Jimjams German Journey

[Jimjam]

I have some pretty amazing news! I have been officially accepted into the exchange program and my university has nominated me to a university in Osaka! So in about 7 months, I will be moving to Japan for a year! This has been an amazing way to jumpstart my desire for Japanese again after a little slow period. I am so excited to get right back into learning, and to get back to Japan! Since i'm going to Osaka, I also have an excuse to learn osaka-ben!

I haven't done too much new study, just getting right into revising all the kanji I am expected to know for uni, and have started learning new vocab. I have watched a little more Attack on Titan to get my listening skills into check. I still have huge gaps in my vocabulary so i still need to use subtitles (also due to the heavy use of military vocab), but I am finding that I can understand more and more without them. Still a ways to go but i'm getting there! Hopefully by the time I get to Japan, I will be somewhat conversational.

I have a feeling that my german is going to get ignored a lot this year, which makes me sad. Especially due to the fact that I might be taking second year french to get enough credit so I wont have to take another semester on the end of my degree to make up the numbers. I don't hate french or anything, but I don't have the love I do for Japanese and German.

[Rotasu]

I have some pretty amazing news! I have been officially accepted into the exchange program and my university has nominated me to a university in Osaka! So in about 7 months, I will be moving to Japan for a year! This has been an amazing way to jumpstart my desire for Japanese again after a little slow period. I am so excited to get right back into learning, and to get back to Japan! Since i'm going to Osaka, I also have an excuse to learn osaka-ben!

Congratz Jimjam! A whole year is a long time Do you have plans to work part-time or you going to focus on classes? Be prepared for Japan's cold as hell winter xP I also have plans to go to Japan but in 2018, after my bachelors.

[Jimjam]

Congratz Jimjam! A whole year is a long time Do you have plans to work part-time or you going to focus on classes? Be prepared for Japan's cold as hell winter xP I also have plans to go to Japan but in 2018, after my bachelors.

I don't have any plans yet to work but I migh end up doing a little here and there. I'd prefer to focus on classes and maybe join a club or 2 to give my Japanese that extra boost.
I've only been to Japan once and that was in the middle of summer with everyday being in the high 30s (celcius) and extremely humid, so I'm somewhat excited for a Japanese winter; though Osakas winter isn't too bad.

[Elenia]

Congratulations, and good luck!

[Jimjam]

I'm still here, still puttering along. Haven't done too much serious study; mainly doing some anki (core6k) and slowly reading Harry Potter. Slowly catching up on kanji for uni from BKB. Pretty confident with BKB 1 except being able to write some from the last few chapters. Haven't really gotten ini BKB 2. If I didn't have to know how to write them, this would be a much faster process.
Anki is actually proving to be helpful in recognising some kanji from context. Not many but I am picking up the readings for a few. Every bit counts.
Also it looks like I'll be doing a semester of Italian. I need another class to make up my credit points and Italian will be something I can do and (hopefully) pass well without having to distract too much from Japanese.

I also plan to take a trip to Sydney next weekend, which translates to spending hours in kinokuniya and the language bookshop, so I'll end up with a bunch of new language material. Good luck, bank account, I hardly knew ye.

[Jimjam]

お久しぶり
I didn't realise it had been so long since i updated my log! This semester of uni has been much harder than what i've been used to now that i'm taking more classes and they aren't just language related. I'm currently doing japanese, history, and a class thats called advanced readings in japanese (but it's more about english translations of japanese literature and NOT how to read advanced japanese like it was stated but what can you do). My assignment count seems to have almost doubled since last year so that combined with working every day im not at uni, i haven't had all that much time for languages (outside of class) or for the forum unfortunately.

Also, I am no longer going on exchange to Japan since the classes i need to get my degree (or a suitable replacement) are not offered in Japanese universities. I could still go but it would mean adding extra time onto my degree and i'd rather just finish it as soon as possible then travel/work overseas sooner.

Since i'm no longer going on the exchange, I am instead planning a possible trip to europe in june/july between semesters. I am contemplating either travelling around western europe, particularly germany and austria for a few weeks to a month, or attending a language school in germany for the month which surprisingly works out cheaper than travelling (including accomodation and food). I would have loved to go the month before so I could attend the polyglot gathering in berlin but my uni schedule doesn't allow it. At the moment it's all up in the air and depends on many factors including saving enough money (which is actually looking very promising). All i know is I need a break and I have the potential funds for it.

