Japanese TV content

It is true that youtube hosts more than enough Japanese-spoken material. But still I would like to watch Japanese TV channels. However, only NHK premium seems to be available in Europe and it is very costly to receive through satellite (through JSTV). So I've been doing a little digging to find some TV content from Japan.

So far, I've found this site, where you can see links to channels with pre-recorded or live content. Some of the links work better if you just steal the url and open in a new browser. Some, unfortunately, don't work.

Some of the content can be viewed directly on the same site, and some will direct you to the respective website. When I'm directed to an everything-in-japanese page, more often than not I'm lost. Then, the Google translate button comes in very handy (simply drag the language of your choice and drop it onto your bookmark toolbar) . Also a Windows Media Player plug-in will be necessary if you use Firefox like I do.

I have this idea that if I listen to various content diligently, I will crack it one day.

Here are some links that work reliably:

• ChannelJ for travel and culture and amazing traditional crafts/industry content. (Here you can find the same content dubbed in English. It may be useful to watch again in English to see how much of it you were able to catch)
  
• FNN News From The Fuji News Network (fast connection)
  
• Odoroku TV and Seebit TV are particularly good for watching some young people chatting away all the time.
• Sony Music , If you're into J-pop.
• Shop Channel is one of my favourites. It doesn't require much from you to follow and consists of a lot of repetition within the theme.

I will continue updating this post for further links as I find them. I hope this helps in our quest to find entertaining ways to get better at Japanese. New tips are, of course, always welcome!

How far along are we?

I've been thinking some more about how we study Japanese, and how slow the progress are that we're making. I read a comment on a site that sounded very recognizable: a class is as slow as its slowest student. I think we're feeling that in Fudeuchi-sensei's class.
But how slow is our progress, actually? How far are we, and how long will it take us to get to something resembling actual fluency? While it may be a bit depressing to find out, it may also give us some perspective and point out the areas we should focus on.
In some areas of study, it may be hard to estimate how far we are, but in others, there's some good hard figures to be had. This is my impression of where we are:

Reading and writing

Definitely our worst score. We know hiragana and katakana, but to read and write fluently, we need to know some 2000 kanji. In reality we know about 20, a mere 1%.

Speaking and listening

This one is hard to estimate and may vary among us. Personally, I'd say I can pick up about 5% of a given text, and can readily produce about 5% of a coherent sentence.

Verbs

We've learned some 18 different forms of verbs (like the dictionary form, polite past etc) when according to the Japanese Verb Conjugator, the total is something like 47. That makes 38%.

Vocabulary

This depends a bit, but I'd say we know some 300-500 words, when about 3000-5000 words of vocabulary are a rough minimum to be able to process a language more or less fluently. 10%.

Particles

Based on the previous post, we know some 35 uses of particles, when the Particle Workbook lists 178. Score: a little under 20%.

The average percentage (if we weigh all areas of study equally) is 15%. We started studying in September of 2008, which is about 15 months away. That would mean we still have 85% = 85 months away, which means that at this rate of study we'll be fluent in about seven years... I'd love to hear your thoughts about how we can lower that number.

What we should know

Hey there, here's a handy, categorized list of everything discussed in the Japanese for Busy People 1 book (apart from vocabulary).

Writing

1. Hiragana alphabet
2. Katakana alphabet

Speech, sound and social interaction rules

1. Pronunciation
2. Changing sounds in contexts (fun/bun/kun)
3. Bowing
4. Basic daily phrases (hi, bye, sorry, etc)
   
5. Refer to next meeting instead of saying goodbye
6. Levels of politeness
7. Family members: mine and other people's

Nouns, pronouns and noun phrases

1. Nouns are genderless, numberless
2. Gender, number or person of subject does not affect the rest of the sentence
3. Omitting topic
4. Personal pronouns watashi, anata
   
5. -san suffix (Mr/Ms)
   
6. Use of -san over anata
7. -jin suffix (nationality)
8. Demonstrative pronouns: kore/kono, sore/sono, are/ano
9. -go suffix (language)
10. o- prefix (polite)
11. "Noun prepositions": ue, chikaku, naka etc.
12. go- prefix (polite)

Verbs

1. Verb come at the end of a sentence or clause
2. Verb times: only present/future and past exist
3. Polite copula desu
4. Negative polite copula dewa arimasen
5. Past polite copula deshita
6. Negative past polite copula dewa arimasendeshita
7. Polite verb forms: -masu, -masen, -mashita, -masendeshita
8. Meaning of kaerimasu
9. imasu, arimasu
10. Desu as an implicit verb (p. 79)
11. Exhortation: -masen ka, -masho ka, -masho
12. arimasu as have/own
13. -te form
14. Use of -te form as sequence, or as polite command
15. Verb classes: Reg I, Reg II, Irreg
16. -nai form of verbs
17. -naide kudasai: Please do not~
18. Past tense in thanks and apologies, e.g. sumimasendeshita (sorry for what happened)
19. -te imasu (gerund): progressive or habitual
20. -tai: desire (conjugates like an adjective); impolite when used with other

