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.