Japanese

[forgotten_aria]

I had my first Japanese class. The teacher is a little unassertive to keep the class on track, but she's not unwilling to correct you (which is good, I had a community College Frnech teacher, who wouldn't try) and I like her accent, as far as I can tell Japanese accents. She's a little bit flaky, when I asked if there was a difference between the shi derived ji and the chi derived ji, she circled ji and zu and then explained very clearly to me why one almost never uses the chi derived ji but that there was no sound difference.

Hopefully there will be more single speaking as the class goes on, so that I can get my main goal of over coming my hesitation when trying to speak even words I know. I kind of like her, but don't hold high exectatiosn for what I'll get out of the class. That's ok, I had simple goals, and I'm paying CCAE prices, so even if it just makes me a little more practiced in the sounds and she sometimes corrects some of my glaring pronouniation problems, that will be good enough.

Comments

[gkjfdh.livejournal.com]

i got (actually, my gf got for me) a tutor to help with my speaking. when i took japanese classes in high school, i never spoke up at all and ended up with great reading and writing skills, but no ability to communicate. after 9 months of going to "japanese club" here in austin, i've noticed the same trend setting in again... it's easier to just sit and listen. the one-on-one time with a tutor will force me to get over it, though, at least, i hope...

as an aside, you only see the chi-derived ji and tsu-derived zu in "compound words". for example, "tsukai" means "use", and "muda-" is a word and prefix meaning "futile". you can combine them into a word that means "a waste" which is pronounced "mudazukai" but is still spelled　むだづかい. i don't know of any rule for when that leading sound in the second word becomes voiced and when it stays as it is.

tonikaku, hazukashigaranaide yo! gambatte yo!