Pick your Posts! (Stickied to top of Blog Till Jan 31)

Hello readers, as I’ve been talking to my not so much editing editor, we decided to possibly double tag getting posts up. But as we were tossing around article ideas I began to wonder which types of posts were wanted. So I got the probably not so brilliant idea of asking you guys! Take this poll, direct where my posts go! You can pick up to three answers, so Thanks for the input.

 

How Mikotochan Studies

Ah the long awaited blog, that came a day late! Here goes. If you’re new to the blog, you should know that I am in line with the AJATT method for the most part, though I do tend to stray here and there.Here is a background on how I got to where I am.

I also have been immersing with Japanese since the very end of 08. I knew my kana tables by that point and had begun to start my immersion. At the time I did not know about AJATT and was using the then free service IKnow. I met some friends there and soon found out about AJATT. At that point, I begun to immerse myself while learning RTK 1. But all my efforts were sorta stopped up when I became pregnant. When I had my daughter, I couldn’t really study very effectively so I made things easier on myself and focused on listening and watching, and having that kind of fun. For those who’ve got children, especially ones that have been popped out, for us mothers who don’t rely on formula they are time suckers! That aside, I kept with the immersion like that until she started to take longer naps and allowed me to do more than just watching her and house chores.

And that brings us up to my ever changing rotation of things along with some constants with my sorta daily schedule.

Wake up and take care of my baby/school work/house work while doing the following throughout the day:

• Get some Japanese on the ipod going/TV in background going/computer Japanese something going
• SRS whenever I get the chance, little spurts, anywhere from 3 mins to 5 mins, sometimes even just 2 kanji
• roughly 15 new kanji added a day (remember I’m relearning kanji since I’ve forgotten it over time from not reviewing), I write them x5 on graph paper while thinking of their stories and elements, then add them to the SRS
• ReadTheKanji: on this site I do up my kana for constant review, I switch up closing my eyes and listening to the sounds only and sometimes sight and sound and sometimes sight only
• LwT: I’m experimenting with this right now, so not a lot of time goes into it. But I’ll do a post about this in detail later.
• Speaking/Shadowing: I try to shadow about 4-8 times a day, for only 2-5 mins apiece. I also try and speak whenever possible to myself, others, and my Japanese friend when I can.
• Writing: I try to write stuff, song lyrics, things I’m reading, things I want to say, kanji games, whatever gets my hand flowing!
• Tadoku: Though I’m notoriously bad about not updating my score on Twitter, everyday I try and read a little, even if its just for 2 mins. I read ALOUD! this has made a tremendous difference in my reading speed and ability to speak comfortably.

Kanji:

I use the Heisig RTK method of learning Kanji. I’ve tried the RTK lite and did not like it (didn’t feel like elements really stuck and spent a longer time trying to remember things). I have done the traditional method, but now use the Lazy Kanji approach with a little modification to it to include more Japanese on the back.

SRS:

I use both Anki and Surusu for various reasons, but whatever works for you is all that matters

Immersion Audio:

I tend to watch a lot of dramas, I also use Crunchyroll and tv streamers like Keyhole and Livestation. I do not watch with subs, and I try to get JP subs on if I can, but haven’t had much luck there. I listen to a variety of Pod-casts as well as loads of music from Last.fm and YouTube, Nico Nico Douga. I do not listen at night due to others in the room, however i tend to keep more than one source of audio playing in the house so I’m always hearing something.

Reading:

Online mostly, but I do have Manga and children’s books. I read out loud, as I find this really really helpful.

So yeah, that’s what I do in an extremely general gist. I am not working on sentence mining or mcds, as I have taken a hiatus from that temporarily. I spend a great deal of time with my child, and now studying for accounting. This semester I have 5 classes and its been rough. I plan to resume mcd/sentence mining though after I finish up my quarterly goals. Any questions? Ask below!

 

How PandaChan Studies

I study and set up my notes/notebooks differently than Mikotochan so I figured a post on how I study would be an interesting insight.

Now, I am a full time student studying Chemical engineering and I work in a lab. My time is precious to me because between studying for my weekly quizzes and tests, working, studying for my other two classes, taking care of my adorable welsh corgi, and fun times with my hubby; so my actual Japanese studying is done in a fast and dirty way.

Let’s break it down to an overview of what I do:

• I study between 7-30 Kanji a day. It depends on how I’m feeling and if I had to skip a day.
• I skim over the books that I do own in Japanese. Squealing when I recognize kanji is normal.
• I listen as much as possible. I’ll go in-depth what I actually listen to later.

