So, my placement test put me into Japanese 4! Yippee, right?
WRONG!
Evidently they consider the level of Japanese I do actually posses to be enough to get by in a lesson taught resolutely, and entirely in Japanese. Which would be fine, I would be able to deal with that - until I realised that the method for the semester in this class is "learning Japanese from the news."
This sounded really interesting, and indeed is. However, when you're trying to understand key-words that'll be used in the recorded snippet, and the definition is only in Japanese with the occasional charades-style mime... Methinks I'ma be in trouble!
However, I muddled through the lecture with poor-to-average success and attempted to engage the teacher in conversation afterwards about whether it would be productive for me to remain in the class.
ビル: 英語で質問を聞いてもいいですか。
先生:ごめんなさい・・・英語が全然できません。(or words to that effect)
Bill: May I ask you a question in English?
Teacher: I'm sorry, I speak no English.
So, after failing to get an answer to my question, asked in poorly-phrased Japanese, I say "また来週・・・" -see you next week- with (what I hope was) a "determined-to-improve-my-Japanese-post-haste" sort of expression on my face. And thus, cursing fluently under my breath I leave Japanese 4.
I have, however told this story in reverse - I had Japanese 3 (speaking) before this, and it was great! I'll be forced to talk Japanese, but on easier topics than was dealt with in Intermediate Japanese at Leeds... Phew! We talked about food (yum) and did a bit of grammatical conjugation, which I've already addressed at A-level, so marginally less homework for now :)
Post lessons I did a spot of shopping around Iidabashi, purchased a couple of Japanese DVDs (Phonebooth and Pirates of the Caribbean!!) which I shall watch for "revision" purposes at some point, in the same way that reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban has been used - I'm 4 pages in and I bought it about 10 days ago. Finally found a bin, because I'm sick of using carrier bags strewn about my room and I also invested in a couple of folders because the epic amount of sheets received after just one day (in which two lectures were had) is plainly riddukulus (see what I did there?).
On the subway back to 南葛西 I was wedged between two Japanese females, one of whom must have been about 80, and the other was in a school uniform so she can't have been much more than 16 or 17. In any case, the young lady to my left promptly fell asleep no sooner had we left 日本橋 where she'd boarded the train. It only took a couple of minutes for her to completely slump over and find my shoulder a particularly comfortable place to lay her head. Being British and also somewhat shy in a country where I don't know how to say "Wake up, wench!" I was incapable of finding any way of extricating myself without disturbing the sleeper...
About 15 minutes later, the old-lady to my right noticed this and tried to give me (what I'm assuming was) some advice, to which I must have looked totally blank because she reached across and poked the sleeping girl in the head repeatedly until she awoke! They exchanged something in Japanese and I distinctly heard the word 外人 thrown about a couple of times. As we pulled into 西葛西 station, the young girl - blushing heavily as she did so - apologised to me and left the train with some degree of haste.
With hindsight being 20-20 (not to mention the dictionary open at my side) I realise that I actually do know how to wake somebody up, though whether or not it applies to anywhere but beds is a mystery. But lesson learned, in any case. Next time I shall wake the sleeper with a poke and a 目を覚まして！And if she's attractive I'll then ask her for her phone number.
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
Wednesday, 14 September 2011
Orientation, Tests & Alcohol
Ok, the bandwidth of the place I'm staying sucks, so you'll get pictures when I'm next on campus!
The past couple of days have been somewhat busy:
月曜日
Primarily orientation at the Hosei campus. We took the metro there, which (including the walks to the station from accommodation and to the campus itself) was about a 45 minute job. We were taken to room F501 for the orientation, but before this was to begin we had to introduce ourselves. Whoever invented the system of everybody in the room standing up and introducing themselves whilst everyone stares at you (foreign language not withstanding) ought to have been shot. However, the orientation itself was given in both Japanese and English - so I was able to listen to the Japanese and then compare what I thought had been said with the actual translation... I came out at about 50% accuracy, so plenty to learn!
In any case, an hour later we had the tour of campus (some parts of which are still undergoing minor repairs post-earthquake) - and very lovely it is too :) Following that was the placement test: multiple-choice "insert the correct particle/kanji/phrase/grammatical construction" (delete as appropriate) The second part was to follow the following day...
