Burakumin

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Convenience Store Onigiri... Victory At Last!

In Japan you can walk into any konbini (convenience store) and fine yummy, fresh tasting onigiri. You can find these rice balls with salmon and umeboshi (sour plum) fillings everywhere, and usually some random kinds as well, maybe regional, maybe special of the day - I've gotten Korean cabbage onigiri, little necked clam onigiri, shrimp in some sort of tomato sauce onigiri... you get the idea.

That's something I miss here in the states, especially lately. I've been craving onigiri like crazy, see, and because of my on-campus job I have a pretty hefty stipend to spend at the convenience stores on campus. There are two of them, in case you're wondering - the big one is further away and has a pretty good selection of random stuff, while the one near where I live has just the 'bare necessities' like shampoo, tissues, and bottled water, as well as a few convenience food items.

There is cereal, ez-mac, microwaveable soup, a bit of ramen, chips, lots of candy, and, for some reason, a pretty good selection of microwaveable rice, including Annie Chun's Sushi Wraps. Now, all of these items are overpriced normally and even more so at this market, but money is no object! An exaggeration, yes, but true in spirit. The microwaveable sticky white rice in these Sushi kits always comes out sticky, with a surprisingly good consistency. And, they come with a little seaweed packet too. Calling these sushi kits is a joke, but they actually don't work bad for quick onigiri.

But plain onigiri, or even onigiri with lemon, which I like, get old after a while. I started cruising for fillings I could find at the convenience store. I read that canned tuna, mixed with teriyaki sauce and salt, was pretty good, so I bought one of their 'tuna kits'. (they're big on kits, I guess - I only wanted the tuna packet, but don't worry, I used the crackers with some soup later.) I mixed the fish up with the teriyaki sauce pretty well, but I didn't like the end result. It tasted too much like... well, canned tuna.

Today I went to the convenience store again and found little egg and sausage bowls to be microwaved. I decided to give these a try... and I found that about a teaspoon of egg and one of the little bitty chunks of sausage works pretty darn good for a nontraditional filling! It's probably greasy enough that it would be gross if you took it on a picnic, but who knows? Anyway, it was quite yummy to eat fresh in my dorm room.

Convenience Store Onigiri
(That Aren't Shaped Like Proper Onigiri, but Could Be!)
w/ Sausage and Egg

Step One: Go to the convenience store and buy "Annie Chun's Sushi Wraps" and "Microwave Egg and Sausage Bowl"

Step Two: Microwave the rice by following package instructions. Then microwave the egg and sausage bowl.

Step Three: Sprinkle a tiny bit of water and salt on a big, sturdy plastic bag. Spoon some rice onto the plastic bag as shown:

Step Four: Add a little bit of topping... remember that you're going to have to roll this up, so don't put too much. These two little chunks of sausage were pushing it - normally I just put one.

Step Five: Wrap the rice around the filling, first by sort of doubling the plastic bag over horizontally, then by just squeezing and forming a good, solid shape. Don't let the filling come out by applying too much pressure in one direction. You want the shape to be very three dimensional because of this.

I realize that my shape is totally not right for Onigiri. Also, my method is sort of a gaijin (foreigner), amateur method. I'm really not very concerned - the taste is the same really and this is the fastest and least painful method I've discovered.

Step Six: Unwrap the rice ball from the bag. It should hold together well and be a dense and solid bit of yumminess.

Step Seven: Right before eating, (otherwise the seaweed gets soggy :( ), you can take some seaweed and wrap around the rice ball or cylinder or triangle or whatever shape you have. With shorter, rounder shapes, the seaweed tends to go o the bottom almost just as a place to put your fingers. But, it's tasty too. :D Alternatively with larger pieces of seaweed you can wrap up most of the ball if you want.

Of course, you can substitute any of the convenience store ingredients with better ingredients from a real store if you can/want. You will probably save money, though surprisingly this doesn't taste bad. I usually use my own rice, and seaweed if I can get it, but I have to admit that it's convenient not to cook the sausage myself... :P The main point of using all convenience store food was to see if I could do it.

Haru Yo, Koi

This may just be my favourite song in Japanese. Although I understand only a handful of the words, it gives me such clear feelings. Somehow I feel that while there is a lot of emotion in J-Pop songs, etc, it doesn't always feel totally real and complex, but this song is very much an exception.

Awaki hikari tatsu niwakaame
Itoshi omokage no jin'chouge
Afururu namida no tsubomi kara
Hitotsu hitotsu kaori hajimeru

Sore wa sore wa sora wo koete
Yagate yagate mukae ni kuru

Haru yo tooki haru yo mabuta tojireba soko ni
Ai wo kureshi kimi no natsukashiki koe ga suru

Kimi ni azukeshi waga kokoro wa
Ima demo hen'ji wo matte imasu
Dore hodo tsukihi ga nagarete mo
Zutto zutto matte imasu

Sore wa sore wa asu wo koete
Itsuka itsuka kitto todoku

Haru yo mada minu haru mayoi tachidomaru toki
Yume wo kureshi kimi no manazashi ga kata wo daku

Yume yo asaki yume yo watashi wa koko ni imasu
Kimi wo omoinagara hitori aruite imasu
Nagaruru ame no gotoku nagaruru hana no gotoku

Haru yo tooki haru yo mabuta tojireba soko ni
Ai wo kureshi kimi no natsukashiki koe ga suru

Haru yo mada minu haru mayoi tachidomaru toki
Yume wo kureshi kimi no manazashi ga kata wo daku

- Haru yo, koi
Yumi Matsutoya

Language Context and Rosetta Stone

I found this quote:

"If the only time you make use of your language is when you are studying, should you need to use that language you may well be stuck because you'll be in the wrong context for retrieving it."

on this site: http://gbarto.com/multilingua/confessions/

It's interesting. I hadn't thought about the situation from exactly that angle, but it does seem to make sense. For example, my spoken Spanish isn't terrible, but my written Spanish is much better. On the other hand, my written Norwegian is okay, and so is my spoken Norwegian - there is not nearly as much of a difference between them. Comparatively, my spoken Norwegian is actually better than my spoken Spanish, because I am more comfortable with it, and more rarely am frustrated because I hear my own mistakes.

