世間体

This word means "appearances."

From the dictionary on my Macbook:
for the sake of appearances 世間体のために
that would look bad/be bad for my reputation それでは世間体が悪い

But these kanji readings seem kind of crazy to me. せけんてい
せmakes sense since it's the same as 世界
but けん is pretty different from かん like 間 is more commonly pronounced
and てい is different from たい like 体 is usually pronounced.

It's almost like the vowels for the whole word shifted to match the first one.

Anyways, it's hard for me to remember, but then I realized that if you get a little philosophical it's not so hard, based on the meanings of the kanji.

Think of 世 as world, 間 as a length of time, and 体 as body/phyisical.

So appearances are only valid in this life, the brief time your physical form (appearance) is on this planet.

あの世ではどうなるかな。

#makingshitup

Anyways, I hope that taking the time to write this post will help me remember the word.

I've been trying to think of what I can do to make this a little more functional for other people, since it's called How to not suck at Japanese, but really, as I think I have said, the key is just to take the time. Me writing whatever I write in here is meant to show that. Of course, I don't update all that often, but I'm working on it :X I HAVE been studying kanji and vocab in Anki. Semi holding off on grammar until I get the N3 books I ordered (textbook junkiiiiiie).

Which class(es) will I take?

Took the placement test today. I FEEL like I rocked it (which I realize is a very un-Japanese thing to say), but I don't want to congratulate myself too much until I know what they think. What I'm hoping for is Practical Communication and Reading Comprehension, but I'm guessing that is too much to hope for given the neglected state of my kanji knowledge.

What I'm NOT hoping for is landing in an intermediate class, just because I'd sort of like to avoid buying more textbooks. I'm almost wondering if I should just really focus on listening and kanji for a while (i.e. this semester) and then sign up for Spring classes. (That way the timing won't interfere with my beginning wushu, but that said, I have a feeling Monday, Tuesday might be a bit much in a row when I'm just starting anyways, and a Monday night Japanese class seems like the right way to start the week.)

I mean, if I could get halfway to 2級 by April, I think I could test into those classes. Halfway is only 500 kanji and I know a bunch already. That said there is always the depth vs. breadth debate. I don't want to cram only to realize I didn't learn much at all. (Something, anything; something, anything!)

Come to think of it, maybe that mantra is the way I should look at these classes, too. So what if I have to buy MORE books and review a bit? If it'll get me to where I want to be then that's what I'll do. Just waiting on their recommendations...

Their kanji courses go

0-100
101-370
371-500

I'm guessing I'm somewhere in the realm of number 2. I'm guessing I could safely sign up for number 2, which is definitely shameful, ugh...(after all these years) but what are you gonna do? Take Practical Communication and Kanji 2, I guess. I just really like the Kanji in Context books that I JUST got. Hrm hrm hrm. Craving classroom interaction while simultaneously craving an empty room.

Know what is more productive? STUDYING. It's been a while :X

Hrm hum hrm: New Approaches

Heisig has once again lost his luster. By the end of the book he becomes way less helpful, offering only some key terms instead of full breakdowns of stories. Obviously it gets harder the more complex the characters get, but studying kanji is hard anyhow, so you might as well be absorbing some actual Japanese along with it.

In the meantime, I've also discovered the limitations of learning from Japanese materials for kids. Not that they aren't obvious from the beginning, but basically, you're learning at a kid's level when you need to be gearing up to speak as an adult. It's a fundamental paradox of social venue (or something).

Enter the Kanji in Context books from The Japan Times. As it turns out, The Japan Times is my best friend. I think of all the textbooks I have used, theirs have felt the most targeted to my needs. I used the Genki books in college, and although the sitautional conversations are useful, I felt like for a beginner, themed vocab lessons work better (for instance, I still don't have a good grasp of "around the house" type of words). The intermediate --> advanced pair of books they have on grammar and vocab will be a big help, I think, and I'm finally almost ready to start using them. (It's been slow going, clearly, over the past year, but I'm intending that to change.)

