This one is going to be short - and angry bear with me.
I'm so sick of hearing that people "want" to learn a language.
Every time somebody hears I'm learning Japanese, they say "Oh, that's cool. I want to learn Japanese too." I look them straight in the eye, and say, "No, you don't." If they question me, I just tell me "If you wanted to, you would be."
The only people I would accept an excuse from is someone who is already learning another language - this is why I can say I want to learn Korean, without having begun learning it. However, if their learning is school-based, i.e. "Oh, but I'm learning Spanish in school" - then it's not really an excuse. I started learning Japanese even though I had French class everyday. The exception to this is of course, if somebody is honestly interested in their school-based language. That is to say, they are actively pursuing knowledge of the language outside of a classroom setting.
Moving beyond all these exceptions, to learn a language doesn't require skill. All it requires is motivation.
If I wanted to learn Korean, I could, very easily. I'm already in the right direction - that is to say, I listen to Korean music, all the time (it's all I've listened to for ... eight monthes now?) - except this does nothing for my Japanese (I can't find any Japanese music I'm really into...).
I digress, my point here is, if you want to learn a language, you can. Don't make excuses. Don't say you don't have time - that means you don't want to learn the language, you're making excuses. Last year, I didn't particularly "have time" - I just spent every second of my spare time immersed or studying or whatever.
On a side, not as angry note, the RTK method has been going well so far. I'm not -that- far into the kanji, and I know some kanji outside of the ones presented, but today I found a kanji and I knew it's meaning from RTK. A lot of these kanji are seeming pretty useless - I've never seen them before (or if I have, I haven't paid much attention), but I'm sure they'll be handy when I'm tackling novels.
2009-08-04
日本語レベルアップしました！
While in some ways I feel like I'm making absolutely no progress on Japanese - and it's become a game of vocabulary overall, I'm starting to feel more adapt. Even though there's still a lot of glancing over texts because I only know .1% of the words, I think I'm moving more up to .2%. (This is all an exaggeration of course.)
Most of the time I'm too lazy to pull out a dictionary - unless I'm reading something online that allows me to hover over it with Perapera-kun (oh, it's so bad). So when reading manga I usually just skim over it. Reading it in my head, happy that I "know" readings (because they're given there for me with furigana), but I miss alot of the meaning. And I get tired after 5 pages - or 10 depending on how long the text is. Yet I keep pushing myself to keep reading. Not all at the same time and I take breaks sometimes, but I am constantly giving up. That is to say, I read, give up, but come back read, give up. The key here is that I am constantly coming back.
About the only time I'll pull out the dictionary is when I've gotten sick of seeing the same thing over and over and having no idea what it means.
My listening is still pretty iffy. Sometimes I get things, sometimes I don't. I definately always get the really simple stuff - the go betweens, introductions. But once they start discussing the stock market I'm gone. Granted, even if it was written it would go over my head if it was about the stock market. But, for example, I understood Shouichi talking about his past in relation to Byakuran in the last chapter of Reborn. If I heard that being said, I wouldn't have understood much I think. So I need to improve my listening. For now, I've got a text and audio version of the first Harry Potter book. I'm going for it because I already know what happens so it helps me understand things through context. Looking at it written really helps out though. Hopefully I can move on to things that I haven't heard before, but can read and listen and then just listen and understand.
In other Japanese news, I'm going to attempt to try out Remembering the Kanji, again. I think I've tried it a few times. But I give up at SRSes too easily. But alas, I'll try it again anyways. And if I give up, oh well.
That's about all the news I have. Except that I just started reading a book called "Words and Rules" by Steven Pinker. I'm only a few pages into it, but it's interesting.
Most of the time I'm too lazy to pull out a dictionary - unless I'm reading something online that allows me to hover over it with Perapera-kun (oh, it's so bad). So when reading manga I usually just skim over it. Reading it in my head, happy that I "know" readings (because they're given there for me with furigana), but I miss alot of the meaning. And I get tired after 5 pages - or 10 depending on how long the text is. Yet I keep pushing myself to keep reading. Not all at the same time and I take breaks sometimes, but I am constantly giving up. That is to say, I read, give up, but come back read, give up. The key here is that I am constantly coming back.
