become fluent in japanese

And here’s this week’s list… it might be the last for a while, at least, I’m not getting enough new vocab from the news articles now now so might have to start on a different tack…

• 総括（そうかつ） overview
• 主張（しゅちょう） assertive, insistent
• 抽象的（ちゅうしょうてき） abstratc
• 立候補（りっこうほう） candidacy
• 書簡（しょかん） letter
• 推薦（すいせん） endorsement
• 包括（ほうかつ） comprehensive
• 棚上げ（たなあげ）to put on the back burner, literally to “shelve”
• 勧告（かんこく） recommendation, advice
• 当初（とうしょ） initially
• 造反（ぞうはん） rebellion
• 刺客（しきゃく） assassin
• 民営化（みんえいか） privatisation
• 選挙区（せんきょく） constituency

so will have another go on Monday… but…

today I read a newspaper article (full page) without needing to look up any words except the names of places!! Have been doing one a morning almost every work day for 2 months and it’s finally paying off! yippppeeeeeee!

I’m finding this a really good exercise – especially for learning to write/recognise unfamiliar kanji and radical shapes. After a couple of goes I can usually remember them, although I should do a review of all the ones from the past month and see how many I can still remember!!

Anyway, this week’s list:

• 綿密（めんみつ） painstaking, meticulous
• 抽出（ちゅうしゅつ） extraction
• 再稼動（さいかどう） resumption
• 結束（けっそく） solidarity
• 厄介（やっかい） worrying, troublesome
• 思惑（おもわく） agenda, ulterior motive
• 過酷（かこく） severe, stiff
• 懐疑的（かいぎてき） sceptic
• 衝突（しょうとつ） collision, wreck
• 燃料（ねんりょう） fuel
• 総領事館（そうりょうじかん） consulate general
• 挑発（ちょうはつ） provocation

• 重視（じゅうし） emphasis
• 所信（しょしん） personal belief
• 率直（そっちょく） candid, open, honest
• 模擬（もぎ） mock, simulation
• 調停者（ちょうていしゃ） arbitrator, mediator, conciliator
• 窮状（きゅうじょう） strain, plight
• 譲歩（じょうほ） compromise, concession
• 典型的（てんけいてき） cliche, typical
• 機密（きみつ） classified, confidential
• 屈服（くっぷく） cave in, submit
• 摘発（てきはつ） revelation, exposure
• 放棄（ほうき） abandon, relinquish
• 大枠（だいわく） framework
• 採択（さいたく） adoption
• 探知（たんち） detection

Last week was a success, so no carry-overs (hoorah)!

For this week:

• 構想（こうそう） concept, vision
• 誘致（ゆうち） enticement
• 連立（れんりつ） coalition
• 拉致（らち） kidnapping
• 処遇（しょぐう） dealing, treatment
• 起用（きよう） employment, appointment
• 補佐官（ほさかん） aide
• 諮問（しもん）consultatory, advisory
• 統括（とうかつ） direction, control
• 意思疎通（いしそつう） communication
• 撤回（てっかい） withdrawal, repeal
• 強調（きょうちょう）collaboration, co-ordination
• 潜伏（せんぷく） latent, dormant
• 転覆（てんぷく）overthrow
• 民主主義（みんしゅしゅぎ）democracy

Of those, 疎・潜・伏・覆・括・拉 are new characters.

Well it’s been almost a year since I took a test for Japanese… so there a few things I’m considering.

First up was the J-Test, which for some reason I thought you could take anywhere, but it doesn’t seem like it, so that’s out.

Next are the Kanji tests (漢字検定） – remember the yellow books? I failed level 4 by three points last summer, and even though a lot of the kanji I’m picking up now are level 3 or 2, I remember how much work it took to work up to the test for level 4 and I would in a sense be starting over again with the stuff I haven’t used since then.

These are the cheapest and least-pressurised exams though, and I can take them at SOAS easily enough. Plus it involves writing AND extensive vocab recognition work which would be a really good addition to what I’m doing now. A definite maybe for sometime early next year, I think, if I start, bit by bit, from now on.

