I finished up my "n" consonants today... my Katakana is going slowly but surely. Again, I really hope my copy of Phoenix Wright: Justice for All sells, that way I can afford a month of Textfugu!! ... If only it wasn't so expensive... what will I do after I learn all of my Katakana?

Though my business has increased lately, I'm still finding the time to study. I have just completed my studies for the katakana kana of "a" through "so." I desperately need to get Textfugu... it was such a great resource... incredibly motivating and helpful! I just don't have the finances right now...

I need to keep pressing on with my katakana... not only will it help my reading, but it's something I have direction with, regardless of owning Textfugu.

I plan on starting the "t" column tomorrow, potentially even the "n!"

As of yesterday, I finished my Hiragana! That meant it only took me a week to learn the entire Hiragana "alphabet," and I'm really proud of myself. Textfugu said that most people don't make it that far, and this is a milestone for me, for sure.

Although I have all of my hiragana/dakuten down, I'm obviously an incredibly slow reader still. I make mistakes here and there where I'll think a certain kana is actually a different kana, but this will obviously improve with time.

I'm seriously considering purchasing Textfugu... it's been an invaluable asset thus far. I'll have to scroll through Nihongo Shark to see if it's up to par with Textfugu (it isn't) before making the jump... I can't really swing it financially right now. Maybe when I get my taxes next year or summat... but that's so long.

Though my studies aren't over today, I input two different lists into Anki, one being My Passion List, so I can learn the Kanji (so hard!!) for things pertaining to music. I remember a few... but it's only been one day. I also started some grammatical work with Textfugu, learning です, which is the incredibly useful "it is." I learned that for beginners, it's better to think of the Japanese language in Yoda terms, as in saying 即です。Milestone, bitches. I worked with different nouns for practice, and I'm now trying some listening practice with Battle Royal. I'm hearing quite a bit of ですか。Perhaps it's a more authoritative "it is?" Or a question?! I will know soon enough.

I was right in my assumption that each line of kana I learn makes the next one easier and faster, but I have been noticing some trouble differentiating them all... there are so many different kana! It's crazy. I'm feeling insecure about moving on to katakana... and I still have to get dakuten under my belt, but I essentially know those.

Today I memorized "h," "m," "y," and "r," the last two being a bit shaky as they're the newest. I've also noticed my writing of kana, however inaccurate it may be, getting faster as well. I do my best to maintain and remember stroke order, and for the most part I do a good job.

I started a Drag-n-Drop exercise today, where I'm timed with my placement of the right kana to the right romaji pronunciation... it's a fun way, because they're all jumbled. I also have been switching the font on my "Real Kana" quizzes, and it's challenging because not all hiragana are written the same every time!

Tomorrow, I hope to have the entire hiragana "alphabet" under my belt... I have the lone-consonant "n," and the two "w" should be no problem... then the dakuten is pretty simple!

I'm off to work in a bit, and I hope to keep at it during downtime, if there is any...

Today was more of a lazy day, but I still got a lot accomplished! At work, I was crazy productive with the pre-existing kana that I already had a grasp on. I would write them out either on paper, or air-draw them with my finger. I would also try writing different kana out of order, and I was successful. Thus, I have upped my "Real Kana" flash exercises to getting 100 right before finishing up. I have decided to complete this exercise before learning each additional row of consonants. Speaking of which...

The row "h" is completely memorized, and I feel like each row I memorize makes the next one easier... I hope I didn't speak too soon! I felt myself getting cockier with my knowledge, but I have to realize my knowledge is still in it's embryonic phase... even after learning all hiragana and katakana, I still have to learn not only Kanji, but how actual conversations work! Articles, grammar... it's huge. I have to keep swimming, and I'm so happy that I'm still motivated to do so.

I also read up on Dakuten, which is adding little accents to kana that I already know to change it's consonant sound to a different, but still similar, sound... I was relieved upon this realization because that means I only have a little bit more to go before katakana memorization!

Tomorrow, I have a large gap before work, and I expect to get a ton done... and that's not even including the car ride to Hartford on Saturday! I can't wait to get my tools prepared to start crafting. This is really great, and I believe great things will come from this.

I've decided today that with my "Real Kana" practice, I will practice each row of consonants until I get fifty right without any mistakes. I have to say each pronunciation aloud so as to tie the image with the sound in my mind.