About the only time I'll pull out the dictionary is when I've gotten sick of seeing the same thing over and over and having no idea what it means.
My listening is still pretty iffy. Sometimes I get things, sometimes I don't. I definately always get the really simple stuff - the go betweens, introductions. But once they start discussing the stock market I'm gone. Granted, even if it was written it would go over my head if it was about the stock market. But, for example, I understood Shouichi talking about his past in relation to Byakuran in the last chapter of Reborn. If I heard that being said, I wouldn't have understood much I think. So I need to improve my listening. For now, I've got a text and audio version of the first Harry Potter book. I'm going for it because I already know what happens so it helps me understand things through context. Looking at it written really helps out though. Hopefully I can move on to things that I haven't heard before, but can read and listen and then just listen and understand.
In other Japanese news, I'm going to attempt to try out Remembering the Kanji, again. I think I've tried it a few times. But I give up at SRSes too easily. But alas, I'll try it again anyways. And if I give up, oh well.
That's about all the news I have. Except that I just started reading a book called "Words and Rules" by Steven Pinker. I'm only a few pages into it, but it's interesting.
2009-08-01
The Curse that is Summer
So I mentioned before, I have enough time to blog, and blog daily.
But summer also comes with one of those "too much time" curses, where you can just put everything off, and keep putting it off, until you... feel like doing it, which pretty much never comes - there's a reason you put it off in the first place.
So I have this paper to write over the summer, right?
4000 words max. Fishing for about 3500 words or more ideally.
The topic is... elasticity of demand for textbooks in Japan. How fun and exciting.
I picked it because... I was looking at chemistry textbooks to purchase and had already decided I was going to do something related to economics. Bad, bad idea. I think it's going to turn into more of an analysis of the market structure.
I have about two weeks to write it now because i've put it off so much.
I've done a little research, but I need to figure out a way to not site wikipedia for where I got my textbook companies from. Since everything is pretty much in Japanese, it makes life so much harder.
I picked it BECAUSE it was Japanese, but ehhh, I'm almost regretting it now.
In other news, my lust for Korean is getting no weaker. Especially after adding those blogs. At least if I learn it now though I'll be learning it off of Japanese. So following a language laddering kind of idea. 한글 just looks too pretty to pass up. ... so did Tibetan a while ago. And the list grows longer. I'll probalby leave off Tagalog and Bahasa Malay or whatever it is until a long while off, just because they use roman letters. Everything is cooler when I have to learn a new writing system. It doesn't help that I found a way to stream Korean television. It's very nice quality streaming too. It's not a huge variety of channels, but it has the main ones. The ones to watch dramas on... Oh Korean dramas. I was watching a channel and super soap opera came on. It was soo soap opera-ie. I don't even know what they were saying, but I could just tell. It was the epitome of soap operas. Koreans are good at those.
On the other front, Japanese. I haven't been neglecting it. Share makes sure of that. I'm so addicted to share. Like I was when I first started using torrents. It just didn't feel right not to be downloading something xD; So I discovered my new query word, "日本語吹替" aka Japanese dub. While I love my Japanese dramas, I just haven't been into them lately. So instead I'm watching American dramas which I wouldnever watch in English, in Japanese. Well actually I watched Heroes in English and I would watch House if I happened to pass by. But now i'm watching Gossip Girl, definately not something I would pick out normally. There's also quite a few Stargates, but ehh, not into that. Right now I have the first episode of season 3 of Heroes playing in the background. I never watched all of Season 3, so might as well watch it in Japanese. Also, I found an audio version of the first harry potter book in Japanese. So that'll go really well with my text version I found. I'll have to cut it into chunks, but it'll be fun. Then I'll have read it in three languages! Too bad I can't find more Bradbury in all three and with audio. Oh well.
I'm not further than I was a few days ago in Puchimon. But it's alright. I can go at my own pace.
And Chapter 252 of Reborn! So intennsee.
And that's it for me.
But summer also comes with one of those "too much time" curses, where you can just put everything off, and keep putting it off, until you... feel like doing it, which pretty much never comes - there's a reason you put it off in the first place.
