Today, the results of the placement test were announced and my level is...
Level 9
Thus, I skipped a level and landed in level 9. Based on my position in the language right now, I think it's an appropriate place for me. Level 10 looked a lot scarier than I thought...all sharing opinions and serious discussion that I don't think that I could do in Japanese at this point...Level 9 focuses mainly on memorization, but perhaps I can learn from this learning method. I also got into the same class as my friend Hinata! So that's good. I also was able to get a copy of level 10 textbooks from my friend's friend so I can look through those as well.
At least, I am in advanced courses now, which means I can take the special culture classes! The classes other than my main level 9 class that I plan to take right now are the following:
1. Upper advanced grammar (It sounds difficult, but important grammar is covered and the lower advanced grammar teacher has a bad reputation...)
2. Lower advanced conversation B (It's with the same teacher I had for my conversation class last semester, who I really liked)
3. Japanese Traditional Culture (Actual participation in traditional Japanese arts such as tea ceremony, instrument playing, painting, etc.)
4. Animation and TV games (Production and content of Japanese animation and video games explained. This looks interesting...)
5. Teaching Japanese to non native speakers (This looks useful...)
I will be taking 2 more credits than last semester--14 total. It will be busy, but already, I notice that this semester will be different. From the first day, I'm surrounded by friends, I have people to have lunch with, and the sun is shining a bit more warmly welcoming the beginnings of spring. The cherry blossoms are late this year, but they are predicted to all be in full bloom in Tokyo by this weekend. Just like the cherry blossoms, I will try my best to bloom, focus on my studies and continue to struggle to improve myself☆
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Sunday, March 25, 2012
”What exactly are you?"
Part of my studying process has been to go over my essays from last semester. Today, I remembered that I said that I would translate my oral speech that I presented to my class and my club last winter. So, I will do that now. The following is the translation of my speech (so it may sound a bit strange). It was really well received, so I'm pretty proud of it even though it's pretty simply written. It was originally organized to be presented to my class--all foreign exchange students--so whenever I say "you", I'm addressing them.
Reading this essay, gave me a kind of fresh view on my situation now. This is what I was thinking at the beginning of my time here, this is what I came here for. That's right...I almost forgot.
"Where are you from?" "What country did you come from?" I'm sure that everyone here has been asked this question several times since you came to Japan. However, were you able to answer this question right away? For me, it is a bit complicated, because I have two native countries. Today, I wish to speak about how important these two native countries' cultures are to me.
According to the passport I hold now, I am American. I have lived in the United States for 19 years, so of course I can speak English fluently. My family lives near the capital of the United States, Washington D.C. Whenever Japanese people ask me, "Where are you from?" I always reply, "Washington D.C." This is true. However, I cannot say that I am 100% American. The United States is a multiethnic, multiracial country. Several different people from several different countries live there, while freely maintaining their own customs and languages. When you ride the metro, it is natural to hear a variety of different languages, such as Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, and German. Even when I am in the United States, I am often asked "Where are you from?" However, in that situation, I reply that I'm from Spain.
I hold one other passport. According to that passport, I am Spanish. I was born in Santiago de Compostela, a town famous for its cathedral. My father is Spanish, and I can also speak Spanish. I moved to the United States when I was only 2 years old, but to me, Spain's culture and customs are still very important, and I still consider them a part of myself.
In other words, I have two nationalities. I am both American and Spanish. Both English and Spanish are my native tongue. Since I was a child, I would naturally mix Spanish and English, choosing whichever word was easiest to say. For example, for me, it was "ball" rather than "pelota", "agua" rather than "water". Even now, I usually speak English with my mother who was raised in the United States and Spanish with my Spanish father.
I was raised with the influence of the cultures of both of my countries. In my house, we eat both steak and paella. We eat turkey during the Thanksgiving holiday, and we receive gifts in our shoes during Three Kings Day.
Recently, a Japanese girl commented, "Since you've spoken two languages and received influence from two cultures since you were a kid, the world must look different to you." After a bit of thought, I realized that she was probably right. It is fun to speak a variety of different languages and it makes jokes even more interesting. When you can speak more than one language, you have the ability to describe the world in a much more vivid way. I believe that I am able study foreign languages and live in foreign countries fairly naturally, because I was raised with two countries since childhood.
This is my first time coming to Japan. For seven years, I studying Japanese language and culture on my own, so it is truly like a dream to finally be given the opportunity to come here. To me, Japan's language and culture has become a part of myself.
Now then, everyone of you must be thinking, "So, what exactly are you?", right? Are you American? Spanish? Don't tell me you're Japanese?? In the end, all I can say is this: Like everyone here, I am just human. Thank you.
Reading this essay, gave me a kind of fresh view on my situation now. This is what I was thinking at the beginning of my time here, this is what I came here for. That's right...I almost forgot.
