Study Tools for Japanese Learners Pt. 1

みなさん、こんばんは！

Today I'm going to share with you one of the tools I've been using to study Japanese outside of class. In later posts, I'll be talking about other programs, as well as apps for Android and iOS. Most of these are meant to help you memorize vocabulary/kanji, which is a nice supplement to all the grammar we've been learning in class. じゃあ、はじめましょう！Let's get started!

Memrise

...should study Japanese with Memrise!

The learning tool we're going to be looking at is Memrise, a website that uses spaced repetition to help you retain vocabulary in long term memory. You have probably heard of the spaced repetition technique, but in case you haven't, the basic premise is that the software asks you vocabulary questions and records metrics such as correctness and response time to determine how long to wait before showing you the same question again. This is nice because the program can automatically tailor each review session to the words that you find difficult. For example, if you can consistently answer questions about the word うち (home) but sometimes forget the word まど (window), Memrise and other programs like it will adjust its algorithm to show you the easier word less often and the harder word more.

From the JLPT N5 course

As you can see, the website is quite feature-complete. It includes the hiragana, English meaning, and kanji for each word, as well as pronunciations by a native Japanese speaker. いいですね。Quizzes go both ways: first, you will see English meanings and will have to answer multiple choice questions by choosing the corresponding Japanese word. Then, you will have to type the correct Japanese word for a given English meaning. After that the questions and answers will flip-flop, and you will have to figure out the correct English meaning given a Japanese word.

To start using Memrise, I recommend the JLPT N5 course. This introductory vocabulary course will take you through the 675 most commonly used words in Japanese, including kanji and pronunciations for each one. I am currently following this course as well as another one for the Genki textbook that I used over the summer. I would recommend a course based on Nakama, but unfortunately there are none. Happy mem(o)rising!


じゃあ、
ケニー

ぼくのあきやすみ

みなさん、こんばんは！ヾ(@^▽^@)ノ

あきやすみはどうでしたか。ぼくのあきやすみはとてもよかったですよ。ぼくはうちにかえり、ガールフレンドとえいがをみました。それから、ひとりでたくさんアニメをみました。そのアニメのタイトルはきょうかいのかなたです。それはあきのあたらしいアニメです。スタジオはきょうとアニメーションですから、そのアニメはとてもきれいです。そして、オープニングテーマのアニメーションはきれいですが、おんがくはあまりよくないです：

でも、エンディングテーマのうたがだいすきです：

みなさん、このアニメをみてください！(´∀｀)♡


じゃあ、
ケニー

Pronunciation Exercise Halftime Report

こんばんは！

Today I am going to reflect on my performance regarding pronunciation exercises and create new goals for the rest of the semester. I feel that I have done very well in my recordings, and my problems with word pitch and sentence intonation are getting a lot better now that I have more practice. I still have to be careful with special moras, but for the most part I think my pronunciation is in a good spot right now. However, my original goals emphasized sounding natural in normal speech, which is something that involves more than just being able to produce the sounds correctly. I will need to continue working on my original goals of speaking/responding quickly and learning casual speech patterns/frequently used idioms.

My goals for the second half of the semester include the two original goals mentioned previously and a third, new goal: to be able to recognize when a sound should be "omitted". For example, I want to be able to recognize that the い sound in a word like きょうしつ should be very short without hearing it spoken first. I think this kind of analysis will give me a better linguistic understanding of the underlying reasoning behind the production of Japanese allophones.

The activities I want to participate in remain the same: talk to Japanese speakers, go to the language table, and watch anime. I have been conversing in Japanese with a few native speakers as well as second-year students, which has been very helpful so far. I have not been going to the language table since it has always been at an inconvenient time, but I will make an effort to go next week. As for watching anime...well, let's just say that particular activity is とてもやさしいです。

じゃあ、

ケニー