Arcade Fire

to slay January's boredom.

Day 14: busy writing papers

I'm taking a break from Kanji to write papers. Also, I'm finding my flashcards boring. I need to start using my Kanji creatively. I hope my two new books help: Read Real Japanese: Short Stories by Contemporary Writers and Read Real Japanese: Essays by Popular Authors.

Day 9: 義 （ぎ）

I picked this 漢字 because I like writing it in my work book. It makes me feel like I know what I'm doing when I practice 義. It means justice, integrity, and loyalty. Also, it looks pretty.

Wondering why I'm studying Kanji now? Well as a teacher on call, I often get called to teach Japanese. Ninety eight percent of the time my Japanese is fine. The two percent of the time it doesn't sit well. Majority of my students are awesome. They are young motivated teens that are passionate about anime and Japanese culture. Basic Japanese goes along way, except when I have students that are Japanese Canadians and Chinese Canadians. Those kids often ask me how to write a certain kanji or give them a reading for a character they encountered in manga. My reply is always, "I don't know, go look it up." Embarrassing. To do something about it, I've decided to learn. I want to take the second level Japanese test this September. The test is difficult. I don't know if I'll pass.So as my soccer students in Japan used to say, "GANBARO!!"

Day 8: 勝 （しょう、か「つ」）

I’ve known two parts of 勝　for a while. The first radical is 月. It means month. The one underneath 力　means strength. I've still yet to learn the radical that sits on top of strength. These three radicals together in this specific order means a flesh cut by the powerful. The おん　reading is shou and the くん reading is ka[tsu] and masa[ru].

Day 7: 漢字

漢字of the day is 接(setsu,se[suru])。接 means to touch or adjoin. The explanation for this 漢字 is neat: strokes 1-3 join hands, and 4-8 is a standing woman. So when I see 接 I think of the desire to be close to someone I like.

Day 6: 漢字

Today’s kanji is 殺 (satsu, koro[su]). In Essential Kanji, P.G. O’Neill provides pictographic explanation of 殺：strokes 1-2 is an animal, strokes 3-6 is a tree, 7-10 is clubbed to death. To memorize this character I think of an animal sitting in a tree that has been clubbed to death. Essential Kanji is an awesome book. It gives you characters by stroke count, simple and frequently used characters are given first, the おんand くん readings, and English names of radicals. This book makes me want to study 漢字. I love it!!!

Day 3: Maligayang Bagong Taon!!

It’s 2009. New hopes, new dreams, new goals are in the horizon. This year I’m actually setting goals. Small goals to keep me busy and active: spend more time with friends, snowboard, use my snow shoes frequently, learn to be a better swimmer, take the 日本試験二きゅ, and work on my PDP +15.