Took me by surprise!

Ok, so, I'm part German. My mom and Oma are fluent in German, My sister took German in high school, I took two years of German in high school... So, yeah. German. I've heard it all my life, I've spoken a bit of it for as long as I can remember, you'd think I can pronounce it.

Well, apparently I can't.

I've worked on Japanese pronunciation since middle school, but I didn't think that mastering Japanese pronunciation (to a degree) would completely throw off my German pronunciation. 0.o It's the "r"s really. In Japanese the "r" sound is a mixture of "l" "r" and "d" whereas in German the "r" is rolled. There are a couple other things that throw me off to.

So my mom and I were reading some books in German today and I tried reading and no matter what I did the words would not come out correctly! 0.o I was so frustrated!

And on top of that, I went to reply to my mom in German but I didn't know how to say what I wanted in German so I used Japanese.

While yes it's a good thing that Japanese is coming so much easier to me than German now, I'm still slightly upset that I've lost some of my German speaking skills...

Speaking of languages other than Japanese, I don't think I've mentioned this before but there are 5 languages that I want to learn to fluency:

Japanese, German, French, Korean, and Italian.

Well, thanks for reading! I'll try to post more Japanese soon! ^-^

This is how I feel.

With school work, responsibilities as Vice President of a club, and drama with my friends and myself, Maru-san does a good job of summing up how I feel.

Take a look!

みんなさん、がんばってください！(minna san, ganbatte kudasai!)

Dazzling Girl

Hihi! こんにちは！元気ですか。(konnichiwa! genki desu ka?)

Well, today, I'll be talking about SHINee's new song, "Dazzling Girl"!
If you haven't heard the song yet, check here!

I think this song is adorable! And the best part is that it's in 日本語(nihongo) rather than Korean.
Don't get me wrong, I like SHINee's Korean songs too, but I'm learning Japanese, not Korean.
That's why I'm happy it's in Japanese. ^-^

Anyways, I'm trying to learn this song now. ^-^ My friend and I keep singing parts together and cause a lot of people to just stare at us because they don't understand! It's really fun!

Speaking of my friend, we're setting up a study session for Japanese and Korean, so I will hopefully be able to study more than I do on my own time. ^-^ That's pretty exciting! I'll be able to use more 日本語(nihongo) in my posts!

Well, I hope I have a chance to write again soon! バイバイ！

うれしい！！！(ureshi)

やったああああ！！！(yatta!)
私のコンピュウタがうれしいです。(watashi no conpyuuta ga ureshii desu.)

0.o umm... that sentence....

Anyways! My computer is happy again. It's converting my typing into kanji again! ^-^
And that's always good!

But, in practicing writing kanji...........
I feel like the more I write it, the worse it looks. D:

Anyways. For some reason I'm hyper today, so if there are a million posts today I'm really sorry! XD

Annoying.

Gaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!! My computer is being weird and not converting what I type in Japanese to kanji!!!!!!!!!!!!!

D:

I'm frustrated as is because the more I try to read Japanese the less I feel I understand! DX

It's not fair!!!

Slacking off?

So, sometimes no matter what I do I can't study worth anything. I think that's how this week has gone... I just can't seem to study at all no matter what I do! I'll look at Japanese, but I have a hard time reading it because I don't know many Kanji yet, so my eyes tend to skim over what I'm trying to read...

I dunno, it's the same way for my schoolwork too. And it's causing some serious sleep deprivation for me. Not good.

Well, I'll try to do better in the coming week! がんばります！！！(ganbarimasu!)

つかれた。。。(tsukareta)

みんなさん、きにょうびです！(minna san, kinyoubi desu)

Even though I only have classes three times a week, I'm tired... (つかれた)
So, I'm very glad that today is my last day of school for this week. ^-^ うれしい！！！(ureshii)
Everyone, please do your best at work or school today and always!

今日はきんようびです。(kyou wa kinyoubi desu)
あの、いまは7:25amです。(ano, ima wa 7:25am desu)
早いです！(hayai desu)

D:

あの、みんなさん、ありがとうございます！(ano, minna san, arigatou gozaimasu)
Thank you for reading, as always.
I'll write again soon, hopefully with more Japanese knowledge to share! ^-^
バイバイ！

ほんとうに (hontouni)

みんなさん、こんにちは！(minna san, konnichiwa)
ごめんなさい。。。あの、さいきんは私がめんどくさい。。。(gomen nasai... ano, saikin wa watashi ga mendokusai...)

I know my 日本語(nihongo) is terrible and I probably messed up that sentence really badly; what I mean to say is, everyone, I'm really sorry that I've been so lazy in posting lately. I thought that I would post more during the summer, but I ended up doing other things and forgetting to study even! So I will do my best to start studying seriously again and posting on here regularly.

Thank you for reading all this. ありがとうございます！(arigatou gozaimasu)
Please support me in the future! おうえんしてね！(ouenshite ne)

日本語の Musings 4

It's interesting how in Japanese, to extend an invitation to someone you must conjugate the verb to the negative form.