I'll try to make an update regarding my languages soon. I have to do several assignments today/before wednesday so i'm not sure when this will happen but hopefully soon.

[Jimjam]

I'm finally getting around to that update. I sadly haven't actually done that much with my languages over the past few months. I have barely touched german which makes me so sad but everytime i try to get back into it, I end up having to devote that time to uni or work. Luckily, it looks like i have gotten through the bulk of my assignments so I should have more time for it. Here's hoping.
As for Japanese, it has also been getting ignored recently. Despite how much I love it and how much i enjoy studying it, this semester's class has put me off it a lot. I attribute this to the strict class which makes it more of a chore than fun. I barely find myself studying it or even using it. I occasionally pick up a graded reader but I rarely finish it and thats about it. I am currently playing through a pokemon game in Japanese though which is much easier than the last time i tried 2 or so years ago.

Some revised short - mid term goals i've set are:
* Go through the Basic Kanji Book 2 and actually learn them for once
* Keep up to date with the kanji we are doing in class from the Intermediate Kanji Book 1
* Same thing with the grammar from our class textbook (New Approach Japanese Intermediate Course)
* Go over the grammar points I still haven't solidified yet (passive, causative etc)
* Get back into german, preferably with assimil
* Actually use and enjoy my languages

I hope that once I get back into the swing of things with my languages, I will be more active on here again. I have seriously slacked off recently especially since I'm meant to be participating in the TAC! Sorry team!

[Jimjam]

Ok so instead of doing anything I listed in my last post, I have gone and joined the super challenge instead. I'm only doing it for fun so i'm not registered with the twitterbot or anything. Hopefully it'll help get me in gear for TAC since i'm already signed up for 1 challenge I shouldn't have

So far progress isn't actually going too bad. Instead of movies, i'll mainly be watching anime since it's much easier to come by. I'm currently up to about episode 20 of bleach. I barely ever watch anime but this seems like one that I won't have any problem binge watching the entire thing like I have done with several other series in the past. I can already tell it's helping a great deal; I've barely done any listening practice outside of class for over a year (since i stopped watching naruto) so I can already see improvements.
As for reading, one of my weakest skills in japanese (thanks kanji), i'm slowly working my way through harry potter and the philosophers stone. I'm currently up to page 57, though I had started a while before and read intermittently. I plan to work my way through this and then maybe continue on with the series unless I find something else though I have always been a big harry potter fan so I am content.

[Jimjam]

And now this will be my general update post.
I have finally gotten serious with anki (despite having a 3 day break this week, though am now caught up on reviews). I have been doing 50 new cards a day from the core6k japanese deck and it has been going surprisingly well. I am now 1400 cards into the deck and still not sick of doing it each day so I must be doing something right! If i keep on schedule then I should get down to around 3000 in the next month in time for my big update:
I'm finally going back to Japan!
Myself and some friends from my Japanese class will be going for a 3 week trip all over Japan. Our itinerary includes going to Osaka, Hiroshima, Kyoto (!Favourite place in Japan!), Tokyo, Kamakura, and Yokohama. We leave on the 22nd June, several days after my last exam (though i think I only have the 1 proper exam) so I have a month to get serious about my studies, but also to work my butt off making sure I have enough spending money because I know I won't hold back. It'll be a good chance to stock up on super challenge materials (and green tea kitkats ).
I am planning to keep my anki going while i'm there so I don't get out of the habit of doing it and so the reviews don't pile up, but if i do I won't be too mad since it'll be for a damn good reason.

I also recently started helping out at a high school again except this year I am much more involved. I go every monday and spend most of the day helping out with different japanese classes from year 7-10. It's all really basic japanese but it's good for reviewing the basics and to get an idea if I actually want to put myself through being a teacher. (so far I have decided that I don't want to teach in Australia but I still do in Japan and Germany or wherever else I end up, though I know that this decision might easily change by next week so I'm not really paying attention to it). One of the best things about going there is the Japanese teachers are both lovely and really good to have a conversation with (mostly in japanese but with english sprinkled in).

