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Hi guys (& gals)! / Konnichiwa!
I just signed up here at TextFugu, after spending a few days learning Season 1 Chapters 1 & 2 of TextFugu, and finding it to be a really good, well thought-out, method so far.
This is me starting the journey on my first new real language since I learnt my native English (as a young child, of course). Now, I’m a young adult/tertiary student!!
I recently decided that it was about time for me to learn a language & that it would be a good project for expanding/exercising my mind.
Why Japanese?
Well for one thing, it gives me plenty to work on for a while!I also have several friends who are interested in the Japanese language & culture, so I can talk to them about it/perhaps get help from them later on if stuck (although not yet… I’m keeping it a surprise/secret for now, like Season 1 Chapter 1 of TextFugu suggests – but I had already come to the same conclusion from my own experiences with other things).
In the meantime, a few of us are already watching Anime (with English subtitles) together once a week…
There seems to be a rich Japanese culture & a fair number of Japanese migrants & others interested in one or more parts of the culture, in my city. I went to the local Japan Day with family members several months ago. It was busy & it had lots of interesting stalls.
I made a list of some other reasons it might be useful for me to be learning/know Japanese in future as well… on my language log :)
Currently I am up to the start of Season 1 Chapter 3: Japanese Pronunciation Using Hiragana (so I’m about to start learning that, today, I think).
This might sound strange, but I am looking forward to getting past that & into being able to start learning/practicing writing(/drawing?) Hiragana (& I guess important with that, what it means)!
I guess that’s enough about me for now? :) – this post seems kind of long, already!
Nice to meet you :)
Edit: 4-5 days later & now I’m starting to learn Hiragana drawing like I wanted!!
PS: please reply & say hi, at least, if you’ve read my post :)
Hi
Good to hear of your enthusiasm. Good luck.
Oceania is a very big place….care to narrow it down a bit?
I think you’d describe it as ‘writing’ hiragana.
Hi Vanandrew. Thanks for the reply :)
Thanks for the blessing!! Yes I am enthusiastic! YAY!!
I’m a Kiwi, from the beautiful city of Christchurch (now I just hope none of my friends read this post until I’m ready to surprise them!)
Yes, you are correct, I now think of it mostly as writing hiragana.
But, coming from just English, for me at least, the languages with a vastly different-looking alphabet, especially Japanese/Korean/Chinese characters, seem like a hybrid of writing and drawing.
And similarly/especially, the kanji characters look like simple (or sometimes, not-so-simple, pictures).
Even just in general, learning to write new characters in any language (or the same characters with the other hand) is very much like a form of/complexity of drawing to me. (I have been trying to learn to write ambidexterously in English).
Right now I can correctly match (without mistakes) the first 20 characters (a-, ka-, sa-, ta-, columns) in hiragana drag-and-drop in under two minutes, easily enough (with some thought). My last two attempts were each under a minute and a half (but I’m yet to see whether I can maintain that!) :)
My pronunciation is okay-ish maybe, I had most of them correct as best as my untrained ears could hear, last week… but I need to keep practicing ongoing.
I have no idea how to type the hiragana. Except install something called an IME from MS or Google (the Google one I have downloaded, but not yet installed).
My writing I’ve only done a little practice on, so I need to do more.
I know Koichi doesn’t really believe in writing anymore, so doesn’t teach it, but I want to learn it anyway.I actually want to be able to read and WRITE any new language(s) that I learn – much more than I want to be able to type them – although typing IS probably useful & seems to be an important part of the learning process, on WaniKani and Lang-8 at least (& probably more)!
I have no idea how to type the hiragana. Except install something called an IME from MS or Google (the Google one I have downloaded, but not yet installed).
IME = Input Method Editor, but the acronym is not important – what it does is let you type on an English keyboard, but have the computer magically convert it into a different character set. For example, hiragana. It’s magic. Also, very handy, so I suggest you install it and learn how to use it. =)
Oh! I wrote a reply a few minutes ago, but it got lost in cyberspace when my internet failed to work while I was posting it! Here goes again!:
It’s magic. Also, very handy, so I suggest you install it and learn how to use it. =)
Okay!
Installing now!! :)Thanks for your reply :)
Also, about five minutes ago, I just completed my first under-one-minute first-4-columns Hiragana drag-and-drop!! in 0:59 seconds! YAY!
:)
Cool as. I know what you mean about it feels like you’re drawing kanji, definitely.
This may be a little old school or unpopular, but I’d suggest just writing out the hiragana, all of them, to begin with. It may seem a bit naff, but I think you can learn them fairly quickly that way.
…I’d suggest just writing out the hiragana, all of them, to begin with… I think you can learn them fairly quickly that way.
Yeah, I feel like I’m starting to RECOGNIZE the characters decently, out of the selection of all the characters, with Hiragana drag-and-drop. but it’s not quite the same as being able to represent them from nothing.
Not just because of the drawing skill involved, but also recall of what they actually do look like.(I got 1m:12s this morning with the first 6 columns, but the na- and ha- columns are still pretty rusty to actually remember each symbol. It’s more I can find them amongst the list/selection of all basic hiragana fairly quickly, once I’ve eliminated the first 4 columns – and because the font never changes on Hiragana drag-and-drop)
I’ve found a few good sites for writing practice sheets:
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/pdf/hiragana_trace_sheet.pdf
http://japanese-lesson.com/characters/hiragana/hiragana_writing.html
http://happyfu-fu.com/hiroshiandsakura/ls_hiragana_stroke.html
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