皆どうも。
日本人は日々な英語会話が聞きたいですね？前、それは聴いたことがある（ツイッタのフォロアーにと友達も）。よかったら、皆は何の会話が聞きたいですか。ビデオ・シリーズを始めたいです。
どうも！
I'm dragging...
The only other tangible experience I have with learning a foreign language is with Spanish. Spanish was never something I was particularly motivated to learn about, it was just something I'd grown up around and happened to be good at. I learned the same things over and over because the schooling wasn't very consistent, and I just didn't really care.
I'm struggling now with getting past that first hump of learning the basics. I am not conversational in any regard (I feel like I can barely talk about the things I know the vocabulary for), but I do have a good grip on the basics (the main uses of the particles, sentence order, vocab, phrases, etc.). Now that I've succeeded that first hurdle, I'm starting to get to a point where feeling rewarded for learning something new is getting a little harder. I have to imagine that it will get harder and harder to feel like I'm getting anywhere, but I have to keep pushing through.
This week, I'm learning "May I..." and "You must not..." phrasing. This was the most homework I've done for my class so far. And that's on top of all the other studying I do between Anki, kanji, and writing to try to use what I'm learning.
Let me give you a tip right now: please don't ignore kanji. Even if you're reading a manga or novel with furigana to practice your hiragana/katakana comprehension, I think it's a good idea to at least look at the character you're reading. It may seem overwhelming, but the more times you stare at that character and say the sounds, the more quickly it will stick in your brain. And writing them really helps. I am warning you of this now because I got through 13 or 14 chapters learning with this school before I started to pay attention to kanji, and I'm now having to reteach myself all of this vocabulary because I didn't know how to read it. It seems slower while you're doing it to learn everything, but it'll end up fast-tracking you to comprehension quicker.
I need to find more ways to practice actually speaking. This is everyone's problem when learning a language, and it's the easiest component to ignore. I have a conversation partner I usually meet with at least once a week. But he's a conversation partner, and I just said I'm not conversational. I try to say whatever sentences (or words) I can in Japanese, and I'll ask questions, but his English is football fields beyond my Japanese. There's another partner I've met with whose English is much closer to my Japanese level, so I need to meet with her again. I think it's scarier, but better if you meet with someone who has a low comprehension level. That way, you're forced to learn to communicate. When I'm talking with the first partner I mentioned, it's so much easier just to talk in English.
I'm just pouring out thoughts here. It's been a long day. I study probably at least a couple hours, total, every day, so I know I must be improving. I just don't see it most of the time.
I'm struggling now with getting past that first hump of learning the basics. I am not conversational in any regard (I feel like I can barely talk about the things I know the vocabulary for), but I do have a good grip on the basics (the main uses of the particles, sentence order, vocab, phrases, etc.). Now that I've succeeded that first hurdle, I'm starting to get to a point where feeling rewarded for learning something new is getting a little harder. I have to imagine that it will get harder and harder to feel like I'm getting anywhere, but I have to keep pushing through.
This week, I'm learning "May I..." and "You must not..." phrasing. This was the most homework I've done for my class so far. And that's on top of all the other studying I do between Anki, kanji, and writing to try to use what I'm learning.
Let me give you a tip right now: please don't ignore kanji. Even if you're reading a manga or novel with furigana to practice your hiragana/katakana comprehension, I think it's a good idea to at least look at the character you're reading. It may seem overwhelming, but the more times you stare at that character and say the sounds, the more quickly it will stick in your brain. And writing them really helps. I am warning you of this now because I got through 13 or 14 chapters learning with this school before I started to pay attention to kanji, and I'm now having to reteach myself all of this vocabulary because I didn't know how to read it. It seems slower while you're doing it to learn everything, but it'll end up fast-tracking you to comprehension quicker.
I need to find more ways to practice actually speaking. This is everyone's problem when learning a language, and it's the easiest component to ignore. I have a conversation partner I usually meet with at least once a week. But he's a conversation partner, and I just said I'm not conversational. I try to say whatever sentences (or words) I can in Japanese, and I'll ask questions, but his English is football fields beyond my Japanese. There's another partner I've met with whose English is much closer to my Japanese level, so I need to meet with her again. I think it's scarier, but better if you meet with someone who has a low comprehension level. That way, you're forced to learn to communicate. When I'm talking with the first partner I mentioned, it's so much easier just to talk in English.
I'm just pouring out thoughts here. It's been a long day. I study probably at least a couple hours, total, every day, so I know I must be improving. I just don't see it most of the time.
Your Guide to J-Vloggers: Bobby Judo
This is Bobby Judo. He is episode two of YGTJV.
Bobby Judo is a cool dude. I only discovered him more recently, so I know less of his background (for instance, why he's actually in Japan). What I do know about Bobby Judo is that he's American, and he's way better at Japanese than I am. He's been living in Japan for over seven years, but that's cheating.
I enjoy watching his videos because I can count on him to be honest. Whether he's being honest about himself, Japanese culture, or whatever else, it feels good to get the real story. It also feels way more personal than a lot of the J-vlogs I'm used to seeing because he's so honest. It is a little jarring to hear such direct things being said in Japanese.
He mainly does vlogs to the camera, which is a great opportunity to hear a lot of spoken Japanese, and he also speaks very clearly in English, so I think it'd be a great choice for Japanese trying to learn English.
I also just learned that he makes culinary videos in English on Bobby Judo Cooks.
Previous issue of YGTJV: Sharla
Check him out and tell him I said hi!
Your Guide to J-Vloggers: Sharla
Introducing: Your Guide to J-Vloggers! Or YG2JV, if we want to be cool.
Today's featured vlogger is Sharla.
