Boring

Howdy journal. Long time, no type? Just updating I have since began studying my u and ru verbs.  I have also learned of the te congugation.  Use it for a lot of useful things, like using 2 verbs in a sentence!  Fun stuff. 

Textfugu, Ipod apps, and more junk to learn

Howdy all.  A quick update for now.  I started using an online textbook.  Well, maybe it is a textbook, maybe it is not. It says it is one, so let us go with that.





Made by Koichi, it is his claim that this is an online textbook for those teaching themselves Japanese.  I can not tell if the fellow is knowledgeable enough to become a certified teacher, but so far I can tell he is very knowledgeable in Japanese. I am giving it a try, to see what he feels is the appropriate way to learn Japanese. Here is his blog as well.  He does offer a lot of interesting information about Japanese culture. 



I'll try to site more web blogs I read over the coming posts.
I am using a mixture of things in my studies, whether it is textbooks, Textfugu, smart.fm or Ipod apps.  So far, I am doing pretty well.  I have learned it is good to always look for study aids that actually offer a method of testing your knowledge. I actually try to read Japanese materials everyday as well as listening to Japanese audio to get myself used to the language.  So until then, 勉強しています！

Vocab lists with Smart.fm

I started today to make a vocab list for Kroger supermarkets.  It will a great reference for expanding my vocabulary. 

丁寧語、尊敬語、謙譲語 and many more

I knew the Japanese have several verbal forms for who you are speaking to, but I didn't really know their respective names.  Now I do, and now I cannot remember them well enough.  Time for more studying.

漢字

Today I was studying kanji.  I was looking through the 常用漢字(じょうようかんじ), the officially recognized 1949 characters required to be understood according the Japanese government.  Terribly fun stuff.  I learned after studying them, I can recognize at least 80 characters without thinking about it.  It is great to know that I know characters well enough already.  Although they were the first level characters you would otherwise learn in grade school.  Anyway, back to studying. 

おしまい！

片仮名と平仮名。

Today I practiced hiragana and katakana.  They are the easiest to learn.  Hiragana is used for everything, including pronunciation of kanji.  I learned so many uses for these characters; verbs, adjectives, demonstrative pronouns and adjectives, the list is that long. The katakana syllabary is for foreign words or to add emphasis to certain words.  I have been studying Japanese on and off for a while now, so I have understanding of the Japanese language, however lacking. 

I will study these in unison with Kanji.  I found some apps on Apple's app store that are great for helping in memorization of hiragana, katakana, and kanji.  I will try to post links for them on here. 

其れじゃ、また明日！

紹介！

Howdy all.  I am Uso to those who are looking for anything about self teaching yourself Japanese.  This is a blog for recording what I am learning in my Japanese studies.  That way, I will better retain information.  Maybe this will even help others.  I will post links to things I find to be helpful, and maybe even review products I use during my studies. 


This will all attribute to me going to Japan when I am able to understand the language.  Japan has always fascinated me, and that is why I know I will do this.