In Japan 12 Jan 18 - 10 April 18

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reineke
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=6979
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Re: One Step at a Time

Postby reineke » Sat May 13, 2017 12:48 am

"qgydbp"

I have trouble with that too...
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SophiaMerlin_II
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Re: One Step at a Time

Postby SophiaMerlin_II » Sat May 13, 2017 2:25 am

reineke wrote:"qgydbp"

I have trouble with that too...


Right???!? Like who decided that was a good idea?????

I used to grade papers for one of my high school teachers to fill a gap in my schedule, and of course, a lot of times the answers would just look like:

1) b
2) c
3) a
4 ) b
5) b

but the answer key would have upper case letters

1B, 2C, 3A, 4B, 5B

And I just could NOT do it. :oops: Outside of a word, I can match up B to b, and D to d maybe 2-3 times. But then it gets to be like if you say "Toast" too many times, you know? So eventually I used my little brain and made a cheat sheet: I had the teacher write Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee on a sticky note and I would hold it next to the letters :lol:
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Re: One Step at a Time

Postby SophiaMerlin_II » Sat May 13, 2017 2:48 am

Systematiker wrote:I would have recommended Lorca as well. He's real.


Well then I'll definitely have to give him a poke around then.

Oh, and yeah, Bavarian is distinct from German, even though it sometimes gets called a dialect. It's pretty fun, but I can't imagine messing with it without having had a foundation in German first.

Anyway, hope you're having fun!


I have no interest (at least right now) in learning Bavarian :lol: But my dad was apparently good in German when he was in High School (~1981) and some of the exchange students also spoke (lets just assume) Bavarian / spoke Bavarian instead. Based on the way my dad talks about it, he was probably ~B2 in German, and I imagine very low in Bavarian. Just very basic stuff like introductions, telling prices, and giving directions. Despite years of disuse he can still hold a butchered conversation in German, and still give basic, basic stuff in Bavarian.
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Re: One Step at a Time

Postby SophiaMerlin_II » Sun May 14, 2017 8:09 am

I wish I had more that I could contribute to the site. There are lots of threads and logs that I am reading (don't worry if I like all of your old posts, I’m reading through them all from the beginning) and to me they are very inspiring. Iguanamon, PM, Iversen. I know that everyone has to start somewhere (at their first foreign language) but I am so in awe and so jealous of so many people here! If I work hard enough for long enough, I will one day know many languages too! But I read many threads and posts and I want to say something but I just don’t know enough to say anything useful. Sometimes I just feel I have to post anyway, and I try to say something useful, but sometimes I think I just sound like I’m being mean :oops:

Japanese Tests
Most people are familiar with the JLPT, which has 5 levels, N5 being the easiest, N1 being the most difficult. There is no speaking or composition portion. It is offered 2 times per year in Japan, and often only once per year outside of Japan.

More popular with Japanese people than with foreign learners, there is also the kanken (漢検) also known as the kanji kentei (漢字検定) but officially actually called the Nihon Kanji Nouyoku Kentei (日本漢字能力検定). It has 12 levels, the lowest called 10, and the highest called 1, with the extra 2 levels being pre-2, and pre-1. It tests one’s ability to read and write kanji, understand their meanings, correct usage, and stroke order. The test is offered 3 times per year.

There are a few other tests, but I won’t be covering them.

Below, I’ve ordered tests based on the approximate number of Kanji that you need to know for them, having no other way of estimating difficulty. I’ve also included some information on resources that are used to study for these exams. I apologize as some of them are written in Kanji alone. These are resources intended for native Japanese speakers, and my ability to read Japanese does not exist, so I cannot give you the pronunciation of these books.

