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!
みやぎさん、
ReplyDeleteI can definitely relate- sometimes I describe myself to others as ethnically half Japanese and half Chinese, but 100% American! I'm glad to have the opportunity to learn Japanese in this course- where i don't feel quite as embarrassed as I do around my Japanese-speaking relatives.
Your goals & strategies sound very compelling- I might just borrow your ideas about the free NHK podcast and listening to songs when walking around campus :)
じゃあまた
かねこさん、
ReplyDeleteYeah, I completely agree. Embarrassment is probably the main reason I haven't learned to speak earlier...all my japanese friends and their families were always so amused by my attempts to speak. Understanding what people are saying has always been pretty easy though, yes? Did you grow up around your japanese-speaking relatives/did your dad speak to you at home?
As for the NHK podcast--I still have to do that! Thanks for the reminder! It's super cool...I downloaded it for my dad the other day.
またね！
You have some really great ideas for this the Goal cycle and I think like Marina-san, I will be borrowing some of your ideas. Where do I find the NHK podcasts though?
ReplyDeleteJust go into the iTunes store podcast section. Search NHK and there are a bunch of free ones! They download automatically every day!
ReplyDelete