I'm wondering now about whether or not Rosetta Stone gives you the right context. I tend to think it does, more than studying from a book or flash cards. Whatever I may think about the learn as a child situation, Rosetta Stone does help me to start associating the language very directly with real life. Just as I start to think of the new words when I see the RS pictures, when I go about my day later, the words echo back into my head when I see objects, actions, situations that remind me of what I learned.

This really does not happen as much when I learn a language through reading. I might remember the words fine, but they don't usually just present themselves in my mind in response to visual and aural stimuli. It might take me a bit longer to mentally access them, as well.

I think Mandarin will help me understand this process more. With Japanese, I learned a lot from Rosetta Stone, and I did pretty well with Japanese when I was in Japan. But I went into Rosetta Stone with a lot of Japanese experience, however scrambled it was. Mandarin is a fresh start that will let me look more purely at the Rosetta Stone method.

Mini-Onigiri with Hint of Lemon

Onigiri are a traditional and delicious Japanese snack consisting of a ball of sticky rice, handrolled around a salty or sour filling, and then wrapped in a thin layer of crisp seaweed. Today I was craving the basic idea of Onigiri, especially the delightful texture, but I didn't have Japanese rice, any of the traditional fillings, good quality Onigiri seaweed, or the dedication to do things 'exactly right'. So, I played around and invented these Mini-Onigiri with a Hint of Lemon.

I found them delicious, and shared them with some friends. They were extremely apprehensive at first - I think it was their first time eating seaweed. But they were all amazed by how much they enjoyed it, and kept asking me if there was some sort of sauce in it. Nope! Just yummy sticky rice. (and a hint of lemon)

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This is what you need:

1 cup uncooked calrose rice (or Japanese rice. Just make sure it can get good and sticky)
1 teaspoon-tablespoon of oil
1 teaspoon of salt
A bit of lemon (I cut four very thin slices from a real lemon. Just lemon juice or peel would be okay I'm sure - add to taste)
Some seaweed (the low quality, sesame oil covered, snack variety works fine. Just make sure it comes in at least small flat sheets, so you can use it to wrap the rice)

A Rice Cooker (or you can try cooking the rice in a pot. You're on your own)


First, you'll need to cook the rice. If you're confident in your own sticky-rice-cooking skills, feel free to skip this section - but do add the oil, salt, and lemon whenever you feel is appropriate. Otherwise stay with me. Heat the oil in your rice cooker. Add the uncooked rice and stir until the hot oil is coating each grain. Let cook like this for a minute or two.

Add the water and the salt. Stir. Turn the rice cooker to the warm setting and let sit for a few minutes, if you like to soak your rice. I did, the first time I made this recipe. After that, turn the rice cooker on and let it cook.

Most rice cooker turn themselves to the warm setting when the rice is finished. When the rice is almost finished, (there's still a bit of liquid and a lot of steaming), add the lemon. You don't have to stir it in or anything, (in fact, don't, unless you just put in peel or something else you can take out before eating) just leave it on top of the rice and shut the lid. The aroma and taste of the lemon will permeate the rice nicely.

When you're finished, let the rice cool until you can handle it easily with your bare hands. Then, take a bit (about a handful), and press it between your hands. It should hold shapes relatively easily, since it's sticky rice. Make a circle - oval -triangle - whatever, then take a strip of seaweed and fold it over the outside of your riceball. You don't need to fully wrap the onigiri, so that no rice shows, although you can if you want. Normally I just wrap a square of seaweed around one edge, so I can hold it and get a bit of salty crunch. Repeat until you've used up all your rice and seaweed, and you should have a lovely place of rice balls.

Wash your hands, since they'll be sticky. Onigiri are finger food, and you're supposed to hold them with the seaweed wrapper. Enjoy!!! ^^

Preparing for Departure

It’s morning at Laura’s house. I am not yet as mentally excited as I will soon be, but adrenaline is already racing uncalled for through my body. I slept poorly, but not in a miserable way. I woke up early, at 8:30, and decided to finish Rosetta Stone. I worked through the morning, pausing only for brief walks around the house (the adrenaline, remember), a cookie, and a glass of milk. I checked on Laura once or twice, as she was sleeping so long and soundly that I worried about her a bit. Yesterday I had stomach aches, and I was worried she might have them now. But she was fine. I kept working on Rosetta Stone.

When Laura woke up, I organized my suitcase, double checked that I had my important documents, my gifts for Mayumi and Mitsuki, and index cards – things I worry about forgetting. I charged my iPod and put it away. I also erased some files from my computer to free up room (I have to get my external hard drive working properly when I return), and emptied all of my memory cards onto the computer. I’m going to Japan with 18 gb of memory. Yikes.

I’m proud of how lightly we packed

And I keep learning Japanese, right up until the last minute:


Shatsu wa yogorete imasu – the shirt is dirty

Doushite te o aratte imasu ka – why are you washing your hands

Yogorete imasu kara aratte imasu –I am washing because they are dirty.

Ryourishite imasu kara daidokoro ni imasu – He is in the kitchen because he is cooking

Doushite okaasan wa inu o aratte imasu ka – why is mom washing the dog

Nodo ga kawaite imasu kara mizu o nonde imasu – I am drinking water because I am thirsty.

Otoko no hito wa ha o migaite imasu – the man is brushing his teeth

Onna no ko tachi wa kami o tokashite imasu – the girls are brushing their hair

Watashi wa hirugohan no mae ni te o araimasu – I wash my hands before lunch

Watashi wa asagohan no ato ni ha o migakimasu. – I brush my teeth after breakfast

Neko wa makkura no ue ni arimasu – The cat is on top of the pillow.