Also, you might consider my addressing of the JLPT to be perfunctory. That’s because I’m tired of hearing about it :lol:

漢検 10

Test Conditions
40 Minute Exam
~ 75% required in order to pass

Coverage
80 kanji (year one)

Pass rate
Native Speakers ~96.3%

Study Materials – Direct
漢検 漢字学習ステップ – aimed at learning individual kanji (lvl 10)
さわって!あそんで!みんなの漢字 – A kanji picture book, which covers roughly the Kanji in 10

Study Materials – Exam Practice
いちまるとはじめよう! -- aimed at a young audience, to prepare them for the exam. Seems to be an exam practice book. (lvl 10)
漢検 過去問題集 – actual past exam questions (lvl 10)
漢検 実物大過去問 本番チャレンジ! -- actual past exam questions (lvl 10)

Study Materials – Reference
漢検要覧 – lists appropriate level kanji and radicals, (10-2 volume)
漢検 漢字辞典 – Kanji dictionary appropriate through until level 1

N5
People seem to recommend Genki as sufficient for this exam.

漢検 9

Test Conditions
40 Minute Exam
~ 75% required in order to pass

Coverage
240 kanji (grade 2)

Pass rate
Native Speakers ~90.6%

Study Materials – Direct
漢検 漢字学習ステップ – Covers specific kanji (lvl 9)

Study Materials – Exam Practice
いちまるとはじめよう – Child aimed exam prep (lvl 9)
漢検 過去問題集 – exam practice (lvl 9)
漢検 実物大過去問 本番チャレンジ – exam practice (lvl 9)

Study Materials – Reference
漢検要覧 – kanji reference (10-2 vol)
漢検 漢字辞典 – kanji dictionary

N4
People seem to recommend Genki 1&2, the Minna no Nihongo Series, and the Basic Guide to Japanese grammar as sufficient.
One volume of Kanzen Master is available for N4, covering grammar.

漢検 8

Test Conditions
40 Minute Exam
~ 75% required in order to pass

Coverage
440 kanji (grade 3)
Readings, writing, stroke order, usage
Antonyms, homonyms
Radical names

Pass rate
Native Speakers ~83.6%

Study Materials – Direct
漢検 漢字学習ステップ – about specific Kanji (lvl 8)

Study Materials – Exam Practice
いちまるとはじめよう – younger people test prep (lvl 8)
漢検 過去問題集 – exam practice (lvl 8)
漢検 実物大過去問 本番チャレンジ – exam practice lvl 8

Study Materials – Reference
漢検要覧 – Kanji reference (lvl 10-2)
漢検 漢字辞典 – Kanji Dictionary

漢検7

Test Conditions
60 Minute Exam
~70% required in order to pass

Coverage
640 kanji (grade 4)
Readings, stroke order, production, usage
Antonyms, homonyms
Idioms, 2 kanji compounds
Radical names

Pass rate
Native Speakers ~84.3%

Study Materials – Direct
漢検 漢字学習ステップ – Specific kanji (lvl 7)

Study Materials – Exam Practice
いちまるとはじめよう – lvl 7
漢検 過去問題集 – lvl 7
漢検 実物大過去問 本番チャレンジ – lvl 7

Study Materials – Reference
漢検要覧 – Kanji reference (10-2 volume)
漢検 漢字辞典 – Kanji dictionary

N3
There are 5 volume sets for N3 from both Kanzen master and Nihongo Sou Matome.

漢検6

Test Conditions
60 Minute Exam
~ 70% required in order to pass

Coverage
825 kanji (grade 5)
Readings, production, stroke order, usage
Antonyms, homonyms
Idioms, 3 kanji compounds
Radical names

Pass rate
Native Speakers ~76.0%

Study Materials – Direct
漢検 漢字学習ステップ – Kanji Study (lvl 6)
漢検 分野別問題集 – questions are grouped by type so you can focus on weak areas (6-2 vol)
漢検 ハンディ漢字学習 – designed for on-the-go use, or cramming (lvl 6)

Study Materials – Exam Practice
いちまるとはじめよう – lvl 6
漢検 過去問題集 – lvl 6
漢検 実物大過去問 本番チャレンジ – lvl 6

Study Materials – Reference
漢検要覧 – Kanji Reference (10-2 vol)
漢検 漢字辞典 – Kanji Dictionary

