Q/A and advice for 2012/Future VCE Japanese Students

[jibba]

@FAyres

Hey, anime is quite a popular topic. There's a lot of sub-topics to choose from in anime. You could do something like compare anime/manga to american comics, look at the types of main characters that appear in each and compare them. One of my uni friends, compared the types of heroes in comics with manga. ie: Superman v Goku. How strong they were, who did they fight for, etc.
Or you could look at the types of anime/manga that target different age groups. Look into the history of manga, and talk about the 'father' of anime/manga Tezuka Osamu. There are lot of options, find something that interests you.

With listening, I've repeated it a lot already if you read my first post, but watching J-drama and listening to J-music really helped me with my listening skills. Other than that try learn as much VCE vocab from your textbook as you can. That will help with following the conversation in Listening tests and help you to not get lost. Once you learn the vocab, watch drama and try look out for words you learnt. As you hear them being spoken in conversation, they become easier to recognise, will stick in your head and will help you write down notes faster during the listening sections.

 

[sheepgomoo]

@FAyres
With listening, I've repeated it a lot already if you read my first post, but watching J-drama and listening to J-music really helped me with my listening skills. Other than that try learn as much VCE vocab from your textbook as you can. That will help with following the conversation in Listening tests and help you to not get lost. Once you learn the vocab, watch drama and try look out for words you learnt. As you hear them being spoken in conversation, they become easier to recognise, will stick in your head and will help you write down notes faster during the listening sections.

this.

[Inhibition]

Hey jibba, just curious.
How did you prepare for your oral exam? Specifically the casual conversation component?
Did you just free-ball it or did you have a script which you rote-learnt and memorised?
Currently I'm horrible at speaking (can't string a sentence together) but am pretty good at writing it down and then speaking it. I find it difficult to come up with a reply in English, and then translating it into Japanese, whilst keeping the sentence fairly sophisticated. I know I dont have the luxury of time in the oral, so what are some tips you can give that will improve my oral skills?

[Fyrefly]

Hey jibba, just curious.
How did you prepare for your oral exam? Specifically the casual conversation component?
Did you just free-ball it or did you have a script which you rote-learnt and memorised?
Currently I'm horrible at speaking (can't string a sentence together) but am pretty good at writing it down and then speaking it. I find it difficult to come up with a reply in English, and then translating it into Japanese, whilst keeping the sentence fairly sophisticated. I know I dont have the luxury of time in the oral, so what are some tips you can give that will improve my oral skills?

I'm not jibba, and I hope jibba gives you an answer too, but I actually think your problem might be something quite fundamental.

You don't think in Japanese, do you?

Have you ever tried understanding something in Japanese and responding without mentally translating it into English in your head first? If you establish an ability to think in Japanese, you shouldn't have to code switch. Code switching is probably what's taking you such a long time to answer, so if you can stop having to do that then you should notice a huge improvement in your oral skills.

[jibba]

@inhibition@Fyrefly

I agree with Fyrefly, you need to practice THINKING in Japanese! She's right, if you can think in Japanese it helps you answer much more quickly.

To the main question, yes I prepared a lot of script for my oral exam and had it all memorised and rote-learned. I also had the problem of being unable to think of answers in Japanese on the spot during Year 12 (Unless you have a native background, nearly everyone should have this problem! ). To make up for it I memorised a lot of material. By the end of it, I was able to use the content I memorised to answer the specific questions asked by the examiners.
During the Oral Exam, they'll start by asking you basic questions, which you would have prepared answers for. But if you are able to answer them fluently, they'll ask you harder questions which you can't have prepared for to see how you will deal with them. (If they do this, it's a good sign! It shows that they think you are good).

You don't really need to come up with a sophisticated answer to do well, you just need to be able to show that you understood the question, and show the ability to answer it.
For example, I was asked about the AFL (something I didn't consider they would ask me about). But I just simply responded that I followed X team, and was disappointed that they lost. Nothing that sophisticated, but it showed I was able to think on my feet and answer what they asked.

Tips to improve oral skills?
As Fyrefly suggested, try thinking in Japanese. I used to run mock speaking exams in my head, ask myself questions they might ask and practice saying the responses out loud. 

