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