十三番 - 千百漢字。。。。やった！

Well its been a month and I'm up to 1100!. At this rate I'm confident I can easily get through 2000 before I go to Japan in February (pending I don't party to hard over the next couple of months...) So not much else to say this post, still vague from a bucks party on the weekend but I thought I should at least post some progress to look back on.. and here it is:

A quality pic of my Kanji poster..wooooooooooooooo

I should at least add some 日本語　to the post so here's a sentence I've been meaning to type up and add to Khatzumemo:

ぼくたちが最初にあったときもしぼく早く話したらあなたはあまり理解できなかった。

十二番 －六百漢字！

Almost a month since my last post so thought this would be a good milestone to track my progress. That's right: 六百漢字...すばらしい！　For a while around the 300-400 range I felt a bit bogged down with kanji and was wondering how I would manage with so many to go. However with a few good review sessions and implementing Anki into my reviewing all came good and now I'm speeding through Heisig keeping an average of 85% correct recall when reviewing!

Also I'm now using my Kanji Poster to track my progress through heisig which is great motivation to see how many I've got through. I should of started this earlier!

Thought I would leave the hat in the Image to make it a bit more interesting!

So everything is still progressing well, although speaking isn't getting very far due to the large amounts of time spent on Heisig. 日本語がわかるようになってきたでもあまり話せない。...忍耐...

No new vocab but need to type up part of this letter I have been drafting to send to a long lost Japanese exchange student that once stayed with my family...

さちこさん、ひさしぶりです！げんきですか？ぼくは元気です。ぼくは二月から日本語のべんきょうをしてます。ぼくの日本語のべんきょうをしたかったのと、あなたがどのようにしているかしりたくてﾒｰﾙをかいています。今ぼくはシドニーに住んでいてけい景観設計のしごとをしてます。二月に二週かんともだちとほっかいどうにいってスーキーをします。たのしみです！そのあとで一週かん東京にいきます。あなたはなにおしてます？

お返事もらえるとうれいしいです。
ではまた。
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　アンドリュー

That will do for now... Oh one more thing, I finally got the Simpsons in 日本語!!
Yeah it doesn't seem like a big deal but after ordering Season 10 from amazon.jp and finding it was only the English version (ばか...) I was a bit nervous this one would be the same! Fortunately this was not the case so now I have complete season 5 and many hours to laugh at how the Simpsons humor gets translated in 日本語.

十一ばん －Transition and streamlining

So here I am 8 months in and thing are going pretty well. Still there is room for improvement, hence the title. Now I have finished my classes I can make the full transition to my preferred learning methods and continue to make my way through heisig. I few things that I have been doing need to be changed to allow better efficiency for learning:

1. No full translation of sentences to English, only translation of key words if needed.

2. Implementing Anki (srs program) into Kanji learning as well as the review process at http://kanji.koohii.com. This will ensure more constant exposure and hopefully prevent too many 'failed' cards piling up in my review stack.

3. Attendance to fortnightly langauge exchange meetup group to make help my confidence in conversation and continue to exapnd my vocabulary.

So these are the main goals to help my study now. I feel im getting to a point where my learning environment is just right for me, just a little more tweaking! :D

A few more words now:

おしえる　－To teach, inform, instruct
たとえば　－For example
ちがう　－To vary, be different
じんせい　－Human life、

十ばん - 300 and rising!

Another unstructered post full of random verbs and a couple of sentences...why? Becasue heisig calls! Just passed the 300 mark and feeling good. I will have my last japanese class next week and then full steam ahead with the Kanji. My conversation may not progress for a while but it has to be done!

とる　- to take
ねる - to sleep
かく - To write

かす　- To lend
つく - to turn on, to be lit, to catch fire
けす- To turn off, to erase, to delete, to cross out, to extiunguish
もち - To Hold, charge, keep possesion
あく - to open to, to be free, to be vacant
しめ - enclosure or end mark
とる- to take up, to pick up, to harvest
かつぐ - to carry on shoulders

しゃしん - Photograph
おみこし - Portable Shrine
はなび - Fireworks
ゆき - Snow
しあい - Game/match

こっち　- Close to this side / close to me/you
あっち - Other side/far/yonder

カメラをともだちにかしたからかれはしゃしんをとった

I lent my camera to my friend and he took a photo.

