ハッピーサンクスギビング!

みなさんのサンクスギビングの休みはよかったですか。私のはとてもにぎやかでたのしかったです。うちにかえって、ははとかぞくにばんごはんをつくりました。ターキーやテトやにんじんをつくりました。みんながたくさんたべました。私のおばあさんとおじいさんがくるので、うれしかったです。大学生なので、よくみません。

ゴールステートメント2

My distinct goal over Cycle 2 is to work on my intonation in asking questions. That seems to be where I lost a point on my oral midterm (from さとうせんせいのコメント).

Overall, I want to also train myself in speaking the words (the high-low pitch patterns) in that when studying new vocabulary, I will use わたしのきょうかしょのなかま１and its bars indicating higher pitch moras. I will attempt to say each word over and over to make sure I pronounce them correctly, and use them in sentences to make sure I don't change their pronunciation when I speak actually. I will continue to speak extensively at home with my roommate, and go to office hours and/or 日本語テーブル weekly. Shadowing and anime-watching (ハンター×ハンター is back!) will also ensue.

ニューヨーク。まんが。ラーメン。

ラーメンはとてもおいしいです。にほんのレストランのいっぷどのラーメンがいちばんすきです！

せんしゅうのかようびにニューヨークにバスでトマスさんといきました。日本の本やのきのくにやにいきました。きのくにやにたくさんまんががありますね。

そして、トマスさんとわたしのいもうとのエイミちゃんとわたしのともだちのチャタージさんといっぷどでばんごはんをたべました。とてもおいしかたです！「ポークのひらたバンズ」と「あかまるモーダン」をたべました。あかまるモーダンにみそのラーメンでした。かくに（ぶたばら）がありました。かくにが大すきです！

そして、うちにかえりました。でも、もくようびにそのブログのきじをかきたいです。じゃあ、もくようびにきてください！

In health and in sickness, Cycle 1 reflection ...

Well, with this, half of the semester is officially over. Crazy! すごいですね！Anyway, the oral midterm went well enough. さとうせんせい ...　ええと ... すずきさん was totally quiet and shy and his presence totally made ヴォーさん and I forget our outline, but whatevs.. I think we did well. At the very least, it was quite fun - とてもたのしかたです！ I think my language use was ok... I used a lot of vocab, but at one point ヴォーさん called Frist ふるい and then I said it was あたらしい as well, but since I have no idea how to say parts are old and parts are new (the dining part is a new annex), it sorta made it seem like I didn't know what the adjectives meant.. oh well. I feel my pronunciation was mostly ok, and it sounded Japanese-y to me, but I have a head cold, so what do I know? The absolute hardest part was transitioning back to our dialogue after すずきさん interjected some thoughts and questions. Certainly I'm not quite ready to be thrust into the middle of しんじゅく. I definitely still need to work on flow and overall rhythm as well as active listening. But I think I made some pretty good progress for 6 weeks. Of course, I'll have all this dashed when I get my grade on １１月７日.

And now for my Cycle 1 reflection in はいく:

It came and then went
Too quick for all that I planned,
More shadowing next.

I did everything I had planned except for one quite notable exception: I did none of the extra shadowing assignments - どうもすみません、しばたせんせい！I will try to get to some over あきやすみ. Watching the anime was quite fun, and now that I have a little Japanese under my belt, I can recognize words (or parts of words) every once in a while. I also went to まついせんせい's office hours twice (meant to go three times, but got stuck in lab one きんようび) and にほんごテーブル once. All of that was certainly helpful, and I feel much more comfortable speaking Japanese now than I did speaking Italian after a full semester of it. I think the best anecdote (true story, happened こんしゅうのげつようび) I can provide is as follows (and is related to food, although tangentially in that I had just left D'Angelo's Market with some mozzarella, prosciutto, and a baguette for dinner):

[scene: わたしはダンジャロマーケトのそとにいました。わたしのともだちのダリオはわたしをみました。]

わたし：ダリオ！コメスタイ？
ダリオ：ベネ、ベネ。マンジャプレスト？
わたし：はい。

I answered an Italian question in Japanese! Of course, I proceeded to do the same thing again in a couple minutes... well, if that's not proof that I'm learning Japanese, I don't know what is...

I'll conclude this post with another story ... I'm not the only one in my house learning Japanese right now. わたしのねこもにほんごをよみます。Of course, she reads through shear osmosis. ねこもまきのせんせいのほんがだいすきです。

In sickness and in health

When you're sick - sore throat, sneezing, coughing, sinuses completely closed, etc. - speaking at all is not fun. Speaking in a language you started learning six weeks ago however is a nightmare. That being said, we don't choose when to get sick, do we? Have to be able to roll whether sick or healthy. Blah. There'll be another post later today reflecting on my oral midterm (わたしのテストはきょうのごごよじじゅうごふんにあります）... my opinion may be as clouded as my head is ^&^

マンジャ！

「マンジャ」はなんですか。イタリアごの「いただきます」ですよ！

たいていうちであさごはをたべます。なにをたべますか？よくセリアルをたべます。でもときどきヨーグルトをたべます。フリストでちいさいひるごはんをよくたべます。そしてアパートでばんごはんをいつもつくります。

わたしのかぞくはイタリアからきましたからイタリアのごはんをたいていたべます。わたしとわたしのルームメートにまいばんパスタをつくります。わたしのルームメートはわたしのごはんがだいすきです！

でも、こんばんごごろくじからしちじまでにほんごテーブルへいきました。そしてまきのせんせいとまついせんせいもいました。そこでにほんごをべんきょうしました。

わたしのポースタをみてください：

ゴールステートメント１

「goal statement」とにほんごでいいません。However, my goals for the first cycle of Pronunciation Exercises will be to attempt to improve both my overall rhythm in speaking Japanese (and sounding less like a がいじん) as well bettering my pronunciation of the お-line moras like よ. In the first shadowing exercise, I definitely screwed up both. Alas, I need to make this about food, and so my plan of action over the next month or so is as follows: watch (and shadow) as much anime as I can (namely, Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece) and since Naruto is constantly eating ramen and saying だってばよ, I should be better off in a few weeks. I also will attempt all of the shadowing exercises that are posted like 「なまむぎなまごめなまたまご」 although raw wheat, rice, and eggs don't sound particularly delicious to me. Finally, I'll attend a にほんごテーベル or go to office hours at least once a week to help speaking more fluidly. Oh, and I almost forgot... I'll be practicing with わたしのルームメート (perhaps while we eat!) じゃあね！