6/29/11

I Will redo this if it is unclear, just message me^^









My my, has today been a very interesting day. We've gone over our hiragana/katakana, and I might say that I've finally memorized all of them!! Also, we've had our test, I feel a bit stupid because one of the Ru verbs I got wrong, I had gotten it right the first time, but I second guessed myself and I think I've rewritten it wrong...Neru, but I knew at first that it was ねます、ねません、ねました、ねませんでした。But everything else I am confident that I didn't fail completely! I am getting my sentences better with the particles and such. Today I've noticed how hard it is now becoming to speak in English...My mouth doesn't want to form R and C words, or F words either. I end up rolling my tongue and it sounds wrong to me, like I'm foreign....I'm taking it as a sign that my muscles are now adapting to speaking Japanese.

As for the Voki, I am uploading that soon, despite my frustration with myself mostly on this, and having a terrible time finding WiFi in these Airports, I think that Voki is a very good way in teaching us. There is a specific amount of time you only have to record, so you have to move your mouth fast as well as pronounce everything properly. After this I am going to be looking in a mirror, as Yuki Sensei has said, talking and looking in the mirror, no matter how weird it may look to others, it'll help. Another good thing about Voki is just how fun it is, it isn't something that I am used to, nor is Audacity, which I failed to use and now am using my phone to record. I feel bad that I've taken so long in posting this blog, but my perfectionism is showing as I have recorded over 20 times, I Really want this to be perfect. I haven't looked into the other features yet, but mostly the making us speak clearly and at a faster pace makes it better. It trains our mouths and brains to think and speak faster than what we are used to. Thankfully I've found out that I do have the ability to speak properly, but I need more practice, which is why I am going to continue to record until I get it right! It will be Very noisy background. I will most likely have to do it again, but to get it in on time I will have to make due, construction is happening in the airport where I happen to be able to have my service and power the computer. This assignment might be one of the most brilliant, at least in making me realize my mistakes right away, even when reading it in front of me when I say something wrong I know it is gramarly incorrect. Finally after 5 hours of hard practicing I had finished it!!! Yay!! It might have had to do with me refusing to go to the bathroom or take a drink, but still!! Yay!! Though some guy is talking in the background, I will redo it if it is unclear. I now feel refreshed and very accomplished, I set out to finish and no matter what I continued, even if I got a little ster crazy at the end, lol. What I like most with this voki is most likely a personal thing, but I think what is best is how it made me do it over and over and over again. No matter how mad I got, I wished to finish it, and in doing so, I kept at it and I think I can speak faster now!

I've finally gotten a post from a student in Japan! Megumi Yonemoto-san was very polite and had said that she understood my Japanese which is good! She's wonderful at English, better than me I bet.

Now I shall go to my hotel, I refused to leave until I finished, I won't be getting any sleep today, but I'll have all night tonight! I shall be watching over to see what we have for homework きょう！じゃまったね！

6/28/11

Today in class we've learned a lot, mostly about the particles and how to use them, what to use them with, as well as some basic grammer. As for me, I have the problem where, I need to know my English grammer, in order to properly do Japanese grammer. I've talked with my mom today, and I think I am slowly getting with, along with the help of Yuki Sensei.

は： Subject of the sentence, main importance, what it is about.
は： The Topic sentence, what the person speaking is talking about.
に： To the Destination, you are Moving/Going to destination.
に： Time, when talking about a specific time, date, or weekday, NOT Evening/today etc.
を： OBJECT! What the sentence is Talking about, Japanese is What/It.
で： Place, but Only for when you are AT that place, In that place.
へ： The same as Ni for Destination, interchangeable.
と： AND. Cat And Dog. いぬとねこ。

Along with particles, we've learned some adverbs such as よく、ときどき、ぜんぜん／あまり
よく： Often
ときどき： Sometimes
ぜんぜん／あまり： Not at all/Not much

ようび：げつようび Mon、かようび Tue、すいようび Wed、もくようび Thurs、きんようびFri、どようび Sat、にちようび Sun。

げつようびにやさいをたべます。
かようびにコンピューターをします。
すいようびにテニスをします。
もくようびにわたしはにほんごをべんきょうします。
きんようびにくおちゃをのみます。
どようびにともだちのいえをきます。
にちようびにわたしはえいがをみます。

