山田さんへ

（これは日本語のじゅぎょうのしゅくだいです。　山田さんがいません。）
（ああ、山田さんがいますが、この山田さんはいません。）

山田さんへ

今日は、私のなまえはハンセンです。どうぞよろしく。プリンストン大学の一年生です。ぼくのせんこうはぶつり学です。毎日日本語やぶつり学のじゅぎょうがあります。プリンストン大学はりっぱできれいです。学しょくにおいしいたべものがあります。じゅぎょうにいくまえによくそこであさごはんをたべます。私はとてもいそがしいですが、じゅぎょうが好きなので、ぼくはうれしいですよ。山田さんのうちはどこにありますか。山田さんは何をしますか。どちらからいらっしゃいましたか。
よろしくおねがいします。

ハンセン

ギガプリン

これについて　かくのが　やさしくないです。　とても　おもしろいですが、　ストラングです。みるのが　好きなので、　ぼくは　ここに　いねましたか。

Eスポーツと スタークラフト

Eスポーツ（エルケトロニック　スポーツ）が　コンピュータの ゲームです。　スポーツの方が　Eスポーつより　ゆうめいです、でも　ぼくは　Eスポーツの方が　好きです。 Eスポーツの中で　スタークラフトが　一番　ゆうめいです。　かんこくに、スタークラフトが　とても　ゆうめいです。

１２００００かんこく人　スタークラフトを　みに　きました

。

スタークラフトを　みるのと　するのが　たのしいです。　スタークラフトを　するのが　たいへんなので、　スタークラフト　のゲームに　たくさん　ものが　あります。

My Japanese isn't nearly good enough to explain what the game is like, but leaving just what I have above seems very lacking, so I'm going to have to continue on from here in English.  In Starcraft each player starts out with a base and a couple workers.  They use the workers to collect resources.  These resources can be used to construct either more workers and bases to collect more resources or to build army units to attack the enemy.  The first person to destroy all of the opponent's buildings wins.

スタークラフトのゲームの末

One of the main parts of StarCraft is knowing how to balance the two options.  If you build only workers, you won't have any units to defend if your opponent attacks, but if you build only an army, if you don't win soon, your opponent will have more workers, which means more resources, which means he'll have a bigger army than yours.  This part of the game, getting as many units and workers without dying, is called "macro."
The other half of StarCraft skill, or "micro," is controlling your units in battles.  Many units have special abilities which can help your own army or hurt the opponent's army.  Using these abilities, in addition to positioning your army in the right spot or retreating when in danger, can help even a smaller army defeat a larger one.
Watching a great StarCraft player show off these skill can be really fun, so if you ever want to try something new, check out some pro StarCraft games or even pick up the game yourself! It may seem confusing at first, but after a bit things will start to make sense.

 This is a simple game, where one player tries to skip a big army to get more workers and bases and the other goes for a bigger army.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, ここで　やまとスタークラフトさん　日本語で　スタークラフトの　ゲームについて　たくさん　はなします。

私の りょうに りっぱなえが あります。

	このえは　りょうに　あります。　ぼくは　これを　よく　みます。　だれが　かきましたか。　かんじは　何ですか。　分かりません。　さとう先生に　かんじについて　ききました。　かんじは　なまえ　です。　だれの　なまえが　ありますか。　いま、　分かりません。あおくて、くろいので、　このえが　好きです。　あおくて、くろいものが　好きです。
	どこに　きれいなえが　ありますか?
	ぼくの　りょうの　トイレの　中に　あります！　どうして　そこに　ありますか。私は　分かりません。

プリンストン大学のバンド

こんいちは。すみせん、私は　とてもいそがしいので、ブログを　あまりかきません。今よく　かきます！

今日,プリンストン大学のバンドです！

私は　友もだちと　ハーバード大学で　トロンボーンを　ふきます。

バンドの人は　げんきで、　おもしろい人です。　バンドは　しずか　ぜんぜん　じゃありません。 毎週の週末、バンドは　スポーツのゲームに　いきます。　そこに、　よくて、きれいな　おんがくを　します。　ポっプスや　ロックを　します。バンドの　好きなうた　ロック　ロブスターや　ナインティナイン　レド　バルンス　です。そのを　よく　します。としょかんや　本やで　おんがくを　します。　バンドが　大好きです！

ハーバード の本やに　いきました。みて下さいませんか。

Cycle 2 Reflections and Cycle 3 Goals and Plans

Again I didn't complete my goals.  Although I did do the watching anime part of the plan, (フリクリが大すきです) I didn't do nearly as much shadowing as I had planned.  It always seemed that it was a choice between shadowing and sleep.  This, however, is more likely due to my own poor scheduling rather than genuinely being too busy.  Therefore, although I did get much better at distinguishing sounds, my speaking got better, but is still unsteady, and my prosody is nearly non-existent.

But on to the future!  I found something other than anime to watch to improve listening. 大和スタークラフトさんスタークラフトのゲームについてはします。きるのすき、スタークラフトが大すきです。
While I'm feeling more confident about listening and understanding Japanese, I still have a lot to improve.  Now, along with the ever present problem of speed, I want to focus on differentiating voiced/devoiced consonants, especially か and が.  On the speaking side of things, I want to start learning my prosody.
Therefore my new plan is to watch about 15 minutes of YamatoStarcraft's commentary every day, except on Mondays and Wednesday, which, without fail, I will, between the times of 2 and 2:20, do shadowing exercises. NO EXCEPTIONS!  I will also make sure to meet with しばた先生 in order to get advice and practice prosody more.

