In Japan 12 Jan 18 - 10 April 18

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smallwhite
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Re: One Step at a Time

Postby smallwhite » Mon Jan 15, 2018 3:18 am

SophiaMerlin_II wrote:
I’m going to Japan for 88 days, with basically no money to speak of. So I’ll have a lot of free time and a lit of opportunities to practice.

So immersion method I guess.

That's wonderful! What do you expect to achieve and what are your plans to achieve them?
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SophiaMerlin_II
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Re: One Step at a Time

Postby SophiaMerlin_II » Tue Jan 16, 2018 9:41 am

smallwhite wrote:That's wonderful! What do you expect to achieve and what are your plans to achieve them?


Now that I’ve been here a few days, I actually don’t know that I’ll accomplish much conversation wise.

I spend a lot of my time when I am out and about trying not to commit faux paus... like when I bought some food at the grocery yesterday I didn’t do the part after checkout correctly. Or today I messed up when I was taking a shower. Most of my time is just spent trying to fit into the norms and expectations, it takes up most of my attention.

On the other hand, I’m getting better with the coins, and I understand cashiers and train announcements better.

I rarely hear Japanese people speaking to one another loud enough to hear what they are saying, on the rare occasions that I do hear them speak. Tokyo is very quiet, even when there are hundreds of people on the street.

So I imagine I will only really study the grammar book I brought with me, and learn some placenames.

Though, I am enjoying myself very much, so it’s not as if the trip is a loss. Maybe when I feel more comfortable things will change. I’ve always been quite shy.
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Re: In Japan 12 Jan 18 - 10 April 18

Postby SophiaMerlin_II » Fri Jan 19, 2018 12:12 am

I stayed out until 23:00 last night, and there was a lot more talking, drunkenness, and general energy on the streets. It’s the first time I could every actually hear what people were saying.

So, to listen to people, I just have to stay out later. Easy.
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Re: In Japan 12 Jan 18 - 10 April 18

Postby SophiaMerlin_II » Sat Jan 20, 2018 2:04 pm

So I’ve now officially gotten more Spanish practice in Japan, than Japanese practice.

Pretty drunk right now and had a nice conversation with some Argentine girls at my hostel for about 5-10 minutes. They understood pretty well what I meant. I was happy.

I was actually trying to work up the courage to tlk to some Japanese people but I didn’t have any luck with that, just too nervous still.

Hoping not to develop alcoholism here in Japan, but everything here makes me nervous, and I wish I had like one friend to explain things to me.

But I shall soldier on, as far as my attempts to read signs, etc.
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Re: In Japan 12 Jan 18 - 10 April 18

Postby stelingo » Sat Jan 20, 2018 8:00 pm

Are you familiar with the app Hellotalk?

https://www.hellotalk.com/?lang=en

This may help put you in contact with Japanese people interested doing a language exchange. I have used it, and even met a Chinese guy for coffee and Chinese/English conversation when I was in Shanghai.

(No, it wasn't the Chinese native in my profile pic! :D )
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Re: In Japan 12 Jan 18 - 10 April 18

Postby SophiaMerlin_II » Sun Jan 21, 2018 5:17 pm

Went to a Japanese club and we got lectured for 30 minutes in the middle of the night.

So finally got some listening practice.
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Re: In Japan 12 Jan 18 - 10 April 18

Postby SophiaMerlin_II » Wed Jan 24, 2018 8:34 am

I -FINALLY- found a Japanese map.

Of course I have to go to the camera store to buy a map. *facepalm* Japan, you can be so confusing sometimes...

I’ll be honest that I haven’t spent as much time as I should studying. I’ve been spending most of my time taking photos, editing, captioning, and posting them.

At least my placename study will go faster now with a Japanese map.
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smallwhite
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Re: In Japan 12 Jan 18 - 10 April 18

Postby smallwhite » Wed Jan 24, 2018 8:45 am

SophiaMerlin_II wrote:Of course I have to go to the camera store to buy a map. *facepalm* Japan, you can be so confusing sometimes...

That's funny. Have you been to libraries and bookshops? Are they good?
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Re: In Japan 12 Jan 18 - 10 April 18

Postby SophiaMerlin_II » Wed Jan 24, 2018 9:51 am

smallwhite wrote:That's funny. Have you been to libraries and bookshops? Are they good?


If I have passed a library in the last two weeks, I haven’t noticed it.

Most book shops I have been in sell mainly Magazines, LNs, Manga, and pornograpy. Now mind you, I’ve mostly gone into shops that have first floor access, because going through buildings still kinda freaks me out a little.

In the map section (when there is one) generally has world atlases, Japan atlases, historical maps, some kind of Japanese Guidebook Genre (photos and walking paths), and large size map books of the 23+outer areas.

I was not going to have fun with an A4 sized mapbook, and I certianly doubt I’ll be leaving the 23 special wards.

So I finally found an A6 sized map of the 23, and it was about ¥800 after tax.
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Re: In Japan 12 Jan 18 - 10 April 18

Postby SophiaMerlin_II » Thu Jan 25, 2018 4:02 am

ロータス wrote:You are the first person in a LONG time I've seen chose physical maps over an app on their phone XD I plan to use Map.me myself.


I prefer paper about 98% of the time, for almost everything, especially things like guidebooks. I am going to look at the thing every ten seconds, so my bettery will die almost instantly if I use one. And scrolling around is a pain.

But besides that, I like to take a marker and trace my foot paths. Otherwise I get in the habit of just walking down the same streets every day and get frustrated by the fact that I’m no seeing anything new. It’s also nice to mark public toilets and wifi.
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