I Love Technology

Let's face it. For me, technology is both a blessing and a curse. But I think even the "curse" side of it has its positives. There's a definite duality to it. The obvious downsides are it makes me WAY too sedentary. So many things I enjoy doing involve little to no movement, and technology (computers, video games, instant downloads, etc.) take a lot of movement out of so many things, such as driving to the local movie store to rent a film. Sure, it's not like you're gonna be walking a mile while traversing the walls of crap in Blockbuster, but you -are- moving!

That said, technology is absolutely wonderful. It really does bring the world to your fingertips. It's safe to say that I wouldn't know nearly as much about Japan were it not for the internet, and computers in general. There are of course things you need to take with a grain of salt when getting information from a less than reputable source, but to be able to be in contact with anyone from anywhere at any time is fascinating to me. If you stop, step back and take a look at the scope of all that, it's pretty mind boggling. A friend shared this with me some time ago, and I think it's relevant to what I'm talking about!

Did You Know: Social Media - Watch more Funny Videos

So, needless to say, technology as been instrumental in helping me learn Japanese. I've certainly not skimped on tangible objects (books, flashcards, etc) to help me learn. But also a variety of computer based programs. My most recent addition (as of 2 months ago, or so) has been "My Japanese Coach" for the Nintendo DS.

There's a variety of mini games that help reinforce the vocabulary you learn in each lesson. One thing that has been invaluable for me is the "Writing Card" function, which lets you trace over (thus far) hiragana, gradually fading out the pre-drawn image, leaving you to draw it on your own. It's fairly precise too. It counts how many strokes you've drawn (an important factor in writing them, of course), and can analyze if what you've drawn is close enough to be acceptable. It does have some flaws, yes. I've realized after drawing certain characters incorrectly (よ - yo, for example, I'd put the upper horizontal line on the other side) it still told me I was correct.

The fact that the exercises have me do these in a time limit really strains my brain, because even as well as I think I may have my kana memorized, having to recall what a particular one looks like (and draw it!) is quite challenging, and very fulfilling when I am correct! Interactivity is key when you're self teaching. Not just reading books (which are also so helpful), but getting a chance to practice and receive responses to your input is great.

 

 

Keeping Things Rollin'

A few days in and I'm staying on track. Nothing to boast about, but I'm happy that I'm keeping my motivation up! The reviewing goes smoothly. I'm still covering material I've previously gone over, but I think it's necessary to cement the information that didn't get a chance to fully take hold earlier.

I've often given thought to applying for the JET program. I approach this in the same way I approached my studying overseas in England. It would give me a real reason to spend time in Japan. It would also be a gigantic motivator towards many of my goals involving work, health, studies, etc. The next round of applications begins in September. That's not an unreasonable thought, I think. Something serious to ponder :)

-Brendan

Getting back into the swing of things.

So, it's been quite some time since my last post. And honestly, it had been some time since my last self-taught lesson, too. After the flu I found it very difficult to get back into the habit of studying. I kept going over in my head the things I'd learned, so they wouldn't fall out of use, but even that became less frequent. Much easier to do was keep up with my music listening and movie watching. I'm certainly not going to commend myself for that though, as I'd be doing it anyways!

Trouble began brewing when I'd try to recall some things that I know I had learned at one point, but then would struggle to remember. I didn't want to resort to looking it up, as I know that I'd knew it. But it wouldn't come to me. It was then that I realized I'd have to repeat my previous course to reconnect with this material. I've started that today. The good news is that out of 130 questions, I only got 4 wrong. I'm recalling the information easily, so it's not long gone from my grey matter, merely the path has become cluttered and I have to find my way again :)

It's refreshing to start this again, as I've begun feeling a bit aimless in my day to day life this past month. I think this bit of structure was something I was sorely lacking. When presented with the problems and obstacles of everyday life, it's easy to forget your long term goals and not focus on them. But if you do that, then what are you really living for? Live for the day, sure, but save for tomorrow. I want to put this knowledge to use, so as part of my New Year's Resolution, I've vowed to make strides in my language learning. That may involve taking a classroom course at some point (I have to see what's available), or just stepping up my program. We'll see.

Anyways, dear (non-existant) readers, and me, consider this my re-entry to this tiny webspace, and back to my study habits!

またね、

　ブレンダン

Flu...

I apologize, mostly to myself hehe, for not updating. I've been downtrodden with the flu for the past week and that has hampered basically any progress with my language studies. I can't even watch shows in Japanese with subtitles because it's so much effort to concentrate and read what's going on... talk about feeling miserable :(  Anyhow, I seem to be somewhat on the mend, so hopefully I can resume soon! Get better, me!

-Brendan

Nighttime Practice

As I lay in bed about to fall asleep, I decided to give myself a little test to see what words I could remember for the day. At first I was drawing a complete blank, but as I concentrated, the words trickled in one by one. I remembered nearly all of it!

I called up my blog on my phone to verify if I was correct, and figured I'd try a mobile post. Technology is freaky. Goodnight!

