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.