Reflection
みなさん、
By the time you read this, you probably have taken the midterm.
Since it's good time to look back at your first half of this semester,
why don't we just do that?
For this week's post, the topic is about yourself as a learner.
-Describe one thing you did pretty well in this class; something you feel you are proud to have done. It could be large or small.
-Describe one thing you could try to work on; something you are having trouble with; something you need help with, something you wish it weren't the way it is.
-State how you intend to learn from this course for the rest of the semester.
-Write in English.
So you can be honest to yourself, why don't we be all annonymous?
Don't use your name you've been using. Find some nickname just for this week.
If at all possible, try to be supportive to others in class. Share your concerns, ideas, tips so you can learn better in this course.
Deadline for this post is 十月三十一日（火）.
posted by Hiroshi @ 11:10 午前
13 comments
13 Comments:
So far I feel that I've been successful in learning the grammar and beginning to grasp the nuances of the language. I have little trouble learning vocab and new grammar since I feel I have a good memory.
However, I tend to just memorize the material and not practice speaking. When I get into lab, I struggle with the conversations since I don't really do the drills -_-;
I don't want the time I spent this semester to be a waste - I hope to learn AND retain what I've accomplished so far, but it's up to me.
I feel I have a good grasp with grammar, particularly with the use of particles.
However, I often have trouble understanding Japanese when it is spoken, especially in language lab, because people generally speak too fast for me to comprehend it and I usually have to spend a second or two trying to figure out what it is they said.
I feel a good way to learn Japanese is to try to figure out how to say things you hear (from your friends, on TV, from yourself) in Japanese. The more you think/talk/write in Japanese the easier it is to retain the knowledge. Just a funny fact, I've been writing "shi/ji" in hatakana so much that whenever I have to write a "J" now, I usually end up writing it backwards and having to fix it.
I realize I do much better on writing then conversing in Japanese. I am like that in all 3 of the languages I know now. =P I like writing much better, since I am allowed the time to think about what I want to say. I am a very visual learner, and thus need to write down everything before I say them or memorize them, which slows me down.
Vocab....soo many of them! I memorize them for each quiz, but I forget them very easily. For the midterm, I basically was memorizing most of the 8 lessons all over again...hence sleeping at 6am today. I should know them better so I do not end up in this kind of predicament. I have a hard time especially with spelling things in katakana, since words are literally sounded out when spelling it, but you may think it sounds very similar, while the real way of spelling it is not your way. It is also hard to remember where the long vowels are. I guess those are only to memorization? The test was alright, though I think I was too tired to actually listen to the comprehension part. O well...
Grammar wise, I think the particles don't seem that bad, considering we still haven't had that many of them.
I guess I have learned a few important things about myself as a learner, the most important that I have to study and repeat and practice a lot in order to excel. The first month, however, was complete and uetter hell. I spent 6-7 hours a night studying. Now I only study and do homework for about 2-3 hours a night. I have become more efficient.
I usually feel that memorizing vocab is easy, especially since we have to memorize over 20 words a night. But, I feel like I can also easily forget. I like my post cards, though.
However, I fall short when it comes to grammar rules since my grammar rules for even English are not very good. Mostly what I do is feel for grammar (in both languages), and sometimes I end up being very wrong.
I also still feel like a slow reader, and really do not like katakana because of the long vowels and its similarity yet difference to the English language.
I don't want to memorize, but I feel that is the only way I can remember and understand.
Hm...I'm happy that I've learned my hiragana, katakana, and several dozen kanji. I'm also glad that I can understand most of what Hatakeyama sensei says in class. Still, I picked up a Nihonno shimbun the other day, and saw what a daunting task learning all the kanji will be, just in order to be literate someday. Like Teron, I also have a little trouble doing the Language Lab drills--I feel as if I'm expected to fire things off in an instant! I may need to speak some more in order to do this.
And, oh ,yeah, I keep handing in the wrong homework; I want to stop doing that!
i've been having the same problems with language lab re: the speed of the speech. i get discouraged when i do a drill and wonder if i'm supposed to be able to speak and understand that quickly already... especially when i look around and none of the other students seem as blown away as i am. but i also notice that i've learned a lot more in the past 2 months than i ever expected and slowly i'm able to pick up more and more when i watch japanese shows/movies or listen to music. as frustrated as i get in lab/as much as i struggle with speaking, i still appreciate the emphasis put on speaking because i feel like i'm absorbing it a lot quicker. i studied spanish for 6 years but you would never guess because i can hardly speak a word - my school system put more emphasis on writing and structure that i may as well have never learned to speak. but i find myself thinking in japanese a lot, now, even when i'm not in any remotely related situation. i'll be eating something and think "totemo oishii desu ne" or i'll ask my friend how her class is and think, "[name]san no kurasu wa dou desu ka?"
i LOVE the grammar. i have trouble with it at times, of course, because it's so different and backwards compared to the languages i know, but it makes so much sense to me. and after i finally "get" something it's like a lightbulb goes off in my head and dramatic orchestral music starts playing... yeah. oh and i love particles<3 i can't explain why but they're so fun. i know that we've only learned the absolute most basic grammar now but i'm enjoying it so much and i can't wait until we get to the more intense stuff.
