Language: Practice with your Teacher

I am learning Japanese at the moment. Japanese has a lot of formalities and politeness. It’s true that other languages also have formal or polite forms, but it seems like it is very easy to offend in Japanese. I was listening to a lesson on polite Japanese and I remembered an encounter I had this week when I was talking with another teacher at the Japanese Language Center. I was offering him New Year’s Greetings, which I had learned only an hour before. “Agemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu! Kotoshi　yoroshiku onegaishimasu!”
あげまして　おめでとう　ございます！ことし　よろしく　おねがいします！

I was being formal-ish in speech so he indicated I should say the whole greeting… which I really mangled and skewed. A classmate hit me and told me to try it again. When I finally finished the phrase, this time correctly, we laughed and joked about it.

While I was listening to the lesson, I realised only a teacher or a classmate or a close friend would excuse such mistakes. In Japan, first impressions are everything, so if you want to make good first impressions, practice with a teacher who can correct you before you offend accidentally.

Tags: japanese, language, short note, study

Japanese: Books

I was going through some notes and thought I would take the time to note the books I have bought to learn Japanese over the last couple years. My official Japanese school books at the point are the Minna no Nihongo series released by 3A Corporation, but they aren’t the only books helping me to learn:

Writing Hiragana: An Introductory Japanese Language Workbook by Jim Gleeson (Tuttle) ~ Excellent for repetition of the Hiragana plus some words, sentences and phrases.

Writing Katakana: An Introductory Japanese Language Workbook by Jim Gleeson (Tuttle) ~ Katakana is the script used for foreign words and emphasis. This is also a great book for repetition of the characters. Plus words, phrases and locations.

The First 100 Japanese Kanji: The quick and easy way to learn the basic Japanese Kanji by Eriko Sato Ph.D. (Tuttle) ~ I am currently using this to supplement the assigned Kanji in class. This is not as great as the kana books, but still awesome for the repetitiveness.

Minna no Nihongo book 1 (3A Corporation) ~ School Books, very conversational, some translations leave a little to be desired, but overall a fun and informative series in the classroom.

Minna no Nihongo book 2 (3A Corporation) ~ School Books, see above.

Write Now! Kanji for Beginners (3A Corporation) ~ From the company the does my schoolbooks. It doesn’t coincide with the lessons, but it is a nice book. It lists a certain amount of kanji in each lesson and by the end of the chapter you are that many more kanji richer in knowledge. As the name suggests, it gets you writing and reading kanji immediately.

Kana de Manga by Glenn Kardy and Chihiro Hattori (Manga University) ~ a simple book, fun, but essentially I found it useless. The book comes with the kana, Hiragana on one page, Katakana for the same sound on the other, a little bit of information and a pronounciation guide plus a few squares for practice. the back of the small book has more blank pages. For someone who learns well and quickly this is great, for me not so much.

Kanji de Manga vol. 1 by Glenn Kardy and Chihiro Hattori (Manga University) ~ I like the book, it has some cute scenes and explanations in it, but until I was actually taking a class, listening to a podcast and playing a video game all teaching me, I couldn’t understand what it was telling me. Again if you learn quickly and well, a quick explanation that is not in the book would make this series awesome for you.

Tags: Books, japanese

Holidays: Impromptu

Yesterday was my last Japanese class of 2010. Since we had dinner with the teachers on Thursday Dec 17, 2009, I didn’t expect anything of import on Tuesday. After all, it was only a class before a break and not the end of a session.

The evening started off innocent enough, if odd. The Raffies were not present and the cultural center was unnaturally silent. After greeting the person behind the desk, I inquired if there was a class. To my intense relief he indicated in the positive. I then remarked how “…empty…” the place was, he counter-remarked with “and QUIET”. I burst out laughing and the laughter was swallowed by the overpowering silence. I move to one of the accustomed waiting posts and sat to practice my kanji. I sat close to the classrooms and I could hear lessons, it was a nice murmur amidst the silence. After a while, I was joined by another student who also marveled at the silence and fell to something more interesting.

Moments later, the silence was shattered. The Raffies had arrived.

For the next five minutes, the silence did not return to the cultural center and for all I know the noise remained out there when I entered my classroom. It was a typical class day.

I entered my classroom and awaited the half of the Raffies that is in my class, the other students and the teacher. I got comfortable and was guessing much work wouldn’t get done. I was wrong, but that was beside the point.

The teacher walked in with mini-cupcakes from Crumbs, saying it was a shame that one of the students who constantly brought a cookie to share from the same place was absent. She offered the amazing cupcakes and ran out to get napkins. While she was gone, one of the students pulled cookies out of his bag and offered them to the class. To our astonishment, another student pulled out cans of soda and offered them as well. Our teacher returned and saw the additional food and drink. She wondered if it would be okay to open the soda. I wasn’t gonna wait. I initiated the impromptu party by opening my can.

Kampai! we called when the teacher shut the door.

After a few moments, the lesson started as usual and it was actually productive. I wonder…. should we always start our classes with impromptu parties? It certainly worked for me

Merry Christmas, Minna-san!

