とびら読み物

I found a website that has the readings from Tobira on it.  So if you forgot your book or want to study away from home, you can practice there.

文法レビュー

Lesson 3

ケントには、日本語の他に、中国語やロシア語もあります。	In addition to Japanese, Kent has Chinese and Russian.
A: アメリカに行ったことがありますか。 B: いいえ、ありません。でも韓国なら いったことがあります。	A:  Have you been to America? B:  No, I haven’t.  But I have been to Korea.
私は、general manager として、ローソンで働いています。	I work at Lawson’s as a general manager.
In school:  今日は、宿題をしてくる。 At home:  今日は、宿題をして行く。	I have done my homework today.
今年は、とても忙しいので、クラスを１つしか取らないことになった。	Because I’m very busy this year, it turns out I’m only taking one class.
日本語のクラスは、なるべく日本語で話すようにしたい。	I want to make an effort to speak as much Japanese as possible in Japanese class.
なるべく色々な人と話をしようと思う。	I think I’ll talk to as many various people as possible.

Lesson 4

今日クイズがあるなんて、知らなかった！	I didn’t know there was a quiz today!
日本語のクラスでは、まずひらがなを一番に習います。	In Japanese class, first you learn hiragana first.
生徒がよくわかるように、プリントを作っています。	I’m making the hand outs in such a way that the students will understand.  (out of my control)
新しい車を買うために、お金をためています。	I’m saving money in order to buy a new car.  (in my control)
昨日、クイズで１００点取るように、寝ずに、勉強しました。	Yesterday, in order to get a 100 points on the quiz, I studied without sleeping.  (instead of sleeping)
日本語を勉強することは、日本の文化を勉強することなのである。	Studying Japanese means studying Japan’s culture.
どんなに日本語を勉強しても、日本人と話せません。	No matter how much I study Japanese, I can’t speak with Japanese people.
雪が降らないうちに、買い物に行きます。	I will go shopping before it snows.
学校に行く間に、バスで音楽を聞きます。	While going to school, I listen to music on the bus.
オハイオに来たばかりですから、有名な場所はわかりません。	Since I just came to Ohio, I don’t know (any of) the famous places.

Lesson 5

日本では６５歳以上の人は、日本全体の人口の２割ぐらいです。	In Japan, people 65 years and older are about 20% of the entire Japanese population.
チョコレートさえあれば、私は、幸せです。	If only I have chocolate, I will be happy.
ついに、Adv-intermediate の生徒みんなが宿題をしてきました。やったー！	Finally, all of the Adv-intermediate students did their homework!  Hooray!
マットさんは、昨日一生懸命、日本語のクイズのために勉強していたから、今日のクイズは、ついに、いい点を取ったに違いない。	Because he studied for it very hard yesterday, I’m sure that Matt finally got a good score on today’s Japanese quiz.
宮崎駿の「ハウルの動く城」は Diana Wynne Jones の小説をもとにして作られています。	Hayao Miyazaki’s “Howl’s Moving Castle” was made based on Diana Wynne Jones’ novel.
中国語は、日本語と同じで、漢字を勉強しなくちゃいけません。	In Chinese, like in Japanese, you must study kanji.
松本さんの妹は、女らしい人です。 松本さんの妹は、女ような人です。	Matsumoto’s little sister is very womanly.  (actually a woman) Matsumoto’s little sister is very ladylike. (not actually a woman)
東京は、外国人がいっぱいいるので国際的な町です。	Because a lot of foreigners live there, Tokyo is a international town.
バートンには、ほとんど日本人がいない。	There are hardly any Japanese people in Burton.
明日は、雪がふるような気がします。	I feel like it’s going to snow tomorrow.

Lesson 6

まさしさんが私の妹とつきあっていることに気がついた。	I noticed that Masashi is dating my little sister.
アメリカには、白人の人もいれば、黒人の人もいれば、黄色人種の人もいる。	In America, there are white people, there are black people, and there are yellow people too.
私の生徒は、それぞれ個性があって、とてもおもしろい。	Each of my students has their own characteristics; it’s interesting.
Adv-intermediate の生徒は、みんな宿題をしていないらしい。 Adv-intermediate の生徒は、みんな宿題をしていないそうです。	I heard that none of the Adv-intermediate students did their homework
マットさんは、日本語を勉強し続けているらしいです。	I heard that Matt is continuing to study Japanese.
私の友達は、ひきこもって、ゲームばかりしている。	My friend shuts him/herself in and does nothing but play video games.
コンビニは２４時間開いているので、いつでもタバコが買えるというわけです。	Since the convenience store is open 24 hours, I can buy tobacco at any time.  (result)
A: 私は、月曜日から木曜日まで、ニューヨークに行きます。 B: じゃあ、金曜日は、オハイオにいるわけですね。	A: I’m going to New York from Monday until Thursday. B:  Ah, so you’ll be in Ohio on Friday.  (confirmation)
あっ、クーラーが壊れてる。あついわけだ。	Oh, the air conditioner’s broken.  So that’s why it’s hot.  (conclusion)
ケント大学は、立教大学と姉妹校なので、立教大学に留学できるわけです。	Kent State and Rikkyo University are sister schools, so that’s why we can study abroad at Rikkyo.
私でよければ、日本語を教えますよ。	If it’s okay, I can teach Japanese.
日本人にも、朝シャワーをあびる人が結構多い。	There are a fair number of Japanese people who take morning showers.  (quantifiable)
今度の映画は、なかなか面白いらしい。	I heard the movie this time is pretty interesting.  (positive connotation)
この郵便局は、朝８時からとなっている。	It happens that this post office opens at 8am.