[FAyres]

Hey, just on the whole "thinking in Japanese" thing, this is a bit of a stupid question but how exactly does one go about doing that? When you hear something in Japanese don't you instantly try and translate it to English in your head?

Also, my Japanese teacher would like me to find some articles on the influences/impacts that anime has on people but they need to be IN JAPANESE - not English. Do you know where I could find some? I've tried typing in Japanese but am not having any luck :/

Thaaanks

[Fyrefly]

Hey, just on the whole "thinking in Japanese" thing, this is a bit of a stupid question but how exactly does one go about doing that? When you hear something in Japanese don't you instantly try and translate it to English in your head?

No, personally I very rarely translate in my head. Understanding and translating are two entirely different skills. I was actually really bad at translating until I took a translation unit at uni this semester.

What you're doing in your head currently is called code switching: translating between Japanese and English.
People who don't need to mentally code switch have a fully developed "Japanese mode" and an "English mode", each of which are fully functional "modes" on their own.
Right now, you haven't yet fully established a Japanese mode in your mind, and you keep falling back on your English mode.

I want to make something clear: you don't need to be fluent in a language to have a "mode".
I'm sure you already have a Japanese mode in some capacity.
If you want me to prove this to you, read through the next few phrases as fast as you can:

がんばってください。
はい、がんばります。
一、二、三。

If you have to, you can read through that without mentally translating it, right?

Your Japanese mode will improve as your overall Japanese ability improves, but I think a good way to develop your ability to think in Japanese is to put yourself in situations where you must understand something without giving yourself the time to translate it.

• You could try speed reading whatever material is appropriate for your level. Maybe you've got a list of Japanese phrases or a Doraemon manga or something?
• You could watch anime, preferably without subtitles if you can manage it. This should work fine so long as you pick an anime with simple enough language that you can understand ~90% of it without a dictionary (the other 10%, you'll find yourself inferring from the context anyway, which is an important skill on its own). One example that comes to mind is an anime called "Linetown", but there's also a lot of anime out there aimed at children that uses sufficiency simple language.

For other tips, just google "think in a foreign language". There are heaps of suggestions, such as mentally labelling the objects around you, or having mental conversations with yourself ("internal dialogue"). You can improve your oral skills further by having these mental conversations with yourself outloud instead. I talk to myself in the shower all the time, even now as an advanced level Japanese student, ha ha.

[FAyres]

Thank you so much for this Fyrefly I feel determined to develop this skill. I will also look into line town because I love anime and watch things like from naruto to k-on but I need subtitles for them, but there are occasions when I understand what is being said. So it's be great to watch his anime without subtitles and be able to understand most of it! Of course it may be a bit different for me and I might understand like 70%, or maybe it is very simple and I'm underestimating it!!! Thanks again

[jibba]

Great advice from Fyrefly, couldn't have have explained it better myself!

With finding resources, maybe search for English articles and see if they reference Japanese sources. Or start at wikipedia, and look through their references.

[Archie01]

Hi!!

Could someone help me with ideas on the negative things associated with vending machines in Japan?
So far I have that some vending machines have alcohol and cigarettes which are open for anyone to buy - ie kids/ teenagers could buy them.

If someone could help me out that would be great!

[jibba]

@Archie01

Keep researching you could find a lot.
Some other common ones would be the environmental issue through widespread energy use, theft from machines, etc.

[Fyrefly]

Err... The cigarette machines require some sort of digital proof of age card to purchase from them. I don't remember seeing an alcohol vending machine, but I assume they're the same.

[jibba]

Yea, they require an identification card nowadays, but in the past they didn't, which made it easier for minors to buy alcohol and cigarettes.
There are still some alcohol vending machines which don't require any form of ID (personal experience ).
 

[Fyrefly]

Yeah, but liquor laws aren't really enforced in Japan anyway.

[FAyres]

Hi Jibba,

With the detailed study, with the solutions part of it, if you have found 3 problems or 4 or whatever to your detailed study do you come up with three/four solutions for each problem?