Tags: japanese, memories, party

Japan Day NYC 2009

Event: Japan Day NYC :: Official Website: http://www.japandaynyc.org/
Date: 31 May 2009 :: 8am 4-mile Run, 10am to 5pm Festival

I missed most of the event and I am very upset about it. However, I did get about two hours at the end. Watching the J-pop singers was very fun and it was entertaining to watch the crowd grow and shrink around the stage.

When I arrived at around 3pm, I expected to find things winding down as it was a hot and sunny day out. However, the East Meadow lawn was filled with hundreds of people in varying outfits. From everyday casual city clothing to kimonos to cosplayers and everything in between. I wanted to sample some of what the tents had to offer, but as I approached, I found that some lines were closed and others where the wait times were over 50 minutes long. As a result, I bypassed the many interesting things in favor of the J-pop that was occurring on the stage.

Instead of being lured to the Go, Shoji, or Hello Kitty tents, I found myself crowding the stage area to listen to Ai Kawashima and the Yaz Band. Instead of participating in the multiperson jump-roping area, I snapped a few pictures and returned to the stage. Ai Kawashima’s singing was great and the Yaz band had me wanting to buy CDs. During a short break where the band left the stage and the equipment was rearranged for Ai to do her solos, I explored some of the now closed tent lines. There was a Chopsticks game, and something about Yo-Yo Fishing. People were walking about with what looked like yo-yo water balloon, quite interesting. There was also a closed tea tent that looked as if it had been closed for quite a while, I suppose they sold out. It wasn’t long before I returned to stage to listen to Ai Kawashima again. After a while, I couldn’t stand the sun much, so I wandered into an area not too far away under the shade of a few trees.

Before long, I was too annoyed with all the chattering. There was a woman on a cell phone and some people conversing in either mandarin or korean, I couldn’t tell because I was too annoyed to check it out, so I stood up and began my wanders again.

On one side of the stage were closing lines of food. The lines were so long, I couldn’t check out what I was missing out. On the other side of the stage was a golden object with poles on a table under a tent and behind gates. I assumed it was from the earlier parade of fifty people. Yet another interesting thing that I missed.

Soon, it was time for Ai-san’s music to finish and she finished to a cheering audience. Along came the MCs and the stage crew set up for the following band. Orange Pekoe had an interesting style to them. I liked about half of what they did. In the middle of the starting song. It began to rain. I had to put my camera away for while. It never got much past a heavy drizzle and some wind, but the packed lawn and stage area was sparsely populated in minutes. I pulled out my camera again and snapped a few pix of the emptiness, before stowing it out of the rain again. Only a few fans remained to watch Orange Pekoe. When I say a few, I don’t mean like three here. There were plenty of people who had umbrellas. No, when I say a few I mean compared to what had been there previously. It was still impossible to get to the front of the stage. Just as the rain cleared up, the group went into a song I didn’t much care for, so I wandered again. This time I wasn’t worried about what I was missing, I was checking out the closed tents and being amused watching how long the line still was for the Kabuki facepainting booth.

When the band finished their set, I returned to the stage area for the finale. I was to be a large Karaoke type ending. The song was “On Top of the World”. I was afraid I would mess up because I didn’t know the song. However, my fears were for nothing. Turns out I knew the tune well enough because it was a 60s song by the Carpenters and all I needed were the words… which were being displayed. It was quite a wonderful ending in the sun. All the musicians returned to the stage and they did various forms of solos depending on their style. During this time, I discovered Taro Masuda. A violinist. I thought he did a fabulous job in his solo and it made me regret arriving too late to see his section. I made a note to discover his music when I returned to the internet. And I didn’t disappoint myself. The crowd was great too, singing along to the song. I would like to have seen a professional recording of it.

During that last song, I discovered the location of a classmate of mine. He is in Japanese language classes with me at TENRI Cultural Institute. How did I discover him? Quite interesting that…He was picked up during a solo bridge on a camera that was panning the audience. Amusing I would see him at the very end of the day. He informed me of some of the more interesting things I missed. Seems there was a fantastic karate performance, some wonderful classical guitar music and COBU Taiko drummers.

While the East Meadow was being cleaned up, my classmate and I wandered around looking for his companions who seemed to have disappeared while the rain fell. A mystery! Was it a vortex? We encounted children doing cartwheels down the slope, a huge group of cosplayers, and even Ai Kawashima! We hovered at the edges while Ai-san did here interviews and her voice recordings. My classmate wanted to get a photo with her. So when she was leaving, he called (a bit rudely) “Ai!” She jumped. Poor dear was frightened by his calling her. When he asked about a photo (not in Japanese, btw, he was too embarrassed… I think he woulda done fine), she nodded and allowed me to snap the photo of the two of them. I think she was very surprised. We thanked her for her time, and as they walked away, for whatever reason, her bodyguard said Thank You as well… was he thanking us for be being quick and not threatening? I don’t know, but our mission was accomplished.

We never did find his companions. We took a quick walk to get some water at some point in our search, when we ran across a Shamisen player, it was a quite entertaining street performance. After a while we headed our separate ways. The festival was over and the cosplayers had even broken out. I think I will have to volunteer next year in order to get myself there on time. But even if I don’t I will definitely have to do better next year.

Tags: anime, j-pop, Japan Day NYC, japanese, manga