Monday 30 July 2012

Proverbs and sayings

Hey guys!
I noticed on one of the groups I am subscribed to the other day, a proverb they'd posted: 十人十色 (じゅうじんといろ)Jyuujin, toiro. It means ten people, ten colours. Basically different strokes for different folks XD
But what really caught my attention was that two of the main readings for the 十 kanji were included, the onyomi and kunyomi. This would be a really useful way of learning different readings of the same kanji!! Try getting writing a sentence with a kanji's onyomi and kunyomi in the same sentence! Or making as many compounds with a particular kanji in them and then trying to make a sentence out of it. It'd end up being good practice all round ^^

ナル姫

Sunday 22 July 2012

-New Blog-

A few days ago I created another blog written in Japanese just for practice. A lot of what I write will be inane because I'm limited to the vocb and grammar that I know and I am no where near fluent! http://eikokunoonnanoko.blogspot.co.uk/

ナル姫

Tuesday 17 July 2012

Quick update!!

Hey guys!
I just read this article that I thought may interest some of you!

http://www.mtviggy.com/interviews/cray-pop-the-kawaii-genius-of-kyary-pamyu-pamyu/

I personally love Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and think its great that she is now getting English language coverage. But, this article also has the original Japanese Q&A!! Enjoy :3

ナル姫

Monday 16 July 2012

'Holiday Syndrome'

Hey guys!

'Holiday Syndrome' is what I like to refer to the forgetfulness that befalls any language student over the holidays or prolonged period of time of not actively studying their language. This happened to me every year over GCSE and A level. Basically I would do very little towards actually remembering the Japanese I'd learnt over the year and come September I would have forgotten most of it. Luckily about 2/3 weeks back would put me back to where I was before school broke up. However, I seriously can't get away with it this year. In fact, this year I'm going to be ultra good and study the material ahead of where I'm supposed to be >8B (...one can aspire.)

Studying can be seriously tedious, which is probably why I don't want to do it in my holiday, no matter how much I love the Japanese language! So if your memory is like a sieve (like mine), here are some simple methods you can use to try and keep your vocabulary and grammar slipping into the recesses of your memory!



1. Keep exposing yourself to Japanese language reading material, no matter how irrelevant it may feel!! This could be websites about something your interested in e.g. Your favourite anime, Jpop artist, fashion whatever! Just keep yourself reading something your interested in, your more likely to actually want to read it. Alternatively, looking at the Japanese version of Wikipedia can be interesting!

2. Write essays/作文 about something your interested in. This can be really useful as your killing two birds with one stone. Your practising your language skills and at the same time learning to talk about something that you probably will want to have a conversation about at some point. Use as much kanji and vocabulary/grammar as you can, even if you have to look it up! (Also don't be afraid of putting in new words to do with the subject. Like I said it probably will be useful eventually.) The way I do this is I type it first so I can edit and correct things etc. I then write it out by hand. Typing may help remember readings, but won't help you remember how to actually write a kanji!! If possible get your teacher or a Japanese friend to check them for mistakes, that way you'll learn from it more.

3. Passively learn and exposure through listening. I did write a previous post on this. By watching anime or drama your exposing yourself to the language and will subconsciously listen and pick things up. Alternatively you can use this actively. (Again, see previous post.)

So to round this off, keep it interesting and do little things often. Try to put a proper study sessions in once or twice a week. Also, whenever the feeling takes you and you actually do want to study properly, EMBRACE IT!! 
In the last 3 weeks or so of the holiday when I'm getting geared up to go back I'll probably cram (exam style) and learn some new stuff. I keep telling myself if I do it now, I'll forget it by the end of September...

I'm a terrible, terrible lazy student!!! Forgive me!

ナル姫

Thursday 12 July 2012

Results are out..

....I averaged a 2:1 :D I was petrified I was going to have to resit stuff, so I'm relieved I don't!

And I started work today. Things are looking up ^^

If any of you guys are getting exam results this summer, I hope you do well!!

ナル姫

Wednesday 11 July 2012

Yayyy, doing tourism in my area!

Hey guys!

