Week 1

Nihongo Kon Kon!

When I first called Berlitz to get information on taking Japanese they sent me some information that I ended up pushing aside on my desk because I started working on this blog. By the time I got around to following up with it, an interesting situation had arisen. When I finally called Berlitz, the class they had originally wanted to start in June was close to be canceled because there were not enough people. (Story of my life right there *grin*) Svetlana Virts, the director, told me that they needed one more person since there needed to be at least two people in the class for it to count as a group session. The other student, who had signed up earlier, was going to have to take the online version of the course if another person didn’t join soon. It was a matter of days really.

The Universe is pretty cut and dry on this kind of issue for me. What are the odds that I’d remember to follow up with Berlitz just days before the class would have been canceled and the other student, who really wanted face-to-face learning, would have to take the online version? I wanted to learn Japanese in a face-to-face setting as well – it’s so much more affective than online. So I can learn Japanese AND help someone else at the same time? Of course I would sign up. My mind was already made up even before I checked to see if I could actually afford it. Svetlana was very happy and she told me that Monika, the other student, would surely be happy as well. When Svetlana asked me if I would be ready to attend class on June 1st I said “You bet!” and I did a little dance of joy *grin*

I was very nervous about what to expect. I’d never been to West Hartford, at least not the Historic District, and I was really hoping that Monika and I would get along. In a class of only two students and one teacher, if you really don’t get along it would be kind of tense, right? I had all kinds of questions in my mind … What would Monika be like? Would the sensei be strict? Would the homework be hellish? Would I really be able to learn in an immersive environment of total Japanese language?

When I arrived at 970 Farmington Ave it was a large three story building with some seriously posh interior. Marble floor tiles, beautiful wood and glass, and sort of antiquey lighting fixtures. I was like, Mmm oh well, well, fancy, fancy. *grin* Seriously though, it’s a beautiful building on the inside. After looking at a few of the various businesses on the first floor including a salon, a photography studio, a legal office, a real estate office, and some others, I got on the elevator and hit the 2nd floor. The Berlitz Language Center was a little ways down a hallway of seriously intimidating but gorgeous wooden doors. Once inside … it was like a whole other world.

Sitting at the front desk when I entered was Mitsue Igarashi-sensei, who was not my teacher, but whose name I recognized from the email I received containing my class signup receipt. She greeted me with “Konnichi wa” and I was so nervous that I completely forgot all of the Japanese I knew. I am already familiar with proper greetings and have used them before in other situations. I was quite embarrassed and ashamed of myself and before I had a chance to recover, Josephine Calvo, the Instructional Supervisor, was walking towards me with a smile. She sat me down in a small meeting room and explained to me about Berlitz, how the classes worked, gave me my book and instructional CDs and then showed me around.

The Berliz Language Center was very sleek, clean, and modern which was a very cool transition from the look of the overall interior of the building. The classrooms were enclosed in glass and the doors were made of glass also with brushed steel door handles. There was a cool accent of frosted gray glass overtop of each section – just enough so that you couldn’t see completely inside each room.

In addition to 5 classrooms, there was a nice kitchen alcove complete with a table and two chairs, a microwave that you could use, a medium sized refrigerator, water, free coffee and tea brewing, and a bulletin board of events of interest and other useful information. Around the corner was a small computer area where you could surf the net, check your mail, look at various language resources sites and other bookmarked locations.

I absolutely loved the layout and the overall feel to the Berlitz Language Center. As someone with “not so mild” OCD and who is kind of anal about spacial ratios in public locations, I felt right at home there as soon as I walked into the kind of sterile, brightly lit, but very comfortable and personable atmosphere.

I know you don’t really care about all this, right? The question is … what about Monika!!?? HAHAHA! Ok!

The picture I took of Monika-chan (below and to the left) does not do her ANY KIND OF JUSTICE WHATSOEVER. I believe that the iphone, on top of being a piece of overpriced garbage, purposely added an automatic setting called “Make Awful” to it’s already LAME built in camera application. The picture at right is from her Facebook gallery. Frankly, I don’t think there is any equipment that currently exists in this dimension that could really capture Monika properly. She’s like, so cool, that she’s phased within our lame excuse for existence, man. *grin* Monika Gonzalez is, as the girl says on that T-Mobile commercial, SUPER DELICIOUS. She is mega kawaii and is a vegetarian mixture of a bit of goth, more than a dash of spice, serious handfulls of JRock Star, and a spattering of adorable carnivore disgust. *laugh*

That’s right, our lovely Monika-chan is a tofu eating, fur protesting beauty. Veggiesaurous Hoticus. She also loves her some XJapan, Plastic Tree, Glay, Dir en Grey, and the whole lot of those hard rockin crooners! She has strong convictions and that is something I admire in a person. And even though I probably should have put up a screen between us when I ate my shrimp fried rice at dinner the other night, I think she forgave my disgusting meat-eater-ness with a delightful smile. I could be wrong though. Hmm, I may have to ask her. *grin*