Also we've learned how to say the days of the week, and ask what we did on a certain day.
Ex: げつようびになにをしますか。

Tomorrow is the quiz, I'll be more confident with this one! I feel refreshed and such^^ Good nights sleep, and Everything works now in the house!! It was apparently a bad spot in the wire, but our neighbors had wires touching the ground. So it wasn't just our house. Things are looking up! I hope I won't miss....Too much in class もくようびときんようび。じゃまったね！

6/27/11

The question is : What did you do on Monday? What did I do on Monday, etc.
Answer: きょうだいがくでにほんごをべんきょうします。

Today I wasn't my best, but thankfully tonight I am getting a good nights sleep and also we found out that we shall have power by midnight tonight! Still I am staying at a hotel tonight, but oh well. Today in class was interesting as always, we are all starting to get a bit confused with the particles, at least I am, everyone else I think is doing fairly well. Though a very helpful tip Yuki Sensei gave us was that we don't need everything to be in a certain order. Just that each word needs it's certain particle when it is needed and the verb HAS TO BE LAST! For some reason I always thought it was subject, but no, verb. I get the rules for U and Ru verbs as well as Irregular verbs, just need to practice on them particles.

に is used for Home and Place as well as Time and Destination.
は（わ）is used for Subject and Topic. Yuki Sensei showed us this very cute video on it and it helped a lot I believe with me understanding Wa at least.
を is only for Object!
で is for Place as well like with Ni, except the Big difference is that for De, it is for when you are AT a place, not just discribing going there or something.
も is Also, like when you wish to include yourself, I Also like Japanese Culture.
が is another one which we haven't learned much about, but in the book I believe it is only used when you use dore.

We've reviewed our verbs in class along with all of the tenses, the rules aren't really that hard, it is just telling weather something is abnormal and or a normal Ru or U verb, or Irregular.

Well, today I am finishing up everything I need to do, at least with sewing and such, study like heck! And than get a GOOD nights sleep. Than hopefully I'll get out of this funk. じゃまったね！I am really starting to get used to typing in Japanese^^

6/24/11

Today when we got home we've discovered that maybe the fridge and freezer still work! Yay! Today seems to be a brighter day, as I've found out that I did indeed NOT fail my midterm, but get a B on it. After knowing that, the weight off my shoulders dropped and class was very enjoyable today. We've reviewed our Hiragana and Katakana, I was only missing ONE Katakana which was Hi. Though now I've discovered that I had gotten it, but I had written it where Se is at instead. ヒトセ look kinda alike, at least when written..Well, next time I will know!! Today in class we've covered a lot about verbs and how the Japanese don't have futures. Future tense that is, as they have Present Affirmative, Present Negative, Past Affirmative, and Past Negative for their tenses. It really is easy to understand, and while learning about them and how you write them, I've realized that I have reconized words which were just in a different tense.

Ex: For Ru-verbs　なめるー take out Ru and just add ます for present affirmative. Add ません for present negative. Add ました for Past Affirmative, and finally ませんでした for Past Negative!

Ex: For U-Verbs you do what Yuki Sensei calls the Sushi roll. いくー You take the Ku and just go up in the alphabet line, before Ku is Ki, so it would become Ki and than add ます、ません、ました、ませんでした afterwards depending if it is Present Affirmative, present negative, past affirmative, and past negative.

Ex: For Irr- Verbs you do both the rule for Ru verbs and also U verbs. くるー roll the Ku and take out the Ru so it would become きます、きません、きました、きませんでした。

We than learned the days of the week which is pretty cute^^
Mon:　げつようび
Tues　かようび
Wed:　すいようび
Thurs:　もくようび
Fri:　きんとうび
Sat:　どようび
Sun:　にちようび

This weekend I will be doing my homework, and Finishing my cosplay!! though Saturday I am going to my cusion's daughter's first birthday party, and Sunday Hopefully my mom's friend will know what is wrong with our house. Hopefully it is just some weird fluke and the pump!! じゃまったね！！