My Japanese friend from University came to stay for a few days so I took her around a few local attractions and we had a lot of fun. I've never been around Cambridge University, so that was fun! I also love taking pictures of churches and chapels...so enjoy ;)


 ANYWAYS. Useful stuff for this post. I was going through some essays I'd written in Japanese with my friend and she corrected things and made suggestions for better words etc. She then got me to read them aloud, which was actually quite hard! (Especially with all the kanji.) Most importantly of all, she corrected my accent. So, if you have a Japanese person to hand great. Get them to do that. If not, listen and copy. Listen very carefully to the tone of voice and whats being said. I discovered that Japanese when spoken is a lot flatter than I thought. In English our voice gets higher a lot in mid sentence. In Japanese this is not so, unless asking a question. So today's tip: Practice trying to keep the tone of your voice flatter when speaking! It apparently gets rid of your foreign accent! (According to my friend.)

ナル姫

Sunday 8 July 2012

Kanji: How to love it

At some point in learning to read and write Japanese, you will reach this stage...

Its horrible and I hate it. You'll be reading something or trying to translate a body of text and there will be a kanji or a kanji compound that you can't remember the meaning or the reading and it feels like its ruined allllll the other work you've done and you just want to erase it from existence. This is just inevitable especially at university. On my course in first semester your expected to learn 12 Kanji a week, their kunyomi, onyomi and compounds that they're in as well. In addition to this you have a chapter of vocabulary and grammar to do, and listening exercises to tie all of this together. (All of this outside contact hours, we do reading and oral grammar practice in contact hours.) In second semester all of that work doubles. Literally. So as you expect your memory begins to burst at the seams. 

After that big long rant, it may surprise you to now read: Kanji is my favourite aspect of the Japanese language. Why? Its just so interesting, I love the way compounds come together and what their respective kanji mean. Furthermore it is very pretty to write and there is a certain sense of satisfaction you get from learning a really hard kanji My favourite compound at the moment is 'seiza' 星座 which means constellation. What I really love about it though is that the two kanji's respective meanings are 'star seat'. I just find it such a cute image, all those little stars perched on their chairs!

So, how can you make it fun to learn and easier to remember? I find that learning meanings can be quite easy if you can make a story or link the radicals of a kanji together so it at least helps you recognise it better. (It helps if you actually learn what all the radical's meanings are, but you can make picture stories out of your imagination too.) For example:
This kanji is 'toku' and it means special. The radical circled in red is 'ushi' which means cow. The blue radical is 'tera' and means temple. In India, cows are sacred and are therefore special. Its just a case of linking things together in a way that is memorable for you. You can do the same with the meaning of compounds and the meaning of their individual kanji, like I did with 星座. Its then possible to build on all the stories you create to help remember more and more complicated kanji. Flashcards are also good practice for quick recognition. Kantango is a useful website designed for this. 

As for learning the readings, I find that I just have to try and memorise them. Sometimes there will be a radical that gives a hint to one of the readings in the kanji and it does help to learn them in compounds and learn their readings that way. Theres no easy way of writing either, a lot of it is to do with muscle memory so its a case of just writing it over and over until you get it. Learning kanji in the proper stroke order helps this process as well. Because of this, whenever you write anything put in all the kanji your supposed to have learnt. Even if you have to copy it. Your still writing is and exposing yourself to that kanji. The temptation can be to just skip over the ones you don't know, but it won't do you any good. You will get the reward of satisfaction when you realise that you actually have learnt it!

ナル姫

P.S If anyone has any questions or a topic they'd like me to cover, please just ask ;)

Thursday 5 July 2012

Learning Japanese from anime, manga and drama. Myth? Or does it really work...

To start, no it doesn't work. If anyone has told you that you can, they're very misguided!!
The issue is that you won't actually understand the grammar your using or what context its actually being used in. You maybe can learn a European language this way because the way the languages express themselves are pretty consistent and (for the most part) the syntax is similar.

The Japanese language expresses itself very differently. For the sake of example, when giving someone an invitation to do something, you do it in the negative. (This is because it gives the person your speaking to an easy way to say no if they so choose and the Japanese like to be indirect with their language.) A lot of Japanese sentence structures are just a case of memorising them and trying to understand the context in which they are used. This is simply because you can't translate Japanese literally, it looks like total gibberish if you do! So this swings back round to the fact that you probably wouldn't really understand the technical side of what is being said. Or even know how do read/write it in kana let alone kanji...

