久しぶりですね？

I've been in a rut lately with studying Japanese, but I've found a new motivation! I want to take a class whose prerequisite includes the first Japanese course. Therefore, I need to study effectively and fast in order to pass that benchmark.

I've moved on to trying more structured courses including Rosetta Stone and Genki textbooks.  This way I feel as if I've actually learned something with my studies.

An introduction of myself:
はじめまして。ライラともします。大学院生です。二年生です。専門はコンピューターです。今年、十八歳です。　家族は六人です。父と母と兄と姉と姉と私です。どうぞよろしくお願いします。

S2 Day 4: Progress!

Wow, I think my approach this year is far better than last year.  I feel as if I can really see progress! I mean, I can actually read parts of a sentence and roughly know what it's talking about!

I took a sample quiz or two on the Meguro Learning Center page and my marks weren't bad! I feel motivated all over again to really pass that N5 landmark and I think I'll only need a month at this rate (assuming I don't fall back) and then after that maybe I'll be motivated still to get through the N4 material? I really hope so! One of the things I'm really lacking though is being able to remember how to write the kanji.  I can read and recognize them, but I don't remember how they look when I go to write!

I do feel a little embarrassed that I still don't have the katakana re-memorized.  I'm really lazy though to learn them all again, so I mainly just kind of guess at what they are (it's pretty easy if the particular word comes in English).

昨日はとってもあつい！

S2 Day 3: Conjugations!

It's about time I got down and finally learned how to conjugate things properly. I'll probably compile this into an Anki deck when I stop being lazy, but for now, here it goes.

na-adjectives

好き
positive non-past: 魚が好きなタイプ。
negative non-past: 魚が好きじゃないタイプ。
positive past: 魚が好きだったタイプ。
negative past: 魚が好きじゃなかったタイプ。

So in this case, the sentences above describe Type and whether the type is one that likes, doesn't like, liked, or didn't like fish.

i-adjectives

高い
positive non-past: 高い
negative non-past: 高くない
positive past: 高かった
negative past: 高くなかった

With these, we can add the conjugation directly to the front of a noun. So 高い男の子 would mean tall boy and 高くなかった男の子 would mean boy who was not tall.

The only exception to the conjugation is いい which means good.

いい
positive non-past: いい
negative non-past: よくない（良くない）
positive past: よかった（良かった）
negative past: よくなかった（良くなかった）

The adjective かっこいい, cool, behaves the same way.

一段動詞 Type II -ru Verbs

見る（みる）
positive non-past: 見る
negative non-past: 見ない

五段動詞 Type I -u Verbs

飲む（のむ）
positive non-past: 飲む
negative non-past: 飲まない

I don't know if I want to tackle memorizing the past forms for the verbs since I feel as if I already have enough to memorize for today.

S2 Day 2: Japanese Learning Communities

I really want to get a study partner (someone who is also natively an English speaker (or even French might be acceptable) and is learning Japanese, so I've been exploring different language learning communities.

Some of the well-kept secrets I found were http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum and http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/.

Other resources I found today were http://jisho.org/ which is an online Japanese<->English dictionary and https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/jipdnfibhldikgcjhfnomkfpcebammhp which is the rikai extension for Google Chrome.

I've also been taking a new direction and trying to follow the AJATT way of mastering Japanese by just exposing myself to as much Japanese listening as possible as well as learning as many sentences as possible.

Sentences for today:
ベジタリアンです。だから　肉はだめだ。
I'm a vegetarian, so meat is no good.

この傘は幾多ですか？
How much is this umbrella?

静かな彼女は馬鹿ですね？
The quiet girl is stupid, isn't she?

S2 Day 2 Grammar Review

Since it has been about a year since I've studied any Japanese, I'm reviewing grammar points for today so that I can write sentences!

I'm starting off with Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese.

I went through the chapters through the i-adjectives.  I keep forgetting how to conjugate those ones.

There's also a publicly available Anki set for Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese which is an excellent study supplement!

Study Plan Session 2

I'm going to work on building up writing and reading skills for this session. Previously (last year), I was trying to tank my way into Japanese by learning as much vocabulary as possible.  However, learning vocabulary without learning much grammar and sentence structure really hinders applicable language learning and becomes discouraging in the long run (as I cannot see the results of my efforts).

This session, I'm aiming to be able to write something a little less basic than just the standard introduction.  It's good that I've built up some vocabulary, but I also need to learn how to apply what I've learned to something meaningful.

The study plan goals are:
- Learn grammar points from http://thejapanesepage.com/grammar.htm
- Learn grammar points from Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese
- Retain vocabulary by writing a few sentences everyday
- Learn vocabulary related to talking about oneself

I'm keeping the study plan free form and only including the goals of this session. Because I have a full-time job, I don't want to plan out my study habits and find that I cannot follow through on them because of not having the time to complete them.

