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So!
I’m a Junior in college. I want to study abroad next fall at Kansai Gaidai. My study abroad department at school highly recommended taking Japanese 1 and 2 for that purpose.
I’ve been using Textfugu for a few months now. I’m almost done with Season Two and I am extremely pleased with Textfugu and my progress. Mainly because it keeps me engaged and entertained and motivated while teaching me Japanese–which is the goal. I also follow Tofugu.
Through both of these sources, I’ve been warned numerous times about the dangers of Japanese Classes. The traditionalist approaches! The writing hiragana and kanji over and over again! The stickler for doing things one way! Going about teaching in the wrong way! Slow pacing!
But, I thought, “What’s the worst that could happen?” So I signed up.
Today was my first day. The 2nd year Japanese student-teacher-aids stumbling awkwardly through their introductions (and the one who mispronounced いいえ!) should have been a warning but my teacher was adorable and so enthusiastic that I, for a moment, was lulled into a sense of security about my decision–until we started going through hiragana.
We went through あ-そ. We should have been able to get through a lot more in two hours but a huge portion of learning was devoted to stroke order, the shape of the character (apparently, あ is a triangle. う is a diamond. お is a square), the type of stroke (stop, straight, hook-lift) and a few other silly things that didn’t aid in the speed of picking up the kana and just gave other people who didn’t know any better more to write down and try to memorize.
Not that the above wasn’t interesting but it felt more suited to a calligraphy class than a beginner Japanese course. It wasn’t bad but…
What was bad?
Being forced to write the kana over and over again in SQUARES, TRIANGLES, DIAMONDS and what ever other shapes they should be in! That was bad! On top of that, the way my teacher writes the kana is different from how I learned and write them myself (I generally write like printing–computer printing. She uses the handwriting way) and she was very determined I write them just like her.
It was all kind of discouraging. A girl behind me was having similar problems–She had learned Hiragana a different way and when my teacher tried correcting her, the girl started speaking Japanese fluently, explaining how she’d learned Japanese in Osaka at a language school and they had taught them differently. She’d lived in Japan for over five years. Which told me, not that I ever doubted it, that Koichi and the Tofugu/Textfugu team were right:
Classes can be extremely traditional and strict while the Japanese language doesn’t have to be to function in Japan.
I should have listened.
Ah well. We’ll see how the rest of the course goes.
I wear pearls. I watch jdrams. I love history.Ouch. My course, fortunately, is not like that. The hiragana (and the kanji since then) is taught by the “here it is, now go learn it” method.
I’m up to Advanced B now – the last session before I graduate. The typical pattern for classes is we learn some aspect of Japanese culture or language for the first hour (last week was supersitions, this week was onomatopoeia), then the second hour is spent running through that week’s grammar points, a brief rundown of the kanji, then we work in small groups on kanji worksheets that each of us make ourselves on a roster. This session, we’ve also been getting karaoke performances from one student per week (as part of our session-long self-study project).
To be fair, though, you need to learn the handwritten versions of kana and kanji, so (at the very least) you can read them when you see them. And so people don’t think you’re a robot. =P
Not really expecting you to learn full-on cursive, though. =)
Reading this I realized I haven’t written kana by hand in almost 2 years :O
That’s sad to hear. Luckily, we have stuff like TextFugu and WaniKani :)
Luckily because of Hiragana42 and RealKana (which is what I learned with) it used a variety of fonts while testing you on the kana so I could read handwritten kana but wrote them printed.
I suppose it all wouldn’t be as frustrating if it wasn’t for the fact that my teacher gave notes like “You aren’t writing it in the center of the square! You need to start on the left side of the diamond!” Its all very perfectionist-ish. THe angle has a to be just right and all that.
Again though, it was the first day of class so I’m not going to condemn the class or my teacher (I think part of the problem is that she also teaches calligraphy at a local Japanese Museum so it bleeds over into this class).
I wear pearls. I watch jdrams. I love history.
AnonymousWow of you people’s experiences makes me not want to take Japanese in college… -_-
Surely if you’re learning to handwrite kana, it’s not unreasonable to expect you to learn the common handwritten versions. Definitely, you should be made aware of the common computer and printing fonts, but if you’re actually writing them by hand you don’t want to be writing in that style. I started off writing the “joined-up” き because I didn’t even know there was a difference but now I write it the “proper” way.