How I study the Kanji

• First, I took this method from Mikotochan’s advice..
• I used the Heisig‘s method for remembering Kanji. Pretty much there’s components (primitives or radicals). You take the kanji and make a story to help you remember it.
• For example: 唱 (Chant)
• The radicals are Mouth and Day (twice).
• A good story with this would be a MOUTH CHANTS for two DAYS.
• I like to bold the actual word and capitalize my radicals. This helps me focus on the connection between the components and the meaning.
• I also use Anki as my flashcard system. I chose anki because I can share between my computers, phone, and Kindle. Not to mention ankiweb.
• I put the Kanji on the ‘front’ of the card and the English story on the ‘back’, which Mikotochan showed me as the Lazy Kanji Method.

After I finish RTK 1, I’ll be continuing on in that direction.

Books/games/websites:

• I currently own about 10 Japanese books (all bought from a used book store). I enjoy the feeling of books or my Kindle in my hands so I still purchase them and break them down. I know there’s an abundant amount of Japanese on the internet.
• I read some Japanese blogs, yahoo.jp, and sometimes I just take my kanji and post it into the Google search! It’s really random and fun that way. Just be sure to be careful and have ad-blocks/anti virus in place. Sometimes I get sketchy places.
• Although there is a wonderful assortment of Japanese flash games online, I currently own 2 DS games. I play this not as often as I can because it’s hard to navigate and focus on the Japanese. I tend to just ignore the Japanese and just play the game for now!

Listening/audio immersion:

• I used to listen to podcasts on an hourly basis. However, my interest in this dwindled because my phone kept dying on me, haha.
• I use Last.fm to listen to the J-pop tag radio. I guess now would be a great time to mention that I love a lot of different types of music; however J-pop is the easiest for me to find. In fact, I have favorite bands: Perfume and サカナクション.
• Thirdly, I watch Dramas and Anime. I turn the subtitles off for Crunchyroll when I can (I have a paid subscription), or just listen to it in the background. I have learned some phrases just from passively listening but it’s very limited.

Speaking/written/grammar

• I am very much fail here!!!! I am very shy when it comes to foreign languages and I feel uncomfortable trying to speak in it. I was this way with French and excelled in my written part. I just need to become brave and find some sweet Japanese friends (already on the way) who will not be judgmental.
• I try to shadow but I find myself mumbling over the words and then I cannot hear. I try to mental mimic the words and move my mouth to how I think the sounds are made. However, when it comes to singing, I sing right along. This is why I love listening to music so much. In fact, several times during this article I have just started dancing and ‘busting a move’ to my music.
• As grammar and written go hand and hand, I feel I should just trump this card at once. I actually have not studied a single book about grammar! This feels perverse to me and wrong as in the past, I’ve always learned the grammar of a language and then everything else (I say that like I’m actually fluent in French, ha!). I will wait until after I finish RTK1 before attempting any of this.

My goals:

• To finish up my RTK 1.
• powerhouse through my kana so I can start to read.
• Try to have more audio immersion a day.
• Begin to speak with Mikoto and my Japanese friend when I can.
• eventually be able to go to a Perfume concert. They’re epically awesome (teehee)!!!

 

Way to tell the Main East Asian Languages apart.

A lot of language learning advisers recommend you going off and finding in your local used bookstores some Japanese. Or they tell you to go check out your library. You get excited, find yourself there, then unsure about which is Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and so on. Here is a quick guide to telling them apart, so you wont feel like you’re wasting time or money stock piling Japanese books.

There are 4 main East Asian Languages (at least according to Wiki). Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese.

Vietnamese:

Vietnamese is the easiest to tell apart, mostly because now a days Vietnam uses Latin characters for their writing system. If you are not interested in much older texts from before the late 20th century or you’re not interested in becoming a specialist of some sort of it, then you have nothing to worry about. You’ll be able to tell immediately that this language is not Japanese. Here is an example of some Vietnamese phrases from general sites on the internet:

Bao nhiêu (tiền)? (how much is this) Tôi không có đủ tiền mua. (i can’t afford this) Không ăn thịt heo. (I don’t eat pork) Hello! – Xin chao! I’m fine, thank you! – Cam on ban toi khoe

simple right? That’s not Japanese at all.

