クリスマス

おとといは　クリスマスなので、とても　たのしかったです。私は　りょうしんと　おとうとと　うちで　ゆっくりしました。べんきょうしないで　うんどうしないで　ゆっくりするので、とても　よかったです。まいとし　クリスマスツリーが　あります。私は　木を　かざるので、とても　きれいです。木を　かざるのは　大好きです。あさ　おくりものを　あけました。いつも　おくりものは　木の　したに　あります。りょうしんは　私に　新しい　ハイキングの　バックパックや　しんしふくを　かいました。りょうしんと　おとうとは　おくりものが　好きでした。私は　りょうしんと　おとうとに　おくりものを　 かうのが　好きです。

ごご　クリスマスの　りょうりを　たくさん　しました。クリスマスのばんごはんを　つくるのも　大好きです。私は　りょうしんと　おいしい　ターキーや　ソタフィングを　つくりました。このクリスマスは　とても　よかったです！

ふゆ休みです！

今　私は　うちに　います。　先週の　土曜日に　ひこうきで　うちに　かえりました。すこし　しゅくだいが　あるので、ときどき　べんきょうします。でも　よく　ゆっくり　したいです。　私と　おとうとと　りょうしんと　ばんごはんを　たべに　でかけました。このへんに　レストランが　たくさん　あります。日本の　レストランの　なまえは　おいしいです。でも　えいごで　Oishiを　かきます。おいしいは　とても　おいしかったですが、すこし　高かったです。私は　日本のたべものの方が　中国のたべものより　好きです。それから　私は　友だちと　よく　あいました。日曜日に　パーティが　ありました。十人が　いるので、とても　たのしかったです。 それから　今日　友だちに　きっさてんで　あいます。

きのう　友だちと　えいがを　みに　いきました。えいがを　みるのが　大好きです。V for Vendettaは　一番　好きなえいがです。とても　おもしろくて　すばらしいです。みて下さい！

今週は　とても　やさしいです。ごはんを　たくさん　たべて　はなします。とても　たのしいです！

日本人の友だちに てがみ

山田さんへ、
はじめまして。クリーリーです。私は　プリンストン大学の　二年生です。プリンストンは　とても　古いですが、きれいです。学生かいかんは　新しくて　大きいですが、私の　りょうは　小さいです。そして、　わたしの　せんこうは　きかいこうがくです。そのじゅぎょうは　むずかしいですが、とても　おもしろいです。それから　日本語の　じゅぎょうに　たくさん　友だちが　いるので、　日本語の　じゅぎょうの方が　きかいこうがくの　じゅぎょうより　たのしいです。　それから　私は　とても　いそがしいです。毎あさ　六時半に　おきて、　たいいくかんに　サイクリングを　しに　いきます。　サイクリングは　私の　一番　好きな　スポーツです。　するのも　みるのも　好きです。週末に　べんきょうして、友だちと　あそびます。
山田さんは　何年生ですか。　山田さんの　まちは　どんなまちですか。休みの日に　何を　するのが　好きですか。それでは、どうぞ　よろしく　おねがいします。

アレックス　クリーリー

クリスマスのかいもの

らい週の金曜日に　私は　友だちと　ニューヨークに　かいものに　いきます。ごご　じゅぎょうが　あるので、金曜日のばん　いきます。プリンストンから　ニューヨークまで　でんしゃで　一時間半ぐらい　かかります。友だちと　りょこうするのが　大好きです。私は　りょうしんと　おとうとに　おくりものを　かいます。おとうとは　アニメと　まんがが　好きなので、日本のえいがを　かいます。ニューヨークに　たくさん　みせが　あるので、あそこで　おくりものを　かいます。おとうとは　みる方が　よむより　好きなので、アニメは　一番　好きです。おかあさんも　本が　好きです。でも　まんがが　好きじゃありません。おかあさんは　ミステリと　スリラーが　好きです。でも　ミステリは　おもしろいので、ミステリの方が　好きです。私は　ミステリの本を　ニューヨークで　かいます。おとうさんは　りょうりを　するのが　好きです。私は　おとうさんと　りょうりを　するのが　とても　たのしいです。ですから　新しい日本のたべものの本を　おとうさんに　かいます。ニューヨークに　いくのが　とても　たのしいです！

