Osaka Gakuin University Winter School ～

As I announced earlier I'll soon be flying to Osaka, Japan (my first time!!) and taking Japanese lessons. Some of you asked about more details and here they are:

Prelude:

After Coco's death I was shattered. I was not only depressed and facing several personal crises but also completely demotivated in my studies. I met up with my mother, shared some of my worries and she casually offered me to pay a trip to Japan to freshen my motivation for Japanese studies. Of course I said yes!! Note that this happened End-October/Early-November.

So I went off to browse the web for any Winter Schools I could visit during my break (January-February). Unfortunately most universities accepted applications only until September, so I missed several universities. And then I happened to discover the Osaka Gakuin University. They were still accepting applications for their international Winter School program and so I applied and got accepted!

Their program runs from 12.1 until 1.2, so it's more or less 3 weeks of Japanese studies, making friends, eating yummy food, city discovering, day trips, having fun and freezing your butt off. ;P

Osaka Gakuin University (OGU)

It's a private university located in Suita, 10 train minutes from Osaka city. Main focus are law, economics and international studies. Many of their graduates became famous soccer players (random fact)

One funny fact is that despite accepting international students from everywhere the Winter School program is mostly intended for student groups from their partner universities. I was told that this year there would be participating students from Australia, China, Korea and Thailand. Another thing is that I'm the only non-partner-university student who applied. So I guess I'll be the only student who will arrive there alone. ;_; I hope to quickly make friends and get integrated.

So here I am, 2 days before my first flight to Japan. I have no idea how it's going to turn out (compared to, let's say, the Summer course at Yonsei in Seoul, if you google it you can find heaps of (video)blogs, reviews, photos about the courses and accomodation etc) but since this program isn't well-known yet I will try my best to inform everyone through my blog. I don't know how often I will connect to internet, but I'll try to update from time to time. =P

I'm super excited and looking forward to my Kansai experience! My only worry is my lacking Japanese and shyness to speak... but I guess I'll just take the plunge and see what happens. =)

Continue reading →

The joy of studying Japanology ～

As I'm writing this entry I'm eating a Maki Sushi and watching a J-Dorama. Since the video (I'm watching it on Tudou with Chinese subtitles and it keeps stopping and buffering every 10 minutes) is progressing slowly I take breaks and practice some parts of the J-Dorama we have to learn by heart for the next exam (you know, writing from dictation and stuff). I'm also trying to learn the Japanese "melody" by repeating the dialogues. I feel kinda Wapanese but I truly like it.

After more than 1 year of Japanese studies I've finally started to actually enjoy it. I've made friends and I'm surrounded by helpful people who let me copy their notes. I study regularly with one classmate and her Japanese friend and I have assignments with other classmates and hang out with them. Student life is nice. Cramming for exams with classmates is fun.

This is my final year and I'm really really busy but I'm happy that I've started to enjoy Uni life once again. It reminds me of my old Sinology days when I was looking forward to every morning to go to class. ^_^

Anyway, I've felt like a traitor for studying Japanology since I don't really have a passion for the language and am only slightly interested in Japan. I skipped way too many classes and didn't do home assignments and concentrated on my part-time job and always felt left out at class (obviously if you show up randomly and never hang out after class you don't really make friends). Not having classmates/friends to rely on is even harder if you miss many classes. In the end you don't even dare to show up in class again because you have no idea about the teaching subject. 

You also don't dare to approach classmates and ask them for help because you are not close enough and you convince yourself that you'll self-study at home but in the end it's 1-2 weeks before exams and though you have collected all subject material you have no idea where to start and you get exam anxiety. Ah, not to forget is the social anxiety that comes when you don't see your class for 1 week well knowing that they're all going to class and you're not. You feel bad. In the last 2 years I think I've really come to understand social anxiety and the Hikikomori phenomenon. 

