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Suggestions for Summer Study to Prepare for JPN 111
Listening and Reading
Mangarama
This internet site offers 4-cell manga as video and includes audio recordings of the manga characters speaking their lines. These short, funny exchanges are perfect for listening practice -- and for kanji practice, too. Just listen to the audio without looking at the manga and try to write down what you hear. Write in hiragana and then go back and fill in the kanji. Listen as many times as you need to write the complete conversation before looking at the manga and seeing how it is written there. English translation below the video allow you to check your comprehension after you have finished this process. Practice with one or two manga a day and soon your listening skills and kanji recall will astonish you.
Graded readers
Graded readers are stories and other writings that have been rewritten with less difficult vocabulary and sentence structure. They come in various levels of difficulty and are
meant to be read without consulting a dictionary. That is, you read them as you would stories in your native language--for their content, even if you encounter an occasional word
you do not know. One such series of graded readers is called "Japanese Graded Readers レベル別日本語多読ライブラリー," which comes in sets of 5 booklets at 4 graded levels. In third-year
Japanese courses at UCD, students read the stories in the level 4 set (the highest level). Over the summer, you could read for pleasure (and with great interest, we are sure) the sets of
booklets at level 2 (quite easy for you) and level 3. Each set comes with excellent recordings of the stories, so you can first listen to the stories before reading them, and then later
go back and read along again as you listen (thus training your pronunciation and intonation). These books are only available commercially, so you might prefer to team up with friends to
share the cost and the books. You can purchase them at the Kinokuniya Bookstores in San Jose and San Francisco or through Amazon Japan (just enter レベル別日本語多読ライブラリー in the search box).
Other readings
Copies of various other readings we recommend are available in the READINGS folder in the JPN 6 RESOURCES section of the 夏の日本語 site.
Grammar
Other textbooks
It might seem strange, but now that you have gone through one set of introductory Japanese textbooks, it is not a bad idea to read through whatever other introductory textbooks you can get your hands on. Having things explained a little differently sometimes makes a big difference. Also, as you read you'll pick up new and important vocabulary and, also, of course, review previously learned kanji as you take in small doses of new ones. Shields has copies of several older textbooks that you can profitably read. Friends at other colleges might be another good source.
Wikipedia
Wikipedia has extensive information about grammar and other aspects of Japanese.
Dictionaries
Online dictionary
A standard, easy-to-use and very good online dictionary is available at the Monash University Japanese site.
Pop-up dictionaries
Once installed in your browser, these dictionaries allow you to look up words merely by moving your cursor over them. Two good ones are:
- Rikaichan (a plugin for the Firefox browser)
- Popjisyo (gives definitions in English, Chinese, or Korean)
Kanji Study
- Kanji Clinic
This site houses an regular, ongoing column from the Japan Times newspaper with excellent information about kanji and how to learn them. - Kanji Drills
Various kanji practice tools, including flashcards.
Keeping a Record
It helps a lot to keep some record of your studies--especially when you are studying alone. A bound notebook is good for this. Record interesting words and kanji you encounter, and interesting ways of saying things in Japanese. Keeping such a record gives you the chance to review later what you were studying a week ago, or several weeks ago. And it will be a great feeling at the end of the summer to see how much you have accomplished in your spare time keeping up with your Japanese.