漢検5

Test Conditions
60 Minute Exam
~ 70% required in order to pass

Coverage
1006 kanji (grade 6)
Readings, stroke order, production, usage
Antonyms, homonyms
Idioms, 4 kanji compounds
Radical names

Pass rate
Native Speakers ~72%

Study Materials – Direct
漢検 漢字学習ステップ – Kanji (lvl5)
漢検 分野別問題集 – Grouped practice (6-2 vol)
漢検 ハンディ漢字学習 – On the go/Cramming (lvl 5)

Study Materials – Exam Practice
いちまるとはじめよう – Lvl 5
漢検 過去問題集 – lvl 5
漢検 実物大過去問 本番チャレンジ – lvl 5

Study Materials – Reference
漢検要覧 – kanji reference (10-2 vol)
漢検 漢字辞典 – kanji dictionary
漢検 四字熟語辞典 – 4 compound kanji dictionary

N2
There are 5 volume sets for N2 from both Kanzen master and Nihongo Sou Matome.

漢検4

Test Conditions
60 Minute Exam
~ 70% required in order to pass

Coverage
~1300 kanji (grade 6 + 300 daily use)
Readings, usage
Synonyms, antonyms, homonyms
Idioms, 4 kanji compounds
Knowledge of radicals required to use kanji dictionary

Pass rate
Native Speakers ~52%

Study Materials – Direct
漢検 漢字学習ステップ – Kanji study (lvl 4)
漢検 分野別問題集 – Grouped practice (6-2 vol)
漢検 ハンディ漢字学習 – On the go/Cramming (lvl 4)

Study Materials – Exam Practice
漢検 過去問題集 – lvl 4
漢検 実物大過去問 本番チャレンジ!-- lvl 4

Study Materials – Reference
漢検要覧 – kanji reference (10-2 vol)
漢検 漢字辞典 – kanji dictionary
漢検 四字熟語辞典 – 4 compound kanji dictionary

漢検3

Test Conditions
60 Minute Exam
~ 70% required in order to pass

Coverage
1600 kanji (grade 6 + 600 daily use)
Reading (including rare & ateji), usage
Synonyms, Antonyms, homonyms
Idioms, 4 kanji compounds
Radicals required to use a dictionary

Pass rate
Native Speakers ~ 47.5%

Study Materials – Direct
漢検 漢字学習ステップ – Kanji study (lvl 3)
漢検 分野別問題集 – Grouped practice (6-2 vol)
漢検 ハンディ漢字学習 – On the go/Cramming (lvl 3)

Study Materials – Exam Practice
漢検 過去問題集 – lvl 3
漢検 実物大過去問 本番チャレンジ!-- lvl 3

Study Materials – Reference
漢検要覧 – kanji reference (10-2 vol)
漢検 漢字辞典 – kanji dictionary
漢検 四字熟語辞典 – 4 compound kanji dictionary

漢検Pre-2

Test Conditions
60 Minute Exam
~ 70% required in order to pass

Coverage
1950 kanji (grade 6 + 950 daily use)
Readings (including rare and Ateji), usage
Synonyms, antonyms, homonyms
Special compounds
Complex radicals

Pass rate
Native Speakers ~36.6%

Study Materials – Direct
漢検 漢字学習ステップ – Kanji (lvl pre-2)
漢検 分野別問題集 – Grouped practice (6-2 vol)
漢検 ハンディ漢字学習 – on the go & cramming (lvl pre-2)

Study Materials – Exam Practice
漢検 過去問題集 – lvl pre-2
漢検 実物大過去問 本番チャレンジ – lvl pre-2

Study Materials – Reference
漢検要覧 – kanji reference (10-2 vol)
漢検 漢字辞典 – kanji dictionary
漢検 四字熟語辞典 – 4 compound kanji dictionary

N1
There are 5 volume sets for N1 from both Kanzen master and Nihongo Sou Matome.