For some people entering a class room full of people you see occasionally but don't really know (, feeling judged by them because you skip too often) and smilingly say 'hello' can be a tough job. Sometimes it seems super easy and I'm super sociable and friendly and sometimes I seem arrogant or secluded because I don't make eye-contact nor greet anyone. I don't know if it's just a 'mood' or if it's my 'social muscle' that needs more training.

Getting back to the topic: I felt like a traitor for studying Japanology because I remember when I was a teenager and the Visual Kei wave was super popular in Germany/Switzerland and all those kiddies in my community where dreaming of studying Japanese or going to Japan or marrying a Japanese dude or whatever and I thought wtf -.- but now I'm kinda living their dream but don't really make the most out of it since it used to be more like a "task".

I'm a lucky girl. Everything I get to study is my own choice.

Chinese has been my passion since I was small and Japan (specially Manga but also the aesthetics and culture) has influenced me in more ways than I could ever think and I'm rejoicing in my interest in Psychology that started around 5 years ago. Being able to 'study' your hobbies is a privilege.

The answer to my mediocre interest in Japanese has been answered: It's because I didn't give myself time to enjoy my studies. I was too busy with life and forgot that my main 'job' is to study well. My interest in Japanese has been growing since I started to deal with Japanese grammar and culture. Now I can finally stop feeling unworthy about studying Japanology, I enjoy it and I deserve studying it, even though I still suck at Japanese.

The J-Dorama I have to watch for Japanese class is about a plain Biology teacher dealing with life and death issues after finding out he only has 1 more year left to live (the title is: Boku no ikiru michi). The whole topic and his "awakening" and choosing to live a life without regrets and to his fullest is touching and encouraging. Other interesting subjects I'm studying includes Dôgen Studies, which means reading studies about Zen texts dealing with life, time and how to attain enlightenment (these texts are really insightful and I think they can be applied to our daily life) and the other subject is about cultural studies in Japan and I'm preparing a presentation about Zainichi (Korean-Japanese) and their national quest. I also have to write a seminar paper for these two topics and looking forward to it!) 

Each of these topics is exciting and interesting. My friend is taking a class about ethnonationalism and stuff and I'm even interested in that... why can't I take that class, too? T_T'' 

To sum it up: Life at my university is exciting! I'm eager to learn more and more! (*≧▽≦)♪

Ok, I blabla'ed for too long now I have something to announce!

I'm going to Osaka in January 2013!

Enough for today! Details are following in my next post! ~ ♡ ♡

Continue reading →

Japanese language immersion: Day 5 ～

Starting DAY 5!

iToday I agree to go with laogong to his school and keep him company while studying (He goes there every day and studies from 9am-6pm). So today was a big review day!

① I think I'm getting better at the basic Katakana! *^_^*

basic (ア、エ、イ、オ、ウ), k-series (カ、ケ、キ、コ、ク) s-series (サ、セ、シ、ソ、ス)  t-series (タ、テ、チ、ト、ツ), n-series (ナ、ネ、ニ、ノ、ヌ), h-series (ハ、ヘ、ヒ、ホ、フ), m-series (マ、メ、ミ、モ、ム) and r-series (ラ、レ、リ、ロ、ル), y-series (ヤ、ヨ、ユ), w-series (ワ、ヲ) and n (ン). 

So I slowly started learning the extended Kana, namely the:

g-series (ガ、ゲ、ギ、ゴ、グ) and z-series (ザ、ゼ、ジ、ゾ、ズ) 

I know, the Kana are the same plus those two strokes but sometimes those strokes will confuse me completely... that's why I'm treating the extended Kana as if I was learning completely new Kana. ^^'

② I reviewed all Kanji from Lesson 1 - Lesson 6!

③ GRAMMAR time! Let's learn another verb stem!

Today: V1, the irrealis form (ika, kawa, tabe)

The V1 form + nai c an be used for an informal negative sentence.  Example: ikanai! (I don't go!)