I wonder, does it have something to do with lowering yourself to make a request of someone just as in other aspects of Japanese culture?

A List of Words Part 1

Last time I wrote, I talked about different ways to learn vocabulary.
Well, I was working on vocabulary myself the other day, and I made a huge list of words that I'm going to look up to help improve my vocab. Some of the words I already know, some I've learned before and don't know fully yet, and some I don't know at all.

Heavy, ceiling, window, music, sound, sing, dance, video, Internet, computer, type, dresser, closet, room, home, house, bookshelf, study school, desk, chair, rain, umbrella, books, read, stuffed animals, pillow, blanket, carpet, rug, paper, pencil, pen, notebook, floor, Bible, box, storage, organize, mail, letter, files, wings, lamp, ruler, measuring tape, fabric, clothes, sewing, cut, pattern, nails, nail polish, glitter, fingernails, finger, hand, front, back, palm, arm, shoulder, elbow, fore arm, chest, stomach, neck, collar bone, chin, cheeks, ears, mouth, teeth, nose, snot (eww...), eyes, eyebrows, forehead, hair, head, face, back, legs, knees, feet, toes, toenails, bottom, sit, stand, walk, jump, run, spin, fall, lay, sleep, make, cook, hold, held, hide, seek, tag, find, look, search, cry, laugh, smile, frown, happy, sad, excited, upset, folder, plastic, truth, lie, socks, tights, skirt, pants, jeans, underwear, shirt, blouse, dress, jacket, cardigan, coat, necklace, bracelet, earrings, stickers, makeup, eat, drink, liquid, solid, gas, air, sky, clouds, weather, leaves, trees, bushes, grass, branches, ground, building, road, grow, mailbox, fence, discover, river, creek, lake, stream, ocean, boat, swim, rope, float, swimming suit, novel, soak, salt, pepper, fruit, vegetables, meat, kids, boy, girl, play, toys, nursery, snack, lesson, color, coloring page, crayon, colored pencil, marker, art, draw, create, absorb, sponge, clean, tidy, kitchen, shelf, stove, microwave, oven, refrigerator, dust, dirty, stuff, storage, table, messy, covered, uncovered, over, under, spoon, fork, knife, plate, bowl, cup, thirsty, hungry, tired, exhausted, pigtails, ponytail, hair (a repeat), braid, cute, cool, accessory, language, speak, learn, new, old, many, few, clip, zip, zipper, close, open, elastic, ruffle, shorts, skort (mix of skirt and shorts. doubt there's a Japanese word for it...), drive, go, explore, leave, come, contain, pin, scissors, snip, write

Told you it was a huge list. Anyways, over the next few posts, I'm going to put the Japanese versions of these words. Maybe it will help some people! I really don't know, but if I can help others, that would be great!

Bye for now!

Just a note, I think it's funny to trace my train of thought with the list. It reminds me of my Psychology class that I took in the first semester of college. ^-^

Building Vocabulary

Building vocabulary in 日本語(nihongo) is hard for me. It doesn't help that I've  even had trouble building vocabulary in English...

Some of the best advice I've gotten, though, is this:
When you go into a room, try to name everything around you in Japanese. If you can't, look up the words you don't know.

Another piece of advice that I've gotten is to ask someone who knows the language when you don't understand a word or phrase or when you don't know a word or phrase. During my school last semester, I would ask my すごい先生(sugoi sensei) if I had questions, and he would help me a lot! I also have one of my best friends that I can ask. ^-^

So, my suggestion to you is to try these ways if you can!

And also, especially if you are a beginner, but also if you've been studying for a while, focus on verbs! If you get the verbs then making sentences will be so much easier! I'm definately no grammar expert, I think I've mentioned such before, but it's true. This goes for any language, if you know the verbs, you can make sentences much easier. In 日本語(nihongo) it's even easier because the basic sentences are subject and verb. ^-^

I didn't learn verbs first because I was stubborn and didn't want to have to deal with grammar and now I struggle with making sentences. That may be part of why I don't make sentences on here very often...

I'm working on learning verbs too, so let's do our best!

Thank you for reading! ありがとうございました！(arigatou gozaimashita)
I'll try to write soon!
さよなら！(sayonara)

日本語の Musings 3

日本語の勉強。(nihongo no benkyou)
For foreign students studying Japanese, it is an interesting experience. The main thing that gets so many people is the writing system. Or, the three writing systems I should say:Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji.

Hiragana is kind of like a basic alphabet if you want to relate it to English. The characters represent two letter sets with the exception of the vowels and the letter "n." The characters can be combined to make three letter sets to make even more sounds and words. Any Japanese words can be spelled out in these characters, though they may leave some ambiguity between words that are pronounced the same but have different kanji characters to help tell which is which. Hiragana is the first writing system that Japanese kids learn.

Katakana is used for foreign words. English words, German, French, Russian... Any foreign words that the Japanese adapt and add to their language will most likely be written in Katakana.

