Cycle 1 Reflections

こんばんは！

すみません、it has been quite a while since my last blog post! Let's hope I do a better job during cycle 2 of posting more interest-related posts and less boring evaluations! That said, it's time for another one.

So...I have also been less than superb at following my pronunciation goals plans during cycle 1. I completed about half of my pronunciation goals. ざねんだですね! I did indeed call my father more than once a week (surpassing my goal!) and spoke to him in Japanese for quite sometime. Since my dad also just learned how to text (かわいそう）I have been texting with him in Japanese too! A pleasant surprise! In speaking with my father on the phone in Japanese, I was impressed that--for the first time--I noticed that he has a strong accent I am not used to! I assume this is an Okinawan accent, since that is where he is from. Anyway, it was cool to realize that I was familiar enough with the sounds I had been hearing in class that I noticed the difference between わたしの　せんせえの　にほんご　and わたしの　ちちの　にほんご. I also did follow through with asking あたしの　ともだち who speaks Japanese for Japanese song suggestions! He gave met a few, but I have yet to post them to this blog! I will try to do that in the next few days. I also have to add them to my iTunes so I can listen to them on my iPod--I'll be traveling to Paris for this fall vacation, so I'll have lots of hours on the airplane to listen to Japanese. I also followed through in downloading the NHK news podcast. That said, I have yet to upload it to my iPod. Again, however, I now have a bunch of episodes to listen to on the plane! I'll be uploading those after I complete this post. Finally, I think I have been doing a good job of listening to わたしの　せんせえ's pitch and intonation. I have noticed that mine has improved and my facility with pitch has improved as well. I think that this showed today during my oral exam. Speaking にほんご while sounding にほんじん was much easier than it has ever been! I think that while I did not succeed in following my other pronunciation goal steps (all of the japanese language tables have unfortunately conflicted with my schedule so far and I have not yet gone to do any more shadowing...), I think that I actually did perform well today in the oral exam. I felt impressively fluent with the sentences that my partner and I had practiced as well as typical Japanese active listening phrases. Using the appropriate pitch and intonation felt easier today, as well. What I do need to improve upon, however, is my vocab/grammar itself! I was not prepared for many of the questions that しばた　せんせえ asked me and as a result I used some improper grammar (wrong particles, I think) and couldn't find the appropriate vocal word (whether or not I learned it).

Here's to doing a better job of following my plan (and posting on my blog!) during Cycle 2!

がんばります！

せんしゅうまつ

こんにちわ！

すみません、ブログ　レダズ。It has been little while since my last entry. きよう、I'm going to try to write in full japanese sentences, so please excuse the rather childlike post. The amount of things I can communicate in full japanese sentences is still extremely limited. 

せんしゅまつ　リハーサルに　いきました。まいにち　リハーサルに　いきました。から　いちじ　ろくじまず　リハーサルが　あります。だから、まいばんとまいあさ　じゅくだいしました。だて、にちよびに　ともだちが　スカイプーしました。そのともだちの　せんきょうは　アジアけんきゅうでした。ユーツーブのにほんごのビデオが　みせって。そして、つぎ　ブログは　おんがっくの　ブログです。

じゃ、また！

わたしは アメリカじんです。

My name may be Miyuki Miyagi. I may have dark brown hair and eyes, short stubby asian legs, and get incredibly red when I drink any form of alcohol. But, as my father's friends used to joke when I was a kid, I am 100% american. I hadn't realized that until today. Much to my surprise (and horror) I sounded like a typical american person trying to speak japanese. The people I used to if not look down on at least laugh at when I was a kid. The people who pronounced kyoto keeeyoooto during the kyoto olympics. It seems that, yet again, I have realized that I have farther to come than I thought.

So here are my Pronunciation goals:

1. Improve my pitch and intonation
2. Improve my vowel length and pronunciation (open my mouth more!)
3. Improve articulation when speaking fast

Here are my strategies for tackling these goals:

1. I will call my father (native speaker) up at least once a week to have a 5-10 minute conversation with him in Japanese. I will listen closely to his pitch and intonation and try to imitate it.
2. When I skype with my Japanese-speaking friend (who is not afraid to be critical) I will say a few new sentences for him and ask him to correct my intonation/pitch/vowels.
3. I will attend the Japanese language table at least once a month (more than that will probably hard given rehearsal conflicts)
4. I will do listening and speaking exercises (shadowing) whenever they are made available online.
5. I will ask my Japanese-speaking friend for songs in Japanese to download so I can listen to them and eventually sing along. I will put them on my ipod and listen to them while walking around campus at least once a day.
6. I will always focus on pitch and intonation (listening and imitating) when in class and lecture.
7. I will subscribe to a free daily NHK podcast and listen to it three times a week. One of these times will be in my room so I can practice imitating the Japanese out loud.

Now to print this blog post and tape it above my desk so I stick to the plan!