So I went to Boston on the 29th of December to get the Japanese Visa....I took the train to Boston, the subway/T to South Station, went through the security checkpoint in the Federal Reserve Building, took the elevator 14th floor to the Japanese Consulate only to find out that they were closed!!! Ugh...I have to go again this month to get the visa. I went all that way and spent all that money for nothing. I know that I should have done it earlier but they sent my COE (Certificate of Eligibility) two weeks before finals. After finals, all I wanted to do was vegetate for a week. Ack...I just have to go on the 5th of this month to get it and they better be open.
So for prepping for my Japan trip I am studying Japanese again. I'm working on my listening skills which are terrible by the way. To study, I have been watching this Japanese Language series called "Erin ga Chousen: Nihongo Dekimasu" which translate to something like "Erin's Challenge: I can speak Japanese." It is this Japanese learning series that teaches you Japanese...completely in Japanese and occasionally with English subtitles. This is for more serious and intermediate students but I find it quite entertaining. The series tries to make learning fun by including computer animated characters complete with annoying anime-styled Japanese voice actors. There is also a bunch of live action skits staring a British exchange student named Erin. In the skits she speaks Japanese slowly enough for viewers to comprehend. I like this show because compared with a lot of other Japanese learning shows it feels more modern and natural. The show also tries to introduce many aspects of Japanese life like a typical day at school or the layout of a Japanese house. Perhaps the most useful and unique aspect of this show is that at the end of every episode they feature non-native speakers speaking Japanese in their home country. (So far the show has featured Korea and Australia.) You can tell that their Japanese is not perfect but they try to express themselves the best they can. I found out about this show randomly from a link from a German Blog. All the episodes are posted on MegaVideo. Just type in "Nihongo Dekimasu: in the search engine.
Another thing that I'm doing is reading this book called 'Japanese in Mangaland.' The approach is to learn Japanese from manga text. Its funny for me because reading manga inspired me to learn Japanese. Anyways, this approach is more for the independent learner. It is not structured like a textbook but I think the chapters are written well. I'm reading the first book (there are three books in the series) and what I can tell that the author covers all the Japanese grammar points well. His examples and ex plantations are simple and easy to grasp. The manga pictures chosen for tho book could have been better (when it comes to manga illustrations I'm picky.) I like the fact that he goes into detail about the culture and history of Japan while explaining the grammar notes. Otherwise, reading this book is a good introduction for learning Japanese but to be a serious student you have to have some structure in your learning eventually. Interesting note: The book was originally written in Spanish!
Study Abroad to do list1) Try to get Visa...again
2) Apparently, my parents have a new health insurance plan. Now I have to call them to see what my coverage is for studying abroad.
3) umm...Start packing?
4) Practice writing complete sentences in Japanese...もう、書いてみて。
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