*Vocab tangent* Think about a word floating in space. Say, 雲。So you have 雲 just hanging there, in the sky, say. This is speaking generally, not with specific reference to Genki, by the way... If you learn it with a bunch of random words like "chair," "lawyer," "puppy," and "DVD" (but 50 words instead of 5) you may not remember it as well. But if you learn 雲　with words like 晴れ, 雨, 天気, 空, then you have more of a picture (of the weather/sky). Then you can do lists for furniture, professions, animals, and movies. Incidentally, I think you can benefit from this kind of training no matter what level you are at. There are always gaps in vocabulary that can be filled in... *end tangent*

Anyways, I think I was going to talk about Kanji in Context. It's yet another book that I feel is intended exactly for me. Let me quote a bit from the introduction (bold is mine, italics are theirs):

"...created specifically for learners who have just completed a beginning course or have already learned a fair number of kanji at the intermediate or advanced level but would like to amplify their knowledge of kanji and kanji-based vocabulary in a systematic fashion."

Theoretically, I should know way more kanji than I do. I DID complete a beginner's course, and I used to be THE MAN when it came to kanji. What happened? Well, I didn't use them enough. I think this book will be a pretty big challenge for me, but I also am beginning to think that that is what I really need. I've done enough beginner style review to know that it isn't kicking my ass over the intermediate hump.

"At the intermediate level and above, the number of kanji needed by learners rises sharply. In order to effectively meet this growing need, it is not adequate to learn each new character randomly..."

Couldn't. Agree. More. This is one of my main problems, just the way that regardless of what goals in communication you are working on, regardless of what vocab you are trying to acquire, kanji has always sort of been its own beast. Hopefully this system will help give me some...CONTEXT ;)

"...traditional kanji textbooks have focused excessively on the study of characters one by one, providing only a sprinkling of vocabulary which , more than often , have little practical use for learners."

I'm really excited to get some practical use out of kanji. That is the only way to keep them around.

"The frequent contact with a particular kanji or word will reinforce its acquisition, while at the same time relieving learners of the pressure experienced under the single-presentation approach."

It is really hard to learn kanji or vocab when you only see them in one example.

I also picked up "the" Shadowing book (that you may also see everywhere, tempting you, the one with green all over it), and from initial exposure last night, I am really exited. The speakers sound pretty energetic, but also follow the intonation patterns I know already. I'm especially psyched to get into more complicated conversations, because it seems like the longer the sentences get right now, the more my intonation breaks down (which makes sense, which is why the book is arranged like it is.

So, (...as usual) I am really really really ready to just study forever. More than anything, it's about time, and I have taken some additional steps to free some up (like quitting my last freelance writing job). I really believe that if I make this as high a priority as possible, that I can really accomplish something. I must be able to! Gotta just...do it.

Sick, First Impressions of the Smart.fm revamp, etc.

Well, progress has slooooooooooowed due to fever and nose-blowing.

Smart.fm seemed like a pretty chill thing to do, except that they are buggy as shit right now (which is not meant to be as harsh as it sounds...just a set-phrase—I don't hate them!) and their interface is all new and bizarrely Twitter-like. Anyways, so I spend half of my time reporting bugs, but hopefully once they iron out it will become useful again. Anyways, I'm tempted to just make my own flashcards the old fashioned way. It's better for teaching yourself anyhow.

I am just very well aware how quickly those stacks grow, when you're trying to learn hundreds (thousands) of kanji.

But ok, yes, I could make my own digital cards.

Maybe it's time to give Anki a shot.

Waiiiiit, just kidding. "Reviewing the Kanji" also just did a site update. (PS - after seeing their url, how can you call them anything but 漢字コーヒー?)

This I like. You don't have make anything, you can just have them add it. It keeps track of where you are in the Heisig book and apparently there is a spot to ad your stories about kanji, but of course, mine will always go right here!

Sadly, no new kanji tonight. Too damned dead feeling. I'm going to bed. Of course, this is what I said almost an hour ago, but I felt like maybe updating this blog would be a good idea...

Night!

Personalize it (Heisig Super Alpha Turbo Remix)

So I've been through a hundred Heisig stories now, which is enough to know that some of these stories really work, many of these early ones I no longer need stories for (I will never forget them), but also that for some of them, I may have better ideas for my own stories. If this blog is not a place to put them, then what is it? :)

Companion: Together for two months!

Stomach: You can put all the rice you get (from the fields) in a month in your stomach—yum!

Stubborn: I'm gonna read every page from the beginning (Me regarding 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in 4th grade XD)

Mediocre: With that big enclosue and little drip in the middle it just looks sort of half-assed doesn't it? lol

Texture: He kind of touches on it, but a month of wind can really change the texture of something.