As for my uni study, I haven't done anything really noteworthy, just normal grammar and a little kanji study, though I have had conversations at least once a week in Japanese for class and also when I went to the japanese language club. I would love to go more but they always have the meetups right after my japanese class finishes which usually doesn't work too well for me. I did have one of my favourite japanese conversations ever there though; it was just a normal conversation, not one of the usual self introduction know off by heart can repeat in your sleep conversations that seem to happen when you are at a lower level. It truly made me feel like I have gotten somewhere with Japanese. Sure, there were words and sometimes whole sentences I didn't know but for the most part, I understood it and was able to laugh when they did and follow along with their stories. I even got to talk to them about a topic that usually Japanese people avoid but they were more than comfortable to talk about especially since they initiated the topic and thats about sexuality and particularly homosexuality in Japan. As a gay man who has plans to live there in the future, it was really nice to hear Japanese people talking about it so openly and comfortably as it's generally viewed as taboo and more of a "dont ask, dont tell" type of topic but now I have hope that that attitude doesn't exist as much in my generation. Maybe it's because they both have lived in Australia and gotten used to the generally more openly accepting culture but either way, it made me happy.

On a more depressing note, this weekend is going to be one of the most stressful, japanese hating weeknds of my life. Last night i was up very late finishing off an essay for history and submitting it just in time, and today I have to translate like a chapter of Japanese from a novel into english for another class. Then tomorrow the real fun begins; I have to write and memorise a 5 minute speech in Japanese and be ready to present it on tuesday morning. I purposefully made my topic very easy to talk about because I knew I would end up leaving it to the last minute. Memorising it shouldn't be a problem as I did the same last year (though it was only 3 minutes long) and remembered it almost perfectly, but writing it will be terribly. My japanese production skills are severely lacking and after hearing some of the other speeches this week, I will really need to step up my game.

I think that should be it. I apologise for the long post but I just have so much to talk/rant about and I was definitely overdue for it.
All I can do is focus on the fact that I will be in Japan in 1 month and won't have to worry about anything while I'm there.

[Jimjam]

Quick update while i procrastinate my last few assignments.
I'm still going with my anki though i have reduced the amount of words i'm adding to almost none for this week since i dont want a ton of reviews when i get back from Japan. Though I did finally hit the 2000 word mark in my core6k deck! My active skills are still lacking (but that's my own fault) but I can notice my passive skills improving so much from this! I've gone from having to constantly ask my friends what a word is during class to being the one to tell others when they are asking. It's not much but it's a nice confidence boost.
I also (finally) created a deck for the kanji from Basic Kanji Book 2. I should have seen every card about 2 days before i leave. It's very surprising how many of them I have actually picked up here and there (though i should have already studied them last year in class) so my confidence in my kanji is going up as well.

This leads me on to my new plan which is to take the JLPT N3 in december. It has been my immediate main goal since I started learning way too long ago since it seemed to mark the level where people could actually use the language and have conversations and just enjoy themselves. This always seemed like a fantasy to me but now im actually getting there. I'll need to step up my grammar study outside class so i'm going to use the n3 soumatome books and possibly either an integrated approach to intermediate japanese or tobira. The textbook we use in class is severely lacking in almost every department so I definitely step up my game to pass.
I'll also need to increase my listening A LOT. I currently watch/listen to 0 japanese outside of uni and the high school, which is also terrible news for my super challenge haha.

So my plan for N3 will be:

vocab - continue anki but also add in more reading, so that'll get that and the super challenge on its way

grammar - use classes, soumatome grammar book, and hopefully one of the textbooks i mentioned earlier

kanji - continue with anki including making a deck for the kanji from Intermediate kanji book 1 (and maybe 2 depending on how confident i feel with the higher level kanji), and maybe even bring out my white rabbit flashcards again. I benefit a lot from flashcards so they work wonders for my comprehension. I'll also be writing in and out of class so i'll have practice actively using them

listening - i should start up bleach again, and i found a drama on netflix. i cant remember what the name is but i was enjoying it

And finally, i leave for Japan on wednesday so less than 7 days to go! before then i do have a major essay due for my japanese literature class and my japanese exam on saturday but then im free! i probably wont post until i get back but there will most likely be a big post when i do get around to it.