Thinking about studying Japanese?

Are you considering setting off on a journey of learning Japanese? Well, I thought I would give you a little advice from my experiences. In the previous post, I wrote about why I started learning Japanese and also about what difficulties I have come across on my journey. In this post, I will discuss what I would do if I was starting out from scratch.

1) Why do you want to learn Japanese?

Over the last decade, I have been an ESL teacher in my home country as well as overseas. When I meet my class for the first time, I always ask them what their motivation is for learning English. Some of my students had some very good reasons why they wanted to learn English, however many of the others had no idea what use they would have for English in their futures. My very first lesson focusses on how English can benefit their lives. From then on, whenever there is an aspect of English that poses a challenge, the students can look back to the first lesson and remind themselves of their personal reasons for learning. 

For me, I studied Japanese for the following reasons:

• I wanted to learn an Asian language
• I wanted to understand Spirited Away 

Those are very simple reasons, but in those early days, they were my motivation. Later on, I fell in love with kanji and I had a new reason - I wanted to be able to read as many kanji as I could. Of course, back then I had not considered the bigger picture, but now I have many more reasons. I recommend really asking yourself what Japanese language could do for you. If you love Japanese pop culture and really want to be able to understand the new song by the latest visual kei artist, keep motivating yourself with that in mind. 

However, don't forget that one day, if you try your very, very best with your studies, your language skills might enable you to go to Japan for work. If that is the case, it will be life-changing, and you will open up so many doors for yourself and your future career. Japanese is also a wonderful language to learn for communicating with millions of people outside of Japan as well. This can help you if you ever go travelling around the world as well as if the company you work for in the future has Japanese speaking clients etc.

To keep reminding yourself why you are studying, write your reasons on a piece of paper and try and glance at it just before you start studying or whenever you find something challenging.

2) Buy a notebook!

Buy yourself a little notebook or one of those wonderful vocabulary notebooks, and note down words that you find applicable to you and your situation / interests in life. For example, if you really, really like watching movies, find out what the word is for 'movie' and note it down. If you play the drums, find out how to say 'drums' or 'I play drums' and note it down in your notebook. 

Try also to note down random words that you come across that you like or find interesting. I remember seeing the word 'shy' in a vocabulary list at the end of my textbook and after a few weeks of having wanted to say that word and having forgotten to look it up, I had finally found it, and after noting it down in my notebook, I found it easier to remember and knew where it was if I ever was to forget it.

I also recommend compiling the words you have noted at the end of each month and drilling them either as a separate vocabulary list or by making them into flash cards.

3) Buy yourself a dictionary and a phrasebook.

In the early days of my Japanese learning adventure, I spent hours and hours flicking through my dictionary and familiarising myself with words. I did not try to memorise any words, but I looked up this and that and noted this or that down in my notebook. I also focussed on the beginning sounds of words. 

For example, I started at the sound 'kan' and had a good look at all the words that started with 'kan'. Have a look at the kanji and compare it to the kanji for 'kan' in the previous dictionary entry. Then look at the following entry, find all the words that begin with 'kan' and glance at the English meaning of those words. Perhaps you'll notice the words share a similar meaning or idea. 

Obviously this is not about memorising the words, but I believe that from doing this, I managed to remember some things that I had noticed. I managed to familiarise myself with certain kanji which shared similar ideas and every so often I see a kanji and I somehow miraculously remember it has something to do with 'extinguishing' or 'ice'. 

Phrasebooks are also great to flip through in the early days of language study. Once again, don't obsess about remembering things. Just spend your time noticing the language and how things are said. Have a look at the restaurant section and try and notice sentence structures that are repeated, or have a little look at what the Japanese word for 'coffee' is. Phrasebooks also offer a little cultural insight into Japanese customs which are always good to know. When I first ventured into studying a second language, I actually started learning with a phrasebook as that was all I could afford at that time.

4) Flashcards, Vocabulary Lists and Labels.

I tried to use flashcards, but after all the effort of making them, I quickly got bored of them and they ended up being shoved in a box in my spare room. I do know that they are worth sticking with. If you can't be bothered making cards, a vocabulary list works just as well and you can hide the answers with a piece of scrap paper. While I was in Japan, I spent most of the year making lists and learning words that way and found it worked very well.

After a few months, find your old flashcards or vocabulary lists, revise them and test yourself. A good friend might give you an hour or two and test you on your vocabulary lists if you buy them a milkshake at your local cafe. You might want to write the words in romaji unless you know some native Japanese speakers. 

I have no suggestions in regards to flashcards, but for vocabulary lists, it is good to put all your lists in a folder so they're all together. I have been studying languages for years and have so many random lists hidden in books here and there and all over my house. It gets a little messy...

