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Helemano’s log (TAC ’13 Team 桜) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Helemano Newbie Japan Joined 4341 days ago 31 posts - 39 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Portuguese | Message 1 of 22 07 January 2013 at 4:20am | IP Logged | ||
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INTRODUCTION
Thank you for checking out my log. I'm Helemano, formerly known on this forum as kujichagulia. I changed the email address in my profile, and I was subsequently locked out of my account. I found it easier to make a new account, so here I am. Hopefully everyone believes me so that I can resume my activities in Team Sakura (桜). I am a 30-something male American living in Osaka, Japan. I've been here for nearly 10 years, but you wouldn't know it from my Japanese skills. I studied on-and-off for 9 years, mainly due to my laziness and lack of motivation. I changed that in the summer of last year by coming to HTLAL and posting my language-learning adventures, which helped me to stay consistent in my studies. Now I am ready for TAC 2013, my first. I'm excited to be a part of Team Sakura, and I hope that I can be half as helpful as those who will help me. Japanese is my main target, but on the side I study Portuguese as well. Japanese is a necessity, but Portuguese is something I actually want to study. I am very interested in the Romance languages, and Portuguese sounds very nice to me (although others like French or Spanish may be more useful). Other useless stuff: My interests include sports (any kind), music (very picky), reading non-fiction (history and biographies), and cooking. JAPANESE Current Level: B1 Target Level: B2 Materials and Methods: - An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese - A textbook by The Japan Times. I also have the workbook for written exercises. I've finished the first five (out of 15) chapters, and am now working my way through Chapter 6. A somewhat dry, student life-centric textbook, but the grammar exercises and kanji exercises are beneficial. - Japanese TV. I live in Japan, and the TV is always on at home, so I am bound to learn something. - NHK Easy News. My goal is to read one article a day, as time allows. I'll note any new, useful vocabulary and put it into Anki for study. - (Free) Books. I really need to start reading stuff. Actual stories. The problem is that I'm very picky about my fiction. No goblins, fairy tales or spaceships. I like stories that mirror real life. It's nice to find stories online, so I can easily look up numerous words using rikaichan. Part of my TAC 13 quest will no doubt be to find such stuff. - Speaking. You can go to my old log to find out about my paradox of living in Japan, yet having difficulty to get consistent Japanese speaking practice. Anyway, I need to just start speaking to myself and/or having conversations with myself in my mind. - Writing. My goal is to write at least two diary entries per week. I'll post the better of the two on Lang-8 on the weekend for corrections. PORTUGUESE Current Level: starting nearly from scratch Target Level: A1/A2 Materials and Methods: - DLI Portuguese Basic Course - I've done the first six lessons of Volume I so far. - Listening to Portuguese radio and watching TV on the Internet. Radio is easy to come by, but not so much for TV, especially that from Brazil. USEFUL JAPANESE LINKS Coming soon. USEFUL PORTUGUESE LINKS Coming soon. FORMER LOG http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?T ID=33483&PN=124&TPN=1 (without spaces) Edited by Helemano on 08 January 2013 at 2:05am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Brun Ugle Diglot Senior Member Norway brunugle.wordpress.c Joined 6621 days ago 1292 posts - 1766 votes  Speaks: English*, NorwegianC1 Studies: Japanese, Esperanto, Spanish, Finnish | Message 2 of 22 07 January 2013 at 8:17am | IP Logged | ||
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When I saw a Sakura log I didn't recognized, I was a little shocked. I thought, "Who is this guy?! And how did he get onto our team without my knowing?" But it was you.
And here is a tip: Don't ever try to change your password either. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Helemano Newbie Japan Joined 4341 days ago 31 posts - 39 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Portuguese | Message 3 of 22 07 January 2013 at 2:20pm | IP Logged | ||
Hehehe... sorry about the shock, Brun Ugle. I swear I wouldn't shock you on purpose. Thanks for keeping me in the fold under a new name. EDIT: Thanks for the tip, too. Guess I'm stuck with that password. Edited by Helemano on 07 January 2013 at 2:24pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Helemano Newbie Japan Joined 4341 days ago 31 posts - 39 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Portuguese | Message 4 of 22 08 January 2013 at 2:00am | IP Logged | ||
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Nothing bothers me more right now in my Japanese studies than the word 姿 (すがた）. The dictionary says that 姿 means "shape; form; appearance; figure." But whenever I hear the word on TV, it is not exactly used like that, at least not in the sense that we would use the English translation.
For example, here is a sentence from my Anki deck. ゆうべの集まりで ティムの姿は 見かけなかった。 I didn't happen to see Tim at the party (in attendance) last night. Here is another sentence that I heard on a TV show (it may or may not be exactly what was said): ケイコさんは 部屋に見て、 部屋の中で ヒロシさんの姿を 見えました。 Keiko looked into the room, and she could see Hiroshi in there. Why exactly is 姿 there? What is the nuance that I am not getting? Could one just say ヒロシさんを見えました? Sure, you could translate that into English as "She could see the shape of Hiroshi in there." But it seems easier just to say "She could see Hiroshi in there," because I am an English speaker. It seems to be like this: just as in some situations in Japanese you must talk to, or about, someone indirectly (it is rude to say あなた, for example, to the person you are talking to; instead, you use that person's name), perhaps when you see someone, you don't "see" them directly, but rather indirectly; i.e. you see their "shape". I read in some other thread on this forum about people who come across some grammar point or word while reading or studying, and it doesn't make sense to them, and they go crazy trying to figure out why that word/grammar point was used, when they should just accept it as it is and move on. I think I'm in that category. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5983 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 5 of 22 08 January 2013 at 1:43pm | IP Logged | ||
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You know I've noted the use of 姿 in similar contexts and it never once struck me as strange - at least not until now! I think you're right though, it may be best not to overanalyse things. I might ask a native speaker what their feeling is about it next time I get a chance though!
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Brun Ugle Diglot Senior Member Norway brunugle.wordpress.c Joined 6621 days ago 1292 posts - 1766 votes Speaks: English*, NorwegianC1 Studies: Japanese, Esperanto, Spanish, Finnish | Message 6 of 22 08 January 2013 at 2:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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I noticed it and wondered a bit about it the first time I saw it, but I see it all the time, so I'm used to it now and don't think about it. I've never tried using it myself though.
I try not to worry too much about why the Japanese do all the crazy things they do with their language. I just sit back and enjoy it. I figure most of it will sink in by itself and I will understand the nuances someday. That's how it is with Norwegian, I just know what feels right for the most part. (And the rest I'm probably oblivious to.) 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| stifa Triglot Senior Member Norway lang-8.com/448715 Joined 4874 days ago 629 posts - 813 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, EnglishC2, German Studies: Japanese, Spanish | Message 7 of 22 08 January 2013 at 2:54pm | IP Logged | ||
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Perhaps a Monolingual definition of 姿 helps more?
As you see, there are 6 different meanings of the word... 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5263 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 8 of 22 08 January 2013 at 3:00pm | IP Logged | ||
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Good to see you back, Helemano! I figured you must have tried to change something in your account and got locked out. I hope you can finally get over the hump in your Japanese this year, and also advance in your Portuguese.
Did you know that there is an online basic, very basic, Portuguese video course from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies ? It has 40 video/audio lessons with a Japanese base. Edited by iguanamon on 08 January 2013 at 4:04pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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