こんばんは。
Good evening everybody! Here I am on day 100 of learning Japanese! It's exciting to see how far I've come over the last 100 days. It's also a little scary to know how far I still have to go. Time just passes so quickly - it seems like I just started studying.
Just a recap of where I'm (approximately) at on my learning:
-I know about 2025 vocabulary words which includes a combination of nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.
-I can recognize about 555 kanji and the most common meanings associated with them. 555 down, 1581(ish) to go for the joyo kanji! I've still been mostly using the JLPT Self Study app to study them.
I decided to reset my Mindsnacks Japanese app a day or so ago to start through the vocabulary again but this time only use the kanji setting instead of kana. It was a little hard to wipe out all my progress and high scores, but since the point is to really learn Japanese and not get good scores on some games, I decided to go for it. I had been trying for a while to do everything on kanji mode while reviewing but it hopefully will work better for me to just start from the beginning and go one lesson at a time so it isn't as overwhelming.
I have finally been able to start conjugating verbs more fully this week. A lot of things have started making more sense this past week and it has been a big relief! I've been practicing informal and formal verb forms. My comfort zone is definitely the formal ~masu verb forms but I've been working really hard this week to branch out and learn more. I have been working on the past tense verb forms as well. Lang-8 has helped a lot. I was pretty proud of myself for having done an eight sentence post on there the other day about Christmas using mostly past tense speech and I didn't do very much incorrect.
It's been fun to watch some anime and understand more each time. The last couple of weeks I've been enjoying Fullmetal Alchemist. I like to use anime as an unscientific measuring stick to see how much I'm able to understand. Of course most anime is not polite speech, but it depends on the show.
I can't wait to see where I'm at after another 100 days!
じゃ、またね。
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Progress Update - Day 94
みんなさんこんにちは。Hello everyone!
Here I am on day 94 of my Japanese learning journey! I've still been continuing to expand my vocabulary and keep up with the words I've learned so far. I've slowed a bit on how many words per day on average I'm learning for the most part. I know approximately 2000 vocabulary words at this point, which averages out to having learned about 20 words per day even with slowing down a bit. I've been slowly starting to use the Genki 1 book with my husband and I like the it so far. I need to dedicate more time to studying that way.
I've been focusing a lot on kanji even though I haven't learned quite as many per day on average as I would have liked. Life happens. I can recognize the common meanings of about 485 kanji. I started really studying those around November 18th, so I've been focusing more on kanji than vocabulary for 5 weeks. To do the math, out of the total 2136 joyo (common use) kanji and having "learned" about 485 of them so far, I have 1651 left to "learn". That means I'm a little over 1/5 of the way through the joyo kanji. That is super exciting to me! It has been so great to be able to type Japanese words and use the kanji instead of having to do everything with just kana.
I've also started brushing up on my Spanish again and have been doing well with that. I can do basic sentences pretty well in Spanish, so I figured it might help me in feeling more confident and less afraid to make Japanese sentences if I brushed up on my Spanish again. So far it's been working well for me. Studying some Spanish again has taken a little time from Japanese study time but if it helps me move forward to where I need to be in making sentences in Japanese so that I can actually practice and use the language and the vocabulary I've learned so far then it's completely worth it.
I finished my Mindsnacks Japanese app and have continued to utilize some courses through Memrise and Mango Languages. I've been using Duolingo and Mindsnacks to brush up on my Spanish vocabulary again. It's funny how some words just come back without having to re-learn them once the brain gets studying again. To study kanji I've still been using my JLPT Study app.
This past week I have finally been brave enough to do some posts on lang-8.com. I had signed up for the site back in September but hadn't been ready to do any posts until now. I was worried about how the environment of people correcting one another would be and whether the site was safe to use. So far I am really impressed and I like the environment of the site. So far all the people I have connected with that have corrected my Japanese and that I have corrected English have been very nice. No one has said anything mean or embarrassing. I definitely understand why so many people on the internet have recommended using lang-8 to help learn. I have gone from just doing a very simple sentence to doing a 5 or 6 sentence post. I'm excited to continue to do posts and learn how to write and make sentences better.
As I've continued to study Japanese, I've continued to enjoy Japanese culture more and more. It's been exciting to understand various things better and to comprehend names of foods and restaurants that I've been aware of but didn't know the meanings. Also watching Japanese programs and knowing that I understand more of what is being said without needing the subtitles as much is really cool.
Yesterday I drove past a brand new restaurant near where I live that had tonkotsu in the name and to know what that means in relation to a ramen shop was fun. (Pork ramen where the bones have been boiled.) I hope to go try the tonkotsu ramen sometime. Yum yum it makes me hungry just thinking about it!