Kanji are the characters that the Japanese adopted from the Chinese a long time ago. they are like pictures that are made up of different parts. Those different parts are called radicals and when you combine the radicals in certain ways you end up with Kanji. At least, that's a basic understanding of how it works. I don't know many Kanji yet so I don't have a full understanding.

The Japanese use each of these writing systems together. When reading Japanese, you can come accross all three systems in one sentence. It's really kind of cool and fascinating!

Thanks for reading another 日本語の Musings!
Also, if you have something you want me to talk about, leave a comment!
Likewise, if I got something wrong, let me know! I'm still learning too! Thanks!
I'll see you again really soon!

日本語の Musings 2

In Japanese, once a subject is established, there is no need to bring it up again...

It makes it hard to follow along in conversation for someone who, like me, was raised speaking English where every sentence has a subject and verb...

I thought of this last night when I was watching a Japanese Drama and later again while I was watching a movie.

In the drama, I thought of how something was explained... in English it would be
"He is my pet.
what?
Pet."
It's strange because normally I would say or reply
"He is my pet.
Your what?
My Pet."

I think that not hearing the subject of the sentence will be strange as I get into conversation Japanese... But I hope I can do by best and get the hang of it! Let's do our best together!

Studio Ghibli Craze

I've been on a Studio Ghibli craze lately. I really like Studio Ghibli films anyways, but lately I've been re-watching the ones I've seen and watching some of the ones I haven't seen. I'll give you a list with details.

Princess Mononoke- Watched it when I was in middle school and didn't think much of it. Re watched it a few weeks ago. Amazing story!

Laputa (Castle in the Sky)- I own this one and watch it pretty frequently. ^-^

The Cat Returns- I own this one too and it also gets watched pretty frequently.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind- I own this one as well, but it gets watched less often than the others because it's a bit longer and it's also special to me and I don't want the specialness to wear off...

Spirited Away- Watched this in middle school too and it scared me sooooo much! Don't know why, but I wanted nothing to do with it. 0.o Now I realize that what scared me the most was that she watched her parents turn into pigs right in front of her. I think I'm gonna try re-watching this one sometime soon and hopefully I will like it better.

The Secret World of Arrietty- Loved this one! You can see my post about it here!

Whisper of the Heart- Watched this one tonight because I randomly stumbled on a YouTube video that had the song she sings while he plays the violin. I was curious so I checked it out and ended up watching it. :p

Tales from Earthsea- Watched this a few weeks ago. It was good and creative and awesome, but I couldn't help but feel that the other films were better executed? I dunno. I still liked it. ^-^

My Neighbor Totoro- One of the first ones I ever saw! (Spirited Away I think was the first... bad introduction?) I loved this movie very much and got to watch part of it with a friend at her club about a year ago. Really want to watch it again.

Ponyo- Saw this shortly after it came out and was rather disappointed in it. The ending just fell apart and became a bit cheesy...

Kiki's Delivery Service- Haven't seen this one yet but planning to very soon.

Howl's Moving Castle- Love love love love LOVE this one!!! It is similar to Nausicaä tho in that I only watch it once in a while so it stays special. It means a lot to me because my sister liked it so well and I always watched it with her.

Grave of the Fireflies- One of the saddest movies I have ever watched. I cried so much during it. haven't seen it for years. I kind of want to watch it again even tho it will turn me into a crybaby... 0.o

I know there are a few more films done by Studio Ghibli, but these are the ones I can come up with off the top of my head. There was also one that I can never remember the name of and I can only recall that it was about a girl and a boy and the girl became a pilot into outer space and flew to the far reaches of the universe and pretty much stopped ageing and the guy stayed on Earth and aged as a normal person and it took years for a text message to reach him or her............ I cried in that one too...

Does anyone know what that movie is? I'm pretty sure it was also Studio Ghibli, but I could be wrong...

Well, that's my ramble for now. Thanks for reading!
I'll try to post Japanese things again soon. ^-^

日本語の Musings 1

So, "Today is Monday" is 今日は月曜日です (kyou wa getsuyoubi desu)...

Does that make "Today was Monday" 今日は月曜日でした (kyou wa getsuyoubi deshita)?

I think so... but I'm bad with the tenses.

Motivation

Hey all. This is an English post, frankly, because I just want to get my thoughts out without losing my train of thought.

My question, or really thought, for today is this:
What is your motivation for learning Japanese?

Some people are motivated to learn so that they can watch anime without subtitles or read manga in Japanese... I don't care about those. They're full of slang anyways and you'd offend someone by talking like an anime character.

Some people are motivated to learn because their family is Japanese and they want to be able to have a conversation with their relatives in Japan... That doesn't work for me. My heritage is German, Irish, and American. I don't even know more than maybe two people in Japan and they want to learn English so I try my best to help them when I can.

Some people are motivated to learn because they are moving to Japan or are going to visit Japan and they want to be able to understand what is being said and what they will be surrounded by... I'd like to go to Japan, but even study abroad doesn't look hopeful for me right now so there is no motivation in the "I will be going" section.