Don't forget Anki! It is a wonderful free online resource which enables you to create your own flashcard decks, or you can find other peoples' decks and use them. It uses spaced repetition to test you on ten or so words at a time until you manage to remember them.

Another good way of learning vocabulary is by labelling everything that you own in your home. (Be careful when labelling the toaster!) I did this, and although it is sometimes easy to become accustomed to the labels so much so that you overlook them completely as you walk to your fridge to eat the leftover chicken drumsticks from last night's dinner, I learned many of my first words with the help of my labels. Perhaps to avoid becoming used to the labels around the house, label one item in each room one week and then remove that label and label a different item in each room the following week. That way, you are more likely to notice them as you pass them on your way to the fridge.

5) Language courses.

If you can, find yourself a good course book. Many of the people I know started learning Japanese using the Genki series and Minna no Nihongo. I started with Nakama 1 and quite enjoyed its layout and structure. Make sure you have access to an audio recording of the dialogues etc, because you need to be familiarising yourself with the sound of Japanese as much as you can in those early days. By familiarising yourself with it, it will be easier to replicate sounds later on, mimic intonation, and it might even help you differentiate words and be able to work out where one word ends and the next word begins.

If you are at school, or have no access to a language course, suggest people get you a language course book for your birthday. Check out your local noticeboards or newspaper to find out if there is a class. If your motivation is there, it is possible to learn from the many free Japanese language learning resources available on the net.

6) Absorb yourself with everything Japanese.

I don't mean you should buy hundreds of Hello Kitty related items and decorate your house or workplace. Of course, if you want to do this, you definitely should. If you love pokemon, why not dedicate your back seat to a mountain of pikachu plushies! 

What I really mean is, you should support your learning by read up about other aspects of Japan and Japanese culture that interest you. Listen to Japanese music and decide on a favourite band, singer or style of music from Japan. Watch Japanese films or anime. Films provide a great snapshot into the way of life in Japan and the social behaviours, expectations and beliefs. Try reading some Japanese writers in English or read some manga. All of this will help you to familiarise yourself with Japanese culture and the Japanese way of thinking. 

Learning a language is not only about words and grammar, it's about understanding the context of language as well as the cultural references that are sewn tightly into the language you read or hear. Please fill your backseat with pikachu plushies. I recommend it.

7) Join a language group.

There are sometimes groups of people who meet up to practice speaking foreign languages. See if there is a local Japanese speaking group in your area. As well as being a good way of meeting people with similar interests, the groups sometimes do day trips to Japanese-related cultural activities.

Lang-8 is a great online group which enables you to practice your Japanese writing skills and in exchange for correcting entries written by others who are learning English, native Japanese speakers will correct your work and offer suggestions for you to improve your writing. Aim for a post a week and write about topics that interest you.

8) Talk to yourself.

I do this anyway, but if you are alone and making yourself a coffee, why not make those inner thoughts audible! Of course this is hard to do in the early stages of language learning, but little by little, you'll be able to say more and it will become easier and easier to verbalise your thoughts and expand on your ideas with recently learnt vocabulary. 

I talk to myself about the weather, about how hungry I am, about what I want to do or what I like or hate. When I was studying French at high school, I would crawl into bed and talk to myself in French about my day or about the worries and concerns I was having. I remember it was really hard at first, but gradually my fluency improved. I even had a mini dictionary by my bed in case I wanted to look up a word. It was also a good way of falling asleep as it can be quite exhausting speaking in another language.

Speaking to yourself can be a little awkward for some, especially if you don't actually talk to yourself normally or if you live with others, but I find it helps a lot to get your brain moving faster as it searches for recently learnt words.

I used to sit in the garden with my weekly vocabulary list and discuss each word as much as I could in the foreign language. No matter how simple the phrases are, you are using the language, using the new vocabulary, and linking previously learned vocabulary to the new word. It also encourages visualising the dialogues with yourself and that in itself helps when you are testing yourself on the new words. You will find you remember saying such and such when you were talking about the Japanese word for 'house'.

9) Don't listen to your little evil cat! 

Whenever you come across an aspect of Japanese language learning that is particularly difficult to get your mind around, you may feel that it is all too hard and that learning Japanese is an impossible task. Japanese is a hard language to learn and many people find it challenging. It requires a lot of time and effort and unlike some other languages like French, German and Dutch which for English speakers require less time to become fluent, it takes a little longer to reach a level of fluency in Japanese. 

Remember that any Japanese you learn is an accomplishment and means you are a step closer to fluency than you were before. As I said in my previous post, I have been studying Japanese for ten years or so and I am unfortunately nowhere near fluent. However, if you are super motivated and, unlike me, are not also trying to learn four other foreign languages at the same time, your Japanese will easily be better than mine after ten years of study.