A couple weeks ago at a local grocery store I found these gummy candies:
I love finding Japanese foods at stores now since I can read what they are for the most part. For those who don't read katakana writing from left to right these say peach gummy, Suika (watermelon) gummy, and strawberry gummy. Why the company used the Japanese word for watermelon but not for peach and strawberry I don't understand, but whatever. They taste really good.
Thanks for reading about my continuing journey of learning Japanese!
Until next time! さようなら。
Here I am on day 94 of my Japanese learning journey! I've still been continuing to expand my vocabulary and keep up with the words I've learned so far. I've slowed a bit on how many words per day on average I'm learning for the most part. I know approximately 2000 vocabulary words at this point, which averages out to having learned about 20 words per day even with slowing down a bit. I've been slowly starting to use the Genki 1 book with my husband and I like the it so far. I need to dedicate more time to studying that way.
I've been focusing a lot on kanji even though I haven't learned quite as many per day on average as I would have liked. Life happens. I can recognize the common meanings of about 485 kanji. I started really studying those around November 18th, so I've been focusing more on kanji than vocabulary for 5 weeks. To do the math, out of the total 2136 joyo (common use) kanji and having "learned" about 485 of them so far, I have 1651 left to "learn". That means I'm a little over 1/5 of the way through the joyo kanji. That is super exciting to me! It has been so great to be able to type Japanese words and use the kanji instead of having to do everything with just kana.
I've also started brushing up on my Spanish again and have been doing well with that. I can do basic sentences pretty well in Spanish, so I figured it might help me in feeling more confident and less afraid to make Japanese sentences if I brushed up on my Spanish again. So far it's been working well for me. Studying some Spanish again has taken a little time from Japanese study time but if it helps me move forward to where I need to be in making sentences in Japanese so that I can actually practice and use the language and the vocabulary I've learned so far then it's completely worth it.
I finished my Mindsnacks Japanese app and have continued to utilize some courses through Memrise and Mango Languages. I've been using Duolingo and Mindsnacks to brush up on my Spanish vocabulary again. It's funny how some words just come back without having to re-learn them once the brain gets studying again. To study kanji I've still been using my JLPT Study app.
This past week I have finally been brave enough to do some posts on lang-8.com. I had signed up for the site back in September but hadn't been ready to do any posts until now. I was worried about how the environment of people correcting one another would be and whether the site was safe to use. So far I am really impressed and I like the environment of the site. So far all the people I have connected with that have corrected my Japanese and that I have corrected English have been very nice. No one has said anything mean or embarrassing. I definitely understand why so many people on the internet have recommended using lang-8 to help learn. I have gone from just doing a very simple sentence to doing a 5 or 6 sentence post. I'm excited to continue to do posts and learn how to write and make sentences better.
As I've continued to study Japanese, I've continued to enjoy Japanese culture more and more. It's been exciting to understand various things better and to comprehend names of foods and restaurants that I've been aware of but didn't know the meanings. Also watching Japanese programs and knowing that I understand more of what is being said without needing the subtitles as much is really cool.
Yesterday I drove past a brand new restaurant near where I live that had tonkotsu in the name and to know what that means in relation to a ramen shop was fun. (Pork ramen where the bones have been boiled.) I hope to go try the tonkotsu ramen sometime. Yum yum it makes me hungry just thinking about it!
A couple weeks ago at a local grocery store I found these gummy candies:
I love finding Japanese foods at stores now since I can read what they are for the most part. For those who don't read katakana writing from left to right these say peach gummy, Suika (watermelon) gummy, and strawberry gummy. Why the company used the Japanese word for watermelon but not for peach and strawberry I don't understand, but whatever. They taste really good.
Thanks for reading about my continuing journey of learning Japanese!
Until next time! さようなら。
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Progress Update - Day 70
Konnichiwa!
Here I am at day 70 of learning Japanese! Part of me feels like throwing a little confetti up in the air to celebrate. I'll just imagine doing that and save myself the mess! ;)
I have purposely slowed down on my vocabulary learning a little bit so that I can make sure I'm remembering all that I've learned so far, and also focus a little more on kanji and grammar so I can actually use the vocabulary I've been learning. Funny thing is, I added up the approximate of where I'm at on vocabulary even with slowing down a little and I've still learned an average of about 20 words per day. I know approximately 1500 words. I've been learning more verbs, and also have learned some tool words like screwdriver, ladder, etc. I can also recognize about 200 kanji at this point. I'm trying to learn about 20 kanji per day. So far I've been meeting that goal pretty well. Yay for learning!