Pinku no moufu wa kirei desu – the pink blanket is pretty

Kirei desu kara – because they are clean

Otoko no ko wa ima de nete imasu – the boy is sleeping in the living room

Hana o nanbon kate imasu ka? – how many flowers are you buying?

Karera wa sekken de te o aratte imasu – they are washing their hands with soap

Kanojo wa sangurasu o irimasu – she needs sunglasses

Utte imasu – is selling

Kaimono o shite imasu – to be shopping

Kowareta terebi – broken tv

Ga hoshii desu – wants

Megane – glasses

Hoshiku arimasen – does not want

Watashi wa atarashii terebi ga irimasu – I need a new tv

Doushite atarashii terebi ga irimasuka – why do you need a new tv?

Watashi no furui terebi wa kowarete imasu kara – because my old tv is broken.

Doko de keeke o kaimasuka? – where do you buy cake?

Kowareta terebi – broken tv

Supaa wa hashi no chikaku ni arimasu – the supermarket is of the vicinity of the bridge

Kusuriya – pharmacy

Sumimasen, kusuriya wa doko desu ka? – excuse me, where is the pharmacy

Watashi wa hon ga hoshii desu – I want to buy a book

Suki dewa arimasen – doesn’t like

Tenisu o shite imasu – playing tennis

Kono onna no ko wa tenisu no suru no ga suki dewa arimasen – this girl doesn’t like to play tennis

Kanojo wa hon o yomu no ga suki desu – she likes to read books

Nani o suru no ga suki desu ka? – what do you like to do?

Onnanoko wa otousan yori ookii keeki o motte imasu – The girl has a bigger cake than her father

Onnanoko wa okaasan yori takusan no orenji o motte imasu – the girl has more oranges than her mother.

Onna no hito wa musukosan hodo takusan no juusu o motte imasen – the woman does not have as much juice than her son.

Dochira no doobutsu ga ookii desu ka – which animal is big

Kochira no doubutsu ga ookii desu – this animal is big

Dochira no kudamono ga akai desu ka – which fruit is red

Kochira no kudamono ga akai desu – this fruit is red

Ookii shatsu ga chairo desu – the big shirt is brown

Watashi wa koohii yori ocha no hou ga suki desu – I like tea better than coffee

Watashi wa sakkaa yori tenisu no hou ga suki desu – I like tennis better than coffee.

Watashi wa juusu yori gyuunyuu no hou ga suki desu. – I like milk better than juice.

Dochira no kutsu ga suki desu ka – which shoes do you like?

Watashi wa midori no kutsu yori aoi kutsu no hou ga suki desu – I like the green shoes better than the blue shoes.

Eiga no chiketto wa kyuu pondo desu – the movie ticket is 9 pounds.

Ninjin wa ikura desu ka? – How much are the carrots?

Boushi wa kooto yori yasui desu – the hat is cheaper than the coat

Haratte imasu – is using

Haraimasu - use

Omoi – heavy

Karui – light

Hayai – fast

Osoi – slow

My books are heavy – watashi no hon wa omoi desu

His books are heavier – kare no hon wa motto omoi desu

This camera is small – kono kamera wa chiisai desu.

This camera is smaller – Kono kamera was motto chiisai desu.

This camera is the smallest – kono kamera ga ichiban chiisai desu.

Toshi o totta – elderly

Osanai – very young, child

Motto takusan - more

Ichiban takusan – the most

Osara wa arimasuka – do you have plates

Kinzoku to kami to ki no osara ga arimasu – we have metal, paper, and wooden plates.

Dono osara ga irimasuka – which plate do you need

Watashi no kazoku wa kyoo koen de hirugohan o tabemasu kara, karui osara ga irimasu – because my family is eating in the park today, I need light plates.

Ki no osara wa kinzoku no osara yori karui desu ga, kami no osara ga ichiban karui desu. – although wooden plates are lighter than metal plates, paper plates are lightest.

Sukunai – less

Chigau – different

Onaji – the same

Onaji iro – the same colour

Chigau iro – different colored

Ookisa – size

Onaji ookisa – same size

Chigau ookisa – different size

Ookisugimasu – too big

Chiisasugimasu – too small

Choudo ii desu – the right size

Coudo ii desu ka? – does it fit, is it the right size?

Subete – all

Suwatte imasu – to frown

Kodomotachi wa minna suwatte imasu – all the children are frowning

Kodomotachi wa minna suwatte imasen – none of the children are frowning.

Nanbonka – some

Nanbonka no hana wa purasuchikku desu – some of the flowers are plastic.

Hana wa subete kami desu – all of the flowers are paper.

Watashitachi no shatsu wa subete onaji desu ga, subete chigau iro desu – our shirts are all the same size, but they are all different colors.

Ichiban - best

私の犬は茶色です。

私の名まえはミランダです。十九歳です。学生です。アメリカ人です。

My name is Miranda. I am 19 years old. I am a student. I am American.

I didn't memorize it. I actually know how to say it. And I know how to write it, too, except for the Kanji for year, 歳. It's not much but I'm fiercely proud of it. :D

I can say/write other things too, like:

私の犬は茶色です。
My dog is brown.

犬は外で走っています。
The dog is running outside.

And, most recently,

むすめさんは朝ごはんの後に読みます。
（My） daughter reads after breakfast.

And even,

むすめさんは朝ご飯の後に読みますが昼ご飯の後に読みません。
（My） daughter reads after breakfast but not after lunch.

That last takes me enough time to think about and construct that I'm not sure I could say it spontaneously, but I can understand it if it's said slowly, and write it... and practice makes perfect, right? :P

I can even make some sentences based on words and grammar from Rosetta Stone, although with a language as foreign as Japanese one can never be certain, or even half-certain, that a conjecture is actually the way something is expressed. For example:

私の家族に母と父と妹います。

I am sure this is wrong, but I like to think that it would be at least understood for "In my family there is (my) father, (my) mother, and (my) little sister."

