smith-jccc

            This book named shibainudeinachan, akinokyoutoheiku is pretty self explanatory from the title. Its a book with a dog as the main character and he chooses to travel to Kyoto during autumn. The dogs breed is Shiba Inu and his name is Deina. Deina is originally from Saint Petersburg, Russia and he is planning to travel to japan. From the first page on there is a small dialogue from Deina on a yellow speech box giving commentary from what is happening. Now moving on Deina first arrives at Kansai Airport in which he is amazed by. Then he arrives at Kyoto and travels to the place he is going to stay at and at this point you can see he is becoming tired. Deina then arrives at his place and says he's very tired but is going to go for a walk. He also mentions he hungry and want a meal to eat. Deina grabs some ramen which he thinks was very good. After he continues his walk and stops at a 3 temples. Deina then grabs some snacks and candy. When it dar...

     I have been learning Japanese on and off continually for a while now. Nothing totally surprised me about performance descriptors they are what I expected them to be. I think all my Japanese performance levels are somewhere in the novice category. I personally think that I am best at reading in Japanese compared to my speaking and writing. I can recognize characters a lot quicker when reading compared to trying to remember them for writing. I also have spent a lot more time reading, I try to read basic manga and spend time on Japanese apps and games. I don't get much exposure to much Japanese speaking which also explains why I am lower at that level.      I plan to focus some on listening and a lot on speaking to sharpen those skills. I think I can do decent at listening and picking out things but when speaking I tend to forget a lot of stuff. When speaking I lose grammar and things end up wrong, so I need to spend time trying to remember them bett...

       I think introductions in English and Japanese are very different because in Japan they seem much more formal. In English, I usually do quick introductions when meeting someone for the first time. I think that just a quick "Yo, what's up. What's your name." is a lot easier than long drawn-out introductions. I know there are different ways of introducing yourself in Japan but I assume they are seen as disrespectful. In English, there are formal situations where formal introductions take place but as a student, I don't have any of those. What I find most interesting is that in these formal situations in Japan your family name is what is used and not your first name. That part is different compared to English where it's either your first name or your full name. I know that friends in Japan can use the first name and not have to use family names but I am not sure about other situations outside of that. I assume many variables may allow you to be on a first n...

I created a katakana chart to refresh my memory on the characters for the test. I would say that Katakana is easier then hiragana to me because they are less complex to write. It especially easier if you learn hiragana first because most of the rules are the same with the glottal stops, glides and ten ten marks. When actually reading katakana words its nice being able to pick up words from your native language without needing the help of a Japanese dictionary. Such as when playing video games if you have the game in Japanese much of the menu items are in katakana which come from English words. Some of the characters in katakana can be annoying because of the similarities between them. It can be hard reading different fonts because just a small angle difference can change the word and you might not read it right. Overall, katakana is not that difficult if you understand it fully.           

  Hiragana is a lot different from the English alphabet and I would say a lot more complex. There are more characters and they are harder to write. There is no lowercase or uppercase in Japanese but there is either two small lines or a circle that you can at in the top right corner of certain characters to make them have a different sound. I think hiragana is cool and the easiest to memorize would be い.   

           The book "sumimasen"  is a short elementary level book for beginner Japanese learners. The story follows multiple people through the day having to use the word sumimasen and other phrases. The two places the story takes place at is in a work office and on the bus.  When the word sumimasen is used it usually in the context of apologizing, thanking or excusing yourself. The book also includes other words like ohayou/ohayougozaimasu. The word ohayou is use as greetings for in the morning, When the main character leaves at the end she also uses osakini because she has to leave quick.       Using the word sumimasen is used frequently among Japanese culture and would be used getting someone's attention or apologizing for something. There are also words like sumimasen in English but don't seem to be as frequently used, but are still used a lot. It seems sumimasen is used in a wider range o...