留学生のてがみ

Here's a fictional letter I wrote to a fictional host family in the fictional setting that I'm a foreign exchange student in Japan!

Here's a puush link for those interested in a pdf version: http://puu.sh/5KIXA.pdf

サンクスギビングデーのやすみ

サンクスギビングデーに私はともだちのうちにいきました。私のともだちのなまえはヘンリーです、ニュージャージーからきました。そして、でんしゃでいちじかんにいきました。ヘンリーのうちにホットポットをたべました。おいしいですよ！そして。ねました。

わたしのサンクスギビングデーはおもしろくありませんが、やさしいです。

PE Reflections

In the past few weeks, I've noticed my pronunciation and fluidity have drastically improved - this is ironic as I had been mostly focusing on speed, but rather than my speed improving significantly, it was in other areas that I have shown the most improvement.

As a result, I'm going to keep the same goals as the last reflection - to continue working on my speed, as not only is it the most important aspect to improve for myself, but also helps with my other areas just as well.

こんにちわ、

きのうプリンストンにいきました。あきやすみノースカロライナにかいりました。あきやすみにねました、そしてたべました。でも、すうがくのテストがありました、そしてすうがくのテストをしました。どうようびにわたしわえいがをみました。そしてポケットモンスター X・Yをしました。となしでしたよ。

じゃあ、また

ヤンアレン

らいしゅうのテスト

おはよう、

らいしゅうはプリンストンのMidtermsしゅうです。しゅうまつはべんきょうします。わたしはらいしゅうにつのテストがあります、でもにつはにほんごのテストですよ。かようびときんようびににほんごのてすとがあります、そしてげつようびときんようびにすうがくのてすとがあります。らいしゅうのらいしゅうはあきやあすみです、でもつのすうがくおのてすとがあります(In addition to the two in Midterm week!).

こんしゅうとらいしゅう、わたしはANIMEみませんでした、そしてあいやすみいつもANIMEみます。きょうかいのかなたとくろこのバスケトはおもしろいです。

ありがとう、

ヤン海　

Macross Frontier (フロンティア)

Recently, I've started watching Macross Frontier - one of the most popular animes that aired in 2008. It's quitean interesting anime - I definitely recommend anyone who hasn't watched it to watch it.

The music in this anime is superb -

The story is set in a humanity running from extinction, flying around the universe searching for a new home, but as a consequence fighting another races. It follows three main characters, a famed idol, a private military pilot, and a rising idol, as they fight for humanity.

In fact, you might have even heard of this anime or one of its OPs (which is quite famous!) before:

Have fun watching Macross Frontier!

Allen

Shadowing Goals and Stuff

おはよう！

It hasn't been a month, but I've learned so much about Japanese already - our first test is tomorrow, and I've already started to be able to converse and say many primitive sentences - not just memorized phrases, but with custom actions and objects.

At this point, I've been able to see what will leave me most satisfied in taking this course - what my goals shall be. There are one thing that, in particular, strike my eye

 - Reading speed / talking speed
     In the future, I can still see myself watching anime and playing osu (a rhythm game filled with Japanese songs such as those from vocaloid or anime http://osu.ppy.sh/). In that sense, it is always said that you would learn a language much better if you are immersed in it. However, it will be irrelevant if I can't keep up; if all they're saying and singing are just mumbles to my slow ear and voice, learning through exposure will prove to be difficult. As such, I want to focus on my speed - in all aspects of Japanese, reading, writing, speaking, and shadowing, as much as possible.

There are many side effects of this goal, however. Two aspects of my Japanese speaking that I have noticed that are particularly weak, is my ability to move between certain moras (such as in tongue twisters), and my rhythm in reading long vowels and double consonants. In the end, everything will tie together and every single thing to work on - word pitch, intonation, and everything else - will help my speed.

Thanks for following my Blog!
 - 陽海 (やんはい)(Yang, Allen)

わたしのじこしょうかい

おはよう ございます！

はじめまして、わたしのなまえはYang　Allenです。

わたしはprincetonのにねんせいです。わたしのせんこうはすうがくです。

わたしはあめりかじんです。わたしもかなだじんです。
どうぞよろしく。

A lot has happened this past week with regards to my Japanese learning. Just a week ago, I only had a weak knowledge of greetings and expressions, but over the course of the week, not only have I learned all of hiragana, but I have begun to understand some other basic vocabulary and sentence structure - as seen in this introduction above. I am still horribly limited in how much I can produce, but it is now a nonzero amount.

Square One

When I first came to Princeton a year ago, I had wanted to take a foreign language. I had already placed out of the language requirement with Chinese, but had wanted to pursue other languages. My schedule opened up this year, which brings us to the question of why I chose Japanese.

There are a plethora of reasons - one, in my friend group back home in North Carolina, we had decided to learn the three major Asian languages. Some of us were fluent in Chinese, and some others in Korean, so the obvious option was to take Japanese.

Another was the fact that Japanese incorporated Chinese characters, which I am already familiar with. In addition, learning Japanese opens up the world of J-pop, Japanese drama and anime much more than in the past, all of which I have experienced throughout my life.

I'm excited about learning to understand the language - especially the interaction between Hiragana, Kanji, and Katakana. I find the most challenging part to be pronunciation, as it is not similar to either Chinese or English.

I'm looking to spending the next year learning Japanese!