Improving My Japanese: Goals and Methods

I've really been struggling with Japanese; we're only a couple weeks into the class, and learning にほんご has already been by far the most challenging experience I've faced at Princeton. I could certainly use a lot of improvement in just about every aspect of speaking, reading, and writing the language, but that being said here's a couple specific areas of speech and listening in which I can improve:

• Recognizing changes in pitch and distinguishing between similar sounds.
• Even in English, I sometimes have difficulty distinguishing between sounds like ま ("ma") and な ("na") and と ("to") and ど ("do"), so it's all the more crucial for me to start distinguishing between those sounds more accurately. Pitch changes are also rather difficult for me to hear, and that could potentially become a big barrier for me if not addressed.

• Speaking and comprehending speech up to speed.
• Right now, my comprehension of Japanese speech is extremely slow, which makes it difficult for me to respond to questions in a timely manner, let alone speaking at a natural pace.

• Remembering words and phrases correctly.
• にほんご sounds very foreign to my rural-midwest-American ears, which has made it exceptionally challenging for me to wrap my mind around Japanese words and phrases; often times, I will hear a phrase, repeat it several times, and already have forgotten how to say it within a few minutes!

Of course, it doesn't do much good to have goals if I don't have any way to achieve them, so here are some ways I'll go about accomplishing what I've set out to do:

• Watch anime every day.
• I'll watch at least one episode of anime every day with English subtitles. Then, I'll re-watch the episode without subtitles so that I'm forced to really focus on comprehension and the sound of the Japanese language.

• Attend Shibata-sensee's office hours on at least a biweekly basis.
• I'll attend Shibata-sensee's office hours at least every other week (if my schedule allows me to attend office hours every week, that would be even better) to focus on improving my pronunciation of Japanese speech.

• Flashcarding.
• I'll make flashcards of every new vocabulary term or phrase we are expected to learn and then I'll practice, practice, practice! I'll review my cards for at least forty-five minutes per day, extending that time as necessary so that I can really learn the new content.

An Introduction in Hiragana

はじめまして。ロックウッドです。どうぞよろしく。プリンストンだいがくのがくせいです。いちねんせえです。せんこうはまだわかりません。わたしはミズーリ州のHallsvilleからきました。

じゃ、また。

Who Am I? What Is This Blog All About?

こんにちわ!

My name is Jared, and I've started this blog as an aid for learning Japanese at Princeton University. Why did I choose to study Japanese? Aside from what little I've gleaned from a casual interest in manga and anime, I know essentially nothing of the Japanese language and culture--and perhaps that's exactly why I chose to enroll in a Japanese course at Princeton. To me, it's something new. It's something foreign. It's a complete mystery.

I come from middle-of-nowhere Missouri, where my nearest neighbors are cows and corn. My high school was located in a town of about 1,500 people and was primarily Caucasian with a smattering of African-Americans and Hispanics, and a single Cambodian. Thus, opportunities to interact firsthand with someone experienced in Japanese language or culture were very few, and very far between; I was inevitably led to ponder about this culture of which I knew so little.

Of course, by this logic I could have just as easily chosen to study Chinese, Korean, Arabic, or really just about any other language one can think of. Knowing I'd have to--or rather get to--study a language once I arrived at Princeton, I deliberated all summer about which one I'd choose. At times I leaned towards Russian, at other times Arabic, and at other times yet just about any of the other languages Princeton had to offer. Couldn't I just become fluent in all of them? Ultimately, though, I settled on Japanese, and to be perfectly honest, I'm still not entirely sure why I chose Japanese. Maybe it's because from my outsider's point of view, respect seems to be central to Japanese culture, and I find there to be something very--for a lack of a better word--respectable in that. Or it could have simply been because of that last episode of Attack on Titan I watched before selecting classes.

Regardless, I'm stoked for just about everything to do with my Japanese class. I can't wait to reach some level of adequacy in this different language--to speak, to write, to think in Japanese! Even so, I'm also somewhat terrified about what's to come. After only two days of class, I already feel challenged by the course material. The sounds and conventions are all so foreign to me that they often blur together and I forget the proper pronunciation of words. The ひらがな are very hard to keep straight. Despite the challenges, though, I'm committed to this. I committed the moment I tore the shrink-wrap off my copy of Nakama 1 in class on Thursday. Indeed, I can learn Japanese, and I will learn Japanese!