Then, if I’m really serious about this then the BJT is the ultimate in intimidating business ability tests. I sat down and worked through the reading this afternoon, and although I’m not sure about the time limit, I did well, certainly well enough to qualify to sit the (terrifying) speaking test.

The next step towards this is taking the book home and trying the listening portions of the test. If I’m still getting over the 66% needed to qualify for the speaking, maybe I’ll consider it. This would open a lot of doors and probably boost my confidence.

Of course, in the end the biggest test is being able to use Japanese and excel in the daily situations I find myself in – which is what I want to focus on at the moment. I also know that my biggest hindrence is simply my lack of confidence – I let myself get flustered too easily when I’m around people I know I am supposed to be polite too, because I get scared that when the pressure’s on I’ll revert to the slang I use in most of my Japanese conversations (with the boy).

I need to focus and get some kind of plan for myself. I will always be working on my Japanese but I really want to get it up to a working fluency, and then stay there.

again, it’s a game of “guess the news story”...!

法王　（ほうおう）Pope
放火　（ほうか） Arson
修道女　（しゅうどうじょ） Nun
原理主義　（げんりしゅぎ） Fundamentalism
外為法　（がいためほう） Foreign Exchange Law
逐次　（ちくじ） Sequential, gradual
転用　（てんよう） Diversion (e.g. of funds, resources)
大差　（たいさ） Landslide (election victory)
臨時　（りんじ） Ad hoc
仏壇　（ぶつだん） Family altar
訴追　（そつい） Prosecution
亡命　（ぼうめい） Exile
暫定政権　（ざんていせいけん） Interim Government
移譲　（いじょう） Handover, transfer
陰謀　（いんぼう） Conspiracy, Intrigue

And the two carried over from last week:

捜査　（そうさ） investigate
誘導　（ゆうどう） derivation

- by the end of this year.

No more excuses, there is tons of stuff out on the web about this and it seems pretty standard/formulaic, so it’s mostly a case of practice.

I have tons of time on my hands at work at the moment so I am going to give this as much time as I can and keep practicing until it comes naturally. No more faffing about.

Now that I’m happily settled in with the news articles every morning, I want to introduce a way to increase my ready-access vocabulary… so out comes the school-type vocab test.

I will collect the most useful or annoyingly forgettable words from my reading over the week and that will be the list to learn – readings, characters, meanings – for the next week. That way I can use any spare time I have to practice, and then test myself on a Friday.

Words for this week are:

• 措置　（そち）measure
• 金融　（きんゆう） financial
• 建設的　（けんせつてき） constructive
• 原子力　（げんしりょく） atomic power
• 制裁　（制裁） sanctions
• 強硬派　（きょうこうは） hardliners
• 扇動　（せんどう） incite
• 盗聴 （とうちょう） wire-tapping, eavesdropping
• 独裁者　（どくさいしゃ） dictator
• 連携　（れんけい） collaboration, partnership
• 捜査　（そうさ） investigate
• 画期的　（かっきてき） outstanding
• 誘導　（ゆうどう） derivation
• 蓄積　（ちくせき） accumulation

I am finally in a routine of doing news articles first thing in the morning so I think that’s building up my vocab gradually.

I had a thought about interpreting the other day… I don’t think I’m really cut out for it, don’t have the kind of head that holds enough ready-to-hand-vocab; but I could be better than I am and maybe it’s good to keep that in mind, and at least work on my vocab and fluency a bit more.

The next steps for this really are:

• write a decent-length e-mail/letter to K once a week making sure it’s all gramatically correct etc. I think he’s benefiting far too much from my tendency to spill out all my feelings in English!!

• read back over past e-mails and update my list of useful formal phrases. I’ve had some really good opportunities to try this out recently and it would be great to be finding this much easier by, say, the end of the year.

• Ask my Japanese friend to help me with ultra-formal phrases for when the big people from HQ come to visit next month.