So I have this paper to write over the summer, right?
4000 words max. Fishing for about 3500 words or more ideally.
The topic is... elasticity of demand for textbooks in Japan. How fun and exciting.
I picked it because... I was looking at chemistry textbooks to purchase and had already decided I was going to do something related to economics. Bad, bad idea. I think it's going to turn into more of an analysis of the market structure.
I have about two weeks to write it now because i've put it off so much.
I've done a little research, but I need to figure out a way to not site wikipedia for where I got my textbook companies from. Since everything is pretty much in Japanese, it makes life so much harder.
I picked it BECAUSE it was Japanese, but ehhh, I'm almost regretting it now.
In other news, my lust for Korean is getting no weaker. Especially after adding those blogs. At least if I learn it now though I'll be learning it off of Japanese. So following a language laddering kind of idea. 한글 just looks too pretty to pass up. ... so did Tibetan a while ago. And the list grows longer. I'll probalby leave off Tagalog and Bahasa Malay or whatever it is until a long while off, just because they use roman letters. Everything is cooler when I have to learn a new writing system. It doesn't help that I found a way to stream Korean television. It's very nice quality streaming too. It's not a huge variety of channels, but it has the main ones. The ones to watch dramas on... Oh Korean dramas. I was watching a channel and super soap opera came on. It was soo soap opera-ie. I don't even know what they were saying, but I could just tell. It was the epitome of soap operas. Koreans are good at those.
On the other front, Japanese. I haven't been neglecting it. Share makes sure of that. I'm so addicted to share. Like I was when I first started using torrents. It just didn't feel right not to be downloading something xD; So I discovered my new query word, "日本語吹替" aka Japanese dub. While I love my Japanese dramas, I just haven't been into them lately. So instead I'm watching American dramas which I wouldnever watch in English, in Japanese. Well actually I watched Heroes in English and I would watch House if I happened to pass by. But now i'm watching Gossip Girl, definately not something I would pick out normally. There's also quite a few Stargates, but ehh, not into that. Right now I have the first episode of season 3 of Heroes playing in the background. I never watched all of Season 3, so might as well watch it in Japanese. Also, I found an audio version of the first harry potter book in Japanese. So that'll go really well with my text version I found. I'll have to cut it into chunks, but it'll be fun. Then I'll have read it in three languages! Too bad I can't find more Bradbury in all three and with audio. Oh well.
I'm not further than I was a few days ago in Puchimon. But it's alright. I can go at my own pace.
And Chapter 252 of Reborn! So intennsee.
And that's it for me.
2009-07-29
SUMMER TIEMZ
So the only reason I can keep posting is because it's summer.
And for some reason I'm oddly not being lazy.
Usually I try to blog and just give up. (Note, many first entries and then I just disappeared o: but... I came back!)
And oddly enough, I thought that, oh summer time, I'm too boring to be able to blog daily. I mean, I don't have anything happening, right, right?
Soo, while I prefer novels and short stories and things with lots of words, I also enjoy a manga here and there. And frankly, it's easier to read when it comes to Japanese because a) I love you furigana-san! and b) pictures if I don't understand words (and am too lazy to look them up... which is 99.9% of the time! Usually I only look up stuff if I can use rikai-chan - ah bad habits). Anyways, so of aalll the bajillion mangas out there, my favorite is SAYAONARA ZETSUBOU SENSEI. No, the title isn't really in all caps - of course not, it's in Japanese. But, I just had to emphasis it. Japanese name: さよなら絶望先生. I actually started out on the animu, because I saw an art piece of dA about it and it talked about the animu. So I watched first season and found out, there werez a manga! My luck of course, the manga was... in Japanese, and only a few chapters were scanlated. So I held off on it for a while, because my Japanese was like... かっ漢字?!@ I couldn't read kanji except for.. numbers. Of course, I still have quite a few kanji I look at blankly. Anyways, then I went to Japan, and bought all the volumes, because, even if I couldn't read it, it was still pretty. I'm still reading volume 7... but I will finish them all one day. And I'm barely understanding anything, but I feel like I do because I know how to pronounce everything with the the furigana.
