So it has been over three weeks since I last posted two
significant things have happened... what an interesting life I lead!!
Firstly, and the most recent thing, I have finally been connected to the internet
in my dorm room. Whilst rent is an inexpensive Y4,300 a month with Y9,000 utilities,
which is all there it is; a room and utilities.
Internet is an interesting thing in Japan and I’d like to address that issue first. Japan is an incredibly technologically advanced country from the outside… however when you start to live here, it seems so backwards. The computer system at our university still uses (at least in the International Students Room) Windows XP Home Edition, with the multiple user accounts feature. Yes, that’s right. Sure Vista was far from the best operating system out there, systems bearing a Windows 7 badge on the side, are running XP Home; work it out. The same seems to go for internet. You can get internet, but it’s an incredible hassle to do so. I applied through a company called ‘BBApply’, an independent company that generally is used by JETs to get themselves internet, created due to many JETs having an interest in Japan, but not a functional command of the Japanese Language.
Internet is an interesting thing in Japan and I’d like to address that issue first. Japan is an incredibly technologically advanced country from the outside… however when you start to live here, it seems so backwards. The computer system at our university still uses (at least in the International Students Room) Windows XP Home Edition, with the multiple user accounts feature. Yes, that’s right. Sure Vista was far from the best operating system out there, systems bearing a Windows 7 badge on the side, are running XP Home; work it out. The same seems to go for internet. You can get internet, but it’s an incredible hassle to do so. I applied through a company called ‘BBApply’, an independent company that generally is used by JETs to get themselves internet, created due to many JETs having an interest in Japan, but not a functional command of the Japanese Language.
The service is free to the Client, and once successfully connected,
your ISP pays out of THEIR pocket, a fee to BBApply for ‘recommending you’ – in
reality, doing the entire application process for you. Easy, huh? What I wasn’t
prepared for however, was the wait and over complex nature of my setup… I pay
line rental to NTT, ISP fee to AsahiNET. Ok, simple. I was originally going to
have to wait 13 weeks to have NTT come to my room and see whether it was ‘HikariFibre’
(Fibre Optic) ready even though when I
spoke to them they confirmed several times that the dormitory is already packed
with Fibre lines to each room awaiting connection… a thing they call ‘Mansion
Plan’, and then they were going to make another date to do the ‘Construction
Work’ (installing a 6 inch cable off the main line into my room) then come back
once more, to actually hand me the router… One phone call later from BBApply to
NTT, my construction work and installation date had been brought forward 11
weeks. I’m still not too sure how it all happened, but it did… and I’m
thankful.
It seems that Australia is one of the few countries in the world where your ISP gives you a modem-router set up, and you plug it in and run the CD and you have internet access. Japan? Well, if we reminisce about the good old days of the internet, and creating a dialup connection? Same thing… just… for broadband. It confused the life out of me for a short while, but 45 minutes later I had access to a 100mbps fibre connection. It’s lovely to be able to contact people from the comfort of my room without having to annoy poor people in the International Students Room by Skyping.
It seems that Australia is one of the few countries in the world where your ISP gives you a modem-router set up, and you plug it in and run the CD and you have internet access. Japan? Well, if we reminisce about the good old days of the internet, and creating a dialup connection? Same thing… just… for broadband. It confused the life out of me for a short while, but 45 minutes later I had access to a 100mbps fibre connection. It’s lovely to be able to contact people from the comfort of my room without having to annoy poor people in the International Students Room by Skyping.
Secondly, I have been (past tense… no longer FEEL) swamped
with Kanji study. I am receiving regular Kanji study work and tests in two of
my classes, bringing the total amount of Kanji that I am studying in class time to approximately 35-40 Kanji
per week. This includes both Onyomi (Traditional Chinese) and Kunyomi (Native
Japanese) readings. Prior to studying in Japan, I had never seen a real reason
to study Kanji. This isn’t for any particular reason, it was merely the case
that it had never taken my fancy and all the majority of work in class being
spoken with homework assignments being spaced regularly (but few) throughout
the semester, lead to me being lazy. I could say comfortably that I knew how to
read/write approximately 100-120 Kanji the day I arrived in Japan, and could
gather the meaning of (I believe) maybe another 50-75 in context… so overall, I
would say that I was comfortable with 150 Kanji… I was in for quite a shock. As
of writing this, I have 73 Kanji plastered around my room, and I can
comfortable write all of them, and give common readings for all, and some
alternate for more than three quarters. This is in addition to the other 40
that I have taken down to allow for space.
I have encountered no previously known kanji, so this – I guess, takes my Kanji proficiency to approximately the 300 area…
Detour. My lecturer authored a short book in the early 90’s entitled ‘How to Learn a Foreign Language’ (Kutash, G.) and there is a wonderful illustration within which depicts a woman studying, I believe (I don’t have a copy right next to me so forgive me if it turns out to be incorrect). Her thought bubble reads something to the effect of ‘So if I learn 10 words a day, in a year that’s 3650 words!’.
Now, whilst we know that this sort of study is completely ineffective because we are constantly remembering and forgetting words, I believe that given that I am required on a day to day basis to converse and utilise the Japanese Language – also given the fact Kanji are learnt in study based on the 1,945 general use characters, any Kanji that I learn I will be forced to utilise in day to day activity… I can safely say, if I am learning 30 Kanji a week on average I will have learnt 1,500 in a year. I see this as an incredibly viable target.
Thus far, I have endured 3 kanji tests, and have done well; not spectacularly… that would imply something akin to remembering everything correctly…
On a side note, the sun is rising closer and closer to 4:00am now… 4:08am and the sun is nearly up.
Given the time, I am heading to bed, and will post something more tomorrow.
I have encountered no previously known kanji, so this – I guess, takes my Kanji proficiency to approximately the 300 area…
Detour. My lecturer authored a short book in the early 90’s entitled ‘How to Learn a Foreign Language’ (Kutash, G.) and there is a wonderful illustration within which depicts a woman studying, I believe (I don’t have a copy right next to me so forgive me if it turns out to be incorrect). Her thought bubble reads something to the effect of ‘So if I learn 10 words a day, in a year that’s 3650 words!’.
Now, whilst we know that this sort of study is completely ineffective because we are constantly remembering and forgetting words, I believe that given that I am required on a day to day basis to converse and utilise the Japanese Language – also given the fact Kanji are learnt in study based on the 1,945 general use characters, any Kanji that I learn I will be forced to utilise in day to day activity… I can safely say, if I am learning 30 Kanji a week on average I will have learnt 1,500 in a year. I see this as an incredibly viable target.
Thus far, I have endured 3 kanji tests, and have done well; not spectacularly… that would imply something akin to remembering everything correctly…
On a side note, the sun is rising closer and closer to 4:00am now… 4:08am and the sun is nearly up.
Given the time, I am heading to bed, and will post something more tomorrow.
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