これは　私の　かぞくです。

これは　ドイツに　あります。

ふゆ休み

私は　ふゆ休みが　大好きです。うちに　かえって、りょうしんと　あいます。プリンストンから　セントルイスまで　ひこうきで　に時間半ぐらい　かかります。うちで　ゆくっりしあす。私の　友だちと　あって、たくさん　はなします。ともだちと　えいがを　よむのが　すきです。そして　ともだちと　りょうしんと　りょうりを　するのも　好きですが、かいものに　いくのは　好きじゃありません。プリンストンが　好きです。でも　ここで　私は　とても　いそがしいです。うちで　ときどき　いそがしくありません。私は　ひま　ですから、スノーボーでィングを　します。でも　りょうしんと　しません。ともだちと　スノーボーでィングを　するのが　大好きです。

日本ごの ゴール さん

Between now and the end of the semester, there are a number of elements of my speaking and listening that I would like to focus on improving.

Goals:
While I believe that I have made major progress toward using the correct pitch pattern for vocabulary words, I know that I need to continue to work on this aspect whenever learning new words.  I feel that correct pronunciation is vital to sounding natural when speaking to native Japanese speakers.  During my shadowing exercises I have also noticed that when I speak quickly, I tend to add an odd emphasis on elements of the sentence that I think that I may forget or say incorrectly.  I would like to work on keeping my speech pattern natural sounding, even when speaking more quickly.  In addition, during some of my conversations with my 先生, it has come to my attention that I sometimes use the wrong pitch for a particle following a noun.  I intend to focus on using the correct pitch pattern for particles that come after commonly used vocabulary in order to continue my progress toward natural sounding speech.  As far as listening goes, I have noticed that whenever I come across a word that I don't know, it tends to throw me off and I don't understand the portion of the sentence with this word.  I would like to work on discerning the meaning of unknown vocabulary through context rather than allowing them to distract me from the rest of the sentence.

Activities:
In pursuit of the goals listed above, I intend to continue many of my activities from the last goal cycle.  This includes regularly attending the Japanese language practice to practice speech and listening in an informal setting, carefully listening to the way that my 先生 pronounces vocabulary in class, shadowing for two fifteen minute session each week to work on pitch and listening speed, and shadowing small party of the occasional anime episode.  In addition, I intend to go to office hours once per week to focus on more specific pronunciation issues, such as particle pitch and raising intonation.  I believe that office hours are a great way to get individual coaching on the ways in which I can best improve my Japanese speech.

Even with the semester winding down, I definitely want to learn as much Japanese as I can in the next few weeks!

日本ごの ほんせい に

With the beginning of December comes the end of one goal cycle and the beginning of the next.  Over the past month or so I focused on improving various aspects of my listening and pronunciation.  Whenever I learn new vocabulary I now make a concerted effort to memorize the pitch pattern along with the meaning of the word.  I think that the strategy of focussing on pitch from the very beginning has proven fairly successful, and I feel that I make fewer vocabulary related pitch errors now than I did at the time of my last reflection.  Similarly, paying close attention to the way my 先生 pronounces vocabulary in class, and how the models pronounce specific words during dialogues, has helped me to train my ear to the correct pitch pattern of vocabulary.  In addition, I believe that I've made significant progress toward avoiding the rising pitch of an English question.  I discovered that I was doing this primarily when I was uncertain about vocabulary or sentence structure, and was saying the sentence almost as a question of whether or not it was correct.  Regularly going to office hours has proven a great way to remedy this issue, as I have the chance to speak in Japanese for extended periods of time and am called out whenever I make this mistake.  Doing shadowing regularly has definitely helped out with the pitch patterns for vocabulary, but it has also really improved my comprehension speed.  I am now able to gather a lot more information from a fast conversation than I was previously.  Finally, going to the Japanese language table is a lot of fun, and I really enjoy the informal setting to practice speaking and listening.  It's amazing the amount of material that we cover in this course, and having now started on new verb forms and sentence structures, I feel that we're really beginning to dive into the details of the language.  Writing in Kanji also makes me feel super legit.