6/23/11

Uhhhhhh....I do not think I've done well on the test....I've looked over my flash cards and my study sheet and I just feel like smacking myself, I'm now back to being sick, gave myself a mental breakdown, and my mom and I have confirmed that as a worst case I've gotten a D. I am going to study my verbs, thankfully I understand Japanese verbs better than English, hell, I don't really know what our verbs are, or if I do, it's automaticly in my head and I don't know it up front. Though the upside, そら was very very cute today in class today. I'm really just being hard on myself, but I really Really, ほとに want to do well in this class!! I'll just have to study harder next time. I won't give up, even if I do cry. I've gotten farther in learning Japanese in this class than the four to 5 years of me self teaching. I am going to eat now, thankfully I no longer feel like throwing up. Hopefully tomorrow will be good, I am going to be making my flashcards for the verbs. じゃまったね！

6/22/11

Today everyone was relieved with the news of having an extra day to study for our midterm exam. I know I was, though I was confident, it helps the nerves. Tomorrow I am excited to get to meet Yuki Sensei's daughter, I am sure she will be very cute!! Now today, sense Yuki sensei was not ready for her babysitter to be having a baby, we ended up having class and learning some new words and many verbs which will broaden our speaking abilities! Though we are not expected to know them all as of yet, we are to have flash cards on them by Friday. There are three different types of verbs, U verbs, Ru verbs, and irregular verbs. Some rules make it a different case, but it mostly follows that concept. Also, we reviewed how to point and say if an object is what is being asked, or is not, as well as being specific. Today I believe I have mastered all of the Katakana, in the morning I am going to review it as well as the clerk greeting and greetings when entering home or leaving home. Other than that I am good, though still I shall refreshen myself! Today while out of class I was able to read Hiragana and know exactly what words they were! Though the context really wasn't that accurate, or it was and I was just confused as to why they had That and Why in the same sentence...Hmmm, I'm guessing a poem? I do not know, but what I do know is is that I am becoming more comfortable talking, such as when we went over a fake menu. Though I am watching myself and how I talk, I don't want to do the whole hump thing people in アメリカ tend to do with speaking high low high low. Today was fairly comfortable and helpful. Overall tomorrow i think I shall do well, *Crosses Fingers!!* おやすみなさい！

6/21/11

Embroidery made by Maria Vaza-Kaczynski

Today I felt really good in class, almost got all of the Katakana and Hiragana, soooo close to getting them both memorized! Though even if memorized I've realized that sometimes it would take me a while to registor in my brain which Hiragana belongs to which sound, and such. Though I am getting better with reaction time, it still takes me a while to write stuff out. The nice early bedtime has defintly helped me in my 24 hour cold I had. In class we learned the wonders of　も！Mo = Also in にほんご. With a few practice sentenses to write down and such, the class was getting it and we went on to our shopping! I find that playing the Shopping Roleplay was a lot of help, acting out a real situation not only loosen the nerves that the students have, but also give us the ability to laugh even if we make a mistake. Although Japanese is very much fun, I myself tend to worry a lot when I get things wrong, or I am not remembering properly. Having the play experience lightens the mood and helps me at least, learn in a more visual standpoint, which for me is much easier. What I would like to learn is to know if something is out of stock, or even if you wish to buy many items at once, is the experience and words different? Most likely there wouldn't be problems at all with customer service, lol. Though it had taken us a while to actually finish, I am sure we all were more than ready to study study study, I know I was. Also, with this, I learned more about えん and also making change おつい. Something which I tend to still be a bit confused about, due to the 100, 1,000, and 10,000 えん I tend to convert it wrong in my head, I am getting used to it though. I am studying, although I think after a good nights sleep I'll be in tip top shape and hopefully I'll do well!! * crosses fingers* じゃまったね！！

6/20/11

こんいちは、だいじょぶですか。Today in class we've tested out both our Katakana and Hiragana, Allll most got it!! Though today my brain is just not feeling well at all, I did my best, like when we went over the homework, I actually didn't know that we had to add kono, sono, ano, well, I had forgotten, but I was able to read the item on the page and know almost all the prices which were asked of me. このとけいはさんぜんえんです。えっと、わたし forgotten the fact that the tiny っmeans enlongated concenent, also, I did not know that just typing (L) lowercase in Hiragana would make the tiny tsu, I've just discovered that. We've disgussed money and what the clerk says when you walk into a store, also Yuki sensei showed us a video of the annoying いってらしゃませ。It is true, they really do say it a million times, but it is only polite.