漢検2

Test Conditions
60 Minute Exam
~ 80% required in order to pass

Coverage
2150 kanji (All daily use)
Readings (incl. rare & ateji), usage
Synonyms, antonyms, homonyms
Special compounds
Complex radicals, kanji composition

Pass rate
Native Speakers ~23.9%

Study Materials – Direct
漢検 漢字学習ステップ – Kanji (lvl 2)
漢検 分野別問題集 – Grouped practice (6-2 vol)
漢検 ハンディ漢字学習 – on the go & cramming (lvl 2)

Study Materials – Exam Practice
漢検 過去問題集 – lvl 2
漢検 実物大過去問 本番チャレンジ – lvl 2

Study Materials – Reference
漢検要覧 – kanji reference (10-2 vol)
漢検 漢字辞典 – kanji dictionary
漢検 四字熟語辞典 – 4 compound kanji dictionary

漢検Pre-1

Test Conditions
60 Minute Exam
~ 80% required in order to pass

Coverage
2965 kanji (JIS X 0208 lvl 1) including Kokuji
Readings (incl. rare, ateji); usage; appropriateness
Special compounds
Complex radicals
Classical proverbs and idioms
Abbreviated forms (Ryakuji)

Pass rate
Native Speakers ~ ??%

Study Materials – Direct
漢検 分野別 精選演習– Grouped practice (pre/1 vol) NOTE: Different name than the previous version.

Study Materials – Exam Practice
漢検 過去問題集 – lvl pre-1
漢検 実物大過去問 本番チャレンジ – lvl pre-1

Study Materials – Reference
漢検要覧 – kanji reference (pre/1 vol)
漢検 漢字辞典 – kanji dictionary
漢検 四字熟語辞典 – 4 compound kanji dictionary

漢検1

Test Conditions
60 Minute Exam
~ 80% required in order to pass

Coverage
6355 kanji (JS X 0208 lvl 1&2) incl. Kokuji
Readings (Incl. Rare, Ateji)
Synonyms, antonyms, homonyms
Special compounds, place and country names
Classical proverbs and idioms
Complex radicals
Recognize relationship between modern and ancient (or old) character forms

Pass rate
Native Speakers ~15%

Study Materials – Direct
漢検 分野別 精選演習– Grouped practice (pre/1 vol) NOTE: different name from the 10-2 version.

Study Materials – Exam Practice
漢検 過去問題集 – lvl 1
漢検 実物大過去問 本番チャレンジ – lvl 1

Study Materials – Reference
漢検要覧 – kanji reference (pre/1 vol)
漢検 漢字辞典 – kanji dictionary
漢検 四字熟語辞典 – 4 compound kanji dictionary
Last edited by SophiaMerlin_II on Mon May 15, 2017 12:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
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SophiaMerlin_II
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Re: One Step at a Time

Postby SophiaMerlin_II » Mon May 15, 2017 12:35 am

What should I really call this Log?
More and more, this log seems less like a record of my progress, and more like a diary of my changing feelings in regards to languages, and to my feelings towards language learning in general. I am the type to think out loud, but believe it or not, I have a Word document on my computer that I’m actually typing all my thoughts into before-hand, to give them some time to cool down and develop before I post them.

I really have been wanting to only post to this log once or twice a week, but I’ve been so excited and thinking so many things that I have been posting every day :( My Word document is about 12 pages at the moment, and growing every longer... So I think since today is my recap day that I should be able to a lot to shorten it out, including some cool stuff that I’ve been saving.

