Japanese Language Tools

During my time learning Japanese, I've tried many resources and have found that there's not just one magical source, but that it takes a multitude of tools to cover all the bases; and some are better than others. Here's what I am using to learn Japanese:

Language class

I have never learned so much, in such a short amount of time. Not only do you get informed and specialized instruction, but also the opportunity to put what you're learning into practice. The course I took dedicated an entire class period per week to speaking, pronunciation and conversation. The lesson focused not on learning new vocabulary, but on taking what you've already learned that week, and putting it to use. The instructor would give us prompts, and we would give answers aloud, in front of the class. We would also work on conversational skills and dialogues in small groups or pairs.

Genki textbook

The Genki Japanese textbook is well designed and formatted, with a logical and well paced introduction of material. It does a good job at teaching vocabulary and providing the grammar necessary to put it to use. It's good in a classroom setting but can also be used for self-directed study.

Lang-8

Is a social network of language learners that revolves around writing journal entries in the language that you're studying. People who speak that language natively will then correct and comment on your writing. In turn, you are able to assist people who are learning the language you already know.

When I am writing something important like a letter or a blog post in Japanese, I post it on Lang-8 first. Almost immediately, native Japanese speakers will correct my mistakes in spelling and grammar, making my writing more accurate and overall more natural sounding. I am always surprised how quick and generous the users are on this site. Also, anyone can lend a hand because we're all native speakers of some language. Let's help each other learn.

Smart.fm

I am using this primarily to study kanji and practice the vocabulary I've already learned, but don't know 100%. There are many existing vocabulary lists and users can contribute lists of their own. Lately, I've been making my own lessons, tailored to my method of learning. Let's practice together.

Unfortunately, I am unable to endorse the smart.fm platform. They've decide to shutdown the free service, exploit user-generated content, and charge an unreasonable monthly fee. I suggest everyone to stay away from any future releases from Cerego.

Rosetta Stone

A good tool for learning vocabulary, basic grammar, and to practice pronunciation. It takes a well balance approach and I appreciate that I does not rely on English to teach new material. Although, I find it lacking the human interaction of a traditional Japanese language class.

Conversation group

A place to practice the things you've learned and actually put them to use. It's helpful for understanding practical Japanese and for getting over the anxiety of speaking; it's ok to make mistakes. It also acts as a support group, good for camaraderie and for keeping each other inspired. It's hard to toil away, learning a language on ones own; get out, make some friends and have a good time.

A Measure of Proficiency

日本語うまい
にほんご うまい
nihongo umai
Your Japanese is good

Today while visting Nara, I popped into a calligraphy shop and picked up all the necessary equipment to do some serious calligraphy. Japanese calligraphy, shodou in Japanese, is something I've been dabbling in since arriving in Japan. After a few months practice, I thought it was time to try the real deal.

It was a small shop in Naramachi, an old part of town, with an elderly gentleman selling his wares. I explained to him, in Japanese, that I like shodou, but that I'm not very good yet (mada jouzu ja arimasen). I've been using a basic brush pen, the Pentel Pocket Brush to be exact (a great pen all around), but I want to buy a beginners set.

Displaying his many years of experience, he proceeded to arrange all the materials I needed. He explained, in Japanese, that I'll need two brushes, one fat (futoi), to write the main characters, and one skinny (hosoi), to write your name. Also, a simple ink stone (suzuri) and a small ink block (sumi). Additionally, it turns out one also needs a writing mat (shitajiki) and a paper weight (bunchin).

I told him that I had been studying graphic design in Osaka and he threw in an extra brush. I thanked him politely (arigatou gozaimashita) and on my way out he complimented my Japanese. It was motivating to hear this. Being able to navigate through everyday situations and to have the ability to learn from and about other people is one of my greatest accomplishments.

It set me back 7000 yen, but it showed me that perhaps there are other ways of measuring ones proficiency in language rather than an exam and a pretty piece of paper. Although, when I get back to the States, I'll give the new JLPT 5 a try.

がんばります

Ganbarimasu

I'll do my best!

Vocab:

書道

しょどう

shodou

calligraphy

筆

ふで

fude

calligraphy brush

Speaking in Japan

It has been a long time since the last post, over 5 months. During that time, I've been in Japan and haven't mentioned it once. I look back at the previous post and how I said that my weakest area was speaking Japanese. While in Japan, that's all I've been able to do.

As I may have mentioned previously, I am in Japan for a semester to study graphic design. All of my classes have been entirely in Japanese and all the friends I have made speak Japanese. Perhaps the one thing I appreciate most about coming to Japan, in regards to learning the language, is being pressured to communicate in Japanese all the time.

There are times, just after having a conversation with a friend or giving a presentation in class that I think to myself, surprised that I had just been speaking, entirely in Japanese, for the whole conversation. It is becoming a natural process, albeit not the most sophisticated. Although, as time has progressed, I am able to progress into deeper more substantial conversations about the things people have seen and done, what their family is like or things that are important to them.

I've made some good friends, learned many things (good and bad) and regret that I'll be leaving soon, too soon. I hope to write on some of my experiences in hindsight and plan to study the complexities, now that I've gotten over my apprehension of speaking and now knowing that I can be heard and understood.

