忙しい… Busy! (^^;)
So a couple of weeks ago I started my first summer class at Rutgers State University of New Jersey. It was second semester Japanese. The problem is that I didn’t take the first semester before it. I believed with all the anime I watched and all the self-studying I did back in high school, I had enough knowledge of the language to skip the first semester. In a way, this was a good and bad idea. Good in the fact that I didn’t have to spend the first part of my summer taking a class in which I already all the concepts for already. But it was bad in the fact that I have to struggle with the 500+ vocab words that I didn’t memorize before hand. And so most of my work for the class consists of me looking up the most simplest words in the dictionary. Then you also have to remember that this is a summer class, so a whole semester’s worth of learning is condensed into just one month! I’ve only been in class for two weeks and already I have to prepare for the midterm next week!
However, I’m still having a blast with this class! Witting in kana and kanji with an actual purpose and meaning has to be one of the funnest things I’ve ever done in college. I think that everyone in my class is an anime and manga fan, though of course shy little me rarely joins in on their conversation. (^^;) And our Sensei is pretty cool too. He’s given me some pretty nice compliments on my performance so far. I’m getting better with my vocab. The homework takes less and less time for me to complete the more I become independent from the dictionary.
But still, this class has been taking out a huge part of my time right now. My days are booked with school, homework, and my part-time job working at a local video store. Then, with the little bit of free time I have left, I (and for very good reason) chose to spend it with my girlfriend. And so that is why this blog takes a backseat for the time being. That doesn’t mean I’ve been slacking off with my anime watching, though. I still find a little time in the day to still do that. 
Here’s my list of my shows for this summer, in order of “Watches Religiously” to “Watches Occasionally”:
Kamichu!
Okusama wa Joshikosei
Suzuka
Amaeraide Yo!
Shuffle!
Da Capo 2nd Season
Hopefully I’ll get to blogging about these shows sometime over the summer. I also have a mess of new manga and anime DVDs to tell you about as well. And then, in a couple of weeks my cosplaying girlfriend and myself will be going to Otakon in Baltimore, Maryland. This will be the first time I’ve been to this convention, and I’m really looking forward to it. Is anyone else going? Hopefully I’ll take some cool pictures and write up a nice little entry on it afterwards. It’s been a very good season for this anime fan, that’s for sure!
Also, in case you missed it last week, Matthew translated a very interesting post from Ken Akamatsu’s blog. Akamatsu is the creator of Love Hina, the series that jump started my obsession with anime and manga. Without a doubt, he is my favorite manga artist of all time. I’ve always had a special interest in him because he’s a complete computer nerd, just like yours truly. I’m planning on going into computer programming as a career, and Akamatsu’s first mainstream series, “A.I. Won’t Stop”, was a shounen romance with a computer programmer protagonist. So I’ve always felt a connection to him based on our similar interests.
Well, apparently we think even more alike then that, because that post he worte was about the latest trend in anime called, “Moe.” He talks about how to define the word, and why it’s so popular amongst males. He believes that it has not sexual context what so ever, and it is a longing for males to experience motherhood. What makes this such a big deal to me is that a few months ago, I had made my own post on the topic, and my views were also similar to that of Akamatsu’s. The only difference is that I used the word fatherhood because my personal vision of fatherhood involves a lot more childcare then I guess is in the Japanese (and also American) ideal. But still, to think that I’m on the same wavelength on the subject as my hero is something that I think is very, very cool! (^_^)
Anyway, I hope that all my readers and fellow bloggers are having a good summer so far. I really miss this site, but I should be back as soon as the fall semester begins.
I’ve heard from various people that Japanese is really easy to learn, but I’ve also heard from various people that it’s pretty hard. For you, which is it?
Comment by KT Kore — July 28, 2005 @ 12:24 am
There’s no doubt in my mind that Japanese is way harder to learn then European languages such a French or German. The reason for this is that with Japanese, everything is completely different from English. I’m talking about the sentence structures, the vocabulary (with the exception of non-native words), and most of all, the writing system. It is a really tricky language to learn.
However, what makes it easy is the individual’s personal interest to learn it. I think that the language and the writing system are very cool, and I enjoy exploring and using it. This is class is actually fun for me. It doesn’t matter what the subject is, if you enjoy taking a particular class then you will find it a whole lot easier then someone who’s not quite so enthusiastic. That’s probably why you’re hearing so many contradicting opinions on it.
So my final verdict: Never take Japanese unless you really have a strong interest in the subject.
Comment by Scott — July 28, 2005 @ 8:01 am
Hmm..true. For me it was prett easy to get a handle on the language..for some reason the structure just made a lot of sense (as opposed to English, which I find in retrospect makes no sense whatsoever :p. I personally find it a lot easier than French or German. But that’s just me and my messed up mental model of language ^_^).
I’ll second your vocab woes, though, Scott. Despite knowing a fairly large number (by some counts) of words, there are still lots of basic ones that I’ve missed.
Why?
Because those of us that learn from anime (heh) learn words that are *spoken* often. There are lots of words that are common in our lives, but that we just don’t use. Let me give you an example: socks.
written くつした or, 靴下. I only learned that a month or so ago, because I happened to be flipping through a textbook that had a `clothing’ unit. (And I only remembered it because it translates as `undershoes’. Heh.) Now, how often do we say the word `socks’ in conversation? Not that often. How often do we encounter socks in real life? Most likely, all the time.
That said, I’ve found anime (or popular culture in general) is a good resource to get a `feel’ for the language. I feel far more confident with Japanese than I ever did with French, despite actually studying it (in a classroom environment) for some 9 years.
And, it can help stir interest in the language, which as you point out is a good thing. I’d suggest against learning the language *just* so you can watch anime, but if there’s more to it than that for you, then yeah, go for it!
Comment by Satoshi — July 28, 2005 @ 9:21 pm
Good thing I don’t have an interest in learning the Japanese language, because then I’d have to stop watching dubs, and Scott knows that I’m incapable of that.
Comment by Alex — July 31, 2005 @ 4:56 pm