Wednesday, January 31, 2007

おそくなってすみません!

せんしゅうのすいようびからこんしゅうのにちようびまで、わたしがびょきでしたから、 blogできませんでした。

And with that, I exhaust my working knowledge of Japanese.

Actually, that’s not entirely true. I took two levels of Japanese at Hunter College a couple of years ago and I absolutely loved it beyond belief. However, while I learned a fair amount of grammar (my favorite part of any language) and a small amount of vocabulary (memorization is not my forte), I never overcame one extremely glaring handicap. See, if given a few minutes, I can write out a sentence in Japanese on paper. Unfortunately, in conversation, not only can’t I think fast enough to come up with anything to say within a reasonable timeframe, but I usually get so flustered with the effort that all the Japanese I know flies straight out of my head, leaving me with nothing to work with at all. If I manage to actually stutter out, “E-etto… anou ne…” while turning bright red, I consider it a victory.

So, my goal for this class is to overcome my two weaknesses. I want to expand my vocabulary and be able to speak Japanese aloud with confidence.

Here’s hoping!

3 comments:

satoza said...

いえいえ、しゅくだいじゃありませんから、だいじょうぶですよ。

If you can, please come to chat club! It is a great opportunity for you to practice speaking... :)

Satomi said...

わたしは せんしゅうの かようびに じゅぎょうにいた TAです。

にほんご じょうず ですね。
I'm not good at remembering vocabulary either though I like to learn grammar. Learning grammer of another language seems like breaking a secret code, doesn't it?

サラ said...

Yes, Satomi, learning grammar is the best part of language, isn't it? It's like you said, just like cracking a code, or even putting together a puzzle. I think the more grammar a language has, the more fun it is--that's why I loved taking Latin in high school. I think Japanese grammar is very fun because it's so different than English grammar. I'm always happy to learn more!