オストファミリーへのてがみ

山田さんへ

はじめまして。ユーです。どうぞよろしく。ロサンゼルス　から　きました。私はプリンストン　大学の学生です。一年生です。プリンストンのせいかつ　は　とても　いいです　が　とても　いそがしいです。よく　としょかんでべんきょうしてしゅくだい　を　します。そして、私は　ダンサーなので、毎日ダンスのリハーサル　が　あります。ダンスグループと　いっしょに　ダンス　を　します。ヒップホップ　や　ジャズ　を　します　が、リリカル
が　一番好きです。山田さんは、ダンス　を　する　の　が　好き　ですか。それから、私はえいが　を　みる　のが　好きです。毎週の　土曜日　に　シアター　で　あたらしい　えいが　を　みます。とても　おもしろい　です。私の好きな　えいが　は　シカゴ　です。山田さんは　えいが　の中で　どれが　一番好きですか。おあいできる　の　たのしみに　していします。では、よろしくおねがいします。

ユー

デパート！

日本　で　かいもの　に　いくのが　すき　です。ギんざ　に　デパート　がたくさん　あります、たとえば　みつこし　や　たかしまや。日本の　デパート　は　とても　いいですが、ちょっと　高い　です。日本の　デパート　のほうが　アメリカ　の　デパート　より　大きくて　きれい　です。なんでも　うって　います。デパート　で　私の　好きな　うりば　はしょくひんうりば　です。デパート　の　ちか　には　日本　じゅう　と　せかい　じゅう　の　たべもの　が　おいて　あります。とても　すてき　な　たべもの　が　たくさんあります。デパート　で　わがし　を　かう　のが　好きです。日本の　デパート　に　いきたい　です。

diSiac Distraction!!!

せんしゅう　の　しゅまつ　は　とても　いそがしかった　です　よ。そして　こんしゅう　も　いそがしい　です。きのう　じゅう　よじかん　ダンス　の　レハーサル　が　ありました。ごぜん　じゅう　いちじ　から　ごせん　いちじ　まで　バリンド　シエター　で　ダンス　を　しました。たくさん　の　レハーサル　が　ある　ので　木曜日　と　金曜日　に パフォーマンス　が　あります。　とても　つかれた　です　が　たのしかった　です。フォーマンス に　いって　ください　ませんか！

Goal Statement for Cycle 3

Since Cycle 3 will include our Christmas break, I definitely want to be more diligent about practicing during my time off from class. To continue with my goal from Cycle 2, I will call my おばあさん once a week to converse with her in Japanese. However, I will make a concerted effort to have longer conversations (じゅっぷん　ぐらい). Also, I will have some questions prepared for her so that I can learn more informal phrases that are useful in everyday speech. Again, I also want to shadow about 2-3 times a week using youtube videos in order to improve my listening and speaking skills. I really enjoy shadowing youtube videos  since they are incredibly entertaining and a bit more challenging than the Blackboard materials.

Cycle 2 Reflection statement

Again, this year is going by so fast! とても　はやい　ですね！I already feel like I am much more comfortable speaking Japanese! It is so rewarding! For Cycle 2, I was able to meet part of my goals. However, time just flew by so I didn't get as much practice as I would have preferred.　まいしゅう　おばあさん　と　でんわ　ではなしました。However, I wish I spoke with her a bit longer, since I only had brief conversations with her.  I definitely want to take advantage of such opportunity to speak with a native Japanese speaker! In addition to calling my my grandma, I also did shadowing about twice a week. I discovered that Japanese commercials are incredibly silly! とても　おもしろい　です！They are also fairly easy to understand since the content is very straightforward and the vocabulary is not too advanced! Here are a couple of ミルク　commercials!

アイフォン！

はるやすみ　に　アイフォン　を　かいました。とても　すてきな　けいたいでんわ　です。でも　たかいです。この　アイフォン　の　アクセサリー　は　みて　ください！とても　おもしろい　です！

Goal Statement for Cycle 2!

I can't believe Cycle 1 is already complete! I guess it's time to move on to the next one...For Cycle 2, I want to make sure that I practice the correct pitch for all our new vocabulary. I found that my most frequent error on my Oral Midterm Exam was with pitch, so to make sure that I practice the correct pitch, I will write down the words with the pitch lines drawn above/ below the characters when I hear any of the teachers pronounce a new word. I would also like to improve my speaking with proficient speed. I think that if I practice speaking more, I will become more natural and fluent sounding. To help me with this goal, I will call my おばあさん　once a week to converse with her in Japanese. During はるやすみ　I went to dinner with my grandma and we practiced Japanese while we were eating. It was like my own private にほんご　 テーブル！　I found it helpful to converse with her and learn new phrases, so I would like to keep that up! To improve my listening/ speaking skills, I will also aim to shadow twice a week: once with the Shadowing exercises on Blackboard, and once with  Japanese youtube videos. Since the youtube videos are more difficult (due to speed and advanced vocabulary), they will provide a good challenge for me. Let's see how Cycle 2 goes! I am very excited to learn more Japanese!

