たいへんですねそしていいですね。

きにょうびにおはなみをしました。でも、D.C.はとてもさむいでした。わたしとともだちはちいさいはなをみました。たいへんですね。しかし、ゆきとはなはいっしょにきれいでした。いいですね。ゆきとはなはわたしのちゅうごくのなまえです。

たんじょうびわしがつみっかでした。あまりたのしくないでした。ラーブのレポートをしました。たいへんですね。でも、しゅうまつにともだちにケーキとプレゼントをもらいました。いいですね。>^-^<

はなみ

おととしちゅうごくごのprogramをしました。Beijingへひとにあいました。いまわたしのともだちです。ともだちのおなまえはカレンちゃんです。カレンちゃんはWashington, D.C.へはたらきます。カレンちゃんいいました「はなみはしがつついたちからなのかまでです。ヴィニーちゃんとともだちはD.C.へききますね。みなさんはいっしょにはなみをしますよ」。だからさらいしゅうコロンビアのともだちにはなみをします。

Not too げんきいthe past few ようび... a bit drugged up on Robitussin.

On a completely unrelated topic, is there a good online じしょう for ひらがな? I have no clue how to read these comments I get on my entries. I plugged in my last comment on Babelfish and it gave me this:

"Today. TA it increases and is. Don't you think? the word which with special care was learned does not become caught and the て ざ is don't you think? it is. The next, it should have become caught, don't you think? is!"

おもしろい, but not quite what I need. I wonder if that's what I sound like when I try to speak にほんご...

Composition

こんばんわ。ウオンです。ニューヨークからきました。あめりかじんです。コロンビアだいがくのよねんせいです。Chemical EngineeringとEarth and Environmental Engineeringをべんきょします。よろしくおねがいします。

First Encounter

So I got a chance to use my にほんご this week. Well, sort of. My roommate’s friends came over from とうきょうto visit for a few days. Unfortunately, I already knew where they were from, so I couldn’t say 「とうきょうからきましたか」, and my roommate had already introduced us by name, so that ruled out 「おなまえわ」. I couldn’t very well ask 「なんさいですか」 since that seemed a tad inappropriate for a first-time meeting. I was pretty sure it would elicit a 「すみません、ちょっと…」 response anyway. In the end, all I could offer was a mere 「はじめまして」.

My hope is that by the next time my roommate has Japanese friends over, I’ll know enough to actually carry on a conversation. ☺☻☺☻

The Japanese Language

The Japanese language, I feel, is surprisingly difficult for me. I expected it to be much easier given that Chinese was not very hard to learn. Of course, I can't compare the spoken languages since I've been speaking what most people consider the hardest dialect of Chinese at home ever since I can remember. However, many say that written Chinese is the hardest language since it is pictorial, and there is no way of knowing how to pronounce a word, let alone know its meaning, if you don't have the characters memorized beforehand. Yet, it didn't take very long for me to memorize how to write a set of characters and learn their meanings, even though I hadn't had background in reading or writing. I assumed Japanese would thus be all the simpler, given that there is an alphabet of sorts and all I had to do was memorize the meaning. To my dismay, this was not so. I often confuse the hiragana. Moreover, what I hadn't counted on were exceptions to spelling rules! Who knew long vowels took on a different spelling? And that there are exceptions to this exception?! I asked my Japanese-speaking friend how to tell when there's an exception, and she said, "You just know." Well, I don't know. I guess it might have been a bit foolish to think this would be easy.

My Interest in Japanese

When asked in grade school what I would request with only one wish, aside from the obvious but illegitimate wish for more wishes, I wished I could speak all the languages in the world. I wanted to be able to communicate with anyone and everyone I encountered. But alas by the laws of nature, wishes don't come true so easily. Soon I realized I would have to constrict my dream a little and choose a handful out of hundreds.

Like a good many of my peers, I was first introduced to the Japanese language through anime. I recall the hint of skepticism in my voice as I retorted to my best friend, "Aren't we a bit old for cartoons?" But four episodes into Escaflowne and I was hooked. The better the anime got, the more I wanted to understand the language instead of having to read subtitles or worse, watch the awful dubbed version that is any avid watcher's worst nightmare.

Although college life has hindered the continuation of anime marathons, I still retained my interest in the language. I was tempted to major in Linguistics, but the practical Asian influence led me to choose engineering instead. It wasn't until now, in my last semester of college, that I'm able to take language courses for pleasure. The only problem is learning Japanese and Korean at the same time. Not on rare occasions did I find myself wanting to say Kankoku or Chugoku in Korean class, and anyonghaseyo in Japanese class. I have a feeling it will only get more confusing as I start to learn the same words in both classes.