Rosetta Stone: Japanese Speaking Lesson

I'm currently using Rosetta Stone as a tool to learn Japanese. The weakest element of my Japanese language skill is speaking it. Thus, the speaking lessons included in Rosetta Stone is quite helpful and fun, albeit a little strange to practice in public. Here's an example of me practicing Japanese with Rosetta Stone's speaking lesson.



As you can see in the video, the lesson goes through basic words, handy phrases, as well as constructing your own sentences. It will first tell you how to say it in Japanese while showing you a relevant photo and writing it out in Japanese text (I have mine set to Japanese with Kanji and Furigana to help me read them). Then it allows you to give your best shot at speaking in Japanese. If you make a mistake, it will show you where, and allow you to say it again until you get it right. Finally it will say the phrase in Japanese one more time and then you're on the way to learning Japanese.

Even though I sometimes trip-up and make some mistakes (you can't drink a book), it's good to start thinking in Japanese and speaking as much as possible.

Asking "how to say" in Japanese

Today in Japanese class our sensei introduced us to a handy phrase, giving us the ability to ask how to say something, that we don't already know, in Japanese.

__ は にほんご で なん と いいます か。
__ wa nihongo de nan to iimasu ka?
How do I say __ in Japanese?

Q:
Glassesはにほんごでなんといいますか。
Glasses wa nihongo de nan to iimasu ka?
How do you say Glasses in Japanese?

A:
めがねいいます。
megane iimasu.
You say megane.

This phrase is handy, especially when talking to a teacher, because they are able to take your english request and parse it into Japanese.

When in Japan, I know I will be using this phrase all the time, but my Japanese host family probably wont understand English. Thus this helpful modification is appropriate:

Q:
これはにほんごでなんといいますか。
kore wa nihongo de nan to iimasu ka?
What is this called in Japanese?

A:
それはほんです。
sore wa hon desu.
That's a book.

The next time you're not sure how to say a word in Japanese, don't be afraid to ask. Just us this valuable phrase.

Elementary Japanese 101

Tomorrow marks the first day of my institutionally structured journey to better understand the Japanese language. I will be taking Elementary Japanese 101 at a local liberal arts college, in addition to my current education at design school. The course is a requirement in order to study abroad, yet one that I am looking forward to.

We will be using the Nakama Japanese textbook and workbook. Together, they were over $100 used at the bookstore. Hello Amazon.

In my self guided study, as well as working with my Japanese tutor, we worked with the Genki textbook. Genki was accessible and tried to make learning the language fun, overall a good textbook. Solely judging by the cover of Nakama, it looks strictly business. Hopefully as we progress, it will open up a bit.

Looking forward to meeting my fellow classmates and studying hard.

As usual, がんばります！(I'll do my best!)

My Japanese Coach Review.

Many people seem to be using the Nintendo DS video game My Japanese Coach to learn the Japanese language, so I thought I would give it a play.

I have been learning Japanese, self studying, for some time now. Thus in the placement test, I tested into lesson five.

The placement test gives you a series of, at the most, 50 some questions. If you get two incorrect answers in a row, the test ends and you get placed in the appropriate lesson. The part that I fumbled up on was the days of the week. I should know them by know, so I am glad that’s where I’m starting out. The days of the week are an important thing to know.

The video game My Japanese Coach is a great resource as an introduction to the Japanese Language. It is fun and easy to get into. It starts you out with English spellings of Japanese words (romaji) and as you progress becomes written with Japanese characters (hiragana, katakana, kanji).

My only qualm is about the necessity of romaji for continued learning. It serves its role in making this game accessible, but is a crutch in the long run; if your learning a foreign language, you should use the proper characters. Thus, my word of advice: learn hiragana and katakana as soon as possible and get away from romaji just as quick.

Overall a fun game. がんばって！ (Do your best!)

See more progress on: Learn Japanese

Rosetta Stone Lesson 1 Complete!

I just started using Rosetta Stone to supplement my self directed Japanese language study. Today I completed Lesson 1 of unit 1 from the course Japanese 1.

Rosetta Stone was much more than I expected. It creates a good balance between each of the necessary language skills: speaking, reading, writing, pronunciation, grammar.

My personal favorite sections are speaking. Rosetta Stone utilizes the built in microphone in my macbook and uses voice detection and audio analysis to gauge the correctness of your pronunciation. The feature is spot on and it really helps because spoken Japanese is my weakest language area.

The vocabulary was a good selection of basic words and phrases. Hello (こんにちは), goodbye (さようなら), girl(女の子), boy(男の子), man(男の人), woman(女の人). Also with phrases like “the boys are reading books” (男の子たちは本を読んでいます).

There were two instances where I continually had difficulties pronouncing words. the “hito” in “otokonohito” (おとこのひと – man) and the word “ryouri” (りょうり – to cook) used to trip me up quite a bit. Through pronunciation practice I have a much better handle.

It is also worth mentioning the ability to learn characters in kanji with furigana (kanji with small hiragana above to show pronunciation). It surprises me but I am starting to understand pairings of kana as words in themselves rather than translating them into romaji in my mind. Eventually I will see the kana for 男の子 and know that it means boy.

On to lesson two!

See more progress on: Learn Japanese