Spanish Reading
La Casa Del Arbol: 0 / 72
La Casa Del Arbol #23 “Tornado en martes” is, by all accounts, a very simple book aimed at young readers. Earlier in the week I was reading a chapter a day, and was doing a second pass from the beginning, extracting about 2-3 pages worth of vocabulary every day. Well, on the 12th I had that little crisis and I stopped, but I really should pick it up again as it was quite helpful.
The first chapter had been a little difficult compared to when I read it last year, but all the other chapters have been new, and were more-or-less fine. I understood more or less what was going on without the pictures. And I mean that as, “I actually enjoyed reading so much that I didn’t realize that there WERE pictures”.
La Casa Del Arbol: 29 / 72

ELDM: 0 / 642
I also read ELDM (Religious Text) on a purely personal whim and it was fine. I read the first chapter of the first section and all was well. I have most of that section memorized in English, so I had no difficulty piecing together any of the meanings.
ELDM: 3 / 642

Spanish Writing
The first half of the week I watched a little bit of Spanish news from Telemundo on Youtube. I’m a Telemundo die-hard and feel some kind of hatred towards Univision. I can’t explain it really.

I have to admit that I was surprised at how relevant some of the news was, some of it happening over in Houston, which is only a little ways from me, and they also interviewed a girl in an organization I used to belong to.

I also relented partway through the week and installed a Spanish Keyboard. So much easier than using key combos in Word.

Compostion 1
Some writing about the story I was reading:
Leí el segundo capítulo de La casa de Árbol #23, “Tornado en Martes”. Se llama, “Señales de vidas”. Es cierto, no me sabe (I didn’t understand) nada que me leí, pero alguas cosas sobre trenes y carretas. Soy deprimada sobre este.

And it was corrected like this:
La verdad no entiendo nada de lo que acabo de leer. sólo entendí algunas cosas de trenes y carretas. Por eso estoy deprimida.


Composition 2
Based on a news story:
Veo una programa de Telemundo se llama “Lloran a las víctimas de explosion en Puebla”. Catorce personas morían, de las personas, once son niños. ¡Que triste! La policía piense que era un accidente con pirotécnicas.

Corrected as:
Veo un programa en Telemundo que se llama “Lloran a las víctimas de explosion en Puebla”. Catorce personas murieron, once de ellos eran niños. ¡Que triste! La policía piensa que fui un accidente con pirotecnia.

There actually blew up a huge discussion if the sentence should use “ellos” (this part of the argument made no f***ing sense in English OR Spanish) or if it should use “ellas” (this part was better explained but maybe not correct).

Composition 3
Based on another news story:
Veo las noticias hoy. ¡Que triste! Nunca bien, nada. En Caracas, hay protestas. La policía usa gases lagrimosas. En el EEUU, in Hoboken, una persona racista gritá a los imigrantes, “¡revuele a su país!” Pero, un poco de noticias buena. In California, las escuelas dicen, “A ICE, no se me digo nada.”

Basically no one understood the last sentence at all. ^^;
Correction:
Veo las noticias de hoy y es muy triste como en Caracas, hay protestas, la policía usa gas lacrimógeno. En los estados unidos en Hoboken, una persona racista grita a los emigrantes, “¡regresa a tú país!” Pero tambien hay algunas noticias buenas. En California, las escuelas dicen, “Al ICE, no diremos nada.”



Spanish Grammar
I remember when I started learning Spanish, I used to always wonder how people could “back-conjugate” verbs, especial things like stem-changing verbs. Now I can do it with most regular verbs and a few stem-changing ones as well. It feels kind of like a super power.




Spanish pronunciation
http://vocaroo.com/i/s1zafhOJYiD0 I think I had more problems with recording than I did with my reading >.< My accent… could use some work, lol.


Japanese Reading
[progress=Sakura] 0/14[/progress] <-- I don't know how I broke it :oops:
I remember reading this one last year. It’s called 桜 (Cherry Blossoms). I even though I find the topic as presented a little bit boring (very basic cultural information), it is useful especially because it names the islands in Japan.

My first read through I really struggled, using the context (tonnes of pictures) and ruby text (furigana), but I would not have understood what was happening without those aids. There are some kanji to learn, and some vocabulary as well.
[progress=Sakura] 14/14[/progress]<-- I don't know how I broke it :oops:

Beyond that, I have the other 5 graded readers in this set, and plan to get more either at this level or the next. While I don’t mind struggling with hard texts, it is very nice to have access to something which is right at, or even below, my current reading level.