Sharla is Canadian and completing her degree abroad in Japan. She's studied Japanese for probably 10 years, in my estimation (from what she's said in her videos). Sharla is fun and a good teacher of Japan and Japanese culture: she shows interesting foods, restaurants, festivals, etc. Even how to order pizza in Japan! Sharla updates regularly, probably once a week, and she's one of my favorites. Check her out!
Today's featured vlogger is Sharla.
Sharla is Canadian and completing her degree abroad in Japan. She's studied Japanese for probably 10 years, in my estimation (from what she's said in her videos). Sharla is fun and a good teacher of Japan and Japanese culture: she shows interesting foods, restaurants, festivals, etc. Even how to order pizza in Japan! Sharla updates regularly, probably once a week, and she's one of my favorites. Check her out!
Castle Radio/Delicast
I've got a treat for you all today. Ironically, I found this awesome music radio station through searching for "Japanese talk radio." What that lead me to was delicast.com, which is an immense resource for tons of radio stations, not only in Japan, but all over the world. I thought "Castle Radio" sounded interesting, so I clicked, and my life has never been the same.
Fukuchiyama Castle Radio is pretty much the bee's knees. Here's why:
Fukuchiyama Castle Radio is pretty much the bee's knees. Here's why:
- It's a legit radio station broadcasting live out of Japan. I should also mention that it is broadcasting out of a place called Fukuchiyama, which will gain you knowledge points--even my friend from Tokyo hadn't heard of it. And no, we foreigners are not just saying "Fuji yama" in out weirdo accent.
- They play mostly music, but also have conversation and news pieces sometimes, as well as ADS! It's usually the same three ads over and over (or at least the same three companies), but it's a great opportunity for me to keep picking up words and figuring out what exactly they're saying.
- I love their music! I've always loved older stuff, so this station is perfect for me. I did hear them play Nishino Kana's "Believe" once, which is super-current, but otherwise the stuff rarely sounds more recent than the 80's.
- This is great because it allows me to be more familiar with their standards. Once I've heard a song two or three times, I know it's basically their equivalent of "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" or "Don't Go Breakin' My Heart." Here's a good one!
The link I gave above for Castle Radio is to their main site. This is because I have issues with delicast on my home computer. Just look for the romaji "Simul Radio" or the katakana サイムル放送 and you'll be good to go. I use their site on Firefox, which isn't my normal browser, because their site doesn't seem to get along with Chrome. Pro tips, y'all!
Do you know any good radio stations? Let me know your favorites. And if you give Castle Radio a try, Shazam your favorite songs and send them my way!
I found a female J-vlogger!
Ask and I shall receive.
My conversation partner and I were talking about Fukuoka, and he was telling me about their accent and how kawaii it sounds. I figured there would be 0 results in English, so I searched for 「福岡弁 」(Fukuoka dialect) on YouTube, and who did I find?
Riko-san!
SUGOI
I really wanted to find a girl vlogger, not just for the sake of variety, but also so I wouldn't end up sounding like a boy! I love Sharla, Micaela, and Mimei, but none of them are native Japanese. Not only was I excited to find Riko's Fukuoka videos, but she is actually a pretty prolific vlogger and is still very active! I hit the jackpot. Maybe in the future, we can all try to translate her videos :)
My conversation partner and I were talking about Fukuoka, and he was telling me about their accent and how kawaii it sounds. I figured there would be 0 results in English, so I searched for 「福岡弁 」(Fukuoka dialect) on YouTube, and who did I find?
Riko-san!
SUGOI
I really wanted to find a girl vlogger, not just for the sake of variety, but also so I wouldn't end up sounding like a boy! I love Sharla, Micaela, and Mimei, but none of them are native Japanese. Not only was I excited to find Riko's Fukuoka videos, but she is actually a pretty prolific vlogger and is still very active! I hit the jackpot. Maybe in the future, we can all try to translate her videos :)
Suru: your new best friend
Suru (する--no kanji. We love those!), for those of you who don't know, means, "to do." As you can imagine, this is an immensely useful verb. Not only is it used a heck of a lot, but you can also attach it onto nouns, and together they become a verb. As a student, you may have been taught 「勉強をする（べんきょうをする）」(benkyou wo suru), which means "to study." "Benkyou" (勉強) just means "study" on its own. Adding "wo" (を) allows suru to modify benkyou, so it becomes "doing study."
Now, this is the correct way to say "study." This word, suru, makes hundreds of nouns into verbs in proper Japanese. But this post is here to draw you to the survival aspect of suru. In a pinch, this verb can help you get your meaning across. If you know a noun but not the related verb, try slapping 「をします」after it, and the listener should understand. Case and point: if I wanted to say I was driving a car, I couldn't. I don't know the verb for driving. But doing a/the car (車をします/kuruma wo shimasu), don't you think the listener would understand? And I'm sure they'd also teach you the proper way to say it afterward.
Obviously, don't make a habit of it. But as I will say time and time again, language is for communicating, for getting a meaning across. It is not about writing essays. That comes later.
Now, this is the correct way to say "study." This word, suru, makes hundreds of nouns into verbs in proper Japanese. But this post is here to draw you to the survival aspect of suru. In a pinch, this verb can help you get your meaning across. If you know a noun but not the related verb, try slapping 「をします」after it, and the listener should understand. Case and point: if I wanted to say I was driving a car, I couldn't. I don't know the verb for driving. But doing a/the car (車をします/kuruma wo shimasu), don't you think the listener would understand? And I'm sure they'd also teach you the proper way to say it afterward.
Obviously, don't make a habit of it. But as I will say time and time again, language is for communicating, for getting a meaning across. It is not about writing essays. That comes later.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)