Because of my love for SZS, I've been searching an English speaking SZS community... much to no avail. English speaking SZS lovers are few and far between. I suppose there's a good deal more that have watched the anime, but were I wanting to discuss anything about the manga... I would find myself lost. About the only semblance of a community I've seen is the SZS thread in /cm/.
Beyond my woes of finding English speaking ZETSBOUSHITA'ers, I keep turning back to Korean. Not that I've given up Japanese - that would be ridiculous (though I do make excuses that I'm studying more than I have just because everything I use is in Japanese). It's just... I see the little 한글 (Korean letters) and keep saying, awww it's so cute, I should be able to know what it's saying! In fact, just yesterday I probably added 10 blogs about Korean to my google reader (But they were in Japanese! That's my excuse....)
I've read the same page like ten times in Puchimon. Never getting time to actually hit the next button...
Nothing more interesting to add for the dayyy.
And for some reason I'm oddly not being lazy.
Usually I try to blog and just give up. (Note, many first entries and then I just disappeared o: but... I came back!)
And oddly enough, I thought that, oh summer time, I'm too boring to be able to blog daily. I mean, I don't have anything happening, right, right?
Soo, while I prefer novels and short stories and things with lots of words, I also enjoy a manga here and there. And frankly, it's easier to read when it comes to Japanese because a) I love you furigana-san! and b) pictures if I don't understand words (and am too lazy to look them up... which is 99.9% of the time! Usually I only look up stuff if I can use rikai-chan - ah bad habits). Anyways, so of aalll the bajillion mangas out there, my favorite is SAYAONARA ZETSUBOU SENSEI. No, the title isn't really in all caps - of course not, it's in Japanese. But, I just had to emphasis it. Japanese name: さよなら絶望先生. I actually started out on the animu, because I saw an art piece of dA about it and it talked about the animu. So I watched first season and found out, there werez a manga! My luck of course, the manga was... in Japanese, and only a few chapters were scanlated. So I held off on it for a while, because my Japanese was like... かっ漢字?!@ I couldn't read kanji except for.. numbers. Of course, I still have quite a few kanji I look at blankly. Anyways, then I went to Japan, and bought all the volumes, because, even if I couldn't read it, it was still pretty. I'm still reading volume 7... but I will finish them all one day. And I'm barely understanding anything, but I feel like I do because I know how to pronounce everything with the the furigana.
Because of my love for SZS, I've been searching an English speaking SZS community... much to no avail. English speaking SZS lovers are few and far between. I suppose there's a good deal more that have watched the anime, but were I wanting to discuss anything about the manga... I would find myself lost. About the only semblance of a community I've seen is the SZS thread in /cm/.
Beyond my woes of finding English speaking ZETSBOUSHITA'ers, I keep turning back to Korean. Not that I've given up Japanese - that would be ridiculous (though I do make excuses that I'm studying more than I have just because everything I use is in Japanese). It's just... I see the little 한글 (Korean letters) and keep saying, awww it's so cute, I should be able to know what it's saying! In fact, just yesterday I probably added 10 blogs about Korean to my google reader (But they were in Japanese! That's my excuse....)
I've read the same page like ten times in Puchimon. Never getting time to actually hit the next button...
Nothing more interesting to add for the dayyy.
2009-07-28
Reconsider my future?
Since I'm just a high schooler, fully dependant on my parents, I have only a vague notion of taxes, health care, and all the other things that go along with "adult life". It's something I ought to have a better idea about since I'm headed to that stage in life pretty soon.
But since last summer, I've envisioned myself going back to live in Japan - as I'm sure a lot of people have before me and will after me. Not immediately after college - well actually yes.
