And I am done with my second week of the quarter!!! This one wasn't as smooth/easy as the last, but that's okay.
We had two Japanese vocabulary quizzes this week, so I learned twice as many words than usual. We also had two more lectures, along with our three "quiz section" classes this week. Our first kanji quiz is on Thursday next week. I put in my research paper ideas and website links, I believe that the idea is approved as-is, as long as no one else in the class is covering the same topic. (in which case, we would just be paired up to present together).
Progress report:Japanese 313:-0/3 Tobira chapters completed
-4/18 lecture homework pages completed
-3/8 vocabulary quizzes taken
-0/3 kanji quizzes taken
-0/2 chapter exams taken
-0/1 project: research paper completed
-0/1 project: speech completed
-0/1 oral interview taken
-0/1 final exam taken
I got a good score on my first chapter quiz, and full score on the vocabulary quiz this week. I've been starting to translate everything I hear into Swedish in my head, at first it was annoying, and still kind of is because it's basically automatic, but now it is more just really interesting. I decided that the reason I do this with Swedish more often than with Japanese is because a lot of Swedish can closely translate, while Japanese is completely different!!! But since I caught myself translating into Swedish, I ask myself... "How WOULD I say that in Japanese??" and then I get 'practice' in both languages, so it's really fun and interesting ^^. This all started when I watched this Swedish kid's show called "Stopp!" last week for my "Swedish outside the classroom" assignment. It's about a bratty child who says "stop!" when she doesn't get her way, and everyone freezes except for her, who then causes mischief to get her way while everyone is frozen. But it really had me thinking in Swedish, as there were no English subtitles, only Swedish subtitles, and basic language because it is a kid's show.
Progress report:Swedish 103:-1/6 Rivstart chapters completed
-1/6 chapter quizzes taken
-1/6 vocabulary quizzes taken
-0/2 verbal exams taken
-0/2 written exams taken
-2/10 Swedish outside the classroom
My 1,000 articles has been kind of coming along.
I've read 6 "NHK News Web EASY" articles since I started the challenge for myself. I usually read two or more articles in one day, as they are very easy to read, but the NHK regular news is still a bit of a challenge for me to read, so I'm sticking with the easy ones. I find them valuable still as I don't know all of the vocabulary. I've been keeping track, and am kind of trying to see trends in what vocabulary I don't know.
Here's what I've seen so far:Articles that have challenging or specialized topics:Average of 9 unknown words per article, of which there are an average of 2 unknown but "seen before" words.
Articles that have less challenging or specialized topics:Average of 5 unknown words per article, of which there are an average of 2 unknown but "seen before" words.
I'm hoping that as I read more, and get to reading daily, the unknown word averages will slowly go down, and the "seen before" section of words will go up, and eventually both go down as I learn more vocabulary. I'm kind of taking up a Steve Kaufmann approach in this way, and I think it is valuable. When I start to see a lot of words I've already seen before, I might jump up to harder articles and set the stakes higher for myself. But since it is effortless to read a couple of these articles a day, I think it is the best way to go for the amount of time and energy I have after classes. It's like coming home and reading a book to relax, while simply taking note of the words you don't know.
I suppose that's all for now!!!