Clerk: いってらしゃませ。
Customer: このいくらですか。
Clerk:　ごぜんえんです。
Customer:　やすいですね！
Clerk:　そですね。

Tomorrow we will be doing our actual store roleplay, I really enjoy this class and everyone in it, even though I felt like crap today I felt better being in class. We've even gotten to see actual Nihon en! As well as count our own fake en. Mine is いちまんにひゃくさんじゅうななえんです。So I have about 100 dollars? Did I convert that right? I'm not sure....Anyways, after this I am taking a nap, on my way home I started feeling really tired, after I wake up I will be finishing homework, and working in my cosplay. じゃまったね！

6/17/11

Whew, in class we finally made it through two of the three types of Japanese alphabets/characters!! やった！Now with learning katakana, it isn't as bad when knowing hiragana, it sorta helps out with the fact that we all now know the sounds to のほんご。Though the difficult part for me most is being able to tell the difference for the four characters which look so much alike to アメリカじん。And that is シとソとンとツ, with typing I can tell the difference, it is just with my own writing I cannot tell so well, and I know while writing fast everything can be all weird and than it'll become dechiperable to me. Today we've started to learn how to actually Ask questions instead of just being able to answer to them. Such as asking for the date or time as well as for someone's name. おなまえわな。Onamae wa(ha) as a simple way, but also a polite way of asking for someone's name. Along with new words which are for pointing out an object or person, but this time for something more specific. このとそのとあのとどの、Dono and dore meaning "Which", everything with no at the end are for specific items you are asking about, which goes into our lesson about money and how to ask and answer about what something costs. Next class we are going to be making our own store! すごい！！A question for asking how much is something is このとけえはいくらですか。How much is this watch? Answer: このとけえはいちぜんえんです。Also with relieveing news, we found out that every word for Japanese is either Hiragana, Katakana, or Kanji, they do not mix these in words. Anyways, I am doing my best to study, reading the text book has helped and writing down repeating the volcabulary as well. Thankfully there are a few more days left as i had gotten a bit sick over the weekend... I'm sensitive to heat even though I love it so....じゃまったね！

6/16/11

Picture drawn and colored by: Maria Vaza-Kaczynski

こんばんわ。Whew, I am glad that I have power, the other night the power suddenly went out all night and thus had no internet. Today in class it was certainly gave my brain a workout. We reviewed our Hiragana, which everyone in the class is doing well on, I'm not to sure what I might do when trying to learn Katakana as we have learned up to the row T today. Tomorrow Yuki sensei says we will finished them all tomorrow, こわい！！I might just be worrying myself, but still. As of today we've learned more about how to ask questions, more so being able to ask them ourselves instead of just answering them. Ex. なんじなんにちですか。That is asking the full date. 日本語 has easy concept, and they have random rules just like in English, which just means we have to stick to memorizing them! Also with learning あれとそれとこれ、we've learned どれ which means (Which), such as Which One? Along with the list there is が which follows after どれ just like with は there is が。The first thing we had done in class was listen to everyone's family despcription videos ( I still think everyone sounds better speaking Japanese than I do) but still, it was a good lesson and I've learned that I need to speak more flat with my Japanese. I was obviously trying to be too slow and clear with it, lol. I've listened to everyone else's vids and hopefully I've gotten my comments right!! *fingers crossed* I am just about done with homework, reviewing じゃありません to answering a question in a negative form, to learning the second alphabet Katakana!! The alphabet for foreign words!! Even French as well, I've talked with my mom about that and she told me that in the olden days you spoke French for foreign work/relations/market, as Yuki Sensei spoke about melon cake....Hmmm, I don't think I've ever had that before...I should try it sometime...After I finished studying my Katakana~ じゃまったね！！

6/15/11 part 2!