My minerature gameplan (likely to change since I'm young): 1. College, finish with double major in East Asian Studies and Chemical Engineering (or Chemistry, depending on the school). 2. Head to Japan to teach English for two or three years, most likely with the JET program (during this time, since I'll be in Japan; I would take advantage in order to improve my Japanese to a more proficient level). 3. Return back to the States, go to University of Washington and get master's degree (or.... double master's degree?) in Techincal Japanese and Chemical Engineering (or find a similar program at another university) 4. Head back to Japan and work. 5. Visit Ninshan, China for vacation ;D
Anyways, as for the part four, my grounds are definately... unknown. All I know is that I want to be working with Japanese people and be able to use Japanese as part of my job (and NOT be relying on English). To me, this lends itself to the idea I should be working for a Japanese company. I suppose I could work for an American company in Japan, but I haven't researched much into this (it's seven years away and I think I'll be able to put things more in prespective when I know more about the Chemcial Engineering industry). However, my mum thinks it's better if I work for an American company. I think I'm going to face challenges either way. First of all, being a female, I think I'll probably face challenges in just that aspect alone. But there's the idea of a glass cieling for females. I'm not sure how prominent this idea plays into being a scientist/engineer though. I'll admit I'm young and don't know much about the industry and how things work. But beyond that, working for a Japanese company would also present "anti-foreigner" problems. Again, I don't know how this plays out in the industry. Although depending on the amount of foreigners in these kind of positions, I think there could be some hostility. I know that there are at least a lot of Chinese students who come to study scientific things so if they continue their work in Japan, it could very easily been seen as a "threat".
But these aren't really what are causing my wavering.
I've read a lot about the xenophobic attitudes, but I figure, I'll just have to suck it up and deal with it. I'm going to be an outsider no matter where I go. I almost feel better about the idea of being an outsider in Japan, because I know they're not doing it because of anything other than that I'm not Japanese. Here in the States, I know that the reason I'm an outsider is my passive personality and horrible social skills (or at least, that's what I percieve to be the cause for my general outsider-ness).
Anyways, that still isn't it. But I just read an article about some new laws that are relatively restricting on foriegners (see: http://zichi.blogspot.com/2009/07/new-laws-for-foreigners-in-japan.html ). I'm almost worried when I get to Japan I'll be left out of the loop on something important and I'll end up getting kicked out of Japan. What if I overstay my visa by one day?
The future can be very intimidating. For now, I'll just take it one step at a time. Off to college it is... let's hope I can pass my exams.
But since last summer, I've envisioned myself going back to live in Japan - as I'm sure a lot of people have before me and will after me. Not immediately after college - well actually yes.
My minerature gameplan (likely to change since I'm young): 1. College, finish with double major in East Asian Studies and Chemical Engineering (or Chemistry, depending on the school). 2. Head to Japan to teach English for two or three years, most likely with the JET program (during this time, since I'll be in Japan; I would take advantage in order to improve my Japanese to a more proficient level). 3. Return back to the States, go to University of Washington and get master's degree (or.... double master's degree?) in Techincal Japanese and Chemical Engineering (or find a similar program at another university) 4. Head back to Japan and work. 5. Visit Ninshan, China for vacation ;D
Anyways, as for the part four, my grounds are definately... unknown. All I know is that I want to be working with Japanese people and be able to use Japanese as part of my job (and NOT be relying on English). To me, this lends itself to the idea I should be working for a Japanese company. I suppose I could work for an American company in Japan, but I haven't researched much into this (it's seven years away and I think I'll be able to put things more in prespective when I know more about the Chemcial Engineering industry). However, my mum thinks it's better if I work for an American company. I think I'm going to face challenges either way. First of all, being a female, I think I'll probably face challenges in just that aspect alone. But there's the idea of a glass cieling for females. I'm not sure how prominent this idea plays into being a scientist/engineer though. I'll admit I'm young and don't know much about the industry and how things work. But beyond that, working for a Japanese company would also present "anti-foreigner" problems. Again, I don't know how this plays out in the industry. Although depending on the amount of foreigners in these kind of positions, I think there could be some hostility. I know that there are at least a lot of Chinese students who come to study scientific things so if they continue their work in Japan, it could very easily been seen as a "threat".
But these aren't really what are causing my wavering.
I've read a lot about the xenophobic attitudes, but I figure, I'll just have to suck it up and deal with it. I'm going to be an outsider no matter where I go. I almost feel better about the idea of being an outsider in Japan, because I know they're not doing it because of anything other than that I'm not Japanese. Here in the States, I know that the reason I'm an outsider is my passive personality and horrible social skills (or at least, that's what I percieve to be the cause for my general outsider-ness).
