Smart.fm

There are many resources I have found on the internet that help make learning Japanese easy and somewhat fun! One such website I have been using more frequently as of late is Smart.fm.

I think the website is really neat in that you can create your own lists to study, or study of other lists created by difference users. In my case I was very lucky to find what I was looking for, and that is vocabulary lists for the chapters in my Genki text book.

What is special is that there are a few different programs you can use, which includes iKnow!, Drill Beta and BrainSpeed. I believe (though I could be mistaken) that the first two are alternates for each other, which BrainSpeed is a way to test how well you react to words you learn.

More into iKnow!, which is what I primarily use. When you open it up it will tell you if it is time for you to study. There is a calendar included that shows how many times you studied in one day and what days. The further along you get with a list of words, the more spaced out the program wants you to study, so that you have optimum memorization. How many times I have tried to memorize vocabulary in one sitting, just to forget it in two days I can't even count. But this prevents you from practicing them all in one go.

Here is a screen cap:


When you begin studying a list in Japanese, you have the option of choosing romanji mode, kana mode, kanji focus mode and full mode. I think this is awesome because I'm officially done with relying on romanji, but have yet to tackle kanji, so I am able to study in all kana.



Long story short, I love this website. I think it is way better than normal old flash cards, because when you use the iKnow! program, it revisits words you have problems with constantly. And not only does it test your Japanese to English translation, but English to Japanese and English to written Japanese (where you type in the word itself). It's a great learning tool and I highly recommend it!

Give me a break!

A little while ago I ordered a special flavor of Kit Kat bars off of E-bay, and I just received it all the way from Japan! The flavor I ordered was Green Tea Matcha, and I just loved it!



I wished I ordered more, but it's kind of expensive shipping all the way from Japan! I won't do it too often, because of the cost, but I was just dying to try the green tea flavor for a long time. I can now rest peacefully ^_^.

Megacon 2010

Some of my family and friends went up to Orlando for the Megacon of 2010 this past weekend. It was a ton of fun, and my only regret was not bringing more money to buy more stuff! It was the first anime convention I ever attended and I was not disappointed. The only thing that bothered me was my decision to wear high heels that were made for looks rather than functionality! I went as Misa from death note, and was pretty pleased with the outcome of my costume. People even wanted pictures of me, which was very flattering! Anyway, I have a video that pretty much sums up the adventure.

Katakana Book Review

Title: Remembering the Kana (Part two: Katakana)
Author: James W. Heisig
Rating ***** 5/5 stars














Heisig did not disappoint me in the second part of his book "Remembering the Kana" in teaching me Katakana. Again I learned this written Japanese language in about 2 and a half hours and without much difficulty! Although I feel like it was somewhat harder than the Hiragana section, this could have been my bias towards my dislike of Katakana haha.

So I gave this 5 stars, because I know from experience without this book I would have waited ages to learn katakana, just because I wasn't looking forward to it at all. And even if I tried to tackle learning it, I would have failed without Heisig's teaching methods.

All I can say in short is, if you need to learn katakana, then read "Remembering the Kana"! I'm looking forward to starting "Remembering the Kanji" also by Heisig because if the method of learning is the same, then I will have an easier time learning. After learning the Heisig way I can't even imagine learning the characters simply by writing them down and using blunt memorization! The thought makes me cringe!

Just a bit about me

No review this time, just me rambling.

I'm currently in the process of teaching myself Katakana. A little harder than Hiragana, but easy enough. I really wish my community college had Japanese language courses, but unfortunately it doesn't. I'm the kinda girl that needs to have regular scheduled things to improve in anything. For instance, tennis in high school was awesome, because I had to be at practice 5 days a week without fail. I improved greatly. But now that I am out of high school, I play once a week at best. Not much way to improve playing so little. I feel like I'm like that with Japanese. I get spurts of teaching myself, but it's hard for me to sit down and make a daily schedule, mostly because I have classes to worry about already.

I know it's one excuse after another, but I know I'd advance in my learnings much quicker with a class stamping a grade on my progress. Regardless, I'm doing what I can before I transfer. I don't graduate with my Associates till December of this year... that means many more months to go! It's taking me a lot of self control not letting myself transfer before I get my Associates, because I know I'll be saving a lot of money and headaches if I do it this way. Oh to be reckless...