Bull's eye: This one is a weird story, but I sort of like to think of it as ladling the white paint onto the bull's eye....

Fish guts: Are squiggly. The end.

Tool: Keep your eye on your tools (or you'll lose them)

True: Use a (magic) needle as a tool—look through the eye and you'll see what's true.

Bribe: He goes as far as possessed by shellfish, but "clams" (a type of shellfish) is slang for dollars, so that can help even more.

Tribute: Support someone's craft by paying (clams/dollars/shellfish) tribute.

Paragraph: I know it's bad, but I sort of think of the thing on the side as an indent. So its' like you're indenting the page to start the paragraph.

Blade: It's a sword with a slash through it, like a blade makes...

Seduce/beckoning: Honestly, this makes me think kuchisakeonna. With the sword (slashed) mouth, she's beckoning to little kids...

Shining: Seducing of the sun! You don't need to think of a shoeshine to think that seducing the sun makes things shine :)

Village: Can be simplified to just the fact that rice fields plus streets = village.

Place on the head/humble acceptance: He explains all this stuff about nails and heads, but doesn't just say, "I humbly accept the fact that you are correct -- you nailed it right on the head."

Complete: I just think it's hilarious that he manages to make a kid with no arms mean complete LOL That hilarity alone is enough to remember this by XD

Likeness: So dirty.

That's all for now. I have to go eat Mexican food with b-b-brown RICE!

Revisiting Heisig OR Don't Knock It Till You Try It

Prompted one again by my new study buddy (Link in the sidebar, yo! It's swiftly becoming a vital one...) Victory Manual, I am taking a fresh look at Heisig.

Or that's what I was going to say except that I never really took a look at Heisig at all. I was aware of his method from the very beginning of studying Japanese because some people love him and some people hate him, but I had dismissed him out of hand because knowing the English meaning of the kanji seemed like a truly dangerous and destructive habit à la romaji. Hearing Alex's tale of a reformed skeptic caused me to think it over, though, and what I realized is...

"Something, anything." My mantra had been right there staring me in the face, but I didn't know it.

Language learning is all about exposure, right? So, actually introducing yourself to all the kanji with their core meanings is probably a BRILLIANT first step, because it puts them firmly into your head by using what you know already, building a great foundation on top of which you can later add word after word of vocab with what I assume now to be very little trouble.

Embarrassingly, I think had some misconceptions about the method that are now totally myth-busted. For instance, I had the idea that he WAS looking at the etymological history of the kanji, but in fact, the "stories" he tells about the characters really do make a lot more sense than that.

Incidentally, part of the reason this works, I think, is not even so much the stories as the way the stories force you to break the kanji down into easy to digest chunks. You know how when you are in a room with a lot of people speaking a language you aren't proficient in and your brain sort of gives up trying to understand? You might even start to get sleepy... It's the same thing with complicated kanji and this is something I have recognized for a long time but was not sure how to combat: when you're looking at a kanji with tons of strokes, you sort of see it without really understanding it, so even when you try to ascribe meaning you are glossing over the parts that you do actually need to remember in order to recognize it later. Forcing yourself to take the kanji apart by following to Heisig's mnemonics is, well, a huge breakthrough. I'm just sad that I am so late to the party. 24 years old...if only I could be 6.

The other thing I didn't know about Heisig's study course was the way it focuses on teaching writing. So it doesn't teach you the 100 "most useful" kanji first and it doesn't teach you them in the order that little kids learn them in Japanese schools—actually at first glance it appears to teach them in quite a confusing order, since it uses the same building blocks to make as many kanji as possible per lesson, which makes a lot of them easily confused. THAT IS, if you didn't have the stories to go along. I can't even think of mistaking "prosperous" for "risk" because I know that "risk" involves looking at the sun with your eyes and prosperity is sunny, so you get two suns.

The best thing, I think, is that I am extremely optimistic about learning kanji. 1,945 used to seem like a lot, and now it doesn't at all. That alone is priceless.

Study consciously

http://www.victorymanual.com/study-slower-learn-faster/

This is my favorite post that I've read over there so far, mostly because as I commented, I keep thinking I need to start some diving strategies. Really thinking hard about what you're learning could be the key. (And it's also true that I wish I had all day every day to devote to this. Not gonna happen! ;p) but I do have long afternoons. Actually it just occurred to me that my schedule is almost school-like, except in high school I would wake UP at 6, not be at work by 6. Still, though, getting out at three gives me some open daylight that I need to start using to my advantage more.

