Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Watched The Fog today. It was ok... kinda scary and mysterious at the beginning. But overall, it was more romantic than scary. Lol~ xD
You should know that I'll never volunteer to go watch a HORRIFYING HORROR MOVIE. So, The Fog is acceptable to me.
Another thing...
Just happened to came up with this:
Wei... i mean tangerine's formula to improving your Japanese:
1) To learn common phrases, watch more anime.
Honestly, it helps. But of course you have to be somewhat of a fast learner. At least you should belong to the type who can pick up new stuff along the way. You'll learn simple common phrases like "Itadakimasu~", "okaeri", etc.
2) To improve on reading and kanji, read more Japanese manga/books.
Japanese manga is a good way to start. It's easier reading conversations. Get what I mean? In manga, you're actually reading more of dialogue/inner thoughts, agree? It's simpler to understand as compared to full sentences in Japanese novels. But Japanese novels do help in improving your reading and understanding skills and kanji too. (To tell you the truth, I depend quite a lot on kanji while reading my novels. Chinese characters... I understand...)
3) To improve on your listening, listen to more drama cds (they don't need to be yaoi, idiots) (Tested and proven useful!!!)
Non-yaoi drama cds are fine!!!! Although yaoi ones should be easier to understand since you know what they do in yaoi stories.) Lol. Just kidding! Pick a series that you're familiar with. (e.g. Fruits basket) You'll probably won't understand much at first. Just listen frequently, concentrate on what they're saying... i.e. don't try doing other stuff while listening to it. (Although I do read textbook and listen at the same time. Wonder if anything goes into my head.) If there's a summary to help you along, it'll be useful.
Please don't tell me you can improve your listening while watching anime/J-Drama. J-drama... speech is too fast and too real (unanimated). Anime? Please la, you'll only pick up common phrases. Most of the time, you'll be concentrating on the action and subtitles.
NOTES:
1) Anime/manga may differ from real life usage of the Japanese language.
Hmm... how should i put it? Take for example, girls are supposed to be polite and demure. They don't really use more crude words like "kisama"... cruder/more direct order form language. However, you know what happens in anime... you get this heroine/main female character who has got attitude and can kick-ass. There comes in all your 'cruder' words.
Actually, I'm not even sure if the rules are so strict in reality. We are told girls don't really use it, but who knows? Maybe they don't care when they're pissed. I have no idea...
2) Methods listed above were tested and proven.
Or maybe it's just me? I'm a fast learner? Hahaha!!!
I'm not so sure about (2)... but yeah, reading got easier now.
Method (3) definitely works. Before listening to my yaoi drama cds, I was struggling with JLPT 4 listening test. Horrible! Didn't even really understand anything! After listening, I thought JLPT 3 listening test was kinda like a breeze... Weird.
Method (1) works too la. It just depends on whether you even bother to learn... whether your brain bothers... and depends on how much anime you watch and how often.
himitsu @ 1:03 AM.
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