Here I was, thinking I was a perfectly fine and normal American studying abroad in Japan for a year. Days passed swiftly and I was having the time of my life. But little did I know I was slowly being consumed by a most debilitating disease, the kind of disease that one can only pick up while in Japan for a long time. When my parents came to Japan, they saw it right away and made the chilling diagnosis: “you sound like a llama!”
Yes, in the course of studying Japanese and speaking with Japanese friends every day, I had picked up Japanese conversational vocalizations, which are quite different from those in English. In a conversation in Japanese, it is expected that you demonstrate, audibly, that you are following along with what the other person is saying. In English, one may nod their head, or say something like “uh-huh.” In Japanese, however, it comes out something like this, which is apparently llama-esque to English speaking ears:
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I’ve mentioned before briefly of my current Japanese study method, sentence mining, which I first learned about from AllJapaneseAllTheTime. So far it has been working out really well, my reading comprehension in particular has skyrocketed since beginning the method. However, when starting out, I had to more or less figure out on my own how to go about using this method. At AJATT, Khatz explains it in the following steps (I’m paraphrasing):
Find a sentence with a word(s) that you don’t understand.
Put that sentence into an SRS flashcard program.
Find a dictionary definition for what you don’t know and put it in the flashcard.
Don’t translate, simply try to understand.
This certainly works as a starting point, but it took me a good couple hundred cards before I started hitting my stride as far as sentence mining goes. Now that I’m approaching 1000 sentences mined, I thought I’d take a moment and write down step-by-step what I’ve found works for me when it comes to using this great language study method. Continue reading 'Sentence Mining Explained'»
Hello all! It’s been a while since I’ve written a post here. I’ve been busy moving back home and reacclimating to the life I left here when I went to Japan. But now I’m settled back in, found myself some work before I go back to school and have gotten the Japanese study ball rolling again. I figured since this blog is a Japan-focused one, I’d reflect on a year of studying Japanese more or less full time and what’s worked and what hasn’t. Hit the jump below to read on.
I gave all you guys the low-down on last semester’s classes, so I figured it would be a good idea to tell how you how things went this time around. Overall, this semester was just as successful as the last was and I had a good time in all of my classes. Once again, they centered around the Japanese language and the culture of Japan. So, let me give you the run down!
It’s been a while since I wrote an actual post here, so I figured I’d let you all know how my Christmas/New Year’s break went. Honestly, I didn’t do a whole lot, especially in terms of travel – I stayed in Hirosaki the whole time and didn’t do anything particularly out of the ordinary. But I did do a few things that could be considered above average and/or “cultural experiences” and I’d love to share those with you now!
Hey all! I gave a presentation today in my Japanese culture class here in Hirosaki. I presented it in English, but I got some great help from my friend Lim in the handout translation. For anyone who’s interested, here’s the Japanese text of my presentation! It was about the Japanese influence on the American video game market, especially during the 80’s/NES era.
It’s been about a month and a half since I first got my first job here in Japan: teaching English at a “juku,” or “cram school” as it might be translated into English. The name of the place is A+ English School and they actually have a website. Yes, that’s me in that video on the front page. No, it’s not that embarrassing. :P Clicking around the site, you might notice it’s primarily a school for young children. We have students as young as 3 years old, all the way up to about 11 years old. In the course of working there, I’d had chances to teach and play with all of them. If you’re curious about teaching in Japan, or what kind of opportunities there will be for you to work as a foreign exchange student, then this post is for you!
I thought I would take some time out and write a bit about how my Japanese has come and where I hope it will go. I thought I’d also talk about what I’ve found that works when it comes to studying Japanese and what hasn’t. Well, without further ado, let’s go!
Now that fall is here and all the new students have arrived, the new semester is very much underway. I thought I would throw up a quick post on what classes I’m taking and what I’ve been up to around here in good old Hirosaki. Hit up the link below to read all about it!
It was a long time coming, but here it is! I think I’m going to leave it at the video, pictures and twittering in terms of talking about my trip with my parents. I haven’t been able to devote a lot of time to writing lately because of how busy I am with studying Japanese and the start of the new semester. Besides, with Twitter, photos and video, what more could I really say? I think down the road, this blog is going to shift to more cerebral topics instead of journaling day-to-day things. Like I said earlier, I’m past the stage where Japan is a happy wonderland and now in the getting-down-to-business stage. My Japanese class this semester is going to test my skills, I’m taking a literature course which has a decent load of books to read and the JLPT is coming up December (I’m going for level 3). Not that I’m complaining though. I’m getting real comfortable with day-to-day conversation and the sky’s the limit for how good I can get before I go back home. Time’s a wasting, back to studying!
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Here I was, thinking I was a perfectly fine and normal American studying abroad in Japan for a year. Days passed swiftly and I was having the time of my life. But little did I know I was slowly being consumed by a most debilitating disease, the kind of disease that one can only pick up while in Japan for a long time. When my parents came to Japan, they saw it right away and made the chilling diagnosis: “you sound like a llama!”
I gave all you guys 