Some people are motivated to learn by their interest in a particular thing like, say literature. They may want to be able to read the original Japanese text... I barely read English literature willingly... 0.o

The point I'm trying to make is that I don't know what my motivation for learning Japanese is and I think that is why I am not progressing in my studies.

My request is that in the comments, just leave something about Japan that you have an interest in so that I can look into it and maybe find some motivation to continue with my studies. You don't have to, but I'd really appreciate it if you did.

Thank you for your time in reading this post! I'll try to prepare something with Japanese in it next time. See ya!

こわい(kowai)

みんなさん、(minna san) do you ever get scared at night when no one else is home? I do.

This probably isn't a good thing right now tho because my parents are on a trip out of town so I'm at home alone.

Even tho I'm an adult now, I still get scared...

こわいですね。(kowai desu ne.)

Anyways! I've kind of been at a stand still for learning vocabulary and kanji lately, so I've come up with an idea to help with both of those aspects of Japanese! You'll have to stay tuned to find out what I've come up with!

Hopefully I can kick this idea off sooner than later.

Thanks for reading! I'll see you again soon! まったね！(matta ne!)

ごめんなさい(gomen nasai)

みんなさん、こんばんは。ジョイです。(minna san, konbanwa. Joy desu.)
第一に。。。あの、みんなさんごめんなさい！(daiichi ni... ano, minna san gomen nasai!)
I'm so very bad at keeping up with posting on my blogs, even tho I have seemingly all the time in the world to study and share what I learn... ごめんな。。。(gomen na...)

Second... Have you heard of "Waku Waku Japanese"? I came across it some time ago and only this week discovered it again. The episodes are very short and cover a few words or concepts or aspects of culture and they can be very useful. An episode is supposed to come out every week and they have 30 episodes as of now (when I'm writing this). I really like the episodes because they are very simple and quick. Also, the comments on the videos can help too. People ask and answer questions in the comments. Here's the link to the playlist for Waku Waku Japanese on youtube! I hope that you can learn from Waku Waku Japanese!

That's all I have for now. Thank you for taking the time to read this post! I really appreciate it! ありがとうございました！(arigatou gozaimashita) まったね！(matta ne)

Catching up. ^-^

みんなさん！こんにちは！！！(minna san! konnichiwa!)
元気ですか？(genki desu ka?)

It's been a while since I posted properly. I hope that I will make more time for 勉強(benkyou) and posting.
Today marks one week of summer break for me! I haven't had school for a week, but I feel so bored... D:

みんなさん、(minna san) I'm entering a singing contest! Unfortunately the song I have to sing isn't in 日本語(nihongo). It's in English. But if I like how my video comes out i may post it here or on one of my other blogs anyways! ^-^

Mmmm... I feel kind of sad lately when I look at 日本語(nihongo)... I guess I just feel frustrated that I haven't been studying as much as I should have been... well, there's only a week until the deadline for the contest so after that I can work extra hard on 日本語の勉強！(nihongo no benkyou)

みんなさん(minna san) thank you for reading! ありがとうございます！(arigatou gozaimasu)
I hope I can keep up with this blog in the future! Until next time, じゃね！(jya ne!)

Long time...

...and no post... 0.o

Sorry for taking so long.

To make up for it I'll share a website that is teaching me some about the grammar of Japanese. It's very useful and even though I know some of it already, some of it is still new to me. That's why I started at lesson 1 and I'm working my way up. ^-^ Please enjoy this site, Yes Japanese!

Anyways, this upcoming week is Finals Week, so after all my exams I want to try to catch up on all of the posts that I've missed in the past... 0.o long time!

Well, I hope to write again soon! ^-^
さよなら、みんなさん！

踊ってみた(odottemita)

Hello! OK, so this phrase has been bugging me fo sooooo long!!!

踊ってみた(odottemita)

It's at the end of every video title where someone is dancing to something and I looked it up a few months ago and the translation I got was "I dance." Now, I already knew that this phrase stood to mean that it was a dance cover done by the performer in the video, but I always want to know every little thing about the things that I'm super interested in. So I knew that 踊る(odoru) is "dance" but I didn't know what the てみた(temita) part was. What ended up happening is that some website said that it was another wat to say "I" (which I thought was ridiculous because I had already learned all the ways to say "I" and that wasn't one of them). So this kept bothering me everytime I saw it until today.

Today I looked at it and thought, "踊る is a verb, right? So could it be that the てin the next part of the phrase would be the verb ending rather than the first part of the next word?" So I went to the youtube search bar and I switched to 日本語(nihongo) keyboard and I started typing "odottemita." by the time I got to the "te" in hiragana, the search bar suggestions were all 踊ってみた, so I then typed it into google translate (love hate relationship). It turned out with "dance as seen" or something like that. So It means that it's a dance cover (as I knew) but "temita" is not a form of "I"... at all. That's the moral here. I had a direction for this post but I had to leave my computer halfway thru for about 2 hours, so I forgot.  Sorry. ^-^

Anyways, sorry I haven't been posting regularly!

Thanks for reading! ^-^ Bye for now! XD

かっこいです！(kakkoi desu!)