With One Week to Go

On Saturday I'm leaving for Kansas City, where Laura and I are going to hang out for a few days, having a bit of fun and making our last preparations for Japan. We're leaving for Japan on the 15th - it's coming up rapidly.

I've been busy with family matters, (and, yesterday, the fourth of July :)) but I've still been doing a bit each day and getting closer to being ready. With all the hotel reservations finally confirmed, most of the rail journeys at least generally planned, my phone on it's way, and my railpasses and passport in hand, the most crucial thing remaining is to pack. I'm planning to get my room tidy tonight, and perhaps even come up with a packing list, so that it will be easier.

I'm planning to pack light, with ideally just my smaller red suitcase and a backpack (probably my dad's big one, which I've uncovered in the move). Still, I haven't decided what I'll do for the way to Kansas City - I may well check the big red suitcase with clothes and stuff I'll want at Mizzou but don't need in Japan, and carry on the little red suitcase and the backpack. It's a lot to carry on, but I've done it before. If I can't fit everything into the small suitcase and the backpack with room to spare, I'll bring the big suitcase instead, but wouldn't it be nice if I could carry everything easily, and even avoid checking luggage? Maybe unrealistic, but I can still dream at this point. I also might plan to mail at least one package home (or to Laura's house) with souvenirs or something of that nature, but it's fairly expensive, so we'll see.

I've also been reading a lot. I'm halfway through Japanese Inn, which is probably not the most densely edifying work I could be reading, but hey, I got it at one of the used bookstores around here and it's a nice look at Japan over a long period of history. I may not finish it before I leave, and I'm not particularly worried about it. I do, however, want to finish Turning Japanese. I only wish that it was more up to date - it was written in the 80s - but I still feel as though it's a fascinating look at Japanese culture from a very unique perspective, and, completely apart from my trip, a fascinating work of introspection. I have a lot to say about this book as well, and I'd like to write a blog post about it - perhaps one before, and one after, my trip to Japan.

I've also read more about the sites we'll be going to, and tourism in Japan in general, on Wikitravel. They have a lot of good information on rail connections, restaurants, etc, and I'll probably print 30-40 pages of it to have with me in leiu of or in addition to a traditional guidebook for the trip. This page in particular, though long, is at turns useful, fascinating, or both.

Our itenerary is pretty much finalised at this point, with only three days (out of 21) that are uncertain and probably will be until they arrive. We'll be hovering fairly near Osaka during that time, so good possibilities are Kobe, the valleys around Hiroshima, or more Osaka. The only site that we're missing, would be reasonable to do, and I care at all about is Mount Fuji. I don't really need to spend a day or two climbing it, but it would be nice to go somewhere that at least has a good view of it. We may well do that with the last of our fuzzy days, as we head back towards Tokyo.

Looking at Japan's Top 3 made me quite proud of our itenerary. I really think we've struck a fairly good balance. We can't do everything in Japan, or even the highlights of Japan, in three weeks - which is a good thing! I have a feeling that I'll be back if I ever get the chance, and that's before I've even stepped fut in the country. Still, out of most of the Top 3 lists, we've done 1 - not bad for a first trip.

Amoung the Three Views, we are seeing Miyajima.
Amoung the Three Castles, we are seeing Himeji.
Amoung the Three Famous Gardens, we are doing Kenrokuen.
Amoung the Three Sacred Mountains, we are doing Mount Osore and Mount Koya.
Amoung the Three Big Buddhas, we are doing Todaiji and Kotokuin.
Amoung the Three Holy Places of Oshu, we are doing Mount Osore.
Amoung the Three Great Inari Shrines, we are doing Fushimi Inari.
Amoung the Three Great Tenjin Shrings, we are doing Kitano Tenmangu.
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Amoung the Three Famous Mountains, we may be doing Mount Fuji.
We won't be there for any of the Three Great Festivals.
We're missing the Three Hot Springs.
We're missing the Three Great Night Views.
Amoung the Three Hidden Regions, we are approaching Shirakawa-Go, but not making it there.
We're missing the Three China Towns.

I also checked out "Off the Beaten Track in Japan" - areas that aren't so well known to tourists. I wouldn't expect that we'd make it to any of these on our first whirlwind tour of Japan, but actually both Shimokita Peninsula and Mount Koya make the list.

What I think I'll find is that I regret not having more time to spend on the Shimokita peninsula. I heard about it late enough in the game that I was incredibly lucky to be able to work it in at all, and we're only going to have one full day there - I could spend two weeks.

I took a break a few lessons from finishing Unit 2 of Rosetta Stone Japanese and today I got back on it. As I started Unit 3 I realized that the difficulty has made a pretty steep jump. Still, things are going fairly smoothly. I got out one of my old Japanese textbooks yesterday and wonder if Rosetta Stone is spoiling me - I had a hard time focusing on black text and forcing myself to copy sentences into my notebook. On the other hand, I've never been too impressed by that particular textbook, so maybe it has nothing to do with Rosetta Stone.


Here is a screenshot showing my progress. We're definitely into sentences now, and I can introduce myself or someone else, and ask enough questions to have a 2 minute smalltalk section on a train. Unfortunately that's probably not going to happen, and I'm kind of getting anxious to learn hotel and train related words. But if nothing else Laura and I can cram that at her house before we leave and on the plane ride over.

Things are looking good!

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.

Rosetta Stone Version 3

My review of Rosetta Stone 2 wasn't very positive. I thought it was a reasonably well designed program, yes, but nowhere near worth the hype or the price tag. Now I have tried out Rosetta Stone 3, and I feel quite differently about it. While it still follows the somewhat controversial total immersion method (no English), I would liken the experience of Rosetta Stone 2 to being dropped into a foreign country and trying to figure things out, albeit with ideal context clues. Rosetta Stone 3 is like being dropped into the same situation, but with a native speaker, who, although they don't speak any English, is trying to help you and teach you the language. No, the program doesn't actually use role-playing like that, but that's sort of how it feels. In Rosetta Stone 2, you were on your own. In Rosetta Stone 3, the software is teaching you.