i love vocabulary but i agree that sometimes we go through the chapters so quickly that we don't get to practice the words as much and they don't stick. i know we have to cover a lot of material in a short semester but sometimes i wish we could slow down simply for the sake of actually retaining the information. and i kind of wish we didn't learn so many katakana words :( i know there are some things that there are no native japanese words for, and i also know that japanese people do use these borrowed words in everyday conversation but i still wish for some things (i.e. purezento, hansomu, etc.) we'd learn the original words for, just for the sake of knowing.
all in all i think i've learned a lot, much more than i expected to learn this quickly. i gauge my progress by the fact that i think i'd be able to carry a decent conversation in japanese now. for a couple of minutes. as opposed to when i first took the class and i could just barely describe myself.
just out of curiosity, when are we going to learn more verb conjugations?
I have been happy with my how I have begun to grasp the grammattical structures we have learned thus far. I think the amount of time we spend on grammar and vocabulary in class complements these aspects of the materials quite well.
Where I struggle, however, is understanding spoken Japanese. Despite the fact that I go through the drills, I really have a hard time understanding and speaking Japanese at the speed that the creators of the materials seem to think is appropriate. Particularly with respect to the midterm, even though I prepared by going over many of the drills again, I still could not understand what was being said over the recording as well as I would have liked. I'm not sure what else I can do to supplement my studies of this aspect of the course, but I've been pretty discouraged about it thus far.
I feel that if there is one thing I did well so far, it would be that I did 80% of learning Japanese in class. It may sound funny. But it's actually not an easy task for me. I tend to leave the learning part to the self-study after class. But for a language class like this one, I tried my best to do all my learning during the class time and limit the self-study to minimum. I really feel that a new language is not something you can learn from reading a text book. The interactions in the class were what made me absorb this new language.
Like many other fellow students, I also think that listening is the hardest part. I can listen well in the class. However, I don't think we get enough chance to practice listening to a long passage or long conversations at a time. The only chance that we get to do this is during the lab or exams. With the pressure on trying to answer the questions, I find that listening comprehension gets worse. I don't feel that my listening improves during the exams because of doing labs. I think it might help if we can practice listening to this kind of long passages in the class. Or instead of writing-only homework, we could do listening and answering questions homework to get our ears trained for long passages or conversations.
I feel that I have gotten over the barrier of speaking Japanese in class and have practiced more speaking in class. However, since this is the second time I'm taking a first semester Japanese course, I feel that I am slacking off a little, which is showing in my written more. Thus, I think I should spend more time on studying so my Japanese can continue to improve.
I feel that the basics of the language are becoming more ingrained; certainly with Sensei's help my hiragana has gotten passable. I think speaking is the most difficult part by far; doing the drills more often would help develop this.
My goal is to continue building the basic vocabulary while trying to use it in more natural sentences and short conversations.
To be honest though that midterm was far more difficult than any of the tests or quizzes - it took all my concentration to get though it, and it was tricky. Not looking forward to the final!
Learning Japanese these past two months has been very exciting. When I look back at how much I've learned since the beginning of the semester, I am amazed. I can now watch anime and pick up on some of the things said or walk by a store and read a sign written in hiragana and/or katakana.
In regards to my performance, I am proud of my pronounciation skills, though I could still work on accent pitch, and my ability to learn the vocabulary. I am also extremely pleased at how much I've improved in reading and grammar. When we first switched from the Romaji handouts to the textbook, it used to take me ten minutes to complete one homework drill. Now I can do so more efficiently. Additionally, I used to have a huge problem with particles. Reviewing for the exam helped me get a firm grasp on them.
What I remain frustrated with, and it seems I'm not alone, is comprehension. During language labs, I usually finish late because it takes me a long time to understand what is being spoken so quickly. This also lost me quite a few points on the exam.
I recently checked the class directory for next semester and I might not be able to fit Japanese into my schedule (I have to take some required courses this year for my major). I am afraid of not taking the second semester in succession to the first. I don't want to get rusty.
me too, just out of curiosity, when are we going to learn more verb conjugations? i really want to learn them! but it seems like the course schedule will never allow me till the next semester..
i think the education system (especially that of east asian language) is really really good. I was amazed when I first attended the lab. All the listening files and various books used in class. It was really awesome and I felt this course is really worth my tuition !!!! And I like that this course does not concentrate just on the structure or composition, but also on the listening and speaking. It really helps me get the sense of Japanese.
I feel like I've learned a lot of new vocabulary and sentence structures well. I can sometimes use them pretty quickly and have small conversations, so I'm happy about that.
But, I have trouble with when to use an extra "-u" when I'm spelling in hiragana. So, I lose stupid points on tests and that disappoints me.
I want to learn hiragana spelling better and become quick with using counters (since this is the hardest thing for me to do so far--it takes too long for me to remember them and choose one when I'm speaking).
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