With V1 we can also express daily duties, what we have to do or asking someone not to do something!

some verbs (V3 → V1):
nomu → noma - drink

taberu → tabe -  eat

oyogu → oyoga - swim

kau → kawa - buy

iku → ika - go

miru → mi - see/watch

suru → shi - do

Expressions with V1

V1 + nai - informal negative sentence

V1 + nakereba narimasen (deshita) - (I) have to ... /daily duties/

V1 + nai de kudasai! - Please don't ...!

V1 + nai hô ga ii(/yokatta) desu. - It would (have been) be better if you didn't ...

time expressions:

maitoshi - every year / maitsuki - every month / maishû - every week / mainichi - every day

maiasa - every morning / maiban - every evening / asaban - (Daily) mornings and evenings

yoku - often / fudan - normally, usually / itsumo - always  / nankai - how often

Example: 

Mainichi toshokan de bento o noma nakereba narimasen. I have to eat a Bento in the library every day.
(Fuyu ni) umi de oyoga nai de kudasai! Please don't go swimming in the sea (in winter).
Maiasa gakkô de biiru o noma nai hô ga ii desu. It would be better not to drink a beer every day at school.
Nankai uchi de nihongo o benkyô shi nakereba narimasen ka? How often do you have to study Japanese at home (like you're obligated =D)

④ Adjectives cards: I practiced the flash cards for V3 and V1.

⑤  Let's review and study some new particles!


ka  - question marker // example: Oishii desu ka. Does it taste good?
to - 1) conjunction // example: Tomodachi to... With my friend... // Neko to inu imasu. There's a cat and a dog.
2) quotation // example: ...to omoi masu. I think that:""
ya - incomplete list // example: hon ya zasshi ya nado ga ari masu. There are books and magazines (and more stuff).
yo - assertion // example: iku yo. I'm leaving!
ne - tag questions/ "eh" example: kawaii desu ne. It's cute, isn't it?

now the most important ones (meaning:the ones I have most trouble with (￣▽￣)ゞ)

o - object marker // example: bento o tabe masu. I eat a Bento.
ni - 1) location (without action) // example: Uchi ni i masu. I'm at home.
2) purpose // example: benkyô ni gakkô e iki masu. I go to school to study. (=in order to)
3) time // example: go-ji ni tabe masu.  I eat at five. // fuyu ni... In winter...
4) indirect object marker // example: tomodachi ni hon o kaeshimasu. I give the book back to my friend.
de - 1) location (with action) // example: Uchi de benkyô shimasu. I'm studying at home.
2) instrumental // example: o-hashi de tabe masu. Eating with the chopsticks (using)
3) language // example: nihongo de kakemasu. Writing in Japanese.
e - direction marker // example: nihon e ikimasu. I go to Japan.

Continue reading →

Japanese language immersion: Day 4 ～

Japanese language immersion will end on January 15th!

Till them I'll update daily.

Afterwards I might add some short Japanese essays... and then go back to my 2-3 posts/week schedule ^^

Let's start DAY 4!

① Reviewed: basic (ア、エ、イ、オ、ウ), k-series (カ、ケ、キ、コ、ク) s-series (サ、セ、シ、ソ、ス)  t-series (タ、テ、チ、ト、ツ), n-series (ナ、ネ、ニ、ノ、ヌ), h-series (ハ、ヘ、ヒ、ホ、フ), m-series (マ、メ、ミ、モ、ム) and r-series (ラ、レ、リ、ロ、ル).  Learned the y-series (ヤ、ヨ、ユ), w-series (ワ、ヲ) and n (ン). I'll start studying the extended Kana (バ、ポ、グ etc) tomorrow! ~

② Once again, reviewed Kanji from Lesson 1 - Lesson 5 and prepared Lesson 6:

速、遅、近、低、遠、主、家、毛、早、校、動、族、駅、病、院、元、図、書、館、銀、屋、公、園、重、軽.

