Hestia's Log (FR, JP)

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
User avatar
Xenops
Brown Belt
Posts: 1444
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2015 10:33 pm
Location: Boston
Languages: English (N), Danish (A2), Japanese (rusty), Nansha (constructing)
On break: Japanese (approx. N4), Norwegian (A2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=16797
x 3559
Contact:

Re: Hestia's Log (FR, JP)

Postby Xenops » Fri Dec 08, 2017 4:29 am

Bonsoir mes amis. Lately I'm making a career change that seems to solidify my plan to move overseas. I lost my job at the major Boston hospital (with a difficult discussion and conclusion that I wasn't a good fit), but rather than applying to other hospital jobs, I have been applying to research assistant positions (as I have two bachelor's in medical laboratory science and microbiology). Why moving back to a research position? Isn't that less pay? True...But I enjoy research. As people recommended in the thread about immigration, the easiest way to integrate into a country is by going to school there, and then I'll be able to move into a job. I had thought of going to school overseas in a PhD program, and I'm considering the opportunity that some of these programs pay you stipend. So rather than working as an MLS for years in the U.S. to pay off loans and save lots of money to go an advanced program in Europe, I could work here while getting research experience, pay of my loans and earn my PhD overseas.

Another consideration is medical school. I confess, the desire to be a surgeon hasn't left my heart. After talking to our forum resident medical student, I looked at opportunities for foreigners to go to medical schools overseas. The best opportunity I found were new English programs in Italy, where you only had to take an entrance exam (note my slight sarcasm). It gets better: at the University of Turin, they will have a research/medical doctor program, where there is a stipend. And considering the location, the primary language is?...French.

Either route, if further reading proves my statements to be true, requires me to have research experience. I'm pleased to saw I've had two good interviews, and I'll have one on Monday.

For language-specific news, I met with a tutor from Quebec tonight. I had her coach my pronunciation: she thought my nasal vowels were quite good, I just needed to work on my R's and U's, which improved as the session went. The best I can figure, the French R is less in the back of the throat and more towards the inside of the mouth.

And just as I was ready to focus fervently into my French studies--perhaps because I visited the Kinokuniya store in NYC, perhaps not--the desire to pick up Japanese hit me hard. Even with my intent to focus on European languages, I felt as if a part of me would die if I did not continue Japanese. I suddenly remembered all of the things I loved about Japan when I visited there: ranging from things most people could appreciate (like food) to quirky things (the tight, tiny streets). I had this conversation in my head:
Voice: Does studying Japanese make your heart sing?
Me: (abashed) Yes
Voice: Then study Japanese.

So I'm picking up Japanese again. Even though I'm currently unemployed, and have as much time as I want, I still find the task to juggling these two languages challenging. It's like my mind finds it tiring to do too many things in one day (a symptom of my mental status? Probably). So what I've decided is this: I study one language one day, and switch the next day. This way I'm tiring myself out trying to figure out what to do next, and it's not long enough of a break to disrupt my language language.

Two days ago too, I realized, I need to return to the concept of digital minimalism--I need to cut down my Internet time. I find that having too many tabs on too many websites just reminds me of all of the things I want/need to get done, and it stresses me out. If I keep the minimal amount of tabs open, say related to making Anki cards, then I'm less likely to be distracted, and less likely to be stressed out. It also keeps me focused (ah ha!).

For Japanese, I picked up my bushu/ kanji radicals book, and I have a $1 trial period with Japanese101. The reason for this is because they have podcasts and transcripts: just what I need to make my own Anki cards with sentences and audio. Because it's only a month trial (at only $1), I spend an hour or so on most days downloading all of the interesting content: I'm almost done. I've used this blog as my guide as to what to download: http://www.nihongonobaka.com/japanesepod101-com-individual-season-reviews/ I've found the newbie series to be unbearable, as the speakers talkso slowly, and since I took a year of college Japanese, I'm skipping this part. Also reviewing my Genki books from said class.

So yeah...
5 x
Check out my comic at: https://atannan.com/

User avatar
Xenops
Brown Belt
Posts: 1444
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2015 10:33 pm
Location: Boston
Languages: English (N), Danish (A2), Japanese (rusty), Nansha (constructing)
On break: Japanese (approx. N4), Norwegian (A2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=16797
x 3559
Contact:

Re: Hestia's Log (FR, JP)

Postby Xenops » Tue Dec 12, 2017 10:33 pm

Well, I'm not sure if any experiment has lasted so short of a time. :lol: I'm not a fan of the Japanese one day and French the next only scenario. It feels like either a punishment or work: "you can only do this today, not that." So I'll work on both each day.

