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Kuji’s Krazy Log II | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| kujichagulia Senior Member Japan Joined 4844 days ago 1031 posts - 1571 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Portuguese | Message 81 of 706 13 February 2013 at 3:19am | IP Logged | ||
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The eternal goal I have as far as Japanese is concerned is this: How can I make it fun and interesting?
The easy answer is this: Do things that you like to do, but in Japanese. So what do I like? Sports, music, and travel come to mind quickly. Unfortunately, I can't travel as much as I would like, especially with a pet rabbit at home. So when I do get to travel (once a year), I want to "make it count", i.e. go somewhere overseas - Europe, North America, etc. As for music... sorry. I tried, I really did - and I know some of you will not agree with me - but I can't stand Japanese pop music. I can't stand enka either. The only Japanese-language CD that I have is a rap CD from a group called Teriyaki Boyz, and that is a one-time project (all the members come from other groups, such as Rip Slyme). So that leaves sports. Now, I love sports, and not just American ones. You name it, I probably like it. I'm the only American I know of that knows the rules of cricket. I'm one of the few Americans that know what a fly half is and what he (or she) does. Japan is no different than most countries. Sports are popular here. So I'm looking for some nice sports websites that I can peruse every now and then, read about baseball or soccer or even NBA basketball, and learn some new words in the process. I already do this with some Brazilian websites. Even though I hardly know any of the words, I can usually pick up the gist of an article through cognates and pictures. So why not do this with Japanese? The only problem is making the time for it. I think that to do this, I have to give up reading about sports at English-language websites, which is one of my favorite weekend pastimes. I think I'm at the point where if I really want to make some advances in my language, I need to think about what else I can sacrifice. Perhaps every little bit helps. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5979 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 82 of 706 13 February 2013 at 1:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm with you on Japanese music. I listen to some stuff basically just because it is in Japanese. There's very little Japanese music I've discovered that I would listen to anyway. Of course you could still read articles in Japanese about music you do like? Although personally I prefer listening to music over reading about it (and somehow I'm a music graduate).
You are missing one important way in which you could use Japanese in connection with travel. I'm assuming when you plan your annual holiday you do some research about where you are planning to visit? Why not start doing this in Japanese? There must be plenty of Japanese guidebooks out there? And I think your idea of using Japanese for sport is a brilliant one! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5259 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 83 of 706 13 February 2013 at 7:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hey Kuji, have you tried MLB Japan, NBA Japan, Japan Football Association, NFL Japan. This should keep you busy for a while.
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| kujichagulia Senior Member Japan Joined 4844 days ago 1031 posts - 1571 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Portuguese | Message 84 of 706 14 February 2013 at 1:10am | IP Logged | ||
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@g-bod - Doh! I completely forgot about that. You know, there are tons of Japanese travel books, easily found in any bookstore. Unlike English-language books such as Lonely Planet, they are loaded with pictures, colorful maps, and all kinds of information about restaurants, stores, hotels, etc. Books like Lonely Planet tend to focus on "off the beaten path" sights, but Japanese-language guidebooks focus more on the so-called tourist traps, which a lot of people do want to see. Great idea!
@iguanamon - Thank you for the links, as always. I found those sites earlier (except the NFL one; I didn't realize they had a Japanese version). I just need to start opening articles and reading them. Some other sports sites I found: Yahoo! JAPAN Sports Nikkan Sports Web Sportiva They tend to be baseball- and soccer-centric, but they have news for other sports as well. I'll throw in a Portuguese site, too: ESPN Estadão I used to listen to their sports radio channel through this website, but apparently you cannot listen to it outside of Brazil anymore. (Seems like all of Brazilian media no longer wants us outsiders to listen or watch their stuff anymore.) You can still read the articles, though. I often worry about learning a language through sports, because sports has such specialized vocabulary. But hey, I'm likely to talk sports with other people, so it could be useful. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| kujichagulia Senior Member Japan Joined 4844 days ago 1031 posts - 1571 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Portuguese | Message 85 of 706 14 February 2013 at 1:36am | IP Logged | ||
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I reached a milestone this morning: I completed Volume 1 of the DLI Portuguese Basic Course! Yay me! É uma grande coisa, não é?
I'll probably begin Volume 2 this afternoon on the train back home... unless my students, who also ride the same train, start talking to me in Japanese. Don't those brats know I don't study Japanese on Thursdays? :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5259 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 86 of 706 14 February 2013 at 2:22am | IP Logged | ||
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Que ótimo, Kuji, parabéns! Deve estar muito orgulhoso. Sabia que iria conseguir. Fico muito contente por você. Boa sorte com volume 2. Você merece uma caipirinha!
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| kujichagulia Senior Member Japan Joined 4844 days ago 1031 posts - 1571 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Portuguese | Message 87 of 706 14 February 2013 at 4:11am | IP Logged | ||
Obrigado, iguanamon. Estou muito orgulhoso! I'm especially glad that I was able to settle on DLI after flip-flopping between that and FSI Programmatic. I think that DLI is working well for me, and I'm excited about what's coming next! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Brun Ugle Diglot Senior Member Norway brunugle.wordpress.c Joined 6617 days ago 1292 posts - 1766 votes Speaks: English*, NorwegianC1 Studies: Japanese, Esperanto, Spanish, Finnish | Message 88 of 706 14 February 2013 at 8:12am | IP Logged | ||
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Where do you get the DLI courses? Are they free?
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