Japanese Diary - Japanese Lessons!

Since coming to Japan, I knew one of my main goals was to become better at Japanese, so of course the obvious thing I needed to do once I got here was join a language class. I was lucky enough to be introduced to some free, volunteer based Japanese lessons pretty quickly, and although I was originally prepared to pay for classes I'm so glad I have these now instead!

The format seems a little strange at first; the class is run by volunteers and is for learning both English and Japanese. So Japanese residents are there as well as foreigners, and mostly they are teamed up to talk to one another and learn from one another. Although, most of the volunteers do speak both languages, so in my case I was paired with a volunteer, Soma-Sensei, and she teaches me a little more formally (print outs from work books and kanji drills etc.). It's pretty good, especially since she used to be a teacher before. She also kind of chose me, as she loves England, which is cool. She lived there for a couple of years, in Reading too! So she was really excited when I said I lived near there (even her email address is her old Reading Postcode!). As well as that though, every other week there are slight changes to the format, where people are asked to form small groups and talk about a specific subject etc. which is great from a getting to know new people side, as well as being forced to communicate with people who may not share English as a language!

In all, I think these lessons are great for me! I'm already learning a lot, and the chance to talk to natives who are really interested in talking to me, as well as talking to other Japanese learners at a similar level to me is really helping me to cement concepts such as grammar patterns, which I struggle with! Now to just cram vocabulary in my own time and I'll be good... eventually. I really want to aim for N4 in December, maybe I can do it! (Or not...)

This is kind of a short one, but I thought it was an important thing to talk about, if you know where to look then finding quality language lessons is possible!

But for now, またね〜 From Osaka

My Time in Japan, Part 1!

So, is everyone ready to hear about my amazing adventure in Japan? For those unaware already, this past summer I travelled to Yokohama in Japan to study at Yokohama Design College, where I attended Japanese language and culture lessons for one month! I had the most amazing time of my life, despite the humidity, typhoons and bugs! I met some amazing friends, ate some amazing food, had some amazing experiences and brought back a load of amazing souvenirs!

Day 0 in Japan: So long, England! See you in a month! #travelling #japan #adventure

A photo posted by Jazz Thornton (@roverandomness) on Jul 7, 2014 at 4:15am PDT

The flight was an insane 12 hours... I was pretty lucky to get a direct flight though! I think I watched the lego movie twice, and slept some, also made friends with the guy sat next to me which definitely made it more bearable! Funny story, in the lobby before boarding we were both taking selfies with the plane and laughing at each other, and it just so happened that on a plane of 500 people we ended up being sat next to one another!

Day 1 in Japan: Well, I made it! #japan #travelling #adventure

A photo posted by Jazz Thornton (@roverandomness) on Jul 7, 2014 at 7:21pm PDT

The only other event of the flight though, a much less enjoyable sudden ear pain that I had gotten... I had been suffering with an ear infection prior to flying out that I thought I had gotten over, apparently I hadn't and it turns out that the next week of my life, no matter how amazing in Japan, was going to be incredibly painful. I'm still mega grateful to Robbie though (The guy I was sat next to!) as he managed to get me some painkillers and checked I was alright throughout the flight! Once we landed, I had a few hours to wait for my lift from the airport, and Robbie had a couple of hours till his conecting flight to Okinawa, so we had a nice breakfast (dinner? Lunch? Time zone confusion) together, I went to 'bagel and bagel'! It was sad when we had to part, and I still regret not getting some contact details to keep in touch since :(

Day 2 in Japan: Today I went exploring Yokohama, my accommodation is right next to a 24 hour mcdonalds... Also went to the Pokemon centre and got a new phone case! #japan #travelling #adventure

A photo posted by Jazz Thornton (@roverandomness) on Jul 7, 2014 at 3:50am PDT

After settling into my fairly quaint student accommodation all by myself, I decided to start exploring Japan immediately! I was super lucky, actually, that through this very blog I managed to meet a fellow Brit (Infact, the only other English person on the same course) before we both left for Japan! I met with Nikki for the very first time this day in Japan, as well as Svilen from Bulgaria. And these were just the first of some amazing international friends I found. Together, we explored the main centre of Yokohama, including the pokemon center! This was my first of many trips to this and other pokemon centers whilst I was in Japan, but this was the time that I got my AMAZING phone case! I also found that my accommodation was near a 2 hour McDonalds, which I ended up frequenting...

