Learn Japanese

Now that I’ve graduated, I actually have time to study Japanese… for fun. I’ve cracked open my dusty textbook and am focusing on learning how to read Japanese. At some point in the future, I want to be able to pick up a book, a magazine, or a newspaper and actually know what it says. If someone were to read it to me, I could probably understand most of it, but trying to read it on my own, I can’t do it… yet.

With a new strategy, I hope to make some real progress. One step at a time!

Everyone I know in Japan is alright, but there still is great damage to Japan and many people have lost their lives. Even though buildings were made to withstand an earthquake the flooding from the resulting tsunami is very bad, especially in the area near Sendai (close to the epicenter).

I donated to the Red Cross to help those in trouble. If you can help, please donate by texting the word REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10. Or by visiting this link

Last night I made the above poster to help with the situation in Japan. Because I am so far away, I feel like there is not much I can do to help. Hopefully many people will see this poster and they will help by donating as well.

You can view the poster here Please share it with your friends.

日本語うまい
にほんご うまい
nihongo umai
Your Japanese is good

While visiting Nara, I popped into a calligraphy shop and picked up all the necessary equipment to do some serious calligraphy. Japanese calligraphy, shodou in Japanese, is something I’ve been dabbling in since arriving in Japan. After a few months practice, I thought it was time to try the real deal.

It was a small shop in Naramachi, an old part of town, with an elderly gentleman selling his wares. I explained to him, in Japanese, that I like shodou, but that I’m not very good yet (mada jouzu ja arimasen). I’ve been using a basic brush pen, the Pentel Pocket Brush to be exact (a great pen all around), but I want to buy a beginners set.

Displaying his many years of experience, he proceeded to arrange all the materials I needed. He explained, in Japanese, that I’ll need two brushes, one fat (futoi), to write the main characters, and one skinny (hosoi), to write your name. Also, a simple ink stone (suzuri) and a small ink block (sumi). Additionally, it turns out one also needs a writing mat (shitajiki) and a paper weight (bunchin).

I told him that I had been studying graphic design in Osaka and he threw in an extra brush. I thanked him politely (arigatou gozaimashita) and on my way out he complimented my Japanese. It was motivating to hear this. Being able to navigate through everyday situations and to have the ability to learn from and about other people is one of my greatest accomplishments.

It set me back 7000 yen, but it showed me that perhaps there are other ways of measuring ones proficiency in language, rather than an exam and a pretty piece of paper. Although, when I get back to the States, I’ll give the new JLPT 5 a try.

がんばります
Ganbarimasu
I’ll do my best!

Vocab:

書道
しょどう
shodou
calligraphy

筆
ふで
fude
calligraphy brush

Originally posted on Wired in Japan

It has been a long time since the last post, over 5 months. During that time, I’ve been in Japan and haven’t mentioned it once. I look back at the previous post and how I said that my weakest area was speaking Japanese. While in Japan, that’s all I’ve been able to do.

As I may have mentioned previously, I am in Japan for a semester to study graphic design. All of my classes have been entirely in Japanese and all the friends I have made speak Japanese. Perhaps the one thing I appreciate most about coming to Japan, in regards to learning the language, is being pressured to communicate in Japanese all the time.

There are times, just after having a conversation with a friend or giving a presentation in class that I think to myself, surprised that I had just been speaking, entirely in Japanese, for the whole conversation. It is becoming a natural process, albeit not the most sophisticated. Although, as time has progressed, I am able to progress into deeper more substantial conversations about the things people have seen and done, what their family is like or things that are important to them.

I’ve made some good friends, learned many things (good and bad) and regret that I’ll be leaving soon, too soon. I hope to write on some of my experiences in hindsight and plan to study the complexities, now that I’ve gotten over my apprehension of speaking and now knowing that I can be heard and understood.

Read the original post on my blog: Wired in Japan

I’m going to Japan! The interview to study abroad went really well. I introduced myself in Japanese (a surefire way to impress the panel) and got a lot of good advice. Primarily, be open to new experiences and take advantage of all the resources available to me both at Sozosha (Soh.zoh.sha) and my home school. Also, another student, Tara, who’s an illustrator, is going as well. We’ve form a small band of language learners and speakers, working with a tutor, Rio Sensei, and one of my Japanese obsessed instructors, on the side.

For Japan, I’m planning on going out at the beginning of March, Spend about a month in Tokyo so I can adjust to the culture, and take a language class to really immerse myself in the language to prepare myself for school. I’m going to stay with a host family, rather that trying to navigate a month in hostiles and the like. It will also give me time to scope out the Japanese creative scene. One of my instructors has a connection in Tokyo at a design and animation studio called Tokyo Lab. They don’t specifically do what I do but the founders were both educated at American design schools and work bilingually. They’ll be a good insight into what its like to be a creative in Japan and help me know who I need to know.

Then I’ll head out to Osaka at the beginning of April to start my design classes at Sozosha. There, I’ll also be staying with a host family, who will be indispensable in navigating my way through my time there. Let me tell ya, I’m looking forward to some good Japanese eats. I’m going to approach it with an open mind and try as much as possible. A vegetarian open to new things; a flexitarian. Our group went to a Japanese restaurant, the most delicious in town, and Rio taught us manners. I had what is called a Donburi. They vary in ingredients, but mine consisted of a bowl with a bottom layer of rice, with tempura vegetables piled on top. Osaka is known to be the place for food and the place for the arts; a perfect combination. Classes at Sozosha go until August. Then I’ll fly back to home and start up classes again at the very end of August.