カメラをともだちにかしたかれかれはしゃしんをとることができた

I lent my camera to my friend so he could take a photo.

でんきをつけましょうか？

Shall I turn on the light

いいえあかるすぎます、ぜんぶけしてください。

No its to birght pleas turn them all off.

九ばん - I like Bing Lee

Cant think of anything interesting to write at the moment, hence the random title. Also it should be noted the original tune in the Bing Lee add is based on is a Monty Python song call 'I like Chinese'. This original song is funny but the fact Bing Lee decided to use it as their tune is even funnier!

Lets go for some adjectives then:

べんり　Convenient
からい Hot, Spicy
あまい Sweet
やさしい Easy
しずか Quiet
にかい Lively
ひま Free (not busy)
しんせつKind
すまるない Boring


And a couple of verbs:

あげる　- Give, plus many other notions of release which I cant be bothered listing
もらう - To receive, accept, take, get somebody to do something

Now of course come the sentences...

Randwickにすむことはしごとばがちかいからべんりです

Living in Randwick is convenient because it is close to work.


Damn I've been stalling on this post for a while now, so some more adjectives and......POST.

ゆうめい - Famous
じょうず - Skillful
しんせつ - Kindness
かんたん - Easy
おそい - slow/late
へた - unskillful/poor awkward
すてき - Stylish, cool, lovely, dreamy, superb
おもい - Felling desire, emotion, wish

Ok next post will be the sentence one just gotta get this out of my damn drafts!

いまあいかわらずおれはあかずきんちゃんをきいてねむる。。。

八ばん - A snowball of Variety.

What is a Snowball of Variety? This is my new analogy for learning Japanese. This snowball of variety can only keep growing if it is has a continuous supply of variety to accumulate as it rolls along. So as it get bigger it will require even more amounts of variety to grow. More audio, more text more people to speak with, more sentences for Khatzumemo. Pretty obvious really but I needed something to write so I can look back and laugh later on.

No vocab list this time just a nice story about：　　

わたしのしゅまつ

どようびははやおきをしてパンをかった。そのあと、あさごはんをたべた。そして、九じにきれいなかのじょにでんわをした。かのじょははやおきがにがてです。そのあとで、おれとサイモンくんはくるまでシティにいった。そしてダーリングハーバーでかのじょとあいました。ぼく、まちながらスターバックスでコーヒーをかった。そのあとでわたしたちはしょくぶえんにいった。こうもりがたくさんきにいた。そこでひるごはんをたべたあとでえいがをみた。えいがはおもしろくてとてもすきだった。そのあとかのじょのうちにいって、にほんりょうりをつくった。どようびはとてもいいひでした。

にちようび、あさおれはかのじょのとなりでおきて、しゃわーをあびるためによくしつにいった。あとでわたしのうつくしいかのじょは、あさごはんにパンとめだまやきをおれにつくった。めだまやきはうまかったけど、ハ゜ンはちょっとかたかった。十じいはわたしたちはシティにいた。そしてバスでボンダイビーチにいった。わたしたちはコーヒーをかったあとでしばふにすわってけしきをみた。わたしたちはコーヒーをのみおえたあとでボンダイからうちにあるいた。しゃしんをとるのにはてんきがよかった。わたしたちは、おれのうちについてひるごはんにブルスケッタをつくった。そのあとでまんがをみた。そして、おれはあすかちゃんをくるまでうちまでおくっていった。そのあとおれはスーパーにかいものにいった。たくさんたのしいことをしたひでした。

七ばん - Overcoming procrastination

Over the last few days I have felt my motivation for learning decrease a bit. The fact that this coincides with me starting a new semester of Japanese classes worries me. Am I wasting my time and money taking these classes when I could be spending this money on other learning resources and time trying to learn Japanese that isn't pre packaged and easy to swallow? The answer may well be yes but since I have already paid for 8 weeks of classes I now have to try and make the most of it...

