Japanese Update

I've been playing Rosetta Stone pretty much nonstop. I'm still pleased with it for the most part, although I'm starting to wish I had done all this while I still had Mayumi around to practice with! It's a bit depressing to do it all on the computer. Still, I'll be in Japan in just a few short weeks. The frantic pace I've been moving at reminds me of a quote from the trailer of Memoirs of a Geisha - "What takes years to learn, you must learn in weeks." XD That's an exaggeration, of course. I knew random bits and pieces of Japanese before, which is definitely helping. And despite the fact that I've read that each level of Rosetta Stone should take a year to cover, I'm having a hard time believing that's true. Even assuming that you only did one of the exercises a day, you should finish in a few months.

In these three or so days, I have almost finished Unit 2 of Level 1, and here are some of the things I can say:
(About half of these are word for word from the exercises, the other half I made up, but using only words and grammar from Rosetta Stone)

What colour is your hair?
My hair is brown.
Is that your father?
No, that is my grandfather.
Is that your older sister?
No, that is my younger sister.
Nice to meet you.
What is your name?
My name is Miranda.
How many cups are there?
There are 8 cups.
Where is the ball?
The ball is under the bridge.
Where are the plates?
Two plates are on the table, two plates are in the kitchen.
My brother is watching t.v. in the living room.
My mother is cooking in the kitchen.
My children are playing in the park.
Her horse is running.
My friends’ cat is watching my fish.
What do you have?
I have a pen.
What are you eating?
I am eating rice and egg, and I am drinking juice.
I love my dog.
He loves his mother.
Our son is walking and our daughter is running.
The man is kissing his wife.
Where is the newspaper?
The newspaper is in the bathroom, on top of the sink.
Where are the sandwiches?
The sandwiches are in the kitchen, on top of the table.
How many apples are there?
There are five apples.
How many flowers do you have?
I have six flowers.
The girl and her mother are eating rice.
My mother and her friends are reading books.


I can write a lot of these as well, but I admit that I am not really studying the Kanji involved. I could already read the syllabaries, though I believe I am getting to a point where I might know them /from/ Rosetta Stone, but the Kanji aren't taught much, and not knowing the stroke order and whatnot I have contented myself with recognizing them in context, but being unable to produce them myself.

The speaking sections are getting on my nerves. They want me to speak very loudly, they almost never catch the last word that I say (sometimes I have to add nonsense syllables to the end of the phrase so that they catch it), and sometimes I can't figure out for the life of me what's wrong with my pronunciation. It is much stricter for single, long, words, than it is for sentences too. I sometimes disable them, but I do think it helps my learning to say things outloud, and if I disable them it takes away the nice space and reminder to do so. I wish they included an option where they prompt you to try your pronunciation, but pass you whenever you utter roughly the right amount of syllables. I don't need them to help me sound like a native - I'd just like to have a chance to repeat after them.