Anyways, that still isn't it. But I just read an article about some new laws that are relatively restricting on foriegners (see: http://zichi.blogspot.com/2009/07/new-laws-for-foreigners-in-japan.html ). I'm almost worried when I get to Japan I'll be left out of the loop on something important and I'll end up getting kicked out of Japan. What if I overstay my visa by one day?
The future can be very intimidating. For now, I'll just take it one step at a time. Off to college it is... let's hope I can pass my exams.
2009-07-27
Podcasts
Books are pretty cool.
I've always been a bookworm.
When I was 5, I would have a bunch of books all in my bed, and just sleep on top of them.
Before I could read books like the Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings, I used to take them and flip through them and show off to my sister that I had read them ;) Then she asked if there was a character named Aslan in Narnia - and I thought she was trying to trick me, so I said no. Haha.
My room currently has over 500 books in it. (Yes, this is a lot for one room - I have one large bookcase, a small bookcase, two bookshelves in my closet, and two stacks of books in my room). This does not include books I have moved into the attic/ given to my mum for her classroom. And I can add one more to that number, having just purchased the Tale of Genji (a beautiful copy too, even the cashier thought so).
Anyways, while I wish I had all the time in the world to read more books, I don't. So what I've been using as a quick fiction fix is podcasts. I've listened to a few for a while now, but I haven't had anybody to share my enthusiasm. (I could join the various forums associated with them, but ehh, I'm not a big forum person.)
So the first podcast is Escape Pod (http://escapepod.org/). This was pretty much my first delve into the online short story world, I think anyways. Escape Pod is a science fiction weekly short story podcast. It used to also deliver fantasy, but branched off. Anyways, I've listened to every single episode, but I first tuned in around episode 70 I think? This past week they just released episode 208, so they've been at it for several years now. But I really enjoy listening to the escape pod stories. This past week's episode was really entertaining for me. I'm trying to think of how I found it, but my mind draws a blank.
Spinning off of Escape Pod are Podcastle and Psuedopod, both under the same company (?) Escape Artists. I now also subscribe to both of those feeds for fantasy and horror stories, respectively. Also great short story podcasts.
Beyong Escape Artsists podcasts, I tune into Drabblecast (http://web.mac.com/normsherman/Site/Podcast/Podcast.html). It's super quirkly and wayy out there. But really, if you're weird, quite enjoyable. Besides the main feature story, episodes usually include a "drabble" (100 word story) or a piece of drabble news (with "interviews"). One of the great features I really enjoy in the Drabblecast is the background music. The host, Norm Sherman, knows when it's right to add in some music. Just like music adds to movies, this music certainly adds to the podcast. Norm Sherman also adds in some of his own quirkly music too sometimes - another treat.
So these four podcasts pretty much make up for any lack of fiction in my week.
I also subscribe to a literary magazine, Cicada, which comes out every two monthes.
Sadly, during the school year I'm not able to get much reading done. Whenever I set out to read I usually end up falling asleep by the end of the second page because I'm so tired from lack of sleep (read: 5 hours every school night). And lately, I've been avoiding English novels like the plague. But my Japanese isn't good enough for novels. And well, I could be reading in French, but with such bad memories related to French, I can't bare it.
I'm going to suck up my fear of English for the next while though as I read the Tale of Genji (: A long journey is ahead of me...
I wish I could find a list of classic Asian literature, but it's not so easy to find. I'd really like to read something from South-east Asia if I could find something. But let's face it, when I'm searching Wikipedia to find Asian literature, I'm a bit at a loss. I'm also not sure how much literature from South-east Asian countries has actually been translated. While there are quite a few people translating popular langauges like Chinese and Japanese, I'm not meeting anybody who can converse in Laotian or even Thai. Perhaps that'll just be another reason for me to learn those languages ;) But for now I have to get past Chinese and Japanese before I'll let myself tackle another language (but Korean keeps creeping in... even just today I was looking at a website in Korean.) After I hit the major three, I'll be free to go wherever else I wish, linguistically speaking.