After the test we had a brief talk about where we're living and some of the rules surrounding said accommodation. All terribly exciting, wouldn't you say?
To round the day off, a small group of us went a-wandering around the area in which the campus is situated (I'm not sure if it's called Ichigaya or Iidabashi). There was a rather cool looking temple, unfortunately no photos could be taken inside, but I got a good snap of the exterior!
火曜日
Yesterday was mainly part two of the placement test: the dreaded interview... Expected at 10.30, actual time - 11.55... Sweet.
In anycase, it went pretty well - I had to ask them to slow down a couple of times and forgot the word for "culture" (文化 for them that care). As a result, I'm into level 4 classes for Japanese language :)
Later that day was the welcome party for the ESOP students... Thoroughly fun and met a whole lotta Japanese folk!
To round off the day, we all (about 66% of all the students both foreign and Japanese) stocked up on alcohol and hit the park for a spot of drinking - classy right?
Right, I'm bored of typing now - and I have lots of forms to fill out for my alien registration card application which is tomorrow's job... Signing off!
The past couple of days have been somewhat busy:
月曜日
Primarily orientation at the Hosei campus. We took the metro there, which (including the walks to the station from accommodation and to the campus itself) was about a 45 minute job. We were taken to room F501 for the orientation, but before this was to begin we had to introduce ourselves. Whoever invented the system of everybody in the room standing up and introducing themselves whilst everyone stares at you (foreign language not withstanding) ought to have been shot. However, the orientation itself was given in both Japanese and English - so I was able to listen to the Japanese and then compare what I thought had been said with the actual translation... I came out at about 50% accuracy, so plenty to learn!
In any case, an hour later we had the tour of campus (some parts of which are still undergoing minor repairs post-earthquake) - and very lovely it is too :) Following that was the placement test: multiple-choice "insert the correct particle/kanji/phrase/grammatical construction" (delete as appropriate) The second part was to follow the following day...
After the test we had a brief talk about where we're living and some of the rules surrounding said accommodation. All terribly exciting, wouldn't you say?
To round the day off, a small group of us went a-wandering around the area in which the campus is situated (I'm not sure if it's called Ichigaya or Iidabashi). There was a rather cool looking temple, unfortunately no photos could be taken inside, but I got a good snap of the exterior!
火曜日
Yesterday was mainly part two of the placement test: the dreaded interview... Expected at 10.30, actual time - 11.55... Sweet.
In anycase, it went pretty well - I had to ask them to slow down a couple of times and forgot the word for "culture" (文化 for them that care). As a result, I'm into level 4 classes for Japanese language :)
Later that day was the welcome party for the ESOP students... Thoroughly fun and met a whole lotta Japanese folk!
To round off the day, we all (about 66% of all the students both foreign and Japanese) stocked up on alcohol and hit the park for a spot of drinking - classy right?
Right, I'm bored of typing now - and I have lots of forms to fill out for my alien registration card application which is tomorrow's job... Signing off!
Sunday, 11 September 2011
着いた！
Yesterday my plane arrived at Tokyo Narita International Airport and a (rather attractive) Japanese lady was waiting in the arrivals hall for me with a sign saying オダワイヤ・ウイリアム 法政大学 (William O'Dwyer Hosei University). She said that we were going to be waiting for another student arriving in about half an hour from America, but she got a phone call and was told that said student had missed his flight (wonder what happened there!).
So I was handed over to another employee (less attractive, and virtually silent... Though the latter was less of an issue, as I wasn't up for trying to fathom Japanese at that moment) of the company that Hosei hired to take us to our accommodation and took the hour and a half combination of trains and walking to get to 南葛西 (Minamikasai) and therein my accommodation.
The tour of my accommodation was entirely in Japanese, with the odd English word thrown in when I looked particularly mystified... As a result, I think I know what I'm doing (though I've just this second forgotten that I have to turn my name-tag back to present in the atrium!).
... Phew, just got back from that. Didn't realise how effective my air-con is!
As it turns out, my accommodation is not solely for students of Hosei, but for a few high-schools in the area as well. The entire 3rd-floor are not 大学生 but 高等学校生!
