PE Cycle 2: Goals and Strategies

Pronunciation Goals:

1.     Stop being timid with pitch and intonation (fluctuate!)

2.     Continue improving vowel length (open mouth more, don’t swallow sounds), particularly when speaking fast

3.     Notice and incorporate pitch/intonation to connote meaning (subtleties of expression/connotation)

Strategies:

1.     Continue calling my father at least once a week and having a conversation in Japanese. Note his accent and subtleties of intonation/expression. Compare with that of my teachers/other native speakers.  Make an attempt to not be timid with pitch while talking to my dad on the phone.

2.     ACTUALLY DO SHADOWING EXERCISES! I won’t ever know how I’m doing if I don’t listen to myself speak.

3.     Since attending the Japanese language table is usually not possible because of my various rehearsal schedules, I will attempt to go whenever possible and talk to my father/listen to an NHK podcast in lieu.  I will listen to at least two NHK podcasts a week. One of these listenings I will do in my room so I can practice imitating Japanese out loud.

4.     I will continue listening to and downloading Japanese songs!

5.     I will not only post this above my desk, but I will HIGHLIGHT the important steps so that I actually read this and follow through with my strategies. 

Here's to being more diligent this cycle! 

がんばります！

りっぱなせんしゅう！

こんにちは！

せんしゅうは　プリンストン大学の　バケーション。わたしと　わたしの　アカペラ　 グルプは　パリーに　いきました。ぱりは　とても　きれなまちね！　はくぶつかんと　こうえんに　いきました。たくさんたべました！　ウランスの　ぱんは　とてもおいしい！　いま　 ダイエートしますよ！　

みんな

Memory locks on one of the bridges on the Seine

Now to transition to english for a bit...writing that in Japanese was probably one of the hardest exercises I have had にほんごの　じゅうぎょ  yet! I think that's mainly because of the week off from Japanese that I just took, but I think it's also because of the fact that I have been speaking フランスご　for a week. At first it was hard for me to transition back to French since it has been about a year and a half since I've really spoken the language regularly. Quite frustratingly, at first it felt like I had forgotten most of the language. Whereas before I would often end up accidentally saying french words when trying to speak japanese (I once said "comment dit-on" in にほんごの　じゅうぎょ　when trying to say ___て　にほんごは　なんといますか) this time I found it hard to switch from Japanese to French! At dinner the first night, when one of my non-french-speaking friends asked me how to say "where is the metro?", I replied (I kid you not), "Le métro, c'est　どこ?" After processing for a few awkward seconds how incorrect (and bizarre!) that was, I laughed it off, told my friends what I had just done, and corrected myself. It was indeed quite surprising--even a bit disturbing--that at least for a few minutes that first night, japanese felt more natural than french for once. While it made me regret how little I had been practicing my french over the past two years, I guess that incident bodes well for my japanese!

Of course now I'm back to having the opposite problem again and it feels like my french is blocking out my japanese. Hopefully after I get to にほんごの　じゅうぎょ　こんひる、that will go away a bit and transitioning between my two foreign languages will get a little easier.

Since this blog post is getting a little long, I'll save my reflections on traveling abroad for another post. Until then, I'll leave you with these two songs sung by an Okinawan singer that my friend referred me to. They're currently helping me transition from my enthusiasm for french culture (how I long to go back!) to excitement for Okinawan/japanese culture. Time to look forward to the next trip abroad--りゅきゅ and にほん!

Unai Island by Rimi Natsukawa

Nada Sou Sou by Rimi Natsukawa