PE: Final Reflection

My first year of Japanese is over, and it seems like I've learned sooo much in just that short amount of time! Even so, reflection is always an important tool for improvement. At the beginning of this semester I laid out one big goal for myself: to speak and understand speech at a natural pace. Although I am still nowhere near achieving this goal, I do feel that I have made a lot of progress; I did a little better every time on the listening sections of exams, and I've often been able to give responses to questions much more quickly than I was at the beginning of the semester. I didn't really do as well as I'd hoped at sticking to the revised plan I made after spring break (to attend office hours every week, watch an episode of anime every day, attend the Japanese language table once a month, and review vocabulary every day), but I still did better than I had prior to revising my goal.

This year has been a great one, and I look forward to continuing to improve my Japanese until I can one day communicate fluently.

ビシュヌのアバター

私はよくインターネットでおもしろいことを読むのが大好きですよ。今、ビシュヌ（Vishnu）のアバター（avatar）について読んでいます。ビシュヌを知っていますか。ビシュヌはヒンドゥー（Hindu）のかみです。そして、ビシュヌはアバターでちきゅう（Earth）に十回来ます。よく、アバターはどうぶつでした。

さいしょ（first）のアバターはさかなでした。名前はマーツヤ（Matsya）です。マーツヤがとても小さいさかなだから、大きいさかなはマーツヤを食べたがっています。ですから、キング・マヌー（King Manu）はマーツヤをびん（jar）に入れました。その後で、マーツヤが大きすぎる時、マヌーはマーツヤをみずうみに入れておきます。いつか後で、みずうみも小さすぐなったから、マヌーはマーツヤを海に入れました。マヌーはマーツヤにしんせつな人だから、たくさん雨がふって、こうずい（flood）をする前に、マーツヤはマヌーにきゅうしゅつ（rescue）をしました。

ビシュヌの二番目アバターはカメ（turtle）でした。名前はクールマ（Kurma）です。たくさんヒンドゥーのかみがふし（immortality）をしなった（lost）後で、クールマはかみをしえんしました。

三番目アバターはヴァラーハ（Varaha）です。ヴァラーハはイノシシ（boar）でした。ある日（one day）、どろぼうはちきゅうをぬすみました（stole）。ちきゅうにきゅうしゅつをするために、ヴァラーハはどろぼうとけんかをしました。けんかの後で、どろぼうがしんで、ちきゅうはきゅうしゅつをしてありました。

今、まだ四番目アバターについて読んでいませんけど、今晩読む予定です。

みなさん、よくおもしろいことを読みますか。

かいがい旅行

今日のじゅぎょうの中で、かいがい旅行について話しました。けれども、私はぜんぜんアメリカのそとに行きませんでした。だけど、かいがいに行けたいから、先月にパスポートをもらいました。ですから、来年に日本に行きたい。日本で、たくさんことをしたいです。たとえば、富士山に行ったり、かぶきを見たり、おんせんに行ったりしたいですよ。その後で、韓国に行けるように、韓国語を勉強しようと思います。

私の家族の中で、四人はかいがいに行ったことがあるけど、だれもアジアに行ったことがありません。両親はドイツやイタリアに行きました。姉もドイツにいきました。そして、よくイギリスに行きます。というのは姉はイギリス人にじゅうじしているから。私のたの姉はミズーリ大学のマーチングバンドとアイルランドでトランペットをあそびました。

みなさん、かいがい旅行に行ったことがありますか。どこに行きましたか。

私の春休み

私の春休みはよかったですけど、ちょっとつまらなかったです。ひこうきのチケットはとても高かったから、家に帰りませんでした。プリンストンで、しゅくだいをしたりアニメを見たりフリスビーにあそんだりしました。

コンピュータサイエンスしゅくだいは競争でした*。一番みじかいコードを書いている人は勝者です*。 私のコードは三十四行です*。勝者のコードは三十一行です。ざんねんです！

私が見たアニメはデュラララ！！です。デュラララ！！はあまりアクションがないが、プロットはおもしろくて、ミステリアスです。とてもいいアニメだから、見て下さい！

私はフリスビーにあそんでいた時、三つ新しい友だちに会いました。その人はとても元気で、バトラーにすんでいます。私は新しい友だちに会うのが大好きですよ。

それから、クイズボウルトーナメントがあたから、日曜日にフィラデルフィアに行きました。トーナメントに十六チームがありました。そして、チームの中で、プリンストンは一番いいチームでした！数年ではじめて、プリンストンはチャンピオンでした！

*競争（きょうそう）＝　Competition

*勝者（しょうしゃ）＝　Winner

*行　（ぎょう）＝　Line

Pronunciation Exercises: Mid-Term Reflection

Since the semester is half over, it's time to reflect on my PE objectives, and possibly to revise them. At the beginning of the semester, I started out with one main goal for this year: to speak and understand speech at a natural pace. Honestly, I can't really tell if I've been improving at this or not; relative to my classmates, I've still been lagging behind significantly at both speaking and understanding speech. In order to achieve my goal, in my last PE post I laid out four methods for improvement:

