Kanji Practice 1

I know you guys have been waiting for my next post full of pictures and stuff, but I've been busy having fun and studying for class, so I'm still working on it. For people curious about my experience with kanji though, this post is for you! (Sorry, everyone else)

Before coming to Japan I had studied a woefully few 400 kanji. To get me more used to reading Japanese and hopefully learn a few more kanji, I changed my Facebook to Japanese and installed the Firefox add-on Rikaichan, which shows the readings and meanings for words. Rikaichan is very useful, but its hovering box and shortcut keys makes it hard to click on things or type. I recommend Rikaichan, since it's easy to turn off when it gets annoying, and it's really helpful when you need it.

Since I've come to Japan, I've encountered kanji everywhere: forms I need to fill out, street signs, restaurant names and menus (although menus also tend to contain ridiculous amounts of katakana, so good luck figuring out what European food they're referring to), posters, ads, TV, trains, buses, class, etc. Frankly, without a dictionary or knowledge of kanji, life in Japan can be pretty difficult.

When I started attending class, my lack of kanji knowledge really became apparent. Based on my placement test, I ended up in Reading IV, Composition IV, Conversation IV, Listening IV, and Kanji II and III. See the level difference between my Kanji classes and everything else? Two whole levels of kanji I don't know that I encounter in every class. Since my vocabulary is thin, my class ends up being a rush to copy the teacher's notes into my own while using my dictionary to find the readings and definitions for all of the kanji. If there are no notes to copy, I just make a vocabulary list.

When I've learned new kanji, I often find that for some, I remember either the writing, reading, OR meaning the best. It takes 5-10 encounters with the kanji for that to happen, and then 5-10 more plus some practice before I remember all three for a kanji. Once I've seen a kanji, it's easier to connect it with words, meanings, or readings I already know.

That's the purpose of this post: I've come into contact with a lot of kanji, and if you're interested in preparing for coming to Japan, I'm going to start posting somewhat random lists of kanji words, readings, and definitions. Hopefully, seeing the kanji will help you remember them later. Since I can't put furigana over the words, I'll put the hiragana after the kanji, and let you figure out which kanji they belong to <3. No romaji, sorry.

一生懸命/一所懸命　いっしょうけんめい/いっしょけんめい　(do something) as hard as you can
国際文化学部　         こくさいぶんかがくぶ　Intercultural Studies Faculty (my major department at Kobe University)

From my homework due Wednesday:
The title:
主張理解　         しゅちょうりかい　assertion comprehension (?)
長文　                 ちょうぶん　long piece of writing (passage, etc)

The directions (you should know these since they appear in some form on every standardized test):
問題　                もんだい　 problem; question
次　                    つぎ　next
文章　               ぶんしょう　sentence; writing; composition; style
読む　               よむ　read
後　                   あと　after
問い　               とい　question
に対する　        にたいする　to face
答え　               こたえ　answer
最も               　もっとも　(the) most
選ぶ　              えらぶ　choose
Bonus word: 正しい　ただしい　 right; correct (I didn't know this word when I was taking the placement test for Kitakyushu University at Pitt. I couldn't read the directions, so I guessed at how to answer.)

The reading passage:
写真　                   しゃしん　photograph
良い　                   よい　good, excellent
作品　                  さくひん　a (piece of) work
判　                      はん　a seal; size (paper)
判断　                  はんだん　judgement
規格　                 きかく　a standard
定規　                 じょうぎ　a ruler (measure)
当たる/当る　     あたる　to be hit; to strike (Imagine that the middle stroke on top is hitting the E-shaped target; this word's meaning is hitting a target, in a general sense. For example, people will ask 当る？to check if they got something right.)
自分　                じぶん　self
良し悪し　         よしあし　right or wrong; good or bad; quality （悪い　わるい　bad）
分かる　            わかる　understand
一般　                いっぱん　general, universal
伝える　            つたえる　to convey, report, communicate
方法　               ほうほう　way (to do ~, of doing ~); method (of doing ~); manner (of doing ~)
言葉　              ことば　word
話す　              はなす　speak; talk
映像　              えいぞう　image; reflection; picture
一見　             いっけん　a look; a glance
それぞれ　each; respectively
別　              べつ　separate; different
実　              じつ　truth
頭　              あたま　head
中　              なか　inside
内容　          ないよう　subject; contents
浮かぶ　     うかぶ　float; be suspended; rise to the surface; to come to mind; to have inspiration
表現　         ひょうげん　an expression; a representation
変わる　     かわる　to change
につれて/に連れて with
次々　      つぎつぎ　in rapid succession
ゆく　(= いく) go; come
文字　       もじ　a letter; a (Chinese) character
連想　       れんそう　association (associate)
感じ　        かんじ　feeling; sense; impression *Commonly used in conversation*

I'm going to Kyoto again tomorrow, bright and early, so I'm ending this here, but this will be continued, eventually....