Day 3 in Japan: Today was the first day of school! We had a placement rest which was difficult and then orientation but that was it for today. After a few of us went to look around some shops and on my way home I may have stopped at mcdonalds... I have a new respect for foreign students, ordering mcdonalds in another language is hard! #japan #travelling #adventure #mcdonalds

A photo posted by Jazz Thornton (@roverandomness) on Jul 7, 2014 at 10:35am PDT

I think the caption for this day pretty much sums it up, the placement test was extremely long though, and some bits were so simple whilst others were complex, there wasn't much of a middle ground.

Days 4 and 5 in Japan: oops I forgot to photo yesterday, sorry! Yesterday was the first Japanese lesson, I think it was too easy for me though! I also had to go doctors yesterday boo! Today however was Mount Fuji, and Fuji-Q highland Theme Park! That roller coaster was crazy! We went on it first :p #japan #travelling #adventure #fujisan

A photo posted by Jazz Thornton (@roverandomness) on Jul 7, 2014 at 7:19am PDT

Day 4, my first Japanese lesson, which I was late too, as I had to go to the doctors first thing that morning. I think I should make my experience of being ill in Japan into its own post as there was a lot going on around it. It was exciting to start my first lessons though although the class was much too easy (though that was improved on in later lessons). Mount Fuji day and Fuji-Q Highland were something else though. I had already been to Mount Fuji before, the first time I'd been to Japan, but that was almost 6 years ago now! This time was just as busy with tourists, school coaches and day trips as I remembered though! It was a shame that it was such a cloudy day, when we arrived at the rest stop we couldn't see any of the peak at all, but there are so many shops and shrines up there that we still had plenty to do, I started off my collection of kit kats that day, with mount Fuji strawberry Cheesecake flavour. There are none left now. Fuji Q was pretty intense, our tickets included 4 free rides on whatever we wanted, I actually only ended up using 3 I think, as my ear infection was so painful I couldn't go on more rollercoasters, but I did make my first stop the "FUJIYAMA, the "KING OF COASTERS," which boasts world-class specs, including a maximum speed of 130 km/h (81 mph), a maximum drop of 70 m (230 ft.), and a maximum height of 79 m (259 ft.)" which was so incredible I could have done it 15 times in a row... There was also EVANGELION WORLD, which I was so excited about! Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of my favourite animes of all time, though I did get majorly freaked out by the giant life-size Unit 01 head going berserk, the gift shop for that was also a thing of beauty!


Theres more to come on my adventures in Japan, I thought separating it out would help with the sheer amount, but the more I think about tit the more I want to share and talk about! It's also maing me incredibly nostalgic, and now all I know is I have to make it back to Japan sometime! 'Til next time~ またね〜

Yokohama, and Yokohama Design College

こんばんは、みんな！

I wanted to talk a little about where I am planning on staying and studying when I visit Japan this summer! I've talked a little about Yokohama city before, but not in great detail, and I think I've only briefly mentioned the school I will be studying at, Yokohama Design College! 

I found out about this college through gogonihon.com, a site I was originally looking at to do their own summer course, and potential year-long Japanese course at one of the many schools they are linked with, and when looking through all the potential language schools I could go to, Yokohama Design College really caught my eye.

I didn't actually use Go Go Nihon to book my place on the summer course though, I actually got into contact with their international correspondent to ask a few questions about the course, and when I was finally ready (after she answered all my questions) she booked my place on the course, and sorted out my accommodation for me! Now, although I haven't seen the accommodation, it is a single flat in student accommodation, so I won't have to share a room with someone I don't know (and potentially don't share a language with) but I should still be around some of the other summer students should I make friends! I have been told the flat is 5 stops/20 minutes away from the college, I don't have the address yet though and I'm actually uncertain whether that is by train or bus, haha!

As you may be able to tell from the name, Yokohama Design College is not just a language school, but also an art college. Attending an art college now, and being as interested in illustration and other artistic subjects as I am, this was a big factor into my division to study at this college. As part of the summer course, language students get the chance to join in with some of the design lessons going on in the rest of the college. This includes subjects like badge making, illustration, manga techniques and translation, and I'm actually really looking forward to trying some arty stuff out. There are also Japanese culture lessons scattered in through the language lessons, and they include things like shodo (Japanese calligraphy), a tea ceremony and trips to Japanese temples and shrines, as well as a trip to disneyland and the sky tree that are listed on the itinerary! I don't know if I'm actually mostly excited for Disneyland now!

I will be in Japan for a little over a month, I intend to leave England on the 19th of July, and Leave Japan on the 23rd of August, even though the simmer course runs from the 22nd or July till the 15th August. I wanted to give myself a day or so to adjust when I arrived, and possibly find out how to reach the college, and I thought an extra week after I've finished to do some touristy things would be a perfect idea!

