日本語はもう出来るかどうか知らない

久しぶりです。日本語をしゃべる時と書く時から、一年間とか、二年間だと思います。日本語興味は少し消えちゃった。

理由は分からない。N3級を完成させたがったけど、時間とモチベーションはなかった。

ここで日本語でもっと書いたら、 進歩しるかもしれません。日本語で話したり書いたりするのはもっと簡単になるかもしれません。

明日トピックに決めって、何か日本語で書くにします！

My JLPT | 僕の日本語能力試験

As I have mentioned in some previous posts, I have been wanting to sit for the JLPT exam for a long time - in fact, I have wanted to sit for it ever since I studied Japanese at university. I remember after first year, some of my teachers said it would be a great exam for us to do to test our Japanese and also to gain a certificate. When my classmates sat for it and passed, I felt a little upset with myself that I hadn't also, but in those early days, my Japanese was quite weak compared to my classmates, so I probably would have failed. 

What is the JLPT, you may ask? It's the Japanese Language Proficiency Test - an exam which anyone can do to check ones level of Japanese proficiency and to gain an internationally recognised certificate which may help when finding work in and out of Japan.

My main reason for wanting to sit the test was to prove to myself what level I had achieved since my time at university. After uni, I took a break from studying Japanese as I felt it was too hard and that I wasn't getting anywhere with it. I would study so hard, and then at the end of the day, I would get so upset that I could barely string a proper sentence together. 

Little by little, my enthusiasm for learning Japanese increased. I became re-inspired by watching Japanese films, by listening to Japanese music, and also by watching YouTube videos of other people practicing their Japanese. Some of the vloggers were so good at Japanese, I felt as though improving my fluency was actually a possibility.

After deciding that I might be able to sit for the N3 exam, I bought the nihongo no somatome text books and spent one year studying. Nothing was sticking in my memory as I desperately tried to hold on to the week-by-week structure of the textbooks. I almost gave up, thinking that N3 may have been too advanced for me.

Then, I stumbled across the JET Programme on the net, and realising I may actually be eligible to apply, I got my papers together, sent them off, and WHAM! I was asked to an interview. Off I went - a year's adventure in Japan began - not just for me, but for my Japanese! 

I knuckled down before I left, revising and studying Japanese as much as I could. I noticed I had improved a little, until I arrived in Japan and realised how much of a learning curve was awaiting me. When people spoke to me, I found it so hard to understand them. It was like I had been thrown into a forest of foreign words. 

A few weeks later, something clicked. I could understand quite a lot of what was being said. I could read more than I thought I would be able to. I could pick up words and phrases quite quickly. However, I could barely speak with others, and my frustration continued to grow. This frustration made me want to stop studying altogether.

I decided I needed to push myself. Me and some of my friends decided we should all sit for the JLPT. Before we could get out of it, we sent off our money - 6,000 yen - or something like that. From that moment on, I spent whatever free time I had studying Japanese.

On the day of the test, I was so nervous. I wasn't sure if I had studied enough. I remember feeling as though I had concentrated mostly on vocabulary and kanji and had neglected grammar and listening practice. 

I sat down at my desk. My test sheet arrived. The clock started. I recognised most of the kanji! I knew or figured out the vocabulary questions! I understood the majority of the listening section - or so I thought... Then, grammar and reading came. The last three sections were so difficult. 

As I left the exam room, I was not so confident that I had passed.　I had studied so hard and spent such a long time believing that I would be able to pass N3. Had I studied in vain? You find out if I passed if you read a previous entry.

What would I do if I could go back?

I would buy the practice test to find out which sections I needed to work on. I thought I had studied vocabulary too much, but it turns out my vocabulary was still lacking somewhat. I also really should have focussed more on reading practice.

Has the JLPT exam helped me? 

I needed to know what level I was at, and once I knew, I felt much better. Studying a language on your own is great, but after a while, you need some kind of proof that you have learned things and improved your knowledge of the language. I am so glad I did the JLPT to give myself some closure.