サンクスギビングの休み

サンクスギビングの休みに　私は　私のおばさんのうちに　しぞくに　あいに　いきました。木曜日に　ともだちのうちに　大きいばんごはんを　たべに　いきました。　たくさん　はなして、ターキーを　たべて、ケーキを　たべました。とても　おいしかったです。うちが　私のじゃなっかたですから、私は　りょうりを　しませんでした。そして　金曜日に　たくさん　べんきょうして、えいがをみて、おばさんのうちで　ゆっくりしました。ひまで、たのしかたです。今日も　べんきょうして、えいがを　みました。あした　プリンストンに　かえって、ともだちに　あいます。サンクスギビングの休みが　大すきです！

わたしのやすみの日

わたしは　あまり　ひまじゃないです。でも　わたしは　たくさん　 かつどうします。大学で　いつも　ともだちと　ごはんを　たべて、　はなします。　ときどき　ともだちのへやに　えいがを　みに　いきます。わたしと　ともだちが　デイズニーのえいがが　大すきです。ときどき　セントルイスのともだちに　てがみを　かきます。たいてい　りょうしんに　でんわを　かけます。わたしは　アルバイトが　ありません、でも　わたしは　ぜんぜん　かいものに　いきません。　 こう校あいだじゅう　たくさん　ともだちと　しました。とても　たのしかったです。よく　ものを　たてました。

これは　わたしと　ともだちです。とても　たのしかったですから、わたしの　せんこうは　きかい工学です。

プリンストンのキャンパス

プリンストンのキャンパスは　りっぱです。わたしの　大学は　とても　ふるいです。たくさん　りっぱなたてものが　あります。

これは　りょうです。ゆきは　とても　きれいです。

これは　わたしのへやのまどのそとに　あります。あきに　きは　きいろいです。

これは　としょかんです。わたしは　ここに　ときどき　べんきょうします。

あきやすみは だいすきです

わたしは　あきやすみに　キャンプに　いきました。キャンプは　ニュージャージーに　あります。こうえんは　とても　りっぱです。キャンプは　ALTTって　いいます。わたしは　リーダーシップ を　べんきょうしました。たいてい　ごぜん　しちじはんに　おきました。でも　ときどき　ろくじよんじゅうごふんに　おきました。げつようびから　きんようびまで　ごぜん　にじに　ねました。まいにち　ハイキングを　しました。せんしゅう　さんじゅうこ　マイルに　いきました。あきやすみに　ゆきが　ありません。でも　とても　さむいです。わたしの　テントは　きいろいです。きれいなテントが　ありません。でも　いいです。きゅうめい　大学生が　いました。キャンプの　たべものは　りっぱじゃないです。でも　おいしいです。キャンプは　だいすきです。

にほんごの ゴール に

In the next few weeks of my study of Japanese, I've got another set of goals that I'd like to work on in order to focus my effort.

Goals:
I would like to really work on my intonation throughout various aspects of the Japanese language.  First, I need to make sure to really focus on learning the intonation of vocabulary when first learning the word, since I tend to make a habit of the wrong pronunciation if I start off wrong.  In addition, I would like to make sure not to raise the pitch of the end of a question, since this is an English phenomenon and isn't reflected in Japanese.  I do my best, but I often forget, especially when I'm focussing on the vocabulary. In terms of listening, I would like to work on increasing the speed at which I process the incoming information, since I occasionally get caught up in one part of the sentence and then misunderstand or forget other parts.

Activities:
In order to work toward these goal, I intend to listen carefully to the way in which my 先生　pronounces each vocabulary word in class, and to then repeat these to myself when studying.  In addition, I shall continue to go to the Japanese Language table every week to further build up speed of speaking and recognition.  I will continue to shadow every week, although I will be more modest in my goal this cycle, aiming for two ten to fifteen minute sessions per week.  While watching the little anime that I do, I will focus on extracting vocabulary and phrases that I understand and then shadowing these parts of the anime.

I'm really happy with my progress in Japanese so far and I can't wait to do more!