So, perseverance is key. Do not let your little evil cat tell you that your Japanese is hopeless and that you will never be able to speak to Kyary Pamyu Pamyu if she was to knock on your door.

10) Travel to Japan!

Although you are learning Japanese, there mightn't be a bone in your body that wants to visit Japan. I mean, who would want to go to the most awesome, amazing country in the whole world? Well,  I really think you should go. Apart from all the obvious reasons, like having the chance of seeing Kyary Pamyu Pamyu walking around Harajuku, or doing other touristy things, you will be able to form a direct relationship with Japan. For me, after years of studying Japanese, Japan became a dream land and a few years later, I had almost forgotten that there was a country where I could actually speak what I was studying. Being in Japan will very quickly remind you of why you are learning Japanese and how awesome it is to be able to speak the language.

See if you can take part in cultural activities and festivals. There is so much culture on offer to tourists and it is easily accessible. You will return to your home country with a greater passion for Japanese than you had previously. (Well, I'm assuming you will like it over there...)  Maybe you can visit some of the online friends you made on Lang-8. I met several of my friends and they introduced me to a Japan on a more personal level than that of a normal tourist. Of course, I was lucky enough to be able to go and live in Japan for a year, and got to know Japan on a greater level. There are many opportunities for students to go and study in Japan, or even teach English in Japan.

Well, I will leave it at that for the moment and maybe add a little more later on. If you have any questions, or need some more advice, feel free to send me a message. 

Bon voyage on your Japanese language learning adventure! 

Difficulties of Learning Japanese

Let us begin with my background to find out why I decided to learn Japanese in the first place. 

During the 80s and 90s, due to the bubble economy in Japan, Australian schools started providing Japanese language classes. We were taught greetings, very basic vocabulary, some hiragana, as well as information about Japan and Japanese culture. I remember we would watch an episode of a Japanese language programme which featured a character called Chibi and two ninja teachers. I loved seeing all the footage of Japan, from Mt. Fuji to the shinkansen. I remember my teacher explaining how Tokyo was due for a massive earthquake. From that moment on, I told myself that no matter how much I wanted to visit Japan, I would never travel there just in case the earthquake occurred while I was there. Fortunately, I was very lucky the two times I travelled to Japan.

After my time at primary school, and several years of very scratchy Japanese language and culture classes, I moved on to high school. We were given a choice to learn either Japanese, Italian and French. As my mother had some knowledge of French, I decided that was the best language to learn. It was only compulsory to learn a foreign language in our first year of high school, so I stopped learning French. It was only in the last two years of high school that I discovered a strong passion for languages and applied to learn French via a correspondence course.

After my final high school exam, I joined my friends for a drink and they suggested we spend the night watching anime. I had only ever seen Pokemon on television, and I doubt I even knew that Pokemon was anime. I also hated animation. That night we watched Laputa and I remember wishing the film would end. We drank on, passed out and the next morning, someone suggested we watch Spirited Away. The film started and I fell in love with it, and I remember thinking quietly to myself how it might be pretty cool to know some Japanese. Two of my high school friends who had studied Japanese for the Higher School Certificate were there, so I asked them if it was a hard language to learn. They said it was really difficult, but when I enrolled at university, I nevertheless decided to start studying Japanese seriously. I had no idea what a ride I was in for!

During my first year, I thought Japanese was an easy language. It all seemed so logical and well structured. Even after learning the first 20 kanji, I thought I’d be fluent in a year or two. Gradually I realised that in actual fact, it required rewiring ones brain completely in order to form a coherent sentence. I focused on kanji knowledge and neglected reading, speaking and listening practice. I was really good at remembering how to write kanji, and it was my strongest point. Sadly, however, I was falling behind in other areas and became so overwhelmed by the language by my third year that I chose not to continue learning Japanese at university.

I remember seeing my fellow students speaking Japanese so well in class. They were good at speeches and colloquial Japanese, while I was stuck struggling with formal Japanese. Thinking back, they were all into anime much more than I was, and had therefore learned a lot from watching it. It was very upsetting and frustrating for me, especially after having such a drive to learn the language in the beginning.

After a one year break from learning Japanese, I got back into it and decided to try and focus on my weak points. I made lists of verbs and grammar points, tried to watch more Japanese anime and dramas, and did my best to practice speaking Japanese. Once again, I felt as though it was an impossible task. I could barely say anything and when I did form a sentence, I was pretty sure it was wrong, even after spending a good few minutes trying to form it. Then there was the impossible task of learning the transitive/intransitive pairs. Not to mention the 250 kanji that I could no longer write.