I wrote this to remind myself of my experience. If anyone reading this finds it interesting, or wants to know more about my experience, let me know. :) 

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

Update!

Oh my heavens. I have not written here for quite a while. I guess you could say I had a holiday from my blog for an entire year! An entire year spent in JAPAN! 

Yes, and I had a super time, just so you know. I guess I should have kept blogging and posted stuff about my daily life and awesome experiences there, but I stupidly didn't. What an opportunity lost. I was incredibly busy, in my defence. 

What did I do there? I taught English on the JET Programme. I also ate tonnes of yummy food, met an incredible number of wonderful, talented people who I will never forget, did a little sightseeing around Japan, and travelled to Thailand, Hong Kong, and South Korea! 

Oh, I also passed my JLPT N3 EXAM, which means I reached my goal from 2013! I must admit, I didn't do that well from the look of the results, but I'm so happy I passed it. I'm now wondering whether I should give Japanese a break for a few months, or return to my studies. I feel like I studied enough and as much as I possibly could when I was living in Japan. 

I wouldn't mind a teeny break from the crazy grammar.If that's the case, I may dedicate this blog to snippets of Japanese culture which I find interesting, rather than focussing on Japanese language so much.Have a nice day!

☆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！

☆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!

今週の予定

みなさん、

最近何かかわった事無いけど、今週の予定について話します！明日の朝仕事をしないと(must work?)、その後で、カフェで友達と合いましょう。今週、コーヒーを少し飲み過ぎたから、コーヒーを少ない飲む方がいいと思います。コーヒーは僕の好きな飲み物ですから、飲まないのは大変です！
カフェに行った後で、家へ帰って、日本語の勉強をします。今週はたくさん漢字を習いました！JLPTの教育書が大好きですよ！教育書の体制はとても便利です。(しかし一日間に七漢字がちょっと覚えにくいですけどね。）
週末は仕事をします。週末の夜に働くのが嫌いです。レストランが満員で、ストレスがたくさん。楽しみしない！新しい仕事を探さないとかもしれない。お金を考え続けますね！
読むのはありがとうございます！訂正があれば、コメントを書いてください！

読めないだそうだ

皆さん、

今週JLPTの教科書で勉強がたくさんしていました！先週はシドニーから無料の日本語雑誌を見つけました。今日雑誌を少し読んでみて、でも全然読められません。蛍光ペンで認識が出来る漢字を強調をしました。漢字がたくさんを認識したけど、漢字の組み合わせの意味は分かりません。日本語を勉強している人は雑誌か新聞をいつ読めますか？

Hi everyone,

This week I have been studying a lot using my new JLPT textbooks! Last week I found a free Japanese magazine. Today I tried to read it a little but I couldn't understand anything! With a highlighter, I highlighted the kanji I recognised. I recognised a lot, but I couldn't understand the meaning of the kanji combinations. When can learners of Japanese read a newspaper or magazine?

今日のシドニーの日帰り旅行！

皆さん！Hi all!

Today, I have a rather long post in both languages. I'll start with the English section for students learning Japanese!
今日は長い日記を二つ言葉で書きました。始めは英語の部分です。僕のシドニーの日帰り旅行ついて、スクロールダウンをしてください！

So, for all those who are learning Japanese out there, I have recently discovered "picturelearning" a great blog which teaches Japanese expressions and words through associative imagery, as well as provides helpful advice on Japanese language learning. I found one particular post really interesting as I have always been on the hunt for a good Japanese online dictionary. The blogger, Jonway, discusses WWWJDICT, a really user-friendly, as well as beginner friendly online Japanese dictionary which I had not actually come across yet on my hunt for online Japanese dictionaries! A lot of dictionaries I have used in the past have either been too complicated or the search results seemingly never ending that I would never know if the word I was looking for was the most appropriate. Jonway talks a little more in detail about the dictionary on his blog, so please go and check it out!