I've been practicing reading more with some e-books, regular books, and reading what I can on NHK News Easy. Through doing that I've realized I for sure need to focus more of my study time on kanji so that I can understand things better. It's very frustrating to want to read something and not be able to. I am a HUGE reading person so learning kanji now that I have the kana down is a big goal for me.
I've felt that the less kanji I know the more I'm held back. Feeling like I need to do a lot more studying of kanji, I downloaded Anki and came across NihongoShark.com's decks. I ended up downloading the Hacking Japanese book from NihongoShark.com and have been focusing on kanji a lot more. His philosophy is pretty much to learn all the joyo (regular use) kanji first thing so that not knowing kanji doesn't end up being a hurdle or making you feel like quitting.
I had already started using a new app, JLPT Self Study, the last couple of weeks to learn more vocabulary and recognize more kanji. I've found it really helpful so far. I like Anki, and that is what most people recommend (including NihongoShark's program) but learning on my desktop computer isn't what works best for me right now due to health constraints, so I've just continued using the JLPT app for now. I tried the Anki app on Android and didn't like it very much so far. I figure learning the kanji in an efficient manner and remembering them is what is most important, not how I go about doing that, so I will keep going as I have been so long as I am remembering the kanji. I like to switch up my studying frequently so I may end up using Anki after all. Time will tell.
I'm usually not an audio lesson type of person, but I've been thinking it over for a while anyway and caved on Thanksgiving Day and signed up for a premium membership on JapanesePod101.com. So even though I'm not normally geared for audio, with learning a language it has obvious benefits especially since I'm not learning in a classroom setting with a teacher. JapanesePod101 is kind of in my mind filling the teacher role as the podcasts feel like listening in a classroom.
Can't wait to see how I've progressed by my next update!
Ja mata!
Here I am at day 70 of learning Japanese! Part of me feels like throwing a little confetti up in the air to celebrate. I'll just imagine doing that and save myself the mess! ;)
I have purposely slowed down on my vocabulary learning a little bit so that I can make sure I'm remembering all that I've learned so far, and also focus a little more on kanji and grammar so I can actually use the vocabulary I've been learning. Funny thing is, I added up the approximate of where I'm at on vocabulary even with slowing down a little and I've still learned an average of about 20 words per day. I know approximately 1500 words. I've been learning more verbs, and also have learned some tool words like screwdriver, ladder, etc. I can also recognize about 200 kanji at this point. I'm trying to learn about 20 kanji per day. So far I've been meeting that goal pretty well. Yay for learning!
I've been practicing reading more with some e-books, regular books, and reading what I can on NHK News Easy. Through doing that I've realized I for sure need to focus more of my study time on kanji so that I can understand things better. It's very frustrating to want to read something and not be able to. I am a HUGE reading person so learning kanji now that I have the kana down is a big goal for me.
I've felt that the less kanji I know the more I'm held back. Feeling like I need to do a lot more studying of kanji, I downloaded Anki and came across NihongoShark.com's decks. I ended up downloading the Hacking Japanese book from NihongoShark.com and have been focusing on kanji a lot more. His philosophy is pretty much to learn all the joyo (regular use) kanji first thing so that not knowing kanji doesn't end up being a hurdle or making you feel like quitting.
I had already started using a new app, JLPT Self Study, the last couple of weeks to learn more vocabulary and recognize more kanji. I've found it really helpful so far. I like Anki, and that is what most people recommend (including NihongoShark's program) but learning on my desktop computer isn't what works best for me right now due to health constraints, so I've just continued using the JLPT app for now. I tried the Anki app on Android and didn't like it very much so far. I figure learning the kanji in an efficient manner and remembering them is what is most important, not how I go about doing that, so I will keep going as I have been so long as I am remembering the kanji. I like to switch up my studying frequently so I may end up using Anki after all. Time will tell.
I'm usually not an audio lesson type of person, but I've been thinking it over for a while anyway and caved on Thanksgiving Day and signed up for a premium membership on JapanesePod101.com. So even though I'm not normally geared for audio, with learning a language it has obvious benefits especially since I'm not learning in a classroom setting with a teacher. JapanesePod101 is kind of in my mind filling the teacher role as the podcasts feel like listening in a classroom.
Can't wait to see how I've progressed by my next update!
Ja mata!
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Progress Update - Day 59 - Sentences, Particles, and Verbs
Konnichiwa!