For some reason I can't get the schedule vs. non-schedule thing down. I know that if I say everyday between 4 and 6 is Japanese time that I could attempt to do that, but...it seems unlikely that I would actually have every day between 4 and 6 free. That said, the way things are now, I seem to manage to WASTE all the time between 4 and 6 (or just not leave work ;p) soooooo, maybe I should try being hardcore and seeing what that gets me, if anything.

Honestly, I've found the most important thing is just to do something, anything. Anything is better than nothing. That sounds defeatist, but it's really empowering. I mean, it sounds sort of positive, but not positive enough, when really it is ultra positive because it means that the smallest thing can be useful and build you up.

For instance, today I reviewed some really easy kanji, but there were still words I didn't know. I wish I could remember them now, but that is why I will be reviewing them tomorrow, and maybe in a deeper way. There's always the question of how much time you should spend learning different words ("marbles" vs. "participation" vs. "paths between rice fields" whut), but like I said. SOMETHING ANYTHING.

I'm gonna get that on a t-shirt I think.

(You think I'm kidding.)

The L2 Linguistics Bug Returns Feat. Victory Manual

I went to go see Matt Alt speak about yokai today at NEW PEOPLE and got really inspired to...well, study more. Everything inspires me to study more.

This blog, too, inspired me to study more and harder: http://www.victorymanual.com/

The guy who writes it, Alex, is a teacher in Korea, so he is dealing with L2 issues all the time, both his own and his students.

It's a little bitter-sweet to read such an awesome blog like this, because L2 linguistics and teaching were some of my main interests, which gradually morphed into translation/interpretation, which were more or less dismissed once the videogames journalism career materialized, which in turn was more or less abandoned for Twitter; I do a hell of a lot of not looking back for being the most nostalgic person I know.

I DO look back, though. I think I made this point already, but I COULD BE a translator on the side, the way I write right now. That thought is very exciting.

The fact of the matter is that I could be translating professionally right now. I could be doing a ton more in Japanese for work and the only reason I can't is that my Japanese is not there yet.

So what does this mean? Today it meant that I spent a while in Kinokuniya oogling everything from The Tale of the Heike (translated) to English textbooks for Japanese speakers (I was trying sort of hard to find a book about Japanese linguistics, but failed). I also spent a while reviewing. Actually, the first grader kanji review is very nearly completed. And I'm happy to say that it wasn't all review; I've been acquiring vocab for real, as well as a couple kanji that managed to slip by earlier.

Actually, in general, between conversing with the Japanese contract team at work and doing slap-dash review, I have been improving. I noticed the other night when I met a new conversation partner that I could actually put a few sentences together.

I'm still ridiculously nervous and shy in Japanese, just because I love it so much and want to do it right : /

But I did talk to him in Japanese a little bit and he seemed to understand me all right.

Other big news is that I get to attend the JP team meetings at work. At first this will involve me sitting in a corner quietly with a notepad trying as hard as I can to just understand, but I figure the more I go the more I will learn. More exposure can't be a bad thing.

Major update AND Hello again

The first thing you will notice is that I have hooked up my Japanese Twitter account to this blog. Makes much more sense. When I started this blog, I didn't HAVE a Japanese Twitter account. Yay, progress.

The second thing you will hopefully start to notice in the future is me actually using this as a hub for my study activities. For starters, let me just expound a bit on recent happenings:

*I started a Japanese cooking club with a couple friends and one of the members is a pretty hardcore Japanophile, which makes me happy. He speaks conversationally quite well, it seems, and all from some close-watching/listening of J-dramas. Granted he is currently not working or in school, living at home, but I think we can all learn a bit from his dedication.

*NEW PEOPLE opened in San Francisco and I hang out there a lot. This will become apparently if I keep up with this blog like I intend to, because I go to see a lot of Japanese movies there, which is listening exposure, even if you do have the subtitle crutch.

*Bumped my tutor down from an hour to a half hour a week. Basically, I just want someone to chat with and whom I can bounce questions off of. I appreciated her efforts in personalizing a class for me, but I have way to many aspirations to be locked into a set schedule of quizzes and things.