There's been some confusion with き、さ、ち... I used to tell myself "chi is ki," but that's not entirely accurate, and has set myself up for failure, ultimately confusing myself between sa and chi. Alas, my study habits of starting at the very beginning, through music, has rubbed off onto my Japanese studies as well. I stopped this today by starting practice with only "s" and "t". "T" is interesting because it deviates from the "t" consonant twice... with "chi" and "tsu." I just need to keep plugging away.

Greg suggested that I download Japanese music, as it should help not only with pronunciation, but with words (when I get there). I downloaded The Blue Hearts and Happy End, the latter leading to my watching of Lost in Translation. I still couldn't understand what they were saying, but I could pick out the Kana pronunciations.

I also plan on studying at work, both on breaks and if/when there's down time. This would consist of writing down Hiragana in my little notebook, both in order and by thinking of a random pronunciation and writing it.

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I've started "n" and am getting better at "t." I'm having a hard time putting together all five (five?! yes! I am cool) rows in my memory, and often confuse them... should I up my "need to get correct" goal to 75...? Practice at work of segregating each group should help... it's just memorization, I can do this!
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The aforementioned goal of 75 is dumb, because the website I use cycles through each kana at random. As each row contains five, I'll up each practice goal by five for each column learned.

Anyway, practice today went really well. I found a bunch of resources for learning, and motivation has been no issue. I definitely have "a" through "no" down, with the "n" column thanks in large part to 二の句に、and, どぶ津ノ森. I better get some rest, though, work is early tomorrow! I have plans with Ben, and I need to remember that I can totally have a life with Japanese practice, I just need to practice every day! I'll start on the "h" column tomorrow, maybe even beyond!

Today has set the standard so far for productivity. I'm having so much fun.

Today I practiced my k's, to the point where they're almost as good as my regular vowels! I began memorizing s's and t's... but I'm having a hard time. With the flash card exercise, I can remember them right away, but practice through air-drawing them from memory has been tough. Should I move on to the next set yet? Probably not... I have to keep remembering that I should stop practicing from the beginning of the vowels every time, because then they're getting more practice than these newer consonants. Memorization through repetition...

On a side note, I need to discover a way to sound less lame when I tell people I need to study my Japanese. Christ...

For about three hours I studied, wrote out, and flash-card-ed(?) the "ka ki ku ke ko" of Hiragana and the "a i u e o" of Katakana. I've decided that it's best if I stick with Hiragana for the time being, so as to not confuse myself (even more so). It makes sense to do this because Katakana is just for foreign words. Baby steps.

For kicks, by looking at the Katakana chart, I was able to figure out how to spell and pronounce my name. I double checked with a website, and I was right! "エバン ホワイト,"or in it's romanji, "e-ba-n ho-wa-i-to."

I also watched a couple of youtube videos on Japanese pronunciation, just to make sure I was as spot-on as a beginner could be, and all these years of pretending to speak engrish have definitely paid off. I also downloaded an English-Japanese DS application from Japan, which seems incredibly intuitive. However, I don't want to get ahead of myself and my limits, and I need to make sure I have learned and memorized both of the symbol sets before going any further.

I came to terms with the fact that even after I learn the Hiragana and Katakana symbols, I'll still have no idea what I'm saying. There are tons of symbols beyond the Hiragana and Katakana groupings... let's not even get to grammar and all the different rules of the language! It's daunting, but a challenge I've accepted heartily. It's been incredibly rewarding, and I really don't know why I haven't started teaching myself sooner. However, I need to maintain this optimism, and study/practice every single day. Even for just a little bit, every day. Leaving off where I did last night, then hanging out with Alex today, then starting my Japanese practice at 6:30 showed me that I can definitely have a life while studying, but I need to set aside time every single day.

Evan, you can do this, and even if nobody else believes in you, I do.

I just learned the English vowels in the Japanese Hirangana alphabet. I wrote down each character for three lines on notebook paper, repeatedly, sounding out the character in Japanese pronunciation.

This sounds really gay.

Total time taken was about an hour. I can now identify the characters within the context of the back of my Banjo-Tooie box. I think Katakana is for title-ish stuff, and Hirangana is for dialogue? I don't know. But I truly hope that I can stick with this and achieve my goal of not only learning a second language, but learning Japanese.

Really wish this didn't sound so gay. Fuck it.

a

i

u

e

o

When doing the flashcard exercise, I can understand what each word means much faster than remembering the Japanese pronunciation... fix this! Hope to start "k" tomorrow.