naraimasu

The Read More or Die Challenge

2010-08-11T17:44:00.000+02:00

When I first set out on my learn Japanese challenge, one of my main goals was to one day be able to read Haruki Murakami's South of the Border, West of the Sun in Japanese. But being able to read Japanese has proven much more difficult than I ever imagined. It's well over 2 years ago that I started learning Japanese, but apart from a few night classes, it's been a solitary challenge. Mostly I have concentrated on working through various text books, grammar books and kanji books. Reading Japanese texts has been such hard work that I usually give up after a few pages. So when I saw the Read more or die challenge on twitter I thought this is the perfect occasion to really sit down and read some Japanese.

The books I am concentrating on are the Japanese graded readers, Yotsubato, and finally the Read Real Japanese book that's been sitting on my bookshelf for ages.

Japanese graded readers

These are a great introduction to reading Japanese. I strongly recommend them to any one starting to read Japanese. Read through the whole story without a dictionary, almost always you will understand a word sooner or later through the context of the story.

よつばと

A manga that I often see recommended for beginners in Japanese reading. I do struggle a bit with reading manga. I bought the the first 4 volumes at the Kinokuniya bookstore in Shinjuku, (and was in heaven when they put book covers on them:-)). Yotsubato is the cutest 5 year old ever and well worth the struggle.

Read Real Japanese, 6 short stories by contemporary Japanese authors.

I have started on this book a few times, but quickly gave up. Now I have already read 2 of the 6 stories. I read the whole story from start to finish, without a dictionary or any form of note taking. Even if i don't understand I keep reading (often aloud) . I then read through the vocabulary explanations and notes section, which has great explanations of various grammatical points, then reread the story with a dictionary.

It's hard work but I really recommend this book to any one seriously wishing to learn to read real japanese.

When I was in Japan I bought a couple of glossy magazines and the Hiragana Times, all of which I am now trying to read from cover to cover! Thanks to @lordsilent for the great inspiration to finally sit down and read Japanese.

Setting up your Mac for Japanese studies (+ a few non-Mac tips)

2010-07-09T02:29:00.000+02:00

Make sure you can input Japanese

System preferences – Language & text – input sources – select Kotoeri (kotoeri is the Japanese language input system for Macs)

Change shortcut to easily switch between Japanese and other languages

This allows you to use your keyboard to change between language input, insead of having to click on the menu at the top of your screen

System preferences – Language and text - Input sources – click on keyboard shortcuts

Tick the two bottom boxes, to make shortcuts to select previous and next input source. At first you will get a warning sign saying this shortcut is used by another action.

Click on the shortcut itself – This will allow you to edit it

Input the shortcut of your choice ( I chose ctrl z and ctrl x)

Install a good Japanese dictionary

My favourite is Tagaini Jisho - and it's free

Install a couple of nice fonts

See my blogpost on installing Anzumoji - a free かわいhandwritten font

Add useful extentions to Open Office

Japanese integrated learning tool This is a great add-on. Look up words in dictionary, and add footnotes to explain the kanjis in your document.

日本語¹の勉強²は楽³しいです

1Edict 日本語 [にっぽんご] (n) Japanese language/
Edict 日本語 [にほんご] (n) Japanese language/(P)/

2Edict 勉強 [べんきょう] (n,vs) (1) study/(2) diligence/(3) discount/reduction/(P)/

3Edict 楽 [らく] (adj-na,n,n-suf) comfort/ease/(P)/

Japanese songs I bought with my Japan Itunes gift card

2010-07-09T01:21:00.000+02:00

Japanese food - おいしいですね

2010-05-01T15:32:00.003+02:00

One of the things I was really looking forward to on my first ever trip to Japan was the food. I've been to a few Japanese restaurants, both in Oslo and other cities, and I've tried to make Japanese food at home, with ingredients bought either at the only Japanese food shop in Oslo, or ordered online. But nothing compares with eating a country's food in its country of origin.

EATING OUT

On your own:-

Eating at restaurants in Japan on your own is a bit of a challenge. Finding the entrance, reading the menu, I had no idea it would be so difficult! My first evening in Tokyo I wondered around Shinjuku and ended up at a udon place at street level. I went in and ordered, not realizing I had to buy a ticket from the vending machine outside first. Reading a menu is virtually impossible for those of us who have only passed JLPT level 4, but many places have plastic food displays so you can just point to whatever tickles your fancy:-)

With someone who knows where to go:-

Having a Japanese friend is the best way to eat out in Japan. I was very lucky to have a friend who took me to some fantastic restaurants where I got to eat really great Japanese food. Some of the places we went to were very small, often hidden in a basement, or up a lift and along a corridor, so I would never have found them on my own. Other places were at street level, but with only Japanese menus and no English speaking staff.

