Since I'm stuck at home with swine flu, I thought it was high time that I added another post.
First off, let me just say that people need to start treating animals better!!! If we didn't have our disgusting factory farming practices, things like H1N1 would be a lot less likely to occur. I'm usually not the type of vegetarian to preach, but, since I've been infected by hamthrax, I'm a tad annoyed. The way people treat animals is appalling, and there are small things that we can do in our everyday lives to make a change. You don't have to go veggie (although I'll buy you a block of tofu if you do!!), but even things buying free range eggs can make a difference.
There. I've had my rant. Now let's move on...
As I was beginning to study the first book of my JET Programme Japanese Language Course (yes, I'm a bit behind) yesterday, it suddenly occurred to me that I've been studying Japanese for over a year now. Granted, there were about 3 months in there where I didn't do much, but still! A whole year! That thought both depressed and excited at the same time.
In a lot of ways, I don't really think I am where I should be. I could (aka should) be studying a lot more. While I do put in some solid hours every week, I rarely study at home. Most of my studying is done during my spare time at work (of which I have plenty), but it's very rare that I can be seen benkyousuru-ing any Nihongo at my apaato. Not to make excuses, but I think I just get to the point where, after listening to (and barely understanding) Japanese all day, the last thing I want to do at night is study. For some reason, curling up with a steaming hot bowl of ramen and some old America's Next Top Model videos on youtube sounds MUCH more appealing. (Yes, I know, I'm pathetic... :P)
Also, although I should technically know (aka I've studied) about 150 kanji front to back, I'd say I've got a solid grasp (stroke order, on'yomi's and kun'yomi's, etc.) on about 50ish, and then have a basic understanding of another 20 or so.
There are other times, however, when I'm pretty impressed with the progress I've made. For instance, while out with one of my friends' host family, their little girl said to her mom, "きのう, おかしはおいしかった,” which I immediately understood. Sure, it's an incredibly simple phrase ("The sweets yesterday were delicious" - my friends had made smores for them), but I was pleased that I had understood what she meant without having to go through a huge translation process in my head. However, while brief, glittering moments of understanding are slowly becoming more frequent, I'm still saying far too many "uuhh, sumimasen, wakaranai"'s than I'd like.
On a perhaps more interesting note, I think I'm picking up the lovely, sing-songy Fukui dialect (aka Fukui-ben). Here in Fukui, people like to elongate the last vowel of words. For example, I can no longer say 今 (ima - "now") in standard Japanese. While my Tokyo dialect-trained brain might be saying "ima" with a nice, short "a" sound, my mouth can't help but say, "imaaaaaaaaaaaa".
I'm totally embracing it though - what could be better than talking like I'm a Sea of Japan coast country bumpkin?
Anyway, I really don't know where someone should be after a year's worth of studying, but I have a feeling that I should have progressed a bit more. Thus, I solemnly swear to study my butt off and make more of an effort to talk to people. See? I feel better about this whole situation already.
By the way, I'm totally not thrilled with the JET books. I use the Genki textbooks for studying, and I prefer them to pretty much anything else that I've come in contact with so far. I'm still going to do the JET course (you get a fancy smancy certificate for completing it) , but I'm just going through the motions - for me, it's all about the Genki.
In other news, JUST before I got the flu I went to Kyoto for the first time! Very cool, but I wish I hadn't been feeling like death by the end of the day. I plan to go back in December though, so all is well!
I'll write more soon, but in the meantime, let's enjoy a picture! :D
(I'm on the left)