おはよう、みんなさん！(ohayou, minna san)
あの。。。今は、。。。(ano... ima wa...)
... Right now it's pretty early in the morning for me... So I'm pretty tired. But I haven't posted yet this week and I don't think I'll have a chance to before 金曜日(kinyoubi), so I had to post with the little time I have.

I also just found something very interesting! So, you remember from this post that I absolutely loved the Japanese drama Ikemen Desu Ne, right? Well, I just discovered that some of the main characters are in the band that did the music for the drama, and I just found an adorable (かわいいです！) song and video that they did and I wanted to share it! XD

かっこいい！！！すごい！(kakkoi! sugoi!)

But I'm biased because I like the style of music and I like the people singing. ^-^ And I like roller skates. (Now you're curious and want to watch it, right? XD)

Well, this is all I have for now... Back to studying I guess.

Thank you very much for reading my blog! ありがとうございました！(arigatou gozaimashita)

 I really hope you like the song and video as much as I do! And I hope that I can use more kanji and Japanese in these posts as I learn more! Please continue to support me! <3

さよなら！(sayonara)

Dictionary Day

こんばんは、みんなさん！(konbanwa, minna san)
Where does the time go?
Well, since I've been looking things up in the dictionary for a good part of the day, I thought I'd share a bit with you. ^-^

いねる - put in, add; send; indude; prepare (hot drinks) (no idea what "indude" means, but it was in the dictionary. If you know what it is, tell me in the comments! ^-^ I'm thinking it's supposed to be "include")
いろ - color (ok, I already knew this one, I looked up the kanji 色)
くるしい - painful; trying, taxing, hard, difficult (kanji for this is 苦しい)
城 - kanji for "castle" I'm using the pronunciation "shiro" (しろ)
雅 - kanji for "elegant; graceful; refined; gracious" I'm using the pronunciation "miyabi" (みやび)

So..... I think I'll try this game that my friends taught me my Freshman year of high school. In this game, you have words (in this case Japanese words) and you make a story using those words. Just as a warning, I already know I'm gonna use these words wrong, this is just to kind of get a sense of the word so that I can add to my vocabulary and stuff. ^-^ Here goes!

Once upon a time, there was a 雅 (miyabi) princess who was both beautiful and smart. (Classic storybook beginning here, ごめん！(gomen) I'll try harder!) This princess loved 色(iro) more than anything else. She painted her room all the 色 of the rainbow. (ごめん again! >.<) In fact, every room in the 城(shiro) was a different 色. One day, there was a guest to the 城. "あ！" They exclaimed, "there are so many 色, I wonder if this is the world of rainbows!" The 雅 princess took pride in all the 色 so she sent the maid to いねる (ineru) some お茶(ocha) for the guest. While they waited, the princess discovered that the guest was from the land of はな(hana) and that every spring there were many many 色. So the 雅 princess decided to visit the land of はな. The End.

0.o Couldn't fit "苦しい" in there... and sorry it's super cheesy... this is what I get for writing a blog post in the middle of the night.

Speaking of, I really should start going to bed earlier again because spring break is almost over! I have school again on 月曜日(getsuyoubi).

Guess I should sleep now. 寝る。寝る。寝る。(neru neru neru)
おやすみ！(oyasumi)

Spring Break

こんにちは、みんなさん！(konnichiwa, minna san)
元気ですか？(genki desu ka)
みんなさん、(minna san) this week is my Spring Break, so I haven't had classes!
Makes me happy! XD

So, I'm trying to think of ways to practice 日本語(nihongo) more frequently. (Dang it, I just learned the kanji for "frequently" yesterday and I don't remember what it is. And I don't want to look it up... >///<)
Well, if you have any ways that you practice a language that you want to share, please leave a comment! (^^)

I'll try to post again soon, I have to go to a meeting now.

さよなら！(sayonara)

What I've been up to

This is some of what I've been doing to practice 日本語(nihongo) lately. ^-^

Pretty much what I do is when I come across a kanji I don't know, don't quite remember, want to know different pronunciations for, etc. I go to the online Japanese-English Dictionary I talked about in this post, and I look up the kanji and write down all the information on it so I can practice it again later! It's a pretty useful trick, but it killed my blue pen... :/


In other news, I seem to have caught a bit of a cold so everyone please be careful not to get sick! It seems like everyone is...

^-^ see ya!

Ikemen Desu Ne!

There's a Japanese Drama that I watched recently and loved. It's called Ikemen Desu Ne. XD

Appearantly it came from a manga and was then made into an anime (I think) and then made into the Korean Drama "You're Beautiful". ^-^ Here's more info. I've only seen the Japanese version, but I loved it! I recomend it!
I'm thinking about doing a summary and my opinion of it on my other blog, so if I do I'll let you all know!

By the way, I'm trying to catch up on posts that I've missed these past few weeks, so I'll probably post some more later on today. ^-^

Thanks for reading! See you soon!