I recently signed up for Lang-8.com. The website seems really great, but I'm definitely not as far along as I need to be to actually start practicing the language. Regardless, I think this website it very fun! Native speakers can correct your posts on the website (you post in the language you are trying to learn) and you can do the same. It feels all community like :). I also signed up for mixi.com, which is pretty much the Japanese equivalent of Facebook. I'm definitely not ready to practice on that, but I wanted to make one before the loophole vanished :D. The website tries really hard to only let Japan residing inhabitants to sign up, but thankfully Koichi at Tofugu.com found a loophole for all of us foreigners!

I'm so anxious to get my life rolling! I have a path all planned out for me, which is so comforting to have really. When I was a freshman in college I had no idea what I wanted to do. But an interpretor sounds just about right for me. I'm excited for the future even though it's so far away. I'm even nervous about whether I will get accepted as a JET ALT and that's years away! I might just be jumping the gun here...

I just learned what a weeabo was the other day 0_o. I never thought there were such people, and I hope I'm not mistaken for one!

Death Note Review

Death Note

Probably one of the greatest anime's I've seen, though I haven't seen that much admittedly. Regardless, this anime really sucked me in immediately after I started watching it. The genius of the two rival characters make me feel dumb, but it's easy to get over because the show is dark yet funny, simple yet complex.

Not much action happens physically (other than the fact criminals die daily throughout the series), but the action is in the mental war between Light and "L." You are not forced to sympathize with the protagonist of the show, who kills criminals with a book from the Shinigami world, which makes it very interesting. You can side with the antagonist just as easily and route for "L" the whole time.

It's hard for me to write anything more on this anime without giving anything away, so I'll keep this description brief. If you like shows that have a lot of mental strategy, like mysteries, than you will love Death Note. Even if you're not into anime that's no excuse: My boyfriend isn't fond of anime's, but can't get enough of Death Note! I finally have an anime I can watch with him ^_~.

There are also two movies depicting the series, and I've only seen the first, but it is a pretty good representation. The actors for the two main characters are very fitting, but of course, nothing beats the animation version.

Watch and you won't regret it.

NOTE: Oh and I just found out. Warner Bros bought the rights to create an American version, live action movie of Death Note! Screw the skeptics, I'm hoping this will be a good one!

As I am interested in Japan's culture, I have also taken a great liking to anime and manga. I will try to periodically post reviews/opinions on both medias, some I'll have finished and some I am still watching! What else do I have to talk about before I make it to Japan ^_^.


Naruto Shippuuden

This is the first anime that comes to mind mainly because I am still in the process of watching it, and have been watching it since it first came out. I have seen both the Japanese and English version, and like both equally. I get really irritated when I hear people condemn English dubbed versions of animes to hell because they like the original Japanese version better. Sure in most cases it's true, especially for animes where the main characters will have distinct voices like high pitched and whatnot. But there are several animes which I prefer the English, such as "Fruits Basket" and "Inuyasha." And it's so much easier just to watch the anime without having to read anything every scene. On the other hand one anime English dub that made me cringe was "Outlaw Star." Regardless, I like to keep an open mind.

For "Naruto Shippuuden," I watch the Japanese version because it's much farther ahead! The story line is great as well as the action scenes and strategy elements. At the end of every episode it is always a cliff hanger and I die to the see the next. The writers also kept it realistic and deaths happen throughout the series to who you wouldn't expect. And to who you will miss. Characters develop nicely (one of my favorite elements) and you easily find yourself routing for certain characters throughout the story. I am currently at episode 143, which is the last one to be released so far. The few episodes leading up to it is MIND BLOWING. I cannot stress it enough. There is a certain element throughout both the "Naruto" and "Naruto Shippuuden" that turns upside down and you are left dazed and confused. I hope I'm coming across all right because I'm trying to write this in a way without giving anything away.

All I can say is, if you like adventure/action, drama and comedy, you will love this series. Of course, I definitely recommend watching the pre-series "Naruto," which leads up to "Naruto Shippuuden."