1. Attend office hours every week.
• Well, this didn't happen. Over the course of the past six weeks, I went to office hours to practice twice; that's a success rate of 33%. In other words: failing.
2. Watch one episode of anime every day, paying close attention to how the characters speak.
• This, on the other hand, did happen. Watching anime is fun, so it wasn't hard to keep up with this objective.
3. Attend the Japanese language table at least once a month.
• This also didn't happen. In fact, I haven't been to the language table at all.
4. Review vocabulary every day, saying (and writing) each word several times to drill the proper pitch pattern into my brain.
• This happened for about the first two weeks of the semester, until most of my classes began to pick up the pace. Then, as it fell from priority, it gradually came to a halt.

Just as with last semester, for the first half of the semester, I haven't done so well with sticking to my goal; as assignments and other obligations piled up, I just fell behind. However, like last semester, I intend to get back on track now--coming off of a refreshing break, it's a good time to start clean. I'd like to keep my goals and objectives the same--with the possible exception of #4 (for the sake of time)--so that I can really try to improve my speaking and listening capabilities. From here on out, I'm going to do my very best to stay on top of all my objectives.

私の家族

私の家族は六人家族です。一番年上の人は私の母。母は小学校につとめています。年上から二番目人は私の父。父はつとめていないけど、いつもいそがしいです。２００８年から今年まで、父は私の家族の家をたてていますよ。 

私は兄弟が三人います。姉が二人います。双子です。なまえはチェルシーとシモーンです。今年八月にチェルシーはけっこんしています。チェルシーはバレーボールが上手です。シモーンはりょこうが好きなので、たいていアメリカのそとでべんきょうしました。ドイツとイギリスでよくべんきょうしました。そして、かれしはイギリス人です。

 家族の中で一番下は私の弟です。弟は十五さいです。弟はせが高くて、うたうのが上手で、あたまがとてもいいですよ。四年今から、コロンビア大学にいきたがっているとおもっています。ざんねんです！

私はあまり家族をみに帰りませんが、家族が大好きです。

Japanese 102 Pronunciation Exercises: Spring 2016 Goals and Objectives

The new semester has begun, and that means it's time for the weekly Pronunciation Exercises for Japanese 102 to begin. This semester, I have one goal from last semester that I really  want to focus on: speaking and understanding speech at a natural pace. While I improved quite a bit throughout last semester, I am still understanding and speaking words at a (very) sub-par rate. As a lesser goal, I also want to continue refining my ability to perceive and reproduce the natural flow of pitches throughout words and sentences. I've gotten a lot better at this, but every once in a while I still notice myself making mistakes.

With those two goals in mind, here are the steps I plan to take:

• Attend office hours every week.
• I will alternate attending Shibata-Sensei's office hours and one of the other Senseis' office hours every other week.
• Watch one episode of anime every day, paying close attention to how the characters speak.
• This should be easy enough; the hard part will be limiting myself to one episode per day so I don't fall behind on other work!
• Attend the Japanese language table at least once a month.
• Hopefully, I will attend the language table more frequently than that, but once a month is a bare minimum.
• Review vocabulary every day, saying (and writing) each word several times to drill the proper pitch pattern into my brain.
• So far, so good--although we are only three days into the semester!

I fully intend to stick with and achieve all the goals and objectives I've set for myself--after a rocky first-half of last semester, I realized just how important making and sticking to a plan is for being successful in class, and I don't want to fall behind this time!

私の中休み

先週はプリンストン大学の中休み。中休みはよかったですが、ちょっとつまらなかったです。月曜日から金曜日まで、私はどこにも行きませんでした。プリンストンでゆきがつもるので、私は三人の友とゆきのいすを作りました。三時間三十分ぐらいかかりました。とてもたのしかったです。そして、たくさん人はゆきのいすが好きで、しゃしんをとりました。プリンストン大学で、ゆきのいすはちょっとゆうめいでした！

私のゆきのいす

それから、土曜日私はハーバードへクイズボウルトーナメントがあそびに行きました。（プリンストン大学の方がハーバードよりきれいな大学ですよ！ハーバードはぜんぜんきれいじゃありません！）中休みはだったので、半のチームは行きませんでした。たいへんでした！でも、二十チームがありました、そしてトーナメントはよくて、たのしかったです*。
今、新しい学期がはじまります。みなさん、がんばって下さい！

*We finished in fifth place, even though were short half our team!

