In my time zone it, it is past Monday technically. However, I'm making this post as if it is Monday and I will be making another one during the day after I wake up tonight. I wasn't able to make a post during the day today because of higher priorities, which means I'm off to a bad start in terms of studying Japanese on my own.
I was informed today by my friend that she could give me some Japanese study materials when we next met, so maybe I can add that to my study regiment. Also, I found my copy of Japanese For Busy People I today so I might also take chapters out of that to include into my daily routine. I also took a look at MIT OpenCourseware for Japanese. While the resource looks nice and I was thinking about following along with their syllabus, there are lots of holes that can't be filled while not in a classroom setting, so it's not likely that I'll pursue that course.
Anyway, 行きましょう！
Anki (JLPT Kanji)
I had already started Anki a few days ago, so my word count on the JLPT 4 Kanji is pretty high now. While I understand what most of the characters mean due to my Chinese upbringing, it's difficult for me to remember how to write and pronounce them. What I find most difficult about the kanji is the volume of different readings (On-yomi and Kun-yomi) that make me wonder how long it takes people to read or learn to read in Japanese. For now, I'll try to memorize one kun-yomi and one on-yomi reading. Of course, more would be better, but realistically speaking it would be hard for me to memorize them all.
After my Anki session of 9 kanji (5 new, 4 review), these are the kanji that I remember:
間 - on-yomi: ケン, カン kun-yomi:あいだ
見 - on-yomi:キン(?) kun-yomi:みる, みえる
食 - on-yomi: ?? kun-yomi: たべる
人 - on-yomi: ジン kun-yomi: ひと
JapanesePod101 Lessons
I'll be starting off with the Beginner Season 4 Lesson 1. I'm only doing one lesson today because of how late it is. I might try to make up for it by doing three or four lessons tomorrow.
The lesson was with OUZORA Haruya-san. He did a monologue introducing himself to the audience.
This is the vocabulary from the lesson, I'll be adding these to Anki.
皆さん - みなさん everyone
彼女 - かのじょ woman, girlfriend
結婚する - けっこんする to get married (class 3 verb??)
会う - あうto meet
緊張する - きんちょうする to feel nervous
名前 - なまえ name
プロボクサー - pro boxer
今年 - ことし this year
出身 - しゅっしん person's origins (hometown, country)
足立区 - あだちく Adachi ward
千葉県 - ちばけん Chiba prefecture (Kanto Region)
成田市 - なりたし Narita city
東京都 - とうきょうと Tokyo prefecture
Other vocabulary words not explicitly stated in the lesson:
父 - ちち father (casual)
居る - いる to be (for animated objects), to exist
母 - はは mother (casual)
So this is how I would introduce myself:
こっにちわ、ライラです、しゅっしんは アメリカです。OR
こっにちわ、ライラです、アメリカしゅっしんです。
Human Japanese
I have already started using HJ for a few days now and I am on Chapter 9 now. This chapter is easy since it's about numbers. However, the last chapter had a huge vocabulary section so I will be reviewing that as well.
Things I didn't previously know:
The hundreds! (百)
ひゃく
にひゃく
さんびゅく
よんひゃく
ごひゃく
ろっぴゃく
ななひゃく
はっぴゃく
きゅうひゃく
The thousands! (千)
せん
にせん
さんぜん
よんせん
ごせん
ろくせん
ななせん
はっせん
きゅうせん
Ten thousand! (万)
One hundred million! (おく)
I realize this post is exceedingly long. However, that is to be expected. After all, each day will consist of several lessons and several new vocabulary words to go along with those lessons. I'm anticipating that this lesson will be among the shorter posts for the days. Perhaps I will break up the posts into different sections so that they're more manageable to read through.
