うちに かえります。

わたしの　うちは　New Jerseyに　あります。　でも　わたしの　だいがくは　New Yorkに　あります。　ちかてつで　Port Authorityに　いって、　バスで　うちに　いきます。　だいがく　から　うち　まで　ちかてつと　ばす　で　いち　じかんはん　かかります。　そして　＄９　かかります。　たかい　ですね！

カタカナ

カタカナは　むずかしい。　かんじは　とても　むずかしい　でも　わたしは　中国人。　かんじを　よみます、　でも　カタカナを　よみません。

はる やすみ

わたしは　はる　やすみに　ともだちと　バハマに　いきました。　たくさん　しました。　ビーチに　いきました。　にちよびに　いきました。　にちよびに　かえりました。　おもしろかった　です。　バハマの　てんきは　よかった　です。　ときどき　あつかった　です。　でも　にほんごを　あまり　べんきょう　しませんでした。

Haru Yasumi

Wow... what an amazing spring break.

Bahamas o ikimashita, and it was amazing. Great weather, great sun and beach. The problem was, when we were about to come back our flight got cancelled and delayed, and we had to spend forever in the airport, only to book a late flight back in.

Other than that, though, it was a good experience. I even brought my Japanese book!

Bahamas wa zenzen samukunakatta desu. New York wa samui desu.

- George Liao

First homework in Hiragana

I just completed my first homework using all hiragana. And it was... pretty hard. I was a little confused by the double consonants (kitte) and the shu and kyo's. But after I got the hang of it, it wasn't too bad. It just took a little longer than usual because I had to pause pretty often to recall what each character was.

But doing the homework in all hiragana definitely helped me a lot in terms of recognizing and writing it. I think I'm almost ready to take that hiragana quiz... but maybe first a review.

Composition Final

My composition is finally done! It was a little tricky getting all the long vowels to come out correctly (and also, typed hiragana is a little different from written hiragana, so that was a little tricky too) but I think it is completely correct. Hope it's good.

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はじめまして。ジョージ です。わたしは　あめりか　ししゃの　えんじにあ　です。　わたしの　しゃちょうは　さとう　さん　です。　わたしは　たいわんじん　です。　きのう　ひとり　で　にほんに　きました。あさって　あめりかに　かえります。わたしの　けいたいの　でんわばんごうは　きゅしちさんの　きゅはちいちの　はちはちごきゅう（973-981-8859） です。よろしく　おねがいします。

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- George Liao

Midterm Exam!

It's kind of crazy to think that it's almost time to think about the midterm exam. I feel like I haven't been studying Japanese that long at all (I haven't, it's only been about a month!). I am rather impressed with the fact that I can already read and write in hiragana (well, hopefully, I'll be much better at it after I study tonight).

As for the midterm though, I think the best way to review the material that we have already learned would be direct translations from English to Japanese. Of course, a quick vocab section in the front would not be a bad way to make sure we're keeping up with our vocabulary requirements.

I think the regular homework that we are assigned is the best form for the midterm to be in (but not having the same sentence construction constantly being reused). The Quiz 1 that we did once for homework didn't seem like a very good quiz to me -- it wasn't very intuitive and I don't feel it tested my mastery of the information very much.

わたしはきのううちにかえりました。

I am going to start practicing writing in Japanese. It'll be good practice for the midterm and final.

Yes, I did go home yesterday. It was Chinese New Year's, went home for dinner with family.

Falling Behind

I feel like this past week has been a rather busy week for me. I've been pretty swamped with work from my other classes, and even worse it seems like Japanese class has picked up a lot more rapidly in terms of workload.

Learning how to conjugate verbs was very exciting and interesting but at the same time rather difficult. It was good because now we can make some more complicated sentences, but bad also because I need to study more (I guess that's not so much of a bad thing!). My only concern is that I will fall farther behind -- so I guess I should wrap up this blog so I can do some review!

Examinations and Short Presentations

A) しけん (Examinations)
1. What is your definition of “examination”? What is “examination” for you? What is “examination” supposed to be? Why does “examination” exist? What is "examination" for?

My definition of an examination is a procedure used to determine how well a person is mastering the material that he or she is supposed to be learning. For me, an examination has always been the kinds that are administered in the schools here in the United States. That is, for the most part, you walk in, having studied the night before (hopefully), and given a set of questions you need to answer them to the best of your abilities without help from other people or things. Of course, examinations don't always have to be like this. Anything that can provide a reasonable measure of your abilities counts as a valid examination (many of these can be less painful, such as an oral examination).

2. What are the positives and the negatives to have more examinations in our Japanese class? State both and write your opinion.

The positives of more examinations in our Japanese class are simple -- it would force the students to stay on top of the material more so that they are learning consistently instead of cramming the night before an exam. Of course, the negatives are that it takes up valuable class time that could otherwise be used for learning, and also forces students into a more rigid and less enjoyable schedule. Personally, I am against more examinations. As a rather busy student, I like having more freedom in my schedule. Most importantly, however, Japanese is a class that most of its students take because they want to learn -- not because they have to. Thus, the benefit of forcing students to stay on top of their material more is negated since students that want to learn tend to be on top of their material regardless.

B) プレゼンテーション (Short-Presentation)
Do you think it is a good idea to have a short presentation on something Japanese in class (either in Japanese or English)? Why?

I think it would be a good idea to have a short presentation on something Japanese in class only if it helps us with our language development. It should be short and not take up much time -- maybe devote half of one class time to it. But it should definitely be completely in Japanese, although not very harshly graded since public speaking is difficult for most.

First Post

My first post for Japanese class! I went snowboarding yesterday and so am a little late in starting this post.

I have been enjoying my Japanese class , but I only wish I had more time to spend on studying for it... My other classes have been kind of rough on me so far this semester. Once I get more free time, though, I definitely plan on doing some more Japanese practice. The good thing is that I can take any little bit of free time to study Japanese, so I keep finding myself studying for Japanese in the 10 minutes between classes (or, admittedly, sometimes during certain boring sections of my other classes as well).

Speaking of studying, time to do some more Japanese studying. Numbers, I find, in particular, are hard because I keep thinking of them in English. Guess that means I need to practice more...

- George Liao