涼のシドニー日帰り旅行！

今日は友達とシドニーへ行きました。２時間ぐらいかかて、電車はとってもゆっくりに運転したそうだと思いました。僕たちはよくシドニーに行きます。シドニーでは面白くて、変な食べ物を探します。それで私たちはいろいろ他愛ないすることをします。例えばダーリングハバーで水の遊び場で水と遊んでいました。すごく楽しかったですよ！

今日の変な食べ物は：

ー　タイ国のデザートを食べてみました。ココナッツパンダン味のカノムチャン（ขนมชั้น）と呼んだゼリケーキは好きじゃありませんけど、 カボチャのケーキが大好きでした。インターネットで写真を見つけました！タイのレストランか持ち帰り点で探してください！

Image from: Appon's Thai Food Recipes

カボチャのケーキはとても美味しいでした。ほかのケーキは、ココナツの味が少し塩辛すぎて、ですから食べられませんでしたね。

その後で紀伊国屋で僕のJLPTN3の練習帳を買いにいきました。今は練習帳に少し見て、怖いです！難しすぎるそうです。頑張らなくちゃ！（そのフレーズは第一章のタイトルですね！僕はもう何か習いますよ！　質問があれば、質問ページで書きましょうね。皆さんが質問に答えられるなら、嬉しいですよ！

とにかく、今僕の新しい練習帳で少し日本語勉強しましょうね！また明日！

JLPTの試験

皆さん、先週は中国書道のクラスで新しい会った友達とJLPTの試験について話していた。彼は最近JLPTのN3をしました。僕もあの試験をすべきかな。もうJLPT試験がした方はどんなレベルをする方がいいですか？今週そんなレベルの文法と漢字の練習帳を買いたいから、早くに僕のJLPTのレベルを教えて下さい！：）ありがとうね！

In other news (日本語で何ですか？）、面白いビデオブログをYouTubeで見つけました。「日本のお菓子を食べてみよう」って呼んだブログで、日本語が上手に話せている外国人は変な日本のお菓子をカメラの前に食べます。日本語が上手に話せる外国人がたくさんですね！　あの人はどう日本語を流暢に話す事が出来ますか？

あ！だれがiPadがありますか？先週はHappyStreetをダウンロードして、すごく楽しいですよ！かわいい狐がいて、グラフィックスはとても奇麗です。iPhoneバージョンも無料で市販ですね。：）

皆さん、またね！読む事はありがとうございます！

二月以来、よくなりましたか？

みなさん、

二月ブログの始め以来、よくなりましたか？　ブログの前に比べて練習をたくさんしました。今日はミカエラのブログを訪れた。ミカエラはほかのブロガーについて話した。そのブロガーは日本人じゃないけど、日本語を上手に話せます。ブロガーを一つは日本語の勉強し方について話した。彼女は毎日一人で自に日本語で話していました。僕をフランス語の練習をしたとき、同じのすることをします。

devaを覚えますか？ 今彼は僕のそばにいます。彼はいつも僕の耳に否定的な言葉を囁きます。時々信じるように開始します。あのブログおかげ、もうすこし嬉しい感じます。一生懸命に頑張りますよ！

皆さん、助言があれば、コメントを書いてください！　最近習うの戦略を考えています。僕はJLPTの試験をすることが出来るかな。でも、どんな準備をしなければいけない？　ちょっと分かりません。言葉のリストをたくさんしますけど、覚えられない。もういちど、アドバイスをあれば、書いてください！：）涼の日本語、上手になりたいです！

読むのはありがとう！じゃあね。

英語で：

Hi everyone,

Have I improved since I started this blog in February? Compared to before the blog, I have been practicing my japanese a lot more. Today I visited Mikaera's blog. She spoke about some other bloggers who aren't Japanese but speak Japanese really well. One of the bloggers talked about how she studied Japanese. She said she spoke to herself in Japanese each day. I do the same when I practice my french. 