③ Workbook! Again, similar grammar like yesterday. Description using left/right (location markers)

location markers:

A wa B no ue ni ari masu. - A is above B.
A wa B no shita ni ari masu. - A is below B.
A wa B no hidari ni ari masu. - A is to the left of B.
A wa B no migi ni ari masu. - A is to the right of B.
A wa B no tonari ni ari masu. - A is next to B.

expressions to ask questions:
dore ga.... desu ka. - Which is ...?  /  kore ga... desu. - This is...
koko ni nani ga ari masu ka. - What is here?  /  koko ni.... ari masu. - Here are/is ...-
...wa doko desu ka. - Where is...?  /  ...wa doko desu - ...is here.

Example: 

rinbingu wa doko desk ka?. Where's the living room?

ribingu wa kaidan no hidari ni ari masu. The living room is to the left of the stairs.

Koko ni toire ga ari masu. Toire wa ribingu no tonari ni ari masu. This here is the toilet. The toilet is next to the living room.

④ Adjectives cards : Just studied the V3 flash cards ^^

⑤ Now it's finally getting interesting! We start learning verb stems!
Until now we only used desu, i masu, ari masu. Now we will learn more verbs & their stems!

Today: V3, the dictionary form (iku, kau, taberu)

some verbs (V3):

nomu - drink

taberu -  eat

oyogu - swim

kau - buy

iku - go

miru - see/watch

Expressions with V3

V3 alone: informal speech

V3 + koto - /nominalisation of the verb/

V3 + koto ga ari masu - it happens/has been done --- very complicated to translate -- see: Examples

V3 + koto ga ari masen - it doesn't happen/hasn't been done

V3 + koto wa (adj) desu - it's (adj) to do

V3 + koto ga deki masu/masen - ability to do something/not being able to do something--- see: Examples

V3 + no ga suki/kirai desu - (I) like to...

V3 + tsumori desu - (I) plan to...

V3 + tame ni... - In order to do V3, ...

V3 + toki ni - When I V3, ....

V3 + mae ni - Before I V3, ...

These Expressions are very hard to understand without examples, so let's take a closer look:

Example:
(toshokan de) biiru o nomu koto ga ari masu ka? Do you drink Beer (in the library)? (Has it happened that...)
Oyogu koto ga deki masu ka? Can you swim? (ability)
Terebi o miru no ga suki desu. I like watching TV.
(Rainen) umi de oyogu tsumori desu. (Next year) I plan to go swimming in the sea.
Nihongo o benkyô suru mae ni Bento o tabemasu. Before learning Japanese I eat a Bento.

And that's all for today! ^^ ~ 

Continue reading →

Japanese language immersion: Day 3 ～

Ready for Day 3?!

① Review of these Katakana: basic (ア、エ、イ、オ、ウ), k-series (カ、ケ、キ、コ、ク) s-series (サ、セ、シ、ソ、ス)  t-series (タ、テ、チ、ト、ツ), n-series (ナ、ネ、ニ、ノ、ヌ) and h-series (ハ、ヘ、ヒ、ホ、フ).  

Studied the m-series (マ、メ、ミ、モ、ム) and r-series (ラ、レ、リ、ロ、ル). 　ｶﾞﾝﾊﾞ━o(・`ω´・)○))━ ﾙ!!!

Started studying them with my new flash cards in random order. I still struggle to make the link to my aide-mémoire fast enough and keep forgetting some Katakana. ＿|￣|○''

I will only start learning the extended Kana (バ、ポ、グ etc) when I'm confident with the basic ones!

② Flash Cards!! I reviewed all the Kanji from Lesson 1- Lesson 4. One side of the flashcard is the word in Kanji the other side is the word transcribed in Hiragana. I practiced this direction: Hiragana -> Kanji

Took me quite a long time to write everything down! So I only studied Lesson 5:

目、耳、足、顔、頭、豆、長、短、外、内、作、文、難、苦、手、茶、馬、米、楽、好、英、漢、字、休、背.

