日本のてがみ

A couple けんどう matches from the 61st All日本けんどう Championships

This is a video of the All　日本けんどう Championships Final match.   うちむらりょち先生とこたにあきのり先生 are the けのうか competing in this match.  In けんどう, all けんどうか who have a rank of よんだん　or higher are referred to as 先生。 うちむら先生はろくだんです。とうきょうからきました。こたに先生はごだんです。ちばからきました。With regard to the colors assigned to them, from what I could tell, うちむら先生はしろいです。こたに先生はあかいです。

This is the university finals match.  The schools competing are つくば大学とほさい大学です。 If you look at the scoreboard, you can see the names of the players and the scores.  Given that the names are all in かんじ, I don't know them.  But I do recognize　山下.  I'm guessing that's pronounced やました？  Anyway, I'll explain scoring briefly.  In a team competition, the team with the higher number of wins (I guess they'd be sets in a match?  I don't know how to call each of the individual bouts) wins.  Kinda simple, right?  Not really.  In team matches, each bout can end in a tie (unlike individuals matches).  So, in this case, you have only three けんどうか who scored.  山下 scored two men (head strikes) on his opponent, and so has two メ (I'm not sure if "men", or the other scores are written in かたかな or ひらがな  in Japanese).  His opponent scored one kotei (wrist strike), and so received one コ。  Another member of one of the teams (I don't know which is which, sorry) scored one "do" (strike to the torso), and so scored ド.  This lead to the need for there to be a final bout between one member of each team.

Hope you enjoy!

Reflections on PE and New Goal Statement

Reflections:

I feel that my PE was better before the break, because after working on this one, I feel that my pronunciation got worse over recess.  I think I'm using more stress accent than pitch accent again, but on the bright side, I feel that I'm keeping more the rhythm of Japanese.

One thing I haven't done is practice shadowing every day as I had planned, and this definitely hurt my performance.

New Goal (or really old goal rehashed):

Work on a shadowing exercise at least ten minutes every day.  Such a small amount of time means that I can use it as a filler between other assignments, and still gets me working.

あきあすみ

あきやすみにペンシルベニア大学にいきました。ペンシルベニア大学でデバトをしました。そして、わたしのうちにかえりました。うちでテレビをみました、そしてインテｒネトでアニメをみました。ほんもよみました。

わたちのしゅうまつ

わたしは、しゅまつたいていきんようびにアニメをみます、でもときどきボードゲームします。あまりえいがをみません。たいていどようびにヂロンジムにけんどうのﾌﾟﾗｸﾁｿをします、そしてにちようびにロキとマヂのヂニングホールでアルベイトがあります、でもあまりわたしはにちようびにけんどうの先生のどじょにいきます。先生のどじょはあまり大きくありません。ちさいです。しゅまつぜんぜんけんどうのプラクチスと先生のどじょにいきます。まいにちしゅくだいがあります。きにょうびとどようびとにちようびににほんごのしゅくだいをします。きにょうびとどようびにロシアごのしゅくだいをします。にちようびにアメリカのれきしのほんをよみます。まいにちしゅくだいをします、そしてたいていよじごろねます。でも、わたしわときどきいちじごろつかれたです、そしていちじはんにねます。これはわたしのしゅまつです。

PE Goals

My PE goals are to nix any stress accents on Japanese words and instead rely on pitch accent, get used to the rhythm of Japanese (especially mora), and practice differentiating (in both hearing and speaking) between all different sounds so as to understand and be understood.

I plan to work on this through:

1. Going to にほんごのタブル・
2. Practicing tongue twisters
3. Watching and listening to anime every day (especially trying to understand it without having to resort to subtitles as much as possible).
4. Spending about an hour a week on PE itself.
5. Listening to dialogue and other audio aids given with the textbook, and using those to work on comprehension and elocution.

こにちは！

に！ Second post! (This time using ひらがな.)

こにちは。わたしわReinosoです。ぷりんせとんだいごくのにねんせいです。わたしのせんこうはせいじがくです。けんどうかです。

Reflections on Entering JPN 101 A Few Days Late

I've always wanted to study Japanese.  So when I realized this would probably be the only chance for me to learn Japanese, even though I would have already missed a week of class, I decided to enroll.

But why did I always wanted to study this language?  There are many reasons: I appreciate the culture; I would want to be able to travel to Japan and communicate without the need for a translator or finding an English speaker; I practice Kendo; I watch anime and read manga; Japan is a very influential nation; and more.

Japanese is not my first foreign language.  I am currently studying Russian, and have knowledge of Latin from high school.  However, it will be very different from the languages I have studied in the past.  Will it be a challenge?  Sure.  But if it wouldn't be a challenge--if it would be too easy--it wouldn't be as rewarding, and I probably wouldn't take the language.  Nothing valuable comes without hard work, after all.