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 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!
Lots of good stuff has been going on in the past couple days related to me an Japan! It’s getting exiting for me, as I only have a month or so left to go before. Being such, I’m starting to feel it creeping up on me. I’m getting more and more into Japan-mode, ready to pounce on those preparations for departure! Today, I took my first step towards that by informing the factory that I’m currently working at to get some last minute money that next week will be my last. That means that I will have the entirety of March to study Japanese and make my final arraignments. It will be study-study-study like a madman for me! :) I really want to be as proficient and at the top of my Japanese game when I go to leave. I’m going to try and get ahold of some of my Japanese acquaintances up at school, too, and see if I can do some Skype conversations. I really enjoyed practicing speaking with Hitomi-san, a graduate student at UMaine, while I was taking classes last semester. My comfort level with Japanese skyrocketed in a scant few weeks. For anyone studying Japanese, don’t be afraid to approach people to practice conversation. You probably do know a lot more than you think you do.
Also, if that wasn’t enough, some exiting news for the site! Edward Chmura, who I mentioned in my post on Japan-related podcasts, mentioned me on his show and linked to this site this past week. Edward, if you are reading, I am once again greatly humbled that you took the time to notice and mention my site on the show. I’m glad that my comments did not go unappreciated. :)
Finally, my book “Remembering the Kanji” came today from Amazon. I will be delving into this book later tonight probably after dinner and of course, throughout the weeks ahead. Time to learn some kanji!
I have extolled the virtues of James Heisig’s method for learning the kana in my earlier posts. His book, Remembering the Kana, had me competent with the Japanese syllabaries in the three hours they advertised. Coupled with practice, I can read the kana fairly well. However, kana is just a piece of the puzzle. I still have to come to grips with the kanji, so I decided to order Heisig’s Remembering the Kanji from Amazon.com. It uses the same method as with the kana book: associate each character with an image and story so that you can remember both the writing and the meaning. I’ll post my impressions of the book here once I get it in the mail.
The above image is from Andy – アンドレア on Flickr, who used the book to learn those above kanji. If I can have even that many kanji under my belt before I leave, I’ll be happy!
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I gave all you guys 
