Japanese Learning Log

[garridoaida]

I wish someone would share their textfugu account with me.

On another note, everything has been going peachy in terms of my Japanese learning.  Started going over Japanese numbers, and it's a pain in the ass, but it's no big deal, I can get through it.

Almost done with katakana (I promise). 

After doing a couple weeks of Livemocha, I feel comfortable using Tae Kim's grammar guide. I don't necessarily have to start learning kanji, but I should at least be able to recognize them and know what they mean. 

[garridoaida]

Livemocha

I'm loving the crap out of livemocha. I've got a (~pirated~) copy of Rosetta Stone, but it doesn't work as well as livemocha for me. I kind of like "assignments" and people to talk to when I'm learning something. Rosetta stone lacks that, so I feel really isolated when I'm using it. 

Still haven't finished katakana. Will start working on Kanji radicals as soon as I finish. 

I don't like the 2k deck at all. I stopped using it. Sure I know probably 100 Japanese words right now, but if you were to give a full fledged sentence using one of those 100 words I wouldn't be able to pinpoint it. 

As soon I get started with Kanji, I think I'm going to have a stricter and more organized learning schedules + I have school, so I have no choice but to be careful with my time. 

[garridoaida]

How should I carry on?

Yes, so yesterday I was looking through the Tae Kim grammar guide and I was working on one of the practices. The amount of kanji and vocabulary words that I needed to know for "my convenience" were slightly overwhelming, so i decided to stop myself from continuing. I was thinking to myself, "Should I really start cramming these 14 kanji in my head starting today without knowing any radicals?". The answer was no. And when I started thinking about it, studying the how to express a state-of-being felt pretty fruitless since I don't know any vocabulary to do so. Since grammar is sort of a pattern, constructing a pattern is impossible if you don't have anything to work with. 

So I think it would be more beneficial if I dedicate my time to vocabulary for the time being. I'll focus on the core 2k deck, japanese pod 101, and finish learning katakana along the way. 

All I need to do is find my index cards. 

(Crap, August is approaching and I haven't started my summer homework).

[garridoaida]

Leonard Balazer explains the fundamentals of Japanese language pronunciation for English students, focusing on the critical difference in larnyx and diaphragm usage. Visit http://www.englishpronunciation4all.com for more.

key words: pulmonic air stream pronunciation & pharyngeal air stream pronunciation  

[garridoaida]

Expressing state-of-being, negative state-of-being, and past state-of-being

Working simultaneously on textfugu's list of passions and Tae Kim's guide to basic Japanese grammar as well as some katakana. I'll probably start on core 2000 tomorrow. All while doing so, I'm listening to a Japanese podcast. I can't make any sense of it (except for stuff like hai, konbanwa, taijimimashite, watashi wa etc. and japanofied (?) versions of English words), but hopefully the Input Hypothesis is effective to at least some degree. 

-------

Add だ to a noun or a na-adjective (will apparently be explained later) to declare that something is so.

Ex. 人だ。 (ひと + だ)          =  Is person.

学生だ。 (がく・せい + だ)    =  Is student.

元気だ。 (げん・き +だ)      =   Is well.

---------

Add じゃない for a negative state of being. Negative and past tense are all expressed by conjugation (rather than the English form of saying something is not x or was x)

ex.  学生じゃない。(がく・せい + じゃない)   =  Is not student.

友達じゃない。(とも・だち + じゃない)          =  Is not friend.

元気じゃない。(げん・き + じゃない)            =  Is not well.

--------

Add だった to the noun or na adjective to express a past tense state of being. 

***** To conjugate the negative to the negative to the negative past, drop the い from じゃない and adding かった.

ex. 学生だった。(がく・せい + だった)                  =  Was student.

友達じゃなかった。(とも・だち + じゃなかった)     =  Was not friend.

元気じゃなかった。(げん・き + じゃなかった        =  Was not well.

---------

Work on exercises later today and review the vocab used in this lesson: http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/stateofbeing_ex

[garridoaida]

Done with Hiragana

I slacked off for 1-2 weeks, but then I slapped myself in the face and got my shit together.

I practiced my hiragana by looking at this wikipedia article on English words of Japanese origin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Japanese_origin), it was a great deal of fun. 

I've also been doing a lot of researching on some linguistics and stuff, but I'm kind of pissing myself off by learning about  Japanese rather than actually learning the language itself. 