I'm really excited and terrified actually, and some of the things I am worried about are completely stupid (like, what do I do about cutlery and plates when I get there?!). This will not only be my first time living alone, but also my first time travelling abroad alone and I'm not going to know anybody at all.

I am glad I chose to stay in Yokohama for this trip. The more I research the area and watch videos etc. the more I think it was the perfect choice for me. Although at some point I would like to go and stay around the Chūgoku/Hiroshima area, I think around the Kanto region is the kind of area I would be most comfortable in. I have always grown up near the sea for one, and Yokohama really reminds me of Plymouth, in South West England where I currently go to University.

Yokohama is a beautiful seaside port town, the first port and harbour built in Japan to accommodate foreigners bringing in trade from across the sea in the 1800's. Since then, the city has grown dramatically, and now is great tourist attraction for both foreigners and the Japanese. There are hundreds of shops and restaurants along the waterfront, and possibly my favourite bit, Cosmo World, a theme park on the waters edge that boasts the worlds second largest ferris wheel (which is also the worlds largest clock!). I don't know if I will be too afraid to go on the wheel (certainly I will be by myself) but theres also a roller coaster and various other attractions that I am sure I will be visiting. The other great thing about Yokohama is the proximity to Tokyo! An hour on the train and you can be in central Tokyo, and exploring Tokyo is definitely something I am looking forward to a lot.

I hope my strange ramblings have made Yokohama and the design college sound like idea places to visit and study; I am certainly looking forward to going and I just wanted to share my excitement with you all!

Enjoy this cute tourism video I found of Yokohama! Till next time, またね〜

My Favourite Apps!

For lots of people (myself included!) it's tough to find time to practice languages sometimes, so if you have an iPhone, a handy little app to keep up revision when you have a spare moment can be perfect! So I thought I would share a small insight into the apps I personally use from time to time!

So as you can see, I have a small collection of language apps! I'll be honest, some of them I don't really use, but I like to keep them just incase, sometimes I like to revisit them! I do have a few favourites though that I use often, so here we are:

Kanji Sticky Study is a really straightforward app to use, it has a huuuge range of vocabulary, even in this free version, and everything is organised by JLPT level which is always useful!

 

JLPT Study is probably my most used app, again I only have the free version which only covers JLPT Level 5 but I am definetly going to be upgrading to the full version soon! This app has loads in it, everything is separated by JLPT level and also kanji and vocabulary are separated which means you can practice exactly what you want!

JP Card is purely for recognising kanji and vocabulary, which is great because there is so much! You can either use it to test yourself, or turn on browse mode to just read through and memorise.

imiwa? is truly a beautiful app. It's a Japanese dictionary, Kanji dictionary and vocabulary teacher all in one. You can look up any Japanese word and get examples of how it can be used in sentences, you can revise Kanji, you can look up kanji by JLPT level, School grade levels and even search it by radical if you know how to write it! This is such a useful app and its completely FREE! It can also translate into other languages except English at the same time, so it's pretty much useful for anyone learning Japanese! (also, some of the example sentences are completely bizarre and adorable, so it's great to keep you entertained whilst learning!)

So, not learning apps, but LINE is a super popular communication app in Japan, similar to iMessage on iPhones and completely free over an Internet connection, which also means its international, no restrictions like with texting! Perfect for keeping up with Japanese Penpals or other friends! Plus it has a lot of really cute stickers and emoji to keep your messages cute~
LINE play is a cute game for users of LINE, you create an avatar character that you can then dress up and decorate their room whilst visiting other friends houses and giving them hearts! It's a really cute and addictive game, you will want to keep collecting coins to make your room look amazing!

And, being a photographer, I couldn't resist including my favourite かわいい photo apps, so here they are!

First, there is LINE camera! Just like LINE and LINE play, it's part of the same collection, and has a huge amount of stickers and frames you can use on your photos, just like a real purikura! In fact, my other two photo apps are also very purikura-like, Kids Alpacasso has a lot of decorations themed around alpacas, of course (and I adore alacas so finding this was a wonderful thing!) and Rakuga Cute has tons of stickers, frames and pens to draw your own decorations!

 

Here's me, all cuted up!

I know that really, this wasn't all that informative of a post but I hope you all enjoyed it nonetheless! If you have any questions please feel free to contact me, so until next time~ またね！

The First Steps to Learning Japanese! - Lesson 1 - Kana!

So, sometimes the first steps in things are the hardest, but personally, my experience with Japanese says that's not true :p

I has been a long time since I first started learning Japanese, and I have had a lot of breaks and off-time in between, which I now sincerely regret but, that's all in the past, now I'm determined to never give up! And here's the first of my mini lessons to keep myself motivated!