Pronunciation Exercises: Final Reflection

As my first semester at Princeton draws to a close, it's time to reflect on one of the most challenging and invigorating experiences I've faced so far in college: my pronunciation exercises in Japanese. Below is a quick recap of the revised goals I set for myself for PE back in November:

• Recognize changes in pitch
• Speak and comprehend speech up to speed
• Remember words and phrases correctly

I think I've really started to get a good grip on the first and last of my three goals, especially after I spent a good amount of time during my winter break reviewing vocab and the pitches of words. I still seem to struggle a bit with speaking and comprehending speech up to speed, although I feel as if I have made significant improvement in this area as well over the past few weeks--during our last dialogue practice on Tuesday, I was actually able to follow nearly the entire dialogue for what may have been the very first time! 

As for the methods I said I'd follow to achieve my goals, I've adhered to them a lot more closely than I had up to the reflection I posted back in November; I still watch an episode of anime every day (and I've been paying extra close attention to the dialogue to understand as much as I can, rather than merely reading the subtitles), I've created and reviewed flashcards for every chapter's vocabulary and their pitches, and I've attended office hours nearly every week since midterms. In short, I've done everything that I said I would in my revision to some extent, and I can certainly tell the difference; I seem to be improving at least somewhat in just about every facet of my Japanese-learning!

Although Japanese 101 has been extremely challenging for me and I often struggle, I can't help but look back and feel proud of all that I've learned. I can't wait to start next semester, and, ultimately, to someday reach fluency in Japanese!

クイズボウル。とてもたのしいです！

こんばんは！今日, クイズボウルのれんしゅうがありました。しゅみの中でクイズボウルが一番好きですよ。クイズボウルで一人はしつもんをします、そして二チームはこたえます。一チームは４人がいます。クイズボウルのトピックはれきしやぶんがくやすうがくやかがくです。おもしろくてたのしいので、私の専門はぶんがくです。アフリカとヨーロッパのぶんがくは大好きです、でも私はすこし日本のぶんがくをしっています。たとえば、むらかみはるきやみしまゆきおやけんざぶろうおおえをしっています。来週もクイズボウルのれんしゅうがあります。きて下さい！たのしですよ！

てがみです。

サンクスギビングの休み

こんばんは！先週はサンクスギビングの休みです。サンクスギビングの休みはとてもよかったですが、ちょっとつまらなかったです。毎日、じゅうじかんぐらいねて、にじかんぐらいアニメをみました。アカメが斬るとコード: ブレイカーをみました。コード: ブレイカーはすこしおもしろくありませんでした。でも、私はアカメが斬るすきです。金曜日、ともだちとフリスビーであそびました。それから、ともだちと中国のレストランにたべにいきました。金曜日はとてもたのしかったです！ぜんぜんしゅくだいをしませんでした。でも、今たくさんしゅくだいをあります！たいへんですよ！

Improving My Japanese: Reflection and Revisions to Goals and Methods

I'm now in my eighth week of Japanese at Princeton, and things have been progressing pretty well. Japanese is still by far the most challenging course for me, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. That being said, the goals I posted in October are still a major focus for me:

• Recognizing changes in pitch and distinguishing between similar sounds.
• I think I've started to get a pretty good handle on the latter part of this goal, but I could still use some work on distinguishing changes in pitch.

• Speaking and comprehending speech up to speed.
• This. Right now, I think this is my biggest struggle with Japanese. When listening to the せんせいs talk, I can usually only pick up on part of what they are saying, which makes it really difficult to respond properly to questions. I seem to be getting better at picking up on speech, but I could still use a lot of work.

• Remembering words and phrases correctly.
• I'm getting better at this, too, but I could again use more practice. Many words are coming more naturally to me than they were a few weeks ago, but there are still quite a few words that simply refuse to stick in my head.

Perhaps I would be doing better if I'd followed the methods in my original post more closely; from the list I posted in October, here's what I have been doing:

• Watching an episode of anime with subtitles every day.
• Well this part's easy; anime is fun to watch! I've also been paying more attention to what the characters are saying and how they say it. I can actually understand some of what the characters are saying without reading the subtitles now!

Unfortunately, that's the only thing from my list that I've truly stuck to as much as I intended. Although there is one bit that I've kind of been doing:

• Flashcarding
• I have made flashcards for all the new vocabulary terms we've learned, but I haven't practiced with them every single day. To be perfectly frank, I don't think I will be able to, either. Many days I get consumed by other homework and extracurriculars and don't get around to using my flashcards. I will try to use them more frequently than I have been, though.

Of course, that means I haven't been doing the rest of the things on my list:

•  Watching an episode of anime without subtitles every day.
• Again, I don't think I'll get around to doing this, so I'm going to have to drop it from my list of goals.

• Attend しばたせんせい's office hours on at least a biweekly basis.
• I fully intend to start attending office hours next week; I'm going to alternate attending しばたせんせ and さとうせんせい's office hours so that I can get some extra practice every week, not just every other week.

Hopefully I can stick to my revised goals a lot more closely than I did my original ones. I think this revised version is more manageable than the previous one, so this time I will try exceptionally hard to stay on track!

ビデオブログ！

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!