Learn Japanese

This goal has slowed, but is still underway. My flashcard deck is up to 188 cards and I review it every few days and add a couple new phrases or words each week. I also picked up a couple more books to help me with sentence structure and kanji/katagana/hirigana. Even if economics make it tough to get to Japan, I still plan on learning the language and I’ll get there somehow. Wish me luck.

My flash card deck is up to 160 cards – words and phrases – I also have been using as many websites as possible, especially Namiko Abe’s site: japanese.about.com – she’s even great about answering email if you have questions and can’t find the right answer anywhere else.

I’m using the Pimsleur CDs from time to time and watching a lot of ‘slice of life’ anime, especially Honey & Clover, Shuffle, Clannad, etc. Also, Mushi-shi (highly recommended), and Kure-nai, but I digress. Still motivated and would like to chat with others in the same process.

I’m on CD 2 of the Pimsleur Basic Japanese course. I’ve also watched about 50 episode of various ‘slice of life’ anime (as opposed to all the vampire/martial arts/mech-warrior stuff – how many day to day conversations can you have with vocabulary like ‘kyugetski?’) and have been assembling a deck of flashcards – only up to 93. Oh, and starting to learn basic Kanji – I can write and read the numbers from 0 to 10. It’s coming together – a friend just sent me a great book on katagana and hirigana – it’s a bit daunting, but I’ll take it slowly and steadily. Wish me luck.

Little steps, listening and speaking in the car as I drive. This is a library copy, so I only have 2 weeks and then I can renew it once. After that I will probably end up buying it, hopefully used. Anybody got a used copy of Pimsleur’s Japanese on CD that they want to sell cheap?

I’m working on using common phrases, learning sentence structure and listening more closely to subtitled Japanese films and anime, which is curiously difficult. I’m starting to have an easier time breaking apart what sounds at first like a long string of connected syllables. Now I just need to invest in a really good set of CD’s / DVDs, which cost a small mint – probably Pimsleur or Rosetta Stone. Well, I know what I’ll be using my Border’s gift card for this year!