Dame Panda Studios he yokosou!
So, yeah.
I figure I’ll get my introduction outta the way first.
I just don’t really have anything to say, it appears…
Well, I’m the musical component here, as well as one of the artists. I’ll be uploading a lot of things here and on flikr, so make sure you check ‘em out. I’ll be working on a webcomic called Anime Rabies, and I’ve got a second CD coming out within a few months. I have a mixtape coming out when I can get the verses back from everybody…>.>;;
I’ll have some music in the sidebar so you can hear, and tell me what you think!
Anyway, this is Brent signing off, I have some urgent business about a fish and a puddle to attend to.
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Currently Listening To: Okkusenman
Currently Watching: Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni
5 Awesome Tools for Learning Japanese
Yo, Brent here.
おっす、ブレントだ。
I don’t use enough Japanese in my posts. So, I’m gonna try to use it more now on my main blog.
However, still not good enough, so it’ll just be the intro and the outro for now lol
Anyway, back on topic. I’ve been looking around, and I found a few really cool sites and tools for learning Japanese.
5. Rikaichan/Rikaikun
Well, if you’ve been learning Japanese for a bit, you probably already know about this, but I thought I’d add it anyway. It’s ridiculously useful. It lets you hover over Japanese text and it’ll tell you what it means. Basic tool, but invaluable when you’re doing active learning.
Here’s the links: Rikaichan for Firefox and Rikaikun for Google Chrome
4. Furigana Injector
This one is very useful, but you need to download HTML Ruby for the full effect. If you don’t, the furigana will end up beside the kanji in parentheses. But, it turns that wall of kanji into readable kana, and that’s always good to me.
And…BAM. Here’s the links for Firefox and Chrome.
3. Kanji Koohii
This is one of my favorite sites ever. Now, there is a bit of AJATT hate, but at the same time, there’s a lot of people on there working on it, so it just depends on who to talk to. However, everyone is amazingly helpful and nice. Now, there are two sites I’m gonna link here. Kanji Koohii is an online SRS basically, but it only works for Kanji. It keeps up with a lot of your stats too, so it’s really fun to use. There’s also a script that is RTK Lite. Instead of learning all 2000-something, you learn the 1100 Kanji from JLPT 2 down, and 92 supporting kanji. That’s what I’m doing, but seeing as I haven’t worked on it in a while, it’s hard for me to remember. It’s a Greasemonkey script, and I’ll link it here.
Greasemonkey Script, and RTK Lite thread.
3. Kanji Damage
Now, I know I’ve mentioned this one before, but I really like his style. Shultzz in general wins the internets. Now, If you want to learn Kanji with Yo momma jokes, then he’s the guy to look to. The system is very similar to RTK, however, his stories are much more interesting, and he has a section under each of the kanji with compounds, and he ranks both the kanji and compunds on how useful they actually are. He also takes out some of the Jouyou Kanji, but if you’re not studying for JLPT, then it’s not a big deal, cause he gets rid of the one’s that aren’t seen a lot at all.
I really recommend him if you’re stuck on RTK, because it’s just more interesting. And if you combine Kanji Koohii and Kanji Damage, I think it would work really well. Just put his stories in the section that you have the option for in Kanji Koohii.
2. Sabotenweb
This is an older site, and I don’t see it recommended a lot, but it does have a lot of useful sites on it. Some of the sites may be down now, because it is rather old, but it has links to a lot of popular sites (Like Tae Kim’s Guide) and some ones that typically go under the radar (Like The Japanes Page). Definitely check this one out when you have a chance.
1. Lang-8
You knew I was gonna make this my number one, didn’t you you sly dog? I love Lang-8, and I tell everyone about it when I can. You can write a blog in Japanese, and people will correct you. Then you can just drop those sentences in an SRS and you’re good. Make sure you correct other peoples blogs though! It gets kind of addictive in all honesty. Also, PRO TIP: Write you blog in both English and Japanese, so they understand what you’re trying to say. It helps both of you out.
Well, that’s all I have for now, but stay tuned, because I’m gonna have more updates soon.
じゃあまたな！
Talk to you later!
I know I said I don’t follow the leader, but if donations are the only way for me to get video games and blow, then dammit I’m gonna try. Click the little button below, you know you want to…
How I Use Facebook for Learning Japanese
Yo, Brent here.
Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve updated, been busy. Finally got a job, and standing for 8 hours straight sucks a lot more than I remember…
Anyway, I found a really awesome post by Chris Brogan, and I finally have something new to write about. If you want to have an idea of the next post, I’m going to eventually write most, if not all of those posts.
