Thursday, February 5, 2015

A New PE Goal and Activity Statement

While my pronunciation of Japanese is far from good, I have certainly made progress during the first semester. My pitch recognition and reproduction has become significantly better, and the rhythm is alright when I speak. I was able to do most of the activities I outlined last time, which has helped me immensely. There are, of course, still a lot of things I need to work on:

  • Speed - I feel like it takes me too long to say phrases in Japanese. It's not easy to think of something to say (and make it grammatically correct) quickly enough and then actually say it, so I have to work on this issue. 
  • Intonation - While I'm somewhat better at controlling my pitch now, my general speech sounds a bit too flat when it comes to intonation. 
The best way to improve speech, I think, is to actually speak with someone, and for that reason I plan to attend しばた先生's office hours as often as possible, ideally once a week. I will also try to shadow materials every week for at least 10 minutes. I did the same thing last semester, and I think it helped. Apart from this, attending the language table every week is also a good idea, as it gives me an opportunity to talk with my classmates outside class.

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