Home › Forums › Tips, Hacks, & Ideas For Learning Japanese › Incorporating Japanese into Your Hobbies/ Everyday Life
This topic contains 13 replies, has 10 voices, and was last updated by Watarimono 12 years, 7 months ago.
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October 25, 2011 at 5:55 pm #19791
So, the other day when I was researching Japanese Nintendo DS games I came across 太鼓の達人… http://tinyurl.com/3n33z7m
And couldn’t resist the cuteness of the little drum guy. BUT I’m in no shape to try and translate a game just yet (or to drop $50 on one either).
So I took matters into my own hands and knitted myself one up ( あみぐるみ ). He’s so cute!
http://tinyurl.com/3nvpzjo & http://tinyurl.com/3gnykrlBut I also wrote the pattern for him in Japanese, as I had just learned that 丸 can mean round and when you knit toys you knit “in the round”. All you really need to know other than that are numbers and the knitting terms (which I left in English save for あむ).
Ta-da ~ http://tinyurl.com/3fq6slcAnyway, I thought this would be a neat way to kni-..er I mean あむ from now on. And a neat way to help me study/ remember things.
Do any of you do this? Somehow work Japanese into other things you already do?
*Also, I realize on my handwritten I have あみ instead of あむ I didn’t realize this when I was making him until it was already written, oops!
October 26, 2011 at 12:36 am #19796I try to get as much Japanese as possible into may daily routine. What I have changed up is music, podcasts, language in some games, only japanese movies/series which means I no longer watch TV.
Of course my interest in Japanese culture has also influenced my RSS feeds and youtube subs :DI changed it around in order to help my pronounciation, but now I start to get some setences which is really cool :D
October 26, 2011 at 3:10 am #19797The only thing that has really changed for me is I’m always on my phone using Anki if I’m outside, or away from my laptop or PC. I talk to some Japanese friends on Skype and through email. I’m looking forward to playing Shenmue 2 again, as that is entirely in Japanese with English subs. I just need to get ahold of a copy.
- This reply was modified 13 years, 2 months ago by Luke.
October 26, 2011 at 5:52 am #19808Whoa that is just sooo cute!~ And that is neat handwriting.
So what I do, basically is, I turn the languange of what I usually use to Japanese, I talk with my Japanese friend on skype, I watch Japanese series or films and as I am really interested in Japanese culture and history I try to read the info in Japanese. It’s still a bit hard because of all the kanji but the more I read the better I get at it :)
Also I would like to ask, have any of you used any web to find Japanese penpals, or just to talk to a Japanese person? Is it safe? xD As I have my friend I never thought of using that, but you never know x)
October 26, 2011 at 6:53 am #19810Rioter, Thanks!
Another thing I do I suppose it try to cook Japanese meals, I have the Just Bento Cookbook and it is AWESOME. I’ve become really fond of tamagoyaki. :d
October 26, 2011 at 8:08 am #19811Oh I forgot to say I have this on in the background sometimes: http://tunein.com/search/?id=g349&filter=live:
Pretty good site for finding radio stations
October 26, 2011 at 10:23 am #19824Uh, well I listen to Japanese music, watch anime, read manga and talk to Japanese people online in Japanese…
I also like to dance to Japanese music (Happy Synthesizer being my favourite dance at the moment) and just studying/learning in general.October 26, 2011 at 11:34 am #19835October 26, 2011 at 6:06 pm #19852^ I could not get this to work. I have a netbook with Windows 7 Starter… いちじょ?
- This reply was modified 13 years, 2 months ago by yani.
October 27, 2011 at 6:02 am #19863November 9, 2011 at 6:52 pm #20681LarisJane そのソフトがあります and 大大大すきです!. I do reccommend spending the money on it. たのしいですよ!The game play and menus are really simple. I was playing it when I had no interest in Japanese language or culture! It’s really great!
November 10, 2011 at 12:38 am #20686
AnonymousCall me crazy, but I talk to myself in Japanese.
頭が可笑しいかなけど、俺自分と日本語で喋る。Only when I’m alone.
一人だけですけど。Which is always.
いつもです。:’(
泣November 15, 2011 at 2:10 pm #20857Well, I’m a bit of a video game おたく. Well, maybe おたく is a bit strong for me; but I do like to play them when I’m bored (hate being bored). Anyway, I started playing 白騎士物語 (しろきしものがたり, aka White Knight Story [White Knight Chronicles in the US]), in English, but got impatient waiting for the second version to get translated, so I bought the 日本語 version. I made a post on one of the in-game chat boards asking if anyone could speak English and was willing to join me to help me with both quests and my 日本語 in exchange for helping them with their English. I got a response from someone one day, who, surprisingly isn’t even Japanese, but speaks Japanese quite well.
Anyway, long story short; they’ve been helping me to get items for making new gear for my character in the game. When I need a certain item for a piece of armor or a weapon or something, I’ll look up the Kanji on Jisho.org and usually am able to figure out what the item is based on the kanji; generally learning the kanji in the process through association, since I already know a lot of the game from the original version I played in English.
I’ve found that; being able to associate the kanji with something I already know is helping me to learn them a LOT faster. The hard part, though, is figuring out the correct pronunciation for the kanji. Also, it makes learning the kanji through Textfugu a bit odd as I’m learning some of them out of order; but for me it seems to work better to actually use the kanji. In my case, I type it in based on sound using hiragana then convert it to the kanji when telling my friend what the item is I need.
I’ve also been finding that a lot of Japanese games have the option to switch between English (英語 / えいご) and 日本語 (にほんご / Japanese). If you have a game like this; play through it once or twice in English; then, once you’re comfortable with the game and menus, switch it to Japanese. Alternatively, for more of a challenge; do the reverse and take your time to look things up. If you have trouble or get stuck, you can always switch it to English to get unstuck. It’s kind of a similar idea as to your original post, larisajane.
I’ve been so busy with work lately, though, that I really only get to play it on weekends (that and Japan is so far ahead of us in time that that’s the only time my friend can get on when I’m on is weekends).
Anyway, if you’re into video games, I recommend trying it out. But chances are, you’ll probably want to pick up a used copy of the game on ebay, as buying brand new copies of imported games can be VERY expensive.
May 22, 2012 at 5:47 pm #31078That is a good idea Devin I purchased a game called Odin Sphere for the PS2 game console which has the original Japanese score on it so as I play I listen also.
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