in J-town. Her name is Akiko, and we ate a mixed berry tart while discussing life etc. This week we did English, but next time I told her I will be brave and speak some Japanese, too. I'm feeling pretty energized after meeting her. Also, her English is awesome. She's been here for five years.
Anyways, I guess I don't have much to add. Just noting that I now have a serious conversation partner. If only I can just find something to talk about!
No other study news...
: /
and in fact you'll notice I broke every rule. I didn't mean to take the weekend off and I'm too tired to put any useful Japanese in here. If I just go to bed now so I can get up and be productive tomorrow that will be enough!
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
Logistics
ロジスティクス* -- interestingly, the original Japanese word, 兵站学 (へいたんがく), is the kanji for "army," "halt," and "learning." The middle one isn't general use. Maybe that is why they use English now? I sort of wonder how the change comes about.
logistics: the aspect of military science dealing with the procurement, maintenance, and transportation of military matériel, facilities, and personnel; the handling of the details of an operation
From those kanji, I wonder if they use it for the second meaning or not. Or maybe the English word is used exclusively for the second meaning? Now I'm sort of curious...
Ah well. The point is...this is going to be one of those posts that falls under the logistics category. I will point out features of the blog! Hurrah!
Not like it's so different from other blogs.
"Study Buddies" are websites you should go to. "Break it down" is going to be my attempt at tagging this thing. Tagging is not my strength. I'm going to try not to add too many more categories besides what is there.
logistics - Stuff like this.
grammar - Concerned with...grammar. Like sentence patterns and things.
vocab - Probably a list of words.
shopping - Stores to buy things from, things I've bought, books, etc.
Possible future tags include: audio, video, translation, ...Japanese?
Who knows? The...bandwidth...is the limit!
*Note the cheap cop-out involved in translating the titles of entries. This is a devious loop-hole for rule one. Of course, now that we recognize it as such we'll have to make sure it isn't abused.
logistics: the aspect of military science dealing with the procurement, maintenance, and transportation of military matériel, facilities, and personnel; the handling of the details of an operation
From those kanji, I wonder if they use it for the second meaning or not. Or maybe the English word is used exclusively for the second meaning? Now I'm sort of curious...
Ah well. The point is...this is going to be one of those posts that falls under the logistics category. I will point out features of the blog! Hurrah!
Not like it's so different from other blogs.
"Study Buddies" are websites you should go to. "Break it down" is going to be my attempt at tagging this thing. Tagging is not my strength. I'm going to try not to add too many more categories besides what is there.
logistics - Stuff like this.
grammar - Concerned with...grammar. Like sentence patterns and things.
vocab - Probably a list of words.
shopping - Stores to buy things from, things I've bought, books, etc.
Possible future tags include: audio, video, translation, ...Japanese?
Who knows? The...bandwidth...is the limit!
*Note the cheap cop-out involved in translating the titles of entries. This is a devious loop-hole for rule one. Of course, now that we recognize it as such we'll have to make sure it isn't abused.
Down the rabbit hole
I've posted about this elsewhere already, but...
WHITE RABBIT PRESS
Can't really say it enough. I have also already commented on my first purchase, which hasn't arrived yet. That and my latest gamble on kanji software should arrive around the same time. And impressions will be here. I fully expect to be completely satisfied, especially with the readers.
Oleya, best friend and study mate, has acquired the first set of flashcards, but I haven't been able to examine them yet.
I literally quiver with anticipation.
But yeah, they're not only about flashcards (as the top half of the main page seems to indicate); in fact, as long as you give them a detailed request, they will ship you anything you ask for.
I wonder if they are hiring.
WHITE RABBIT PRESS
Can't really say it enough. I have also already commented on my first purchase, which hasn't arrived yet. That and my latest gamble on kanji software should arrive around the same time. And impressions will be here. I fully expect to be completely satisfied, especially with the readers.
Oleya, best friend and study mate, has acquired the first set of flashcards, but I haven't been able to examine them yet.
I literally quiver with anticipation.
But yeah, they're not only about flashcards (as the top half of the main page seems to indicate); in fact, as long as you give them a detailed request, they will ship you anything you ask for.