While the section on wikipedia is relatively poor in the Literature in Thailand section, I just checked to find there's not even a Literature in Malaysia section... now I have absolutely no clue where to go.
Ah well, I still have a whole Tale of Genji to get through before I need to work about finding a new book to read. And probably that'll be next summer. It won't stop me from picking up a few other books though I'm sure.
I've always been a bookworm.
When I was 5, I would have a bunch of books all in my bed, and just sleep on top of them.
Before I could read books like the Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings, I used to take them and flip through them and show off to my sister that I had read them ;) Then she asked if there was a character named Aslan in Narnia - and I thought she was trying to trick me, so I said no. Haha.
My room currently has over 500 books in it. (Yes, this is a lot for one room - I have one large bookcase, a small bookcase, two bookshelves in my closet, and two stacks of books in my room). This does not include books I have moved into the attic/ given to my mum for her classroom. And I can add one more to that number, having just purchased the Tale of Genji (a beautiful copy too, even the cashier thought so).
Anyways, while I wish I had all the time in the world to read more books, I don't. So what I've been using as a quick fiction fix is podcasts. I've listened to a few for a while now, but I haven't had anybody to share my enthusiasm. (I could join the various forums associated with them, but ehh, I'm not a big forum person.)
So the first podcast is Escape Pod (http://escapepod.org/). This was pretty much my first delve into the online short story world, I think anyways. Escape Pod is a science fiction weekly short story podcast. It used to also deliver fantasy, but branched off. Anyways, I've listened to every single episode, but I first tuned in around episode 70 I think? This past week they just released episode 208, so they've been at it for several years now. But I really enjoy listening to the escape pod stories. This past week's episode was really entertaining for me. I'm trying to think of how I found it, but my mind draws a blank.
Spinning off of Escape Pod are Podcastle and Psuedopod, both under the same company (?) Escape Artists. I now also subscribe to both of those feeds for fantasy and horror stories, respectively. Also great short story podcasts.
Beyong Escape Artsists podcasts, I tune into Drabblecast (http://web.mac.com/normsherman/Site/Podcast/Podcast.html). It's super quirkly and wayy out there. But really, if you're weird, quite enjoyable. Besides the main feature story, episodes usually include a "drabble" (100 word story) or a piece of drabble news (with "interviews"). One of the great features I really enjoy in the Drabblecast is the background music. The host, Norm Sherman, knows when it's right to add in some music. Just like music adds to movies, this music certainly adds to the podcast. Norm Sherman also adds in some of his own quirkly music too sometimes - another treat.
So these four podcasts pretty much make up for any lack of fiction in my week.
I also subscribe to a literary magazine, Cicada, which comes out every two monthes.
Sadly, during the school year I'm not able to get much reading done. Whenever I set out to read I usually end up falling asleep by the end of the second page because I'm so tired from lack of sleep (read: 5 hours every school night). And lately, I've been avoiding English novels like the plague. But my Japanese isn't good enough for novels. And well, I could be reading in French, but with such bad memories related to French, I can't bare it.
I'm going to suck up my fear of English for the next while though as I read the Tale of Genji (: A long journey is ahead of me...
I wish I could find a list of classic Asian literature, but it's not so easy to find. I'd really like to read something from South-east Asia if I could find something. But let's face it, when I'm searching Wikipedia to find Asian literature, I'm a bit at a loss. I'm also not sure how much literature from South-east Asian countries has actually been translated. While there are quite a few people translating popular langauges like Chinese and Japanese, I'm not meeting anybody who can converse in Laotian or even Thai. Perhaps that'll just be another reason for me to learn those languages ;) But for now I have to get past Chinese and Japanese before I'll let myself tackle another language (but Korean keeps creeping in... even just today I was looking at a website in Korean.) After I hit the major three, I'll be free to go wherever else I wish, linguistically speaking.
While the section on wikipedia is relatively poor in the Literature in Thailand section, I just checked to find there's not even a Literature in Malaysia section... now I have absolutely no clue where to go.
