Waaahahahaha! Can you call it schadenfreude or is that slightly different? I was listening to Takamiy’s voice again today and I noticed he tripped over the reading of a kanji. He read “koigataki” (恋敵) as “koiteki” several times before realizing his mistake and correcting himself. Why am I so happy? Geez, ‘cos he’s a native speaker with over 50 years experience of speaking the language (old fogey is OLD!!) and he still tripped over a reading. Yay! Yay! It happens to the best of us! Even native speakers make mistakes, yay!! 😀 That made my hour.
Seeing solid progress
I don’t know why I waited so long to watch those Youtube videos. They’re making such a huge difference in my comprehension skills, it’s amazing. More precisely I’m re-watching some clips I watched 2 years ago and barely understood and I’m getting every single word. I used to have problems with male speech in particular – how come women always speak more intelligibly? – but now I barely notice the difference. Even Kansai and dialects are becoming easier and easier for me to pick up.
On the other hand I’m not seeing much of a difference from the mp3 player yet. It’s enjoyable, though, so I’ll keep doing it. However carrying the player around town and stuff kind of stresses me out. If I try to concentrate on what is being said, I lose track of my surroundings and vice versa, so it’s a bit dangerous, maybe? But I’m not going to give up just like that, I’m just going to restrict the mp3-playing to when I’m actually in a car/bus/taxi and keep it off elsewhere. That Takamizawa guy was so interesting, I can’t wait for next week’s edition. I guess not all radio shows are boring, eh?
MP3 player ahoy!
I got an mp3 player! Yay! At long last! What’s it’s been, 5 months? Phew, I finally got one.
I just got it yesterday, so I’m scrambling to fill it with podcasts. I listened to some radio show by a girl called Hitomi Takahashi this morning in traffic, it was okay. I’m fresher in the morning anyway, so I have more tolerance. But man, traffic is loud! I tried to keep the volume at a manageable volume but I couldn’t hear a thing, and when I raised the volume, my ears hurt. The solution is to buy noise-cancelling earphones, which is my next goal.
So anyway, my little player can also play mp4 videos, so I’m here right now: http://www.tbsradio.jp/takamizawa/index.xml downloading both mp3 and mp4 podcasts of Takamizawa. He’s the leader of one of my ex-favourite bands, The Alfee. I say ex- because I think I overdid it on their albums and now it’s hard for me to listen to them any more. I still have a lot of respect for them, though.
And it’s back to the hunt I go.
Quick note
I’m still studying Japanese…slowly. I’m going through a bit of a slump now where reading Japanese text has become a bit of a chore. It’s so easy to go the English route, especially when they contain the same information. To be honest there’s no Japanese website/news site/blog that really stands up to all that is available in English. Nothing…except Famitsu.com. Tokyo Game Show ’08, you’re my last hope!!
Hmm, at least I’m still watching the youtube clips. I’ve had it up to here with Gackt.
Some stuff about youtube and Japanese videos
You remember that LOOONG list of youtube links I posted a while ago? I did eventually download all of them, and kept them on my hard drive planning to watch them “some day.” That day turned out to be yesterday and I started working my way through them but… why do I have so many Gackt videos!? He’s so annoying. They’re interviewing him and he’s got his sunglasses on and his chin in his hand like, I dun wanna be here. They ask him a question and he can barely open his mouth to answer, “mutter mutter mutter irrelevant comment mutter mutter.” Get off my screen already.
Then I watched a skit with Ayumi Hamasaki riding bicycles (these are all Hey! Hey! Hey! clips, btw). That girl has the worst screech in the history of the universe. My ears were bleeding, man. And she looks funny, and she can’t sing. I think the story behind her popularity is more the idea of “There’s hope for us all” rather than any real talent. That, and marketing. Oh yeah, then I watched an interview with Amuro Namie, talking about the ways in which she’s a complete bitch to her manager and she’s like “yeah, we totally don’t get along.” Hey, at least you’re honest, right?
Sorry, hating on “tarento” is a hobby of mine. “Artistes” and “talents” like that exist in every country, probably, but it’s only in Japan that they’re shoved relentlessly down your throat everywhere you turn. It makes it all too easy to get sick of them. My favourites are the ones you don’t see every single week on every channel, shilling every single product under the sun.
Watching the clips really helps in a way that radio programs can’t manage, because the visuals and the subtitles keep you focused on the screen, instead of trying to type up an e-mail and open up two documents at the same time as you’re listening to some boring presenter drone on about environmental problems in Japan. I’m making it a daily habit from now on to watch at least 10 clips every day till I work my way through every video on the list. Wish me luck!