Korean:

The second easiest to tell apart from Japanese is Korean. While Korean uses characters that can sometimes confuse someone at first, there is one major difference concerning Korean that will instantly make it clear for you. Bubbles! All languages are fun to learn about, and Korean has an interesting system of writing too. But for here and now, simply knowing what it looks like will prevent you from buying it instead of Japanese stuff.

안녕하세요 Hi, 안녕히 주무셨어요? 안녕하세요? Good morning. 식사하셨어요? 안녕하세요? Good evening. 잘 지내셨어요? how are you?

Notice how almost every character has a circle? So if you see a bunch of them, know to stay away.

Chinese Versus Japanese! Game on!

Chinese and Japanese are perhaps the most confused of the two out there. I know when I was a young learner I went to my local library and was excited thinking I found some good Japanese newspapers. After a while of studying I soon began to realize that I didn’t have a Japanese newspaper, rather it was Chinese. I had spent a lot of time staring at the page in wonder and eagerness. Another example is my sister, Pandachan, just recently jumped on board the learning Japanese train. She is lucky to have great used book stores in her area that carries Japanese books. When she first came home one day and skyped me, she showed me several books. One of them happened to be Chinese. So if you’ve made this mistake, you’re not alone, and if you’re a newbie who hasn’t yet gone to look, then here is some tips to help you differentiate the two.

Let me start by explaining that Chinese is a very diverse language that has dialects and versions that aren’t all the same. It is kind of how English between England and America and Australia is not the same, and we even have different made up words. As if that wasn’t hard enough, Japan has modeled some of its characters (roughly 2-5k depending on your literacy level) after Chinese characters too!

Fret not, for Japan uses two syllabic alphabets that will save your day. Hiragana and Katakana. If you’re not familiar with their shapes, here are a few: 　あ　い　う　え　お　か　き　く　け　こ　ア　い　ウ　エ　オ　カ　キ　ク　ケ　コ. These buddies will be your life jacket to know if its Japanese.

Also, common prepositions, endings, and what not can help you determine too. For instance, ます。って。じゃない。でした。ました。の。か？が。は。お, are all examples of really common kana used within Japanese text. When I first started out telling the difference of books, I looked for の since it was really easy to see when scanning quickly.

So here is some text, in Chinese taken from a popular news place online:

經美國總統歐巴馬同意簽署，從2010年開始聯邦每年可編列3億特別預算，聘雇5000個稅務稽查員，大洛杉磯地區更列為重點稽查區。

會計師楊平表示，每年南加可增加500至600個查稅員，去年初開始聖蓋博谷地區不少中餐館，已有稽查員上門，從聘雇員工人數、店面租金到營業額，巨細靡遺的做訪查紀錄，目的在建立日後查稅的比對資料庫。

Read more: 世界新聞網-北美華文新聞、華商資訊 – IRS闢財源 稽查現金收入商家

See any of those kana? nope! Not even close to any of those kana. Here is some Japanese news from an online news site:

東京電力女性社員殺害事件で無期懲役が確定したネパール国籍のゴビンダ・プラサド・マイナリ受刑者（４５）の再審請求審で、東京高検が追加で実施し ていた物証のＤＮＡ鑑定のうち、最後の１点だった被害者の着衣から、被害者以外の人物を特定できるようなＤＮＡ型は検出されなかったことが、１９日わかっ た。　検察側はさらに鑑定が必要としているが、東京高裁が不要と判断する可能性があり、犯人を直接示すようなものは含まれていないことから、再審開始の可能性が高まった。高検は、公判段階で開示されなかった４２点の物証の中から１５点を絞り込んで鑑定を実施。２４日には３者協議が開かれ、高裁は残る２７点の鑑定の要否を決める見通しだが、高裁が不要と決めた場合、再審開始の是非の判断に移る。これまで、女性の体内から採取された精液のＤＮＡ型が同受刑者と異なる第三者のもので、殺害現場に残された体毛とも一致したことなどが判明。検察側は、女性と最後に接触したのが同受刑者と主張している。

The first string of characters is a little scary looking and may confuse you, but if you keep looking で pops up! You’ve hit kana! If you were skimming, there are over 11 の’s in those few sentences alone! See why I use that one, its easy to spot and used often.

So the moral of today’s post is, learn to recognize some kana before heading out the door to buy at your local used book store, or grocery mart. You’ll find that after you bring the decision down between the two (Chinese and Japanese), it’ll be a lot easier when you know the kana. Good Luck!