古事記

このサイトで古事記の神話を読める
ここも

面白い意見もある。

#10: 神話

　　たくさんテレビゲームが神話や昔話にもっとにする。たとえば、ペルソナ３と４のキャラクターは色々な神々を現れさせる。ペルソナ３で、ギリシャのオルフェウスやヘルメースがいる。逆に、ペルソナ４は日本神話にもとにした。イザナギのような神と昔話からキャラは主人公を手伝う。アジアから神もいれば、ヨーロッパから神もいれば、インドから神もいるから、とても日本らしいゲームだろうか。神道は多神教だし、全部が神だと考えられているし、このように色々な宗教をまぜられる。

ペルソナマガジン#01

神話の天照大御神とゲームのアマテラスを説明して比べてある

#9: Grammar

     To study grammar, I obviously do the assigned worksheets and go over my notes.  I like to space them out and do a little each day, since it keeps me thinking about it without overworking myself.  Since I'm reading and translating 時をかける少女 line by line, it's great to see grammar that we just learned being used.  It's not always guaranteed to show up when we're studying it, but since we're learning pretty common constructions, a some of them are used quite frequently.

     I keep telling myself that I should make a habit of writing in Japanese more often or go back to keeping a journal, but I always forget!  I think using grammar in real situations, even if it's just talking about my day, really helps me get to the point where I can use it without spending a lot of time thinking about how to put it together.  

ウォータメロンパン

コンプレッションはビデオを悪くしたから、明日またアプロードしてみます。

日本旅行

決まった。期末試験後、日本に行くよ！ちょっとこわいが、うれしい。子供の時から行きたい。ついに本当に行く！信じるのが難しい。

今から、忙しくても、もっと勉強することにする。日本に行くとき、よく話したいから、その前に、なるべく上手になってみる。特別なチャンスがあったら、がんばるいかなくちゃいけないね。

#8: Reflection

    Whether it's in English or Japanese, I always love reading.  Everyone's gotten a lot better at reading aloud since last semester, too!  I really think going through so much text for class has helped us get more comfortable reading in Japanese.  It's also made big chunks of text less intimidating.
     I also liked having the opportunity to proofread each other's papers.  It's a great option to have since after looking at the same paper for so long, it can be hard to catch even really simple mistakes.  It also means more reading practice!  Next time we have a writing assignment, I think I'll see if anyone wants to have a proofreading meeting outside of class.  It might also give us more confidence in figuring out what we're doing before the deadline.  

#7: Paper

     For my paper, I decided to write about the differences in how people communicate disagreement in Japanese and American culture.  Since each places the responsibility for understanding a complaint or making a complaint understood on different people, it's really interesting to look at how cultural ideas influence how we work together.  In JCEC and Akron U's two Japanese Clubs, I've had the opportunity to see American and Japanese people work together; sometimes more successfully than others.  If we don't understand how the people around us communicate, after all, how can we communicate anything at all?

     I had a lot of fun writing it!  I've always liked writing, and this is the longest assignment in Japanese I've had yet, so it's exciting to see how far I've come.  Even with my limited vocabulary, I feel like I can express pretty complex ideas.  It was a great challenge to really utilize everything I've learned up to this point in context.  

Anki

Download:  http://ankisrs.net/
User Manual:  http://ankisrs.net/docs/manual.html
Create an Account:  https://ankiweb.net/
My Kanji Decks for Tobira:  https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/3960100011


I highly recommend syncing Anki on your laptop, phone, and other devices.  It makes it a lot easier to study wherever and whenever without having to remember to bring your book or notes with you.  If you use it effectively, you can get a lot better at memorization just by spending a few minutes a day with it.

For my kanji decks, I usually have some paper and a pencil handy so I can write it out.  For example...

