Goals and Activities!

Well here goes! Here is my new Japanese semesters resolution.

1) Pronunciation and Fluent-ness
       In terms of pronunciation, I feel like because Japanese was my first language, I have a good natural sense of intonation. Basic areas such as prosody, word pitch, rhythm and pause seem to give me no trouble. However because of a decade of not speaking Japanese, my English may have crept in somewhere. I think (and my sensei's can correct me if I am wrong) I am at the point where the only corrections I have to make are very small and nit picky areas. With the current vocabulary I would say my pronunciation has little to no problem. Again if there are problems I can't hear them. However as I begin to learn more and more vocabulary which I have not encountered, inflection and pitch will be more and more important. Thus my main goal with pronunciation is to make sure my inflection (such as flat and then up or flat and then down) is right for new vocabulary ahead.

2) Activities
       I have a lot of work to do in terms of activities. First off, I would like to make a consistent effort to go to a language table at least once a week! I see a table at Forbes all the time but I never go and I don't know why! Another way to really improve my Japanese is to truly listen to the Japanese anime rather than relying on the subtitles. I already watch ALOT of anime and because I can read much faster than I can understand Japanese, I only stare at the subtitles for information. One big thing I can do now that I am beginning to learn Japanese is to listen more to the Japanese and then use the subtitles only when I don't know what something means. That way even when I cam enjoying my favorite shows like Bleach and Naruto, I can also be learning Japanese! I hope soon to watch RAW versions of anime without the subtitles!