So that last post was in 2019 and here we are March 2020.
It's safe to say that there are so many changes. Man, I really need to get more consistent about this blogging thing if it's ever going to work.
It was actually really fun to read my two tiny posts. I've forgotten that I had this blog which is quite unfortunate. I wish I documented more of my journey studying Japanese. HOWEVER, I think I will be documenting my new French learning journey in more depth (hopefully).
Anyway, before I dive into that, a little recap about how my Japanese studies have been going is quite necessary and then I'll explain what the French nonsense is about. I know, it's quite random but bear with me.
I last posted back in sophomore year fall quarter. I had just finished J100A with a hard-won C+ and I took J100B with the same professor and somehow scraped by with a B-. Then I finished Sophomore year with J100C with a different professor and got an A. Technically at this point, I had finished the first upper division Advanced Japanese series.
At this point, I did not have much confidence at all with my Japanese. It's pretty sad. It seems like the more I learned, the worse I felt about my overall ability. Somehow I had finished taking so many of these classes but I felt so badly about my speaking ability. It was a problem. So sometime in March I applied to study abroad for Summer and Fall in Japan! I figured I really needed to take the next step to immerse myself and force myself to actually use Japanese. What better way to do so than to actually go live and learn in Japan for 5 months.
It was the best experience of my life. I met so many beautiful people and made so many connections and memories.
Like I mentioned before, my program was through UCEAP and was the Language and Culture Program for Summer and Fall. It started in July and ended in November with a couple weeks of break in August that I spent traveling down to Kansai (southern part of Japan). I also got to experience volunteering in Tohoku which is the northern part of Japan as well as regular volunteering in the local communities around my host university.
日本語で私の経験について話したいけど、まだ文法や単語が良くないので書くことが怖い。そうと思っているけど、練習すればするほどもっと自然な日本語が言えるから日本語で書かなければいけない。
日本でICUというの大学で勉強した。５ヶ月日本にいて授業をとって旅行してボランティアをして忙しかった。忙しかったけど、楽しかった。
私の意見では、留学することが素晴らしいことだ。文化の違い、考え方の違い、生活の違いは時々難しくて理解しにくいが、良い学べる機会だ。
まだ、ペラペラに話せないが、ちょっと会話できるので嬉しい。もっと自然に話せるようになりたいので、勉強するべきだ。3年前に日本語を勉強し始めたけど、私の日本語はまだ子供ぽいと思っている。ですが、頑張ってもっと勉強しましょう！
That was just a little random blurb in Japanese. I do want to start writing more often in Japanese because I feel like this is a big weakness for me. I really do struggle with writing and reading in Japanese. Not that I'm that much more confident in my speaking abilities but people tend to help and carry the conversation. So, this means that I need to really start writing more. I get scared when I feel like I'm wrong or I hesitate because I don't want to make mistakes. This is such a terrible mindset to have and I really am working hard to change it.
Anyway, while I was in Japanese I took J6 and J7 (which were the second to last and the last level of Japanese available at my host university). So I was supposedly at a N2 level when I finished J7 which I definitely was not. The classes were super small but the differences in actual Japanese skill levels within our group was huge. I was on the bottom compared to most my my classmates who were at a very high level. I passed J6 with an A- and I barely got a B- for J7.
I returned to America and just finished taking J101B which is part of the upper division advanced series.
At this point, how do I feel about my language skills? It's still not great but, I feel a little better. Definitely better than how I felt before I went to Japan.
These days I try to do Wanikani which is a Kanji learning program that I use. This spring quarter will be the first quarter that I won't be taking a Japanese language class. I am taking Linguistics of Japanese but it's not really a language class. So I'm interested to see how things will go.
I'm actually pretty excited to start self studying and learning things my way. I don't have a concrete plan yet but I have a couple of ideas that I can't wait to try and implement. I want to blog more (now that I rediscovered this ole thing). I think starting to record my soon to begin self study for Japanese will be a new and interesting thing.
Now to explain French. I think I mentioned it before but I always wanted this blog to go beyond just doing Japanese. I have a lot of room in my schedule so I was able to sign up for French 1! I'm excited and nervous to be learning a non Asian language and a part of me is saying to back out and go for Spanish which I do have much more confidence in, but no.
I am going to try my best and hopefully do a blog post for that too. French class starts on Monday and I'll let you know how it goes!