Three years ago, I discovered Lang-8 and decided to try even harder than before to push my Japanese to a level that I would be happy with. I wrote myself a learning contract and agreed with myself to study hard and then sit for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test N3 when I felt I was ready. In those three years I studied hard, wrote a lot of articles on Lang-8 in Japanese, travelled to Japan on the JET Programme, and sat the JLPT N3 exam. As I have mentioned in my previous post, I passed and am incredibly proud. 

So, to conclude, even though I have made progress, I am still disappointed at my level of Japanese. There have been so many obstacles along the way, and after having studied it for nine years, I am quite frustrated that I can only speak a little Japanese with confidence. I am constantly hesitating and trying to select appropriate vocabulary when I speak to people and instead of feeling inspired after having a conversation in Japanese with someone, I am left feeling quite saddened. I pushed myself a lot while I was in Japan, and I definitely made a lot of progress from having to speak and listen to Japanese every day. I am currently pondering whether I should write up a second learning contract and study as hard as I can for the JLPT N2 exam before I give up on Japanese completely. After this long journey, I would rather not lose everything I have learned.

In case you’re wondering, here is a list of the aspects of Japanese that I have found most difficult.

Vocabulary

I find it hard to determine which word is which when it comes to words that are alike. For example, words like kaishou kaijou shoukai etc.

Word Stress / Tone 

This is a topic barely touched on in textbooks. While I was trying to speak to people in Japan, I was often given a perplexed look because a word I had said had a different stress / tone than the one I had used. (For example, hashi can mean bridge or chopsticks depending on which syllable is stressed. Of course, the context would be quite obvious for the word hashi, but I came across several other words which weren’t so clear.)

Transitive / Intransitive Pairs: This is something one needs to learn by rote. After eight years, I still have doubts that I use the right verb.

This has been my learning experience with Japanese. Many others I know have much more success and aspects that I find difficult are aspects that they find easy to grasp. If I had any advice for those having difficulty learning Japanese, I would focus on:

1) learning vocabulary

2) recognising kanji over knowing how to write it by hand

3) speaking with people in Japanese as much as possible

4) writing in Japanese (on Lang-8)

5) learning grammar formulae

語彙の暗記

As I mentioned a few posts ago, because I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere with my Japanese, I decided to focus on Japanese vocabulary building rather than focussing on learning new grammar structures. I had thought this little strategy would help me out in all other areas of learning Japanese - listening, reading etc - however recently I have found it so hard to remember the vocabulary I am studying.

To do this, I made some flash cards and some vocabulary lists of words that I found interesting or applicable to myself and to today's world. For a few days, I felt inspired to study, but gradually I lost my enthusiasm and could no longer concentrate.

I did manage to absorbe one or two words - like 蛇口 and キモい and 怠け者, but the frustration of not advancing as fast as I want has been getting me down a lot. I have also become a little nervous about moving to Japan for a year and I think the fear of losing my normal, stable life here has caused me to deny my up and coming journey into the unknown. This denial has in turn caused me to avoid studying Japanese and given me an interest in other languages that I have been meaning to revise.

I remember the last time I was going to Japan, I spent a good month before my trip revising everything I could from my old Japanese textbooks to prepare myself. Once again, in the months leading up to my trip to Thailand, I focussed on learning as much Thai as I could. Those were quite short trips, and for this up-and-coming trip to Japan, I will be there for an entire year! It must be the fear of losing my current lifestyle that is preventing me from studying Japanese.

Deva has been shouting in my ear, telling me that I should just stop studying all together. After all, soon enough I'll be in Japan and will be practicing my Japanese every day! Despite Deva and his evil attempts to hinder my learning, I must force myself to study. Every word I gain will mean I will understand one more word when I'm either reading, listening or having to express myself in Japanese.

After an entire week of procrastination and filling my study time with gardening and cleaning the house, I will sit down tonight and study, study, study! I can do it! 

If you are experiencing the same troubles with your Japanese learning, please feel free to contact me and share your woes - and your advice if you have conquered this difficult stage of learning a foreign language. A friend of mine recently explained to me he felt he was completely stuck and couldn't make any more progress. Consequently he decided to stop studying and put his energy into practicing watercolour. I don't want this to happen to me! Let's all try hard and study as best we can!

Listening to natural Japanese conversations...

I just watched an interview on Youtube with Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and couldn't understand much at all. I know I need more listening practice when it comes to Japanese, but I think my biggest problem is determining what the little sounds are which seem to tag on to the end of words and phrases in conversational Japanese.

