Earlier this week I set myself the goal of improving my spoken Japanese. Specifically, I wanted to improve the rhythm and intonation when I speak, focusing on pitch patterns. In order to achieve this goal, I came up with three basic activities to help me practice regularly: 1) practice reading vocab from the textbook aloud as often as possible; 2) meet with my Japanese friend to practice my speaking and hear his feedback; and 3) arrange to meet with one of my teachers during their office hours to practice my spoken Japanese and ask them to help me with my intonation.

I will try to do these three activities every week. This week, for instance, I have been able to review vocab from the textbook almost every day, practicing speaking the new words and phrases out loud to improve my pronunciation. I have also been able to talk with my Japanese friend and get some advice from him. Unfortunately, I haven't had time to meet with any of my teachers during their office hours this week, since I have been so busy with other commitments. But I am hoping to arrange a meeting at some point next week. Watch this space!

おはようございます！

わたしのなまえはWaring です、どうぞよろしく。わたしはぶりんすとんだいがくのだいがくいんせいです。わたしのせんこうはちゅうごくのぶんがくです。いぎりすからきました。

さようなら！

みなさん, こんばんは!

We've learned a lot in a very short space of time, and although it's a lot of fun I'm also finding that learning Japanese is also a lot of hard work! We have a hiragana reading and writing test tomorrow, and I've been practicing a lot to make sure I'm as prepared as possible.

In addition to practicing reading and writing, I know that it's also very important for me to perfect my spoken Japanese. To that end, I've set myself the following goals as part of Japanese 101's ongoing Pronunciation Exercise assessment:

1) Improve my confidence in pronouncing Japanese words
2) Gain better knowledge of Japanese rhythmic structures

In order to achieve these goals, I will do my best to commit to the following activities:

1) Read the textbook every day to memorize more words and phrases
2) Talk with my Japanese friend who has offered to tutor me in spoken Japanese at least once a week
3) Try to make time to meet with Sato sensee during his office hours on a regular basis.

I'll post an update on how I'm getting on soon!

じゃ、また!

Making flash cards to help me memorize the hiragana. Takes me back to when I started learning Chinese my first year of college! 

I'm taking a class this semester at Columbia, and I took advantage of my train journey into New York yesterday to review some of the Japanese phrases we've learned so far. It was a busy train, but it turns out nobody wants to sit next to a person mumbling to themselves in Japanese. Studying Japanese is already proving to be very useful! 

This is the first post in my blog for the Japanese 101 class I am taking this semester at Princeton. I am very excited to be taking this class, and can already tell that I will learn a lot this semester!

There are many reasons why I want to study Japanese. As a Ph.D. student in classical Chinese literature focusing on ancient Chinese poetry, Japanese will be an indispensable research language. So many great Japanese scholars have produced important insights in my field, and it is frustrating not to have direct access to these publications in the original language. Learning Japanese will help me develop as a scholar in my field and will greatly improve my research.

Apart from this, I am also interested in Japan's own literature and history. I have already read some Japanese novels from different periods such as Genji monogatari and work by Murakami Hakuri, and have also been exposed to the poetry of Sōseki Natsume. Studying Japanese will allow me to learn more about Japanese literature, especially those works which have not yet been translated into English or Chinese.

As part of my graduate studies I will most likely spend time studying Japanese somewhere in Japan, either this summer or the next. I have never visited Japan before, but having lived in China for two years I know how exciting and rewarding spending an extended period of time in a foreign country can be, and I cannot wait to go there. I will be working hard over the course of this year to get a solid grounding in basic Japanese so that I can survive when I am in Japan - an exciting prospect but also a daunting one!

So far I have very much enjoyed Japanese 101, especially learning a little bit about the different Japanese writing systems. I've found memorizing the various phrases we have been taught so far a little tricky, but I'm sure with practice I'll be able to improve a lot in a relatively short space of time.

ではまた!

LW