Bae Yongjun!

Bae Yongjun~
I didn't really mention it in my last post. But I kind of like him, in that... I like him as a celebrity. Which, shamefully, puts me with a lot of middle-aged Japanese housewives... I also think knitting and cooking and enjoyable. Destined to be a housewife? I think not.

Anyways, the real purpose of this was just to give my new learned words from the game. I actually did 2 lessons today.... x:

Lesson 2:
가방　カバン
여권　パスポート

지갑　財布
돈　お金
휴대폰　携帯電話

밥　ご飯
빵　パン
우유　牛乳

시계　時計
전화　電話
신문　新聞
편지　手紙

Lesson 3:
어디에 있어요?　どこにありますか？
왼쪽　左側
오른쪽　右側
위　上
아래　下
책상　机
의자　椅子
탁자　テーブル

싱크대　シンク台
냉장고　伶蔵庫
소파　ソファー

텔레비전 テレビ
옷장　たんす
책꽂이　本棚

가스렌지　ガスレンジ
세탁기　洗濯機

Spacing indicates the different steps.

In other news, I'm really liking a lot of the content that Japanese bloggers have to share about Korean. It's true that about half the time I'm at a loss for what exactly they're saying, but all the more incentive to work hard on my Japanese before working hard on my Korean.
If I can figure out how, I think I'm going to add a little side feed about the Korean-learning Japanese bloggers. They're all under my "Japanese Blogs 1" folder, but there are a few blogs unrelated to Korean, so I would first have to go recatogorize everything. Or I could just move them to my Korean folder and then do a general Korean feed? Ah well, I'll figure it out.

ペ・ヨンジュンと学ぶ韓国語DS

The festival was a lot of fun. I don't actually have that much to say about it. Other than... it was supposed to start at 7, but apparently 7 means 9? We got there about 9 and it seemed like most people were just starting to arrive. I guess it ended around 1, I had to leave earlier than that. I wish I could've stayed longer, but hey, at least I got to go at all.

In other news, Japan recently released a game called... ペ・ヨンジュンと学ぶ韓国語DS (Learn Korean with Pi Yongjun!). And I started playing it today. I tried a different game earlier, and it was alright, but so far, I think I like this game better.
It has little "steps" and lesson setups as you go.
So far.. Lesson 1... here is what I've learned:
Step 1: 안녕하세요　こんにちは
죄송해요　すみません
괜찮아요　大丈夫です
Step 2: 고마워요　ありがとう
안녕히 가세요　さようなら（送る側）
안녕히계세요　さようなら（去る側）
Step 3: 잘 먹을게요 いただきます
잘 먹었어요　ごちそうさま
Step 4: 천만에요　どういたしまして
또 만나요　また会いましょう

I suppose that's all I ought to do for today.
It's pretty simple, but there are somethings I hadn't learned before.

Now back to studying the ever important Chemistry...

Updates Part 2

First, I'd like to address a piece of news I just found out. Actually two.
The first one is... Korean version of Zettai Kareshi (Absolute Boyfriend). I watched the Japanese drama probably... a year ago? I enjoyed it, and it was one of the first dramas that I tried converting to MP3 to listen to outside of the actual drama. I mostly ended up listening to the first episode, but I liked it. Now I hear about a Korean version, so I'm really excited :3 Source: http://www.dramabeans.com/2009/09/jeon-ji-hyun-considers-korean-remake-of-zettai-kareshi/
Second is... Today I'm headed to a big Indian festival. It's called Navatri or something. One of my best friends is Indian, so she invited me to go. I'm pretty excited. This afternoon I'm headed to her house and it's for a few hours in the evening. I get to wear the traditional Indian clothes too~

I'm not quite sure why I consider these to be news as opposed to other things I'm going to address. I actually started writing this last night, but got too busy to finish.
I'm hoping to make more of an effort to write short little blubs about what I've learned, especially in relation to Korean. Sort of what I did at the beginning of this blog with LSK. Just go back to doing that.
I'd also like to expand a little out of merely languages. I don't have much to comment on in the world at large, unless you'd like to know all about Taiwan. I was actually just thinking of including little reviews of the various podcast episodes I listen to.