Session 2 Day 1 Kanji

In order to make the kanji for the JLPT N5 (formally known as JLPT 4), I thought it would be better to have phrases with the specific kanji in it along with sentences that apply that phrase. This list was gathered from http://www.jlptstudy.com/N5/ which I highly recommend for studying the JLPT.
一

一握り （ひとにぎり）n. adj-no. handful, small handful

近所には一握りのいたずらっ子がいる。
きんじょにはひとにぎりのいたずらっこがいる。
There are a small handful of naughty boys in my neighborhood.

近所（きんじょう） n. neighborhood

一員（いちいん） n. person, member

君はいまやエリート集団の一員だ。
きみはいまやエリートしゅうだんのいちいんだ。
You are now among the elite.

集団（しゅうだん）n. group, mass

Revival of Journey to JLPT

I will be trying to go back and study Japanese again this summer (mostly only for this month), but again, I'll be documenting my study of Japanese and perhaps trying to optimize other beginners' learning of Japanese later.

Study Lapse

I've had a little bit of a lapse in my posts this past week. However, I'm back up and ready to keep at it! In order to make the posts more accurately spread out, I'm going to put a "fake" time stamp on the posts. This means that starting with Day 10, the actual posted days are inaccurate, but I feel it will be better spread out in that way. I'll be making up all of last weeks posts with "fake" timestamps. I'm hoping that by next week I'll be back on track again!

がんばりましょう！

Day 11: Anki

JLPT 4 Kanji List:
上 - top
下- bottom
東 - east
左- left
中 - center, middle
生 - origin

Everyday Phrases:
ラジオ - radio
お手洗い - bathroom
部屋 - bedroom
明後日 - the day after tomorrow
一昨日 - the day before yesterday
コンピューター - computer

Day 10: Anki

This is a make up done 7/29/09.

Upon opening Anki, it listed 45 cards due today with an additional 5 new cards for the JLPT Level 4 Kanji and 58 cards due and 10 new cards for the Everyday Phrases deck.

左 - left
先 - before, ahead, precedence
下 - down
プロボクサー - pro boxer

Day 9: Anki

Words that I remember:

ホーク - fork
居る - to be
読む - to read
飲む - to drink
流し台 - sink
大 - big, large
雨 - rain

Day 8: Human Japanese

Chapter 12
This chapter dealt with the question marker か. This was pretty simple since I already knew about the function of か and how it turns a sentence into a question when added to the end of the sentence. They also introduced そう in this lesson which means "that way/so" as a way to respond to a question. The third thing introduced was 何 (なに / なん) meaning "what."

Chapter 13
This was a vocabulary lesson titled "A Stroll Through Town."

Vocabulary:
店 - みせ store, shop
レストラン - restaurant
スーパーマーケット - supermarket
スーパー - supermarket (abbr.)
ゆうびんきょく - post office
えき - train station
コンビニ - convenience store
こうばん - police box
ぎんこう - bank
-や - store suffix
パン - bread
パン屋 - bread store (bakery)
やさん - person who works at store
ほんやさん - bookseller

き - tree
くさ - grass
はな - flower
かわ - river
みずうみ - lake
やま - mountain
そら - sky
たいよう - sun
くも - cloud
あめ - rain

じてんしゃ - bicycle
バイク - motorized cycle
オートバイ - automatic bicycle (motorcycle)
くるま - car
たくしい - taxi
バス - bus
バス停 - ばすてい bus stop
電車 - でんしゃ train
ちかてつ - subway
みち - road

Chapter 14
We switch back to grammar in this chapter. HJ talks about the は particle.

Vocabulary:
わたし - I/me
あなた - you
ともだち - friend
ひと - person
そのひと - that person
-たち - pluralizer
-さん - polite name suffix

Normally, any noun in Japanese can be interpreted as one or many. For example 犬 could be one dog or many dogs. However, there's a special case for people. You can use たち after a type of person to indicate more than one. For example せんせいたち means "the teachers."

In the case of さん, you would attach it to any person's name. However, for friends and coworkers (in the same company), you need not use the さん suffix as coworkers are considered a sort of family.

"You" is not commonly used in Japan. More often, the Japanese use the persons name instead of a pronoun to refer to "you." あなた is usually used when you don't know the person's name or you just met them and forgot their name.

And then the lesson goes into the conjugation of です which I already know.

Cultural Note: Trains
In this lesson note, it talks about how the Japanese commute to school or work via the extensive train system. Bicycles are seen all over Japan as a way to get to trains, and some commuters even have two bikes, one to get to the train, and one waiting after getting off to get to their workplace.

The biggest train in Japan is the JR and the fastest is the bullet train (しんかんせん) that can travel at 300 km/h. As a tourist, you can purchase a train pass that lets you ride any of the trains for an unlimited amount per day until it expires.

Day 8: Kanji Practice!

