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.
