My tools for learning Japanese

俺の日本語の勉強の道具一覧：… just in case anyone cared to know…

Firefoxのアドオン、Rikaichan . Very useful for reading words on webpages that you don’t know. Not all definitions are perfect (especially for context)… and not every word is defined… but it sure beats cutting and pasting into word to find the readings.

Yahoo! Japan Dictionary English-Japanese, Japanese-English, 類語(synonyms), 国語（Japanese)… complete with lots of contextual examples and two editions of every dictionary just in case I don’t find the meaning I need.

Microsoft IME 手書き　パッド。(Handwriting Pad) 使い方はここ　Great for drawing in uknown kanji from print publications (or uncopy/pasteable digital content). Just use it to enter text into the　”lookup using Rikaichan” box…. or www.rikai.com

My trusty ultra small pocket sized electronic dictionary… Seiko SR960. certainly not the BEST 電子辞書 (the newer models have more functions) but its a great size… almost half the size of the ones my students have, fits in my pocket real easy, great battery life, buttons are easy to press, and it was cheaper than the big ones. Screen is easy to read… can’t really ask for more (well, it could have an English-English dictionary too… but the newer models have that). Theres lots of new ones that have pronounciation examples (but only for English… never Japanese). And this year my newest batch of students have dictionaries that have little touchpads on them for drawing in kanji. So that might be really useful… maybe I should pick up a new one for myself? (at ４万円a pop[40,000 yen...$400?], i think not…)

and then theres my textbook series of choice (for the moment)… Unicom’s “The Preparatory Course for The Japanese Language Proficiency Test”. I can’t complain, I used the grammar volume, and the reading practice volume before 日本語能力試験二級(2nd level Japanese Proficiency test) and passed with flying colors… But I had also been studying for about 5 years already at that point. Right now I’m using the 漢字単語ドリル(Kanji word drill) for level 2 to brush up on the words and kanji that I should have known for the test but didn’t…

I also use The Japan Times’s “A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar“(can’t find this for a normal price on amazon…let me know if you need help getting it) when I get confused by some grammar points… but that doesn’t seem to happen so often anymore. I’m sure theres lots still that I don’t understand. But most of the time I figure out the meaning from context. Theres also a Basic Japanese Grammar edition/日本語基本文法辞典(if you live in Japan) that has a yellow cover. Both are very good resources whether you’re teaching yourself or even if you’re taking classes and your text book (or instructor’s) explainations suck… or if you just want something a little more detailed. They give lots of examples. Explainations are in plain English. They even give you good usage tips like if its normally a written phrase or spoken, or if its 敬語(honorific speech).

and last…. but not least…

I use my wife too… in all the ways your dirty mind can possibly imagine. As well as for Japanese questions ;). Culture questions I sometimes have to direct at her mother, aunt, and grandmother… cuz my wife just isn’t so in tune with Japanese culture all the time.

If anyone out there wants to discuss studying techniques and tools… just leave a comment.

2 comments.

The consensus… so far

I’ve kind of narrowed down my options over the last 24 hours. The voice over thing is out (well, not completely…but for now, yes). I will concentrate for now on studying Japanese and tech related things. In Japan, focus is put on certifications rather than degrees, and those certifications can be obtained by anyone studying the subject on their own (theres a huge market for self study books here on a huge range of subjects). So, I will probably pick up a book about basic electrical engineering in Japanese and start to read it. That way, I learn about electrical engineering and I learn the Japanese involved in that field at the same time.

I have three years from now until this job is over. And in that time I will try to obtain as many tech related certifications (and of course Japanese certification) as I can. Then I will start to apply for positions at tech companies (or even automotive companies). In Japan, most of the time an employer does not expect a new employee who is fresh out of college to have much knowledge about the actual job they will do. There is a lot of on the job training that happens. If I put myself in the same group as recent college graduates who have no real experience with the job they want to be hired for I will still have two legs up: I speak two languages fluently (by that time), and I have experience in the workforce. I wouldn’t mind starting at the bottom of the pay scale (I don’t really have much of a choice anyway). And if I do end up working at a normal company, working normal Japanese “salaryman” hours (9am to god awfully late) and I really don’t like it. I can quit and use the skills and knowledge gained at that job to do translation and interpretation work (and voice acting and English teaching ….)

So thats the plan…

So now i just need to spend less time screwing around on DevH, looking at useless websites, reading slashdot (unless its slashdot.jp… thats studying!) and more time studying!