In addition, Version 3 teaches the written language, and is much better at testing pronunciation (although it's still a computer program... so... :() and tasks other than listening comprehension. The variety of exercises is much better.

Above: This exercise teaches you to spell using the Japanese syllabary, Hiragana.

While there is still no cultural content to speak of, Version 3 at least seems to acknowledge that languages are different. While so far I have only tried the Japanese version, many aspects of it seem tailored to teaching Japanese, as opposed to any language (and by that we mean, ideal for Germanic/Romance languages, less good for others).


Above: This exercise, which asks you to differentiate between the three writing systems used in Japanese, is clearly unique to the Japanese Version.

One area in which this differentiation between languages has actually regressed from Version 2 -3 is in the pictures. Version 2 had at least two different photo sets for Asian and Western languages, so most of the pictures in the Japanese version were taken in Japan. In Version 3, Japanese pictures are enough of a minority that I suspect they use the same photos for all languages. Still, I can't bring myself to complain much about this. While there is only one set of pictures, they are much nicer than in Version 2. The quality is high enough that you never find yourself wondering whether a character is a boy or a girl, and the variety is impressive. At times, Version 2 looked like it was creatively picking pictures from stock photos to represent the words - Version 3 very obviously planned and took many of the pictures expressly for the purpose of teaching the language.

Above: Version 2 might have contented itself with showing bigger and smaller flowers in stock-like photographs. The magnifying glass over the 'small flowers' and the girl standing behind the 'big flowers' makes it obvious that Version 3 took each picture precisely for it's function in the software.


Above: Version 2 showed different colours of cars. Version 3 shows close ups so tight that you know they're talking about the colour itself.

The user can also moderate the difficulty to a greater extent than in Version 2. You can determine how strictly your pronunciation is graded, and you can pick between using Romanji (Japanese spelled with our alphabet: much easier, but less authentic), Hiragana, Kanji, and Kanji with Furigana. Including Kanji with Furigana was a nice thought on the part of the designers, but in actuality it makes everything so small that it's not worth bothering with.

Above: In this exercise, you can read the Kanji, or click on the green speaker icon to hear how the sentence is sounded out, depending on whether you want to learn to read the language, or just understand it.

In conclusion, I find Rosetta Stone 3 to be a very well made computer based language learning program - perhaps approaching the best such a program can possibly be. Version 3 addresses many of the shortcomings of Version 2, making it worthy of the hype and the price tag. However, the fact that it is a computer program, and that it follows the 'total immersion' learning philosophy, means it is still quite a challenge for those who, without any linguistic background, would learn a language using ONLY Rosetta Stone software. Ideally, users would have a teacher, or a dictionary and a grammar book, as supplements.

More About Rosetta Stone

I read the Wikipedia article on Rosetta Stone today and found a lot of interesting things. First of all, because it is so successful and expensive, I had assumed that most (consumers and experts alike) approved of the software. I was surprised to see that there is a great variety of opinions on it's efficacy, in particular one scalding review by a user of the Russian version, and a much better review by a user of the German version. Both of them reviewed older versions, so some of the issues may have been corrected, but what the Russian reviewer had said went fairly well with what I have mentioned about the Japanese program. He wrote that the program introduced many complex cases early on, in the section on prepositions, which would overwhelm a beginning learner, that the words were clearly too centered on what was important in English, and that the pictures didn't fit well with Russian subjects. The German reviewer was much kinder - perhaps because German isn't as grammatically distant from English? This might indicate that Rosetta Stone is quite good for Germanic languages, or perhaps even Romance languages as well, and not as good for languages that aren't as closely related to English.

Apparently the same phrases, in the same order, are used for every language except for Latin. At least they had the sense to realize that learners of a dead language have different needs than those of a living language! Another interesting quote from Wikipedia: "He called the company regarding the picture sets, and was told that four are in use, one for Western languages, another for Asian, and two sets unique to Swahili and Latin."

Finally, this quote sounds a lot like what I began to mention in my last post, about adults learning languages as adults: "In 2008, author Tim Ferriss, who is fluent in multiple languages, reviewed Rosetta Stone. He said that it was faster to learn languages as an adult instead of a child and the aim toward learning as a child did not lead to producing the best results."

Since I have the software, I have continued and will continue to use the Japanese program for the time being. I enjoy the challenge of learning from context, and it's good to have the listening practice. However, I'm not sure I can recommend the software wholeheartedly to the average learner, especially for more exotic languages.

Before I completely write it off, however, I would like to sometime try out Version 3, which according to Wikipedia has a somewhat different approach.

"Instruction takes the form of four units per language level. Each unit is then subdivided into four core lessons. Each core lesson is approximately 30 minutes followed by sublessons. Sublessons take the form of Pronunciation, Writing, Vocabulary, Grammar, Listening, Reading, Speaking, and Reviews. At the end of each unit is a Milestone, which reviews the material covered in that unit in an interactive activity."

http://www.rosettastone.com/personal/demo
You can try out a bit of Version 3 here. It's no accident that they chose the first lesson of Swedish - Swedish is probably one of the easiest languages they offer, and I think the method probably works best earlier on in the process. But it does look nice, and it teaches you a bit more than Version 2, which is a lot of trial and error.


This is a screen shot from my progress so far in the Japanese Version 2 program. It says aloud, "Is the pink car new? No, it is not new.", and displays it either in Kanji/Hiragana, Hiragana, or normal English letters. For this screenshot, I set it to display in English characters.

Japanese is very different from English - you can't translate word for word. Word for word, the translation would be something like, "Pink colour of car (subject) new is (question)? No, that (subject) new(not) (subject) not-is!" It's somewhat of a challenge to figure these things out from the program alone.