I wonder if they are hiring.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Some useful grammar words
This seems to be a very huge guide to Japanese grammar with Japanese vocab included. (Although I still recommend Tae Kim's guide as a more friendly comprehensive look.) Well, I can't learn it all at once. It's nice to be able to ask questions that you'll have to ask often (Is this a -ru verb?) in Japanese.
The 文法用語 section is particularly useful. It actually goes further in depth than non-linguists probably need. Some of the words don't have translations for whatever reason, but many of them can be found in my favorite online dictionary.
So then once you start looking up words like 一段活用 (ru verb conjugation いちだんかつよう), you can look find different words made with 活用 (which is, itself a する verb) like 活用語 (conjugated word かつようご), 活用形 (conjugated form かつようけい), and 活用語尾 (conjugative suffix かつようごび--i.e. the part that you actual mix 'n match to come up with tenses, etc.)
代名詞 means "pronoun," and it's pronounced だいめいし, which makes you want to think "big noun." Instead, maybe think "noun for the ages" or something lol
I'm going to reproduce a bunch of things because doing so will help me CONCENTRATE and maybe I'll remember more. These are important words!
主語 subject しゅご
目的語 object もくてきご
名詞 noun めいし
代名詞 pronoun だいめいし
形容詞 ii adjective けいようし
形容動詞 na adjective けいようどうし
一段活用動詞 ru verb いちだんかつようどうし
五段活用動詞 u verb ごだんかつようどうし
不規則動詞 irregular verb ふきそくどうし
副詞 adverb ふくし
接続詞 conjuction せつぞくし
過去形 past tense かこけい
現在形 present tense げんざいかえい
常体 plain じょうたい
敬体 polite けいたい
敬語 honorifics けいご
肯定 affirmative こうてい
否定 negative ひてい
I guess this is enough for now. I'd sort of like to learn some other verb words (transitive, intransitive, volitional, that...other thing...causative, passive, yadda). I bet I can find them easier in my textbooks, although most of them are on that page.
Here is a good tip: LEARN THIS STUFF WHILE YOU'RE ACTUALLY LEARNING THIS STUFF. Don't just skip over the headings of your elementary Japanese book just because they are in Japanese and you don't speak it yet. If your book doesn't have them, ask your teacher. If you learn these words in the context of grasping the concepts, it's probably so much easier to get them to stick.
The 文法用語 section is particularly useful. It actually goes further in depth than non-linguists probably need. Some of the words don't have translations for whatever reason, but many of them can be found in my favorite online dictionary.
So then once you start looking up words like 一段活用 (ru verb conjugation いちだんかつよう), you can look find different words made with 活用 (which is, itself a する verb) like 活用語 (conjugated word かつようご), 活用形 (conjugated form かつようけい), and 活用語尾 (conjugative suffix かつようごび--i.e. the part that you actual mix 'n match to come up with tenses, etc.)
代名詞 means "pronoun," and it's pronounced だいめいし, which makes you want to think "big noun." Instead, maybe think "noun for the ages" or something lol
I'm going to reproduce a bunch of things because doing so will help me CONCENTRATE and maybe I'll remember more. These are important words!
主語 subject しゅご
目的語 object もくてきご
名詞 noun めいし
代名詞 pronoun だいめいし
形容詞 ii adjective けいようし
形容動詞 na adjective けいようどうし
一段活用動詞 ru verb いちだんかつようどうし
五段活用動詞 u verb ごだんかつようどうし
不規則動詞 irregular verb ふきそくどうし
副詞 adverb ふくし
接続詞 conjuction せつぞくし
過去形 past tense かこけい
現在形 present tense げんざいかえい
常体 plain じょうたい
敬体 polite けいたい
敬語 honorifics けいご
肯定 affirmative こうてい
否定 negative ひてい
I guess this is enough for now. I'd sort of like to learn some other verb words (transitive, intransitive, volitional, that...other thing...causative, passive, yadda). I bet I can find them easier in my textbooks, although most of them are on that page.
Here is a good tip: LEARN THIS STUFF WHILE YOU'RE ACTUALLY LEARNING THIS STUFF. Don't just skip over the headings of your elementary Japanese book just because they are in Japanese and you don't speak it yet. If your book doesn't have them, ask your teacher. If you learn these words in the context of grasping the concepts, it's probably so much easier to get them to stick.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Rules are meant to be broken ;D
Ok, it's still Tuesday right now. No matter what time I finish writing. It's still Tuesday riiiiiiight...now!