Okonomiyagu at Shinjuku, batter delivered to the table which we fried by ourselves on a hotplate.

7 course dinner in China town in Yokohama

Sushi

Yakuniku-ya, a korean style barbecue where we cooked meat at a little grill at the table.

Some like it hot, some like it cold:-) Soba. Note the natou which I was dared to taste! I prefered my hot soba with irresistable tempura

Desserts

A couple of nights I bought dinner at 7/11 and ate at my hotel room. My favourite was a salad which reminded me of one I'd seen on the first jdorama I ever watched "Boku no madonna"

Lunch.

I hardly had time to eat during the day, trying to squeeze in so much every day! I became totally addicted to onigiri, bought at a konbini every morning before I set off exploring. However I needed a lesson on how to open them! The first time I tried I ended up with the nori still inside its plastic wrapping, my Japanese friend had a good laugh when I showed it to him, then gave me a opening a wrapped onigiri lesson:-)

What you see is not always what you get!!

My lunch in Kamakura. After having visited the great Buddha I walked down to the beach. On the way I passed a little tofu shop. I just had to go in! I pointed to a couple of items in the counter, bought a hot coffee from a vending machine, and sat on the beach with my little picnic. The things I'd pointed to looked so tasty, I imagined they'd be either savoury or somehow do-nutty, but they were bland and tasteless and greasy. Only afterwards did I learn that what I had bought was Aburaage (油揚げ), deep fried tofu, tasteless on its own, but apparently delicious when added to miso soup or udon dishes.

Eating dinner on the plane on the way home I suddenly realized I'd only eaten with a fork once in my two weeks in Japan. But I never learned to slurp! Maybe next time:-))

SAKURA

2010-04-18T22:10:00.001+02:00

I was really hoping to catch the cherry trees in bloom when I went to Japan. Luckily for me my trip coincided perfectly with Sakura season. The amazing thing with Japanese cherry trees is that they are everywhere, in parks and gardens, along river banks and train tracks, infront of office buildings, almost anywhere you can plant a tree.

Yoyogi park

On my first day in Japan I went to Yoyogi park (代々木公園) and got to see my first Japanese Sakura, and the truly Japanese spring welcoming Hanami parties. Despite the cold the park was crowded, everyone eating and drinking and welcoming spring in this unique way. I didn't join in the festivities, but loved finally seeing what I'd only read and hear about, and seen in films.

Meguro River

The same evening I went for a walk along the Meguro river, and saw again how Japan celebrates the Sakura, with lanterns lighting up the blossoms.

Ueno Park

The crowds were out in Ueno Park, but it being a cold Monday morning the revellers had yet to arrive. Everyone young and old stop to admire the flowers and take pictures.

Kyoto

Kyoto offered some really splendid Sakura viewing, the grey skies making them stand out even more clearly.

Kyoto - Philosophers walk

I had one of the lovliest walks ever along 哲学の道, Tetsugaku no Michi, a 2 kilometer walk along a canal lined with cherry trees. The trees were in full bloom, the sun kept trying to break through the clouds, a perfect place to sit on a bench and eat yet another おにぎり.

Kamakura

Another fantastic but much shorter walk was along a Sakura path in Kamakura. I love the way the Japanese seem to revere Sakura so much and have made little havens to walk along to view the Sakura.

Tokyo

Imperial Palace Gardens, Eastern Garden was a splendid garden, despite the cold rain the day I was there. And of course filled with blossoming cherry trees

ありがとう日本andさようなら

Coming down from my Japan High

2010-04-11T15:49:00.001+02:00

I had THE most fantastic trip to Japan - i am slowly coming down from the high, but I don’t want to! I want to remember and remember, every little detail! It was my first time in Japan and I had 13 whole days there, Tokyo, Nikko, Kyoto, Yokohama, Kamakura and more Tokyo... Could easily have had 13 more. I was non stop full time tourist, along with 1000s and 1000s of others, both Japanese and foreign visitors.

I must admit I felt very lost and very confused at times, but research and help from a friend made things easier. Mostly I was on my own, finding my way around by myself and I had a blast! From getting from Narita to my hotel the first day, to finding shops I wanted to go to in Shibuya, to getting on the wrong train to Yokohama . And on a couple of occasions I felt totally overwhelmed, for example standing on a street corner at GION in Kyoto waiting to cross the road on Saturday afternoon, worse squash that rush hour in Tokyo.