あの。。。(ano)

おはよう、みんなさん。(ohayou, minna san)
あの、今日は火曜日です。(ano, kyou wa kayoubi desu)

Every day I realize more and more that it is hard to learn a language to fluency. It is very frustrating.

So anyways, I wanted to share about a website I have been using when I don't have my 日本語 (nihongo) dictionary with me. It's called Denshi Jisho - Online Japanese Dictionary. It is very useful, it lets you look up words, kanji, or sentences, and it has a place for you to type the English to find the Japanese word as well. I find it very helpful. ^-^ I hope it can help you a lot!

さよなら(sayonara)

More Verbs

As I try to read more Japanese, I find that I can't understand the sentences because the verbs are in so many different forms. I haven't learned to congugate verbs yet, and I'm finding that if I don't learn how soon I won't be able to continue with learning Japanese.

It's kind of funny, I was talking with my Professor about my troubles with reading the sentences and he actually asked me if I knew how to congugate verbs too! So, he has recomended some books and I will be looking for them in the library tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes and hopefully share some about congugating verbs once I know how. ^-^

Thanks for reading! ^-^ see you again soon!

わくわくする！(waku waku suru)

Verbs

こんばんは、みんなさん！(konbanwa, minna san)

So, this week I've been trying to make sentences in 日本語(nihongo) and I've realized that I am missing something very essential! Verbs.

I really don't like grammar, I've never been really good at it at all, but grammar is kind of important sometimes... I was trying to learn Japanese without looking into the grammar, just by listening I thought I could learn, but... I'm finding that I can't just learn from listening because I personally don't listen to Japanese enough for the structure to sink in. I listen to Japanese music when I am studying, walking, or just sitting around doing nothing, and I watch anime and Japanese movies in Japanese, but I have to admit, that's probably less than 50% of my time spent on listening...

So, I have been trying to add a lot of verbs to my 日本語 vocabulary so that I can make more sentences. Once I can do that, I can use more 日本語 in everyday speech and in writing here on this blog. I hope I can work hard at this and I hope that eventually I will be able to help others learning 日本語!

Thanks for reading! ありがとうございました！(arigatou gozaimashita)
さよなら！(sayonara)

ゆかいバレンタインデイ(yukai barentain dei)

Happy Valentine's Day!
I have a valentine for you! Please enjoy!!!

 

 The valentine was lenticular, so when you tilt it, it shows another picture. ^-^

I hope you like it and I'll see you again later this week! XD

さよなら！(sayonara)

私のせんせい。。。(watashi no sensei)

。。。すごいです！！！(sugoi desu)

こんばんは、みんなさん！(konbanwa, minna san)

My Professor is really amazing and a very cool person! I want to tell you what he did!
First of all, this is my Professor who is fluent in 日本語(nihongo), so that already boosts his awesomeness. But what is really cool is that he knows I'm teaching myself 日本語(nihongo) and so after my test in his class today, he asked me this: 日本語のべんきょがどうですか？(nihongo no benkyo ga dou desu ka)
XD
Well, that made me smile! ^-^ I am very lucky to have a せんせい(sensei) like him!

Oh! Also today! I made a sentence that for some reason I'm happy I was able to come up with it so early in the morning. 日本人がどこですか？(nihonjin ga doko desu ka)
The context of this is that there are no 日本人(nihonjin, Japanese people) around where I live and go to school. So on our way to school, I'm explaining my frustration to my mother the best that I can and I come up with 「日本人がどこですか！！！」(nihonjin ga doko desu ka)

Here, I found a random 日本語 for you. ^-^
Word: ましょう (-masho)
Meaning: a verb ending expressing the speaker's intent or an invitation
Example sentence: 重そうなかばんですね。お持ちしましょう。(Omoso na kaban desu ne. Omochi shimasho) That bag [suitcase, briefcase] looks heavy. Let me carry it for you.

I thought that -masho was a very courteous and gentlemanly word/verb ending (not that I do so well with grammar...) so I wanted to share it. So it's not as random as some because I actually found it ahead of time, but that's fine too. ^-^

Well, that's all for now. I think I did well on my tests/exams at least! And now it's the weekend! 元気！！！(genki!)

みんなさん！(minna san) Enjoy your weekend おねがいします！(onegaishimasu)

あの。。。ありがとうございました！！！(arigatou gozaimashita)
I'll see you on 月曜日！(getsuyoubi)
さよなら！(sayonara)

I'll be happy when this week is over.

おはよう、みんなさん！(ohayou, minna san)
あの、今日は水曜日です。(ano, kyou wa suiyoubi desu.)

あの(ano), I have some tests this week and a lot of writing that I thought I had more time to do... but before I knew it, it's already the 8th... I haven't studied very much at all... D:

So, my tests are 明日 (ashita) and the day after. I hope things return to normal soon...

By the way, I say a preview for this movie yesterday for the first time! The Secret World of Arrietty! It's a Studio Ghibli film, so of course it will be amazing! XD I'm really excited for it!

Well, thank you as always for reading my blog! ありがとございました！(arigatou gozaimashita)
I'll write again on 金曜日！(kinyoubi)
さよなら！(sayounara)

Hai!