I'm happy to report that my progress is still coming along quite well. I've been working really hard to make simple sentences and understand the particles that string sentences together. I don't have them all down yet, but I've learned some of the main ones and have been practicing. The lessons I've done on Rosetta Stone make more sense now.
I've also been working on learning more verbs and how to conjugate them. When I was learning some Spanish 10 years ago I had done pretty well with verb conjugation, but hadn't found what worked for me in Japanese until the last couple of weeks. All the resources I had come across up until the last few weeks were very confusing and hadn't been very helpful. A lot of resources either focus on only one verb form, or do a mixture of all of them kind of randomly without teaching the differences. Finding the right resources that don't hold back on you (babying you) and tell you everything you need to know is invaluable! Finally I was able to find some better resources that are more comprehensive so I could understand better. It has been a relief to finally understand what the dictionary forms of the verbs are and the rules about them, and the differences between the various conjugations I had been studying. So finally I'm on the right track to learn in a similar way to how I did with Spanish with verbs, and I know I'll be able to do well with practice.
As for my vocabulary, I now know around 1200+ words which puts me still in the range of learning about 20 words a day on average. I've been watching a couple of anime shows that I've viewed in the past and have been understanding more and more words. I have been thinking of it as kind of a measuring stick for myself to test how well my vocabulary has been coming along. When I first started learning several weeks ago, I had only been able to recognize a couple of words here and there. Now I'm recognizing one or more words per sentence, plus I'm able to pick out some of the grammar and particles. To continue understanding better and practice making sentences, I've been writing in a notebook some simple sentences so I can remember the grammar and more words without relying on apps.
Since my last post, some of the vocabulary topics I've learned are:
-More verbs
-Entertainment
-Emotions
-Computers
-Holidays
-More foods and occupations
-Pharmacy and health words
-Sports
-Money
-Post Office and Banking
I've been practicing reading more, using some different books I have, and also visiting the NHK Easy News site for practice. I'm not able to understand a whole lot yet but to be able to recognize what country an article is about and what the topic is can be pretty cool after only a couple months of study. Again it's like a measuring stick to see how I'm doing. As the days and weeks pass, I know I'll be able to understand more and I have to celebrate each baby step.
I have been working hard to recognize kanji better, learn some of the readings, and how to write them. I've been studying around 50+ kanji as a start using some apps to help me recognize them better and remember their meanings. I have a few down pretty good on knowing what they stand for and some of the more common readings of them. I can't wait to know more so that I can read more material without having to rely on hiragana translations of kanji.
I'm looking forward to learning more verbs and the proper conjugations in the coming days, and also getting the particle usage down so I can make more and better sentences. I also hope to do better on knowing more kanji by sight and the most common readings.
Until next time! Thanks for reading!
Sayounara!
I'm happy to report that my progress is still coming along quite well. I've been working really hard to make simple sentences and understand the particles that string sentences together. I don't have them all down yet, but I've learned some of the main ones and have been practicing. The lessons I've done on Rosetta Stone make more sense now.
I've also been working on learning more verbs and how to conjugate them. When I was learning some Spanish 10 years ago I had done pretty well with verb conjugation, but hadn't found what worked for me in Japanese until the last couple of weeks. All the resources I had come across up until the last few weeks were very confusing and hadn't been very helpful. A lot of resources either focus on only one verb form, or do a mixture of all of them kind of randomly without teaching the differences. Finding the right resources that don't hold back on you (babying you) and tell you everything you need to know is invaluable! Finally I was able to find some better resources that are more comprehensive so I could understand better. It has been a relief to finally understand what the dictionary forms of the verbs are and the rules about them, and the differences between the various conjugations I had been studying. So finally I'm on the right track to learn in a similar way to how I did with Spanish with verbs, and I know I'll be able to do well with practice.
As for my vocabulary, I now know around 1200+ words which puts me still in the range of learning about 20 words a day on average. I've been watching a couple of anime shows that I've viewed in the past and have been understanding more and more words. I have been thinking of it as kind of a measuring stick for myself to test how well my vocabulary has been coming along. When I first started learning several weeks ago, I had only been able to recognize a couple of words here and there. Now I'm recognizing one or more words per sentence, plus I'm able to pick out some of the grammar and particles. To continue understanding better and practice making sentences, I've been writing in a notebook some simple sentences so I can remember the grammar and more words without relying on apps.
Since my last post, some of the vocabulary topics I've learned are:
-More verbs
-Entertainment
-Emotions
-Computers
-Holidays
-More foods and occupations
-Pharmacy and health words
-Sports
-Money
-Post Office and Banking
I've been practicing reading more, using some different books I have, and also visiting the NHK Easy News site for practice. I'm not able to understand a whole lot yet but to be able to recognize what country an article is about and what the topic is can be pretty cool after only a couple months of study. Again it's like a measuring stick to see how I'm doing. As the days and weeks pass, I know I'll be able to understand more and I have to celebrate each baby step.