However my friend in Japan was a great great help and guide, and without his help I would have missed out a lot of the things I saw. He directed and guided me to places I would not have found on my own and took me out to eating places I never would have dared go into on my own.

Finding places in Tokyo was difficult. I studied ad studied maps before going anywhere. Bigger tourist attractions were easy to find, but recommended shops and restaurants had me walking and walking!! One day I spent over an hour looking for an electronics shop that I could have actually seen from my starting point! But everyone I asked was so helpful. The guy at the ticket booth to the entrance of the inside of the great Buddha in Kamakura came running after me after I came out with a little map he’d drawn directing me to the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine were the large ginko tree had fallen a few weeks earlier. I’d asked him on the way in, in extrememly broken Japanese, what the name of the shrine where the tree had fallen was.

Now I start saving for my next trip! I WILL go back! Already I am thinking, why didn’t I do that and that and that! even though my days were full to the brim from morning to late at night:-)

When I get the time to blog I will blog about the attractions , the food , street scenes, SAKURA, (ofcourse - but WOW they were everywhere, and so so pretty), my shopping goodies!:-))) But first I need to sort through my pictures and my memories:-)

Planning my trip to Japan

2010-03-03T00:12:00.001+01:00

After getting over the initial shock of suddenly going to Japan I set about planning my trip. My fascination with Japan has mostly been with the language, and my knowledge of Japan is not very extensive. I'll be going on my own and apart from one tour guided day trip all my days are self-planned!

I started searching the internet for information on where to stay and what to see when in Japan. I knew I wanted to go to Tokyo, Kyoto and Yokohama. From my research I added a day trip to Nikko and a day trip to Kanagawa.

I will be staying at two hotels in Tokyo, one near Shinjuku Station, one near Shinagawa Station. The idea was to be near a station so I could quickly get to the Yamanote line. Hopefully I'll learn quickly and not spend ages getting through the stations! When I booked I had now idea how huge these stations are!!
My first shock came when I discovered that over 3 million people pass through Shinjuku station (新宿駅) every day. I considered changing hotel. But I love a challenge, so I studied a map of the station, know that I have to find the East exit (東口) then turn left, and hopefully I'll find my hotel:-)

Microplanning .....Neurotic or necessary???

Usually when I visit a new city I am fairly relaxed and think I can see and enjoy the city without too much planning. But the hugeness of Tokyo made it obvious to me that this trip needs plenty of planning!

Tokyo Subway Route Map!!!

So the googling started and after days and days of searching, printing and note taking I have come up with a tentative plan of my 2 weeks in Japan.

The most useful sites I used for planning my trip:-

http://www.japan-guide.com

http://www.infomapjapan.com

http://www.tokyoessentials.com

http://www.tokyometro.jp/global/en/index.html

Also a nice map of Tokyo to print here

Finally reading the posts on this forum is fun: I was relieved to see that I am not the only one planning in such detail.

My tentative itinerary: Am open to all suggestions

Kotoba dictionary for iPhone recognizes my handwriting

2010-01-26T00:06:00.001+01:00

One of my favourite Japanese English dictionaries for my iPhone is the Kotoba dictionary.

One great feature is the ability to input handwritten kanji via the traditional Chinese keyboard.

Under settings – general – keyboard – Chinese traditional choose handwriting

Now when using the dictionary use the Chinese keyboard to input a “handwritten” kanji.

If your kanji skills are a bit poor, as mine are, it might take a few attempts, but finally the kanji you are looking for will pop up on the right(1)

Click the correct kanji which then appears in the search box (2), click the blue search button, and you can look up your kanji (3) :-)

楽しいですね！

Kanjibox and kanji look alikes

2010-01-12T01:00:00.000+01:00

Favourite kanji app of the moment and kanji look alikes

One of my favourite iPhone apps of the moment is Kanjibox .

This app ties in well with one of my goals for the next few months, to learn the jlpt level 3 kanji (new level 4?).

I really fight with kanji look alikes, and am trying all sorts of different ways to remember which kanji is which. With this app I have one little method, which, together with several others, might help me get there in the end.

Studying Kanjibox in Kanji mode one is presented with 4 kanjis and one meaning. Very often the kanji presented are look alikes . Quite often I get answer wrong and and an angry red box at the bottom of the screen blinks back at me.

If I know the meaning of the kanji presented but not the look alike, I press the look alike. I am, ofcourse, wrong, but both the kanjis are presented at the bottom of the screen and I can take the screen shot.