Of course, the most basic step in learning a foreign language is getting to know the alphabet they write in. Japanese actually has three alphabets (Hirigana, Katakana and Kanji!), and this can seem really intimidating at first to beginners but never fear! Two of them are actually phonetic which makes them easy once you've learnt the characters, and they are Hiragana ひらがな and Katakana カタカナ! They basically consist of all the same sounds, 48 different ones in total, although a couple aren't used often in morden Japanese any more.

The sounds of the alphabets are actually quite simple, once you get around the pronounciation differences of the letters!

There are 5 main vowel sounds, which are A, I, U, E and O.

'A' is pronounced as in 'hat'

'I' is pronounced as in 'ski'

'U' is pronounced as in 'moo'

'E' is pronounced as in 'bet'

and 'O' is pronounced as in 'go'

There is also the sound 'N', which is hardest to describe but it's a one off character that's like a 'nnhhh' such as the beginning of 'never'.

And after those first 5 sounds, all the other characters just have a different consonant on the front, for example, the hiragana and katakana alphabets, along side their romaji (Romaji is the Japanese word for the Western or Roman alphabet, so simply, Japanese spelled out in English!

-->

あ	い	う	え	お		ア	イ	ウ	エ	オ
A	I	U	E	O		A	I	U	E	O
か	き	く	け	こ		カ	キ	ク	ケ	コ
KA	KI	KU	KE	KO		KA	KI	KU	KE	KO
さ	し	す	せ	そ		サ	シ	ス	セ	ソ
SA	SHI	SU	SE	SO		SA	SHI	SU	SE	SO
た	ち	つ	て	と		タ	チ	ツ	テ	ト
TA	CHI	TSU	TE	TO		TA	CHI	TSU	TE	TO
な	に	ぬ	ね	の		ナ	ニ	ヌ	ネ	ノ
NA	NI	NU	NE	NO		NA	NI	NU	NE	NO
は	ひ	ふ	へ	ほ		ハ	ヒ	フ	ヘ	ホ
HA	HI	FU	HE	HO		HA	HI	FU	HE	HO
ま	み	む	め	も		マ	ミ	ム	メ	モ
MA	MI	MU	ME	MO		MA	MI	MU	ME	MO
や		ゆ		よ		ヤ		ユ		ヨ
YA		YU		YO		YA		YU		YO
ら	り	る	れ	ろ		ラ	リ	ル	レ	ロ
RA	RI	RU	RE	RO		RA	RI	RU	RE	RO
わ				を		ワ				ヲ
WA				WO		WA				WO
ん						ン
N						N

As you may have noticed, there are a few minor differences in pronunciation with a couple of characters. Shi, Chi, Tsu and Fu don't fit in the pattern, but they do lead to easier pronunciation of some words this way!

It's also important to point out that the RA line (RA, RI, RU, RE, RO) aren't exactly pronounced as RAAAAHHH, but the R is more subtle and rolled, halfway between an R and an L. Maybe if people like my lessons, I might make a video about pronunciation!

In my opinion, it makes the most sense to start by learning hiragana. Then, once you've got the sounds down, katakana seems so much simpler, as it can be tricky trying to do both at the same time!

Hiragana is generally used for most Japanese words, spelled out phonetically of course. It can be used for entire words and sentences, or intertwined with Kanji, the third alphabet that I think I might save for another lesson! Words like Kawaii かわいい, Konnichiwa こんいちは and Sakura さくら can be written in Hiragana. Katakana, though sometimes used for Japanese words, is most commonly used for foreign loan-words, like cola コーラ, ice cream アイスクリーム　and cake ケーキ and also foreign names (my own name, Jazmin ジャズミン ) and onomatopoeia in manga ( キラキラ (kirakira) = sparklesparkle etc.)

Kanji is tough. I won't go into detail here, but I will give you a brief outline now, for those who are curious! There are thousands of kanji characters, borrowed from Chinese, and usually a single Kanji or a compound of two (but occasionally more) signifies one word. They range from super simple 日 to really complicated looking 語, and most have multiple meanings and readings. This probably sounds really daunting and scary now, but that wasn't my intent! I just wanted to prepare people!

I hope you have enjoyed this, the first step to learning Japanese, and my first attempt at writing a lesson! Hopefully next time I will have a few followers to suggest things, if you like what you've read here, please do leave a comment! 

I hope my next post will include some useful learning resources and maybe a little vocabulary!

Have some adorable charts to help you out! One you get the hang of the characters, it teaches you some cute words too!

And you can even download them as PDF's to print out at home by going to these links (Here and here!)and clicking this: PDFをダウンロード