Main study resources, currently:

*文法が弱いあなたへ is a great grammar review book. I have probably mentioned it here before, but since I have only just finally gotten into a good study habit, I'm still using it. To recap: it's perfect for an intermediate student (the book is all in Japanese) who wants to review some points.

*くもんの小学校ドリル, where have you been all my life? The 国語 kanji workbooks are KILLER. I wish I had had these in high school. TO ALL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TEACHING YOURSELVES JAPANESE: please go out and buy these workbooks. Oh. My. They are meant for Japanese elementary school kids, so not only are you learning the kanji in the order that Japanese kids learn them, but you are learning them along with the readings and vocabulary that Japanese society deems necessary for kanji n00bs. I went back to 一年生 for some review, but I am already learning stuff I never did before.

*Have been doing Pimsleur Japanese level 3 audio lessons, which are a decent mix of making me think a little and way too easy. I like that they are throwing in some formal language, but the scenarios are feeling a bit simple for the level of politeness they are throwing at you. That said, anything that gets me saying Japanese words out loud is a plus. I am shy and I think this sort of listen and repeat stuff is what I need to get my tongue all 日本語'd up and ready for action.

*にほんご敬語トレーニング has been my keigo book of choice, although I haven't delved too far in yet. Rumor has it there is some sort of ultimate keigo book out there that I must own. I heard it might be in the mail to me. We shall see :)

*The latest addition to my growing stack of extremely useful and practical (no joke) Japanese language books is 日本人の知らない日本語, which has been a huge best seller in Japan. No wonder it was so easy to find at Kinokuniya this afternoon! It's done in "comic-essay" form, and teaches, as the title states, "Japanese that Japanese people don't know." Seems very entertaining, and since it is entirely in Japanese, for Japanese people, about things that even they may not know or do correctly, I am really excited to prioritize this in my study sessions.

*Kotoba! for iPhone is a pretty decent Japanese dictionary. I figured something was better than nothing and this was free (if I remember correctly?) More often than not, the word I have been searching for has been in there and they have translations to multiple languages and even kanji details.

*iEijiro (iPhone) is a dictionary for more advanced usage and...whatnot. Haven't had much luck with this, honestly. It seems extremely useful, but for more limited purposes, maybe?

*Check out the latest Otaku USA for an article I did about iPhone kanji apps :)

*Japanese Flip is a great flashcard program (iPhone) for JLPT vocab.

*Mnemosyne is back in style with me and I'm actually in talks with someone to get an iPhone port going, or at least a comparable program. This is very exciting, especially if we can make it so you can sync your stacks and grade levels. Then I can take all the vocab I'm working on with me in my pocket, where it is far more accessible than on my laptop.

*KeyholeTV is a MAJOR discovery. Not much more to say besides that it is streaming Japanese TV and radio. We should all just let our jaws hang open in awe that this exists.

Main study tactics at the moment:

*Aiming for an audio lesson a day, but not quite making it.
*Doing three lessons of くもん drill at a time, which right now is around per day, but not sure how that will scale, especially since I want to try to absorb all this really good vocab.
*Thinking of how to work in more keigo practice. Might wait until after the audio lessons are exhausted.
*Very interested in looping in more work-related Japanese stuff. Might begin the pain in the neck yet very instructive task of going through all my Japanese language mail from the week and pulling vocab for Mnemosyne cards as well as just instilling proper everything from my Japanese co-workers.
*Also really need to look over the Japanese versions of the site, help materials etc. This is something I mean to do long ago, but I just need to set aside time.
*I'm also interested in doing a translation project now and then. I'm not sure what I would like to translate, but I will probably start with news articles about work, since that could prove to be doubly useful.

Luckily, since Japanese has been placed as one of my three whole areas of priorities in life (right up there with work and health) it has been really easy to find more time to do it lately, which has been making me very happy.

But now look how long I spent updating this blog when I could've been actually studying. We'll see, we'll see ;) Anyways, for now, hopefully someone will find all those recommendations relevant. I will try to update with some less obvious ideas (the ones that aren't "surround yourself with study opportunities" and "take them") as they come up and maybe log some progress/questions and answers from my tutor/etc. Or I could get too busy to update for another few months.

There's a lot of passion here, but I'm not sure it's for the blog. I'm pretty sure it's for the doing and the studying. This is a problem I have had with all my blogs lately, even the ones I bought domains for, so...

yeah. We'll see.

