N2 Studying Update and Life

In previous posts, I’ve mentioned I’m going to take the JLPT N2 this December. I’ve got a better study plan then I did last year when I was studying for the N3, but I’ve also started studying for it later, so I’m not sure if I’ll cover enough material to pass it. I’ve been a little slack with my studying, except listening practice, because I received great news last month. I’ve been accepted to graduate school in Japan! I’ll be writing about that experience on my other blog: Spring in Tokyo. Since I will be in Japan for at least 2 years, I plan to write more about learning Japanese in Japan on this blog.

In terms of studying, I’m doing a lot of listening practice from podcasts, YouTube and JLPT books. I am still doing kanji studying. I’ve finished studying kanji from 1st grade to 6th grade on StickyStudy and am working on the JLPT N2 kanji lists and 7th grade and 8th grade kanji simultaneously. On the other hand, I’ve hardly studied vocabulary. My plan is to finish studying kanji soon and then just study vocabulary up until the test. When I first decided to take the JLPT N2, I tried to study really hard by trying to do a little bit of everything at once. I was going really strong too, but then I received that acceptance letter and fell off the bandwagon.

Now, I have been trying to be consistent by doing small things like studying with StickyStudy. I like studying kanji on the app and it tells me how much to study every day. By not trying to do too much at one time, I’ve given myself flexibility with my study plan and have allowed myself time to do other things besides studying Japanese. Not to say that the work I did at the beginning was necessarily bad, it gave me a good method for studying grammar and I went through a lot of N2 material. I developed a good resource lists for JLPT grammar and a nice, albeit not completed study guide. However, I think that learning a language should be a lifestyle change, not a cramming session.

Japanese 3DS: 妖怪ウァッチ2(本家)

You may have heard of the Youkai Watch series. It’s an anime and video game series that is popular with children in Japan right now. I’ve been playing Youkai Watch 2 Honke off and on. When I first started playing the game, it was a bit of a struggle, just due to the amount of vocabulary I did not know. But the game is fun and immersive. I like the fact that as the player, you have a lot of freedom in terms of subquest and how you want to customize the youkai in your party. Playing Youkai Watch 2 Honke has greatly improved my vocabulary and it has continually confused me with terms that do not appear in my electronic dictionary. The confusing terms are usually onomatopoeia or specialized terms I’ve never learned. Sometimes the dialogue in the game is easy for me to follow and I can honestly laugh at the funny parts in the characters’ conversations. The more I play the game, the better my vocabulary and reading comprehension gets. The game has a wide range of kanji and vocabulary from all of the JLPT levels, so I can say I’m studying for the JLPT when I play it!

Japanese with Video Games (part 3)

Recently, I mentioned using non-traditional study methods for my Japanese studies. While it may be a no-brainer to many people to do things in the foreign language they are studying or rather look to material, that native speakers of the foreign language use, for foreign language study material, it is still a fairly new concept for me. Lately, I have decided to use my love of video games as study material for Japanese, since I really like Japanese video games. In this post, I will discuss how to get Japanese video games to play.

How do I get a Japanese video game to play? If you are able to, I definitely suggest going to Japan and buying a game system and games while you are there. Stores such as Book OFF sell used game systems and games for reasonable prices and you can find a better selection of Japanese games in Japan. If going to Japan is not an option, you can buy a game system and/or games online. There are also multiple websites that import Japanese goods and sell them overseas. You can even make a Japanese Amazon account fairly easily (there is an option to view their website in English), but you just have to make sure that whatever you are buying can be shipped overseas. Some game systems are not region locked, so you can just buy a Japanese game and play it on a console/device you already own.

One alternative to figuring out how to purchase Japanese video games is to play mobile games. It may take a little searching, but video games can be found in various languages at app stores for smart phones or other smart devices (ipods, tablets etc.). For example, Gailardia, a Japanese RPG similar to Dragon Quest, is available for free in both English and Japanese (on iTunes). And some games you may have already purchased have the option to change the language of the game from within the game app itself (I have seen this feature mostly with Square Enix games). You may have to do the search in Japanese to find a game or even just search through a long list of apps for a particular genre of game, but there are definitely Japanese games available on app stores for free or for a few dollars.