And just for fun, I do not own this picture here, and its meant to be comedic, so don’t hate on me! I just thought someone might want to see the silliness that sparked this article:

 

How to Create Mobile Libraries with your Japanese Books

Deconstructing a book may seem like it has nothing to do with Japanese but some want to have a mobile library. As far as I know, kindle so far does not support many Japanese books. I have a few Japanese books that I would like to include in my library so I began to think of methods on ripping apart books.

The Disability  Center for my university currently takes apart books for a different reason. They break the spine of textbooks and scan them in for students who cannot read the smaller text that is standard in textbooks. With their software, they can zoom in onto the text and read it easier. This is another reason to scan in Japanese books. Zooming in makes it easier to read characters if you’re a novice like me.

I suggest going to your local used book store and get a free/cheap book, both in hardback and soft back. Then, try my techniques on both of them. This way, as you discover what works for you, you won’t be damaging your precious books that you want to keep.

Supplies:

• Book (old or the one you want to do now)
• Knife, scissors, or x-acto knife  (something sharp that you can cut through pages)
• Optional: Large scale paper cuter

Remember that most books are done slightly different because of their publishing company. Please remember that when reading over this: What may work for me, may not work for you.

Hardback:

You can break the spine and use scissors or a large paper cuter to cut sections out.

The way I’m doing is this:

My hardback book has a page that holds the bulk of my pages to the hard back part. Use scissors or a xcto-knife to cut this away

There may be a mesh, makes sure you get through it as well
Do this to the front and the back

You’ll notice that with this book, the actual pages are still glued together. You can use scissors or a paper cutter to cut out sections.
Or, you can just cut between each sheet.
You can rip it but that’s completely up to you (This can lead to ripped pages though).
Lastly, now that the spine is gone, you could just lay the pages flat and avoid the warping that having the spine causes.

SOFTBACK:

You can break the spine and lay the book flat. This may cause the sheets to break out of the  glue. Of course again, you can use scissors to cut out sections at a time.

If you want to cut it out of the spine, it’ll be a little bit more difficult. My book is glue against the spine.

What I did was just to rip off the spine by pulling the from and back page off. This did the majority of the work.  Using a saw like motion allowed me to get the glue off and the pages came apart very easily after that.

Now you can try to slice off the glue or follow the steps from the hardback.

Storing your old books:

Some people will prefer to chuck the books away after practically destroying them. However, I find book are sacred knowledge and I like to keep them. If the book is a hardback, simply lay the pages back into cover/back and put it in a bag or something similar to keep the pages in the book. This way, you could give it to a friend to allow them to learn.

Scanning your books for mobile libraries:

The fastest, easiest way would be to scan the two pages at once. However, to allow it to be read on mobile devices, one by one is the best way.  To get your images to pdf format please read my last post and for those wondering how they can view it on their kindle or other electronic device, read my post on one method using Dropbox.

DO NOT share on the internet with other people. That is piracy and we at Mikoto’s adventures to do not condone that. This is purely for personal storage and use.

Pro tip:

Scan in order and name the images like 0001, 0002, 0003 and so on. This will keep the book pages in order so when you create a pdf, you won’t have to continue to fight with it to stay in order. Be sure to remember that Japanese books are read backwards compared to American books. Scan it in order that it’s read in. (sorry, I realize that’s redundant and obvious, but I just wanted to say it!)

Now I realize this is a LOT of hard work to get a book for your mobile device. However, the ability to read books whenever and wherever you want without having to bring them all with you is a blessing. Also, I zoom in for my Japanese books to help me read them.  If I decide to give them away, I won’t be weighted down when I move.

If you come across a faster way, PLEASE let me know in the comments below!

 

Kanjirific Game of the Month (January)

Hello all! On a side note, thank you for all those votes. At the end of the month I will share the results and tell you about the blogs coming up that reflect your votes. Every month I will be introducing a game that I’ve made up that helps me in my learning endeavors. I play lots of games because it makes a lot of fun. While for some the initial start up is a little time consuming, the over all fun in the long run is worth it.

As for this post on this wonderful Friday, its all about a kanji game that I created. Now there is a chance that someone already does this out there and all but as far as I know, I’ve never heard of it outside of my silly brain. So here goes!

Things you need:

• writing utensil
• something to write on
• your brain!