Maybe one day soon I'll have a little bit better of a structure for this blog, instead of just useless ramblings which I can't even classify.

Oh right~ besides doing podcast reviews, I'm thinking about maybe adding "short-story-reports" of some of the various things I read in Japanese. Perhaps it will give me more incentive to stick with reading just one thing.
I'm also going back and reading Katekyo Hitman Reborn! (KHR) in Japanese from the beginning and going to take notes on character's speech styles and stuff like that. I found a BBS the other day that's for roleplay of KHR in Japanese, and I've been reading through it occassionally. It doesn't take long, the "roleplay" blurbs are pretty short and it's interesting to see people's takes on different characters, even if it's completely out of character.

Now back to typing up Chem flashcards. Hopefully I can report in about the Indian festival tomorrow~

Quick Updates

Ah, I haven't updated in a while.
I told you, summer affords me more time to blog.
I should be doing chemistry homework right now actually.

Quick notes of interest:
1. RTK is going pretty well. I was adding 30 cards a day for quite a while, but this week I've been adding only about 10 more.
2. Feeling a lot more confident with Hangul. Following the Let's Speak Korean lessons.
3. No exchange student :(
4. College applications. Not really of interest, but it's something I need to work on.

I'll try and give a better update this weekend when I'm not in the middle of chem homework.

Uwaaa~~~ [Ignore]

うわああぁぁ～
留学生がすごいです～
超嬉しいね～
Translation: I'm super happy because I'm finally getting an exchange student.
I've tried to convince my parents for three years. My mum was okay with it mostly, but my dad was against it.
But he finally gave in. In the nick of time ;)
I keep wanting to tell everyone.... except I've already done that, like 3403234 million times.
They're probably sick of hearing me talk about it.
So I'll unleash my excitement here.
I'm just sooo excited.
Her name is Kei. She's from Hiroshima-shi. She's a year younger -w-;; Like most of my friends.
She probably won't go to the same school as me :<< cello =" awesome,">_<; But this is more for me getting my feelings out than for people to read it.)
I don't know when she's coming yet, but it has to be soon - since school starts soon and all. And if she doesn't go to my high school, then the school she's going to has already had orientation. Hopefully they would let us come and tour her around the school though. I've only been there once to take the ACT I think. But at least I speak English and could help her out.
Gaahh~ Just thinking about it makes me all happy~lah!
I'll even learn Tennis for her owo;; Or at least maybe we can kick a soccer ball around outside. It'll be good for me -w-;; I'll probably spend less time online - another good thing for me. And my Japanese will get better I am hoping~ >///< I'm so excited I can hardly wait.
The contact person hasn't been able to get ahold of the schools yet. Probably won't be able to anymore today. I really hope she can tomorrow. I'm worried that she'll end up having to come after school has already started. That would really suck D; Especially with the way American schools are run. But I'll be there to support her >3
I can't even wait for meeting her at the airport. I'm gonna have flowers and a giant sign that says~"OOOOけいさん！アメリカへようこそ！” -w-; I forget her last name right now, but then again, it's probably better I don't post it here, neh?
On top of that, I've been emailing Rei-chan a lot. She told me my Japanese is getting better owo;; Of course I was like ah ha, no not really. but I have been studying REALLY HARD all summer - and that I've been studying too much (汗）. I've finally gotten down to working on my EE.
Ah lah~ I hope I can be a really good host sister to Kei T_T; I'm worried I'm going to over do it though >_<;
I'll probably come back and edit this if I want to rant more about Kei-san~
I can't call her Kei-chan just yettt ;P