Another example of a problem with this idea: when translating a Japanese sentence you use your particles as your guide, they tell you what each bit of your sentence is doing essentially. We don't have that in English. At all. Nothing similar. You maybe able to memorise sentences and regurgitate them, but you won't be able to construct new sentences without this knowledge. Furthermore you wouldn't be able to distinguish between keigo, polite form and plain form and therefore may speak in the wrong context. (Also these forms have their own verb conjugations and uses as well, beginning to see the picture yet :/)

So how can you actually use these forms of media as a learning aid? (Emphasis on the aid.)


 Understanding grammar => seeing it used in a 'real life' situation => understanding use.


This is something I do myself a lot, not only because I love watching anime and drama. I find that when I'm trying to learn a new sentence structure, or trying to get my head around the context that its being used in conversation etc I find watching an episode of something normally helps. (Drama tends to be better in my experience.) I find that the things I know grab my attention and then I can hear how its being used, and with subtitles see how thats been translated. (Sometimes one grammar structure may have a multitude of different uses, so subtitles are good for seeing how it translates in a particular context.)

It will also help your hearing, as you will hear many people with different tones of voice speak. Sometimes I also try and speak back lines, this will help develop a better pronunciation and accent. So as you can see, its not all doom and gloom, it can be really helpful if you utilise it correctly! With manga and books you can get a Japanese copy and an English copy and compare translations. It will help your kanji reading and reading fluency too. If you find something online you want to read, there is a page on here with useful websites, and some of them are read along dictionary type websites. Check it out, you may find something useful!

To tie this off, yes by all means use it to help you learn. BUT only do so along side a structured learning programme or 'proper study'. By just watching/listening your passively learning, but it will only help if you've actively learnt something to begin with.

See you! Naru hime xx
ナル姫

Monday 2 July 2012

How to procrastinate and still get useful things done

So, how am I spending my very, very long holiday?
My recommendation to anyone at university, especially those that have to spend a year abroad, would be to get a job over summers and save up some money. Unfortunately this hasn't panned out too well for me so far, but I shall persevere!
Today I started to learn how to use a sewing machine in preparation for making my cosplay, the progress of which I shall make a separate blog for. Its a lot harder than it looks!! I'm sort of hoping my mother will take pity on me and just do the sewing bit so I can get on with the hand painting! I am also indulging into drawing and painting, as I haven't had much time for them this year.

(Above: My terrible samples...)

Basically, summer is a good time to get all the other things done that you want to during the year that you don't necessarily have time for *ahem* like trying to watch the whole of One Piece 8D. Next post I shall write about the urban legend of being able to learn Japanese from anime and drama, and how you can actually utilise them as learning aids.
Be Creative!! Creativity counts towards being productive!! (I hope)

And I shall leave you guys with a doodle I did earlier. Aww look, Luffy is happy to see you.
ナル姫

Sunday 1 July 2012

The first post!

First a little about myself. I am a first year student in Japanese and Business in the UK. I think part of the reason why I want to write this blog is because I get a lot of questions about what its like being a student of Japanese from people wanting to study Japanese. I thought documenting it on a regular basis like this would prove useful and hopefully interesting to someone somewhere! In addition, I will probably write about my interests and ramblings as well, so hopefully I will end up with a nice mix of fun randomness and useful information :)

I dabble (but not exclusively) in anime, manga, cosplay, american comics, lolita fashion, kitsuke and kimono, painting and drawing. I expect this blog will also include my making my first cosplay over this summer, and the disasters that will undoubtedly occur!

So, my journey so far as a student of Japanese. I can't actually really remember when I first became interested in Japan in general, but I was fortunate enough to go to a upper school which had Japanese as a GCSE and A-level option as well as a very active exchange programme. I took the GCSE and in 2008 went on a two week home stay exchange programme, I knew then that I would never be fully satisfied with my life if I didn't try to go live in Japan. I may never reach that goal, but I knew that I had to try. So then I did my A-levels. I only did Japanese up to AS before University though, as I wasn't allocated enough timetable space to do the full A level. I ended up having to go through clearing on the notorious tuition fee rise year, got a place to do Business as well as Japanese and thats where I am now.

To sign off, my first piece of useful advice! Doing a dual honours or subsidiary degree will be more useful in the long run! Its really, REALLY hard work, but you won't end up having to do loads of extra stuff for your CV to prove you have skills in something other than just the language. There are plenty of bilingual Japanese-English people out there, you need extra skills that they won't necessarily have. Also just because I am doing a business degree doesn't necessarily mean I'll end up in a business job, because the skills are transferable.

じゃまたね!!ナル姫
Bye for now! Naru Hime xx