Aujourd'hui, j'ai fait mes examens françaises du Anki (mais pas de japonaises! Je suis mauvaise!) et puis ja' fait cartes novelles avec les nùmeros (parce que je me n'ai remémoré quand mon tuteur me a demandé). Et puis, j'ai une idée: pour les images, je dois utilizer la chanson Les Douze Jours de Noël! Parfait! Et je suis allée au supermarché ( je suis allée en pie).

昨日、私は二話でアニメを見ました: メイドインアビス. 今、このアニメが好きです、でも三話を見ました。日曜日に協会の日本語行きました。日本人は親切なでした。日本語と英語を話しました。再度は、あそこに行きます。

And corrections are very welcome. :)
2 x
Check out my comic at: https://atannan.com/

AndyMeg
Blue Belt
Posts: 633
Joined: Sat Jan 28, 2017 2:44 pm
Languages: Spanish (N), English (B2-C1), Japanese (A2-B1), Korean (Lower Intermediate?)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 02#p201902
x 1302

Re: Hestia's Log (FR, JP)

Postby AndyMeg » Wed Dec 13, 2017 12:27 am

Xenops wrote:昨日、私は二話でアニメを見ました: メイドインアビス. 今、このアニメが好きです、でも三話を見ました。日曜日に協会の日本語行きました。日本人は親切なでした。日本語と英語を話しました。再度は、あそこに行きます

My japanese is really rusty, so take my comments with a (huge) grain of salt:

このアニメが好きです、でも三話を見ました。

You said that you liked the anime and then you said that you watched 3 episodes. I don't understand why you are using でも before 三話を見ました。If you wanted to say that even if you like the anime you only watched three episodes, maybe you could say something like this: このアニメが大好きですけど、三話だけ見ました。

協会の日本語 --> I think it should be 日本語の協会 or 日本語協会. I also think you are missing a particle there: 日本語の協会行きました。

再度は、あそこに行きます --> I would express it this way: またあそこに行きたいよ。(or またあそこに行きたいです or またあそこに行くつもりです)。

I miss actively studying japanese. From time to time I watch something in japanese. But I want to get my korean to a higher level before I turn my focus to japanese again.

Xenops wrote:Well, I'm not sure if any experiment has lasted so short of a time. :lol:

Dont' worry, I do this all the time. For me the most important factor is that I'm having fun with what I'm doing. Having fun keeps me moving forward and I really like that.
1 x
Beyond The Story 10 Year Record of BTS Korean version: 36 / 522

User avatar
Xenops
Brown Belt
Posts: 1444
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2015 10:33 pm
Location: Boston
Languages: English (N), Danish (A2), Japanese (rusty), Nansha (constructing)
On break: Japanese (approx. N4), Norwegian (A2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=16797
x 3559
Contact:

Re: Hestia's Log (FR, JP)

Postby Xenops » Wed Dec 13, 2017 1:07 am

AndyMeg wrote:
Xenops wrote:昨日、私は二話でアニメを見ました: メイドインアビス. 今、このアニメが好きです、でも三話を見ました。日曜日に協会の日本語行きました。日本人は親切なでした。日本語と英語を話しました。再度は、あそこに行きます

My japanese is really rusty, so take my comments with a (huge) grain of salt:

このアニメが好きです、でも三話を見ました。

You said that you liked the anime and then you said that you watched 3 episodes. I don't understand why you are using でも before 三話を見ました。If you wanted to say that even if you like the anime you only watched three episodes, maybe you could say something like this: このアニメが大好きですけど、三話だけ見ました。


Is this what you say when you mean "only"? Good to know, I wasn't sure how to say that. :D

AndyMeg wrote:協会の日本語 --> I think it should be 日本語の協会 or 日本語協会. I also think you are missing a particle there: 日本語の協会行きました。


Well, I intended it to be in that order: but I was fiddling a lot with the autocorrect. :lol: The particle does need to be there.

AndyMeg wrote:再度は、あそこに行きます --> I would express it this way: またあそこに行きたいよ。(or またあそこに行きたいです or またあそこに行くつもりです)。

I miss actively studying japanese. From time to time I watch something in japanese. But I want to get my korean to a higher level before I turn my focus to japanese again.