Rosetta Stone

I've heard of this language learning software, and it's hefty price tag, so often that they've become almost mythical in my mind. Routinely, I have people ask me whether I use it. I'm finally trying it out. I'm working through Japanese, starting yesterday, and a friend is working through Farsi. We've been comparing notes. I also got on the Danish version for a few minutes for yet a third opinion. So far I have mixed feelings.

Rosetta Stone is supposed to be the best, period. Hence the price tag. It's supposed to be complete immersion, and bringing you back to the experience of being a child learning it's first language. When I see things like this, I can't help but think of two things. Firstly, that the way a child acquires a new language is in many ways mysterious, and we seem to lose much of our ability to do this past a certain age (around ten). Secondly, Barry Farber (who wrote a book on language learning, which I own), said that adults should learn languages as adult learners, with the disadvantages and the advantages that this presents.

So while, in theory, I like the whole 'natural method', 'any background', 'total immersion' idea, I can't help but feel that it's a bit of a gimmick. Also, while I sort of enjoy the challenge of puzzling out the different meanings on my own, I doubt the average language learner cares about a challenge... and didn't they just pay obscene amounts of money to have the language made easier for them? The trickiest parts so far have been a picture of man falling off a bull (I learned which gibberish went with it, but I still don't know what the gibberish is supposed to mean - the rabbit, or the scurrying), and a counting exercise that showed hands, but was counting fingers... this was before they had taught you any numbers over 10, and suddenly you see six hands full of fingers.

Still, once you accept this method, they do a pretty good job with it. The pictures that they use are very creative, and there is never room for ambivalence, once you figure out what it wants you to do. There is a good deal of variety for every subject. So far I've gone through a very few basic nouns, prepositions, verbs, and adjectives, as well as the colour section, and am midway through the number section, including telling time. For the numbers, they have pictures of the numbers on football fields, refrigerators, go-karts, etc. Numbers has you counting plates, balls, children, and more. The variety really is impressive, and I did find myself learning.

Now let's do some cross comparison. This is where I started to be disappointed. The Farsi version, from comparing my notes to those of my friends, seemed eerily similar. And that's just the problem. There are some things that should come early on or later on in any language. For example, pronouns should be introduced fairly early, whereas the names of different Marsupials can probably wait a bit. But that doesn't mean that all languages are the same. The Norwegian version, for example, would waste time in having a section devoted to conjugating verbs by person, whereas such a section would be quite useful in the Spanish version. There's no reason to go into noun gender in the English version, but it might be helpful in the German version.

We're in counting now, and counting is one of the trickier things about Japanese. You see, different words take different counters, which you can make sound easy or hard. If you want to make it sound hard, you can say, truthfully, that you use a different set of numbers to count different objects, depending on things like how they are shaped. You can also make it sound easy by reassuring the learner that these attach to the number stems, and aren't so different from counting bottles in English, instead of 'waters'. The fact of the matter, however, is that there are at least two full sets of number 'stems' that prefix these counters, and some of the counters are irregular. So when Rosetta Stone has you counting plates, and then windows, it seems to expect you to know that three (plates) is (sara ga) sammai, while three (windows) is mittsu (no mado). I'd love to see a learner, completely new to Japanese, work through this chapter and give me their impressions. I got through because I already knew about counters, and had a vague idea about the two sets of stems and even some of the most common irregulars. I knew, going into it, and it was still tricky. I admit it, tricky to explain without breaking the whole 'immersion' theme, but you could give the Japanese learners more time on a section that will be far more difficult for them than for say, Danish learners.

That's a real, practical example of when it might hurt the program to have it be so similar from one language to the next, but there's also just the idea of it. Rosetta Stone markets itself as the best of the best, and has a price tag to support it. So it's a little bit bothersome that the different languages seem so copied from each other. Did they expect that 99% of their users would simply use one language, and never ask questions? Well, probably. But it's still annoying.

Speaking of reusing content, I mentioned to my friend that, even if the subjects (and sentences, and even picture layouts) were the same, at least the pictures were Japanese themed. There were too many Kanji in the background, too many Japanese faces for it to be chance. The first non-Japanese used in a picture was introduced as a wakai, young, woman - I immediately guessed that wakai meant foreigner, or even white. When I told him this, my friend seemed surprise. He said that in the Persian version, the people didn't seem Middle Eastern at all. For comparison purposes, he asked if I had a little boy under a picnic table. I had a Japanese boy, he had a black one. I fired up the Danish version for another perspective. The pictures were different from the Japanese one, and from the Persian one too, I think. They weren't as strongly Danish as the Japanese ones had been Japanese, but it seems as though there was a good deal of effort made to customize the pictures, which I appreciate.

The best thing I have to say about Rosetta Stone is this - it's somewhat addicting. I'll be playing with this more before I leave for Japan - mostly Japanese, of course, but I'll probably try out a few other languages just to check it out.

Back to Work

The chaos of the move disrupted everything. Now I am trying to go back to some projects - my memoirs for last summer, learning Japanese and about Japan.

These things get easier the longer I work on them, somehow, so I knew that I needed to start. I read the first few pages of a book I bought used, called Japanese Inn, last night. It told me about a semi-legendary Japanese beach called Miho's Beach - I want to look it up, and if anything doesn't work out this summer it's maybe another possible destination. You can see Mt. Fuji from the beach, so I know it's not crazy far away from other things we're doing. Miho's beach is supposedly still beautiful today, with it's black volcanic sands, pine groves, and view of Fuji, but in older days, when it had white sands, it was more beautiful yet. So beautiful, in fact, that the legends say that an angel descended from the heavens to dance on the beach, and left her feathery robe on the branch of a wind shaped pine. While she bathed, a fisherman found it, and wouldn't give it back unless she danced for him. She danced the celestial dance as the heavens provided the music, and afterwards vanished into a mist...