Words like ええとね, なんか or the ____と、_____か、____って all really confuse me. I get the gist of one part of the sentence, but then one of these words puts me off and distracts me that I miss the phrase which follows it.

I know this will come eventually after lots of listening practice, but my heavens it is SO FRUSTRATING right now. I have decided to look up more Japanese TV interviews because even though they are hard to understand, they're so bright and fun to watch. Little by little I will hopefully get over this listening rut. 

Here's the video I was watching. The interview is at the end. By the way, Mayuyu is so cute.... 

I listened to the interview (and the song ^^ ) a few times to try and decode it. Hopefully along with my intense vocab workout this month, listening will get easier!

AWESOME BLOG for learners of Japanese!

すごい！I just discovered an awesome blog called チョコチョコ written to encourage other Japanese language learners out there to gang together and study as hard as they can! 

The blogger originally started the blog to write about his journey learning Japanese, but after he realised there were lots of people out there learning just like he was, he began writing to help others learn more effectively. 

Screenshot of the チョコチョコ site.

On his blog you will find study tips, book reviews of Japanese (and Korean) textbooks, kanji study tips, posts about Japanese culture, as well as some other learning resources and grammar notes. You may also be lucky enough to discover a new creature called a チョコチョコ (which may in fact be the encouraging, friendly form of Deva). I am eager to find out exactly what they are and how they can help me learn Japanese!

The main reason why I am mentioning this blog is in fact because of the reading resources offered on the "Great Library" page! I know this may seem simple, but I am going to start reading from the very first story. I need to practice my reading so bad...

In the Great Library, you can select your level of Japanese and then you are presented with some stories  for you to read. I am really impressed, and hope one day to be able to read the stories from the advanced level. (OMG, 漢字がたくさん！）

Well, I'm gonna go and have an even closer look at that blog! 

Happy studying, guys!

今晩の映画

(For the English version, go down)

昨日は、トフグのサイトの日本映画のおすすめを読んだ後で、「SurviveStyle+5」をネットで探す事にした。今晩、パンプキンスープを食べながら、映画を見た。昨日少しスニークプレビューをして、映画の色がとてもつよいので、良い映画だろうと思ったね！　あ、映画はすっごく良かった！

「SurviveStyle+5」は関口現に監督した。それはとても面白くて、すばらしい映画だ。物語は奇妙で、でもとてもおかしい。ミザンセーヌは色がたくさん！　次のビデオを見てください。

ところで、すみませんね。今晩、僕の日本語はちょっと。。。


単語を勉強してみて、でも疲れてるので、本当に出来ない。：（　

I won't translate all of what I wrote above, but I will say that I recommend this film to all those who love colour, love quirky stories, and love Japanese films!

I was wandering around on the internet and stumbled across a blog entry on Tofugu called the "Top 10 Strange Japanese Films You Need TO Watch". I couldn't resist having a look and there, under No.7 was Survive Style +5.

This film, directed by Sekiguchi Gen and starring Asano Tadanobu, Hashimoto Reika and Vinnie Jones, tells five different, distantly entwined stories, each with its own quirks and touching message.

The editing is sharp and does well to enhance the comic feel of certain scenes, and the mise-en-scène is choc-a-block with vivid colours and textures. The scene above is what got me in in the first place. I was blown away by the colour!

I didn't like the hitman's character so much. I thought his scenes were a little awkward and didn't quite work. Apart from his character, I loved all the other characters so much. They were all very well developed and I felt for each and every one of them. Especially one in particular, but I must not mention it in case you go and watch it! You'll know which one I mean. (ポっ、ポっ、ポっ）

Well, I really recommend you see this film. It is on par with タんポポ (Tampopo), and I will be re-watching it very soon!  Oh hell, here's a clip from Tampopo. (I have watched this film numerous times and never ever get bored with it!

☆ENGLISH UPDATE☆

This week I decided to take a different approach in regards to the way I study Japanese. 


I was reading a few blogs about study techniques, and one of the blogs asked me to question what is hindering my studies. I came to the conclusion that my lack of vocabulary is my biggest issue and it is really interfering with my Japanese language study. In fact, I am a little upset I didn't come to this realisation much earlier. I had thought about my lack of vocabulary and tried to build it up a little, but I didn't realise how serious an issue it really was, and therefore I tended to move on to other areas of study.


So, how exactly does a lack of vocabulary hinder ones learning? Well, a lack of vocabulary means:

• when you are trying to write, you have to look up lots of words,
• when you are trying to read, you have to look up lots of words,
• when you are trying to speak, you stumble and can't express yourself,
• and when you are listening, you are absolutely LOST. (oh, and depressed...)

You get the picture. 