So, let me tell you ways I use Facebook to learn Japanese. Now, there are a lot of good ways to do it if you don’t mind friending complete strangers lol
First, I use the Find Friends link, and pick a city in Japan (Osaka is pretty gdlk, but I like Osakans lol)
Then, I go through people who’s picture interest me, and I look at the things they like. If we share interests, I’ll send a friend request, and then I can see their wall (Although, a lot of people don’t have their walls protected)
Then I just chat with people. It’s a really good way to make some new friends, and also a way to get some exposure on your (probably English-dominated!) Facebook wall. I mean, if you have to use social media (And you know I do!) then you may as well use it to learn Japanese too.
Another source of easy Japanese immersion is just simply Japanese pages. It’s much better for people who are still wary about friending random people. You still need to search people, but if you see a page they like in Japanese, you can just like that page, and BAM! +1 right there.
Also, in a semi-related aside, I really can’t wait until I get my Google+ invite. It looks amazing.
Anyway, try and get creative, and tell me ways you use Facebook (and other social media) to your advantage to learn Japanese.
P.S. Your Facebook account is in Japanese right?
I know I said I don’t follow the leader, but if donations are the only way for me to get video games and blow, then dammit I’m gonna try. Click the little button below, you know you want to…
MAJA the Anime Rapper – Check this guy out!
Yo, Brent here.
So, I’ve got a new person you should have a listen to. Yeah, he’s American. However, just take a listen to this, and you’ll see why I’m saying this.
This guy is who got me into rapping to start with, and I really hope I can start using more Japanese in my raps, because I love how it sounds. He has a CD out, called
The Amalgam Project. You can find it on iTunes, and you should pick it up if you like his music. It’s a great CD.
Yea, I know it’s more English that a completely AJATT method needs, however, I don’t completely subscribe to AJATT. But, he’s definitely a cool guy, and I hope you like his music.
Check him out on twitter at MAJATRON.
I know I said I don’t follow the leader, but if donations are the only way for me to get video games and blow, then dammit I’m gonna try. Click the little button below, you know you want to…
Some cool tools for your veiwing pleasure
Yo, Brent here.
I have some plans for some more freebies (A Blazblue bilingual set is in the works for both games!) But I figure I would let you guys in on nonstoptube.
It lets you put in a search term, and then play a nonstop playlist on things based on what you entered. So, definitely check it out, and use the hell out of it.
Anyway, I have to head to bed, cause I got a long day ahead of me tomorrow. Catch ya later!
I know I said I don’t follow the leader, but if donations are the only way for me to get video games and blow, then dammit I’m gonna try. Click the little button below, you know you want to…
Read Japanese to be able to Read Japanese? Let's put it to the test!
Yo, Brent here.
So, I was reading Spanish Only (I may be learning Japanese, but his articles are good!) and he has a guest writer named Matt. Well, he had a pretty awesome article here. (Read it now! It’s a good read.)
Anyway, to sum it up, he learned to read French by playing Chrono Trigger. Twice. And now he’s comfortable reading French.
So, I figure that I’ll put myself to the same test…Except in Japanese. So, starting tomorrow, or possibly Monday (Depending on the money issues in my house fix themselves…) I’ll play Chrono Trigger twice in Japanese. And, I’ll see if I become more comfortable reading Japanese. I figure, it’s an easy thing to do, and a LOT of words. So, I’ll be updating Twitter with a play by play for the progress, and then post the entire feed here on Japanese on a Dime.
So, get ready for some craziness!
Remember to follow @japaneseonadime to be up-to-date on this little test, and if it works, I will be the happiest Brent. At least hopefully I’ll feel more comfortable reading things, in which case I don’t have to worry about that as much.
-Ja ne!
3-Day Monks Revisited
I was reading a newer post on AJATT, here if you wanna read it, it’s short but good. As I read the comments though, I found a really good one, by Areckx. Here it is:
“But what if we are dedicated(non-3-day) monks? We are the kind of people who will sit under a strong waterfall for 8 hours a day, we are the kind of people who will eat the rice only if we’ve drank the wash-water for 3 days. We are the kind of people who will sit down and write a kanji a thousand times before pushing it back into our permanent memory(i.e. rare or long SRS)
If you are this kind of person, then easy is still the best, because something easy will mean you are doing it for pure enjoyment.
But we still do our intense monk exercises…
If you put in a lot of intense work at the beginning(for long enough for it to remain in long-term memory, not 3-day monks) then you can eventually do less work in the long run.