にほんごの ほんせい いち

Now that I've completed the first major part of Japanese 101, it's about time to reflect on how much progress I've made toward the goals that I set out a couple of weeks ago.  As far as the pronunciation of the r- and g- mora goes, I believe that I made substantial progress toward a more natural pronunciation.  My r- group now sounds much closer to the Japanese pronunciation rather than a mi of English r's or l's.  The g- moras are also more natural sounding.  In addition, double consonants no longer sound like a full break, but I still occasionally forget and unintentionally break the word.  By this point I also feel pretty confident about which vowels are dropped, although it seems that there are some words where both pronunciations are acceptable, and this occasionally confuses me.  When doing listening exercises, I am now able to better distinguish the breaks in words, although I listening is still probably one of my weaker points.  In making progress towards these goals, I think that my previously set out activities were pretty helpful.  I went to the Japanese Language Table every week（おいしいです）, which was a fantastic opportunity to speak in an informal environment and get more comfortable with the language.  I've also made some good friends there and enjoy fumbling around with expression that we don't quite know how to say yet.  Shadowing was also helpful, but way more time consuming than I had originally thought.  I ended up only doing one or two sessions per week, instead of my intended three, but they still proved really useful.  Shadowing anime is fun（いいです）, but is also really hard (むずかしいです）, and I was only able to catch certain key phrases that occurred often, or that I had learned in class.  Overall, I feel that I kept up with my activities reasonably well, even though I probably should have dedicated more time to shadowing.

Having been really nervous about the oral midterm this morning, I think that everything actually went pretty well.  I definitely paused and said um a couple of times, but it was rather minimal and I don't think that it detracted too much from my speech.  The parts of the conversation that I was able to prepare went really well, and I was able to express a lot about myself and Princeton's campus.  There were a couple of words that I think that I may have mispronounced (としょかん）, but I think that I did well on the whole.  I made an effort of being an active listener (ああ、そうですか, いいですね, etc.) and tried to interact as much as possible with my parter and すずきさん.  I made several small errors (such as saying どれ rather than これ) but there weren't any major missteps.  However, listening proved to be a bit problematic, as I misunderstood one of すずきさん's questions, and spoke about the wrong day.  Anyway, I think that I presented myself well, but also learned some places to work on in the future.

あきやすみが だいすきです！わたしは　げつようびから　どようびまで　キャんぷに　いきます。

キャンピ

わたしは　よく　キャンピングを　します。　わたしは　OA Leader　です。　らいしゅう　キャンピに　いきます。ALTTって　いいます。　キャンピは　おおきいこうえんで　ありまあす。キャンピが　だいすきです。

This was on OA Frosh Trip 2011.  It was totally epic.

The lakes of the Boundary Waters in Minnesota, near the border with Canada.

The Colorado River in Utah.  This might have been a bit posed...

サイクリング

わたしは　げつようびから　どようびまで　サイクリングを　します。

So as a freshman last year I decided that I wanted to try out the Princeton cycling team.  I had run cross country in high school, but I ended up getting injured so many times that it wasn't worth it anymore.  It was all for the best, though, since I really do love cycling.  Last year I raced the Spring season, which was awesome.  The picture below is from my first race, at Rutgers.

Here I am in New York City, at a race hosted by Columbia.

This is the finish line camera in New Hampshire.  I actually ended up getting 2nd place in my division!

 Anyway, cycling is a great way to burn off the stress of school, and I try to go almost every morning.  It's a great sport and I can't wait for the season this upcoming spring.
サイクリングが　だいすきです！

きょう

きょうは　ビジー　です。　わたしは　ごぜんろくじよんじゅうごふんに　おきました　 そして　しちじはんに　あさごはんを　たべました。　バナナと　シリアルを　たべまして。　はちじから　くじまで　アイクリングを　しました。　そして　じゅういちじに　ぶつりがくのじゅぎょうが　ありました。そして　じゅうにじはんごろ　ウィルソンで　ひるごはんを　たべました。そして　さんじさんじゅっぷんに　にほんごのじゅぎょうが　ありました。ろくじから　しちじまで　にほんごのテーブルが　ありました。いま　ねます！

