The Language Game

So, obviously the language required for JET is English, since I will teaching English. However, my own desires and general usefulness make me want to learn Japanese. I've been working at it slowly since high school (so five+ years). Unfortunately, it is a difficult language to learn without formal study or an actual learning partner.

My current progress is a little bit pathetic, but I'm doing the best I can. I don't have any formal study or anyone to practice with, so my best is not quite where I want it to be. I have flash cards galore with hiragana, katakana (I suck at these), 1st grade kanji, 2nd grade kanji, 3rd grade kanji, and needed phrases. I did lessons with a man from Japan for a little over a semester. I did six hours of lessons every week, three days, one for writing, reading, and speaking each. I also did more studying for Japanese than I have done for anything else in my life.

I do not study. I'm not joking. I don't, I just don't. I don't study for exams ever. All I do is the assignments and readings (if even that) and I talk and discuss anything I'm learning. So, studying is hard for me; it is not a skill I ever developed.

I practice my flash cards for around 30 minutes every day or more. I have completed hiragana and 1st grade kanji (though I lost my cards and can't keep practicing, so I'm probably forgetting pronunciations as I type). I also did all of katakana, but for some reason, I really struggle with it. I just have a lot of trouble with katakana; it doesn't click. I am currently working on second grade kanji and have mastered over half of them. I can't write them well because I'm doing this via flash card, but I can read and pronounce most of them.

All this being said, I really WANT to be able to write better and, most of all, I want to be able to speak and construct sentences a million times better than I currently do. Because I am a reader, I find it really difficult to learn the language through conversation programs. I want to be literate almost more than I want to be fluent, if that makes sense. I struggle with trying to just say it because I'm saying it. Working only with a language trouble confuses me because I don't have a way to reiterate in a second format... But, that doesn't mean it isn't useful...

So, I have an absurd amount of Japanese language books, programs, tools... Here is a list and my feelings about each:

1) Tell Me More CJ: Japanese. This is useful, except that I struggle because of what I said before: I have noone to practice with and I have no way to put what I did into words, which just doesn't work for me. When I am more literate, this will be better, I think.
2) Japanese for Dummies. I haven't touched this in ages, but when I first got it in high school, it taught me some useful pronunciation things so that when I use other programs or read in roman letters, I don't make dumb mistakes.
3) Text Book that I don't remember the title of. The exercises were helpful, but text books need a lesson to support them.
4) Japanese in Mangaland V1 w/ workbook. I really like this for the exercises and it helped me learn to write the hiragana. The downside is that there aren't that many exercises, so it doesn't necessarily deliver enough practice and practice is what makes you better.
5) Flash Cards of my own making. These have been fantastic in learning kanji. I can carry them with me, practice by myself, and gradually add new kanji at my own pace. However, this does not make me more capable of in-context understanding or conversation. I know the way the character is read for a couple pronunciations and I know the meaning. I have a vague idea of how to write most of them, but not perfect.
6) Lessons/Tutoring. I am no longer doing lessons, but these were fantastic. He brough childrens books to improve my reading without being too hard. He wrote out directions for writing characters and helped me write better (my Japanese handwriting is still sloppy T_T). This was probably the best, but it was costly and I was taking fairly cheap lessons.

That's all my language stuff... I'm fighting on and working as best I can. I am hoping to be able to get Rosetta Stone and maybe I can report on that afterward... My friend is really enjoying it and I hope I enjoy it too!