While we clearly disagree on the subject of meat, I have a feeling that Monika and I share a lot of similar thoughts and beliefs in other areas, but it’s actually the differences between people that provide you with the most opportunity to learn and grow. Most people think that if someone is different from them that they have nothing in common and therefore there is no point in getting to know them. How selfish is that? You only want to be with people who are like you? No, no, no … the people who can be of the most help to you, when it comes to expanding your outlook on the world around you, are those who are different from you. Seek education and exploration. Not sameness. I look forward to getting to know Monika-chan outside of our class. I hope she does also! Now where’s that hamburger I was hunched over and gnawing on a second ago … *snicker*

Monika-chan and I are at very different levels coming into class. I would say Monika-chan is at beginning level and I’m more at a secondary level, though not by very much. I have a working knowledge of the Japanese language and I have, as I mentioned in my previous posts, had some lessons in Japanese prior to this one at Berlitz. I can quite easily read Hiragana, though I don’t have an extensive enough vocabulary to be able to understand what I have read and I can carry on very simple and brief conversations. Right now, I am treating the first few classes as a review and refresher for things that I already have learned but have forgotten how to implement. Noriko-sensei said that the class would be flexible. If Monika-chan and I decided that we wanted to focus more on Hiragana and Katakana, she would happily adjust the class accordingly. That’s pretty cool.

Long before I started at Berlitz I used the following to self teach myself Japanese. I highly recommend these.

When I first started learning Japanese the first thing I started looking for online was affordable applications that I could use. Human Japanese was one of the first ones I found and it has paid off in a huge way. “Human Japanese is Japanese language learning software that starts at square one and presents the Japanese language in a warm, engaging tone. Packed with over 1800 recordings of vocabulary words and example sentences, an instantly searchable dictionary of vocabulary words and grammar terms, dozens of games and quizzes, and a great text, Human Japanese will impress you with its warmth, beauty, and wit.” This is an amazing and well written application and I have yet to even complete all of the lessons. In just a few chapters you will be able to begin to read Hiragana and recognize many words you’ve probably heard before. The digital version of this software is $18.95 and is WELL WORTH the price. I guarantee it.

The next thing I did was hit Amazon for some books …

Both of these books are excellent and great for beginners. They may seem a bit “elementary” but frankly that is ok. You are learning a new language and the simplier the book and ideas are to follow, the easier time you will have. “Japanese Hiragana for Beginners and Japanese Katakana for Beginners makes learning hiragana and katakana fast and effective by using memorable picture mnemonics, along with clear explanations, examples and lots of fun exercises. Picture mnemonics enhance memory by associating the shape and sound of each character with combinations of images and English words already familiar to students. Full of useful writing tips, rules that allow students to write all Japanese sounds, and exercises such as word searches, crossword puzzles, fill in the blanks, timed recognition quizzes and more, this book is an excellent tool to increase knowledge of the Japanese language.”

With Human Japanese and these two books, within a week I was reading Hiragana and Katakana very easily. I was also then able to use NJ Star to write basic emails to my Japanese friends using my limited vocabulary and a Japanese dictionary.

This book, Japanese From Zero, has been the most helpful in my self study. I think it’s absolutely brilliantly made. Why? Because it doesn’t just teach you using romaji, it gradually teaches you how to read Hiragana in a really clever way. Throughout the lessons that range from history, to telling time, to numbers, to particles, etc, you learn Hiragana characters. As you continue through the book they gradually start replacing the romaji with Hiragana characters that you have previously learned.

For example, when you are learning words like “kore”, “sore”, “are” they will be spelled in romaji at first and then towards the end of that section it might read “kore”, “sore”, “あre” because you just recently learned the Hiragana for the sound “a” (ah). Slowly they begin replacing the sounds with the Hiragana equivalent and before you know it you are reading whole lessons in complete Hiragana! I found this method incredibly effective for me. I have the entire series of these books.

I always carry these awesome cards in my bag so I can keep practicing kana drills when I have a chance. Anyone who is learning Japanese will tell you repetition, repetition, and more repetition. I go over these cards at least once a day. These Flashcards from White Rabbit Press are very, very high quality durable, coated, rounded corner, plastic cards. The only thing is that their visual mnemonics are different from the two books mentioned above but you can choose which mnemonics you prefer. “These cards include stroke-order diagrams and hundreds of vocabulary building example words on the back. Each stroke-order diagram includes arrows to indicate stroke direction. Each example word is written in kana on the card front with the English reading and definition on the flipside.”