I have a ~350 page WN/LN that I downloaded a while ago, which is an alternate history with regards to the Sino-Japanese war. Hopefully it will be interesting XD. Besides that I have a religious manual and a religious text.

Japanese Pronunciation
To see how my pronunciation was going, I started to record myself, and seek some feedback from native speakers on pronunciation. This turned out to be extremely difficult as it was hard to get people to understand that I wanted them to record themselves. The reader has a CD, but I can’t rip tracks from it because I have no CD drive, and besides that, the CD is misplaced.
Whole Book: http://vocaroo.com/i/s1fxCzhsN5SJ

Page one
あっ、桜のつぼみ! もうすぐ、桜が咲きます。
Me: http://vocaroo.com/i/s0fmQbKiOODx
Him: http://vocaroo.com/i/s0j1LTwrySLc He has the best voice :0 I wonder if he’s some kind of voice professional! I had to manually download this clip and artificially slow it, but it was a great help.
Me: http://vocaroo.com/i/s1MUHWIAvs81 Pardon the pause at the beginning ^^;

Page two
一月。沖縄で、桜が咲きます。
Me: http://vocaroo.com/i/s09jUHmWqgWn
Advice 1: Try to pronounce the "de" as the de from "dead". Also try to avoid saying each syllable individually, so it flows better. http://vocaroo.com/i/s1cAeXMFxxh2
Advice 2: http://vocaroo.com/i/s0ueCAUXlmSl
Advice 3: “sounds good. just " di" in で (de)”
Writing Correction: 沖縄では1月に桜が咲きます。[More natural than what the book says]

Interjection
「きれい!」
Me: http://vocaroo.com/i/s19Ll9PcFhmS
I eventually got a correction on this, but I don’t know where I put it ^^;
It sounded much more like きりい which actually shocked me. But now I know.

Japanese Writing
First Writing
「猫ですか?」
「じゃないよ!」corrected to ――>「ちがうよ!」I understand this Correction.
「本当ね?」
「本当!」Looking back I want to change this to 本当だよ but I’m not sure that it fits the context correctly XD


Japanese AV
I don’t know why, but I’m always consistently embarrassed to admit that I’m watching anime, especially when it’s something I don’t actually enjoy in English (like Bleach). If I were watching an anime that I think is actually good, maybe I would feel different. I’m watching Bleach because it is very straightforward.

I had watched Space Bros. previously, but I must have watched it with Subtitles because I couldn’t follow the show without them, so I’ve decided to just watch Bleach for now.

Bleach: 2 / 366
I was pretty proud of myself during episode 1 or 2 when I recognized 死神 (Shinigami). I also understood some of the signs (street signs and building names). A lot of the vocabulary for the first episode was pretty standard to the show. For the post part, the vocabulary in the show is pretty repetitive, revolving around, fighting things, defeating enemies, and protecting friends.

I would really like to get ~1-3 episodes per day (1 hr) as I think that's about the minimum that I would really need in order to move forward at a reasonable pace. Despite that, I've averaged 1 episode every other day (3 this week)
Bleach: 5 / 366

General thoughts on Forum Heroes
Iversen is so interesting! I love how he writes in so many languages and I’ve been reading ~40 pages of his log, to catch up on what I missed in the later year. It’s super interesting to hear about his tape collections and travels, and usually he has an amazing photograph or painting to share.

Sometimes it makes me feel a little dumb, but I enjoy it. For example on page 43 they talked a little about whistling languages. I watched the video and it was sooooo cool!

Another reason I think I like him is because he’s not apologetic about placing more emphasis on reading/writing than on listening/speaking. People have different goals of course, but most people are very focuses on speaking and I don’t understand it.