Do you remember Deva? Right now, he is by my side. He always whispers negative things in my ear. Sometimes I start believing him. However, thanks to those bloggers, I feel a little happier. I will do my very best! 

So, everyone, if you have any suggestions, please leave me a comment! Recently I've been thinking about learning strategies. I am wondering if I should take the JLPT test, but I don't know what kind of preparation I need to do. I don't really understand it. I make vocabulary lists, but I never remember the words. Once more, if you have any advice, please write to me! Ryou wants to improve his Japanese.

Thanks for reading! See you later! 

今日のボキャブラリー！

Last night I stayed up late picking out new words to add to my vocabulary list for the month. I thought I'd use my trusty iPhone app kotoba (which I highly recommend!), to look at all the level 3 JLPT kanji in hope of finding some useful words that will also familiarise me with the kanji at the same time.
I came across some useful words actually! I like the 各 - prefix especially! :)

羊毛　　　　　ようもう　　　　　　wool
羊肉　　　　　ようにく　　　　　　lamb, mutton (meat)
伝説　　　　　でんせつ　　　　　　tradition, legend, folklore
伝統　　　　　でんとう　　　　　　tradition, convention
争う　　　　　あらそう　　　　　　to compete, to contest, to quarrel
各 -　　　　　  かく -　　　　　　　 each - / every - 
当時　　　　　とうじ　　　　　　　at that time, in those days
全体　　　　　ぜんたい　　　　　　whole, entirely, whatever (is the matter)
皿洗い機　　　さらあらいき　　　　dish-washing machine
皮革　　　　　ひかく　　　　　　　leather, hide
皮肉　　　　　ひにく　　　　　　　cynicism, sarcasm, irony, satire
王女　　　　　おうじょ　　　　　　princess
王国　　　　　おうこく　　　　　　kingdom, monarchy
王子　　　　　おうじ　　　　　　　prince
氏名　　　　　しめい　　　　　　　full name, identity
修士課程　　　しゅうしかてい　　　master's course
丁度、恰度　　ちょうど　　　　　　just, right, exactly
産業　　　　　さんぎょう　　　　　industry
進歩　　　　　しんぽ　　　　　　　progress, development
進化　　　　　しんか　　　　　　　evolution, progress
真理　　　　　しんり　　　　　　　truth
特別　　　　　とくべつ　　　　　　special
特に　　　　　とくに　　　　　　　particularly, especially
募集　　　　　ぼしゅう　　　　　　recruiting, taking applications
作品　　　　　さくひん　　　　　　work (a book, film etc)
結ぶ　　　　　むすぶ　　　　　　　to tie, bind, link
全国　　　　　ぜんごく　　　　　　country-wide, nation-wide, whole country
被災者　　　　ひさいしゃ　　　　　victim (of disaster)
対震災　　　　だいしんさい　　　　big earthquake
絵画　　　　　かいが　　　　　　　picture, painting

I might try and write something later this week using the words in the list. Please correct my mistakes. If you find any in my list, please correct me here too!

今日はインタビューをあって、その前に中華料理店レストランで買った豚まんを食べました！とっても美味しかって、今はそれを再び食べたいんですね！日本料理のレストランはないのは残念ですよ！シドニーに行く次回は日本料理のレストランへ行って、たこ焼きを買った方が良いですね。いなり寿司も買うでしょう。
皆さんの一番好きな日本料理は何ですか？このビデオをYouTubeで見つけて、ちょっと怖いですね。豚のゼラチン状ナックルは美味しいですか？　それは美味しい見えなくて、とにかく僕は或る日食べて見ます！僕は変な食べ物を通常に食べてみますが、時々ちょっと怖すぎて、ですから食べられません。臓物は僕にとても変だと思いますがたくさん人はその食べ物が大好きです。「なぜ好きですか」と聞くはしたいんです。鶏ハートと腎臓とブラックプッヂングを食べる事があって、本当に好きじゃなかった。臓物の味か感触が好きですか？