Dzongkha, Tibetan, and other Related Langauges

Ever since a few years ago when National Geographic featured an article on "Bhutan", I've been thoroughly interested in the small Buddhist nation. For quite a while since then, my meager reserach has provided me with a few facts. The first of which was that I probably wouldn't be able to make a trip to Bhutan any time soon. While traveling to any country isn't cheap - Bhutan has an added fee of around 200 USD per day just for being in the country? (I'm not sure if this is only a tourist thing, or if you could get in without this fee by studying something). Up until now, my research revealed that "Dzongkha" was the national language - however, just today I read that Dzongkha isn't actually well established. In fact, students prefer English to Dzongkha, and I'm not actually seeing what is the normal language spoken. There have been mentions of Nepalese being outlawed. I've also seen that Tshala (spelling?) is spoken in the eastern regions. One of the more frustrating - but surely interesting if you have the time to study it - of smaller countries is the lack of uniformity. When you go to Japan, you know you're going to find Japanese speakers whereever you go. But you head to Bhutan and can't even find a clear langauge spoken.
So instead of seeking out Dzongkha resources (of which there are few), I think I'm going to stick with learning Tibetan first, which I read today is actually not that closely related to Dzongkha. However, both use the same writing system - which is what attracts me to the language in the first place.
Another stumbling block is that well, Tibetan is closely related with Buddhism. While this is to be expected, my curiousity strikes if it would ever be possible to study Tibetan without an intensive study of Buddhism, that is to say, I'm not against learning about Buddhism, but I don't practice Buddhism. I'm a Christian and I don't have plans to convert any time soon. Some of the few things I've glanced over that allow you to learn Tibetan are usually closely associated with Buddhism - such as a temple offering classes. I wonder how it would be viewed as a Christian going to a Buddhist temple to learn Tibetan? My purpose in learning Tibetan isn't for comprehension of Buddhist texts though, and I have a feeling that's what such a class would focus on.
This whole religon infused with culture is something to be expected. I've already faced some personal dilemmas about it. I love Buddhist and Shinto temples and cultural festivals, yet they're quite readily infused with the religon. Is it okay for me to appreciate such things without practicing the faith - and actually having an entirely different faith.
Another thing on my list of things that would be nice to accomplish is to walk on this path thing around Japan that connects a bunch of temples. I'm forgotten what its called, but it sounds like fun. I probalby would only walk part of the way, but honestly, so much fun, and so pretty I bet~
Aahh, anyways, I'm being ridiculous right now.

I need to get back to my reading "Words and Rules" and working on my EE...

But I can speak ___, too!

>_<; First of all, not that anybody reads this - except for the friend I gave this link to, I apologized for second posting in a day. I try to avoid doing that.
But, competition really gets to me linguistically. When I heard that somebody my age speaks five langauges, my first instinct is to question what languages. Then, if they don't match up (i.e. it's not like Dutch, Norweign, and Swedish), to question how well they actually know those languages. Fluency is a term thrown around, especially when you're trying to make yourself look cooler.
If I really wanted to sound all great, I would say oh, I speak French, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Thai - or something like that, even though my Korean isn't even above reading hangeul, and my Thai is limited to hello (but nobody would know that since the number of people I've meet who can speak Thai is about 0).
But I don't even like to say I can speak French or Japanese or Chinese or Korean.
My French...is laughable. I had a desire once upon a time but a teacher destroyed that.
Japanese - my comprehension is probably less than a grade school student.
Chinese - I don't get far at all. My listening skills are about negative? My reading skills are a little higher because of Japanese, but still pretty low, I see characters and say, "Oh that means ALL" but I have no idea how to say them.
Korean - is the most laughable of any that I would mention. I can tell you exist, hello, goodbye, hi, nice to meet you, I'm a women, you're a man, very simple things. I'm trying not to learn it - trying hard not to give in. But then I hear that someone speaks five langauges and I say I'M GOING TO LEARN KOREAN TOO.
And then there's also that, "Well.... let's just go learn German". Which isn't easy, but since it is related to English, it's not necessarily as "hard" as my Asian langauges. It's not going to be as easy as learning Norweign for a Danish personthough.
I'm really wondering if these young people who speak so many langauges actually can? What do they qualify as being able to speak these languages?
My self-confidence doesn't allow me to say I'm good at any language I'm learning - perhaps theirs says otherwise?
I usually try and console my "slow pace" (which is better than the people who are nowhere), by saying, I'm young, I've got time. In fact, I just stumbled upon a book by Kato Lamb I think the name was. Famous polyglot - who learned at an older age, so I think I'll be fine.
I'm commited to my one language at a time thing for now, because I've got time.