おばあさん と いざかや

こんばん　わたし　の　おばあさん　と　いっしょ　に　ばんごはん　を　たべました。いざかや　で　しょくじ　を　しました。わたし　の　すきな　たべもの　は　にほん　りょうり　です。とても　おいしかった　です。ロサンゼルス　の　ソーテル　の　とおり　は　たくさん　の　にほん　の　レストラン　が　あります。ばんごはん　の　あと、にほん　の　マーケットに　いきました。わたし　は　おもち　を　かいました。わたし　の　おばあさん　と　いっしょ　に　いる　の　が　すき　です。とても　たのしかった　です。わたし　の　おばあさんは　ときょ　から　きました。　

おいしい　やきとり！

My Reflection for Cycle 1

For my first cycle of shadowing and goals, I was able to meet most of my goals. I shadowed about twice a week, mainly using youtube videos. Shadowing youtube videos was a lot more difficult than shadowing the text book materials. For one of my practices, I watched a few minutes of Powderpuff Girls in Japanese. Because the powderpuff girls are always so hyper, they talk super fast and in really high voices, so it is difficult to understand. However, I picked up on a few words, like sensee and benkyoshiteru, mainichi, etc, so I was able to get the basic idea when matching the words I knew with the visual aid of the show.

As for my Oral Midterm, I overall think that it went well. There were a couple awkward pauses where I couldn't think of any questions to ask, but I think the conversation had a fairly natural flow. I made a few mistakes, like when I didn't add な　in between りっぱ　and たてもの, but I think I did well with my pronunciation. I was a little nervous at times, so I sounded less natural when I couldn't think of what to say. However, the ten minutes went by pretty quickly. I am proud that I can have a ten minute conversation in Japanese after a quarter of Japanese! It is encouraging to know that I have learned so much in such a short time. 

ダンス！

ほぼ　まいにち　ダンス　を　します。ジャズ　と　バレー　と　ヒップホップ　とボールルーム　が　すきです。きのう　の　ばん　ごご　じゅういちじ　から　ごせん　いち　まで　ダンス　の　 リハーサル　が　ありました。つかれた　です、　でも　とても　たのしかった！

Tokidoki

 かわいい！！！ときどき　は　だいすきです！

Today in class we learned frequency adverbs to add to our vocabulary. These include the words いつも(always),　たいてい (usually), よく (often), ときどき (sometimes), and ぜんぜん　(not at all). I think these words will be very useful to know. It was interesting to learn that "tokidoki" (ときどき）meant "sometimes" because there is a Japanese brand I really like called "Tokidoki" by an Italian designer. I didn't know the name actually meant something, so it is neat to finally make the connection. Here are some Tokidoki designs.

My First Goal Statement!

 これわ　さしめ。おいしそお！

Practicing Shadowing was actually pretty fun! I really liked doing the tongue twisters in class, like, なまむぎ　なまごめ　なまたまご、meaning  "Raw wheat, raw rice, raw egg." In order to improve my pronunciation, my first goal is to be able to produce the Japanese long vowels better, while speaking without too much hesitation. I found that when I tried to speak fast like the audio recording, I didn't pronounce the long vowels long enough. To improve, I will try to shadow for 10 minutes three times a week. I will use the postings on Blackboard along with additional materials. Because I like to watch "Iron Chef," I will practice shadowing while watching "Iron Chef Japan" on youtube.com. Speaking of "Iron Chef," I love Japanese food! Here are some pictures of what I ate in Japan...

Lost in Translation

 おかし！！！

Learning how to translate phrases from English to Japanese, I have realized the big difference between the English and Japanese grammatical structures. This reminded me of some Japanese signs I saw in Japan, with poorly translated English. Even though they are really funny, I can see how easy this could be to mess up. I hope I don't mess up my translations as much as they do!

プリンストンだいがく

こんにちは！わたしのなまえわゆみちこです。わたしわじゅうはちさいです。ぷりんすとんだいがくのがくせえです。かりふぉるにあからきまして。

これわあたしのりょです。

Pictures!

おいしそ！This was a small part of my kaiseki meal a traditional ryokan, or a type of Japanese bed and breakfast in Hakone.

In Miyajima, known for the Torii shrine, there are lots of deer...hence the cute little deer in the photo!

Wishes written on flags that hang from trees to celebrate Tanabata, or the Japanese Star Festival in July. 

ようこそ！

ようこそ！私　の　なまえ　は　ユー　みちこ　です。これ　は　わたし　の　ブログ　です。 I am half Japanese and half Chinese, and am finally returning to my roots by learning my mother's language! I am so excited to be in Japanese 101. I love Japanese traditions (go Hina Matsuri!), food (kare-raisu!), and of course, the beautiful and humble language! I have been to Japan (Tokyo, Kyoto, Hakone, Niko, Hiroshima, Miyajima...a few more places), but unfortunately had to rely on my mother to do all the translating. I would love to visit again and use my new found knowledge to explore! I would also love to be able to talk to my grandmother without forcing her to use her little knowledge of English. I am very anxious to go on this journey with all of you! I know it will be tough at times to memorize all the Katakana or remember all the correct uses of the particles, but it will all be worth it in the end!　いきましょ！