Drill books made especially for me

First up, 文法が弱いあなたへ　(which translates to something like, "To you whose grammar is weak" ha!) This one is pretty basic, but it's also all in Japanese. I'm convinced that you can't underestimate the value of not only fresh review material, but completely immersive material. How not to suck? Easy, grate off that coat of rust and polish up. This book is the grating. It's going pretty quickly, but that was kind of the point. Confidence building in an immersed environment. It's even just so great to have drills to do, especially since there is an answer key (although since when does 乗る　take を? That makes no sense to me, nor to the Internet as far as I can tell.) I'm really happy so far, and picking up useful vocab that I somehow had missed up to now. 運動靴? Got those for X-mas, yo. Also, having this review workbook to plow through gives me some time to likewise plow through my JLPT 3 and 4 kanji. That should get me plenty prepped for...


these 初級から中級への日本語ドリル (From beginner to intermediate Japanese drills) books. Pretty much heaven, I have to say. Brand new as of this past October, they were written specifically to address concerns such as those I express here PRACTICALLY EVERY TIME I POST. Mainly, that I feel stuck in intermediacy (which they seem to think is actually more like beginnerland--even worse) and am unsure how to proceed. This duo of workbooks seems like the perfect bridge. One for grammar, one for vocab. Note the COMPLEMENTARY COLOR SCHEME (holy shit lol) and also the fact that the complementary colors they chose are MY FAVORITE COLORS. Again, books made for me. How can I thank The JapanTimes enough? I'll write again when I get into them a bit more. Right now I'm just happy they're here.

Total spent? About sixty dollars. (Thanks go to Mikael.) TOTAL ZEN STUDY PEACE OF MIND? Priceless. Rock 'tf on.

Checking out the JLPT stuff

Well, I guess since I never really planned on taking the JLPT, I never really took a serious look at any of the study materials available. Today I started checking out JLPT Study site, and it seems like I would pretty much be able to pass the 4th level without any problem (which, I mean, you'd better hope so after a freaking BA ;_;) although I need to review transitives and intransitives.

I'm thinking about buying some grammar and JLPT books. If I do drills and stuff, I think my Japanese friends would be able to correct them, so it would give us something to do in Japanese when we meet up. Not that I don't like どんどんドリル (and in fact, it's great for vocab/kanji practice), but I'm never going to improve my grammar to the point where I can use complicated patterns in speech, unless I work on them more.

POP Jisyo

I know, I'm late to the party, but what a great party.

What POP Jisyo is, essentially, is...extreme laziness. I don't have extensive experience yet, but it's basically a supremely useful pop-up dictionary that let's you mouse over words and get not only translations, but kanji info, etc. Quite fancy.

I don't see it replacing jisho.org, but it's a healthy supplement. It doesn't always parce perfectly, so you have to pay attention, but you always have to pay attention when using a dictionary, so only the WAY in which you pay attention has changed.

I look forward to using this more.

Still here (Mnemosyne, TBS Radio podcasts)

and trying to study Japanese 2 hours a day.

It's in the schedule, so I think it's possible. Of course, it's the second thing (after fiction-reading) to get cut in emergencies, but I have a new kanji stategy involving Mnemosyne, a sweet flashcard program that spaces out repetition for you so you don't have to worry about when to review. Just spend some time in the program every day and give it accurate feedback on how hard you are working to answer the questions. I can already tell the difference from just flipping through flashcards on my own, and it's only been a couple days.

Note: This does not mean you should not have awesome hard copy flash cards. I still highly recommend getting the White Rabbit Press sets because of the extremely useful list of six compounds given for each kanji. You can feed whatever you want to learn into Mnemosyne, and keep the cards handy just for when you're on the road.

That said, I wonder if there is a mobile version of this. Could you imagine how awesome it would be to have it on your iPhone or something? o_o

My other new MOAR JAPANESE tactic is TBS Radio. (Incidentally, I got both of these links from All Japanese All the Time, a website by a guy who taught himself Japanese in 18th months or something, i.e. one of those guys we all hate because we are actually bitter and disappointed with ourselves for not trying harder. Fear not, you rock and so do I. Just steal his links and kick ass however you see fit.) I haven't done too much extensive listening there yet, but it's VERY IMPORTANT to listen to people SPEAKING JAPANESE who are NOT in character for an ANIME.