My memoirs. Today I brainstormed all the important points I want to cover about Monteverde, Manuel Antonio, and my first day with the host family. I also touched up a lot of bad spots in earlier entrees. Hopefully, by next Wednesday, I'll have Costa Rica done up until the Host Family stay begins, and also do a few entrees of Finland. It's probably unrealistic to have even a rough draft completely done by the time I go to Japan, but it would be nice to get close, because I'm going to have a lot to say about Japan, too!

It's funny, because these days a day doesn't hold much. I get up, I run some errands, I maybe read some, clean a lot, cook, go to bed. So when I'm reading what I did in a single day in my memoirs, it's unbelievable! One day, I started with a hike through a cloud rainforest, then went to a hummingbird sanctuary, then there was a long drive south down the mountains and along the coast, and we went to a club that night and danced after seeing spider monkeys and sloths at our hotel.

I think what's amazing about Vacation is that you expect things to happen - a year goes by in your 'grey' ordinary life and you have to think to realize how much really happened - as it happens it's just life. But on a vacation you're ready and anticipating life to happen. And of course, it does.

I head each entree with a date and a title, often a location. I also say the day of the week. I almost took them out, at one point, then I remembered why I included them to start with - why I like them there. It's odd, but Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday - it's so pedestrian, that it almost ties the unreal world of the trips with the real world I move in every day. Saturday, ha! And to think, ordinarily I would be working at the library all day. Sunday, that's church! No, wait, Saturday was the rainforest, Sunday was San Jose - or something like that. ;) All of this subconscious, of course.

五十かんじ！ （５２ Kanji)

本田下上山川日国人語英一二三四五六七八九十男女子大小好時何月半百千万円高安学生先校私間毎来週今年火水木金土曜

I now know 52 Kanji. My goal is 200 by the time I go to Japan.

An original (and true) sentence in beautiful Kanji:

三週間日本にいます。

I will be in Japan for three weeks.

Japanese Flash Cards

Here's the thing about Flash Cards.

They well... have two sides.

And ideally, you want them to go both ways.

Normally this works well for languages. You can put "Hello" on one side and "Hola" on the other and when you've mastered remembering that Hola means Hello you can reverse it and see if you can produce Hola when presented with Hello.

But it's not always that easy. There are sometimes multiple translations, for example.

And sometimes it's even harder. Take Japanese.

I want to learn the phrase "This Week". Simple enough, right? Write "This Week" on one side, and "Konshuu" on the other? Sort of. But I want to learn the Kanji for "This Week" as well. (今週）

Maybe you can already see the problem. If I just put the Kanji, then how will I know if I have remembered the sound of the word properly? (And which is more important - can I put the card in the 'I know it' pile if I remember /just/ the Kanji or /just/ the sound? Or do I make four columns - 'know it completely' 'know the Kanji' 'know the sound' 'don't know it'?) Likewise, if I read from the Kanji side, I won't be able to test myself on the reading.

There's also the debate about whether I should write in Romaji or in Hiragana. I know Hiragana is better for me but I learn /so/ much faster in Romaji, and I'm on a schedule here. But this last question provides a reasonable solution.

I have decided to put the Kanji (large) on one side, and the English (large) on the other, and on each side, smallish and in the corner, the sound in Hiragana (こんしゅう）. I read the English alphabet so automatically that I wouldn't be able to test myself if it was written there, but I can avoid looking at the Hiragana, and I don't yet read it without thinking, so it essentially hides it from my view if I have any willpower at all. That way I can test myself Kanji - Meaning or Meaning - Kanji, and try to read the Kanji right, and if I have any doubt, I have the reading on both sides.

Japanese Update

I wasn't lying when I thought something broke over spring break. But, as I think I've said, it wasn't the Japanese language, as I had hoped. It was just the script. But now finally the language itself is bending. I actually think it's helped to learn in Romaji. I know I shouldn't, but it's helping a lot. I'm getting the grammar figured out, I'm learning the vocabulary much more quickly... Since I already understand the syllabaries pretty well, the plan is now to keep up with Kanji and work on grammar and vocabulary, then about a week before the trip go back and review the kana.

We'll see. I'm only at chapter 5 in my book. I'm not a big fan of this book, but I am learning important things, just in a disorganized and frustrating fashion. And I say the language is bending because it's looking just a bit more possible, I'm not feeling as trapped when I think about how they express various things... I am not just parroting phrases, I can actually make my own sentences now! I know three verb forms (past, non past, and hortative) and about 12 verbs, and the rest of my vocabulary is slowly growing. Some things I can say now (albeit slowly for most of them):

In English:
Which newspaper do you read?
I bought the apple at a kiosk.
Mobile phones are in the electronics counter on the sixth floor.
I didn't go.
Who will cook?
In that case, let's go to the mountains.
I studied Japanese in Tokyo.
Let's eat at eight o'clock.
Shall I carry the suitcase?
The Japanese eat rice every day.
Let's buy the cheap one.

In Japanese:
Dono shinbun o yomimasu ka.
Kiosuku de ringo o kaimashita.
Keitai denwa wa rokkai no denkaseihin-uriba ni arimasu.
Ikimasen deshita.
Sore dewa, yama e ikimashoo.
Watashi wa nihongo o Tookyoo de benkyoo shimashita.
Hachiji ni tabemashoo.
Suutsukeesu o mochimashoo ka.
Mainichi nihonjin wa gohan o tabemasu.
Yasui no kaimashoo.

Japan Trip

The Japan trip is about 97% certain now, and we've come up with a nice itinerary. It's all very exciting and everything looks beautiful!

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2400.html

I've found this site especially invaluable, and basically modified their 20 day itinerary to cut out Nagasaki and work in more nights staying with friends.

I'm wondering yet again how people with no knowledge of foreign languages plan trips. Even planning my trip to Scandinavia (Scandinavia! Where they all speak English!) I found myself grateful on numerous occasions to be able to read Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish. Japan is a lot harder, and my knowledge of Japanese is less than my knowledge of Finnish, but I think even the small amount Laura and I know, in addition to having some translators on call, are making it possible.