実は今日あまり勉強しなかったけど、友達とアニメを見たから、日本語をちょっと聞いた。
Well, blah, I was going to work on a vocabulary list, because I'd like to learn grammatical terms in Japanese. I know some already like 名詞 and 動詞, but I need to learn more. Subject, object, adverb... That can be my project for next time. And I'd like to take a look at Famitsu soon, as well. Hmm. And play more Mother 2.
I thought I had learned a new word from Descendents of Darkness today, but I couldn't find it in the dictionary. That doesn't necessarily mean anything except that I can't really find the kanji...
実は今日あまり勉強しなかったけど、友達とアニメを見たから、日本語をちょっと聞いた。
Well, blah, I was going to work on a vocabulary list, because I'd like to learn grammatical terms in Japanese. I know some already like 名詞 and 動詞, but I need to learn more. Subject, object, adverb... That can be my project for next time. And I'd like to take a look at Famitsu soon, as well. Hmm. And play more Mother 2.
I thought I had learned a new word from Descendents of Darkness today, but I couldn't find it in the dictionary. That doesn't necessarily mean anything except that I can't really find the kanji...
Sunday, April 20, 2008
I suck at Japanese!
This is the first step to not sucking at Japanese. Admit it, you suck! I suck! We try and try, but we are un-near to fluency. We are far. Knowing you don't know is much better than assuming you do. You can say まだまだ行きます and keep on plugging away.
Do you like videogames and anime and manga and all that crazy J-stuff even though it doesn't seem to help you learn anything? Me, too. Are you embarrassed because you started learning Japanese in high school after you saw a subbed episode of Slayers and though it was the greatest sounding language ever? Me, too. You can be a geek (or even *shudder* an OTAKU) and still be serious student of Japanese. Let's prove it!
I'm writing this post as a corny introduction to HOW TO NOT SUCK AT JAPANESE, which is my new study blog. I will post Japanese things here not ALWAYS related to studying, but I will try to somehow create studying out of them, if they are unrelated. I kinda hate posts like these because usually blogs that have them stop after like three entries, you know? If that happens, I promise I will just get rid of the blog and not leave it up here taunting people who thought it might have potential, and then cry when they see it hasn't been updated since 2004.
I think I will make some rules, because introductory posts deserve at least one, maybe:
Every post will have Japanese characters in it, and they will not simply say こんにちはor すごい. They will say things that maybe I haven't heard before, or maybe I need to review, or maybe I just learned. Maybe sometimes I will inflict whole paragraphs of horrible Japanese on you, or maybe I will translate game manuals...WHO KNOWS?
The other rule is that I will update at least every other day, and this I am SO not joking about. I would say everyday, but there needs to be an extenuating circumstances rule.
Also, I am late, so I need to leave. TO BE FREAKING CONTINUED!
Do you like videogames and anime and manga and all that crazy J-stuff even though it doesn't seem to help you learn anything? Me, too. Are you embarrassed because you started learning Japanese in high school after you saw a subbed episode of Slayers and though it was the greatest sounding language ever? Me, too. You can be a geek (or even *shudder* an OTAKU) and still be serious student of Japanese. Let's prove it!
I'm writing this post as a corny introduction to HOW TO NOT SUCK AT JAPANESE, which is my new study blog. I will post Japanese things here not ALWAYS related to studying, but I will try to somehow create studying out of them, if they are unrelated. I kinda hate posts like these because usually blogs that have them stop after like three entries, you know? If that happens, I promise I will just get rid of the blog and not leave it up here taunting people who thought it might have potential, and then cry when they see it hasn't been updated since 2004.
I think I will make some rules, because introductory posts deserve at least one, maybe:
Every post will have Japanese characters in it, and they will not simply say こんにちはor すごい. They will say things that maybe I haven't heard before, or maybe I need to review, or maybe I just learned. Maybe sometimes I will inflict whole paragraphs of horrible Japanese on you, or maybe I will translate game manuals...WHO KNOWS?
The other rule is that I will update at least every other day, and this I am SO not joking about. I would say everyday, but there needs to be an extenuating circumstances rule.
Also, I am late, so I need to leave. TO BE FREAKING CONTINUED!
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