It's safe to say that there are so many changes. Man, I really need to get more consistent about this blogging thing if it's ever going to work.
It was actually really fun to read my two tiny posts. I've forgotten that I had this blog which is quite unfortunate. I wish I documented more of my journey studying Japanese. HOWEVER, I think I will be documenting my new French learning journey in more depth (hopefully).
Anyway, before I dive into that, a little recap about how my Japanese studies have been going is quite necessary and then I'll explain what the French nonsense is about. I know, it's quite random but bear with me.
I last posted back in sophomore year fall quarter. I had just finished J100A with a hard-won C+ and I took J100B with the same professor and somehow scraped by with a B-. Then I finished Sophomore year with J100C with a different professor and got an A. Technically at this point, I had finished the first upper division Advanced Japanese series.
At this point, I did not have much confidence at all with my Japanese. It's pretty sad. It seems like the more I learned, the worse I felt about my overall ability. Somehow I had finished taking so many of these classes but I felt so badly about my speaking ability. It was a problem. So sometime in March I applied to study abroad for Summer and Fall in Japan! I figured I really needed to take the next step to immerse myself and force myself to actually use Japanese. What better way to do so than to actually go live and learn in Japan for 5 months.
It was the best experience of my life. I met so many beautiful people and made so many connections and memories.
Like I mentioned before, my program was through UCEAP and was the Language and Culture Program for Summer and Fall. It started in July and ended in November with a couple weeks of break in August that I spent traveling down to Kansai (southern part of Japan). I also got to experience volunteering in Tohoku which is the northern part of Japan as well as regular volunteering in the local communities around my host university.
日本語で私の経験について話したいけど、まだ文法や単語が良くないので書くことが怖い。そうと思っているけど、練習すればするほどもっと自然な日本語が言えるから日本語で書かなければいけない。
日本でICUというの大学で勉強した。５ヶ月日本にいて授業をとって旅行してボランティアをして忙しかった。忙しかったけど、楽しかった。
私の意見では、留学することが素晴らしいことだ。文化の違い、考え方の違い、生活の違いは時々難しくて理解しにくいが、良い学べる機会だ。
まだ、ペラペラに話せないが、ちょっと会話できるので嬉しい。もっと自然に話せるようになりたいので、勉強するべきだ。3年前に日本語を勉強し始めたけど、私の日本語はまだ子供ぽいと思っている。ですが、頑張ってもっと勉強しましょう！
That was just a little random blurb in Japanese. I do want to start writing more often in Japanese because I feel like this is a big weakness for me. I really do struggle with writing and reading in Japanese. Not that I'm that much more confident in my speaking abilities but people tend to help and carry the conversation. So, this means that I need to really start writing more. I get scared when I feel like I'm wrong or I hesitate because I don't want to make mistakes. This is such a terrible mindset to have and I really am working hard to change it.
Anyway, while I was in Japanese I took J6 and J7 (which were the second to last and the last level of Japanese available at my host university). So I was supposedly at a N2 level when I finished J7 which I definitely was not. The classes were super small but the differences in actual Japanese skill levels within our group was huge. I was on the bottom compared to most my my classmates who were at a very high level. I passed J6 with an A- and I barely got a B- for J7.
I returned to America and just finished taking J101B which is part of the upper division advanced series.
At this point, how do I feel about my language skills? It's still not great but, I feel a little better. Definitely better than how I felt before I went to Japan.
These days I try to do Wanikani which is a Kanji learning program that I use. This spring quarter will be the first quarter that I won't be taking a Japanese language class. I am taking Linguistics of Japanese but it's not really a language class. So I'm interested to see how things will go.
I'm actually pretty excited to start self studying and learning things my way. I don't have a concrete plan yet but I have a couple of ideas that I can't wait to try and implement. I want to blog more (now that I rediscovered this ole thing). I think starting to record my soon to begin self study for Japanese will be a new and interesting thing.
Now to explain French. I think I mentioned it before but I always wanted this blog to go beyond just doing Japanese. I have a lot of room in my schedule so I was able to sign up for French 1! I'm excited and nervous to be learning a non Asian language and a part of me is saying to back out and go for Spanish which I do have much more confidence in, but no.
I am going to try my best and hopefully do a blog post for that too. French class starts on Monday and I'll let you know how it goes!
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