こんいちは！！Today in class we've gone over, typed, spoken and redone our greetings and despcriptions! It had taken up the whole class, but than again I am a bit bad at working PC's due to my having Mac. Though after having Yuki sensei go over all of my grammer and such I feel a bit better with everything. Though I still have troubles with telling when I am suppose to put wa(ha) or no in the sentence. With speaking I find it easier to read the Hiragana in Romaji, though I need to reconize my Hiragana quicker. Once I do that, I know my speaking will become better. Though I need to exercise and practice my tongue with speaking Japanese.

1) With photo story it was a big help with exercising all the methods of learning a new language. Using pictures to connect with our brain, as well as typing and speaking Japanese onto the slides. With speaking into the mic, it played back what you said as you were saying it, which helped me realize when I had made a mistake with my speaking and pernounciation. Enabling me to restart with just that section, instead of doing it all over again. I've also realized I do not sound at ALL Japanese, I should practice my accent after I've learned more with my pernounciation.

2) With speaking Japanese, I've realized how different it is than thinking it inside of your head. Forming the words with your mouth is far more difficult, and for me I need to speak a bit faster, I feel I am saying everything too slow and not fluid like. Although with that I must study more with proper grammer in order to speak properly. Like I've said in my reflection, I must learn to reconize the Hiragana faster in order to read/speak faster. I can tell it'll get harder as we go on, I only hope that by the end of this class it'll become easier, or semi easier.

6/15/11

6/14/11

Today in class we've reviewed our hiragana, when suddenly Yuki sensei wanted us to write out our birthdays when we hadn't even known how to say the months or days. Not to mention learning the days is actually kinda difficult. Though it was a good laugh and we suddenly started going onto learning more about grammer. Yuki sensei telling us to forget all that we learned just than about birthday. We learned about This, What, and That : これ、なん／なに、それ as well as Over there, or more so, the object which is at a distance from yourself, Are, not are as in what are you doing, but A Re : あれ。 Also we reviewed Wa, No, and To, singing the Head Shoulders Knees and Toes song in Japanese. Still, I need to review in the book a bit more on grammer, I've always been bad at grammer so it's no surprise to me that I am getting this all confused. But hopefully, I am confident that I'll get it soon. Practicing how to say something is what it is, as well as the negative to it, that the object is not what said person asked about it. Ex: これわみずですか。いいえみずわじゃありません、ねこです。Is this water? No, that is a cat. Also what i have learned is about how with sore you say it when you cannot touch the object, but it is not far away. While you say kore when you are able to touch it, it is at reach of you. When talking about something far away, you asked with Are, and you can answer with either Are or Sore, but never Kore. Than after this useful lesson we've learned about how to say the days of the month along with がつ which means months. Let me tell you now, I will be confusing the days of the month for a while, though some are easy, the first 10 are quite weird to day, along with some with 20 and over. Even Yuki sensei thinks it's weird, along with the AC which said seeeeeeeeeeeeee. It does that every class, I swear it's giving off small amounts of Something into the air...I don't trust that negative Japanese air conditioner!! Lol. After learning all of the days and months Yuki sensei told us how we will be doing a special project which involves talking to someone from japan! Introducing ourselves and greeting them along with telling discriptions of our families....Two of them are gonna be my cats, but ahhh well. I will be practicing like hell tonight! I wish to make a good impression. I must sleep early tonight, today I've been way too tired. Never let your mom do someone else homework when said person is in collage and is not even their child!! It never ends good. I shall be taking a nap now, than talking a walk, after that I'll be studying away!! Wish me luck! じゃまったね！！

6/13/11

The picture above was drawn/colored by me, Maria Vaza-Kaczynski Sense we skipped spring this year in Ohio, lol^^

こんいちは！Today in class I've learned lots and had gotten きゅうじゅうはち％ on my quiz! 98% ヤった！！Also we've been learning numbers as well as how to tell time. Sense Japanese have like a million different counting systems it is good of Yuki sensai to be teaching us the basics. We are still reviewing our Hiragana as well as now writing and reading in said hiragana! It's amazing! Only 6 days of class and I can already semi read a Japanese sentence! For me that is amazing at least, for I have always been bad at grammer in English. Along with teaching us to write and read along with speaking Hiragana, our sensai had us correct errors in Hiragana as well. Teaching us simple sentence structure as well as making us use our brains to actually retain the information and not just memorize what it looks like. I find this to be a very smart move as it has helped a lot! While listening to my Gekai CD I understand more words than before, as well as reconize Senmon(せんもん）which means major in Japanese. Another useful thing we've learned is how to say that something is wrong. For example, if I asked if my cat is a dog, （ねこ）いぬはですか？To correct me for my mistake the person I would ask would say, いいえ、いぬはじゃありません、ねこです。We've also learned about writing jobs and our families discriptions in Hiragana.