I have been working hard to recognize kanji better, learn some of the readings, and how to write them. I've been studying around 50+ kanji as a start using some apps to help me recognize them better and remember their meanings. I have a few down pretty good on knowing what they stand for and some of the more common readings of them. I can't wait to know more so that I can read more material without having to rely on hiragana translations of kanji.
I'm looking forward to learning more verbs and the proper conjugations in the coming days, and also getting the particle usage down so I can make more and better sentences. I also hope to do better on knowing more kanji by sight and the most common readings.
Until next time! Thanks for reading!
Sayounara!
Monday, November 2, 2015
Progress Update - Day 43
Konnichiwa everyone!
My vocabulary has still been coming along nicely. I'm up above 800 words now, which is right in line with how I've been doing so far learning between 15-20 words per day on average.
Since my last post I've learned:
- Adjectives (fast, slow, tall, small, etc.)
- Airport terms
- Vacation terms (beach, sand, sunglasses, etc.)
- Japanese foods
- Weather
- School
- Baking and Sweets
I've also been working on making sentences more accurately by learning the connecting words like ka, ga, wo, to, etc. I'm still learning that of course but its been making more sense and I've been trying to practice saying sentences less like a one year old child would.
I got my Genki books and I've cracked them open but haven't spent much time doing lessons yet. Personal life things get in the way of learning sometimes! I hope to use the books more and be better at learning kanji soon. In good news for today I did some Rosetta Stone and it made more sense than the last time I did a lesson so that was neat.
I also have been trying very hard to retain all the words I've learned - 800+ words in 6 weeks is a lot to remember and hold on to! I don't want to forget anything so I try to review frequently. It can be hard to balance learning new words with holding on to the ones I've already learned.
Can't wait to see where I'm at in my progress the next time I post!
Sayounara!
My vocabulary has still been coming along nicely. I'm up above 800 words now, which is right in line with how I've been doing so far learning between 15-20 words per day on average.
Since my last post I've learned:
- Adjectives (fast, slow, tall, small, etc.)
- Airport terms
- Vacation terms (beach, sand, sunglasses, etc.)
- Japanese foods
- Weather
- School
- Baking and Sweets
I've also been working on making sentences more accurately by learning the connecting words like ka, ga, wo, to, etc. I'm still learning that of course but its been making more sense and I've been trying to practice saying sentences less like a one year old child would.
I got my Genki books and I've cracked them open but haven't spent much time doing lessons yet. Personal life things get in the way of learning sometimes! I hope to use the books more and be better at learning kanji soon. In good news for today I did some Rosetta Stone and it made more sense than the last time I did a lesson so that was neat.
I also have been trying very hard to retain all the words I've learned - 800+ words in 6 weeks is a lot to remember and hold on to! I don't want to forget anything so I try to review frequently. It can be hard to balance learning new words with holding on to the ones I've already learned.
Can't wait to see where I'm at in my progress the next time I post!
Sayounara!
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Progress Update - Day 30 (Week 4)
Konbanwa!
I have practiced a lot this week and have learned so much! It is nice to be able to walk around the house and name more things!
This week I learned:
- Types of transportation
- Directions and locations
- Rooms and items around the house
- Countries and continents
- More phrases including dating phrases
My vocabulary is around 640 words now, which equates to about 21 words per day. That's more than meeting my initial 10 words per day goal I had when I started.
I've also been practicing writing all the kana more. I've been working on writing smaller.
I have practiced a lot this week and have learned so much! It is nice to be able to walk around the house and name more things!
This week I learned:
- Types of transportation
- Directions and locations
- Rooms and items around the house
- Countries and continents
- More phrases including dating phrases
My vocabulary is around 640 words now, which equates to about 21 words per day. That's more than meeting my initial 10 words per day goal I had when I started.
I've also been practicing writing all the kana more. I've been working on writing smaller.
I haven't been working on writing kanji as much even though I need to start. I can see why people get so overwhelmed by kanji. I haven't found what works best for me yet, but I've downloaded some new apps to try and help me get started along with using my two kanji books I purchased.
I downloaded a couple of flash card apps last night similar to the Anki system. I started using them today along with Memrise and Mindsnacks Japanese to help with my vocabulary, grammar, and kanji.
I am still having so much fun expanding my vocabulary and I can't wait to learn even more this next week!
