Sunday, September 14, 2008

On studying Japanese:

Posted by エリサ at 4:36 PM

I developed an interest in Japan, as many have, through anime and manga. These provided me with a window into Japanese culture, which I found fascinating. Japan is so unique, having developed apart from Western influence until the 1800s. After Perry's arrival, the traditional and the modern collided and meshed and created a culture distinct from either influence.


So, yes, like so many others I never thought twice about Japan until I got into anime and manga. But now I've come to love its history, music, fashions, art, traditions, language, and everything in between. 

I still read manga, which I'm happy to discuss with anyone, but I stopped watching anime for the most part, save the works of Hayao Miyazaki and Satoshi Kon. 

Moving along, then...
There are a few things I've found difficult about learning Japanese. One is that my vocabulary and syntax are severely limited. I'm not a big talker in reality, but when I'm typing I tend to get wordy (can't you tell?). And there's not much I can say in Japanese right now. It's an uncomfortable feeling for me.
Also I can get overwhelmed when I see a large amount of hiragana/katakana on a page. I'm okay once I start working through it one character at a time, but just seeing it there gives me something akin to sticker-shock. I just want to close the book and go read some English text for a while. That's something I know I'll get over in time, though.

Well, it's nice talking to you. I'll try not to be so verbose in my other entries...

- Elisa

 

4 Comments:

  1. Jackie Emmanuel said...
    September 19, 2008 at 11:21 AM  
    Elisa - if you want to see spirited away this weekend, they're showing it on sunday night at dpac at 7 pm! just comment on my most recent post if you wanna go.
    でんわばんごう：　はちいちさんの　さんきゅういちの　はちさんぜろぜろ
    （my number is 813-391-8300)
    じゃあ、また！
    ーjackie
    Jackie Emmanuel said...
    September 21, 2008 at 12:31 PM  
    デカストロさん！
    こんばんのえいが　みますか？　I hope you can come~~! I asked my teacher and she said people could come. I'm pumped!!
    きょう　べんきょしますか？　Observatoryに　いきますか？　We have lots of projects due this week, plus that test thurs :O
    じゃあ、また！
    ーJackie
    Jackie Emmanuel said...
    September 21, 2008 at 2:44 PM  
    Haha, there's a lot of stuff due soon, so you might want to look into going tonight/this week - there's the homework due on thursday, along with the moon project (important!!) the constellation test (not due this week (i don't think) but this'll be the last week of good weather) and there's a big test on thursday O>O

    not exciting at all :( i've finished most of it by now (except for the last homework - i passed the test/moon proj and all by now - i was asking if you had gone to the observatory yet XD)
    That class is waaaay harder than i thought it would be :p
    Anonymous said...
    September 21, 2008 at 4:39 PM  
    エリサさん！わたしもget overwhelmed when I see a whole page of ひらがなor かたかな...it's getting easier and easier to read it, though, the more we practice, ね？
    じゃあ、また！

    メリー (アトワッド）
    Mary

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