I download the screenshot to my computer, edit the picture. and am gradually building up a list of look alikes.

I've named each look alike set with a short phrase from the definition presented so it helps me remember the two look alikes.

Because counterfeit

Blow song

Family trip

Learn the following

Change work

New parent

Responsible official

Stretch building

Take along luck

Testing inaccessible place

Weekday laundry

Kairo and Kotatsu - staying warm the Japanese way

2010-01-08T19:45:00.000+01:00

Two ways to stay warm - Kairo and Kotatsu

With the big chill making most of North Europe a frozen hell these past few weeks, I have been thinking about the perfect way to stay warm when its minus 20 outside and everything inside including keyboard and mouse feels cold. Two Japanese products come to mind, one I've tried and one I dream of.

懐炉　　Kairo

These are small pouches filled with some sort of chemical . Shaking the pouch starts a chemical reaction and the pouch heats up. Then either stick inside clothes, if the back is adhesive, or stick in your pocket. For the past two winters a Japanese friend of mine has sent me these and they are brilliant. They stay warm for hours and make waiting for trains and buses bearable in artic conditions. I understand that in Japan they are quite cheap and easy to get, and am wondering why they are not available everywhere in Norway.

炬燵 Kotatsu

Next Christmas I am going to ask Santa to bring me a kotatsu. Or I could try and make one. A kotatsu is a low wooden table covered with a duvet type blanket. Underneath is a small electric heater. I have never tried one but I think it would be the perfect place to sit, drink warm tea and study Japanese. I'd probably end up living under it from November to March.

(image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kotatsu-tastefulTN.jpg)

2009-12-30T01:07:00.000+01:00

My kanji learning plan

I need to concentrate on learning more kanji. I know maybe 200 -250 – that's just not enough!!

I think the key to learning Kanji is exposure and repetition, but it can become very tedious after a while. So using a variety of learning tools makes it almost always fun. As I study by myself I need to set myself certain goals. The next few months I plan on completing the text books mentioned below, and have all kanji grade 3 learned.

絵でわかるかんたんかんじ２００

This is the 3^rd book in a series, teaching kanjis grade 1 through 3. A great book, aimed at non Japanese children, that teaches kanji through pictures, exercises and quizzes.

It's hard work at first as everything is in Japanese, so you need a dictionary when working with it.

There are 33 lessons, each introducing 6 or 7 new kanji with a picture and a short sentence. A diagram shows the stroke order for each kanji. The lesson continues with an exercise quiz or puzzle and a reading section where you have to choose the correct kanji in the sentences.

I take notes, often copying whole reading sections.

Example exercises include grouping these kanjis together according to radicals

rQ　NP

休室酒葉字草実油根寒海植泳花校薬

and telling these kanjis apart.

遊ぶ道　透る　近い遠い速い送る

Hopefully I'll be able to do that in the not too distant future:-)

1日15分の漢字練習

2 books with altogether 555 kanji. Each book is divided into 2 parts, the first part lists kanjis with diagrams of stroke order, plus some vocabulary and example sentences for each kanji. The second part has exercises testing how much you have learned.

I use the book as a work book,

copying the kanjis and the sentences, before going on to the exercises in the back of the book.

I find work books a great learning tool, as I think it's important to write kanjis over and over again to remember them, but it gets very tedious just to write pages and pages of kanji out of context.

The mail man is due to bring a few more books soon. I especially look forward to the Genki Kanji look and learn book and work book .

I do have notebooks where I do write kanjis out of context, page after page of them, repeating the onyomi and kunyomi to myself as I write, and trying to memorize one or two words for each one.

When I am unsure of the stroke order of a kanji I turn to my kanji stroke order font. Just input the kanji using the font and it will show you the stroke order.

家

The kanji stroke order font can be downloaded here .

I've also started to copy kanjis from my kanji dictionary after reading this blog post. Thanks NihonShock

SOFTWARE

I don't really use my computer a lot for learning kanji, prefering reading and pencil and paper. But sometimes its fun to sit and test my what I've learned. As I just recently switched from PC to MAC I only have one kanji study tool on my Imac.

Ikanji

"Contains 2230 kanji, 16000 example words, flash card mode and multiple choice test modules". It's not free but well worth the money. Reviewing and drilling kanjis is a great way to keep from forgetting them.

Also this program is not as stressful as some spaced repetition programs. I've tried Anki and smart. fm and got a bit flustered. I am studying for fun and don't want to feel I have a certain number of cards due every day.