So as I mentioned last time this post will be all about sentences. The joy of stringing multiple words together into meaningful bits of sound which eventually form a language... ahhh such wonderful things!

わたしのちちはほんをよんむこと、スキーをすること、ゴルフをすることがすきです。わたしはちちとゴルフをすることがすきじゃないですけどかれとスキーをすることがすきです。そしてまたときどきかれはおもしろいほんをもっています。
My father likes reading books, skiing and playing golf. I dont like playing golf with my father but I like skiing with him.　Also sometimes he has interesting books.

そのくるまはとてもちさいでもものすごくやすい.
This car is very small, but it is quite cheap.

きょうあたらしいかんじのポスターをかった
Today I bought a new kanji poster.

そのコンピュターはふるくて、やすくて、ほしくない。
This computer is old and cheap, I dont want it.

わたしたちはおれのうちにちかい、でもあなたのうちからとおいです。
We are near my home but far from your home.

六ばん - Climbing the mountain.

Working through Heisig continues, unfortunately not at the rate of 25 Kanji a day which I hoped to stay up around. Sickness and just doing other stuff have prevented this but progress is still being made so onwards ho...up to number 70 now, phew only 1968 to go! and then learning there readings... But at least Kanji is much more logical then English. It is so nice to use individual symbols with so much meaning attached. Anyways time for some new words and sentences. Since these poss are becoming more spaced out I should go for a few more than usual:

The Family:

おとうさん - (another persons) Father
おかあさん - (another persons) Mother
ちち - (my) Father
はは - (my) Mother
あに - Older Brother
あね - Older Sister
おとうと - Younger brother
いもと - Younger Sister
むすに - Son
むそめ - Daughter

Nouns
　
てがみ - Letter
はな - Flower
パン - Bread
いす - Chair

Adjectives

ちさい - Small
たかい - Expensive
やすい - Cheap
あたらしい - New
ふるい - Old
ちかい - Near
とおい - Far
やさしい - Easy
あまい - Sweet
からい - Hot, spicy
いそがしい - Busy


That will do for this post... next post will be all about sentence, bringing all these together and try and get some flow happening..あさみしまい！

ごばん - Learning the best way

Watched an interesting Lecture by John Medina, a Molecular Physicist who specializes in Neuroscience (I think thats what he is... bah whatever...) and he was talking about how traditional learning environments are so counter productive to the way our brain is designed to learn. So to the point I want to use this process of learning Japanese as a way to understand learning in a new way that's not focused on 'study' but rather a necessary reaction to understand my environment...hmm maybe thats just a way of saying study..

This will be nice to look back on but its not helping me learn, So back to the aim:

NUMBERS (Kanji Time!)

一　いち
二　に
三　さん
四　よん
五　ご
六　ろく
七　なな
八　はち
九　く 十　
じゅう　

百　ひゃく
千　せん
万　まん

NOUNS

天気　てんき　Weather


Adjectives

ようじ - Business / something to do

じつは - Confession/ to tell the truth

しゅみ - hobby

いちごいちえ - Once in a life time chance.

について - about

いつも - always

hmm can I put these all together?

じつはあしたよじがある。あたらしいしゅみをみつけたい。なにかいつもしたい。あとでせつめいする。。

Ok one more new word there:

せつめいする - Explain

Didn't use について not sure about what contexts it can be used in... so follow up I will..
Damn my consistency of posts isn't great but now Im starting to embark on heisigs Kanji Learning books so they will probably be few and far between for a while...がんばって！！

よんばん - Beginning of SRS and finding inspiration

After looking around the internet at the vast amount of resources for learning Japanese I had become slightly overwhelmed. Where to start, what to learn first and what materials to use? There seemed to be so much information it was hard to decide what was going to help me the best. So stepping back and breaking it down I have managed to focus on a few things which I can hopefully keep developing to suit my learning needs:

1. My weekly Japanese class. Although some website have been critical of such classes I find this occasional interaction helps keep me motivated and structure my week by week progress.

