Overall, I broke down my abilities into 5 aspects I would like to grow and improve in:
Reading Comprehension: Low—High~~~~~{Average}
My reading skills have increased to a higher degree since beforehand; now I’m able to read a vast amount of kanji and can decode the meaning behind kanji that I’m not sure of the promucation of. I’ve grasped the meaning of many katakana and tend to be able to pronunce it to its english equvalent much better since last time. When it comes to reading, I can read the entire sentence most of the time, especially if there’s furigana next to the kanji, however, I get stuck at the meaning sometimes. It’s like I understand the meaning and the reading in Japanese, but when it’s time to interpret the meaning in English, the word order twists the meaning. That and if there is a word or two that I have yet to learn, I can only get a quarter of the understanding of the statement, like in the instance where a game character was talking: “it has yet to appear” gets translated to “it has to appear”. The meaning strays far from its actual meaning. I’ve used Google Translate to test my translation theories; it’s currently in an active testing stage as I work on finding a way to build a better image of English translation. For now, I would place my understanding at an Average.
Writing Abilities: Illiegible—Eloquent~~~~~{Legible}
I can write kanji clearly and have expanded my knowledge of kanji from the earlier of around 150 kanji to around maybe 350 kanji. I find that I catch on to kanji more quickly now. At the beginning of my japanese writing journey, I learned the stroke order rules for kanji, and at the time, it helped to make writing easy. However, now I’m able to take a look at the kanji, break down the parts of the kanji, and write the kanji down, even if I don’t know the meaning. This aids in my research endeavors to find the meaning of the kanji character. I’ve been able to denote and write down full sentences and even make a speech with minor errors. To the left is the beginning of my speech for my Japanese course about my sport, Squash.
Writing abilities coincide with the ability to remember what kanji is and how to write it; I find that I have difficulty with this. I have slowly started to forget some kanji since I’m not actively studying up on kanji, so at times, I get stuck when trying to remember the way to write it.
Speaking Confidence: Hesitant—Self-assured~~~~~{Self-assured}
At this point, I’m able to approach or be approached by someone and speak with confidence in my japanese skills. My pronunciation is well understood by many and clear, despite the fast speed that I’ve picked up while living here in Japan. Other factors in speech confidence are pronunciation and diction, as well as the utilization of polite and direct styles of speech found in the Japanese language. My abilities in dictation have been tested outside of class; when I listen to conversations around me, I dictate them in my mind, sounding out the wording to get a grasp on the expression and the way the person said it. Being able to tell if the person is sad, happy, angry, or a mix of all of them has helped me expand how I express myself more in depth, leading to more confidence in speaking to others.
Not to mention being able to get my nails do without using my phone(the picture to the left), getting dressed in kimonos, speaking to shop staff and taxi drivers, traveling up and down japan from Hokkaido to Osaka, and boarding domestic flights; all while speaking in Japanese. I can say with confidence that my speaking ability and overall confidence in my japanese has increased drastically compared to beforehand.
Response Timing: Slow—Instant~~~~~{Quick}
My response time has improved alot more as japanese has become the default language to use. I can now repeat the question in my mind and have a response within a 5-second timeframe in a conversation. I like to say my response is quicker, and in some cases, I’m able to use “aizuchi” to fill in the gaps in the instance that I don’t understand what they have said.
Topic Knowledge: Nonexistant—Vast~~~~~{Adequate}
I’d say that I’m adequate in my ability to converse and discuss topics in depth. However, topics vary day-to-day conversation; in some instances, I’ve needed to apply a basic understanding of plant structure when talking with an environmental science major student, and have had to learn dating culture to pick up the meaning to conversations my japanese friends are having. When I have these interactions with unknown topics, if I am speaking with my japanese peers, I try to ask them to explain it to me to get a grasp of the topic in a japanese concept. Other times, I tend to try to pick up on the pronunciation of what I heard and enter it into Google Translate to get a better grasp of the conversation. I’ve encountered alot of differing topics when exploring and using a new language, so I’ve made sure to do follow-up research, especially when I read manga and play video games in japanese.