If I were in Japan and I could write great Japanese, but I cannot speak, couldn’t I just scribble down something if they don’t understand me talking? It might be embarrassing but it would work! If one can speak but not read and write, I feel one will face very difficult situations. But for some people talking is what they want, and that’s fine ^.^

~~There’s still a lot more stuff I have written out left to be covered, but this post is way longer than it should be anyway.
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Re: One Step at a Time

Postby Sayonaroo » Mon May 15, 2017 3:06 am

I think you should it make AV something else OR write out the word because I think of adult video every time I see that and that's what Japanese people call porn. Their country is famous for porn and I'm sure there's people out there who learned a bunch of Japanese from Japanese av. and by the way 男優 means av actor not just a plain actor lol. It's tempting to extrapolate from joyuu. Technically danyuu means male actor but like 90% of the time it's used for porn stars and they have the word haiyuu for actor.
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Re: One Step at a Time

Postby SophiaMerlin_II » Mon May 15, 2017 6:23 am

Sayonaroo wrote:I think you should it make AV something else OR write out the word because I think of adult video every time I see that and that's what Japanese people call porn. Their country is famous for porn and I'm sure there's people out there who learned a bunch of Japanese from Japanese av. and by the way 男優 means av actor not just a plain actor lol. It's tempting to extrapolate from joyuu. Technically danyuu means male actor but like 90% of the time it's used for porn stars and they have the word haiyuu for actor.



HAHAHAH :lol:

When I think of AV, my first thought is of Weird Al's "White and Nerdy" line where he says "I was in AV club and glee club". I'm not going to write out the word audio-visual :lol: I may be a freak, but I'm not that weird :lol:

And I mean, TECHNICALLY porn would count as AV, but uh... I'm not sure that's useful vocabulary for someone as unsexed as myself
:lol:

I don't know what you really could call it. I suppose it's TV except that I'm... not watching on TV. And besides I'd rather have someone think I'm watching 122 hours of porn than 122 hours of television :lol:

IDK, I guess I could just embrace full weeb status, poke fun at myself, and refer to my "animu"... If you think that would be better than AV :lol: I mean, I have watched, in my life, at the absolute minimum, and this is by hours that I have actually counted, 1200 HOURS of anime, or about 3600 episodes, plus a few movies, and a stupid amount of manga. And that's just the anime I can remember watching :oops:

I calculated it out one day, and if I had purchased all the manga which I have read, it would cost about 10K USD, if we assume that each volume is only ~7 dollars. :(

But yeah, I find my interest in anime and manga very embarrassing :oops: In day to day life I try to take a better approach to it, but online I just feel some type of way about admitting it. Like, "oh look, another weeb wants to learn Japanese. Well isn't that precious?" You tell people you're learning Japanese and they automatically think these sorts of things about you, or have very negative feelings towards you and go on long tirades about things which are unimportant.

Will the Japanese accept me? Who knows, who cares. I have no plans to move to Japan.
Japan has very entrenched gender roles and expectations!?! Again, who said I want to live there.
Japanese formal language is so complicated! You will never master it! Most people I've met who said this couldn't change their register if they tried, and would use "ain't" in a presentation to the Queen of England and the Pope.
"Japan has such complicated and ritualized culture! You will never understand! Well, number one, Japanese kids learn it somehow. Number two, I still never said I was gonna move to Japan. And number three, you're the type of person who wouldn't even offer me something to drink if I came over, or tell me I could sit down.
You'll never be able to read and write Japanese with all those Chinese characters they use! Well, dude, I have memorized the spellings for more words than you even know exist in English, so sit down and use a dictionary instead of telling me that words I use aren't even real. Aplomb, aberration, instigate, connotation, implication, denotation, euphony, demeanor, avarice, coddle, surreptitious, etc are all perfectly fine English words. Now, connotation, denotation, and euphony are specialized words, but most people who have taken college lit should know them. And avarice is probably the most uncommon, along with aplomb. But if I can learn soooo many more words than you in English, maybe I can learn another language too.

