たいへん！忘れた！（PE Reflection Statement)

I was supposed to write my PE reflection statement by midnight last Friday, but I forgot to do it! I planned to write it between my oral exam in the morning and leaving for fall break at noon, but I underestimated the time I'd need to pack, and I couldn't write it before leaving. I went on a backpacking trip to Mexico so I didn't bring my computer, and I didn't have access to Internet... Well, I did once in a hostel, but I had completely forgotten about it. ほんとにすみません！

Anyway, more on my trip to Mexico later, let me write this reflection statement now.

Bilan du Premier Cycle
During this cycle, I did go to the Japanese Language table at least once a week, and I watched anime most weeks (not two episodes every week, but something equivalent to that in average, since I sometimes went to anime club and watched three or four episodes in a row). All in all, I did a lot of listening, and I think my listening improved.
Speaking-wise, I got a little practice, but not as much (sometimes I could only go to the Monday table in Forbes, and my level was not high enough to actively participate in the conversation). I didn't do as much shadowing as I planned to, but when watching anime with my roommate, I would sometimes repeat random (short) sentences, and ask her to tell me if they sounded wrong. I think I tried to avoid shadowing properly because it is very time-consuming – I'd have to listen to something several times, and record myself to make sure I'm saying it right... – and I hate listening to my own voice! (>_<) However, I think my speed increased for simple sentences, and I am less likely to use wrong intonation for words and phrases that I am familiar with.

Oral Exam
Unfortunately, I don't remember my exam that clearly, but I'll comment on what I remember. I think リウ-さん and I practiced enough to be comfortable with each other. We didn't write a script for the oral, which meant that during the second section, we would sometimes have small pauses in the conversation while we were looking for something to ask about, but it also meant that we practiced not only pronunciation, but also grammar and vocabulary every time we practiced together, so that was good. Thanks to that, the spontaneous conversation with Suzuki-san went quite well (except that sometimes we couldn't figure out who should answer Suzuki-san's questions...)
The main problem I had was hesitating during the third section, especially while trying to conjugate adjectives, and sometimes when trying to find the vocabulary. I think that might have affected my intonation. (To be honest, I did not pay too much attention to intonation during the exam, because I was so focused on forming proper sentences and saying the right words.)


Signing off now, because I have a lot of other work to catch up on... Sorry for the wall of text, and I hope you all had a great fall break (or a great week, either way)! Look forward to more posts with pictures of Mexico!

日記２：中間試験

今週は中間試験があります。あたしは木曜日で試験（five!）がありますからたくさん勉強します。頑張ります！               ｶﾞﾝﾊﾞ━━━o(・`ω´・)○))━━━ ﾙ!!! 
木曜日はプリンストン・ハロウィンもあります。面白いですけど金曜日にも試験がありますからたぶん行きません。

中間試験＝ちゅうかんしけん (midterm exam)
頑張る＝がんばる (to try hard, to try one's best)

太陽の歌（The Movie)

昨日の晩、あたしは映画を見ました。映画の名前は“太陽の歌”（たいようのうた＝Song of the Sun）です。悲しい映画です。映画の中にYUIがいます。YUIは有名な歌手です。YUIの歌とYUIの声はとてもきれいですよ。みんなさんもYUIの歌を聞いてください！

"Song of the Sun" (or in English, "Midnight Sun", I think) is about a girl with a rare disease which makes UV radiation potentially lethal to her. Because of this condition, she can't go out during the day, so she sleeps the days away and goes out at night to play guitar and sing in front of a station. The movie tells her touching story starting from her meeting and budding relationship with a young boy.

Mah, this is how I procrastinate...

悲しい＝かなしい (to be sad)
歌手＝かしゅ (singer)
歌＝うた (song)
声＝こえ (voice)

日記１：宿題がたくさんあります。

今週は宿題がたくさんあります。だから時間がありませんから、あたしは今日の日本語のテーブルに行きませんでした。でも昨日の日本語のテーブルに行きました。佐藤先生を見ました。日本語のテーブルはいつも面白いです。

フー、最近疲れました。（ - ＿-）–3

（あたしは韓国語の授業でも日記を書いています。）
In Korean class, we have to keep not a blog, but a journal. And it has to be all in Korean.
This is the notebook that I'm using. I think it helps that the notebook is cute.

日記＝にっき (diary)

最近＝さいきん (lately)

疲れる＝つかれる (to be tired)

書く＝かく (to write) (書きます)

First Cycle Goal Statement

The first cycle of Pronunciation Exercise (shortened, funnily enough, as PE) is starting. For the next three weeks or so, my goal is to be able to pronounce Japanese vowels, especially long vowels, more naturally. I also want to be able to speak faster and more naturally without losing the right intonation of words.

Activities: I will go to Japanese Language table at least once a week (either the one in Forbes on Monday, or the one in Matthey on Tuesday), I will try to practice with a native speaker (thankfully, my roommate counts), and I will watch at least two episodes of anime per week, shadowing for at least twenty minutes a week.

It looks daunting... Especially the shadowing, actually. I always find it awkward to speak out loud to myself (incidentally, that's why I hate phone calls especially when I don't know the person at the other end very well or at all...) But I'll do my best!!