Wednesday, August 12, 2009

RtK- I did that too.

I'M DONE! I FINISHED REMEMBERING THE KANJI! IT'S OVER! This is my replacement for screaming in the office, which would probably confuse my coworkers.

I did it! I learned 2042 Kanji, all of the "necessary kanji" for daily life in Japan. Oh yes, I see and understand Japan.

Well, sort of. I know all of the English meanings associated with the kanji. But, really, when I see 今日, and my brain says (今=now, 日= day), I fully understand it means "today," and further, since I have around 2,000+ words in my vocab, I can read it as "kyou." Most importantly, from here on out, learning Japanese will go much quicker.

I'm going to regale you with my story. I started last winter, when Weldon told me about these books. I originally didn't even want to learn kanji, I just wanted to learn how to speak. But, anyways, he told me about these books which make kanji learning a breeze, and even help you increase your vocabulary and reading speed. So, I gave it a try, and really liked it. I got more and more into it, and more and more separated from other Japanese study, that it became the only thing I studied for the past two months. I just had to finish this before getting back to grammar and vocabulary. And, now I'M done! Woohoo! Only about 6 months, not too shabby for a writing system that is supposed to go from years k-12.

Well, now I suppose I'll celebrate a bit more, and LEARN it up.

Greg, over and out.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Wow! Congrats!! What were the books?

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About Me

Hi, I'm Greg, but you can call me by my Japanese name, Gureggu, if you'd like. I'm writing this blog to explain effective ways to do business with Japan and Japanese companies. Why? Japanese companies are notoriously difficult to understand, and doing business in Japan has a unique set of hurdles.

Why I'm qualified to write about Japan: I have worked in Japan for a total of 8 years. I worked sales at a Japanese import/export company (subsidiary of a much larger corporation) as the only foreigner in the company. Before that, I taught for 2 years at High Schools and 3 years teaching elementary and middle school in Aomori Prefecture. I have lived the life of a salaryman and experienced firsthand the institutions that shape Japanese people in their most formative years.