てがみ！

Thanksgiving!!!

サンクスギビングはたのしくてよかったです。うちにかえりにかぞくとあいました。たくさんいいたべものをたべてたくさんいいのみものをのみました。私はアップルサイダーやチーズケーキがとても好きです。そして、たくさんねてえいがとアニメをみました。I Love You Manとカウボーイビバップはおもしろいです。いま、わたしはプリンストンだいがくにかえりました。

PE Reflection 3

       In terms of my pronunciation exercises, this past semester has gone very well. I consistently pronounce words correctly and as of recently I have been able to shadow anime despite the speed of the speakers. I think my success can be attributed to achieving my goals of going to office hours 3-5 times a week and attending the language tables every week. One problem I find that I often have though is remembering the pitch patterns of words and phrases. Even if I articulate words correctly, my pitch sometimes is simply wrong. In order to accomplish my goal of becoming a fluent, persuasive, native sounding, confident speaker, I need to practice reciting pitch patterns more while doing PE listening exercise, extra pronunciation exercises, memorizing vocab, etc. If I can get the pitch down, my speech will be able to sound very natural. I also plan to continue attending office hours and language table regularly as well as supplemental tutoring sessions.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxThYN20J4ZZ07e1E7GZYUuI9JGDDP_cIRoFaSy52RcidsWTlkv_rOOPfQlXjEDdTf1PXtQuQS8QCphMDndT-pUcZcIYrTiDwKJ_0rHId25BLOJRpxBgK08VTtgsgC3zZTaDqHZRr4WLEi/s1600-r/torii700x225b.jpg

おいしいだいふく！

とてもかっこいいおんがくビデオ！

PE Reflection

        I really have liked these PE exercises. They vary from week to week, switching between listening and speaking exercises, and I definitely feel my familiarity with the Japanese language growing as I do them more and more. In terms of speaking exercises, I've done two conversations and a tongue twister exercise. I like the conversation exercises since it helps me to work on basic communication skills that I can't develop on my own. The tongue twisters were fun though. My roommates made fun of how silly they sounded when I was working on them in my dorm. We still joke around about it every now and then. I've noticed my ability to pronounce Japanese words grow along with a significant boost to my speed, which I am very proud of. However, I'm still not at the natural-speaker level yet even with words and phrases I know. My goal for the rest of the semester will be to improve the overall naturalness of my speaking by working with the harder PE shadowing materials such as anime, going to Office Hours 3-5 times a week, attending language table every week, and working with my Japanese tutor. By the end of the semester, I want to be able to speak the material I know with the ease of a native speaker!

http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/075/9/0/ganbatte_by_lilkitty-d3brs9d.png

I'm back from あきやすみ！

おはよう、

　　　あきやすみはいいですした。わたしはうちにかえりました。ニュージャージーのプレインスボロからきました。わたしはたくさんあにめをみました。そしてまいばんたくさんねました。わたしはピッツバーグ大学とメリーランド大学にいきました。わたしはともだちをあいました。As you can see, I did a lot over fall break. Not only was I able to relax a lot at home (which involved watching very large quantities of anime), but I was also able to visit some of my friends at their colleges. I really appreciated having such a long あきやすみ. It gave me a lot of time to recover from midterms and reflect on how I can do better in this last half of the semester. Now I'm ready to hit the ground running. がんばって！

http://oyster.ignimgs.com/wordpress/write.ign.com/151326/2013/10/Beyond-The-Boundaries-Promo-Pic2.png

http://www.bubblews.com/assets/images/news/1612079066_1375055426.jpg

http://img1.ak.crunchyroll.com/i/spire1/d7a8b3541d44709a1df5197947debacc1367432151_full.jpg

Weekend Before Midterms

こんばんは

　　　　　わたしはしゅまつにたくさんべんきょしました。　With midterms coming up, I thought it was important to devote a lot of time to reviewing material from class. きんようびとかようびににほんごのテストがあります。 However, I also felt it was also important to decompress and not stress too much.　わたしはあにめのイベントにいきました。I watched an anime called Puella Magi Modoka Magica (魔法少女まどか☆マギカ). いいです。えとう、that's all I have to say for now. I'm learning more and more Japanese まいにち so I'll keep working towards a blog post completely in にほんご。Until then, I guess you'll have to bear with my odd mixture of English and Japanese. すみません！

じゃね
オヒワリ

 Puella Magi Madoka Magica

http://snippettee.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/mahou-shoujo-madoka-magica.jpg

Opening Theme Song (2)

 

　　　　　

My First Goal Statement!!!

おはよう

Today I'm posting to set a goal for myself. For this week's PE excercise, I decided to team up with はうりさん to make a recording of a conversation. My primary goal is to speak with a speed and rhythm similar to that of a native Japanese speaker. If at times my pronunciation is off, that's okay. I want to focus on making the words come out at the right pace so I can work on my articulation later. In terms of activity goals, I want to go to office hours at least twice this week and attend the language table. I also need to figure out a more effective way to study. Well, that's about it. Wish me luck!

おひわり

Self Introduction

Hello! My name is...

おはよう

はじめまして。わたしのなまえはオヒワリです。アメリカからきました。わたしのせんこうはいがくです。わたしはプリンストンだいがくのがくせいです。わたしはいちねんせいです。どぞよろしく。







Pic from: http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/bowing1.jpg

Above, I just introduced myself to you! We have learned so much over the past two weeks, I am having trouble retaining all of the knowledge. Nonetheless, I'm working hard to do everything I need to do to gain a better grasp of this language. がんばって。

First Post Ever!!!

こんにちは

       I hope I typed that correctly! I was going for hello. Well, this is my first blog entry... ever. I'm very excited to practice using my new-found Japanese skills on this blog as my knowledge of Japanese vocabulary and grammar grows. For now though, I'll just have to type in English.
       Most wouldn't think my reason for wanting to learn Japanese is... well, valid. While signing up for the course, I wasn't thinking that Japanese would help me to become a neurosurgeon and communicate with my patients or help me gin any other practical way. Primarily, I was thinking "I'll be able to watch all the anime I want WITHOUT SUBTITLES!!!" Ever since I was 12 years old, I've gradually increased my consumption of anime. To date, I've watched more Japanese animated television series than I am comfortable admitting to. Nonetheless, with each new series I've watched, I have found that my fascination with Japanese language and culture has grown. I love the food, the sound of the words, the legends and lore... all of it!

       The prospect of having an entire conversation in Japanese is very exciting! By the end of this year, I want to be successful enough with Japanese so that I can do the two month Princeton in Oshikawa program where I can build on my skills with the language. I think that the idea of being immersed in a foreign land such as Japan would be an amazing experience.
       While I may be having a little trouble with learning the pronunciation of all of the new terms and phrases we are learning, I think I will get over that soon enough when we start learning the phonetic alphabets Hiragana and Katakana. Knowing the phonetic breakdown of the words we learn will be very helpful. 
       That's about it for now! じゃね (See ya!)

 オヒワリ(Ohiwerei)

http://www.mas-japan.co.jp/info/japan/img/topbanner.jpg