[garridoaida]

6/24/2012 Reading, writing, and memorizing hiragana: 31-46

I didn't update for a few days, but I didn't quit!

I finished reviewing the "na" and "ha" columns yesterday. I continue today with ma and ra. I might squeeze in ya, wa, and n if I'm up to it. 

[garridoaida]

6/21/2012 Reading, writing, and memorizing hiragana: 21-30

Not much to say.

http://www.textfugu.com/downloads/free/hiragana-21-30.pdf

http://www.realkana.com/hiragana/

Continue with another oral vocab. lesson: Absolute Beginner #2

http://www.japanesepod101.com/index.php?cat=48

Nice to meet you: Hajimemashite

I'm Aida: aīdadesu (des to the end of your name, "desu" is the verb to be, and interestingly the verb comes after).

I look favorably upon you: Yoroshikuonegaishimasu

[garridoaida]

6/20/2012 Reading, writing, and memorizing hiragana: 1-20

I would like to move on, but I'm going to simply dedicate today with reviewing the hiragana I learned over the past 2 days.

Hiragana I have trouble with in particular:

-shi (I don't know why)

-so

I really have to think when I'm writing the "sa" and "ta" columns because the sa column hiragana looks like it would coincide with ta column since the characters are so t-shaped. 

http://www.textfugu.com/downloads/free/hiragana-11-20.pdf

Note:

Yesterday I made a livemocha account and torre attained Rosetta Stone for Japanese through ~certain means~. Both programs start straight up with vocab lessons using hiragana (you can use romaji, but I should stay away from that). I must master this alphabet before I can really start learning...

Edit:

Oral vocab. learning

http://www.japanesepod101.com/index.php?cat=Absolute+Beginner

Good Morning - Ohayōgozaimasu

Hello - Kon'nichiwa

Good Evening - Konbanwa

[garridoaida]

6/19/2012 Reading, writing, and memorizing hiragana: 11-20

http://www.realkana.com/hiragana/

I made much progress today; I completely solidified what I learned yesterday. It was interesting how in the beginning of textfugu I was asked to right down some familiar Japanese words in hiragana, ie. sake, sushi, and karate. One thing that stood out for me was the word karate. The kana for "ra" looked awfully like a 5, so I feel like I've been seeing it every where lately since it's so easy to recognize. I was listening to some japanese music on my ipod and I was able to recognize some things. I have no idea what they're singing, but I've been able to recognize some characters in the titles. Japanese lettering is beautiful, and that's what makes the language so mysterious since it's so foreign to me.

I feel excited to be unearthing priceless knowledge, and seeing that knowledge be applicable to daily life (even though I'm only 3 days in!). I was listening to Midori (kick ass jazz punk which I highly recommend to everyone) and there was song where I recognized the hiragana "ki" and "ko"; turns out the song name is Yukiko-san. I was also listening to a band called Yura Yura Teikoku, I was able to recognize the "Ra" in Yura, but for some reason Teikoku was written in Kanji?

Ah, well. I'll spend some time today learning the "ta" and "sa" columns. I feel like I "mastered" the "a" and "ka" columns, and I used (http://yosida.com/en/hiragana.html) to help me with stroke order.

Continue with Hiragana 11-20 tomorrow and start 21-30.

http://www.textfugu.com/season-1/reading-writing-memorizing-hiragana/4-6/#top 

[garridoaida]

6/18/2012 Reading, writing, and memorizing hiragana: 1-10

http://www.textfugu.com/season-1/reading-writing-memorizing-hiragana/4-6/#top

Practice first 10 Hiragana today. 

[garridoaida]

6/18/2012 Combination Hiranga

Combination Hiranga consists of two parts:

1- something from the "i row", that is, "i, ki, shi, chi, ni, hi, mi, ri"

2- _ya, _yu, or _yo

The second part is written smaller in order to indicate they're attached to the previous kana.

Refer to this chart:

http://www.textfugu.com/downloads/free/hiragana-chart.pdf

[garridoaida]

6/18/2012 Japanese Pronunciation: Dakuten

Notes:

-Adding the "quotations" to the ka kana makes it turn into a ga.

- za, ji *gee*, zu, ze zo

-da, dzi, dzu, de, do

-ba, bi, bu, be, bo

-  “ha, hi, hu, he, ho” column, and you won’t see them anywhere else. They’re small circles (instead of quotes) and they turn “ha, hi, hu, he, ho” into “pa, pi, pu, pe, po.” Pretty easy to pronounce, you just have to remember what sounds they are in the first place.