③ Workbook! Grammar 1: describing your country or what you own using arimasu / imasu

important verb forms:

ari masu ("there are"), ari mashita ("there were"), atte... ("there were, and..." suspensive form)

ari masen ("there aren't"), ari masen deshita ("there weren't"), nakute... ("there weren't, and..." negative suspensive form)

i masu ("there are" for living things), i mashita ("there were" for living things), ite...("there were, and..." suspensive form for living things)

i masen ("there aren't" for living things), i masen deshita ("there weren't" for living things), i nakute... ("there weren't, and..." negative suspensive form for living things)

words to express quantity:

takusan - many

amari (+negative) - not many

sukoshi - few

sukoshi shika (+negative)  - only few

ôzei  - many (for people)

zenzen (+negative) - none (at all)

tama ni  - occasionally

(Suisu / Chuurihi = Switzerland / Zurich)

Example: 

Chuurihi no dôbutsuen ni wa hito ga ôzei imasu ka. Are there in Zurich's zoo a lot of people?

Hai ite, dôbutsu mo takusan imasu. Yes and there's also lots of animals.

Chuurihi no daigaku ni wa ryûgakusei ga amari imasen ka.  Aren't there many foreign student at the University of Zurich?

Saa dô deshô ka. I wonder (how it is). = I don't know

Suisu ni wa yûenchi ga sukoshi shika nakute umi ga zenzen arimasen. In Switzerland there are (only) few amusement parks and no ocean at all.

Zannen desu. What a pity.

Anata no apaato ni mo hon to zasshi ga takusan arimasu ka.  Are there in your apartment many books and magazines, too?

* feel free to answer to my questions in the comment section if you wanna practice japanese * =D

④ Adjectives cards ftw... T_T''

I still don't know all and I can't proceed until we review the next verb form (V3)...that will be tomorrow!

⑤ Back to the Workbook!

Basically, it's the same grammar as before but adding Japanese numbers:

Watashi no apaato ni wa heya ga futatsu ari masu. My apartment has 2 rooms.

Shinshiku ni wa ôkii beddo ga hitotsu ari masu. In the bedroom there's 1 big bed.

Ribingu ni wa beddo mo hitotsu ari masu. In the living room there's 1 bed, too.

Daidokoro ni wa isu ga hitotsu mo ari masen. In the kitchen there's not even 1 chair.

Zannen nagara puuru ga ari masen. It's such a pity that (I) don't have a pool.

Walking Closet ga ikutsuka areba ureshii desu. I would be so happy if I had one more Walking Closet.

Anata no apaato ni wa nani ga areba ii desu ka. What would you love to have in your apartment?

Same grammar again but adding location markers.

location markers:

ue - over/above

naka - in(side)

shita - under/below

mae - in front/before

ushiro - behind

yoko - next to/beside

enumeration:

A to B ga ari masu. - There's A and B. (complete)

A ya B ya C nado ga ari masu. - There's A, B and C among other things. (incomplete list)

Beddo no ue ni zasshi ya neko ya yôfuku nado ari masu. (On/) Above my bed there are magazines, a cat and clothes (among other things).

Anata no reizôko naka ni nani ga ari masu ka. What's in your fridge?

That's it for today! Are you feeling tired after this 3-part-grammar? See you tomorrow!

Continue reading →

Japanese language immersion: Day 2 ～

Welcome to the second day of my immersion project!

 

Let's dive into Day 2!

① I reviewed the following Katakana: basic (ア、エ、イ、オ、ウ), k-series (カ、ケ、キ、コ、ク) s-series (サ、セ、シ、ソ、ス) and  t-series (タ、テ、チ、ト、ツ). 

I learned the n-series (ナ、ネ、ニ、ノ、ヌ) and h-series (ハ、ヘ、ヒ、ホ、フ).  ｶﾞﾝﾊﾞ━o(・`ω´・)○))━ ﾙ!!!

