PE Final Reflection

Looking back at my goals, I definitely did the shadowing exercises I planned to do, including casual speech practice. My speaking speed is a little faster, but I still have a long way to go. I'll have to practice speed much more from now on. I have listened to Japanese media, but not as much as I intended to initially. Overall, I improved in the areas I wanted to, but I wasn't able to do all the outside-of-class/homework activities in my previous goals statement.

食べ物

みなさん、

おはようございます。今日雨がふっているけど、ルームメートとピザやアイスクリームを食べに行きました。天気がわるかったけど、昼ごはんはおいしかったです。

私はりょうりをするのが大好きです。やすみの時、よく友達といろいろデザートをします。たとえば、



今年たいていウィットマンの食堂でたべました。だけど、来年食堂で食べないつもりです。来年私はりょうりをするつもりです。来年、へやのとなりにキッチンがあります。いいですね。毎週くだ物ややさいを買いにバスでスーパーマーケットに行こうと思っています。

フランス

私はフランスに行ったことがあります。作夏にフランスのみなみでとまりました。勉強しに行ったけど、たのしかったでした。そこで、古いところをみったり、おいしい食べ物をたべたりしました。たくさんしゃしんをとりました。
この山を見って、しゃしんをとりました。この山はとてもゆうめいですよ。というのはポールセザン(Paul Cezanne)がよくこの山のえを書きました。






フランスできれいなきょうかいをみました。このきょうかいは、まどがとても大きいですね。



びじゅつかんでおもしろいものがありました。たとえば、これはナポーレオンのいすだったと思います。

春休み

先週は春休みでした。私は家に帰って、月曜日から木曜日までゆっくりをしました。本を読んだり、アニメを見たりしました。一日に九時間ごろ寝ました。

時々友だちはメールで作った食べもののしゃしんを見せました。おいしそうでした。しゃしんを見て、私もりょうりを作りたかったから、金曜日に、友だちと会って、いっしょにりょうりをしました。りょうりはからくて、おいしいでした。

土曜日にも友だちと会いました。新しいえいがを見ました。えいがはおもしろくて、かわいいでした。

PE Spring Semester Revised Goals

Goals:

• To improve my speaking speed without become unnatural or difficult to understand.

Activities:

• Do shadowing exercises that use vocabulary from class (ex. shadowing Nakama audio)
• Listen to more Japanese media (anime, songs, radio) and listen more carefully than I usually do
• Ask my phone questions in Japanese
• Instead of going to Japanese tables regularly, since my schedule is busier this semester, I will practice speaking with a friend who also studies Japanese
• Memorize a poem or something similar to a poem, so that I can recite it to myself and become more comfortable with it. I did this sometimes when studying French and it was usually helpful in the long run.

私の家族

私の家族は四人家族です。父と母と姉と私です。両親はインドから来たけど、今アメリカ人です。ニュージャージーにすんでいます。父はおだやかで、まじめです。何時もめがねをかけています。母は明るくて、親切です。母はりょうりが上手です。姉は二十四さいです。のんびりしているです。そして、しゃしんをとるのが上手です。姉も父もニューヨークにつとめています。

中休み

先週（一月２４日から３１日）は中休みでした。金曜日にうちでかえりました。金曜日のばんにふぶきがありました。土曜日になにもしましたが、よかったです。スープをたべて、あねとテレビをみました。そして、本を三さつよみました。おもしろかったです。火曜日にははとかいものをしました。ブーツを二つかいました。そして、コンピュータゲームをしました。土曜日に大学にいって、ルームメートとレストランでハンバーガーをたべました。中休みはよかったです。

PE Goals for Spring Semester

Goals:

• To improve my pitch patterns and speaking speed

Activities:

• Do shadowing exercises that use vocabulary from class (ex. shadowing Nakama audio)
• Go to Beginner Japanese Language Table at least twice per month
• Go to regular (Monday) Japanese Language Table at least once a month
• Listen to more Japanese media (anime, songs, radio)
• Ask my phone questions in Japanese

PE Final Reflection

My focuses for pronunciation this semester were pitch pattern, speed, avoiding habits from English, and articulation/accuracy. I definitely improved in all of those areas, although my prosody needs a lot of work. It's going to take me a little longer to get used to applying some of the pronunciation rules I learned. Sometimes I'm so focused on remembering grammar that I forget to worry about pitch patterns, so that's where I'll put most of my attention from now on. I'm much better now at knowing what I'm doing wrong, so hopefully I will be able to better self-evaluate and practice in the future.