Remember: the main hiranga are:

-na, ni, nu, ne, no

-ta, chi, tsu, te, to

-sa, shi, su, se, so

-ka, ki, ku, ke, ko

the Dakuten:

-pa, pi, pu, pe, po

-ba, bi, bu, be, bo

-da, dzi, dzu, de, do

-za, ji, zu, ze, zo

-ga, gi, gu ge, go

Which Dakuten coincides with which main hiranga?

-ga coincides with ka

- za coincides with sa

-da coincides with ta

-ba coincides with ha *(instead of quotes, there are circles)

-pa coincides with ha *(exact same kana, but different pronunciation)

[garridoaida]

6/17/2012 Japanese Pronunciation

http://www.textfugu.com/downloads/free/hiragana-chart.pdf

http://www.textfugu.com/season-1/japanese-pronunciation/3-8/#top

*In the "i" row shi is pronounced as "she" not "see"

*in the "i" row chi is pronounced as "chee"

*in the "u" row tsu is pronounced as "tsoo" not "too"

*The entire や (ya) column: yi and ye don't exist. Only learn ya yu, yo

*わ (wa) column: This column only consists of two kana, and one of them (を/wo) isonly used as a particle, which we’ll learn more about later. を (wo) isn’t pronounced with a “w” sound, either. It’s pronounced almost exactly like お (o). You can pretend the “w” part doesn’t exist and pronounce “wo” like “o.”.

ん (n): “n” is the only consonant-only kana, and has an nnnnn sound, like the “n” in “man.” Every other kana is a consonant plus vowel, using two (English) letters to create one kana. ん (n) is the only consonant-only kana. It’s really easy to pronounce and use once you see it a few times, but when it comes to “patterns” it doesn’t really fit, making it an exception.

 ふ (hu). It can be pronounced two ways (in the above video I do a breathy combo-hu/fu sound), “hu” and “fu.” Most of the time you’ll hear it as “fu,” though with foreign words (remember katakana?) it can really go either way. If you only want to learn one right now (and just keep in mind it could be both), then go with “fu” since that’s going to be more common.

Remember:

ya, yu, yo

wa, wo (the w is dropped, so it's pronounce as oh).

n is the only consonant

Having Trouble with r's?

Make the English “da” sound. Do this approximately ten times, and pay attention to how your tongue is shaped and where it ends up as you’re saying it. Your tongue should be pretty flat against the top of your mouth, with the tip of your tongue pushing against your top front teeth. Your teeth should be lightly touching both the top and bottom of your tongue. Say “da” ten times.

Now, make the English “la” sound. Continue to pay attention to your tongue placement and mouth shape. Really exaggerate this sound and curl your tongue back so the bottom of it is touching the roof of your mouth. Notice how your tongue flicks forward when you say “la.” Do this ten times as well, taking note of everything as you do it.

Both “la” and “da” should have been nice and easy for you. Now, I want you to go back and forth between the two, saying “la da la da la da la da” twenty times. Really exaggerate and enunciate both sounds.

Now, you’re going to do a combination of the two. You should have a really good idea where you put your tongue for both “la” and “da.” You’re going to make an “R” sound by putting your tongue in a spot right between the “la” and “da” locations. This is the magic sweet spot for pronouncing the Japanese “R.” With all this in mind, and with your new knowledge of “R” placement, let’s practice “ra, ri, ru, re, ro.”

The Japanese “ra, ri, ru, re, ro” is kind of a mystery for a lot of people, and here’s why. The Ra-column is made up of multiple sounds. It’s part R (I’d say around 75%), part L (I’d say about 20%) and strangely enough, part D (I’d give this about 5%). Combine these together and you have the “Japanese R.” By doing the exercises above, you should be able to get the R & L sounds. The subtle “D” sound should come naturally with those things, though it’s not as important as the R & L.

(continue tomorrow with: http://www.textfugu.com/season-1/japanese-pronunciation/3-9/#top)

[garridoaida]

6/17/2012 The Japanese Alphabets

Romaji: "roman" lettering, pretty much useless

Hiragana: difficult kanji, words with no kanji, particles (ie. and, or, etc), suffixes (yukiko-san), verb & adjective inflections

Katakana: foreign words, scientific words, onomatopoeia, emphasis, food, this alphabet tends to be more boxy shaped and rigid

Kanji: "vocabulary", introduced to japan via china,