せんしゅう and Cycle 2 goals and exercises.

せんしゅう　プリンストン　大学で　じゅぎょうが　ありませんでしたよ。　メリーランドの　うちへ　かえりました。ぼくは　そふと　そぼの　くるまの　なかに　いきました。　ぼくは　かぞくを　みました。　そして、　わたしは　うちで　おいしい　ばんごはんを　たべました。　ごはんが　だいすき　ですよ。あまり　ばんきょうしませんでした。　きんよびに　メリーランドの　大学へ　いきました。　メリーランドの　大学に　ぼくの　ともだちが　いいます。　あした、　プリンストン　大学に　かえりました。

Goals for Cycle 2:

I want to be able to be able to hear what the syllables are in medium-slowly spoken Japanese.
I also want to start being able to be comfortable enough with speaking in general to pay attention to the proper tone for sentences and words.

To accomplish this task I will:
Shadow for at least 20 minutes every Monday and Wednesday.
I will also watch an episode of anime every weekend while paying attention to the sounds I hear.  If someone speaks too fast for me to understand, I will go back and listen to it again until I am able to discern the mora.

Reflection on My First Pronounciation Cycle

Well, to put it bluntly it didn't go that well.  Although I'm sure I should have been able to fit it in if I had enough time, I never seemed to get around to my shadowing exercises.  I always put it off to the next day or did some other homework instead.  In the end, I only did shadowing twice, and neither time for as long as I had hoped.  I did manage to go to language table twice though.  I think for the next cycle, instead of saying "I will practice shadowing three times a week," I will be more specific. "I will practice shadowing on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday" for example.

As for my oral exam, I honestly have no clue how I did overall.  I was so focused on getting the right words out that I didn't even try to get the correct accent, but on the other hand, my speed, if not as fast as in recordings I've heard, was at least regular and didn't drag.  As for the gramatical usage, I don't think Peng and I used the past tense enough overall.  We probably should have tried to include a few extra sentences relating to the past.  Finally, I had no clue when to use the particles ね and よ.

きょう、 わたしの かよおび

Warning: the narrative you are about to read is extremely boring.
Do not operate heavy machinery while reading this post.

こんばんは。
よく　はちじごろ　おきます。　きょう　はちじさんじゅっぷんに　おきました。　じゃあ、　はちじさんじゅういっぽん　ねました。　はちじごじゅうに　おきました。　フリスト　ホールに　いきました。　くじに　フリストホールで　にほんごの　じゅぎょうが　ありました。　じゅうじじゅっぽんに　あさごはんを　たべました。　マクドネルホールで　わたしの　ぶつりがくの　じゅぎょうが　ありました　けど、　いきませんでした。
わたしは　うちで　しゅくだい　しました。　いつも　ひるごはんを　たべます。　にじごろ　うちで　ばんきょしました。　ろくじはんに　ばんごはんを　たべました。　ぶつりがくの　テストが　ありました。いま　じゅうじよんぷん　です。　こんばん　ねます。　あした　なにを　しますか。　わかりません。
しつれい　します。

（；_・）

かわくありません

Well I messed up.  テストは　おととい　ありました。But I forgot about it.  So of course,　べんきょうしませんでした。I didn't do well.  きょう　テストは　ありました。　わたしは　べんきょしました。But I think there may have been a backside to the quiz which I didn't notice...  ＼(>o<)／
 Well better to know the words and get a bad grade than the other way around I guess.  I'll get this down eventually.

Goals for First Speaking Cycle

My Goals:

I want to be able to reliably be able to pronounce the l/r sound in らりるれろ and also be able to keep up with shadowing in slower speaking cases without having to listen to it many times.

Activities:

I will practice shadowing with provided exercises, anime, and Japanese songs at least 20 minutes for at least 3 times a week.

I will also go to the language table at least twice in the next month.

 

Introduction

おはよう　ございます。
はじめまして。
ハンセン　です。
みて　くだちい　おねがいします。
いちねんせい　です。
どうぞ　よろしく。
じゃあ　また。

First Post, or Why to Never Let Thomas Choose Titles for Things

おはよう　ございます、こんにちは、or こんばんは！

So why study Japanese? With my language requirement out of the way, and so many interesting classes, why dive into a difficult language in which I have no experience?  The simplest answer is I am very vulnerable to reverse psychology.  Seriously though, I came to college hoping to challenge myself and didn't want to avoid learning another language just because I didn't have to.  I didn't want to take another romance language, and I don't think I could ever learn the massive number of icons required for Chinese, so Japanese seemed like a nice option which I might be able to use from time to time.

It's hard to say I'm particularly excited about any part of the class, but if I had to choose one, it would probably be learning a whole bunch of letters entirely different from the Roman one typically used.  うぁちろゔぇ is complete nonsense, (as far as I know) but it still looks cool.

The hardest part I've run into so far is remembering the exact combination of letters in something long like しつれい　します.  I'll mess it up in some way like しすねい　しもす, which doesn't sound different enough to me for me to realize my mistake, but is still wrong.

So until next time, しつれい　します！ (triple checked that, got it right this time)