"Where are you from?" "What country did you come from?" I'm sure that everyone here has been asked this question several times since you came to Japan. However, were you able to answer this question right away? For me, it is a bit complicated, because I have two native countries. Today, I wish to speak about how important these two native countries' cultures are to me.
According to the passport I hold now, I am American. I have lived in the United States for 19 years, so of course I can speak English fluently. My family lives near the capital of the United States, Washington D.C. Whenever Japanese people ask me, "Where are you from?" I always reply, "Washington D.C." This is true. However, I cannot say that I am 100% American. The United States is a multiethnic, multiracial country. Several different people from several different countries live there, while freely maintaining their own customs and languages. When you ride the metro, it is natural to hear a variety of different languages, such as Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, and German. Even when I am in the United States, I am often asked "Where are you from?" However, in that situation, I reply that I'm from Spain.
I hold one other passport. According to that passport, I am Spanish. I was born in Santiago de Compostela, a town famous for its cathedral. My father is Spanish, and I can also speak Spanish. I moved to the United States when I was only 2 years old, but to me, Spain's culture and customs are still very important, and I still consider them a part of myself.
In other words, I have two nationalities. I am both American and Spanish. Both English and Spanish are my native tongue. Since I was a child, I would naturally mix Spanish and English, choosing whichever word was easiest to say. For example, for me, it was "ball" rather than "pelota", "agua" rather than "water". Even now, I usually speak English with my mother who was raised in the United States and Spanish with my Spanish father.
I was raised with the influence of the cultures of both of my countries. In my house, we eat both steak and paella. We eat turkey during the Thanksgiving holiday, and we receive gifts in our shoes during Three Kings Day.
Recently, a Japanese girl commented, "Since you've spoken two languages and received influence from two cultures since you were a kid, the world must look different to you." After a bit of thought, I realized that she was probably right. It is fun to speak a variety of different languages and it makes jokes even more interesting. When you can speak more than one language, you have the ability to describe the world in a much more vivid way. I believe that I am able study foreign languages and live in foreign countries fairly naturally, because I was raised with two countries since childhood.
This is my first time coming to Japan. For seven years, I studying Japanese language and culture on my own, so it is truly like a dream to finally be given the opportunity to come here. To me, Japan's language and culture has become a part of myself.
Now then, everyone of you must be thinking, "So, what exactly are you?", right? Are you American? Spanish? Don't tell me you're Japanese?? In the end, all I can say is this: Like everyone here, I am just human. Thank you.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Kamakura+my new sakura-colored friend
Yesterday, me, Hinata, and Lisa took a day trip to Kamakura. Kamakura was the third capital of Japan after Nara and Kyoto. It's famous for its temples and it reminded me a lot of Kyoto.
It took about 45min to get there from Yokohama. Me and Hinata waited for Lisa at the station here:
Hachimangu Shrine:
Then we stopped for soft cream! An only Japanese flavor: purple sweet potato+green tea. It was delicious!
The insides are hollow and you can go inside for a small fee. There's nothing really exciting inside, but it was shocking when we touched the insides and it was warm! It probably absorbes the warmth of the sunlight since it's made of bronze, but at the same time it was like the statue was alive. It was really beautiful close up.
However, I was quite offended to receive an English version of the ticket to get in. I hate when people look at me and judge that I can only speak English. ESPECIALLY when I speak to them first in Japanese. Frickinfrickin pisses me off.
Sumimasen, eigo wa tabemasen. Nihongo ga tabetai desu.
[Excuse me, I don't eat English. I want to eat Japanese.]
Overall, though, I really liked Kamakura. It was a really peaceful town with a lot of traditional Japaneseness and lots of things to do. I feel like I could walk down Kamakura streets everyday.
Also, on a side note, the reason that I am even able to write this blog today is because I have bought a new computer! Due to an unfortunate coffee spill incident, my other computer lost most of its keyboard use. For a while, everything else still worked pretty okay. Well--it started spazzing if I did too much multitasking, but other than that, I could use my tablet's floating keyboard to type. However, the other day, when it restarted itself to install some updates, it let out a really loud BEEEEEP and would not start up. So, after only about a year and a half, my laptop was put to rest...may it rest in peace.
But anyways, today, I went to the nearby Tokyu department store to check out the laptops and found a really nice, pink, shiny, and compact Sony Vaio computer for about $850. As a plus, I was able to talk to the store attendant in Japanese☆ Ahh this computer is so cute. Here's kind of what it looks like:
It's a perfect size that can fit inside my purse, it has a cd drive so I can install my tablet and play CDS and DVDS, it's all in Japanese so when I get back home, only I will be able to use it, and the keyboard isn't indented so it won't get as dirty as my other keyboard did. Plus, the system is Windows 7, so it's the same system as my other laptop was. The only thing is that the Japanese keyboard is a little bit different than the American one, so it's gonna take some time to get used to, but that's ok.
It was my first time investing in such an expensive appliance, but it was kind of interesting doing all the paper work and such on my own. And in Japanese. Hopefully, I can make this computer last a long long time...
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