/rant

:lol: So any suggestion for what to replace AV with? I personally veto "TV", and am not joking when I threaten to use "animu"

also, note: vote and veto are way too similar for comfort.
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Re: One Step at a Time

Postby Sayonaroo » Mon May 15, 2017 2:34 pm

I don't get what's wrong with TV. Anime airs on TV and you're not watching on a TV but nowadays everyone streams their TV with the netflix etc etc. Since you've seen so much anime I'm sure you have lots of content you want to learn from whether it's the dialogue or the songs etc etc so I suggest that you go learn from that stuff.

Anyway i recommend checking out sub2srs and tae kim's grammar guide and remember the kanji and AJATT (for motivation and whatnot since you seem too negative) and yomichan and rikaisama if you haven't checked them out already.

regarding the anime stuff I know what you mean. That was one thing I don't want to be associated with.I enjoyed reading this thread on the koohii forum (forum for RTK learners) http://forum.koohii.com/viewtopic.php?i ... action=new And anyways you have to have a huge vocabulary and be very familiar with Japanese if you want to stand any chance at watching anime raw so it is a huge achievement if you reach a point where you can watch anime without the subs and be able to watch/understand everything which is where I'm at.
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Re: One Step at a Time

Postby Ольга » Mon May 15, 2017 3:40 pm

You are learning so many languages! It's just WOOW! Have you finished "Мы" Замятина? I have heard about this novel but never read it. It is so tragic and depressive.
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Re: One Step at a Time

Postby SophiaMerlin_II » Mon May 15, 2017 5:22 pm

Sayonaroo wrote:I don't get what's wrong with TV. Anime airs on TV and you're not watching on a TV but nowadays everyone streams their TV with the netflix etc etc. Since you've seen so much anime I'm sure you have lots of content you want to learn from whether it's the dialogue or the songs etc etc so I suggest that you go learn from that stuff.

Anyway i recommend checking out sub2srs and tae kim's grammar guide and remember the kanji and AJATT (for motivation and whatnot since you seem too negative) and yomichan and rikaisama if you haven't checked them out already.

regarding the anime stuff I know what you mean. That was one thing I don't want to be associated with.I enjoyed reading this thread on the koohii forum (forum for RTK learners) http://forum.koohii.com/viewtopic.php?i ... action=new And anyways you have to have a huge vocabulary and be very familiar with Japanese if you want to stand any chance at watching anime raw so it is a huge achievement if you reach a point where you can watch anime without the subs and be able to watch/understand everything which is where I'm at.


I just hate to admit I watch TV, it conflicts with my self-image :lol: I don't like to admit I watch American TV either (Binging seasons at a time, but I never actually sit down and watch just one episode)

Learning directly from anime in a subs2srs way is honestly beyond me at the moment. I've tried it before and it's just too frustrating, because I don't know what I'm reading. It works very well for Spanish though. I'm currently using Tae Kim because it's free (yay free) but I find it very confusing/frustrating, so I think I'll buy a physical textbook once I can afford it. Probably Genki, as my friends who live/work in Japan right now used Genki. Of course, they're all English teachers, but ~~. RTK annoys me because you don't learn any readings, so you still can't type the kanji :lol: Memorizing Kanji's actual form is not very hard for me as long as I see it a few times, and write it a few times. And I type more than I write by hand anyways (kinda sad, but it's true... I used to write about 30 pages per day, by hand, as a kid... If I did that now, I think my fingers would fall off or my arm would cramp :lol: I have been referred to AJATT so many times, and looked at it so many times, but I still can't figure out what it is supposed to be DX

I mean, yeah, raw anime is super cool, and trust me I'd be into it, but it'll take a while. I guess other people think I'm putzing around because I'm not at a break-neck pace, but I'm enjoying myself. I seem / am negative, but that's just my personality, honestly. I am very easily distraught / flustered / panicked / depressed. And besides that, I'm not sure I'd be able to watch anime raw, regardless of my Japanese ability, because I struggle to watch English shows without subtitles as well, because my hearing is not very good. I do not understand many movies in English because I cannot hear what is being said. That's why I got so into anime in the first place. Please don't remind me why Japanese is difficult. Trust me I know~
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