Hard work is paying off; cant wait to jetset to the other side of the globe.

Today in Japanese class our sensei introduced us to a handy phrase, giving us the ability to ask how to say something, that we don’t already know, in Japanese.

__ は にほんご で なん と いいます か。
__ wa nihongo de nan to iimasu ka?
How do I say __ in Japanese?

Q:
Glassesはにほんごでなんといいますか。
Glasses wa nihongo de nan to iimasu ka?
How do you say Glasses in Japanese?

A:
めがねいいます。
megane iimasu.
You say megane.

This phrase is handy, especially when talking to a teacher, because they are able to take your english request and parse it into Japanese.

When in Japan, I know I will be using this phrase all the time, but my Japanese host family probably wont understand English. Thus this helpful modification is appropriate:

Q:
これはにほんごでなんといいますか。
kore wa nihongo de nan to iimasu ka?
What is this called in Japanese?

A:
それはほんです。
sore wa hon desu.
That’s a book.

The next time you’re not sure how to say a word in Japanese, don’t be afraid to ask. Just us this valuable phrase.

To read more about my journey to learn Japanese, check my blog: Wired in Japan

Tomorrow marks the first day of my institutionally structured journey to better understand the Japanese language. I will be taking Elementary Japanese 101 at a local liberal arts college, in addition to my current education at design school. The course is a requirement in order to study abroad, yet one that I am looking forward to.

We will be using the Nakama Japanese textbook and workbook. Together, they were over $100 used at the bookstore. Hello Amazon.

In my self guided study, as well as working with my Japanese tutor, we worked with the Genki textbook. Genki was accessible and tried to make learning the language fun, overall a good textbook. Solely judging by the cover of Nakama, it looks strictly business. Hopefully as we progress, it will open up a bit.

Looking forward to meeting my fellow classmates and studying hard.

As usual, がんばります！(I’ll do my best!)

Read more on my blog: Wired in Japan

Throughout my time learning the Japanese Language, thus far, I’ve been asked if I know hiragana and katakana; It is a good way to measure a beginner Japanese learner’s skill level. I would always answer that I knew my kana well; I knew the phonetic sounds and how to write Japanese characters on my computer.

Yet when I was asked by my Japanese tutor, Rio sensei, who is thankfully very specific in regards to learning the Japanese language, I thought, no problem. Yet, there’s a twist: say them aloud, in order and then write them out, by hand, without any reference. Fail. I knew some, but many I simply drew a mental blank.

Thus, Rio provided me a handy sheet for practicing hiragana and katakana . Thus far I’ve completed 80 sheet of kana practice. That’s approximately 12,300 individually written kana; does your arm hurt after that. This is over a time span of about five months now.

That said, there are a few pesky kana, particularly katakana, that I blank on. While the previous kana worksheets are great for learning form and order, I have devised a new work sheet to help with memorization; unaided recall.

This new sheet has no sample kana to sample from; it is just you and your memory. I like to write vertically, right to left, and stream through hiragana then katakana, in proper order. If I blank, I leave a space and move on.

Download the new Write Japanese practice sheet . [3mb, pdf] Print this out, double sided if you can, and write the full hiragana and katakana alphabets from your memory.

Thus, I know that I frequently forget: め(me), も(mo) in hiragana and ヌ(nu), ネ(ne), メ(me), モ(mo), ル(ru), レ(re) in katakana.

What hiragana and katakana do you seem to always forget?

Many people seem to be using the Nintendo DS video game My Japanese Coach to learn the Japanese language, so I thought I would give it a play.

I have been learning Japanese, self studying, for some time now. Thus in the placement test, I tested into lesson five.

The placement test gives you a series of, at the most, 50 some questions. If you get two incorrect answers in a row, the test ends and you get placed in the appropriate lesson. The part that I fumbled up on was the days of the week. I should know them by know, so I am glad that’s where I’m starting out. The days of the week are an important thing to know.

The video game My Japanese Coach is a great resource as an introduction to the Japanese Language. It is fun and easy to get into. It starts you out with English spellings of Japanese words (romaji) and as you progress becomes written with Japanese characters (hiragana, katakana, kanji).

My only qualm is about the necessity of romaji for continued learning. It serves its role in making this game accessible, but is a crutch in the long run; if your learning a foreign language, you should use the proper characters. Thus, my word of advice: learn hiragana and katakana as soon as possible and get away from romaji just as quick.

Overall a fun game. がんばって！ (Do your best!)

Japanese designers, architects, engenieers, creatives, and thinkers from Kenya Hara’s book Designing Design
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shigeru ban
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masahiko sato
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kengo kuma
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kaoru mende
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kosuke tsumura
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naoto fukasawa
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norihide imagawa
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tadasu ohe
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akio okumura
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kaoru kasai
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kanji hayashi
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mayumi miyawaki
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shin sobue
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toyo ito
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shuhei hasado
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yasuhiro suzuki
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shunji yamanaka
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keiko hirano
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masayo ave
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reiko sudo
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kazunari hattori
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