For an example of what we're dealing with, check out this website:

http://www.sanboin.com/

This was one of the most navigable temple stay websites we found, and we think we're going to use it, although if we read Japanese perfectly we might be able to find a slightly cheaper one. As it was we used all of our Japanese just to find the site, navigate it (one of the six, seven? English words helped us find the 'stay' section), figure out that "一人様 9,500円" meant "one person... 9,500 yen", and that the little button at the bottom of that page means email reservation, or something like that. Even this little amount required knowing several Kanji. I know about 50 Kanji and Laura knows probably about 200 (I'm not sure). We are finding ourselves needing every bit of that, and still confirming most things with one of the Japanese girls.

Anyway, we are planning to email this temple in Japanese, with the Japanese girls translating "We are two American women wanting to stay in the temple on July X, for one night... we see that your prices are 9,500 per person including Breakfast and Dinner, and you are in Koyasan. Can we confirm all of this and get directions? We speak only a small amount of Japanese." and seeing if we can't get a reservation. Mostly we are staying with friends or cheapish tourist hotels, but we are staying in more authentic places 3 nights, so we expect to go through a similar process at least two more times.

Study Abroad Selections

I had a lot of ideas about where I wanted to study abroad. My final list of ideas looked something like this, in order of priority, interest:

Norway
Spain
Germany? Japan?
Italy? Finland?
Latin America?

Complicating matters significantly was the fact that most of these countries offered multiple locations for Study Abroad.

But I sat down with a chart of my remaining semesters and figured it out like an old fashioned logic puzzle.

Firstly, I have to do one of my semesters through the Journalism School, because I can only take one of my years off from the Journalism school and still get a Journalism degree, and I can only get Journalism credit on one of their programs.

So, looking at the options through Journalism, the most appealing one was Spain, because then I could kill two birds with one stone. The Journalism program in Spain is in the University of Navarra in Pamplona, and you can go there for a full year or for Spring semester. Spring Semester it is.

Next. Norway is really important to me, so I looked at it next. Mizzou has one program in Norway - an exchange with the University of Bergen. The weather there isn't great, or so I've heard, but otherwise it sounds lovely. You can go there for a full year or either semester, but Lene recommended (and it makes sense) going in the Spring - that way the weather is getting nicer, not uglier, you have the summer afterwards if you want to go on any trips, and you're there for Syttende Mai! (Not crucial, but nice)

This meant that I only had a fall semester to work with. For some reason, not many schools have a fall semester option. I started thinking about and looking at my other options. The main two are Germany and Japan. The benefits to Germany are that I could take my classes in German, becoming rather fluent in the process, and that Germany has a nice, central European location, so I could go on a lot of awesome weekend trips, etc. The benefits to Japan are that it's non-European, so I would be able to expand my cultural horizons, and gain maybe a working knowledge of Japanese.

I plugged these into search, and there was one possibility in each country for fall semester. However, the one in Japan comes with a strong recommendation that you have studied Japanese in University, and most of the classes offered at that University are about Japanese cultural studies - interesting, but not easy to apply to my degree.

So I think it makes the most sense to go to Germany - Bonn, in particular. Bonn (a former capital of Germany) looks like it has a lot of culture and great access to several cool countries in Europe (the Benelux, Austria, Switzerland...) which I'd like to go to for a weekend or so while I'm there.

So, it's more or less decided:

Pamplona, Spain
Bergen, Norway
and
Bonn, Germany

The only thing that remains to be decided are which semesters are which - since I have two fall and two spring semesters to work with. I think I'll travel the first fall, and be home the second to kind of break things up and keep myself from going crazy. Then there is just the matter of whether I go to Norway or Spain first, but I'm thinking it might be Norway because there could be advantages to starting my sequence before I go to Spain (if I go the first year I'll be admitted to my sequence but I won't have started).

There is also a possibility that I'd be able to take a summer internship in Argentina at some point, which would be great as I could expand my experiences onto another continent. (I want to be a travel journalist, so this is about more than just bragging about how many countries I have hit ;)) If that works out I might make Lucia come down at the beginning or the end of that so we can have our crazy Chile trip. :D

Romaji?

I have a made a potentially naughty decision. I am going to use some Romaji in learning Japanese. This is because I have to learn Japanese quickly, and I think that vocabulary, grammar, etc, will come more quickly to me if I use some Romaji. I hate to do it, because I know that for long term study it's a bad idea. However, I'm not planning to become a Japanese scholar or anything like that. I'd like to have some basic read/write ability in Japanese too, but trying to do them together is just slowing down my grammar acquisition too much. If I find myself getting ahold of the grammar, I can always go back to learning, practicing exclusively in the Japanese script, but for now I think it's slowing me down too much. For example, I look at a page of grammar to review - and I can't 'review' - I can't skim. I can read Hiragana now, but I can't skim it.

Anyway, I will still be using Hiragana sometimes to make sure it doesn't disappear, and I will still be learning Kanji (and maybe I'll go ahead and knock out Katakana sometime before I go), but if my book or my brain wants to work on grammar in Romaji, I'm going to stop fighting it.

Slightly Disheartening Japanese Update

I have a confession to make. My announcement that I had broken down the first wall of Japanese was a bit premature. I did feel something break (two?) weeks ago, but I'm now pretty sure it was the writing system - the idea of balancing three of them, no spaces, and how to look at Kanji without screaming in pure terror. Japanese vocabulary and grammar are still giving ground very, very slowly.

But I'm not worried. At the moment I'm taking it one construction at a time, substituting different things in to make new meanings. My book is running more and more against my learning style the further I get, but I'm just going to put up with it for a while. Next weekend I can pick up one of my other Japanese books if I want - but I think the other ones are even worse about showing Romanji than this one, and I don't really know how they treat grammar, etc yet. Laura told me I could borrow her textbook over the summer if I wanted to, and it looks pretty nice, so I may take her up on that.

But I know more than 50 Kanji now, and my knowledge of Hiragana is rock solid!