新日本語ゴール!

みなさん、こんばんは！
このポストは新日本語ゴールがありますよ！

1. Speed

This semester I hope to work primarily on speed. Hesitation and pauses in my speech often make it sound unnatural and not confident, so I hope to work on this thoroughly. 



2. Fluency

Last semester, しばた先生 and I worked on pronouncing my "r's" correctly, as I had trouble speaking without trilling the "r's" similar to Spanish. By the end of the semester, I was able to successfully pronounce words correctly and at a reasonable speed. I would like to continue this practice this semester, and focus on correct pronunciation and pitch as well. 



3. Complexity of Speech

Besides working on speed and fluency, I want to focus on the complexity of the things I say. It's easy to speak using the easy phrases and grammar structures we learned early on in the semester with proper speed and pronunciation, but it's another to incorporate several different structures and new vocabulary constantly. I think this might be my most important goal, because it blends all three of them together. 



ありがとうございました！
ロドリゲス

冬休みはとてもよっかたですよ。カリフォルニアにかえりました。私は友達とアイススケートをして、新のえいがをみて、In-N-Outバーガーをたべましたよ。 でも、冬休みはちょとうまあまあでしたよ。たとえば私のおとうととガールフレンドはスノーボードにしに行きました。 私はアイススケートをする方がスノーボードするよりやさしかったですよ。スノーボードはたのしくなかったですよ。そして、たくさん宿題があるので、友達と私は図書館にときどきべんきょうしにいきました。でも、友達はカリフォルニアにバークレー大学の学生ですよ。私はニュージャージーにプリンストン大学の学生ですよ。私はうちにいつもかえらないので、友達にあいにあまり行きません。では、私の冬休みはカリフォルニアに友達ととても嬉しかったよ。

みなさん、ありがとうございました！
この日本語のクラスはとてもたのしくて、おもしろかったです。ブログが好きです。

For this post, I figure I will go over how my PE goals have been accomplished and what challenges I faced while completing them. 

Commentary on Previous PE Goals:

1. Confidence

• One thing I definitely notice when speaking Japanese is my lack of confidence. Sure, I've looked at and studied the words, but when it comes down to facilitating a semi-normal sounding conversation, I just sound like I'm mumbling incoherently (probably). 
• Second, I noticed when I am called on in class to speak, I freeze up and suddenly forget how to read/say what I'm supposed to. I think I'm just nervous that I'll make a mistake, but we're learning a new language, so that will inevitably happen (I should chill out).

New comments: Speaking is still hard (sigh). But I think I've definitely improved. I practice more with the Nakama dialogues and that is one of my favorite things to do. I will keep practicing of course, but it was nice to see some improvement. I've gotten better with speaking in class, and most of it comes down to reviewing the lessons both before and after class. Also, I've accepted that I'll probably make a lot of mistakes and that's fine.




2. Building the (good) habits of paying attention to grammar and focusing on reviewing constantly

• I find that each day in class we constantly review, but we also simultaneously add new content daily. I think sometimes that can feel overwhelming when we're still trying to grasp the previous day's lesson. Often, I find myself forgetting a grammar rule, the definition of a word, or how a certain sentence is supposed to sound.
• The point of focusing on grammar and reviewing words boils down to my goal of being able to clearly articulate what I need to say in Japanese in the most correct way possible, not only speed wise (sounding natural), but I want to reduce the amount of time I spend hesitating about my speech while I'm talking (too many pauses sound awful and make for bad, broken speech).

New comments:Again, continued practice and study has definitely improved my Japanese. I can't believe how much we've learned in about 13 weeks (such a short time) and the conversations I can now hold (sometimes). I do still need to work on making consistent work habits, because my progress really starts and stops sometimes when I get (inevitably) busy with other classes and assignments. Still, it's good to see progress and it's nice to know what I need to work on specifically. 

3. Intonation, Long Vowels, and Double Consonants 

• When I practice Japanese slowly, I find myself being able to distinguish between these things (intonation, long vowels, and double consonants), but quickly find myself frazzled when listening to Japanese at a normal speed. Sometimes, I find it hard to detect subtle sound changes, and the difference in words with long vowels.
• Intonation is not as troublesome, and I regularly can identify correctly what is meant, but the trouble comes when I myself am speaking (sometimes it's wrong). 
• I notice there are often very (very) subtle differences in how a word is pronounced (especially with pitch), and sometimes I'm still a little confused when it comes to determining exactly what those are (high/low, etc). 

New comments: Pronunciation has slowly been getting better, but it's also one of those things you will never stop working on when you learn a language. I have found more tools to help me with pronunciation, including Nakama exercises, Suzuki-kun, and just regular exposure to Japanese media. Ultimately, those have been very useful. Interestingly, one recurring issue is that I seem to have trouble with the "r" sound because I over trill them like Spanish. I think if I continue to practice the proper pronunciation and focus on correcting it, it will become less noticeable.

Also, I really found office hours with しばた先生　and　とくます先生 to be super helpful and very fun. I really liked that I could speak to them about my life or activities using (okay-ish) Japanese. I look forward to consistently working with them outside of class. 

ともだちにてがみをかくます。

サンクスギビングの休みにうちでかえりませんでした。ワシントンDCにいきました。とても立派ですでもたかいです。わたしはかぞくにばんごはんをたべました。わたしはべんきょうしませんでした、とてもいそがしかったですよ。でもとてもたのしかったですね。どようびにえいがを見ました。そしておいしいアイスクリームをたべました。わたしもホワイトハウスにいきました。とても大きいですよ。ワシントンDCにおいしいの日本語のレストランがありました。わたしはりょこうがすきですよ。

When I initially sat down to write this post-midterm reflection, I realized exactly how much we have learned over the course of just six weeks (it makes the last half of this semester and even next semester seem very exciting)! Of course, there have been significant challenges along the way, particularly with trying (through trial and error) to find a comfortable and correct speaking style. Interestingly, I thought that the goals I set in the beginning of the semester were quite doable. But with all the time constraints of an active student life, including classes, clubs, etc., it was actually a little more difficult to complete my goals than I thought. However, I will still keep the same goals and activities I initially set out to do, because each week I actually got a little better at implementing everything more consistently. In addition, I will make more of an effort to go to office hours at least once a week, because the most important challenge for me right now is speaking. With consistent effort this semester, I hope that with practice I will see more progress.

ビデオブログ ！