ばてる

(;´ρ`) ｸﾞｯﾀﾘ
わたしは　ばてる　です。いま　ねます。
But I don't really mean physically tired.  I'm mentally exhausted.  I really do love all of my classes this semester, but they're beginning to take their toll.  My engineering classes have a decent amount work, but aren't really that bad.  I'm taking a class on European Culture, which is really interesting, especially since we get to read a huge variety of both literature and history, but, as I said, we read a lot.  My physics class, unofficially known as Death Mech, lives up to its name.  Finally, Japanese is great, and I'm really excited about how much I've learned in the last four weeks, but it's also quite a time commitment.  I think that this week is just particularly bad though.  And, in any case, Fall Break is right around the corner.  In the end, all the work will definitely be worth it, since I really won't have another chance to learn so much cool stuff in such a short amount of time.  だいがくが　すきです。

きょう

きょうのあさ　わたしは　ろくじはんに　おきます。　しちじはんに　あさごはんを　たべます。　はちじじゅうごふんに　サイクリングを　します。　じゅういちじに　じゅぎょうを　いきます。ごじはんじ　ばんごはんを　たべます。だいがくが　すきです。

Forming Sentences

わたしは　きのうの　ばん　デスノートを　みました。　わたしは　きょうの　ひる　にほんごを　べんきょうします。わたしは　あした　としょかんで　えいがを　みます。
So, I'm really not sure how grammatically correct these sentences are, but I've made it to the point where I can really start forming more flexible sentences about things that I do in my everyday life.  This is where the language really becomes interesting, because we move beyond having a formula where you can change out a word or two, and instead can mix and match words and structures to suit our intention.  I can't wait to expand my vocabulary and really start speaking Japanese.

P.S. I've never really watched anime before, but some of my friends convinced me to try it out since I'm taking Japanese, and it's really quite good.  Shadowing off of it is hard, though.

Goals in Japanese: Part 1

I've got a lot of goals for this semester in Japanese, but right now I'll list some specific ones that pertain to improving my pronunciation and listening comprehension in the next couple of weeks.

Goals:
In the next few weeks, I would like to be able to correctly form each individual mora, working especially hard on the r- and g- groups.  In addition, I need to work on the correct way to fit a double consonant into a word so that it doesn't sound like a full break.  I would also like to further familiarize myself with all the times when vowels are dropped, so that I don't pronounce all words exactly as they are written instead of how they should be.  Finally, I need to work on distinguishing when one word ends and the next begins during listening, so that I can more easily make sense of longer sentences.

Activities:
In order to complete the above goals I intend to do Shadowing for about 10 minutes three times a week.  I will also attend the Japanese language table practice speaking and listening in an informal environment.  In addition, I will shadow one episode of anime per week to gain experience with a wider variety of speaking styles, beyond those posted on Blackboard.

Hopefully these activities will help me make progress toward my goals in the next few weeks.

Japanese Running Through My Head

So it's really beginning to dawn on me how much work it is going to take to get myself to think in Japanese.  So far writing isn't too much of a problem and I can memorize vocabulary pretty well, but reading and speaking are hard... really hard.  I can eventually read a sentence or say what I want, but it takes practically an eternity.  I guess I just need to sit down and read a ton of Hiragana even if I have no idea what it means so that I get faster at sounding things out.  Speaking will also hopefully get better with time.  It sucks that I missed the language table this week, but I definitely want to go on Tuesday.　にほんご,  はい

にほんごの いちねんせい です。

はじめまして。クリーリー です。プリンストン　だいがく　にねんせい　です。にほんごの　いちねんせい　です。わたしは　アメリカ　から　きました。どうぞよろしく。

First Quiz

We had our first quiz today...  It think it went pretty well.  Just basic ひらがな and some useful phrases like おはよう　ございます。Class is moving so quickly, I really hope that I'll be able to keep up.

The First Week

はじめまして。　Creely です。にねんせい　です。どうぞ　よろしく。

So that's about the extent of my conversational skill in Japanese so far.  I can say hello at different times of day, introduce myself, say goodbye and deal with some other small formalities.  It's been fun though.  Learning ひらがな　has been really interesting and I can't wait do do more.  My vocabulary is still limited, but at least I can sound written words out now.  Anyway, I chose Japanese since I really wanted to do something completely different from anything I've done before (English and German) so it's been a great success up to this point. The symbols make writing look awesome and the spoken language sounds totally different from European languages.  I can't wait to learn more and really begin to speak Japanese.  On that note さようなら！じゃあ、また！