Forgot to do my diary sentences yesterday, so let’s start with that:

Wednesday, 9th of November, 2011.

Suiyoubi, nisen jyuuichi nen jyuuichi gatsu, kokonoka.

すいようび、にせん　じゅういち ねん　じゅういち　がつ　ここのか。

水曜日、　二千十一年十一月九日。　（２００１年１１月９日）

At 6:30pm, I went to a friend’s house to play a roleplaying -game.

Watashi wa gogo roku ji han tomodachi no uchi ni rorupuraaingu geemu o asobini ikimashita.

わたし　は　ごご　ろくじ　はん　ともだち　の　うち　に　ロルプラーイング　ゲーム　を　あそびに　いきました。

私は午後六時半友達の家にロルプラーイングゲームを遊びに行きました。

I’m not quite sure I’ve got the grammar right here.  ”Asobu” (あそぶ、遊ぶ）is “play”, and “Asobi ni” is “… in order to play”, so combine that with “go” (iku, いく, 行く) and you get “go in order to play”.  However, I’m combining this with “…to a friend’s house” (tomodachi no uchi ni, ともだち　の　うちに、友達の家に), and I’m not sure that actually works.

It’s actually beginning to be difficult to come up with new sentences, as I’m not doing much at the moment, given I’m taking annual leave just now!  I’d say “on holiday” only I’m not actually going anywhere

Let’s see…

“I didn’t go to the store today.”

Kyou wa mise ni ikimasen deshita.

きょう　は　みせ　に　いきませｎ　でした。

きょうは店に行きませんでした。

So: today.  Well, technically yesterday, as it’s now after midnight.

Thursday, 10th November 2011

Mokuyoubi, nisen jyuuichi nen jyuuichi gatsu tooka.

もくようび、　にせん　じゅういち　ねん　じゅういち　がつ　とおか。

木曜日、　二千十一年十一月十日。（２００１年１１月１０日）

Uhhh, let’s see.   I recorded the latest episode of the Nearly Enough Dice Podcast, but I don’t know the word for “record”.  Shall we go with “make”?

From seven twenty p.m. to eight forty p.m. I made a podcast.

Watashi wa gogo shijini nijyuppun kara gogo hachiji yonjuppun made poddokyasuto o tsukurimashita.

わたし　は　ごご　しちじ　から　ごご　はちじ　よんじゅっぷん　まで　ポッドキャスト　を　つくりました。

私は午後七時から午後八時四十分までポッドキャストを造りました。

I didn’t go anywhere today.

Kyou wa dokonimo ikimasen deshita.

きょう　は　どこにも　いきません　でちた。

今日はどこにも行きませんでした。

I’m going to have to actually start going places, or I’m going to have to start repeating myself  Fortunately I’m going to a wedding reception this weekend…

These are my ongoing Japanese learning actions.? Nice short section so everything all at once…

Kanji

I use Anki daily – more specifically, I use the iPhone app on my iPod touch. It’s really handy, especially as my daily commute has specific “dead” times – waiting for the bus, travelling on the Underground – where I can just get out the iPod and do some reps.

Usually I “write” the Kanji with a finger on a nearby surface – my other hand, the iPod, my leg – but when I’m doing reps at home (usually late on a non-work night because without the usual commute to do I forgot) I write them in a graph-paper exercise pad. Sometimes (mostly when I’m role-playing, for some reason) I get out the plain A5 pad from my jacket pocket and my brush pen and try some calligraphy.

I have some other decks in Anki, but RTK is still generating anywhere between 40 and 80 due cards each day, so I don’t often get enough time to do them.

Vocabulary and Grammar

I’m doing my daily Gradint “podcast”, so that’s five words / phrases per day.

When I get my Kanji reps done quickly, I try and do some of the Tae Kim grammar deck (much easier now that I’m learning the vocab via Gradint), as well as the Core2k/6k deck (also helped by Gradint). My Kana decks still occasionally throw up a card, so I do them when they appear.

Immersion

I’m listening to my Anime score playlist on my iPod, and occasionally remembering to listen to Japanese podcasts.

Next post: What I Could Be Doing – Kanji and Kana

Kana chart August 21st 2009

Well, as of this morning, I can write out the entire Kana chart from memory!

This was done using Windows Journal on a Toshiba Tecra tablet PC, so it’s slightly rougher than even my usual scrawl, and I’ve sneakily not saved the grid pattern that made everything all neat and organised. We will call it even.

I also blanked on a couple of characters – including ones I thought I’d learned weeks ago! But they eventually dropped into my brain…

But yay!

Next week – Kanji! Of course, instead of a couple of hundred characters, I now have to memorise a couple of thousand… should only take me a few years!

My Kana handwriting, as of 19th August 2009

My kana (Hiragana and Katakana) handwriting as of Wednesday 19th 2009. I have managed to swap ら and り (third column from the left, top two characters), and I’ve only written the Katakana (bottom group) that I know so far.

These are charts of all the kana (well, minus the ones I don’t know), in the equivalent of alphabetical order. Down the right are the vowels – a, i, u, e, o. Then each column has the same vowel with a different consonent. So reading the top row right-to-left gets you: a, ka, sa, ta, na, ha, ma, ya, ra (or “ri”, given my lapse in concentration), and wa. And then there’s ん – “n” – all on it’s own at the end – it’s the only consonant that isn’t followed by a vowel.

I suppose this isn’t so bad, given I’ve only been at this for a month or so. But I do wish it looked a little prettier. And I hate the way my か and カ come out. Perhaps in time.