山田さんへ、
はじめまして！私は リウ ステファニー です。プリンストン大学のー年生です。ノースカロライナからきました。 私のせんこうはこくさいかんけいです。 日本語はおもしろいくて、たのしいので、日本語をならいます。
毎日とてもいそがしいですよ。 プリンストンはときどきたいへんです。 毎日じゅぎょうがあります。日本語のじゅぎょうは一番好きですが、ときどきむずかしいです。よくとしょかんでべんきょうします。 ひまなの時、私はバイオリンをひきます。
週末ときどき友だちとジョギングをします。そして、スケートをするのが好きです。 たべものの中ですしが一番好きです。のみものの中でおちゃが一番よくのみます。私の一番好きな本はむらかみはるきの本です。
山田さんのしゅつしんはどこですか？どんなまちですか？山田さんはえいごではなしますか？しゅみは何ですか？
よろしくおねがいします！
ーリウ ステファニー
In Cycle 2, one of my main goals was to focus on the flow of my sentences as a whole. I feel that I’ve improved in this aspect a bit, and lately this television broadcast project has also helped me to focus on making my speech sound natural. I’ve also been trying to add emotions to my speaking, so that my speech will not sound flat. These past weeks, our sentences have gotten more and more complex - むずかしいです！
I have not been to 日本語テーブル as often as I had hoped to, though I really enjoyed it during the two evenings I was able to go! まきの先生はとてもおもしろいです。I have also not been able to find a native speaker of Japanese to befriend! I had a few Japanese friends in high school (I attended a boarding school), so I think I should be in touch with them more often!
For Cycle 3, I would like to focus on incorporating the correct て-forms and plain forms into my speech, with a faster reaction time. This also means having the courage to use more complex sentences in speaking. Right now, when I want to construct complex sentences, I have to stop and think: what kind of verb? what change in the verb/adjective? what structure? before I can say anything. This usually takes a long time. I want to practice so much that the て-forms, plain forms, etc. become intuitive, and I won’t have trouble using them flowingly in speech.
To accomplish this goal of speaking in more complex sentences:
It’s hard to believe that Cycle 1 is already over! Earlier in the term, I had set goals to eliminate English hesitations that made my Japanese sound unnatural and to focus on using the correct intonation and pitch, and I feel that I generally was more careful on both of these aspects of pronunciation.
First, I was really excited to learn Japanese versions of hesitations such as “uhh” and “um.” I’m replacing these with ええと and あのう and そうですね, I think they make my speaking sounds a lot more natural. In addition, I paid more attention to the pitch markings in the textbook (the horizontal lines in the textbook above parts of the words that require a raise in pitch).
I accomplished parts of the activities that I had set out to accomplish these goals. I visited office hours occasionally (about 2 or 3 times) this term, though I had originally hoped to sign up to practice once a week. I was able to attend Japanese Language Table only once, and I feel that I should try to go more often, because I remember that I learned so much in half an hour at the language table. I also did not watch anime or other Japanese media as often as I had hoped, though I did learn about many new Japanese singers and listen to their songs.
It was so much fun to prepare for the oral midterm with ワンさん。We did not write a script, but rather improvised and tried to talk as naturally as possible. I think the improvisation was good for me, because it trained me to think on the spot and recreate real life situations, in which I do not always know what question might come next. I focused on intonation and correctness of pitch, rather than on speed, during the oral midterm. I think that in the future, I need to work on my confidence when speaking Japanese, and I also need to be able to speak faster, with more flow, even while I aim for accurate pitch and intonation.
I realized that I never posted my goals for Cycle 1 on my blog, though I had written about them on the self-evaluation at the beginning of the term. So here they are again:
(from early in October)
For the first cycle of the Pronunciation Exercises, I hope to be able to eliminate English words that make my Japanese sound unnatural and hesitant (such as “um”), and focus on using the correct intonation and pitch. To accomplish these goals, I will:
This week in Japanese class we are learning to describe daily routines with a list of new verbs. After describing the schedule of the infamous "たなかさん” for such a long time, I decided to think about my own schedule of life at Princeton. It is as follows:
わたしわしちじにおきます。
そして、あさごはんをたべます。わたしわいつもあさごはんをたべます。
はちじごじゅぷんごろにほんごのじゅぎょうにいきます。くじににほんごのじゅきょうがあります。そして、じゅういちじにビジネスじゅぎょうがあります。
じゅうにじにがこうでひるごはんをたべます。
そして、じゅうにじはんにロシアごじゅぎょうがあります。
にじごろうちえかえります。
よくスポーツをします。
そして、たいていバイオリンを “to play.”
ごごろくじごろばんごはんをたべます。
としょかんでしゅくだいをします。
じゅういちじにシャワーをあびます。
じゅうにじごろねます。わたしわあまりねません（￣へ￣）。
ありがとうございます。
ああ、いまじゅうじはんです！じゃあまた！(^ _ ^)