Optional:

• graph paper makes it a little easier to write nicer kanji
• kanji dictionary

I myself personally use graph paper or scrap paper when playing by myself. When my sister was in town we used her fancy Lenovo Thinkpad and OneNote (which has the ability to make the screen look like graph paper for when you write on it). But neither do you need fancy nor graph paper. I’ve played this game on concrete with chalk even so there is no particular do’s and don’t's when it comes to this game in terms of getting the kanji down. You could even do it in your head or on your hand!

You can play this game as a single person against yourself, or multi-player. There is no limit to the number of people who can play this game.

How to Play! Single Player Mode

1. Think of a kanji, and write it down.
2. Say its meaning.
3. Now you must choose an element. As you can see with the picture to the right of the kanji chant, there are two available elements to use. If you do not follow RTK then it is perfectly fine to think of it in terms of Radicals instead.
4. Once you have the element of choice, (In this case we choose the element: Mouth) you then form a new kanji you know from that element. In this particular case you can either choose to think of it in three separate elements or just two. Either way is fine as long as you’re not dissecting the kanji down too far.
5. Simply continue this until you stump yourself and can no longer think of anymore kanji.  Tally your score of kanji written down and pat yourself on the back. Try to break your score next time!

Here is an example of how single player may look when starting out.

As you can see, you simply bring an element over to the next kanji in line, and go forth! Sometimes I’ve had to stop playing before I even get to stump myself. You do not need to worry about writing in super cool fashion but do try your best to follow correct stroke order. I’ll write a post on why I feel this is important for your journey in learning Japanese later.

How to Play! Multi-Player Mode

1. Decide by whatever method possible, who goes first, second, so forth and so on.
2. Player One: Think of a kanji, and write it down. Say the meaning.
3. Player Two: Pick an element from the kanji that player one wrote down. In this case both mouth and sun are acceptable options to choose from.
4. Player Two: Form a kanji from an element Player One used, write it down, and say its meaning.
5. Player One/Three: Pick an element from the kanji that Player Two wrote down. In this case there are two elements to choose from: Sun and Moon.
6. Continue to cycle through players until someone gets stumped. The player who stumps the other gets a point. See who can get the most points!

Here is an example of how multi-player with two players may look like when starting out.

As you can see, simply bringing an element over to the next kanji is all anyone has to worry about. You don’t have to be simple, but you don’t have to be complex either. Again, don’t worry about your handwriting as much as you worry about stroke order. When Pandachan and I play, we often do help each other out if our order or kanji is wrong, rather than being meanies who doesn’t accept the kanji.

I also highlighted the elements each of us used in the first 5 to help you if you’re still not seeing how we used elements. Pandachan has a significantly less amount of knowledge when it comes to kanji, because of that, I tend to make sure there is always an element in my kanji she can use. It doesn’t stop us from having a lot of fun either, so don’t worry if you and your friend aren’t at the same speed of kanji learned.

Dreaded Rules of the Game

1. No Repeat Kanji! If your game gets long (like mine) its especially important to not repeat. Its all about stretching those brain muscles.
2. Kanji should be written in correct stroke order if at all possible. (looking up stroke order is fine, since its a learning process, but if you can help it, try not to!)
3. Modification of elements allow. Here are some examples of what I mean:

There are more modification than this, but its just a handful to think about. Pretty much its a modification as long as the element is used in the story of the next kanji. (Heisig people know what I’m talking about, as for those doing official Radicals, I’m not sure how those are set up, and may be slightly different. Just keep consistent with your mod rules.).

You can also use drops and lines even if they are part of other elements

In the case of One (floor, ceiling) and the vertical line (walking stick) you can carry them across many kanji.

Have fun! And questions or comments about the game, post below!

 

Images to PDF using MS word 2010

This post is about converting a group of images into a single pdf using MS Word 2010. I’m sure the process is different for other MS words or similar programs but I am unsure. If you find that this process is not similar enough with your program, please let me know.

You may wonder why or how this relates to anything Japanese, please refer to the dropbox post. I use this procedure to convert raw manga images  into a single pdf, then I upload it to my Kindle via Dropbox. Instead of having 100-200 images into dropbox, you can now have one PDF that is around 45MB. This would also allow you to share between computers easier.

Click on the images to make them larger.

Instructions

1) Gather your images or raw manga pages and save them to your computer. I save them then put them into a folder by themselves.

2) Open MS Word 2012 and insert the images.

you do this by clicking insert, picture, files from computer.