Also, the more you do something, the easier it becomes. So if you do “hard” tasks long enough, they become “easy” tasks, and you will have new “hard” tasks to conquer.
What is “hard” for me right now? Writing a journal in Japanese.
What is “easy” for me right now? Listening to keyholeTV radio stations and tv stations, reading Naruto manga and watching its anime as a review tool, watching videos in Japanese on youtube, and looking up new kanji I can’t figure out through context and radicals in my dictionaries.
As long as you keep doing something, it doesn’t matter whether it is “easy” or “hard.””
And, while I do say that AJATT is totally about laziness, just in your L2, he makes a very valid point. One of the articles I remember the most is about the 3-Day Monks. Now, it seems like he’s taking that a bit out of context, because the original post (Here, read it if you haven’t!) is more about keeping your L2 constant, like boiling water, however, Areckx makes a very different comparison, but just as vivid. Instead, he invokes the image of a monk, actually pushing himself to beyond his limits everyday, until even the difficult tasks become easy. If you keep doing difficult things, they become progressively easier. Now, am I saying we should revise the AJATT method?
No.
Remember? AJATT is NOT a method.
However, Areckx’s comment is something I think we should definitely consider. Just, whenever you can, so something that makes you uncomfortable in Japanese. I don’t mean embarassing yourself, but if you have problems with writing, then try to write a journal in Japanese. (Lang-8 is a great place for that. The native speakers there are really nice and helpful.) If you have problems understanding native Japanese speech, just listen to more Japanese. Music is good, because it’s slower, or you can just watch Keyhole TV, and get some good exposure. Asahi TV is a really good channel usually.
Well, I figure I’ll get going before I bore you to death. Just remember, keep the exposure high, and don’t worry about anything else. Even your SRS is unnecessary. In the comments here, I’ve had a lot of people tell their stories, and they’ve learned English really well without an SRS. It’s just a tool, not the way you’re gonna learn.
Cigars and AJATT – There's a Similarity Somewhere
Hey, Brent here again.
And you’d better get a umbrella, cause it’s about to start raining cold hard facts up in this bitch. (Just always wanted to say that lol)
Now, I understand that I’m very….casual with my speech, both in English and in Japanese. Here’s the difference between the two: I don’t know when to be polite in Japanese!
I mean, I thought I did, but obviously I don’t lol. In fact, let me give you a very embarassing example:
I really like DABO. He’s easily in my top 5 favorite rappers ever, and top 2 in Japanese. And, as you may or may not know, I’ve started rapping (Gonna incorporate Japanese when I get better at it) So, I decided to send him a message on Twitter (@fudatzkee if you’re interested.) Here’s what mine said:
いつか、DABOと歌を作るがすきだ。DABO俺の気に入らラッパ、そうしてDABOと歌を作るはすげえぞ。俺下手日本語は、ごめん。暫くだ。
Now, if you’re at least vaguely familiar with Japanese, you’ll notice that 俺 is typically a big no-no. Also, I used very casual speech. But, I thought it was okay, seeing as he used it. I’ll tell you what he sent, and then explain the two things I think went wrong:
可愛いw でも気持ちは辛辣だ！RESPECT！
Kay, Aaaaaaand, here we go.
First off, I believe 俺 was bad, because I forgot he almost always uses 僕 when he types on Twitter. So, I was being WAY too close when he didn’t know me. Bad look lol. Also, the way I was talking (Saying he was my favorite rapper, asking to do a song someday) definitely warranted a 僕, or maybe even 私. Now you know me. I can’t stand 私, however, hindsight being 20/20, I think that may have been the best approach.
Either way, He’s at least more polite than English rappers, can’t even get a damn RT. Anywho.
You may be asking, what does any of this have to do with Cigars? I’m getting to that. Calm down.
Well, I like cigars, however, most people say it’s an acquired taste. Well, here’s are wonderful connection.
You’ve gotta smoke cigars to enjoy cigars. You’ve gotta read/listen to REAL Japanese, before you can enjoy using Japanese.
Yeah, it’s kind of a long shot, but I was smoking a filtered cigar when I started this post, and it helped me come up with the title. So, After apoligizing to him, I’m gonna make tons of SRS cards from all of the Japanese people I’m following, along with most of @english_note’s tweets, and use that to help me make better judgement when sending messages to people.
And, in all honesty, it didn’t go that bad. I mean, he’s not mad, and I did get a RT to his followers, so yay. But I definitely gonna be using 僕 more often.