2. Mp3 Audio: I have switched from Pimsleur Audio course to www.japanesepod101.com which are so much more interactive and engaging than the pimsleur series. So these will fill in what ever spare time I have, along with listening to Japanese music.

3. This blog and read writing exercises: Probably the most negleted area to date but Im working on this as it is an essential component. I am really keen to get into Kanji and need to strucure in more reading/writing time.

4.SRS: Spaced Repetition System is something I discoverd at www.alljapanesallthetime.com. This idea of inputing key sentences and words and doing reps which vary in consistency depending on your ability to remember them makes sense, so I will continue to add the sentences I create on this blog.

5.Talking:The last and most obvious... practicing real conversation whenever I can!

Enough point making, time for some new words:

VERBS　（ます - form)

かきます - To Write

おくります - To Send

つくります - to

NOUNS

イタリアりょうり - Italian Food

おんがく - Music

にわ - Garden

しょくぶつえん - Bottanical Garden

JUST ONE SENTENCE TODAY:

きょう しょくぶつえんでほんをよみましたそのあとでうちにいきましたそしてイタリアりょうりを作りましたそしてにほんのおんがくをききました

Next time... Grammer, use of original forms and conjagation of verbs. Kanji.. its time to start looking at this... Hooray! :p

算段 - わたしわ blog がにがてかきます

Finding time to do this has been harder than I thought... So I haven't entered 5 words a day but I will now make up for it with a whole new batch. First some basic colours:

あかい

みどりいろ

きいろい

あおい

しろい

Other New words:

べんきょする　To study

いっしょに　Together

こんや Tonight

しんぱい Worried

しんけん Exam

にがて　Not good at

とくい　Very good / specialty


Now to make some great sentences!

こんやいっしょにばんごはんをたべますかあとでにほんごのおべんきょうしませんか？

こんやはちょっといそがしいですあしたのばんはどうですか？

いいです
-----------------------------------------------------------------

あしたしごとをたくさんします。とてもしんぱいです！

日本語をはなすことがとくいではありません。でもスキーがとくいです (yes lame sentence I know but running out of time..)
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Thats it for now.

Next time: Outline better structure for learning. Integration of SRS. Smaller weekly goals.

にばん - Where to begin

I cant really be bothered going back and trying to record all the things I have learnt in the past 6 months so I will just start off with some new vocab and then try to apply these words in some sentences.

Vocab - Nouns

くうこう - Airport

おてあらい - toilet

びよういん - Hospital

ざつし - Magazine

Vocab - Verbs (ます form)

たべます - Eat

のみます - Drink

かいます - Buy

よみます - Read

ききます - Listen (to)

みます - see

します - do

So now some sentences:

きのくうこうでともだちのあいました

おてあらいわどこですか

びょいんでいしゃとあいます

あしたほにゃでざつじをかいますそしてこうえんでよみます

I think there maybe mistakes here but im tired....ねむい

いちばん - Baby Steps...

Lets begin with a brief introduction so I can explain to myself and any possible viewers of this blog my intentions. At the beginning of this year I made a decision I was going to learn Japanese. This stems from my desire to complete a Masters of Landscape Architecture at the Tokyo University of Agriculture.

Obviously I've set my self a task thats not easy but definitely not impossible by any means. I have made progress... slowly.. but I'm not giving up and hopefully this blog will help motivate me and keep me on track towards my intended goal.

I guess I should explain this title of this blog. This came from a conversation with my friend about learning Japanese as were heading over there in January for a holiday. I was telling him how to say 'I undersatnd' : わかりました. This came out sounding to him like: 'Iamthecurrymaster'. Now all every time I say わかりました I'm always thinking about the damn curry master!

Oh and thanks to http://www.tofugu.com for inspiring me to add another dimension to my Japanese study by creating this blog.

The question remaining... where to start? I should set some goals relating to the purpose of this blog so here goes:

• 1. Record the progress I make with my Japanese studies.
• 2. Build a vocab list to which I should add at least 5 words a day.
• 3. Collect information about Japanese culture in particular Landscape Design and agricultural techniques.

Ok thats enough for now... next post the real work begins!