sort of shortcoming on my part.
In terms of goals, I still want to reach for the same results, but the 6 things that I want to do to reach these goals should be revised into something that I can manage to accomplish, no matter how busy my week is.

いち Watch children's Japanese cartoons at least 1 hour each week. Because I love watching cartoons anyways, I have been keeping up with this and plan to do so for the rest of the year.
に Listen to a Japanese song once every two days. Again, because I actually enjoy music and searching for new artists, I have been keeping up with this goal as well.
さん Go to a せんせい office hour, at least once every other week, for at least 30 minutes in order to keep track of my progress and figure out any other places that I might need to work on. Although I did not go to office hours enough during the first half of this semester, I believe that I can accomplish this if I prioritize enough.
ご The original goal to find someone to converse with makes less sense since I really do not have enough vocabulary to effectively hone my skills. Instead, I will just focus on going to office hours.
ろくGo to a language table once every 3 weeks for at least 30 minutes! My schedule STILL clashes awfully with the Japanese language table, but maybe if I try to keep ahead of my work, I will be able to find time to do this.

Upon retrospect, the year went by relatively well so far. I finished the whole series of Deathnote, which definitely helped me better grasp intonation and pronunciation of the Japanese language.  One thing that I felt was especially useful was that I would move towards speaking Japanese to teachers and fellow JPN 101 classmates whenever it was possible for me to do so.  In this way, I feel one of my greatest achievements thus far was in confidence in speaking the language.  柴田先生 suggested that I could try speaking to native Japanese speakers among my friends, and if I manage to do that by the end of this semester, I feel like my confidence levels will have progressed very well. 

Goals for this Year

おはようございます、みなさん！

Here are my goals for the year in terms of learning Japanese.

いち Speed - I hope to be able to speak at a speed that is only slightly slower than that of a native speaker.  Right now, because of my reading speed and my clumsy foreign tongue, it is difficult to keep up over long periods of time.  Speed would signify a success in learning the language overall.
に Intonation - My intonations are not natural enough, because I put too much thought in it.  I want to be able to have the right intonations without the need for extra effort.
さん Pronounciation - My "n" sound and "sei" sound are very awkward, and I hope to correct this.
よん Grammar - This is something of utmost concern to me.  I am set on knowing how to use every particle properly and how to creatively latch together longer sentences beyond the simple subject/verb/object system.  Without this ability, I might be able to understand decently well, but I will never be able to speak it in more than broken short stumpy sentences.
ご Confidence - Although this is not directly related to learning Japanese, I am always very reluctant to approach a native speaker in a language that I am not completely comfortable with ( aka anything other than English, unfortunately).  This is not a good attitude for learning, and I must grow a thick skin and be able to boldly make mistakes in front of strangers.


In name of achieving the five goals above, I will aim to complete the following:

いち Watch children's Japanese cartoons at least 1 hour each week.  This is because it is a powerful tool to learn a language the same way native speakers would as a child. They speak slower, clearer, and I will be able to understand much more than if I watched anything aimed at an older audience. If possible, I will also borrow Japanese children's books to read to myself before bed. This will help with reviewing the words and grammar I have learned
に Listen to a Japanese song once every two days.  If I immerse myself in the culture and hear it more often, I hope that the grammar and speed will come more naturally to me, especially if the particular song is good and ends up getting stuck in my head.
さん Go to a せんせい office hour, at least once every other week, for at least 30 minutes in order to keep track of my progress and figure out any other places that I might need to work on.
ご This might be a stretch, but I have signed up for a few language exchange programs, where they match you up with someone you can teach your language and learn a language from.  If I end up with a partner, then I can practice speaking online with someone on a daily basis, therefore overcoming the confidence barrier I have built around myself.
ろくGo to a language table once every other week for at least 30 minutes! My schedule clashes awfully with the Japanese language table, but I do need to eat anyways and I might as well do it while practicing the language.


Ideally, the future me looking back on this post will be able to laugh at how silly they might sound because I have successfully surpassed that point without even noticing.  That's how languages are, impossible to fathom when newly approaching them, but then suddenly familiar as your boyfriend jeans without your realization.

日本語のはじまり

はじめましで。

わだしのなまえはたんです、でもとうどいいますもいい。

たいわんじんです。

Cupertino　の California からきましだ。

いまは日本語のいちねんせいです。

趣味は絵がかきます、Dali の絵がだいすきです。

どぞよろしく、おねがいします　〜〜

Ichi Qyu Hachi Yon

Since we have already went through all of the 平仮名characters, I guess it is time for me to attempt to piece together a post with broken fragments of Japanese and English.  

日本語の grammar がとても難しね。今日の class was おもしろいです、because しばた先生 shared with us her love of アニメ and JーPop in between the teaching material.  She showed us the show 進撃の巨人 as a pronunciation exercise、which I had heard of before, but the language they spoke was too dramatic and fast-paced for me to attempt to catch up with.  It struck me that my neighbours may think that I have gone a bit crazy and have begun talking to myself.

Apart from class, I realized that the Murakami book I was reading had a title that was a sort of word play in Japanese.  一Q八四is pronounced the same way as　一"きゅ”八四   ( the George Orwell book alluded to in his book).  Japanese is a language with many capabilities for word play and riddles, which has always been something I enjoyed.  I remember the reality TV show 出ろ、 where contestants would try and solve puzzles before they got immersed in water, dropped into a hole, or mummified (for comedic purposes).  

I have a vague sense that this class will ultimately draw me into the bottomless trench that is Japanese anime.  If the world as I know it does come to such an end, I will blame it completely on しばた先生。

Tug-of-War

I chose to study 日本語 because it sounded like a very beautiful language. In the neighboring Asian countries, being able to speak Japanese is a huge plus in both business and casual settings.  Although I was never the type to read manga or watch anime, which is what often introduces people into the Japanese culture, the virtues that the country valued attracted me.  I remember watching a show featuring a group of elementary school students who were part of the school tug-of-war team. They practiced for hours on end until their hands were blistered and near bleeding.  When they failed to win the championship, they gritted their teeth as tears ran down their young faces. Their wholehearted determination in something as seemingly trivial as tug-of-war expressed an attitude that touched me deeply. If I could bring myself to face every challenge in life with such a conviction, I am certain that I could travel far.

This class has been a blast so far, and I am so excited to be able to make many new 友たち while studying the language.  It will be fun to gradually widen my vocabulary and be able to practice conversation with everyone as a group.  

Japanese is not completely new to me, but because my grammar was awful, I wanted to focus on establishing a strong foundation so that I can speak and write it in a more professional manner. As with most people who know traditional Chinese characters, I could understand the general topic and direction of an article just from the nouns/adjectives/verbs that are in Kanji, but I have a hard time writing them out on my own. 

I’ve been reading a book by 春樹村上 translated to English.  The prose is beautiful in and of itself, but it is evident that the dialogue lost much of its meaning through the translation.  My ultimate goal would be to be able to read an entire Murakami book in Japanese by the end of college. 

But until then, I’m stuck with English and occasional italicized Japanese words with explanations following closely behind.