Well, I kinda knew this ages ago, but you tend to forget the seriousness of having a weak vocabulary. It has now clicked just how important it is, and also how vital it is in order to actually be able to practice listening, reading, writing and speaking. To practice these, you need to know as many words as possible, because otherwise you feel like you don't know anything, and then the whole process of study becomes incredibly boring, daunting and depressing. (Hey, Deva! You mightn't be around for much longer! Muoahahaha!)

All the times I felt depressed about study was really due to my lack of vocabulary. All the times I opened my reading practice book, tried to read a passage and then closed it in frustration was ALL because I didn't have enough vocabulary to keep me going. 

Now, of course, for those who are learning Japanese out there, I'm not saying that you should stop focussing on reading, writing, listening or speaking practice. Not at all! After all, it is through this that you learn new vocabulary and set into concrete the words you have studied that you happen to come across while practicing your reading etc. By practicing your reading, writing and listening, you are seeing the words you have studied in use and in their correct environment (ie. with a certain verb combination etc).

So, what I plan to focus on is expanding my vocabulary as much as I can, so that when I do try and read or listen to Japanese, I don't get so overwhelmed by the words I don't know. By doing this, perhaps the 4 or 5 words of the sentence that I don't understand will turn into a 2 or 3. That could mean a big difference from having no idea whatsoever about the meaning of the sentence, to having an idea of the context and being able to fill in the blanks! 

Ah I feel much better now, so on that note, I will leave and study vocab! 皆、がんばってね！

To vlog or not to vlog, that is the question!

I've recently been wondering if I should start up my own vlog. Like, everybody's doing it, hello?? The trouble is, I have several concerns regarding vlogging. It was hard enough starting up this blog last year!

So, here are my concerns:

1) I don't want people I know (of the flesh and bones kind) to see me on Youtube.


I would HATE it if my friends found out I was vlogging. I would feel embarrassed - no matter how unsuccessful or successful it was. I am quite private about my interests in some respects and to think they could be watching me would put me off completely and I wouldn't feel so free. I don't know if that makes sense, but this little "koalaleo" cyber profile I have created here is a much more confident version of myself. If people know I blogged or vlogged, I would become paranoid about what they would be thinking. Dahh... damn world. I did think about vlogging in costume. I could do that! It wouldn't be so nice in summer, but it might attract a lot of viewers! 

2) I don't know what I would vlog about.

I really can't think of what I would actually say. I could vlog exactly the same way that I blog on this site (I sometimes wonder if it's too unspecific to be interesting).



3) I don't think I am ready to try speaking Japanese on camera.

I could do as Mikaera and others have been doing, but I really think my Japanese needs more work. I can just imagine trying to talk about something and then having an hour of footage to edit with an end result that only goes for like 2 minutes. I do wonder if it would do my Japanese some good. Perhaps chatting away on camera might fight off my nerves about speaking foreign languages in front of others. I might gain some confidence! 


Well, there you have it. What is your opinion! Should Ryou vlog or not? :)

☆ENGLISH UPDATE☆

In order to practice my katakana, I decided to look up some Japanese fast food websites. Naturally all of the menus were chockablock with katakana words! If you need some practice, I strongly recommend checking some out, and I'll post some Japanese fast food websites at the bottom of this post. 

My reason for this post is to do with Japanese sound symbolism / onomatopoeia words. Several of the menu items had a sound word in either its title or description, and I suddenly realised I simply must study some before I (if I... fingers crossed) go to Japan this year.

Thinking about it, I only know sound words related to food - and even then, they don't seem to appear in the dictionary or on any of the lists I have found.

- コロコロ (which one of my friends taught me when I ordered takoyaki for the first time in my life, and WHAT a day that was. A day that changed my life and my after-uni / after-cityday snack for the next 8 years!)

- しゃぶしゃぶ (the sound of the meat being swished around and cooked in the hot pot).

So, as I said a second ago I have found a list of words and I have also found a whole side of Japanese linguistics that I hadn't really come across before. (Thank you wikipedia). I have just discovered the following:


Giseigo 擬声語 / Giongo 擬音語 - words mimicking sounds made by living things (giseigo), and words mimicking sounds made by non-living things (giongo). 

Gitaigo 擬態語 - words mimicking non-auditory senses.

Gijougo 議場後 - words describing physical or psychological states. 


On the fast food sites, I came across フワフワ for to express 'light / fluffy'. I also found さくさ, meaning 'crispy / crunchy'. After looking them up, I realised the value of knowing these words, whereas before I had disregarded them somewhat. 

If anyone has any advice on a good way of studying sound words, please let me know! XD

Ok, here's a list of fast food sites for those wanting to practice their katakana. 