I was wondering today if it would be 行きたい or 行きかい:now I know (I have only encountered that form so far in Pimsleur with 食べたい and 飲めたい、so I wasn't sure if it followed onto this verb as well).

Thank you for the corrections. :D You could also be like me and give into the temptation of Japanese--it's easier than resisting ;)
1 x
Check out my comic at: https://atannan.com/

AndyMeg
Blue Belt
Posts: 633
Joined: Sat Jan 28, 2017 2:44 pm
Languages: Spanish (N), English (B2-C1), Japanese (A2-B1), Korean (Lower Intermediate?)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 02#p201902
x 1302

Re: Hestia's Log (FR, JP)

Postby AndyMeg » Wed Dec 13, 2017 2:44 am

Xenops wrote:
AndyMeg wrote:
このアニメが好きです、でも三話を見ました。

You said that you liked the anime and then you said that you watched 3 episodes. I don't understand why you are using でも before 三話を見ました。If you wanted to say that even if you like the anime you only watched three episodes, maybe you could say something like this: このアニメが大好きですけど、三話だけ見ました。


Is this what you say when you mean "only"? Good to know, I wasn't sure how to say that. :D


けど means "but". だけ means "only".

このアニメが大好きですけど--> I really like this anime but

三話だけ見ました。--> I only watched three episodes.


Xenops wrote:
AndyMeg wrote:再度は、あそこに行きます --> I would express it this way: またあそこに行きたいよ。(or またあそこに行きたいです or またあそこに行くつもりです)。

I miss actively studying japanese. From time to time I watch something in japanese. But I want to get my korean to a higher level before I turn my focus to japanese again.


I was wondering today if it would be 行きたい or 行きかい:now I know (I have only encountered that form so far in Pimsleur with 食べたい and 飲めたい、so I wasn't sure if it followed onto this verb as well).

Thank you for the corrections. :D You could also be like me and give into the temptation of Japanese--it's easier than resisting ;)


I think here you mean 飲みたい instead of 飲めたい. Yeah, that's the たい form, for when you want to do something.

A great resource for getting a quick overview of basic japanese grammar is "Michel Thomas Japanese" (Foundation and Advanced course). The pronunciation is not great, but the grammar overview is very enjoyable and quite complete (for a beginner's level).

You're welcome ;)

I use english and spanish on a daily basis, but my japanese is not yet at a high enough level. I've tried it before, but I find it really hard to be actively studying two languages at the same time. What I do, though, is that whenever I want to take a break from korean I focus on japanese (just for a few days and then I go back to korean).
1 x
Beyond The Story 10 Year Record of BTS Korean version: 36 / 522

vonPeterhof
Blue Belt
Posts: 879
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2015 1:55 am
Languages: Russian (N), English (C2), Japanese (~C1), German (~B2), Kazakh (~B1), Norwegian (~A2)
Studying: Kazakh, Mandarin, Coptic
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1237
x 2833
Contact:

Re: Hestia's Log (FR, JP)

Postby vonPeterhof » Wed Dec 13, 2017 5:17 am

Xenops wrote:昨日、私は二話でアニメを見ました: メイドインアビス. 今、このアニメが好きです、でも三話を見ました

I'm not sure what you mean here. Is it that you watched two episodes yesterday and now you've seen three episodes in total? In that case I'd phrase the first sentence as 私は昨日、(メイドインアビスという)アニメの二話を見ました (or just 昨日、(メイドインアビスという)アニメの二話を見ました; using 私は after 昨日、 in this case feels really unnatural for some reason).

Xenops wrote:日本人は親切でした。
The な in な-adjectives mainly serves to connect them to the nouns they describe, and it already plays a role similar to a copula (だ, です, である, etc.), so it can't be used before でした. It should be either 日本人は親切でした or something like 日本人は親切な人ばかりでした (assuming there were several Japanese people).
1 x

User avatar
Xenops
Brown Belt
Posts: 1444
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2015 10:33 pm
Location: Boston
Languages: English (N), Danish (A2), Japanese (rusty), Nansha (constructing)
On break: Japanese (approx. N4), Norwegian (A2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=16797
x 3559
Contact:

Re: Hestia's Log (FR, JP)

Postby Xenops » Wed Dec 13, 2017 11:30 pm

vonPeterhof wrote:I'm not sure what you mean here. Is it that you watched two episodes yesterday and now you've seen three episodes in total? In that case I'd phrase the first sentence as 私は昨日、(メイドインアビスという)アニメの二話を見ました (or just 昨日、(メイドインアビスという)アニメの二話を見ました; using 私は after 昨日、 in this case feels really unnatural for some reason).


