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).
Showing posts with label vocab. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vocab. Show all posts
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Sunday, November 22, 2009
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.
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.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
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.)
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.)
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Smarter fm
So I've begun using the quiz feature and it seems pretty effective. Of course, you will still have to practice writing on your own, but for recognition and comprehension, these flashcards (like many others, but these won't get lost or have coffee spilled on them) are a good bet.
I made a very brief foray into my Twitter list last night (ツイッターの単語）and the accompanying list for words that are not necessarily considered "Twitter specific" (by me; JP Twitter non-essentials).
Since I've been fooling around with this so much I haven't had as much time for Kumon or audio or grammar or anything, really, but I've made tiny progress in those areas as well. Hopefully some more later today...
Had the exciting realization yesterday that if writing can be a side project, then so can translating. I don't have to give up on that goal just because I have a full-time job. I've been getting pretty interested in the publisher Haikasoru (under the Viz umbrella) after finishing Housuke Nojiri's Usurper of the Sun, and I feel like translating could also be a way to pick up some vocab if I pair it with smart.fm.
I may also start to do some English --> Japanese translation at work, but have it approved by someone more fluent. And I'm also learning some more skills so I can be of further use to the Japanese contract team. Glad I get to expand in these ways, but I'm hoping I can learn at a pace fast enough to really be super useful.
I made a very brief foray into my Twitter list last night (ツイッターの単語）and the accompanying list for words that are not necessarily considered "Twitter specific" (by me; JP Twitter non-essentials).
Since I've been fooling around with this so much I haven't had as much time for Kumon or audio or grammar or anything, really, but I've made tiny progress in those areas as well. Hopefully some more later today...
Had the exciting realization yesterday that if writing can be a side project, then so can translating. I don't have to give up on that goal just because I have a full-time job. I've been getting pretty interested in the publisher Haikasoru (under the Viz umbrella) after finishing Housuke Nojiri's Usurper of the Sun, and I feel like translating could also be a way to pick up some vocab if I pair it with smart.fm.
I may also start to do some English --> Japanese translation at work, but have it approved by someone more fluent. And I'm also learning some more skills so I can be of further use to the Japanese contract team. Glad I get to expand in these ways, but I'm hoping I can learn at a pace fast enough to really be super useful.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Smart.fm
This is a very useful study site for any flashcardable material. The thing that really blew my mind, though, was the audio samples for nearly every word I input. (I'm EmaWii -- so far I have made a list of all the words I am looking up from the first grader kanji くもん drill book.) It's pretty fantastic, actually.
Supposedly the unaffiliated (i.e. using the API) iPhone app allows you to download all your lists, sound files intact, and study them away from the computer -- although the fancy quiz feature (which I haven't really played with yet) is not available...
Looking forward to putzing with all of this more. It's ten times better than anything else I've seen, with all these audio samples just sitting around. You can even create and upload your own, so I could make a list of English vocab and upload me saying all of it in my perfect native English. Sort of interesting.
Doubly interesting is the Twitter Vocab list. That said, I think I am going to create my own version. They seem to be putting in a lot of stuff that is quite targeted enough for my liking ("time?" really? That's useful, but doesn't have THAT much to do with Twitter).
Supposedly the unaffiliated (i.e. using the API) iPhone app allows you to download all your lists, sound files intact, and study them away from the computer -- although the fancy quiz feature (which I haven't really played with yet) is not available...
Looking forward to putzing with all of this more. It's ten times better than anything else I've seen, with all these audio samples just sitting around. You can even create and upload your own, so I could make a list of English vocab and upload me saying all of it in my perfect native English. Sort of interesting.
Doubly interesting is the Twitter Vocab list. That said, I think I am going to create my own version. They seem to be putting in a lot of stuff that is quite targeted enough for my liking ("time?" really? That's useful, but doesn't have THAT much to do with Twitter).
Saturday, October 3, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
がんばって
Someone said, がんばってよ to me today, and I realized that it actually has a pretty deep resonance with me. My reply to that part of the e-mail (he had asked about the transliteration, so I corrected him and then [transliteration REMOVED cuz this blog is not about ローマ字]):
"I would say ね instead of よ, but obviously both work. Maybe ね is the more feminine version. I just like it because it makes me think it's like a pact, almost. "Do your best, ok?" "Yeah, I will." Man, I know it's over-said (among learners, I mean, and anime nerds), but がんばって actually retains a ton of meaning for me. I love it."
"I would say ね instead of よ, but obviously both work. Maybe ね is the more feminine version. I just like it because it makes me think it's like a pact, almost. "Do your best, ok?" "Yeah, I will." Man, I know it's over-said (among learners, I mean, and anime nerds), but がんばって actually retains a ton of meaning for me. I love it."
Monday, January 19, 2009
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.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
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.
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.
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.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Game no Vocab
Oh, hey, I can link you to my vocab blog now: ゲームの単語.
It's not the greatest thing in the world, but I'm trying to tag effectively so you can make "lesson plans" or something, and you can search the blog in English or Japanese for the word you need. That makes it at least half-way decent.
It's not the greatest thing in the world, but I'm trying to tag effectively so you can make "lesson plans" or something, and you can search the blog in English or Japanese for the word you need. That makes it at least half-way decent.
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.
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