脱出デロ

Normally do my daily stuff, checking up D-Addict Torrents for anything interesting and this show came up.脱出デロ

Short description. It’s basically a game show where the contestants (models,comedians,actors) are locked in a room and must escape from it by doing various tasks, such as identifying hidden object in a picture, using word clues to find a key etc.   There are three stages per show however, the third stage is most epic. Anyway, from the ones I’ve seen so far, floors have been removed, the ceiling falling down, room being filled with water. No subs but if you can understand and somewhat read, it is a good watch.

五体不満足

Prior to meeting up with you guys to watch Harry Potter, I went up to Kunokuniya and bought myself a copy of Ototake Hirotada’s 五体不満足 (Gotaifumanzoku:No one’s perfect). I promised to buy one back here.Gotaifumanzoku was the prescribed text for HSC Japanese Extension for many years before they recently switched to Spirited Away.  Though most students doing Japanese Extension this year were probably ecstatic when they heard about Spirited Away being the prescribed (this probably boosted up the numbers in our Japanese Extension Class >_>), I wouldn’t have minded studying Gotaifumanzoku. Both texts have their own level of depth but to be reading an autobiography, is alot more powerful in my opinion. Reading about Ototake,a man without arms and legs, growing up in a society inadequate at providing assistance for his disabilities is alot more thought provoking I think.

I painfully went through the first chapter of the book (車椅子の王様）looking up every word I didn’t know, picking up alot of adverbs, kanji, but it was quite worth it. In a nutshell, Ototake was different, he had many problems but his parents were warriors, doing anything to make sure he was living normally.  To have a disabled child is devastating but to have to go through bring one up is unthinkable. I wonder if I would be strong enough to deal with it if it ever happened.

I’m probably a bit crazy, but to motivate my Japanese Learning, I want to be able to read Japanese Literature.It’ll be interesting to see what Japanese Literature has to offer. There’s nothing wrong with English books, but reading Japanese, it just sounds beautiful when read.

Watching Harry Potter in Vmax was an interesting experience (though probably not worth the extra money we paid). The movie was a let down towards the end. I thought there would be alot more action having read the book, but it was just Snape pew pewing Dumbledore and walking out of the castle. Ah well, one more Harry Potter movie to go. I have yet to finish reading the last book! I’ll get to it, having added reading the whole of Harry Potter onto my Post HSC list.

Firefox and Windows Live Messenger -> Jap?

Today I was reading DC, reading the article about Fire Fox 3.5. With nothing else better to do with my time, other than completing the first aid booklet, I installed Fire Fox 3.5 in Japanese. Only thing I’ve been able to notice is the new icon, which resembles Foxkeh alot more. I should probably look into the new specs.

かわいい

And you might have noticed I also installed Windows Live Messenger in Japanese. Out of boredom once again! It’s pretty cool, whenever a contact signs in it goes [Insert Name] さんがサインインしました。 Now I’m close to matching  Ed, and his Windows 7OS in Japanese. Now all I need to do is install a Japanese OS which I wanted to a while back when I read Danny Choo’s Learning Japanese Article.

Tomorrow is the Maths Excursion. [sarcasm]YAY!![sarcasm] Miss a day of school to attend lecture about maths. Hopefully it is interesting! Probably can catch a movie afterwards if anyone is interested.

Exam marks are slowly surfacing. Only English and Mathematics Extension 1 so far. To my surprise, my English held up even though after the exam I thought I wrote a shoddy last paragraph on the loss of Hamlet. Apparently we’re getting Mathematics Extension 2 back tomorrow but I won’t have to face any dismal marks until Friday. I think I did well in both Japanese Continuers and Extension, after pissing most people off by asking loudly for moar paper. Sorry guys, we seriously don’t get enough boxed paper! I’m not so confident about chemistry, since I kinda half assed studied it this time unlike last term, when I knew everything before the exam.

Have fun tomorrow

Japanese Jokes

Jokes were popular in primary school. Why was 6 afraid of 7? Seven Ate Nine. What do you lose when you stand up? Your lap. Lame Jokes I still remember. Here are two jokes I came across watching while Sekai no Hate made ItteQ. I can’t believed I laughed at them T_T

I am so lame 😀

For the Japanese Illiterate

1.What’s the voice of sheep who only eat delicious people food? (Umeeeeeeee-Delicious)

2.What’s the voice of sheep who only argue? (Temeeeee-I don’t know the exact translation but it comes out as you bitch,mother*#(@#$)

Gateway to FMA BLACKOUT

Tim suggested this wonderful idea to blackout everything I couldn’t read on my Newtype Liftout Gate way to Full Metal Alchemist.’ Second time reading through these two pages and was able to pick out the more readings for the kanji. But in the end, the page is quite black.

Reading eventhough I don’t understand 50+% seems utterly stupid but it reinforces the reading of kanji as well as being able to grasp the meaning of the few sentences I can (partially)understand alot quicker. Quite the opposite when you read  ハンサムな先生’s writing, which I have to read two to three times(or even more) to understand.

Here are the non-blackout copies for your reading pleasure.

For those who are studying and want to improve in their language proficiency, should head over to Khazumoto’s All Japanese All The Time . Khazumoto is quite amazing, he’s been able to learn Business Japanese through what I call ‘Immersing yourself in the language.’ How a child learns his/her first language, is by living in the environment, listening, reading and speaking in a language 24/7. We, the seemingly busy students can’t possibly do something like this, the aim is to incorporate as much of the language into your daily routine. For example, listening to Jpop, learning a kanji a day, reading books , speaking to a Japanese friend in Japanese etc. In one of Khazumoto’s videos, he discusses this method, with the annoying Cantonese Dub version of DBZ playing in the background. Taking it to the extreme? Maybe but I believe the accumulation will assist you in improving in the language. For me I listen to Japanese Music (99% of my songs are Japanese), occasionally read Japanese manga( helps with kanji reading since furigana is provided), try to read the Japanese New Type, study Japanese at school(haven’t learnt much at school though in the past 2years), go to Japanese tuition where I do a heap load of writing,speaking and some listening practice, watching Gaki No Tsukai and Sekai HattemadeItteQ (Jap TV Shows) without subs(feel left out when I don’t understand a joke and they’re all laughing), thinking in Japanese (comes out subconsciously alot of the time ),study because I have to, MSNing with 一輝(I need to do this more often) and watching anime.

To measure your proficiency, you should take a language proficiency test. These only test grammar,vocabulary,reading and listening skills, so they aren’t a great indicator, but for certain jobs, you may required to take the test and having it handy won’t hurt. I passed level 3 JLPT last year and hoping to do level 2 in the near future!

So what do you do to improve your proficiency?