Thank you for the correction: I meant to say "I saw two episodes yesterday, and I've seen three episodes total".

What is the "という" after the anime's title? And you put titles of works in parenthesis?

vonPeterhof wrote:
Xenops wrote:日本人は親切でした。
The な in な-adjectives mainly serves to connect them to the nouns they describe, and it already plays a role similar to a copula (だ, です, である, etc.), so it can't be used before でした. It should be either 日本人は親切でした or something like 日本人は親切な人ばかりでした (assuming there were several Japanese people).


And the "ばかり" refers to multiple Japanese people?

Thank you for the corrections. :D
0 x
Check out my comic at: https://atannan.com/

vonPeterhof
Blue Belt
Posts: 879
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2015 1:55 am
Languages: Russian (N), English (C2), Japanese (~C1), German (~B2), Kazakh (~B1), Norwegian (~A2)
Studying: Kazakh, Mandarin, Coptic
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1237
x 2833
Contact:

Re: Hestia's Log (FR, JP)

Postby vonPeterhof » Thu Dec 14, 2017 7:58 am

Xenops wrote:What is the "という" after the anime's title? And you put titles of works in parenthesis?
"という" in this case means "called", and the parentheses are just that - I meant that if you want to mention the name of the anime in the same sentence you can include the part in the parentheses, and if not you can leave it out. If you do want to clearly mark a title of a work you can use the Japanese square brackets, 「」 or 『』 (some people say that the latter are preferable because the former are for quotes, but unless you're writing a sentence where you need to clearly distinguish between the two it won't matter much which you use).

Xenops wrote:And the "ばかり" refers to multiple Japanese people?
"ばかり" here means "all", as in "The Japanese were all nice people. You could also show that there were several of them by using みんな: 日本人はみんな親切(な人)でした. It's not really necessary though.
1 x

User avatar
Xenops
Brown Belt
Posts: 1444
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2015 10:33 pm
Location: Boston
Languages: English (N), Danish (A2), Japanese (rusty), Nansha (constructing)
On break: Japanese (approx. N4), Norwegian (A2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=16797
x 3559
Contact:

Re: Hestia's Log (FR, JP)

Postby Xenops » Wed Dec 20, 2017 2:51 am

Bonsoir peeps,

Well, this year is about over. I can't say I got as much done with language learning as I wanted when the year began, but then again, I had a lot going on:

1. Drew the epilogue for my comic, Concerning Rosamond Grey, and thus concluded the comic. :cry:
2. Graduated with my second undergraduate degree, in medical laboratory science.
3. Got a job in Boston and moved across the country.
4. Lost said job, and am currently looking for another in the Boston area.

I guess two big accomplishments for me have been my grades in my second semester (my lowest grade was a B-) and moving to Boston. I had wondered if I could across the country, and if I could adjust to a new culture and learn to like it. I did have culture shock, and sometimes I still note things that are done differently than back in Idaho, but I have grown to like Boston. In fact, if someone told me to leave Boston and go back West, I would be seriously depressed. I absolutely love the access to native speakers of so many different languages, and of course, their food. ;)

Last week I visited a Japanese church, and while the pastor and his wife are fluent English speakers, most of the time the sermon and subsequent conversation was in Japanese. The attendees were very hospitable to me, and a couple helped me with my beginning Japanese.

I have met up with my Quebec tutor twice now, and my French pronunciation is improving.

Probably for the next year, I'll make a new log. I feel like I've wandered around with my language studies on this one, and I would like to be *focused* for the next one, and for the next year. I'll also post my resources on the first post.
2 x
Check out my comic at: https://atannan.com/

User avatar
coldrainwater
Blue Belt
Posts: 686
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2017 4:53 am
Location: Magnolia, TX
Languages: EN(N), ES(rusty), DE(), FR(studies)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7636
x 2381

Re: Hestia's Log (FR, JP)

Postby coldrainwater » Wed Dec 20, 2017 3:50 am

I am glad the year went well for you. Those are some major life changes in a super short amount and it looks like you have excellent prospects. Many people have gone to Boston and decided not to leave. It is a place near and dear for many of my friends from bygone days.
2 x


Return to “Language logs”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: bombobuffoon and 2 guests