Sayounara!
Monday, October 12, 2015
Progress Update - Day 22 (Week 3)
Konbanwa!
I'm excited to say my hiragana writing has been coming along well! I've been working on writing katakana as well, but I've been continuing to practice the hiragana more first. To save on paper I've been using a white board for most of my practicing. Here is a sample of some of my hiragana writing:
Obviously my writing isn't perfect, but I'm very happy with it so far. I'm also pleased that my vocabulary has been coming along well. I know a little over 400 words now. Since my last update, I've learned names of different types of buildings and businesses. I've spent most of my time reviewing all the words I've learned previously.
My goal when I started was to learn about 10 words a day, and as of today my average is about 20 words a day. I spend several hours a day (broken up throughout the day) working on new words and reviewing. My husband is averaging a good 7-8 words per day. Since he spends about an hour or so a day studying, that's really good.
It's been fun to progress well in vocabulary, reading, and writing. Can't wait to see where I'm at next week!
Sayounara!
I'm excited to say my hiragana writing has been coming along well! I've been working on writing katakana as well, but I've been continuing to practice the hiragana more first. To save on paper I've been using a white board for most of my practicing. Here is a sample of some of my hiragana writing:
Obviously my writing isn't perfect, but I'm very happy with it so far. I'm also pleased that my vocabulary has been coming along well. I know a little over 400 words now. Since my last update, I've learned names of different types of buildings and businesses. I've spent most of my time reviewing all the words I've learned previously.
My goal when I started was to learn about 10 words a day, and as of today my average is about 20 words a day. I spend several hours a day (broken up throughout the day) working on new words and reviewing. My husband is averaging a good 7-8 words per day. Since he spends about an hour or so a day studying, that's really good.
It's been fun to progress well in vocabulary, reading, and writing. Can't wait to see where I'm at next week!
Sayounara!
Friday, October 9, 2015
Progress Update - Day 19 - Writing Hiragana and Vocabulary
I have exciting news! I can write all of the main hiragana characters now! I had been practicing a little using an app, but it isn't the same as writing the characters by hand. On an app you trace the characters, so it always turns out right. Writing by hand is harder since it's all on you. Plus there is getting the stroke order correct. With a few exceptions, most of the characters follow the same formula, so it isn't too hard once you have the rules down.
I'm so excited to be able to write by hand now! You better believe I'm going to practice tons. I will be writing on everything! Good thing I have a white board so I don't go through too much paper.
Also, I have done really well expanding my vocabulary and now know about 300+ words. I go around my house and the store naming things so I don't forget what I've learned.
Since my last post I've learned:
-Basic animals
-Professions
-Counting round and flat items
-More numbers
I'm excited to see how I continue to progress!
Ja mata!
I'm so excited to be able to write by hand now! You better believe I'm going to practice tons. I will be writing on everything! Good thing I have a white board so I don't go through too much paper.
Also, I have done really well expanding my vocabulary and now know about 300+ words. I go around my house and the store naming things so I don't forget what I've learned.
Since my last post I've learned:
-Basic animals
-Professions
-Counting round and flat items
-More numbers
I'm excited to see how I continue to progress!
Ja mata!
Monday, October 5, 2015
Progress Update - Day 15
I'm excited to report that as of the end of today, which is day 15 of learning Japanese, I know a little over 200 words. That means that so far I am surpassing my goal of 10 words per day pretty good. I'm happy with my progress so far. I'm able to read hiragana characters accurately most of the time and my katakana recognition is coming along well. It's nice to be able to sound words out!
This week I've been working more on:
- Reviewing the words I learned previously
- Food and Meal terms
- Greetings
- Questions
- Pronouns
- Days, Weeks, Years
- Kana Recognition
My husband's progress is coming along well too. He hadn't been able to practice as much as me this past week but will have more time this week so we'll probably know a lot of the same stuff as each other by the end of the week and have an easier time practicing together.
We used Rosetta Stone last week a little bit but had a busy weekend and weren't able to do any lessons. Using Rosetta and a combination of apps has been working well for us so far though.
I'm excited to see how we will have progressed by next week!
Ja mata!
This week I've been working more on:
- Reviewing the words I learned previously
- Food and Meal terms
- Greetings
- Questions
- Pronouns
- Days, Weeks, Years
- Kana Recognition
My husband's progress is coming along well too. He hadn't been able to practice as much as me this past week but will have more time this week so we'll probably know a lot of the same stuff as each other by the end of the week and have an easier time practicing together.
We used Rosetta Stone last week a little bit but had a busy weekend and weren't able to do any lessons. Using Rosetta and a combination of apps has been working well for us so far though.