Well, I’ll be back next time with some new advice, or something cool.
4 Anime That Just Wanted To Mess With Your Head
Yo, Brent here.
Yeah, sometimes endings are deep. Sometimes they’re exactly how you wanted them to end. And sometimes they just leave you scratching your head wondering what the hell just happened.
These are of the latter…Also, not ranked in any order. Just there for your amusement.
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Everything was….a dream? A life lesson? What the hell?!?
Now, I know I’m not the first, nor am I probably the last to talk about this, but I felt I should. Now, don’t get me wrong. I personally really liked the ending (Better than End of Evangelion at least. Everybody just blew the hell up…)
Anyway, for those (few?) that don’t know. This is Shinji, the main character.
- Yeah…This guy. It gets better.
Anyway, so Shinji is Gendo Ikari’s kid. And Gendo is a military leader, and commands mecha. Also resembles Montgomery Burns from The Simpsons.
- Mostly because he does this. A Lot.
And, because this isn’t a synopsis of all of the anime (Just don’t have that much room!) I’ll leave it at that.
For those of you that know the ending (Everyone but the few sad souls who don’t) It’s crazy as hell!
And, so people that don’t somehow know the ending don’t get mad at me, I’m gonna throw a big SPOILER ALERT!!! right there, and I’m gonna send it off to good ol’ wikipedia, cause they seem to be able to explain it WAY better than me:
In the last two episodes (the second set in 2016), Gendo and Rei initiate the Human Instrumentality Project, forcing several characters (especially Shinji[18]) to face their doubts and fears and examine their self-worth, with sequences that “suggest animated schizophrenia”[19] This ending was made up of flashbacks, sketchy artwork, and flashing text “over a montage of bleak visuals, that include black and white photos of desolate urban motifs such as a riderless bicycle or vacant park benches interspersed with graphic stills of the devastated Nerv headquarters in which Shinji’s colleagues are seen as bloodstained bodies”,[20] and a brief interlude depicting an “alternate” Evangelion universe with the same characters but apparently in the high school comedy genre, eventually seems to depict Shinji concluding that life could be worth living and that he did not need to pilot an Eva to justify his existence; he is then surrounded by most of the cast, clapping and congratulating him. The introduction implies that this same process took place for everyone.
So, yeah. Seeing it explains it, but as I said, everyone basically knows the ending lol.
- MIND = BLOWN
But for me, that pales in comparison to our next entry for me:
Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni (Kai/Rei)
Well, Rei not so much, but it still does a lot of what I’m gonna go over.
So, for those of you unware of Higurashi (A much larger majority than Evangelion…) Shame on you!
Now that’s out of my system, we can continue. So, when you sit down to watch the first episode, SPOILER ALERT!!! You stumble in on the silloette of a young man just going to town on two girls with a baseball bat. For about 3 minutes. Then, when the episode starts, you notice that the first guy you see looks a lot like the guy going to town on the girls.
You see him making this face A LOT
Well, to cut it short again, you get a nice pattern for the first season. First episode or two, it’s like a high school comedy. Him and the girls are getting along fine. Then, episode 3, somebody starts getting cat eyes, and you know shit’s about to go down. And then the rest of the episodes people get fucked all kinds of up.
It goes from this...
- …To this…
To all of the main characters dying
And then the next arc begins, and you get to see who goes crazy next time. Nothing really gets explained until Kai, And I’m not spoiling the ending.
And, might as well do my next one on another of Ryukishi’s work:
Umineko no Naku Koro Ni
Bam. This one gets weird, so strap in.
Alright, this is easily one of my favorite Anime, and I hope they do the second season, but let’s get to the crazy.
So, There’s a rich family called the Urashima family. They all get called out to an island about once a year. Dude with the red hair and looking like good ol’ Phoenix Wright is Battler Urashima. So, they all get called out, but Battler’s been away for a few years, so no one recognizes him. Also, as a very important piece of plot, there’s a legend of a Witch named Beatrice. That’s gonna come into play real soon.
So, they’re on the island, and they’re arguing over who’s gonna take over the company. Grandad stays in his room. Well, night falls, and when they wake up, 6 people are dead. There’s a epitaph about the witch, and it’s supposed to help them out, but of course, no one but the little girl, Maria believes in Beatrice.