If you are a fan of Pokemon and have a Nintendo 3DS, you can simply buy Pokemon X or Y. Both Pokemon X and Y have 7 different language options available at the beginning of the game, including Japanese. Playing Pokemon X/Y is one of the most hassle-free ways I know of to play a game in Japanese. Both Pokemon X and Y, as do all of the newer Pokemon games, have the option to choose between kana and kanji mode, since it is marketed towards children and the adults who grew up with the series. Although the game is for children, it uses a lot of big words and can be used a vocabulary builder and reading practice.

How do you get your Japanese video games?

Japanese 3DS

A Japanese 3DS is not that much different from the US version of the 3DS. I admit, when I first bought mine, it took a while to set up. Things that were easy to read for me in English, I did not understand in Japanese. But with my American 3DS and my Midori (Japanese-English dictionary app on iPhone) in hand, I managed to do it after what was probably a few hours. I also managed to learn a lot of technical vocabulary as well.

One thing that I noticed about my new Japanese 3DS was that games on it were very expensive. It shouldn’t have surprised me, because I had seen prices of video games at electronic stores and Book OFF. But compared to video game prices, games in Japan can be about $20 more expensive. A lot of new games cost around $50 or $60, whereas on the US 3DS, games are around $40 or $30. Physical games and downloadable games can be around the same price. Some games are only available through download and a lot of games on Japanese 3DS do not make it to America or take about a year to be released for American 3DS systems. Some games are relatively cheap for download too, less than $10.

Having a Japanese 3DS is great for studying Japanese. Not only can you buy Japanese games and play them in Japanese, which is great for reading practice and broadening your vocabulary, but you can watch videos on it as well. About every week, Nintendo comes out with Nintendo Direct videos and other Nintendo videos, which you can watch either on the 3DS or on their YouTube channel. I was also able to sign up for a NicoNico (ニコニコ動画) account through my 3DS and start watching videos in Japanese on it. Also, when you view games on the Nintendo eShop, many of the games have tv commercials or other videos that introduce the game that you can watch.

There is also a lot of free applications and games you can download and use on the 3DS. Although they have many in-app purchases available, there’s still a lot you can do for free.

Book OFF

Before going to Japan, I did not know what Book OFF was. So, my first Book OFF experience was in Japan. I think one of my apartment mates told me about Book OFF and I set off to find one. What is Book OFF? Well, it’s basically a store that sells books, games, DVDs and some other electronics. Many of the items at Book OFF are used, so buying things at Book OFF can be cheaper than buying items from other stores. While buying used items is something I have mixed feelings about, especially in the US, where used items can often be broken and not usable or in relatively ok condition, it’s something I didn’t really worry about in Japan. In general, I think Japanese people take better care of their things, so used items seem more gently used than the conditions I usually associate with used items.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I did a mini tour of Book OFF in Tokyo and I bought a lot of things there. Many of those things were books, mostly comics and some video games. Unfortunately or perhaps fortunately, one of the games I bought, Pokemon Black/White was region locked, meaning I couldn’t play it on my American 3DS. This was upsetting to say the least, but it did prompt me to buy a Japanese DS. I decided to buy a Japanese 3DS, because I was not sure when I would be able to come back to Japan. That purchase is proving time and time again to be one of my better purchases during studying abroad in Japan, since I can still buy Japanese video games through it and use it for Japanese listening practice!

There are Book OFFs in major cities in the US, but I haven’t had the chance to visit one of them yet. Book OFFs in Japan are a great source if you want to buy a lot of Japanese reading material (or just read in the store like many Japanese people do), buy video games or electronics. Things such as DVDs can still be really expensive, but if you go to Book OFF, you have a better chance of finding items at lower prices.

What the heck did she do during those 3 Months?!

Many of you may be wondering (or not wondering), ‘what did she do during the three months she spent in Japan?’ since I didn’t write on my other blog about my experiences. I took classes at a Japanese university: an intensive Japanese course, a Japanese art course and a Japanese sociology course. I also traveled around Tokyo. I did a mini-Book OFF tour of Tokyo. I participated in cultural events. Generally, I spent most of my days doing normal things such as shopping, eating with friends and cooking. This list of things doesn’t’ do justice to all of those experiences, but it is basically what I did for three months in Japan. If you have any questions about specifics, feel free to ask through a comment.