I'm excited to see how we will have progressed by next week!
Ja mata!
Friday, October 2, 2015
Progress Update - Day 12
As of early today, I know a bit over 200 words, which feels awesome! My goal is to learn and remember 10 words per day, so I'm doing pretty good so far. I have to review all I've learned a lot so I can remember everything. There are a few greeting phrases I am still working to remember well. Simpler things like food, clothes, numbers, etc. I don't have much problem remembering so far.
I was struggling the last few days on some greetings and I don't have them all down perfect or anything, but I pushed through today and practiced a lot and improved quite a bit. I've found that if I just practice by ear and don't say all the words out loud, I don't remember or learn things as well. So today I worked to say all the words out loud and not just listen and read them. Makes sense I guess!
I have my headset coming in the mail later, which means hopefully I'll be using Rosetta Stone by later today. I'm excited to see how I can progress once I start with that too!
I've been using the Mindsnacks app and Memrise a lot. At first I didn't really like Memrise, but I've stuck with it and am liking it more now. It's helped me learn more than just the Mindsnacks alone.
The Dr Moku apps have helped me remember the hiragana characters that I've struggled to remember. So most of the hiragana I have down pretty well now which is great. I've been progressing along on the katakana as well, but I haven't worked on it as much.
I'll update with how the Rosetta Stone goes! I did the free level 1 trial app last week and had liked it. Can't wait to keep going!
Ja mata!
I was struggling the last few days on some greetings and I don't have them all down perfect or anything, but I pushed through today and practiced a lot and improved quite a bit. I've found that if I just practice by ear and don't say all the words out loud, I don't remember or learn things as well. So today I worked to say all the words out loud and not just listen and read them. Makes sense I guess!
I have my headset coming in the mail later, which means hopefully I'll be using Rosetta Stone by later today. I'm excited to see how I can progress once I start with that too!
I've been using the Mindsnacks app and Memrise a lot. At first I didn't really like Memrise, but I've stuck with it and am liking it more now. It's helped me learn more than just the Mindsnacks alone.
The Dr Moku apps have helped me remember the hiragana characters that I've struggled to remember. So most of the hiragana I have down pretty well now which is great. I've been progressing along on the katakana as well, but I haven't worked on it as much.
I'll update with how the Rosetta Stone goes! I did the free level 1 trial app last week and had liked it. Can't wait to keep going!
Ja mata!
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Progress Update - Improving Reading Skills and a Rosetta Headphone Headache
Today I was excited to finish setting up my Rosetta Stone software only to find that the headset that came with the program isn't compatible with my computer! What a bummer. After trying everything support suggested I went ahead and ordered a headset and will have it on Friday. I sure hope it works properly!
Since my attempt to use Rosetta Stone didn't end up working out today, I continued to practice using all my other resources. I've been trying really hard to read and recognize all the kana and have noticed small improvements each day. It's exciting to be able to sound out words. I don't think I've been this excited about sounding things out since I was four years old! I was looking at some tablet wallpaper photos on an app today, and there were several that I had seen previously but hadn't noticed the hiragana characters on them before. It was fun to sound out each character even if I ultimately didn't know what the word was yet. I can't wait to know more words and form better sentences than the equivalent of "My socks" or "My cat".
I've been practicing writing the kana and kanji as well, but so far have been using apps to do so. Tracing a character on a tablet for sure isn't the same as writing with pen and paper. I found some free worksheets online Monday that I printed out but haven't utilized yet.
Today I continued to practice some greetings and reviewed all the other words I've learned so far. I'm excited to see how my vocabulary expands and character recognition improves in the coming days.
I have some kanji books coming in the mail and I can't wait to see what I'll be learning next! I'll have another update soon!
Until then, sayonara!
Since my attempt to use Rosetta Stone didn't end up working out today, I continued to practice using all my other resources. I've been trying really hard to read and recognize all the kana and have noticed small improvements each day. It's exciting to be able to sound out words. I don't think I've been this excited about sounding things out since I was four years old! I was looking at some tablet wallpaper photos on an app today, and there were several that I had seen previously but hadn't noticed the hiragana characters on them before. It was fun to sound out each character even if I ultimately didn't know what the word was yet. I can't wait to know more words and form better sentences than the equivalent of "My socks" or "My cat".
I've been practicing writing the kana and kanji as well, but so far have been using apps to do so. Tracing a character on a tablet for sure isn't the same as writing with pen and paper. I found some free worksheets online Monday that I printed out but haven't utilized yet.