3) Select them all by clicking the first picture, holding down shift, and clicking the last images  (release shift once they’re all selected). Another way to do this is holding down the control button and A, release after it highlights all of them.

4) arrange them so that there is only one page (or image)– unless you want it differently.

5) Now that we have it arranged the way we want, please add anything else (such as vocabulary).

6) Let’s save it now!

Click on the file tab, save and send, create PDF/xps document, save PDF/xps. When saving it, please name it whatever you want. I like to look at my PDFS after they are saved. There is an option to open after saving.

megustapdf

7) Enjoy!

 

Dropbox and File sharing; For school, work, and studying.

Drop box is a program used to share all types of files between multiple computers and other platforms–both personal, between coworkers and friends.

You begin by placing a file from your computer or device into the designated Dropbox folder. The program automatically uploads to Dropbox.com and then to the folders of those you share with. Then, you can access the files from Dropbox.com or the other computers or devices that are attached to the screen name, as well as users whom you’ve shared your folders with. In other words, this file acts as a backup option through a cloud process. Every time you edit it, it will update it also. Files that are shared with others can also be edited by them.

Currently, there is 2GB option that is free, but you can upgrade up to $19.99/month USD to get  100GB.  To learn more about the downloading/installing process, the applications and the reviews, please continue to read.

You can also gain more storage by inviting other friends to dropbox.

Signing up:

1. Visit Dropbox.com
2. Click the link on the upper right hand side that says log in. There is an option at the bottom that says to Create an account.

1. Fill out the information and click create an account.
2. A download page will show up and give you a few instructions.

• This downloading page and the program set up will walk you through the process.

For Windows 7:

My dropbox shows up on my task-bar on the bottom left. However, you can find it by going to where you installed it from your setup wizard.  Right clicking this icon, or the folder, will show you some options. For me it says open dropbox folder,  Launch dropbox.com, open recently updated files, and some more stats.  If the icon has a green check, as it shows in this screen cap, files are ready to be used. If files are being synched, it’ll show a blue circle in place of the check mark.

Starting a new  folder and sharing it.

1. This is what a developed folder looks like.
2. To add a new folder, right click within the folder: choose New//Folder. Anything put inside of the main dropbox folder will automatically be updated and shared.
3. To view this on dropbox.com, right click any where in the folder, choose dropbox//browse on dropbox.com

4. You can choose to share from this by selecting Share a Folder.

• Here you can make a new folder also, or select an existing folder.

5. Here is a screen cap of the slides after you choose the folder and have to input the information.
6. After this, dropbox sends an email to the person that you invited. John Doe can now read your files, edit them, and add what he wishes.

Applications:

Dropbox can be used on Mac Computers, PC with Windows and  Linux, Android platforms (including Kindle and android phones), and the itouch/phone/pad apps, and Blackberry The app (or download) is currently free as it the first 2GB.

Reviews:

Internet Source

• Pros

1. Effortless file synchronization.
2. Excellent array of apps for various operating systems.
3. Dependable servers (no downtime).
4. Easy to install.
5. Supports file-sharing.
6. 2GB free space.
7. Shows history of actions.
8. Allows access to deleted files and earlier versions.
9. Tight OS integration

• Cons

1. Can’t collaborate on files synchronously with others.
2. Can be confusing as to where files are actually located.
3. More space costs money.

Coworker/classmate :

• Pro

1. Gained 1.5 GB through referrals.
2. Limited free storage.
3. Availability to upgrade.
4. Absolutely loves the program.
5. Uses on mobile devices.

• Con

1. Server does crash occasionally. (No data is lost)
2. You can not share a folder with someone else inside a shared folder, thus forcing me to make another copy outside of the shared folder.it takes more space, wish they would fix that. (IE, you cannot share a sub-folder of a folder already shared)

• For example:

1. I have shared my spring 2011 folder with one of my best friends. My other friend wanted to look at my thermo tests and documents. My thermo folder is inside the spring 2011 folder. Since I was already sharing the spring 2011 folder with someone else, I could not share JUST the thermo folder. I had to make a copy of my thermo folder outside of the Spring 2011 folder and then I was able to share.

Personal:

I use Dropbox for both work, personal, and entertainment reasons. Using Dropbox allows you to effortlessly transfer images, pdfs,  documents, and much more between multiples computers.  For example, I use the application to share homework, notes and projects with my classmates. For work, instead of emailing files back and forth, we use Dropbox to instantly share.  Finally I use drop box on all of my computers, iPhone, and Kindle to share personal files  between my devices.

