てがみ

サンクスギビングの休み

みなさん、こんばんは。

先週はサンクスギビングの休みでしたね。とてもみじかかったですね。

私は先週の火曜日にうちにかえってかぞくとばんごはんをたべました。母と父の誕生日でケーキをかってケーキをたべました。おいしかったですね。

私のかぞくですよ。

先週の金曜日にともだちとあいました。私のともだちのなまえはキャシーですよ。キャシーはげんきでたのしくてきれいですね。いっしょにかいものにいってひるごはんをたべました。たのしかったですね。

私とキャシー

サンクスギビングの休みはとてもよかったですね。でも、今たくさんべんきょうします。ちょっとたいへんでとてもいそがしいですね。

じゃ、また！

キム

大内宿の高遠そば

みなさん、こんばんは。

I was watching Simon and Martina video on Youtube again, because their video was titled "A Journey for Special Soba." I was curious as to what kind of soba they were traveling 5 hours (東京から会津まで) for, and it turned out to be the following!!!

This green onion looks so funny and out of place to me, but looking at the reactions to it in the video, it seems to complement the そば quite well. Maybe one day I will be able to try this unique 高遠 (たかとう) そば. 

I have also included the video I watched and a link to this restaurant below. 

http://www.misawaya.jp/

Happy watching! 

キム

PE7: Reflection

みなさん、こんばんは。

I hope you are all doing well. I am still kind of shaken by the せんきょ and how the results have turned out, but I hope that we will not be overcome by fear and doubt, and keep on fighting for this country.

As I look at my PE Goal Statement from the beginning of this semester, I see that I have not accomplished very much. One of my goals is to speak Japanese in a more natural way, and I wanted to accomplish that goal by going to office hours and the 日本語のテーブル, but I've only been to しばた先生’s office hours once and went to the 日本後のテーブル for the first time yesterday. Although my pronunciation is good when I repeat after what the 先生s say or do shadowing exercises for PE, when I went to the 日本後のテーブル, I had so many awkward pauses and couldn't formulate my sentences well. But, that gives me all the more motivation to show up more often and sign up for office hours.

I am going to modify my goal statement because I've never completed the Attack on Titan goal even once. Ever since I arrived on カンパス I haven't watched any テレビ whatsoever because I've been too busy/felt too guilty just sitting down and watching something for purely entertainment purposes for an extended period of time, so I think it would be more realistic for me to just look at Youtube videos about Japanese culture and/or language, and try to post something interesting on my blog once a week.

みなさん、we are halfway through this semester. I hope you all are accomplishing your goals, both inside and outside of our 日本語のじゅぎょう。

がんばって！！！

キム。

ビデオブログ

居酒屋

みなさん、こんいちは！

So there's this Youtube channel that I am subscribed to that used to be called Eat Your Kimchi, because it was about a Canadian couple who moved to Korea to become English teachers, but then started freelancing and focusing on making content for their Youtube channel.

They recently moved to Japan, so I've been watching all the videos they've been making about their adventures in Japan as well.

One of the videos they made was about their favorite 居酒屋, which is basically a Japanese bar.

I had already watched this video in the past, but I watched it again and was able to recognize so many characters and learn a lot of new vocabulary and phrases!

居酒屋＝Japanese bar/pub restaurant fusion

おすすめはなんですか＝What is your recommendation? 

卵焼き＝Japanese rolled omelet

焼きそば＝stir fried buckwheat noodles

The cinematography is also really great in this video, and I love how fun they make the 居酒屋 experience out to be. The video made me really hungry and also made me want to visit Japan so that I can experience an 居酒屋 firsthand. 

みなさん please check out their channel, there's lots of great videos that can teach you about Japanese culture and food and other great stuff (their videos about Korea are also very entertaining)!

にほんのがっこうのひるごはん

A なかま of mine posted this video on フェイスブック that I thought was extremely fascinating. Although I was familiar with schools in Korean culture and how schools were literally their home away from home, seeing the mindfulness of these Japanese students and their attitude towards not only their school but the food that they eat and the hands that prepared that food is amazing. If only these values could be incorporated into the American education system...the benefits would be endless!!!

ペンパイナッポーアッポーペン

こんばんは！

I saw this video a few days ago, and then when I saw the it again today, I realized that the Japanese characters written across the screen were katakana, and that I could read them! It's a ridiculous (but very catchy) song, but it was so cool that these characters and symbols actually had meaning to me now. Yay real life application!

PE2: Goal Statement

おはようございます！

My goals for this semester: 

1. To be able to speak Japanese in a more natural way, like a native speaker. When I practice during class I have to stop and form the sentences in my head before I speak. I want to reach the point where I can carry a simple conversation without having to think so deliberately about what to say.

2. To work on my handwriting and the accuracy of my hiragana/katakana//kanji. 

3. To just improve little by little everyday in reading, writing, typing, speaking, listening, and studying Japanese!

But how am I going to accomplish these goals?

By doing the following:

Trying to go to each 先生's office hours at least once (and hopefully a lot more!) every month with questions I might have about anything Japanese-related, whilst trying to speak as little English as I possibly can.

Taking the time to go over mistakes in my homework and really drill the corrections into my head.

Going to the 日本後のテーブル at least every other week, but hopefully a lot more than that! 

Watching Youtube videos about anything related to Japan, and trying to post something interesting to my blog once a week.

Watching a Japanese movie once a month! (forcing myself to have a productive study break)

Going over my notes and the PPTs from classes and repeating whatever questions and exercises we practiced. 

My goals and the means by which I'll accomplish these goals aren't very difficult, but I know that at times I really won't want to practice or watch an anime or go to language tables because I'm feeling lazy. Hopefully I stay consistent and dedicated to these goals and accomplish them by the end of the semester! 

じこしょうかい

はじめまして！

キムユニスです。かんこくけあめりかじんです。

わたしは プリンストンだいがくのいちねんせいです。にほんごのがくせいです。

せんこうはけんちくがくです。

どうぞよろしく！

An Introduction

はじめまして！キムです。

I have just started my first year at Princeton University as an AB student. Being an AB student means that I have a language requirement to fulfill, and instead of continuing to learn Spanish, I decided to start learning Japanese.

I don't really have a special reason for wanting to take Japanese; I just always thought that it was a pretty language to speak and write. However, other reasons for wanting to learn the language include words such as komorebi (木漏れ日).

Komorebi (木漏れ日) is an exclusively Japanese word that means "sunlight filtering through the trees." When I discovered this word through a friend of mine, I came to the realization that there are so many untranslatable words out there with beautiful meaning. Japanese isn't the only language with untranslatable words, but I hope that learning this language will lead me to learning more languages and more untranslatable words across the globe.

So far, JPN 101 is a lot more intensive than I thought it would be. Even from the very first day, the professor made us speak and talk to our classmates in Japanese. It hasn't been overwhelming, but it's definitely much more fast-paced than what I expected.

I'm looking forward to see how much my currently non-existent Japanese skills improve throughout the semester, and throughout the year.