leisaowns Newbie United States Joined 4833 days ago 12 posts - 14 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Portuguese
| Message 1 of 13 26 December 2011 at 5:07am | IP Logged |
I'm feeling excited and motivated for this upcoming year - and for learning Japanese!
As of right now, I think I am at a lower-intermediate level (maybe advanced beginner?). My reading is pretty solid for my level, my writing and listening are ok, and my speaking ability is just dreadful. I've only come across two native speakers in my three (long) years of studying. I still keep in touch with one of them on Facebook, but we don't talk much anymore. I'm terrified to message him because...well, I'm not entirely sure. I just feel awful everytime I make a mistake and/or have to ask him to rephrase what he's saying. That's a block I hope to overcome by the end of this upcoming year.
I got Tuttle's A Japanese Reader and Nihongo So-Matome N3 for Christmas, and they look like pretty good resources so far. Those, plus my Japanese Particle Workbook (by Taeko Kamiya) and imported copy of Pokemon Black should help me greatly with my Japanese studies if I work on them everyday. I think I'll try to upload some videos on youtube to practice my speaking eventually as well.
I've had my Pokemon game set to the kana readings, and just decided to change it to the kanji setting. As expected, it's slowed me down a lot, but I'm sure the change will help me in the long run.
I'm not really sure how I'm supposed to keep this log, but I guess I'll just update it with my achievements as the days go by. Hopefully it'll keep me motivated to continue practicing and studying the language. I'm also working on Mandarin, Modern Standard Arabic, and French, so I might post some updates for those languages every once in a while too.
I think that's about it. I can't wait to get started!
-Leisa
Edited by leisaowns on 26 December 2011 at 5:25am
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Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6083 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin
| Message 2 of 13 26 December 2011 at 4:40pm | IP Logged |
Hi leisaowns!
This is going to be a great year for learning Japanese! How did you find your speaking partners? That's encouraging that you've started speaking with native Japanese. That's never been an easy thing for me and I still have trouble. I look forward to reading about your progress!
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Takato Tetraglot Senior Member HungaryRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5046 days ago 249 posts - 276 votes Speaks: Hungarian*, EnglishB2, GermanB2, Japanese
| Message 3 of 13 26 December 2011 at 5:01pm | IP Logged |
leisaowns wrote:
I just feel awful everytime I make a mistake and/or have to ask him to rephrase what he's saying. [...] imported copy of Pokemon Black should help me greatly [...]kanji setting. As expected, it's slowed me down a lot [...]
I think that's about it. I can't wait to get started!
-Leisa |
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Welcome to the team, leisaowns!
Well, making mistakes certainly helps. You can learn from them greatly. As for the Pokemon Black kanji thingy, I'm looking forward to hearing about how it helps to you. I hope it'll be easier and easier as you proceed, since there will be less and less not understandable things by percentage.
I can't wait for the start either. :) Just a few days are left. I wish you great achievements.
Edited by Takato on 26 December 2011 at 5:01pm
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g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5980 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German
| Message 4 of 13 26 December 2011 at 6:22pm | IP Logged |
Welcome on board leisaowns! I look forward to following your log. I think textchat is a great way to get your feet wet with speaking to real natives, because you have a little bit more time to think about your response and check things with an online dictionary. I really liked using sharedtalk to start with because it was very easy to find lots of different people to talk to, and within the chat room it was very easy to stop conversations as well as start them, which was great for those awkward moments when you either feel completely out of your depth, or you realise that the person you are speaking to is simply not that compatible with you and your interests.
I can't wait to get started either. Even though it's just a continuation of what I have done before, I just have a really good feeling of new year, fresh start at the moment!
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Brun Ugle Diglot Senior Member Norway brunugle.wordpress.c Joined 6618 days ago 1292 posts - 1766 votes Speaks: English*, NorwegianC1 Studies: Japanese, Esperanto, Spanish, Finnish
| Message 5 of 13 27 December 2011 at 12:56pm | IP Logged |
Hello and welcome!
You were wondering how to keep your log. The answer is -- any way you want to. Some people keep track of every minute they spend studying, other people just write about their achievements and problems. I like to do a little of everything. I keep track of time, I summarize some of the things I've learned, I list problems I have (in case somebody has a suggestion and also so I can look back later and see how far I've come), and of course, I list achievements.
Also, you don't really have to wait for January, many people have already gotten started.
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Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6083 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin
| Message 6 of 13 27 December 2011 at 2:36pm | IP Logged |
Brun Ugle wrote:
Also, you don't really have to wait for January, many people have already gotten started. |
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Me included! I figure that the few hours that I've done the past couple of weeks won't make that much of a difference in the course of a whole year ^^
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leisaowns Newbie United States Joined 4833 days ago 12 posts - 14 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Portuguese
| Message 7 of 13 28 December 2011 at 5:20am | IP Logged |
Sunja wrote:
How did you find your speaking partners? |
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I actually met one of them through Youtube. Here's the whole story, if you care: I stumbled upon a group of Japanese teens who formed a band in their church in Japan. I thought it was really interesting that they were Christians since I'd heard that most Japanese practice Shinto and Buddhism. So I messaged the singer (exercising my written Japanese for the first time) back and forth for about a week before finally friend requesting him on Facebook. It was pretty exciting for me!
I met the other native at a summer orchestra camp two years ago, but I never got his phone number or email, and didn't have Facebook at the time, so sadly I haven't seen or talked to him since.
My accomplishments for today:
Reviewed the passive voice
Spent an hour and a half making flashcards on Anki for this week
Spent twenty minutes studying some of them
Not much, but it's a start!
Thanks for all of the encouragement and tips, everyone!
Edited by leisaowns on 28 December 2011 at 5:20am
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Woodsei Bilingual Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Woodsei Joined 4795 days ago 614 posts - 782 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Egyptian)* Studies: Russian, Japanese, Hungarian
| Message 8 of 13 28 December 2011 at 6:35am | IP Logged |
Welcome aboard, Leisa! It's admirable that you're trying to reach out to native Japanese speakers and keep
contact. I'm still an absolute beginner, and can't wait to get to that stage. A family member speaks Japanese
fluently, having earned a degree in the language and culture, and knows lots of native speakers, so I hope I'll
be able to enlist her help when the time comes. We'll see. Your log sounds off to a great start.
Wish you all the best!
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