IPHONE APPS

If you own an iPhone there are so many apps available for learning kanji. I spend most of my commuting time using some kind of Japanese learning app on my iPhone. All the apps on the picture below are good for reviewing kanji.

I am going to concentrate on two of these in the near future:-

Ikanji Touch This is iKanji for the iPhone.

Kanjipop A little bit of stress is fun once in a while and this game provides it . Great game reviewed very well by zonjineko.

READING

I try to read a little Japanese every day using my various Japanese readers . I especially love the Graded Readers, as they are short and some have wonderful illustrations.

Anzumoji free かわいい handwritten font - How to get it (for MAC)

2009-11-04T19:10:00.005+01:00

I was looking for Japanese handwritten fonts for my mac, and found a great free font called Anzumoji at http://www8.plala.or.jp/p_dolce/index.html.

But it took a while for me to find the actual font, fighting as I did to understand the Japanese!

So I made a little download guide . .. getting the font from the download site and into the font library on your Mac.

1. Go to the site http://www8.plala.or.jp/p_dolce/index.html and click on fonts in the right menu. :-)) (Easy part!)

2. Click on ◆フォントダウンロードページへ◆

3. On the next page click on ◆あんずもじ等幅をダウンロード◆.

This starts your download and apjfont.lzh appears in your download folder. (You can also click the link to the left. .. I dont know what the difference is. )

I had no idea what a lzh file was, so after a quick google I found ZIPEG , a free extractor, and extracted the lzh file. A folder called apjfont appeared on my desktop.

All I had to do now was drag the APJapanesefont.ttf into my fonts library et voila:-)
このフォントはかわいいですね。ありがとう

あげる、くれる、もらう

2009-11-01T14:48:00.002+01:00

Giving and Receiving in Japanese (notes from A dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar and other sources that I don't remember)

あげるくれるもらう

To Give

あげる to give seen from speakers point of view

Use あげるwhen you are giving something, or when someone is giving something to someone (but not to you.)

(A)は(B)に(something)をあげます

examples:

私は母に本をあげました

父が山田さんに本をあげました

くれる to give from receivers point of view

Use くれるwhen you are being given something

(A)は(私)に(something)をくれます

examples:

母が私に本をくれました

To receive

Use もらう

(B) は(A) に(or　から)をもらいます

examples:

母に本をもらいました

2009-10-29T21:27:00.004+01:00

A good way to learn a language is to listen to a song, study the lyrics, and sing along when no one else is listening:-))

This really is a classic, and the lyrics are easy to understand.

上を向いて歩こう

涙がこぼれないよに

思い出す春の日

一人ぼちの夜

上を向いて歩こう

にじんだ星をかぞえて

思い出す夏の日

一人ぼちの夜

幸せは雲の上に

幸せは空の上に

上を向いて歩こう

涙がこぼれないよに

泣きながら歩く

一人ぼちの夜

思い出す秋の日

一人ぼちの夜

悲しみは星のかげに

悲しみは月のかげに

上を向いて歩こう

涙がこぼれないよに

泣きながら歩く

一人ぼちの夜

ににand more に

2009-10-17T15:51:00.003+02:00

に

[ばしょ]にいます/あります
[時][日][月][年]に～(し)ます
[人]に聞きます/かけます/おしえます
[人]にあいます
[ばしょ]に住んでいます
[電車、バス、車]にのります
[会社]につとめています
[ノト、紙]に書きます
[いす]に座ります
[ばしょ]に/へ行きます/来ます/帰ります
[ばしょ]に入ります

～に～かい/ど

勉強
仕事
買い物 ....................................... 行きます
れんしょう ...........に.................... 来ます
勉強し ....................................... 帰ります
買い
食べ
見

カレンダーの読み方

2009-10-08T22:51:00.001+02:00

Adjectives with opposites

2009-10-06T17:34:00.007+02:00

Look Alike Kanjis

2009-10-05T22:56:00.004+02:00

Look alike Kanjis

入　　　人
力　　　九
刀　　　力
上　　　土
土　　　士
牛　　　午
手　　　毛
太　　　犬
天　　　夫
反　　　友
区　　　凶
円　　　内
田　　　申
玉　　　主
目　　　且
占　　　古
矢　　　失
末　　　未
足　　　走
負　　　貞

My Japanese Readers

2009-10-04T19:25:00.000+02:00

My Japanese Text Books

2009-10-04T19:18:00.000+02:00

My Japanese Grammar Books

2009-10-04T19:07:00.000+02:00