おかあさん
ええんあだます
ごじゅうよんさい
たいじょくています
ええんあだますわごじゅうよんさいとたいじよくていますです。

わたし
ばざ
にじゅういちさい
がくせい
わたしはばざですとわたしはにじゅういちとがくせいです。

6/11/11

Today isn't a class day but I still wish to semi keep it up, I really like this blog so far. Today I've been working on my cosplay, got lots of progress done Yay!! Although I found out that my interface is Only for ONE side...ONE! But I've worked on my Obi and everything so far is looking good. I am going to than work on my collar and than I shall study study study! I've realized i need to not only study the hiragana, but also things from the text book. I am so gonna ACE my quiz!! I can feel it!

あいうえおかきくけこさしすせそたちつてとなにぬねのはひふへほまみむめもやゆよらりるれろわをん！

6/10/11

Konnichiwa! It is finally the weekend and already from this first week I have learned so much! More so than my self teaching for 6 months! I actually feel a bit sad that it will be over within a month. Well, what I have learned today were quite useful things, although I've had had some troubles with it as well. I blame me not having any breakfast, lol. Anyways, I've learned a bit more about grammer, such as Wa, No, and To, Wa is after the subject written as Ha and spoken as Wa. While To is the aqivalent of (and). Like ~Neko to inu to tori to ume~. Than finally we learn of No, and now No is the aqivalent of possession or ('s). Watashi wa(ha) senmon no animation desu. Today we've also learned of the numbers, I was studying them in kanji, so I was confused at first when we had started to write them in Hiragana. We were taught how to write our ages and how to say it, along with our grade in University level. Again we've studied our Hiragana and I am sooooo close to knowing it all!! But when we learn katakana, I'm planning on studying both so I won't forget Hiragana while learning Katakana. More that we've been taught was of how Writing in Romaji and how you actually Write in Hiragana are sometimes completely different. Ex. eego is actually written in Hiragana eigo, but is pronounced like EEGO. After homework I'm gonna take a nap, study my Hiragana, sew and study once more. I'm hoping to get 100 percent on the quiz on Monday!! But I can only do that myself and study^^

1) greeting : はじめまして。
2) name :　わたしはばざです。
3) age :　わたしはにじゅういちさいです。
4 grade :　わたしはさんねんせいです。
5) major :　わや師の専門はアニマチオンです。
6) close :　どうぞよろしく。

6/9/11

( This Fan art Picture of Psychadelicsnake was recently drawn/colored by me^^ Video games are Kakoi!!)

Today in class we've studied more on all of the Hiragana as well as Ten Ten and "small"/ double concenents. There also was a strange thing we learned when we write in Japanese. For writing Watashiwa, instead of Wa when writing in Hiragana, we write it like Ha. Wa-Ha, just like with Konnichiwa, it is Konnichiha when writing it in Hiragana. Although I had asked why it is they even have Wa in the alphabet if they just change it to Ha, it is because of how some words start with Wa, such as Watashiwa, and than that is when you use Wa, at the beginning at least. Now, after that, we've went over the greetings, such as Ohayou and Konnichiwa, Konbanwa, and ect. Also I hadn't realized how like Yuki-sensai has said, we can already write in Japanese!! Yes, already I can write and type Hiragana Japanese. I've been converting my ipod touch and find it fun typing in Japanese. After the party today I shall be doing more studying!!