When I get a flashcard with the kana and meaning...

... I try writing the kanji.

Then I check it against the back of the flash card.  Be careful with this part, since some kanji look very different in handwriting than they do in computer fonts.  You can set up Anki on your computer to display in different fonts, but I haven't found one that has kanji as they are written.

The Anki user manual has a ton of information on how you can customize your cards and Anki to match the study methods that works best for you, so I encourage you to at least look through it.  There's so much that it can do that I wasn't even aware of until recently!  

#6: Reflection

     It's certainly been a busy week!  Luckily, I still made time to practice kanji.  I've started using Anki again, which is wonderful since it reminds me to review kanji that we're not currently studying.  It will really cut down on the overall amount of time I have to spend practicing them but make sure I remember them longer.
     Doing conversation exercises is always fun, though it's often hard to come up with a situation.  Not only does it give me a chance to use the material in a practical way, it really gets people to talk a little to everyone which I think is important in such a small class.  In language, especially, we must remember that we are not simply learning how to use a tool of communication, but learning how to communicate all over again.  And communication is rooted in people.

#5: Sports

  According too our reading, winning is an important part of sports in Japan, but not as important another things, like growing as an individual and developing teamwork.  For example, some parents send their children to dojos to take martial arts to learn respect and etiquette.  I think we have something similar in America,
since some parents make their children join sports teams to build character.

  Something that's different is how it carries into adulthood.  The MLB player that was quoted in the reading complained that American players got angry and threw things when they did poorly, whereas this would never be acceptable in Japan.  On one hand, the player is right; you shouldn't be damaging team equipment.  On the other hand, being as noble as sumo wrestlers who can't show joy about their wins might be a bit too much.  It's okay to be upset about your performance when your livelihood depends on it.  It's okay to be happy when you win.  America could learn a thing or two about being polite about it, though.

#4: Reflection

     Doing the robot project was really fun!  I like doing things that combine different skills; in this case, Japanese, art, and design.  I think it was a good challenge to not only have to describe it in Japanese, but talk about it in a marketable way.  One of the goals of communication, after all, is persuasion.
     My one complaint would be that there may be better tools for this kind of project than Glogster.  As an artist, I'm partial to Illustrator or InDesign, but they aren't free so using them would create accessibility issues.  Maybe having a few different options to choose from would be a good way for students to use whatever program they're comfortable with and have more time to spend on the content.  
     Overall, it's really great to have things to work on that really involve tying ideas together and creating a unified piece of writing.  Even though we're pretty silly about coming up with ideas, having something to show people that demonstrates our progress in class is a great asset.  Over several semesters, I've built up quite a collection to look back on!

2モツくん

#3: Robot

Name:  Nimotsu-kun
What it can do:  Fold, keep, and retrieve clothing on demand
What it cannot do:  Hold things that cannot be folded
Why:  Travelling is about being active and on the go.  Vacations shouldn't be spent digging through clothing trying to find something, only to have to reorganize everything afterwards.

#2: Reflection

  We focused on readings and dialogue this week, which was fun for me since I enjoy reading in any language.  It was a little unexpected to have substitutes this week, but they were both very helpful and led us through the material quite well.  I also did quite a bit of translating outside of class, which is coming along much more quickly than it was when I started.
  With the extra reading practice, I think we'll all be able to understand more in the lessons to come.  

#1: Goals

     This semester, I'd like to expand my Japanese vocabulary.  The strides we have been making in understanding more and more grammar have substantially increased my ability to understand more of the Japanese I read.  While reading, however, I have to use a dictionary quite often to look up individual words.  This is to be expected, considering my current level, but this semester I'm going to make more of an effort to study new words.  In addition, I plan to continue my study and review of the kanji we have learned as well as new ones I find outside of class.
     Of course reading comprehension is only one part of learning Japanese.  If I want to be able to use it to communicate effectively, I need to practice speaking it more.  As fortunate as we are to have so many helpful exchange students on campus, it's still challenging to not revert to using English when there's a break down in exchange of information.  This is something I'd like to improve on by trying to use more Japanese, especially when I'm not sure how to say something.  After all, if I don't take the chance to make mistakes, I won't have the chance to learn.
     Last of all, throughout this semester, I plan to continue the side project that I started over winter break.  I bought both a Japanese and an English copy of the original Girl Who Leapt Through Time novel.  Line by line, I'm working my way through the Japanese one, looking up kanji and words I don't know, and translating bit by bit.  At the end of each chapter, I'm going to read the professional English translation to see how they interpreted things differently and better understand the parts that I might be confused about.  Through this, I hope to become more familiar with vocabulary, recognize more kanji, and, overall, gain a greater understanding through application of the language.