Some Japanese, some of the time.

Half-hearted efforts produce half-hearted results.

I still need to replace a lot of English/non-Japanese media in my life:
1. Radio shows, especially in other people’s cars where you can’t change the channel. Media Player 9 allows you to access Japanese radio stations, but that’s only when you’re connected to the net, so not so convenient.
2. Subtitled anime. I’ve cut down on almost all of them, but I feel obliged to finish watching Cluster Edge because I went through all the trouble of getting it, plus I’m too lazy to switch to watching Code Geass R2 in Japanese. I don’t watch that much anime any more anyway so it’s not that big a deal.
3. Manga. For the series I’m currently reading I’ll stick with English versions because …err…I have no real excuse, I’m just lazy. But I’ve already decided that any series I pick up from here on in is going to be in Japanese only. I don’t plan to pick anything up any time soon though.
4. Video games. My biggest failing. I play a lot of video games but see, I share them with the rest of my family who don’t speak Japanese so buying them in Japanese only…. okay I’m just making excuses. My newest DS games are all in Japanese anyway, just gotta make sure I do the same for anything else I buy or, ahem, obtain in the future. I always switch the voices to Japanese whenever the option presents itself but the voice-acting is usually so bad I just tune out.
5. Too much empty space. I spend a lot of time not listening to anything in Japanese, just sitting and typing (like now) or taking it easy or commuting. Buying an mp3 player will fix this partly, but I also need to make more of an effort on the media front.

For today I’m going to be reading fewer websites because I have a busy day ahead.
The Yellow Monkey
完全食

And that’s all for today because I dont’ feel like writing any more. I’d rather be home playing Mana Khemia.

To a dead cockroach

Oh dear cockroach,
who was sent from the heavens
to wake me up at 3:03am.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGGGHHHHHHHH!!
Your noble sacrifice will never be forgotten.
You will live on forever in my blog,
and in the trash heap,
My Hero.

I managed to get 47 sentences into the SRS yesterday. A little every day goes a long, long way. It would go even further if I could do more studying at home, but once I get off work I just want to plop down in a lazy chair and play something simple and straightforward. Gotta get out of this habit of relying on English translations a.s.a.p. Speaking of which, I hear Mana Khemia 2 will be out tomorrow.

On the plus side, I’ve definitely noticed a great boost in my reading speed ever since I started this All Japanese thing. It still takes me a while to get through Yomiuri articles and the more technical wikis, but manga is a cinch. So is Mainichi Daily, which seems better designed and more tailored to the plebs than Yomiuri. Their entertainment section is more interesting, too.

Now on to today’s websites. I usually read one or more websites than I list here, but this is just the minimum I try to get through in a day.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/gourmet/food/gatyou/20080522gr02.htm 「食材一掃の無国籍料理」
http://mainichi.jp/select/50news07/news/20071205org00m040056000c.html 「日本代表の森さん ミス世界一」
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%9F%8E%E5%B3%B6%E8%8C%82 「城島茂」

I ran out of Dear Abby articles to read so now I’ve switched to Dear Prudence. She’s not much fun, though, and her questions/answers are all tl;dr. That’s all for today.

Long weekend!

Yah, so Monday was a holiday in addition to the delicious weekend break. I usually take a little break from Japanese on weekends, but this time I took a BIG break.

I still managed to watched a few episodes of “Erin ga Chousen” (I’d link to it but I can’t be bothered, check the usual websites for buying stuff) and I entered several sentences from Naoko Chino’s All about Particles book, but that was all on Friday. After that, banzaiiii!!

All English games! Almost done with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King, and getting somewhere good with Fire Emblem: Goddess of Dawn. I told myself once I was done with those two games I would only play Japanese games, only go to right ahead and start Mana Khemia. What can I say, I’m a sucker for Gust games.

Also cheated anime-wise. Even though I have a lot of Chi’s Sweet Home and Amatsuki raws, I decided to watch Gundam Seed…even though I’ve already seen it once before. It sucks even more than I remember, why do I do this to myself?

So to cut a long story short, I have a lot of catching up to do this week. 50 sentences a day and only 1 Dear Abby column per 10 sentences. That’ll teach you to be naughty. Today’s websites:

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%95%E3%83%AB%E3%82%AD%E3%83%A3%E3%82%B9%E3%83%88 「フルキャスト」
http://mainichi.jp/enta/music/news/m20080527spn00m200014000c.html 「安室奈美恵:さらに進化!40万人ツアー」
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/gourmet/food/shinagaki/20080526gr09.htm 「アニメと同じ 陰の努力」

Yomiuri is really, really, really boring but very good for learning new vocabulary. And that’s all for today.

Faithfully reading Japanese all the time…sorta

I’ve been very good recently. Still cheating a lot with Dear Abby, but not with anything else. I even cut out the non-essential newspapers for my morning media review (why must you get in the way, work!?). I managed to put 39 sentences in the SRS yesterday. I had set myself a goal of 50 sentences per day, but I think it’s better to take things easy, do as much or as little as I can in day. Mainichi Daily is great for sentences, and Wikipedia is good for learning new kanji, but now I think I need more listening practice than reading. Must buy mp3 player soon.

Today’s readings: http://mainichi.jp/enta/mantan/game/shinsaku/archive/news/2008/01/20080101mog00m200011000c.html 「新作ゲーム紹介「ルーンファクトリー2」 I’ve played this game and it RAWKS. I need to finish it sometime.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyde 「Hyde」
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Arc%E3%80%9Cen%E3%80%9CCiel 「L’Arc~en~Ciel」

Also yesterday downloaded the Minami-ke Okawari drama CD (the anime sucked though, should’ve quit while they were ahead). Tokyotosho had raws of ep 1-6 of Amatsuki up, so I got those as well. I don’t even know what it’s about but it can’t possibly be worse than some of the things I’ve watched before. And that’s it for today’s report, see you on Monday!

Today’s Japanese websites

I barely managed 13 sentences in the SRS yesterday, mainly because of relentless cheating with Google. I was looking up sites about the All Japanese All The Time approach (I called it a method earlier, but it’s not like AJATT came up with it or anything), which was semi-motivating but mainly a waste of time. Instead of spending time reading English sites about learning Japanese, spending it learning Japanese. Which is why I have NHK running on the TV next to me as I type this out. Today’s sites, though I’m hoping to do a few more once I’m through with them:

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BA%94%E6%9C%A8%E3%81%B2%E3%82%8D%E3%81%97 「五木ひろし」
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%81%8A%E3%81%97%E3%82%93 「おしん」
http://mainichi.jp/enta/mantan/game/news/20080521mog00m200004000c.html 「新作ゲーム紹介 ヘラクレスの栄光 魂の証明」
それぐらいで十分だろう?そろそろ新しいゲームをダウンロードしたいな。。。