• Pros

1. However, although the starting 2GB seems low, I am still less than 25% full.
2. Can access files from computers that you can’t install programs on (work computers, public library) through the web browser.
3. Can be used to link multiple platforms together.

• Cons:

1. Only 2GB to start off with, although you can invite more to gain more storage.
2. Only upgrade options are 9.99/month for 50 GB and 19.99/month for 100GB.
3. Large files do take a long time to upload and download, but that is understandable.
4. Starting up each computer can take a while to download/install the program/app and download the files.
5. Multiple people cannot edit the same file at the same time.  Conflicting copies will be saved but it does not save it into one file.

The program requires a little trust on who you invite to share the folder. Although only the creator can delete the original files, other people can add files that contain virus and other harmful files.

Summary:

Although dropbox is not the only File-sharing resource out there, it is the one that PandaChan has the most experience with.  I plan to go back and go over several others such as Evernote, Google Docs, Box.net, and much more. Please comment with any other programs/websites that I forgot to mention or questions you may have concerning Dropbox. Thanks!

 

2012 New Year 1st Quarter Resolutions

Hey there everyone! As a new year begins I think back on my last quarter’s goals. I missed a couple of them, but some I got. I don’t do full year goals, rather I’ve broken them into quarters for about a few years now. The reason I do this is because its much easier for me to think of a goal that I can obtain in 3-4 months versus trying to think of a full year. Especially now that I’m armed with a feeling for how school goes (yes it was so long that I didn’t even know what to expect from myself in terms of time for study), I think I can make some good goals this time around, compared to the goals that I had for the fall. I decided to post them here for several reasons, feedback, making it more like, if I don’t do this, someone will know it and possibly call me out. Accountability often fuels me more than my own motivation can do. So anyhow, Here Goes!

1. Finish the reviewing of RTK1:

Some may not know this but recently I’ve gone back through my RTK1 kanji to relearn them. I sorta stopped reviewing them and realized that I forgot a bunch of them because of it. So let this be a lesson to all you just starting out. Even when you get past the initial learning phase of kanji, don’t stop reviewing thinking they’ll be all over your other forms of study! I’m pretty far in right now and I suspect before the quarter’s over I’ll have regone over them all. It wasn’t a big deal to me to do this, since it doesn’t take much time and I remember most of them anyways.

2. Focus more on the Tadoku aspect of Japanese:

If you’ve never heard of Tadoku, look here and for a fun contest application, look here. I’ve recently been looking at the tablets out there to get manga on them. I noticed that I’m not into big books just yet. I get to bored, and though I like children’s books, finding them in pdf format is kinda hard, so I’ve been saving up some bucks to go on a book shopping spree soon for a tadoku library for me and my daughter. I’ll post up the books when I get them, but they may not be ordered until closer to fall. So manga format it is. And there are lots out there and I like the drawings too.

3. Post more articles!

I’m not going to sugar coat this for other parents of young kids trying to learn Japanese, go to School again since 8 years, and trying to maintain a learning/study focused blog, its hard. There is a lot of juggling around to do and sometimes you think…F-ITALL! My daughter is in her 2′s now, and while I want to talk about some of the things I still do in Japanese with her, she still takes a lot of my time and its in English mostly. I also want to discus some games that I play to challenge my kanji abilities, as well as a lot of apps out there I’ve found. I also want to do a good post on some of the podcasts that I follow. These are just some. I also have two undercover (sneaky sneaky) posts about products that I’ve tested for learning Japanese that’s rather popularly talked about on the internet.

and finaly

4. Get a web cam

As a friend of mine often teases me about, I’ve been slack about getting one. I mean, really really slack. I’ve been saying for about 2 years now that I’ll get one. So I’ve made it an official goal of mine for the  first part of the year. The reason this is a goal is I have a friend in Japan whose often told me she’d talk to me via web cam too. So I’ll hopefully get it going soon! And maybe might even post up some videos of me talking Japanese (by the end of the year! I’m shy so it might not happen anytime soon).

That’s all my Japanese orientated goals for the first part of the year. I wish luck to all those who’ve made goals about learning Japanese! For those with kids, just remember to be patient. You’re not just cultivating your abilities with Japanese but you’re also cultivating cute children! (lol sounds like you’re gardening your cabbage patch kids!)

 

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 8,700 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.