Adjectives

1. Adjectives inflect for time and mood
2. Adjective before noun, before desu
3. -i and -na adjectives
4. Conjugation of -i adjectives for time, mood

Particles

1. Particles (general)
2. Particle wa: Topic marker
3. Particle ka: Question marker
4. Particle no: belonging, affiliation, possession
5. Particle no without noun after it (substantivized genitive): "Jim's", "mine"
6. Particles kara, made
7. Particle mo: also, too
8. Particle ni: direction with movement
9. Particle e: direction
10. Particle ga: grammatical subject used after interrogatives/in case of new info
11. Particles ni + (ar)imasu: existence at
12. Ga vs wa with (ar)imasu: new vs known (roughly 'a' vs 'the')
13. Particle ya: incomplete enumeration (nouns only)
    
14. Particle to: complete enumeration (nouns only)
    
15. Particle yo: please note!
16. Particle mo: anyX, no X
17. Particle goro: approximate point in time (but not period)
18. Particle o: object
19. Particle ni: use with aimasu
20. Particle ni: use as indirect object/receiver
21. Particle de: location of action
22. Particle kara: because
23. Particle ni: to (when giving), from (when receiving)
24. Particle gurai: approximate period, amount etc (but not point in time)
25. Particle de + arimasu: event
26. Particle ga: courteous hesitation between less relevant and more relevant clauses
27. Particle o: indicates point of passage
28. Particle made: as far as
29. Particle o: point of departure (with orimasu, demasu)
30. Particle ni: point of entrance (with norimasu, tsukimasu)
31. -te + Particle mo + ii desu ka: asking permission
32. Particle ga: but
33. Particle ni: for place of residence/employment
34. Double particles vs. replacing particles: de + mo = de mo, wa + mo = mo
35. Particles wa and ga combined: suki, jouzu etc.

Interrogatives

1. Polite interrogative donata
2. Casual interrogative dare
3. Asking origin: doko no

Numbers and time & space

1. Numbers (digits, not amounts)
2. Large numbers: the 4-digit skip (man, oku)
3. Decimal points and fractions (ten and bun)
4. Counters (default and specific)
5. Hours and minutes
6. Gozen/gogo
7. Time: last/this/next day/week/month/year
8. Days of the week
9. Days of the month
10. Month names
11. Cardinal directions (NEWS)
12. Positions and directions: before, ahead, left, right
13. -me suffix: -th
14. -kan counter for time units except months

A new regimen

I don't know how many people out there who are learning Japanese are frustrated by their lack of progress, but I know I am. I've been at this thing for about 2 years now, and I can't even hold up a basic conversation or read a simple piece of text. I didn't think I'd be fluent by now, but I expected things to move faster than this.
What's more, I notice that I keep forgetting the things I'm supposed to already know, like how to make the -て form or words I know I memorized. Obviously, I'm doing something wrong. Part of the problem is that there are many different aspects to this language, each daunting in their own way, which can easily be overwhelming. I tend to want to know the subtleties of a language, but in this case, that's asking for trouble --it's too much to handle. I'm still amazed at how important it is how you learn this language.

In short, I need a new plan.

First, I need to step back and look at what I should know already, and make sure I actually know it. I should know hiragana, but give me a piece of text to read and I'll barely stammer my way through it. I should be able to rattle off my date of birth, but actually, I'll need a minute or two to collect myself, then write it down on a piece of paper and recite it --like a schoolkid doing math with his fingers.

Second, I need to divide and conquer. I've identified the following areas of study:

• Speaking and listening
• Particles
• Vocabulary
• Reading and writing
• Other grammar (verbs, adjectives and so on)

I think it's probably best to study a little bit of all of them every day. All I'll do for now is review; that is, redo stuff I should already know. For the various areas of study, this means the following:

Speaking and listening

Listen to CD tracks from J4BP1 and write down what you hear. Take any piece of (kana) text and read it out loud.

Particles

Find a particle as learned in J4BP1. Find exercises in the Japanese Particle Workbook that test knowledge of this particle. Make those exercises.

Vocabulary

Play with the quizlet for the course 1 vocabulary. Do a smart.fm quiz.

Reading and writing

Find a piece of hiragana text and read it out loud as fast as you can. Read and translate sentences with kanji in them. Draw a few kanji.

Other grammar

Find a reference section from J4BP1. Study a grammar rule. Find an exercise that tests this rule. Do the exercise.

And now the important question: are you with me?

If even animals can do it...

This is a sea lion in Yokohama who can write the kanji for 'tiger', 寅, pronounced とら, in honor of the Year of the Tiger, 2010. So come on people! If a marine animal can learn it, so can we!