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

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!

むずかしい

Sooo...I guess I couldn't expect Japanese to be all fun and games forever. It looks like the easy part of this course is over for me (and just in time--a cappella auditions just ended and I now actually have time to do some homework). The past few weeks this course has been a breeze--a pleasant one, I might add. Reviewing hiragana characters and very basic greetings was all gain no pain. I knew everything well enough going in so that hiragana workbook sheets were just an opportunity for me to remember the subtle differences between certain characters I had forgotten and to practice my handwriting. Listening and comprehension exercises were equally fun; they were just an opportunity for me to solidify and practice my accent. I have been finding it rewarding to review, solidify, and perfect things I once knew but forgot. It  was starting to feel like learning to actually speak Japanese would happen in my sleep. Like I could take a pill (pill being JPN101) and I'd wake up fluent. "Why hadn't I done this before?" I was starting to ask myself.

Well, as I'm starting to remember this week with the introduction of vocab words in our last listening comprehension worksheet, I have done this before. And there is a reason that I quit.

Japanese is hard! とても　むずかしい！More specifically, Japanese vocab is hard. I even had to look up that word, むずかしい--even though I've been using it since childhood. I'm just not good actually never been good at remembering or memorizing any foreign vocab words. Fortunately in a language like French (which I'm nearly fluent in) the vocab words are so intuitive (so many are cognates or near cognates) that it wasn't a big problem. But I'm quickly realizing that I'm going to have to figure out a system that works for me and fast. Japanese words just don't stick in my head. I'll listen to them and repeat them over and over again, even come up with little tricks to remember the words, but five minutes after I think I learn them, they're gone. And I'm starting to remember why it was I used to get so frustrated with learning this language and why it is that I never learned earlier. It's hard and it takes hard work (and maybe some study tactics that I haven't learned yet).

Anyway I guess for now I'm a little freaked out because I have remembered the reason that I quit this language all those years ago (and the feeling behind it). I just hope that remembering the reason doesn't mean that history will repeat itself. Maybe this time I'll get the hang of memorizing those words. The good news is that with this text book, learning hiragana was easier this time around. So maybe learning vocab will be too. Hope so!

わたしの なまえわ みゆきです（すみません）。

My name is Miyuki Miyagi and I don't speak Japanese. I am tired of the looks of disapproval (often paired with utter confusion) I get when I say that. So that is one of the reasons why I am taking Japanese 101 during my senior year. But it is not the only reason. Of course it will be nice to feel like I finally deserve my name, but mainly I just want to be able to communicate better with my dad. My father is a first-generation Japanese immigrant from Naha city in Okinawa. He came to westchester at the age of 24 to teach karate intending to return to Japan within two years. He then met my mom, a jewish college student taking his karate class, and the rest is history. After living here for about forty years, today my father is of course fluent. As of a few years ago, he is also an American citizen. Nonetheless, he is still very japanese. Having worked in karate dojos and japanese restaurants (including our own) during his entire time in this country, my father has never really become fully comfortable with English and Japanese remains his first and primary language. Indeed I was exposed to a lot of Japanese culture and language growing up as a child. While I did not go to Saturday Japanese school (mom decided on suzuki school instead), I did learn Japanese at home and with a tutor for a short period of time. I was exposed to the language and culture both at home, at my family's japanese restaurant, and in the homes of my best childhood friends who were also Japanese.

That said, I never really learned the language. Last year one of my best friends at school who was fluent in Japanese would sometimes refer to my abilities in Japanese as rainman-like. Yes, I guess I am sort of a Japanese idiot savant. Sometimes I know absolutely nothing and cannot understand even the simplest phrase. Other times I recognize a grammatically-difficult sentence from my childhood and seem to understand complex expressions. While my pronunciation and sporadic comprehension can be misleading, I do not speak or understand enough Japanese to communicate in the language. Since age 5, when Japanese people ask me whether or not I speak the language I reply,　”すこし。”

I realized last year that すこし was no longer enough for me. Trying to speak and learn the language with my Japanese-speaking friend got me interested in the language and culture again and I realized how much I wanted to finally learn about my father's country and culture. More importantly, at the age of 21, I realized how much I wanted to be able to finally communicate with him as an adult in his language. My father picked up on my heightened interest in his language and culture and now our plan is to go visit my family in Okinawa at the end of the year when I graduate. Hopefully this class will prepare me for the trip!

So far I have found much of the material in class to be relatively simple, as much of it (though certainly not all) is review. I have found it rewarding to solidify things I already knew and clear up things I thought I knew but really didn't--everything from pronunciation to the order of brush strokes on hiragana characters. While I was worried how I would cope with the commitment of a 101 language class every day, I actually find that it is consistently one of the most enjoyable parts of my day! I walk out of Japanese class every day happier than when I came in. Hearing the language makes me feel at home. And learning new words and correct pronunciations is fun!

So far the most difficult part of this class has been creating this blog! I am rather technologically challenged and I would like to figure out the formatting a bit more for next time. Can't wait to move past hiragana to learning vocab and grammar!