“(and the one who mispronounced いいえ!)” – how did they pronounce it? Just curious.
If your teacher is adorable and enthusiastic, that’s great! Better than being traditional *and* a miserable old crone ;)
@Tsetycoon13: Do you mean major in Japanese or just take a class? You’ve been doing Japanese long enough now that majoring in it would be a pointless exercise, I’d imagine haha. There’s this YouTuber whose videos I watch occasionally, her Japanese is excellent (even though she tries to be too “super kawaii” which is annoying) but she still insists on her plan of going to university for a Japanese degree and I have no idea why – she’ll probably be better than a lot of final year students by the time she starts XD
I’ve come to terms with the “handwritten” way but am still a bit irked by the writing over and over in squares and triangles and diamonds and lopsided rectangles to get to proper angle and ‘shape’ and width. I also am not to hot on the idea of being quized on what kind of ‘shape’ the kana is and which strokes make it up. Not because I don’t think the information is interesting or anything but because it feels like a waste of time that could be focused on other things. Learning that info in passing is fun. Having it be the focus of a quiz? Not so fun.
Perhaps its just the culture of shock of working on my own and now being in the classroom. In which case, I will surely get over myself. Today will be my second day of class so we’ll see how it goes!
@Mister: He first just went “Ee” very loudly then stopped went back and started “Ee” pause “Ee” pause “eh!” He looked very pleased with himself and the girl who spoke Japanese behind me found him very amusing. His hobbies were video games and “Endo” instead of “undou.”
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This reply was modified 11 years, 3 months ago by
Maria.
I wear pearls. I watch jdrams. I love history.The guy is probably there because he has to be for his course, not because he’s any good at the language :P
I can *kinda* see why they might use shapes to help you write the kana with proper proportions (after all, a lot of people use square paper when practising kanji), but it doesn’t seem to be something they should dwell on so much. Oh well, just gotta push through it, hold out till you get to the good stuff, the more interesting parts of the course.
His hobbies were video games and “Endo” instead of “undou.”
Maybe his hobby is chimneys? =P
(after all, a lot of people use square paper when practising kanji)
Yeah, but that’s not really practicing to get them to fit.
Well! Had my second class on Wednesday and it was fun. More learning Kana but she focused on it a lot less (in fact, a few of the kana didn’t even get a shape or stroke lecture!). Best part of it was my teacher drawing a fat, very content, sitting cat on the board to show the class ‘Ne.’ And the Penguin for ‘Fu’!! She is an older woman but so adorable!
Over all class was fun though not entirely useful.
We sang some songs (one Hiragana Song and one “common phrases” Song) which were amusing but beyond pronouciation went to fast for the class to catch much. Then she opened a document filled with ‘Things to say when introducing yourself’ and just started having us repeat things a few times then asked us to string together a few and say it to the class. If you did it correctly, you got to leave class early–which I did. But, in retrospect, most of it I understood already (if not every word then the gramar behind it) so that was easier but some things I’ve forgotten so I can just imagine what it was like for the other students who have spent a total of two days with Japanese felt. It was very fast and whirlwind-ish.
Part of this I’m going to blame to add-drop week. A lot of kids don’t show up/are getting their schedules sorted out so some teachers kind of fluff the first week a bit until they can start teaching for real.
Only Monday will tell!
I wear pearls. I watch jdrams. I love history.college language courses DO have their merit tho!!! it may be tough but try to stick it out
there’s no way to prove in an application that you have experience w/ a language other than minor/major (major is hardly ever necessary tho)
there’s a difference between getting a degree in something and learning it, but the point of the degree is that it substantiates your claim to knowing it.. when people are looking to hire someone who speaks a language it’s a lot easier if they can see you have some sort of credentials in itthere’s no way to prove in an application that you have experience w/ a language other than minor/major (major is hardly ever necessary tho)<br>
Well, many employers apparently recognise a JLPT certificate as proof of Japanese knowledge, though even aside from that, it’s one of the easiest things on a résumé to prove: just ask the person to speak in Japanese.
JLPT doesn’t require speaking though :P So it’s more about checking writing and reading comprehension. As Joel said, JLPT is widely recognized by employers looking for foreigners.
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This reply was modified 11 years, 3 months ago by
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