Okay, so I am going to Japanese language school. I had found the school in the papers way back in October, but I couldn't attend because of my trip in November. I decided to join the Beginners class at the beginning of 2008. Bagong taon, bagong buhay. I am going to try to be more proactive this year.
Anyway, first week (January 10) gave me the jitters because first, I haven't been in a class for over a year. Second, I was not really sure what to expect from class. Third, what if I just suck at learning Japanese?
It turned out to be a good decision to go into Japanese class.
- The class is practically a steal at $100 for 8 weeks.
- It is very near my workplace, and in a decent neighborhood.
- The class is diverse in ages, gender and ethnic backgrounds. This makes for a livelier class.
- I am reminded of college writing classes I took at night. I miss college.
- I don't suck at Japanese. At least not yet. I am quite enthusiastic about learning it, and I enjoy reading the textbook and learning hiragana.
For the first week, we learned to
introduce ourselves.
Hajimemashite! Watashi wa Gail desu. Doozo yorushiku. I'm not going to try to write that in hiragana, at least not yet.
We learned
general facts and brief history on Japan. We, as a class, made it known that we are going to learn hiragana, so
sensei gave us hiragana stroke exercises
. Sensei gave us time to practice and she looked over our shoulders to see where we were at individually.
We practiced
useful expressions. A lot of them I was familiar with just because I was such a Nihongo speaker-wannabe.
Sensei had us go around the circle asking each other,
______ wa ikaga desu ka? [How about
(insert your favorite thing/person/time/place here)?] and replying with
Iie desu ne [That sounds good]. Time ran out at this point, and
sensei gave us "homework" on hiragana.
Overall, the first session went well. I was very excited to come back the next week. But I realized I had been speaking in my timid inside voice so far, and I ended up feeling more self-conscious. I made a decision to speak normally and be braver from now on. I'm going to make the most out of this class. I will try not to pay attention to what others might think when I speak up in class, ask questions, say something stupid or make mistakes.
Well, in the days between the first and second sessions, I bought my book (
Genki I by Eri Banno et al.) from Kinokuniya Bookstore. It's a bit expensive although I'm quite happy with it. Its structure and layout are quite similar to the KLEAR language textbooks I am using for Korean language self-study. I have found that the KLEAR books are a good match to my learning style, and I'm glad to find that
Genki is similar, although pricier.
I also learned all
46 basic hiragana characters. I bought a calligraphy brush pen because I couldn't resist it. Having the brush pen motivated me to learn my hiragana. I still have to practice them all so that I can get to the point where there is no noticeable lag time between my seeing and understanding the hiragana. I am finding that the more I try to use the characters as I transcribe Japanese sentences, the faster they stick in my mind. Writing them over and over can only bring you up to a certain point.
The second session, we finished up the list of
useful expressions. We also learned
numbers. I found it easier to learn than the Korean system, which has native and sino-korean numbers. But
sensei was tough on us. Like a drill master, she had us go around in a circle saying the numbers in Japanese and identifying random numbers in English. I have 1-10 down, but I can't rattle them off as quickly as I would like. We have gotten ourselves up to the 1000s, but I need to work on mine, especially since I've historically been weak on numbers.
We learned
how to ask for phone numbers. Again we went around in a circle asking phone numbers, replying and reciting them back. I would be pleased if I never hear a series of numbers spoken staccato anytime soon, but I don't think I have that luck.
Sensei will probably quiz us again on numbers, possibly with prices and such.
Sensei is under the impression that everyone in class has gotten all 46 basic hiragana down. I'm glad I went ahead and learned them instead of stopping at た (ta) as she had assigned. The combos are not as tough, as long as you know the basic.
We had homework again. This time, she has hand-outs. Methinks she's going to correct these next time. On top of that, she's making us accountable to come up with our own numbers, and then practice them in Japanese. Ehh?
If you hear me going
ichi, ni, san, yon, go, roku, nana, hachi, kyu, juu, juu ichi... under my breath, you'll know I'm serious about this learning thing.