Yeah, she gets evil eyes too. Fucking Ryukishi
Well, as we should be able to figure out, everyone dies. And, then there’s a wonderful little tea party. And this is where it starts to get really weird. So, Beatrice shows up gloating, and of course, Battler says she doesn’t exist. While they’re alive in a tea party thing, RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER. So, she can’t become real unless he acknowledges her, so she brings him into a special room, and the whole day starts all over again. And he has to come up with ways that her magic can be proven by tricks. And then basically it’s super-natural Phoenix Wright in the best way.
And the last one for this list:
Paranoia Agent
Now, for anyone that remembers this show, it was basically 13 episodes of straight mindfucking.
He plays a LARGE part in this.
Yeah, this one I still don’t completely understand. Still really like it. Here we go!
So, there’s a kid called Lil’ Slugger, and he’s just beating up a bunch of people. The story focuses on his victims for the most part. Well, that and this dog, Maromi.
So, While most of the story is about Lil’ Slugger, and everyone talking about him, you’ve got that dog making a storm with his TV show. Hell, one episode the main character turns into a wandering knight for no real reason, and goes after Lil’ Slugger in a crazy fantasy world.
Well, here comes the SPOILER ALERT!!! cause I’m about to ruin this lol. Turns out the dog is actually based on a real dog that the woman who created the Maromi show had as a kid, and when it accidentally died, she blamed it on Lil’ Slugger, which started his reign. When she owned up to it, Lil’ Slugger was defeated.
Well, there’s my list of crazy ass anime you need to watch. And remember, Japanese Only!
Leave any interesting anime you want people to know about in the comment section below!
Reasons Why Anime is Actually….Good for You?!
Yeah, not really good with titles, I suppose.
Anyway, because this is mostly a blog about anime, I figured I’d share how I think anime should be used with learning Japanese.
I think it should definitely be used.
Yeah, I know there are some people that say you shouldn’t. They say that you’d come of sounding like a cartoon, and you’d be completely useless in an actual conversation.
And then there’s the group I’m in. The group that says, “Anime and manga are good for you”.
- Yeah, take your daily One Piece. It’s better for you than you think.
However, I think there’s one area that both groups are missing that make anime a good learning source.
References.
And I don’t mean those ones you get for a job. I mean the jokes that we make everyday. They’re funny because of references.
So. Yeah. While yes, I feel you should definitely use sources that aren’t anime, I don’t think you should avoid it completely. Besides, Genshiken is a lot less awesome if you aren’t otaku.
Now, of course, I understand that anime uses a lot of impolite speech. But there’s another thing that the naysayers are forgetting.
Everyone speaks differently. Period.
You probably wouldn’t understand the Yakuza kid trying to ask you where you’re from. Hell, you probably wouldn’t understand most of what the college student was asking you if you only listened to textbooks. And don’t even mention other dialects.
I personally think that you should definately have to watch anime (Or at least Dramas) to get a better grasp on how the people around you are going to talk.
(And as an aside, Yes. I am aware friends will do this just fine. They’ll tell you – Maybe! – when you’re starting to sound like a girl. And they’ll tell you when you’re sounding way to rough. But for those of us who don’t have a chance to speak to many Japanese people offline, Or the guys who just realized that learning Japanese from a woman made them sound a little more feminine than they intended, anime and manga are great.)
And not only that, but a good 80-90% of all anime speech is still regular, everyday Japanese. Yeah, there’s a lot of 俺 and 貴様, and even English words we’d never use outside of references, but the rest of it is still everyday Japanese.
Plus, it’s good for Listening Comprehension. So…woot.
Besides, it makes your learning a lot more fun, and if you don’t have access to Japanese people, then it also serves as a ruler on how much you’ve learned (Holy crap! I can understand this entire episode without subtitles!)
Which brings me to my last point.
Do not, unless under extreme circumstances, use subtitles. EVAR.
*sigh* I hate to say it. I mean, I like them too, but man. They hurt you. A lot. I mean, at first, you’re like, “W00t! I understand what’s going on.” But you soon realize after that you only remembered the English meaning. Chances are really good that you can’t remember any of the dialogue in Japanese. Yeah, it’s some weird thing our brains do. Don’t know why at all.
Anyway, I think that’s all for this rant, and I’m going to leave you with this awesome picture, and some advice for people learning Japanese.
Please, Please…Look for stuff you like in English, translated into Japanese. It just makes it more fun, and knowing that Millhouse is an 俺 is awesome by itself.
And I leave you with this.
- Yeah. The Simpsons are just awesome.
- P.S. I understand I said a Yakuza was asking you where you were from. That was silly. Just say you’re a Blood or a Folk. I’m sure they have those