6/8/11

Today in class I've learned more than I had expected, my head felt a little bit like it was gonna explode, but in a good way....If that is even possible. I've learned how to Properly now, say Ra,Ri,Ru,Re,Ro and also we had finally finished learning all of the Hiragana! Yatta Kaido! Today I've managed to figure out how to change my ipod touch to type in Japanese Hiragana as well as the proper way to spell/type when typing on the computer in Japanese. Such as with N, you much put N in twice as NN, so that the computer knows your not doing Na etc. Also, spelling in Japanese for computer is very important, even though speaking it might be different in pernounciation. I am pretty bad at spelling if you cannot already tell, but thankfully, Japanese doesn't have secret hidden letters and sounds which makes things more difficult. Like Ch Kh, and other crap. We also learned Origami, how to make an Inu and Neko head with the very same origami! Just flip them over and there you have it! What was most difficult was learning a bit more about the double concenents and the silent letters/sounds you skip, like with S(u) in " I like you". Other than that after more explanation from the wonderful Yuki-sensai, I think I've got it...For now at least. Finished homework and now I am gonna write lines of the Hiragana and Ten Ten maybe add the "small" tsu to my studying tonight as well. Ja matte ne!

6/7/11

Today in class I have learned a lot about how hard it is to learn and memorize the characters. I've done the Hiragana characters before, but still, I tend to blank out. It is motto help when writing it over and over, and knowing how to write it in the way a Japanese would. Also, learning of the small tsu which makes you skip a letter like Mot_to. I had learned of it before, but never actually understood it until now. I am excited to learn more, and also to rewrite the characters I've learned, Over and Over again.

Entry#1 6/6/11

Fan art Picture by Maria Vaza-Kaczynski aka: me
My name is Maria Patricia Grafin Vaza-Kaczynski, I was born in Mountainview California, homegrown there, and I am now 21 years old. I've been traveling sense I was 2 years old, going to Spain, Mexico, Panama, Costa Rika, Japan, and many states of the US and islands nearby. I have 4 cats, I used to have 5, my favorite neko just died the day after my birthday 4/22/11, his name was Artemis. I have always been interested in the Japanese culture and language, through Anime which I was introduced to by my mother when I was 5 years old. I wish to learn as much as possible to be able to adapt well when I go to Kyoto Seika next April. My hobbies are Rainbow Girls, which is a Masonic Group, my father was a Free Mason, I also play in a 4 Square group, Cosplay, draw Manga/digital/realism/animation/etc... As well as dancing, hanging with friends and being just plain silly. I love meeting new people and my favorite food is Salmon.


1.what did you learn today?
I have learned that even from the alphabet in Japanese, some of them, like Ki, and Ke have actual meanings to them. Ki meaning tree, and Ke being Hair. I have also learned that there is a Japanese women living nearby, a Real full Japanese women, which made Sensai very very happy.
2.most fun things you did today?
One of the most fun things I've experienced today is getting to know my teacher and experiencing what this class if going to be like. I believe it will be very fun and educational.
3.what is your great success today?
I believe one of my successes today is learning how to write (i) properly. I tend to write messy. As for everything else, I feel successful in not messing up so much, I tend to get pretty nervous when on the spot.
4.what is your great challenge today?
One of my challenges today was that I was here at like 8:30 and I believed class was at 9 and I freaked out thinking that class was cancelled or something. Thus I went around asking and found out that class is at 9:45. I'm very glad I didn't decide to leave thinking class was cancelled.
5.what do you want do in order to overcome #3?
I will keep my schedual at hand at all times, just in case.

What I have learned today were really refreshments for what i have been self teaching, but it is always good for me to relearn what I have already learned. Such as the Hiragana Alphabet, which I tend to forget easily how to write, no matter how many times I would try. So learning in a way which someone from Japan would write is really a lot of help. Also, how to say things, and the fact that the Alphabet is said in a certain order, just like with the United States English alphabet. ABC, AIUEO, and so on and so forth. Heading down this journey I know will be fun, and learning that my teacher is someone I do not have to be intimidated to is a lot of help as well. Also, I have learned of what others like me who wish to learn the Japanese language want to do once they've learned it. It's very nice to know I'm not the only one around who is interested in this sort of thing in Ohio, at least to this extent. Living in East Canton for the summer where my mom lives is certainly something which doesn't leave much imagination and excitement to come around.