Reflection on the Results of ‘3 Months of Japanese Studies’

This was actually a reply to a comment on a previous post and an attempt to expand upon my previous answer to whether or not the time I used to study Japanese before my study abroad last year was successful or not.

While I did learn (review) a lot of Japanese, I think my approach was wrong. I spent my time reviewing Japanese I learned from my classes rather than focusing on Japanese that would be the most useful for my time there. Most of this review came in the form of reviewing Genki I, a standard beginning Japanese textbook used at many colleges in the US. I also did a lot of reviewing or learning through apps on my iPhone. I think in the beginning of my three months of study, I had a lot of momentum and a plan in place. If you follow this blog, you probably noticed that I used to update a lot more often in the beginning as well. Then, I think I lost sight of the purpose of my study and failed to reevaluate my approach. Not to say that I wasn’t still learning Japanese or preparing to go to Japan, but the last two months were not as productive as the first month was.

I don’t think that a person can truly be prepared for all of the situations they’ll run into in a country they’ve never been to before, because there’s always something that will take them by surprise. I think the lack of what I didn’t learn, made my experience in Japan more educational. But basically, I think I tried to do too much and got burnt out very quickly by my Japanese studies that should have been more focused on Japanese that would have been more useful for living in Japan for four months. There’s also the fact that I had to prepare to live there for four months, which also took time away from studying (e.g. buying a plane ticket, packing, studying about cultural differences etc.). While I don’t think my language studies were as great as they could be, I think I was prepared for most of the cultural situations I encountered; but that may be the result of my long-term interest in Japanese culture rather than anything I did in those three months.

I think the best thing someone studying Japanese can do, especially someone with limited Japanese, aka a beginner, is study maybe the equivalent to the first semester or year of Japanese (if they took a class). It’s surprisingly easy to get around Japan without being fluent. Reviewing or learning the basics will prepare you for most of the situations you’ll come across daily. I can’t count how many times I had to stop and ask for directions from strangers, usually policeman or store clerks. I did not remember how to give and take directions from Japanese 101 class, I learned it through my Japanese classes in Japan and mostly through having to use it, because I kept getting lost. I’m probably a little bias since I went to Tokyo. But I think reviewing beginning Japanese and being open (to learning, to getting lost etc.) and not upset about any difficulties you’ll run into are some of the best things you can do.

I’ll try to write on this blog more regularly since I’m dedicating a lot of my time to studying Japanese again in hopes that I will return to Japan again soon.

New blog title

It’s been a long time! I’m changing my blog title from “Three Months to Learn Japanese” to “Learning Japanese for Life”. I’ll be graduating college soon, so I plan to start posting updates more frequently around the middle of May.

Update: This is long overdue

My three months are up…about two days ago, for me, since I’m in Japan now. I plan to rename my blog and continue updating it sporadically as a Japanese learning resource. My blog for study abroad is: here, so please visit it. My Internet access is limited, so I won’t even attempt to promise an update schedule. Thank you for following my blog and I hope that you continue to read my blog(s).

JLR: The Japanese Page

I haven’t written about a website JLR in a while, so here’s another one: The Japanese Page. I haven’t used this website, but I discovered it in the past and wanted to write about a JLR website instead of an app for a change.

What I like:

• It’s free.
• Beginner lessons
• Intermediate and some Advance lessons
• Free ebooks
• Free downloads
• Kanji practice (stroke order, multiple kanji lists such as JLPT N4 [I think the website goes by the old JLPT levels])
• Listening practice and audio for ebooks
• Seems like there are ways to connect with native speakers for language exchanges (you teach English and they teach you Japanese according to the Japanese advertisement on the right side of their website)
• Teaches kana (hiragana and katakana)

What I don’t like:

• I don’t actually use this website so I can’t really say I dislike anything, but I would like for them to update their JLPT level lists in accordance with the new levels (N5-N1)

Conclusion:

This seems like a good, free resource. If you have used this website, please comment below and tell me about your experience with it.