1) ロッテリア (Lotteria)
2) ビアードパパ (Beard Papa)
3) ここフランス (CocoFrans)
4) モスバーガー (MosBurger)

☆ENGLISH UPDATE☆

I just found these two really cool blogs - one by a girl who did an exchange program to Germany and Japan another vlog about Korean culture etc. 

Firstly the one about korean culture is called Sweet and Tasty. It is really well done and all by one person taking on different comical characters. My favourite is the aegyo girl and 'Taekwondo'. It talks about various aspects of Korean culture, as well as giving a few lessons on the Korean language and about particular words often mentioned in the Kpop scene. If you haven't heard of them yet, you should check out Simon & Martina from Eat Your Kimchi. They also vlog about Korean culture and Kpop, and I absolutely love their stuff.

The second blog I found yesterday is by Vy and called I think in comics. I was particularly interested in the one from Vy's travels in Germany and Japan. I am not so into comics and manga, but found Vy's comics very entertaining and fun to read. My, it must have taken her so much time to draw all those up!

Finally, I had a proper look at tofugu - a Japanese language and culture blog in English. If you're interested in learning Japanese, I had a brief look at their language course intro and it looked really good. One thing that really got me interested was their kanji learning strategy which involves learning kanji from the radicals rather than learning kanji the way most textbooks deliver them which is comparable to the way Japanese students learn kanji at schools. It also encourages the student to focus not so much on being able to write the kanji, but rather being able to recognise them. When I was learning at university, I spent hours and hours writing and re-writing kanji in order to memorise them. I was able to memorise the beginner and intermediate kanji lists, but it only took one year for me to forget about 50% of what I had learned. All that time re-writing them could have been put to better use. ACTUALLY, come to think of it, I DID need to know how to write it as we had dictation tests! Ergh, so if you aren't studying Japanese at university, perhaps try focusing on recognising the kanji rather than being able to write them. After all, everyone uses Japanese text input. The time you save can be put towards flashcards! So, if you are in need of a japanese learning resource, try textfugu. 

Oh, and in case you want to study hiragana and katakana, here is a good resource I found from the textfugu site: realkana.

My heavens, that makes two english updates in two days! How awful. I must write in Japanese next time!

☆ENGLISH UPDATE☆

Well, it has been about a week or two since I've posted anything on the blog. Deva has really been on my mind and I haven't been to inspired to study. In case you are new to this and don't know who Deva is, you should click on his name. Perhaps Deva visits you from time to time as well! 

I have been doing some study, however. I was watching My Boss My Hero and came across some words that I thought were quite useful so I wrote them down. A moment later, my mind was coming up with tonnes of useful words that I could add to the list. So, I have this wonderful list of words that I have been trying to learn. It isn't too lengthy a list, but I think I might be able to learn them quite easily as they are words that I find really interesting. (My heavens, Deva is making me doubt my sentences in English... no wonder I get down about studying Japanese!)

So, I've almost finished my bag of marshmallows (WHITE ones only), and feel slightly ill. Why do I do this to myself......

Anyway, I will study my list, and with help from Anki! I have had Anki on my computer for a while but haven't got on with it so well. I find the interface a little bland and uninspiring. Nevertheless, I will try to use Anki with my list. 

Ohhh I feel ill. Note to self: try NOT to eat 125g of marshmallows in the space of 10 minutes. 


I don't really know what else to say. I'll report back when I've learnt the list of words. I might even try to use them in a post! 

Speaking of posts, I have disappointed myself. I had planned a few months ago to research something from Japanese culture and then write about it here. Unfortunately I haven't been focused enough, nor had enough time, so I might come back to that project in a month or so. :) 

☆ENGLISH UPDATE☆

I have just created a new page on my blog showing the learning resources that I have been using to study Japanese ever since my days at university. The page also directs you to places where you can purchase the books. I will update it from time to time with the other books I have used to help me study.

VISIT THE LEARNING RESOURCES PAGE

If you are looking for online resources, they can be found on my links page.

☆ENGLISH UPDATE☆

It's been a few weeks since my JET program interview, and I have finally put it out of my mind. That first week was taken up by worry that I'd stuffed it up completely. Now, I'm leaving the decision up to the gods. 

So, I have neglected my Japanese a little over the last few weeks. Deva has taken over a little, and despite having told him to go away and bug someone else, he keeps telling me that I'm making no progress whatsoever. Apparently there is just too much to learn that there's no point in trying anymore! My heavens, he can get nasty.

So, I have decided to focus on my other languages for a time. I have neglected them and with all this cold, rainy weather we're having here at the mo, I feel much more motivated to study cold, coniferous European languages.