I didn't get as much exposure to Japanese audio outside of class as I wanted to, but that's because the semester was very busy! I enjoyed the anime shadowing exercises and just listening to Japanese in general, and I plan to keep improving my speech as much as I can :)

私のへや

これわ私のへやのしゃしんです。つくえの上たくさんえやポスターがあります。ノラガミのポスターをもらいました。そのポスターはしゃしんのひだりにあります。ポスターのひだりに日本のしゅうじがあります。ノラガミのポスターの下にWolf　Children(おおかみ子供のあめとゆき）のポスターがあります。そのポスターのひだりにもしゅうじがあります。でも、えいがのしゅうじです。

A NORAGAMI poster and Japanese calligraphy have made it onto my wall!

冬休み

冬休みに友だちとケーキをつくりました。ケーキの上に小さいうえと川と木がありました。おいしかったです。

A green tea flavor cake that I made with my friend for Christmas!

おおみそかに友だちとゲームをしました。そして、あねとテレビをみました。たのしかったです。一月にたくさんテストがあるので、べんきょうしました。

てがみ

I wrote this letter for homework. I tried to make it like a real letter to a Japanese friend, but it probably has some stylistic errors. Writing letters is hard, even in English! The picture quality is a little low; sorry about that...

日本のけんのはた

日本のけんのはたにひらがなとかたかながありますよ。とてもおもしろくてきれいです。私はそのはたがだいすきです。
Take a look at these wonderfully designed flags for Japanese prefectures:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Japanese_flags#Prefectural_flags

Can you see the stylized hiragana/katakana in the flag designs?
Miyagi prefecture flags has a stylized version of み:










So does Mie:

Fukushima's flag has a stylized ふ:

Hiroshima's flag has a stylized ヒ:

きれいなはたですね。

PE7: Reflection and Revised Goals

I think I learned a lot in the first half of Japanese 101! My pitch patterns are getting better, and my speed is definitely starting to improve (although I still have to stop and think about grammar sometimes). My articulation isn't terrible, but anime shadowing tells me there's more work to be done there.

I haven't been following my plan perfectly, but it's going well so far, so I'm going to keep the same plan but focus on the things I haven't been following.
Revised plan:
1. Speak more often at Japanese Table. Don't just listen!
2. Go to Shibata Sensei's office hours weekly or minimum biweekly if scheduling is difficult
3. Do more extra PE exercises
4. Learn a few Japanese songs (or parts of songs) that I enjoy
5. Listen to more Japanese audio, (~10 min/day)

ビデオ

にほんのかおもじ (Japanese Emoticons)

Today I was looking at Japanese-style emoticons, and I love how expressive they are! I also found a website that's pretty organized and convenient:

＼（＾ ＾）／ Japanese Emoticons!

At the moment, my favorite emoticon subgenre is confused faces:

(・_・ヾ           ｢(ﾟﾍﾟ)         (・・。)ゞ      【・_・?】

Blood Type (けつえき がた) Stereotypes

I think it's interesting how in Japan, different blood types are associated with different personality traits. If you want to learn about some of the stereotypes, Ketsuekigata-kun (けつえきがたくん) is a short, funny series about exactly that:

Mado Kara Mieru [song]

Here is a song in Japanese by a (non-Japanese) composer I really like, Christopher Tin. From the video description:

"Sung in Japanese, the song is a setting of five haiku about the seasons: spring, summer, autumn, winter and spring. Each verse is sung by a different singer in a different stage of their life: a child, a young woman, an older woman, a chorus of old men, and a child. The song represents the cycle of life: youth, old age, death, and then rebirth again."

(I highly recommend the entire album, Calling All Dawns, as study music. This is the only Japanese song, but that's because each song is in a different language!)

アニメ！

アニメすきです。 アニメがすきですか。Here are some anime-inspired chalk drawings I made last year. Do you recognize them? Any ideas for what I should draw this year?

Pronunciation Goals

Here are my goals and plan for improving my Japanese speech:

My goals: 1. Pitch patterns: I want to learn the correct pitch patterns for the Tokyo dialect, including the gently descending pitches in a sentence or phrase.
2. Speed: Right now my Japanese is quite slow, so I want to learn to speak at a more natural pace.
3. Avoiding habits from English: In English, we vary syllable stress, and this has been transferring to my Japanese speech. I need to pay more careful attention and avoid stressing certain syllables, instead learning to keep my voice even.
4. Articulation/Accuracy: I want to improve my articulation, especially for sounds like らりるれろ and also making sure I hold vowels for the right amounts of time.

My plan:
1. Go to Japanese Table every week and make sure I talk a lot in Japanese!
2. Go to Shibata Sensei's office hours once every two weeks (more often when possible)
3. Do extra PE exercises (more than the required 5)
4. When I watch an anime, either shadow a character for a few scenes (about a minute for now?) or sing along to the opening song (at least the chorus).
5. Listen to at least 1 hour of Japanese audio per week (~10 min/day) to get used to the intonation. For this, I like finding news radio online, because I can also play it in the background while I do some of my work.