こんばんは！！！みんなさん！(konbanwa, minna san!)
金曜日ですね。(kinyoubi desu ne)
あの、今日わ (ano, kyou wa)... um... 三(san) February... です。(desu)
I should learn how to say the months...

So! Random 日本語 (nihongo) Dictionary time! (It's been a while, hasn't it! ^-^)

Word: 教室 (kyoshitsu)
Meaning: classroom, schoolroom
Example sentence: 教室の中では静かにしてください。(Kyoshitsu no naka de wa shizuka ni shite kudasai.) Please be quiet while in the classroom.

So, this week has been crazy with a lot of school stuff and personal stuff going on, but hopefully next week will be better!

Thank you very much for reading! ありがとう！(arigatou)
Also, I have a request! If you have anything Japanese/Japanese related that you would like me to post about, please leave a comment for me! I like learning about Japan and I would be more than happy to do a bit of research granted I have the time!
さよなら！(sayonara)

元気(genki)

こんばんは！(konbanwa)
元気ですか？(genki desu ka)
わたしわ元気です！(watashi wa genki desu)

あの、今日わげつようび (ano, kyou wa getsuyoubi) so I went to school all day...
でも、(demo,) that's a good thing too! I was practicing 日本語(nihongo) a lot more than I have been lately! And I've been more motivated!

This is because one of my Professors is fluent in 日本語！(nihongo)
I'm very 元気(genki) because he said that he would help me if I was having trouble learning! ^-^
He even lent me some children's books that are predominantly in hiragana and katakana, and since I can read those writing systems relatively well, I'm working on expanding my vocabulary! ^-^ I was so happy when I could understand かあさんねずみ (kaasan-nezumi) as mother mouse! XD I guess it's a big achievement for me since I've worked on the writing more than I have my vocabulary. ^-^

I also made a new friend recently and I was super happy when I found out that he is interested in 日本語(nihongo) as well!!! XD So we can practice together and I can talk about 日本語(nihongo) nonstop and I won't get weird looks! ^-^

I'm pushing on with my mission to learn 日本語(nihongo) to fluency by the end of the year! I wish everyone out there who is learning a language or working towards any kind of goal the very best! がんばってください！(ganbatte kudasai!)

Thank you for reading! ありがとう！(arigatou) I'll write again on きにょうび！(kinyoubi)
さよなら！(sayonara)

Haha!

I found some of my earliest notes for 日本語！(nihongo)
I wanted to share them, so I'll type them up for you. Just a warning, they're pretty random. And yes, I originally started learning words and then switched to hiragana and katakana.
I can't guarantee that all of these are right also, mainly because I don't feel like looking them up right now, but I think they came from an old Japanese-English dictionary I have somewhere...
 ^-^;

lovable or cute ->kawaii, kawairashii
dark(color) -> kurai
sweet -> amai
Christmas -> kurisumasu
cherry(tree) -> sakura
cherry(fruit) -> sakurambo
chocolate -> chokoreto
chocolate bar -> ita-choko
chocolate milk -> choko-miruku
chocolate shake -> choko-seki
choir -> korasu
candy -> (o-)kashi, kyande
cafe (coffee shop) -> kohii-ten, kissa-ten
cake -> keki
random -> yatara (na)
randomly -> yatara ni
music -> ongaku
My my! My goodness! -> sore wa sore wa
like (is fond of) -> ... ga suki desu
favorite -> dai-suki (na)
-----
kigae -> a change of clothing
kiki -> crisis, critical moment, emergency
kiku -> chrysanthemum
kimi -> you (familiar)
kino no ban -> last night
---next page---
kuroi-black
kasshoku-brown
akai-red
enshoku-orange
kiiro-yellow
midori-green
aoi-blue
murasaki-purple
haiiro-grey
shiroi-white
momoiro-pink
makka-deep red

You can really tell what my priorities were when I was younger... ^-^;

Anyways, before you even think of using these, check them for yourself. Like I said, I'm not sure if all of them are correct. I guess the reason I'm posting all of these is to show you, my readers, where I started learning from. (Which was copying down words I found interesting and/or cool.) If I can help someone who wants to learn Japanese but is unsure how to start figure out how to start, that will make me very happy! I don't think you have to know where to start, you just have to jump in somewhere and run with it!

... I'm also posting these as a motivation to myself. When I copied these words down a few years ago, I didn't know hiragana or katakana or any kanji at all! I could only introduce myself very poorly in Japanese. Lately (as in the past week or so) I have become discouraged in my learning... I look at kanji and my eyes seem to glaze over and I would rather look at English, something I understand; something within my comfort zone. But I will never learn Japanese if I never step outside that protective bubble around me. Finding these words has given me motivation to study seriously again! And I promise to try my best even when I don't feel like it or want to!

Also, I'm sorry for not posting regularly these past few weeks. With my school starting again and an influx of projects outside of school, I have been slightly overwhelmed and very sleep deprived. I hope to post regularly again soon and I will try my best!