I went for a wander today around the 葛西 area which was cool - lots of convenience stores as well as a nicely large bookshop (I bought Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban to work my way through) and a music shop for all your CD and DVD needs, provided that those needs are restricted to J-pop and manga ;)
Since there's no food made for us on a Sunday, I've invested in a few large tubs of ラーメン (ramen) for eats later :)
Everyone within my accommodation seems rather shy (though there isn't much in the way of a common room, and there's one kitchen for the entire complex) so I've yet to meet many other people yet... I did bump into the other two English guys staying here and they gave the impression that their Japanese was a little stronger than mine :/ Either that, or smiling, nodding and saying はい every now and again is very convincing!
Tomorrow is orientation and a Japanese placement test, so I think a spot of revision may be in order!
With that in mind, that's this post over! Camera now has batteries, so photos with the next post... I promise!
So I was handed over to another employee (less attractive, and virtually silent... Though the latter was less of an issue, as I wasn't up for trying to fathom Japanese at that moment) of the company that Hosei hired to take us to our accommodation and took the hour and a half combination of trains and walking to get to 南葛西 (Minamikasai) and therein my accommodation.
The tour of my accommodation was entirely in Japanese, with the odd English word thrown in when I looked particularly mystified... As a result, I think I know what I'm doing (though I've just this second forgotten that I have to turn my name-tag back to present in the atrium!).
... Phew, just got back from that. Didn't realise how effective my air-con is!
As it turns out, my accommodation is not solely for students of Hosei, but for a few high-schools in the area as well. The entire 3rd-floor are not 大学生 but 高等学校生!
I went for a wander today around the 葛西 area which was cool - lots of convenience stores as well as a nicely large bookshop (I bought Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban to work my way through) and a music shop for all your CD and DVD needs, provided that those needs are restricted to J-pop and manga ;)
Since there's no food made for us on a Sunday, I've invested in a few large tubs of ラーメン (ramen) for eats later :)
Everyone within my accommodation seems rather shy (though there isn't much in the way of a common room, and there's one kitchen for the entire complex) so I've yet to meet many other people yet... I did bump into the other two English guys staying here and they gave the impression that their Japanese was a little stronger than mine :/ Either that, or smiling, nodding and saying はい every now and again is very convincing!
Tomorrow is orientation and a Japanese placement test, so I think a spot of revision may be in order!
With that in mind, that's this post over! Camera now has batteries, so photos with the next post... I promise!
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
T: minus 82 hours
In 82 hours, I'll be on the plane to Japan and in 109 hours, I will have arrived in Tokyo Narita, eagerly hunting for the "escort person holding a name board" to take me to my accommodation... Oh yes, bitches - Hosei is that good! (Though if this is Hosei-exclusive, I do not know.)
In the email explaining all of this to me, I also received a google-map link:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&view=map&msa=0&msid=110361643537677050227.00046dc5acf87d67a7d93&z=9
I'm staying at Minamikasai... Which is a considerable distance from the Ichigaya campus where I'll be studying. Methinks a bicycle purchase may be in order!
And now some fun facts gleaned from my guide to Hosei accommodation:
- "You must inform the dormitory manager if you wish to stay out by the morning of the day you will stay out." (curfue otherwise is 12 midnight...)
- "Illegal acts are strictly prohibited." (I should hope so!)
- "Gambling is forbidden." (Balls.)
- "Visitors of the opposite gender are not allowed in the dormitory." (Interesting...)
Finally, I'll leave you with my outrage that I will have to pay for the internet whilst staying in university accommodation at Hosei. ლ(ಠ益ಠლ
In the email explaining all of this to me, I also received a google-map link:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&view=map&msa=0&msid=110361643537677050227.00046dc5acf87d67a7d93&z=9
I'm staying at Minamikasai... Which is a considerable distance from the Ichigaya campus where I'll be studying. Methinks a bicycle purchase may be in order!
And now some fun facts gleaned from my guide to Hosei accommodation:
- "You must inform the dormitory manager if you wish to stay out by the morning of the day you will stay out." (curfue otherwise is 12 midnight...)
- "Illegal acts are strictly prohibited." (I should hope so!)
- "Gambling is forbidden." (Balls.)
- "Visitors of the opposite gender are not allowed in the dormitory." (Interesting...)
Finally, I'll leave you with my outrage that I will have to pay for the internet whilst staying in university accommodation at Hosei. ლ(ಠ益ಠლ
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