Busy, busy, busy

What an odd week it's been. I've been studying (a bit more sporadically) this past week, but I'm definitely out of my normal sleep pattern, and that's been messing me up in all sorts of ways! Things have finally settled down with the reacquisition of my car (don't ask), and no impromptu trips to the repair shop. My ability to study really depends on how well rested I am, and the complexity of the information I'm going to be studying. If it's a review of material I'm already familiar with, I can do those lessons fairly easily. Being able to prove to myself that I remember information, even while I am tired, is actually beneficial for me. It reaffirms the fact that I am learning and can easily recall information. This newest core lesson was a different story, however.

Wow.

What a load of new information this lesson was! I opened it up three nights ago in an attempt to start it and was bombarded with sentences that I did not understand at least 75% of. I knew then and there that I was not going to be able to process all this new information that evening (having just finished the lesson which took me 1 and a half hours, I am secure in my decision!). But being well rested today and able to concentrate, I stuck it through. I've learned a lot of new things and am anxious to learn more about the key points shown to me.

For a bit of an extracurricular activity, I decided to finish a digital painting I started some months ago, a portrait of Ayumi Hamasaki, who I've mentioned a couple of times thus far. While collecting her albums, I happened upon a nice image of her, and I thought that trying to paint it would be some good practice for me. Normally my artistic tendencies are very illustrative and cartoonish. I haven't done a "real" painting in nearly five years, if not longer, since my college days. It took quite some time, but I finished it this week (I'm much better at being creative than studying while tired).

浜崎あゆみ - by Yours Truly

-Brendan

Things I learned today

• asa = morning
• hiru = afternoon
• yuugata = evening
• yoru = night
• asagohan = breakfast (asa  - morning / gohan - meal, lit. morning meal)
• hirugohan = lunch
• yuugohan = dinner

 

• hataraku = to work (as in a job)
• shigoto = job
  
• gakkou = school
• byouin = hospital
• resutoran = restaurant 

 

• okunai = indoors
• soto = outdoors
• itsu = when (itsu hataraite imasuka When do you work?)

 

• shimai = sisters
• kyoudai = brothers/sisters

 

• mae = before
• ato = after 

 

• kochira = this person

Questions on my mind

• What does "kimasu" mean in the following sentence?

juugo wa juuroku no mae ni kimasu

•  I understand the gist of the sentence is "15 comes before 16", but thus far I don't recognize "kimasu", perhaps it means "to come"? I will have to look it up!

Parting practice phrases

•  Kono onna no hito tachi wa okunai de hataraite imasu. このおんなのひとたちはおくないではたらいています。 These women work indoors. 
• Kare wa tamago wo motte imasu ga, tabete imasen. かれはたまごをもっていますが、たべていません。He has an egg, he's not eating it.
• Kare wa shigoto no mae ni koohii wa nomimasu. かれはしごとのまえにコーヒーはのみます。 He drinks coffee before work.
  

Practice, practice, practice

I've been diligently keeping up with my studies. My lack of posts has mainly been due to my screwy sleeping schedule as of late. Normally I'm a night-owl, I like to draw into the wee hours of the night. That's also the time my studying has been falling into as well. And usually, even if I study earlier in the day (like today), I'll write these entries at night. My schedule has been having me hit the hay pretty early lately, so I'm a little behind on updating this journal here. I don't think anyone is keeping track of it but me though, so it's okay.

Anyways, I've just wrapped up my current lesson plan, which the core lesson I last posted about covered. It was an interesting span and I still find myself picking up more on the intricacies of the Japanese language. It's rather amazing how hardwired ones brain becomes when it learns it's owner's native language, so much so that it really struggles to adapt to the structure of a completely different one. Some Japanese friends tell me I should have an easy time learning Japanese because it's a simple language, and there are only a few characters to learn (not including Kanji of course), while they find English can be difficult. I, naturally, feel exactly the opposite. But it has caused me amazement to think of how special a child's brain is to really grasp the complexity of language and make such deep associations that will last their lifetime. It's times like this I wish I could do a selective temporary memory wipe, learn a new language as a "child" and regain my old memory on top of it!

I've dedicated the last handful of days to committing 29 katakana characters to memory, including the ones in my last post. One of the things that throws me off the most, when I see them used in other forms of print, are the different fonts. I suppose the differences equate to serifs on roman-lettered fonts. You might think one little dash is an integral part of the form the character, whereas it may really be a "brushstroke", which while important to the traditional form of the kana, can be left out on a more modern font. My method of associating a picture with a character to keep it fresh in memory definitely helps, but is sometimes trumped by this font difference. I'll overcome this hurdle in time!

-Brendan

Things I learned today

• I'm much better at understanding what I'm hearing than I am at replying in a simple sentence on the spot
• byouki = sick/ill
• tsukarete = tired/exhausted

Questions on my mind

• Why, when stating the color of a suit, is the structure slightly different for black and grey? Kuroi suutsu = black suit / Haiiro no suutsu = grey suit. Why is the no necessary for haiiro and not kuroi?

Parting practice phrase

Watashi wa se ga takai desu. わたしはせがたかいです。 I'm tall.