The words I did today were:
社 - シャ office
空 - そら sky
読む - よむ to read
外 - ガイ, ゲ outside

Day 8: Anki

Words that I remember:
読む - よむ to read
畳 - たたみ tatami
床 - ゆか wooden floor
お箸 - おはし chopsticks
障子 - しょうじ sliding paper door
冷蔵庫 - れいぞうこ refrigerator
布団 - ふとん futon
カウチ - couch

Day 7: KeyHoleTV

After talking to someone on palabea, I started watching KeyHoleTV. It's a program that lets you watch free live Japanese TV. I think it's good listening practice, but unfortunately I haven't been picking up very much. Hopefully as I learn the sentence structure and gain a larger vocabulary, I can watch the TV and learn some new words!

Reflecting on the week, I definitely think that I need a solid grammar base in order to progress with my listening, writing, and speaking skills. Hopefully with gaining a new friend online who is at an intermediate level of Japanese, we can converse and study Japanese together.

Study Plan Day 8-14

I want to implement some study plan changes based off of some new web applications I found and the difficulty level and speed at which I'm learning Japanese in each of the learn Japanese resources I'm using. For this new week, I'll plan out each day separately.

Also, I've decided to discontinue including the Beb and Alex podcast with my formal studies. I'll still listen to their podcast, but I won't try to seriously focus on the new vocabulary or grammar. Mostly, I'll just listen for the fun of listening.

Everyday: 20-30 minutes
0. Review previous day's post
1. Anki review (BOTH decks)
2. Write Kanji from the JLPT 4 list
3. Katakana Practice

Day 8:
4. Chapter 12 through Cultural Note of Human Japanese (Write and +Anki)
7. Review Past JPod101 lessons (esp. grammar points)

Day 9
4. Chapters 15-18 of Human Japanese (Write and +Anki)
7. 100 grammar points Chapters 1-2

Day 10
4. Chapters 19-22 of Human Japanese (Write and +Anki)
7. 100 grammar points chapters 3-4

Day 11
4. Chapters 23-24 of Human Japanese (write and +Anki)
7. 100 grammar points chapters 5-6

Day 12
4. Chapters 25-Cultural Note of HJ (write and +Anki)
7. 100 Grammar Points chapters 7-8

Day 13
4. Chapters 28-31 (write and +Anki)
7. JPod101 Lesson 7

Day 14
4. Watch drama(s) or anime(s) of choice
5. Write about the drama or anime
6. Reflect on the week, revise as necessary

Day 6: お風呂 and 温泉 as well as everyday phrases

Between Chapters 10 and 11, the HJ lessons included an intermission with a cultural note about おふろ and おんせん. I already knew most of it from watching the Happy Hour Japan videos, but I liked how HJ talked about some of the history and included images of the private showers and public baths. The basic gist is that you must clean yourself before going to a public ofuro and you must strip all the way down. Virtually all the testimonials say that the onsen is a fantastic experience and recommend to go to one even if you're uncertain about the nudity factor.

Chapter 11 was common phrases that I often hear in anime and jdrama.
いってきます - I'm leaving! (lit: I'm going and coming back)
いってらっしゃい - see you when you get home! (lit: go and come back)
ただいま - I'm home! (lit: right now)
おかえりなさい - welcome back!
おやすみなさい - good night
しつれいします - Excuse me (lit: I'm being rude / I will commit rudeness)
さよなら - goodbye (for longer absences >year)
では - dewa well then...
じゃ、また - see you later

The chapter finished off with the "m" and "y" rows of Katakana.

Day 6: Dialects

Osaka
Lesson 7: Asking someone out in Osaka dialect
I definitely found the いかへん really odd sounding. Not only that word, but the inflection sounds so alien when we switch from Tokyo dialect to Osaka dialect.

Vocabulary:
買い物 - かいもの shopping
おもてたけど (Tokyo) or おもててんけど (Osaka)- I was thinking of....

Kansai
I decided to make this post all about dialects, so I've skipped Lesson 8 for now to look at their Fun Friday episode on the Kansai dialect.

ぼちぼちえんな - not bad
どうでっか - how's it going? (どうですか)
あかんわ - bad!

Miyazaki
Lesson 10: Miyazaki Dialect (prefecture southeast of Kyushu island)

To say "how are you?"
元気 に しちょっち？
元気 に しちょる？
元気 やじ？

To say "long time no see"
Standard dialect: さいきん ぜんぜん みてないけどどうしてるの？
Miyazaki dialect: さいきん　ぜんぜん　みちょらんけん　どんげん　しちょっと
あ、げんき　に　しちょるよ

Other common Miyazaki dialect things:
さみ instead of さむい (cold)
こせん instead of でしょう (isn't it)

Sometimes the verbs end in CHAWA or CHAGA.

Day 6: 家の漢字

Today, Anki gave me mostly the kanji for the house that I didn't remember and also a couple of words from the 応空春や story on JPod101.

Words I remember:
家 - いえ house
屋根 - やね roof
お風呂 - bath
お風呂場 - bath room
窓 - まど window
冷蔵庫 - れいぞうこ refrigerator
台所 - だいどころ kitchen
椅子 - いす chair
居間 - いま living room
床 - ゆか hardwood floor