I am having a crisis. I have always wanted to study Swedish and after listening to all my old Kent CDs, I really, really want to learn it! It is not fair. I didn't ask for this obsessive desire to learn every language in the world. It's really hard to manage. Not only does it frustrate me to know that it is impossible to learn every language, it makes me neglect languages I have been learning and of course as we all know, in the end I will never develop fluency and be able to speak a little of many languages instead of a lot of one language. Jack of all trades, master of NONE. This is quite unrelated to my Japanese studies, but I have this list (several lists that change depending on my mood) which I try and stick to. It is there to limit me and my desire to conquer every language under the sun. If I stick to my list, I may end up able to converse in maybe three languages. If I stray from it, I will be overwhelmed. I keep straying... it's not good. 

So, I will "eurofy" my language studies a little and then hopefully Deva will find another fellow to hang with, giving me back my enthusiasm and study powers to focus on Japanese.

I will head off soon for yet another holiday and with all this rain hopefully I wont become stranded and unable to return! I might take Deva with me and try and convince him to stay there for some time! 

Ok, ciao for now!

☆ENGLISH UPDATE☆

I just received my letter from the consulate telling me I got through to the next round of the JET Program application process! YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY! I won't get too excited yet though. :P The next step... THE INTERVIEW! Wish me luck, guys! 一生懸命頑張りますよ！

So, how have my studies been going so far this year? Mm, not so good. All throughout the Christmas / New Year season, I've felt really apathetic and exhausted. I decided it was my brain demanding a break from my constant language study. Then off I went to Thailand for two weeks with friends. We had a wonderful time and I will try to write a little about my trip later.

So, now I am back, life is slowly returning to normal. I'm back at work on Friday, and even that mightn't happen as the business I work for isn't doing terribly well at the moment. I will be hunting for a new job - hopefully, HOPEFULLY in the media industry. If not, I will find a little cafe and hone in on my coffee making skills. 

Despite life returning to normal, I still feel a complete lack of motivation. I try to get up early, but my sleepy mind keeps convincing me that there's no point in getting up. I need to change my life somehow.  Maybe I'm still in holiday mode and just need a little time to settle back in to my world. 

In regards to my Japanese studies, I tried to do a little revision while relaxing by the pool in Thailand, but I don't think I absorbed much. Again on the plane, I tried to revise my grammar, but I don't feel like it helped. I feel as though my last post in Japanese must be really badly written... or maybe Deva is feeding me negativity pills again... grrrrr!

I'll have to study lots of Japanese in prep for my JET interview! :D

またね！

☆ENGLISH UPDATE☆

Hi everyone! 

It's been such a while since I've written here in English, so today I will write a brief entry about how I think my Japanese studies are going.

LANGUAGE:

Lang8 is one of my most favourite websites. I have been using it since the beginning of last year and it has helped me improve my Japanese so much! Well, I think it has helped.

In case you do not know about Lang8, it is a wonderful website where you can register for free, select the language you are learning (or languages if you upgrade to premium), and write diary entries in that language for native speakers to correct. In exchange, you correct their diary entries, so as well as hopefully improving your skills, you become part of a wonderful little community of language learners, making friends and perhaps even connections for when you go travelling! 

I believe it has helped me a lot and recommend it to anyone who doesn't have many opportunities to practice the languages they're learning. I have always found it hard to write in Japanese (I still do of course...), but after writing compositions in Japanese on Lang8 I feel more confident, because I can see that what I am writing is being understood (even if it may be quite vague sometimes haha), and I am getting lots of feedback about how I am going.

JLPT Somatome, the textbook series I have been studying is helping me, but I find it very difficult to remember things from the grammar book. Kanji-wise, I am getting through that slowly, as it is something one really cannot rush! The vocabulary book has so far been the most valuable. I find it really well structured and it has lots of useful vocabulary for everyday life! The reading and listening books have been sitting on my desk untouched since I bought them as I want to improve my kanji, grammar and vocabulary before I get into them. Hopefully I will be studying them by July next year haha.

JAPANESE CULTURE:

Well! I don't know what's got into me, but it seems I have gone back to university to continue my Japanese studies! That is, a little imaginary university in my mind! I have written myself a learning contract with a list of everything I want to learn about before 2015.

I am compiling information on the topics I am interested in, from wikipedia and other sources, which I will print out (it's already at 200p...) and study over the next few years. I have chosen a lot of topics that interest me: Japanese history, Japanese pop culture (anime, jpop etc), shintoism, tea ceremony etc. Hopefully I can use this blog to write about some of them, and if you know about the topics yourself, please feel free to join in via the comments section!

Well, that is my overview of my progress over the last few months and my study intentions for the future! I'll try and write a few more posts in English every so often. :)

Thank you for reading!