Today I continued to practice some greetings and reviewed all the other words I've learned so far. I'm excited to see how my vocabulary expands and character recognition improves in the coming days.
I have some kanji books coming in the mail and I can't wait to see what I'll be learning next! I'll have another update soon!
Until then, sayonara!
Monday, September 28, 2015
Week 1 - Beginning Japanese
Konnichiwa!
Welcome and thank you (or shall I say arigato) for visiting my blog! My name is Ellie, and my husband and I have just started our journey of learning the Japanese language (or Nihongo I should say)! We started last Monday afternoon which was September 21, 2015. I will chronicle our learning progress here on this blog at least once a week.
So far learning Japanese has been a very exciting and enjoyable experience. I have always loved all things Japanese from the anime, the language, the culture, etc. I am a very visual learner so the beautiful kanji, hiragana, and katakana characters have been appealing to me for a long time. This past week it has been fun to re-watch a few anime series I have enjoyed previously and be able to understand a few scattered words already where I didn't before.
This weekend I decided to start tracking my progress so I can look back at any time and see how far I've come from knowing little to no Japanese words. It's easy to become discouraged after mastering a few basic words to when things become more complex.
My husband and I are learning Japanese together, which I think has made all the difference for me personally. In the past when I made attempts at learning a new language, I often was practicing on my own (with the exception of college course learning and all that involved). From what I've experienced in just one week, I highly recommend if you are learning a language to have a friend or family member do it along with you. Then you have someone at your same level to be an encouragement to keep practicing, and you won't feel intimidated at first like you might if you start immediately with a native speaker. This is just my opinion of course, and what works for me might not be the right choice for someone else.
During this past week, I have used a combination of:
- Apps
- Online Resources
- Memorization
- 1-2+ Hours Practice Daily
Through this combination, I have learned 100+ words including:
- Numbers 1-100
- Months and Seasons
- Family Members
- Basic Body Parts
- Basic Greetings
- Basic Clothing
I have also progressed well in learning to recognize, pronounce, and write hiragana, some katakana, and a few kanji.
If you are just starting out on your own adventure of learning Japanese, here are some apps and online resources I recommend from what I've used so far.
I've used a few additional apps, but these are my favorite and the most helpful. Youtube has also been a wonderful resource full of helpful tips and lessons from various vloggers. I'm sure over time as I progress, the apps and programs I use will change. In the future I hope to utilize the help of native speakers and tutors to have a fuller learning experience. I just have to get over being shy enough to go for it!
I have heard many people say that if you learn and remember at least 10 words per day you can be fluent to some extent in 3-6 months in any language. So for a 7 day period of time, having learned over 100+ words is pretty good in my opinion! My husband has learned a little less than that (around 70+ words or so) but he has a lot more on his plate schedule-wise than me and so hasn't practiced as much.
To some it may not seem like a big deal to have learned 100+ words in one week, but let me give you a little background on some of my previous language learning experiences and why this is a huge deal for me personally.
I know many people who have immersed themselves into a foreign language and have become semi-fluent in 3-6 months. This has genuinely amazed me over the years and I have always been jealous of these individuals and their brilliant language-learning skills. At times I have felt that maybe I'm just not smart enough to learn another language, or that I just don't have what it takes. It doesn't help that I am shy in nature and can sometimes feel quite anxious and unsure when doing anything in my life, let alone speak a new language!
In my teenage years I learned a little French and Italian due to the influence of a few family members but never really got anywhere much. In high school I decided that learning Spanish would be the most practical for the workplace and in general for where I live. I did well learning Spanish, but to date I have unfortunately fizzled out on that a few times. Who knows, I may try again one day.
I struggle to have enough faith in myself to fully learn a language to fluency level. Where I live there are many people who are bi-lingual English/Spanish speaking, in addition to other languages as well. This can be an advantage and great resource for practicing, but also can be very intimidating when just starting out.
I reached basic conversation level in Spanish about ten years ago by taking three college level courses, but decided to end my college learning after that 18 month period because of issues I had with the only teacher there. Plus an ugh boss I had at work at the time put a crazy amount of pressure on me and I don't handle that well at all. (Those are other stories for another time.) I have dabbled with Spanish a few other times in the past ten years, but with some health issues and mental blocks in my way I haven't seen it through. The desire to speak more than English has always been with me, however, so when the motivation to learn a new language returned again recently I decided to explore other options with my husband at my side.
Which brings me back full circle to my new journey of learning Japanese! Arigato if you have made it through this long post. I hope you'll follow my progress as I share with you the joy of learning Japanese!
Sayonara!
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