Furthermore I prepared flash cards with the syllables to practice the Kana in random order. (Right now I can write them only in the a-e-i-o-u order and since I made special aide-mémoire for nearly each character it takes me some time to make the link in my head.) BTW... I'm practicing to write them, not just 'reading' them.

② Time for my flash cards! I practiced the Kanji of Lession 3 and Lession 4. I noticed that I planned to few time for this study part... as I finished writing these Kanji time was already over... but I should have reviewed the Kanji of Lession 1 and Lesson 2... (tomorrow I'll take more time for the Kanji!)

This is the list: 山、川、海、酒、毎、良、悪、聞、話、鳥、時、計、寺、天、気、一、二、三、四、五、六、七、八，九、十、月、火、水、木、金、土、曜、旅、行、夕、方、朝、昼、夜、国、王、森、林、雨、電、南、北、車、東、西、口.

③  I decided to split the Workbook time (1h appointed) in 2 parts. Firstly, because I'm much more motivated to study grammar in 30min chunks than 1h...(sound SOOO long *lazy*) And I prefer variation or will get bored soon. So I study 30min grammar, then proceed to the grammar flash cards (~30-40min), then another 30min of grammar!

I envy my cat's life... 

So... first I studied the Adjective-Verbs, namely: suki, kirai, hoshii, jôzu, heta, tokui, nigate

The lesson is all about expressing what you like/dislike or are good/bad at.

Example: 

(Watashi wa) sushi ga hoshii desu. I want Sushi (let's forget about the -tai Form (tabetai) for now.

Nihongo ga mada tokui de wa arimasen. I'm not good at Japanese yet.

Nihongo ga mada jôzu de ari masen desu. He's not good at Japanese yet.

There are two forms to express being good/bad at something. One is for oneself: tokui (good) and nigate (bad), the politer one is when you're speaking of another person: jôzu (good) and heta.

The ga is important! (Normally you could use wa but) combined with suki, kirai jôzu etc it has to be ga.

Further explanation @ thejapanesetutor.com

Nihongo to Kankokugo to dochira mo nigate desu. I suck (~being bad at) at both Japanese and Korean. XD

Chugokugo wa motto tokui ni nari mashita. (In contrast) I've become more good (better) at Chinese. 

Here the wa is used to contrast this sentence with the previous ones.

Gaikokugo wa nandemo suki nari mashita. (I've) gotten (like+ become+past tense) to like all foreign languages.

useful words:

nani (what), dochira (which one (of the two)), dochira mo (both), nandemo (all / everything)

Some useful constructions: 

A to B to dochira ga suki desu ka. Which one (A or B) do you like better?

A wa B yori (adj) desu.   A is (adj) than B.

Saa, yoku wakari mason. (If asked for a decision) I'm not sure...

Enough for the first part! *tired* I hope you can understand what I wrote... if you find any error PLEASE let me know! I'd be really grateful!

④ Nothing special... just practiced the adjectives cards from yesterday and learned some more... I'm still not through with this 90+ cards!! ＿|￣|○''


⑤ Back to the Workbook!

 

In the second part I just practiced more Adjectives... like the characteristics of people/animals.

Example: 

Indo no zô wa kiba ga ôkii desu. Indian elephants' tusks are big.

Mimi wa ichiban ôkii-kunai desu. (Their) ears aren't the biggest ones.

Afurika no zô wa mimi ga motto ôkii desu.  African elephant's ears are the biggest ones.
Sensei wa ki ga naga-ku ari masen.  The teacher isn't patient (patient-not). impatient = ki ga mijikai

useful expresson when discussing something: ... wa waru-ku nai desk ga, ... (...istn't bad but...)


Enough Japanese for today! Let's take a break and get some food! *hungry* （〃⌒ー⌒〃）ﾉ゛~~~~バイバァ〜イ

このブログ・リーダーは飲み込みが早いですね!

♪~♪ d(⌒o⌒)b♪~♪ﾗﾝﾗﾝ

at least Coco was supporting me, trying to stay awake... XD

Continue reading →