Ah well, I still have a whole Tale of Genji to get through before I need to work about finding a new book to read. And probably that'll be next summer. It won't stop me from picking up a few other books though I'm sure.
2009-07-26
I gave up on Korean
It's a bit tragic (not).
I didn't really give up on Korean. It still tempts me every day. And my google reader now has its own section dedicated to Korean/Korea. However, I'm being much more reasonable by "giving up Korean". I plan to come back to it later. After I master Japanese (that is to say, can read all the novels stacking up in my room/favorites folder), I will come back.
I made a website. http://fuyuhakansou.namidaame.com/
I've wanted to make one for a while. I made one three or four years back and gave up on it. I'll probably give up on this one too. But for now, it's just nice to look at. I had been putting off making a website for the last two years because I didn't want to have to go figure out how to code it all again. I took web design my last year of middle school, and then a web design II class my freshman year - but I got out of it halfway through because... everybody in my class was really scary? I sat next to some kid who talked about the gang he was in. And the other side of me, the kid talked about spending his weekend being high on drugs. I really wasn't fit to be in the class. It was mostly a joke anyways. We had a book and we just copied the code right out of it and made a few changes and it was "done". I studied CSS the entire summer before for absolutely no reason (it was to skip web design I, but I really didn't even need to study CSS). Anyways, back from my tangent, I finally made one because I found some cute templates that were really what I wanted. I never really learned to make frames (my teacher from middle school gave me a rundown on them before my Web Design II class, but it was pretty brief and that was four years ago). So when I found the templates, I just manipulated it to fit what I wanted. And ta-da! I have my current website.
And I know have a kanji-ified name. That is to say, I have a fake name I can use. 萎冬葉（しょうふゆは）, which... means withering winter leaf. And according to WWWJDIC's name dictionary it's a real name. Well a real surname and real given name.
I also found out what I'll need sent to me in care packages when I'm living in Japan (see: distant future). Cheese. I'm sure the stores will have maybe cheddar cheese or a few other select varieties, but not all the varieties I enjoy. Considering how many times I've eaten something with Cheese in Japan... I think I had a total of zero times? Maybe once. And in China, zero.
Back to my volume of ぷちモン.
また、
冬葉
I didn't really give up on Korean. It still tempts me every day. And my google reader now has its own section dedicated to Korean/Korea. However, I'm being much more reasonable by "giving up Korean". I plan to come back to it later. After I master Japanese (that is to say, can read all the novels stacking up in my room/favorites folder), I will come back.
I made a website. http://fuyuhakansou.namidaame.com/
I've wanted to make one for a while. I made one three or four years back and gave up on it. I'll probably give up on this one too. But for now, it's just nice to look at. I had been putting off making a website for the last two years because I didn't want to have to go figure out how to code it all again. I took web design my last year of middle school, and then a web design II class my freshman year - but I got out of it halfway through because... everybody in my class was really scary? I sat next to some kid who talked about the gang he was in. And the other side of me, the kid talked about spending his weekend being high on drugs. I really wasn't fit to be in the class. It was mostly a joke anyways. We had a book and we just copied the code right out of it and made a few changes and it was "done". I studied CSS the entire summer before for absolutely no reason (it was to skip web design I, but I really didn't even need to study CSS). Anyways, back from my tangent, I finally made one because I found some cute templates that were really what I wanted. I never really learned to make frames (my teacher from middle school gave me a rundown on them before my Web Design II class, but it was pretty brief and that was four years ago). So when I found the templates, I just manipulated it to fit what I wanted. And ta-da! I have my current website.
And I know have a kanji-ified name. That is to say, I have a fake name I can use. 萎冬葉（しょうふゆは）, which... means withering winter leaf. And according to WWWJDIC's name dictionary it's a real name. Well a real surname and real given name.
I also found out what I'll need sent to me in care packages when I'm living in Japan (see: distant future). Cheese. I'm sure the stores will have maybe cheddar cheese or a few other select varieties, but not all the varieties I enjoy. Considering how many times I've eaten something with Cheese in Japan... I think I had a total of zero times? Maybe once. And in China, zero.
Back to my volume of ぷちモン.
また、
冬葉
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