So, it's been a week. This really isn't to proclaim to the internet how amazingly fantastically amazing the experience has been; these entries are mostly just going to be to get my thoughts in order, track my progress, and might eventually give me the opportunity to rant at myself if my efforts start slipping.Going over the initial lessons in the Hiragana workbook, a lot of my fears have been put to rest. The language isn't that complicated, that is to say that the perception I was exposed to didn't hold that much water. It's not this language that you have to be born into to fully grasp. It's possible to learn it, just as much as it's possible to learn German or Spanish, but you just have to go about approaching it a different way.
After one week, I haven't made much progress. I've learned exactly eight Japanese characters, how to say them, and how to construct a few words using them. That's about it. The following lessons cover the rest of the Hiragana "alphabet" and then how to construct more complicated words. The sentences come eventually. Learning the alphabet is the easy part, though. Everything after that sounds about as daunting as I've always perceived it to be. Hopefully not.
You can do it Knight!
ReplyDeleteThis is very cool.
ReplyDeleteNo, you can do it, Glow! Ganbatte!
ReplyDeleteHey... I'm sure that was the first word in the opening song of 'Mystical Ninja' on N64...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NQKAsvlKcE
lol! I don't know how you remembered that!
ReplyDeleteGanbatte (Keep it up! or Fight on!) is, apparently, a word that's used very commonly in Japan. It's a lighthearted cheer for encouragement, to which you would reply: ganbarimasu! (I'll do my best!)
Ridiculously, I remember a lot of song lyrics from that game xD
ReplyDeleteGood reply, man! You're learning pretty fast here?!
Pāpuru ya kan-gyo wa suichoku yaku o taberu.
ReplyDeleteNever forget that, Knight my boy, never forget it.