Thank you for reading! ありがとうございます！(arigatou gozaimasu)
I'll see you again soon I hope! バイバイ！(bye bye)

Insanity!

Hello(こんばんは)! If you hadn't noticed, today(今日) is not Monday(月曜日) and my last post was not on the Friday(金曜日) before that. I managed to get in two(二) posts last week, so this is the one(一) to make up for Monday(月曜日).

Not that anyone is keeping track or anything like that, it just bugs me. (By the way, that is my most often used phrase(句). ^-^)

So, I have lots of projects I'm working on right now. Some are artistic and creative, some are musical, some have to do with languages, and some are for school. I hope I can tell you more about them soon, but I haven't gotten much sleep so I'll have to tell you later.

みんなさん、ありがとうございました！Thank you for supporting me and reading my blog all over the world! I am very grateful and I will continue to work hard always! バイバイ！

Something I tried today!

カステラ！(kasutera)

 ^-^ I had to look up what it was:

カステラ- a Japanese spongecake that came via Portugal from Spain in the 17th century. Sweet and airy, usually with a honey flavor.

I tried it for the first time today! It's so yummy!!! XD

Thank you, Shoko! ^-^

So cute! かわいい！

Music I'm listening to this week so far:

Just Be Friends-piano.ver-

嗚呼、素晴らしきニャン生

パラジクロロベンゼン

Thanks for reading this irregular post!!! ありがとう！(arigatou)

Headache and Nico Nico!

こんばんは、みんなさん！(konbanwa, minna san)

... headache... hurts... DX

So, this weekend, I joined a website called ニコニコ動画. (nico nico douga)
Well, I know less Japanese than I thought I did... 0.o

I CAN'T READ ANYTHING!!! T.T
(Well, I can read the Katakana and Hiragana, but that's all... I can't make out any of the sentences or what any of the buttons do or... ya, I'm hopeless...)

Well, I have been working on Kanji. I got through... 130(?) or so reviews in the past few days. (This doesn't mean I know them by heart, it means that I looked over them and wrote them out a few times...)

Well, school started again, but it looks like I will have plenty of time to spend working on Japanese this semester. ^-^ I'm glad!

Oh, I haven't done a random 日本語(nihongo) dictionary word in a while! Maybe I'll do one next time if I remember. XD

Ok, my headache hurts a lot worse than it did when I started typing this, so I'm going now.

^-^ Thank you for reading! I'll see you again!
ありがとうございました！さようなら！(arigatou gozaimasu. sayounara)

School

Hello everyone!
How is life?

So, this week I got to spend some time with one of my best friends and we had so much fun!!!
I didn't work on many Kanji, but a lot of stress went away, so I'm feeling better than I was. I'm also very happy that school is starting again!!!
My classes start on Monday! So hopefully I can find more time for Kanji and less distractions... My life is very full of distractions.

Anyways, I made it my goal to become fluent in Japanese this year (or as fluent as I can become in a year... ^-^; ) so I'm working hard! And I will continue until I meet my goal!
I heard somewhere that it's good to see the Kanji as it is used or as you hear it. That's why it's good to use audio books and such, but I tend to not read as much as I should, so I take this advice with music. If a Japanese song that I like has the lyrics in the video then I will watch the words and see if I can follow along. This song is one I recently tried this with. I could pick out some of the characters like 中(naka) and 雨(ame) and 朝(asa)! It made me happy that I could recognize these and some of the other Kanji in the song! Actually, I didn't know the pronunciation of 中(naka) and 朝(asa) until I saw them and heard them together, so it's actually very helpful to learn pronunciation! ^-^

Well, I still have a lot to learn, so I was thinking about practicing more kanji before I go to sleep tonight...
Oh! I learned a new word! I still have a hard time remembering it on occasion so I have it on my computer to remind me of what it is. I think that having little notes out to help you remember new words is good for practice as well.

So, that's all I can think of to talk about right now... Thank you for reading and I'm sorry I didn't use much Japanese. I really should because it's practice and 'practice makes perfect'. Oh well. ^-^
ありがとうございます！！！(arigatou gozaimasu) さようなら！(sayounara)

あけましておめでとう！(akemashite omedetou)

Happy New Year! ^-^

こんばんは、みんなさん！(konbanwa, minna san!)
It's a new year, so let's do our best!

This year has begun with questions of what I want to do in the future. To be honest, I don't know anymore. I know I want to learn Japanese and go to Japan, but other than that everything is up in the air.

Just another reason to work hard on learning 日本語！(nihongo)
Speaking of learning 日本語、I received some presents from one of my friends in Japan for Christmas this past year. You can check out her blog here, she's really cool!
So, among the presents she sent was a Japanese magazine (Popteen) and The Strawberry News! So I've been trying to read these! I can read most of the Katakana and Hiragana parts and I'm picking out a few of the Kanji! I'm so happy!

I'm excited and hopeful for the new year. Please support me this year also! I'll do my best!

ありがとうございました！(arigatou gozaimashita)