And if everything falls through… I’ll go back to wisconsin. Go to fox valley tech. Get certification for HVAC and work for my stepdad’s company. (He’s already told me I’d be a good tech… and I think it’d actually be a fun job! Hands on, fixing things, solving problems…. its just the weather I’d have to deal with that I might not like so much… but if I’m smart I can get myself into an office position quickly)… but i really shouldn’t think about that option too much… because it sounds real tempting… but kind of wastes my potential I think (whats the college degree for?)… and my wife doesn’t seem to want to leave Japan….

4 comments.

Had to get this out of my head

SO … here I am. 24 years old. Working at a job that I can do alright… but is pretty dead end (teaching English in Japan…). I’m making just about the most money I can right now for someone who doesn’t start their own business and doesn’t have a Masters Degree…. and thats all ok, because I don’t really like the field. I’m just using this job as a stepping stone… a pit stop… something like that; to give me time to study Japanese for my future career.

The problem is. I don’t know what I want that future career to be! The things I currently have real skills and education for seriously clash with my interests and the jobs that I could make enough money doing to have a comfortable lifestyle.

I feel kind of lost without direction….

I went to school for broadcasting, switched to technical theatre after 2 terms. Took Japanese as a second major from day 1. Had an internship at a professional theatre in Chicago (Steppenwolf). Went to Japan for all of my 3rd year. Came back for 4th year, couldn’t finish theatre and ended up graduating with a BA in Japanese. Then came to Japan to be with the girl I fell in love with and luckily fell into an easy job that pays pretty well for someone of my age/experience.

But, I really don’t want to do this forever.

My current skills: Japanese (still not native level… but better than 99 percent of the other English speaking foreigners with an interest in Japan), experience in all things theatre related (sound, lighting, rigging, set construction, set design, makeup, and acting), minimal experience in concert sound (amplification and recording), enough basic woodworking/construction knowledge to help build a house and really know what I’m doing, I have a voice people say would be great for radio/voice overs/etc. (hence the stint with radio broadcasting that turned out to be very boring), and of course some building/fixing/using/abusing computers and electronics.

Interests…

I would love to do voice acting. I love to talk, I wasn’t really big on stage acting … not a big fan of all those people looking at me. But, I did enjoy the performance part. Only problem being, it seems to be a pretty saturated field… not exactly stable work unless you’re really good and really well hooked up… definately not hooked up, and don’t even know about my real skill. I don’t really know if this would make a comfortable living in the long run… especially while living in Japan…

I love computers and electronics. Not too big on the software and programming, but I love the nitty gritty. I love to solder components, take things apart, see how they work and put them back together. And I really want to understand more about how electronics work at a deeper level…. so electric/electronic engineering.

And then theres translation/interpretation. If i’m translating text that is interesting to me (science/technology) then I would really enjoy doing this. But, with no formal education in a science or technology field I don’t know if I could really get a job doing this… or what jobs are out there anyway… translating manuals or interpreting for engineers/scientists within european/american and japanese branches of a company could be really interesting. Then i’m using a skill I currently have and am working on… plus I’m at least a little bit involved in a field that I have a deep interest for.

Choice number 1… would just be relying on some innate talent that I may have but havent developed or really discovered yet.

Choice number 2 would really be the ultimate dream but when I’ve already been to college for 4 years and am already 24, it doesn’t seem realistic. I feel I’m too late, and I don’t really know much about the subject to have a headstart on your average highschool student. So going part-time I would be in school again for a very long time.

Choice number 3 seems realistic, but I’m just very unsure of how to pursue it. PLUS, translators/interpreters again is kind of an unstable career… theres kind of a low ceiling for the salary you can get, things are contract based not really salary/full time…

So I’m just sitting here thinking…. what the hell should I do? Can I take night classes in Japan for electrical engineering? If I can, would I understand those classes with my current Japanese ability? Will my wife support my going back to school when I still have loans from college? If I look into the voice acting will I just be wasting a lot of time here? Will I spend time at auditions and not really make money? Plus if i want to seriously pursue that avenue, can I even do it while working at my current job? I think not… most auditions are during the day on weekdays… and in the city (Tokyo) not out in the burbs where I am…

If you’ve got a comment, leave it… I’d appreciate it… I sort of just wrote this to get it out so its not all turning my insides upside down… and to just sort it out because its all jumbled up in my head…

Probably talk to the wife about it this evening over dinner… she wants to go out. Why does she always want to go out on days that I actually have decided what to cook? Uncanny…

1 comment.