But perchance you all may be in the same situation as I am. Which is, you all want to practice speaking Japanese but you don't have a native speaker readily available to you.
If you do, then good for you! But read no further because this is useless information to you, except tactic #3 will probs still benefit you.
So I have a few good approaches for studying and I want to share them with you guys.
***I have a Mac so some of these may only apply to Macs. Sorry.****
- Audio Flashcards
- First off, this app costs money so you may not want to use it. You can just skip this and read on to my next study tactic. Quizlet works just as well.
- This is a computer app on the Apple App Store that lets you create flashcards in a question/answer format that you can have read to you.
- You can even have them exported to you iTunes to listen to whenever you want.
- I personally haven't done the iTunes thing, but maybe you are a believe in the whole "learning while you sleep" thing or simply just want to listen to vocab while you are walking on campus or working out.
- In order to get this app to speak Japanese sentences to you, you need to download the Japanese speaking dudes in your System Preferences.
- To do this you go to System Preferences then Dictation and Speech then Text to Speech then System Voice then Customize... and then if you go to the Japanese voices you have the option of downloading a female (Kyoko) or male (Otoya) voice. If you choose to download only one, I advise you download Kyoko, because it is my understanding that Hanabusa Sensei will be delivering our oral exam so no harm in sticking with the same gender.
- There are two ways to use this app well, in my opinion.
- Have your "Questions" be Japanese words, then the "Answers" be them in English
- Better yet! Let "Questions" be Japanese questions that you should know how to answer, then let "Answers" be what your answer would be in Japanese.
- You can choose the amount of time that the speaker will pause in between the question and answer. I set it to 10 seconds to give me time to respond out loud.
- I personally thought of various questions I expected to be asked and typed them up in hiragana/kanji then I typed what my response would be applying to my personal life. This helps me with the pronunciations of the sentences I expect I'll have to say.
- You could choose to only type them in hiragana but Kyoko's speech flows much better when you use the kanji.
- If you type は where the "wa" particle should be or を where the "o" particle should be, they will be pronounced as "wa" and "o" not "ha" or "wo." Computers are so smart nowadays. :)
- This app is made to work well with Quizlet. If you don't understand the mechanics of Quizlet then read #2.
- When you have a "Set" of questions/answers that you like on Quizlet, go to the "••• More" button, click export, under "Data" click "Select All", then copy it.
- Then, go to Audio Flashcard, create a new batch thing, open it, in the corner it says "Import", then click "From clipboard" then paste it in the box that opens up. Do nothing more except hit "Import."
- Cool. Now the questions and answers are there for you to use.
- At the bottom it shows you who you have as the speaker. It's default is Alex but change it to Kyoko or Otoya.
- Quizlet
- Guys, Quizlet rocks. I've never used it for a language before. I only realized how superiorly awesome this website is rather recently.
- Go to quizlet.com
- I'd make an account. It's free and lets you stash sets that you like in a folder you create on your account. Super convenient.
- Search practically anything you think will benefit you.
- Search for our vocab lists or for basic questions, etc.
- It's better if they aren't in romanji.
- I'm not really sure if these links will work but if they don't just search these set names. These are sets of our vocab lists.
- Nakama 1 Chapter 1 Vocabulary
- http://quizlet.com/32941539/nakama-1-chapter-1-vocabulary-flash-cards/
- Nakama 1: Chapter 02 EV
- http://quizlet.com/50658010/nakama-1-chapter-02-ev-flash-cards/
- Nakama 1 Chapter 3 Vocabulary
- http://quizlet.com/32944647/nakama-1-chapter-3-vocabulary-flash-cards/
- Once you have the sets you want, you can click the Japanese phrases/words and they will be read to you. Once again, beneficial for pronunciation.
- You can also do what I suggested for Audio Flashcard, and just create your own set and type up questions/answers that you want, et cetera et cetera.
- PRACTICING TIMES!!!
- You all cannot deny the struggles of fluidly saying the time and here's a tip on practicing it.
- Go to Excel.
- Click on A1 and type =RANDBETWEEN(1,12)
- Click on B1 and type :
- Click on C1 and type =RANDBETWEEN(1,59)
- It should look like this
- Obviously the ":" is not necessary, but I like it. :)
- To randomize the numbers again, hit your F9 key.
- If this isn't working, I know for my Mac at least, I had to go to System Preferences then Keyboard then check the box next to Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys then it should work.
- Focusing on what you'll need!
- I am under the impression that this oral test is meant to be like a conversation. So the questions should be about you. Think about what questions you may have to answer, and know your answers.
- For example, if you are asked, "きのうなにを しましたか。" And you have to think, "Well... what did I do yesterday?" You could be a stud at Japanese, but a pause is a pause. And how is the teacher supposed to know that you're pausing because you have to think to remember what you did yesterday? They'll most likely assume that you are just taking forever to register what it is they just said. Or that you are struggling in translating your answer from English to Japanese.
- All I'm saying is know your life. It'll make this thing a lot easier.
- And if this test isn't us being questioned about our life... weeellllll then I really don't know how to prep for this thing, but this practice will still be good for you!
- Find a friend and practice!!
- Maybe you have a super awesome nonJapanese speaking friend who is willing to read some questions written in romanji to you.
- They may totally butcher the sentences since they have zero clue how to speak Japanese, but that is not important! What's important is that you practice replacing all your "uhhh..."s and "ummmm..."s with "anooo" or "soo desu need" or "eetto."
- REMEMBER YOUR EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITIES!!!
- Learn how to properly use "soshite" and "demo." Some extra credit could literally do you no harm. In fact, it may help you. :)
- And "to" I don't think is extra credit but is useful! It means "and" but only use it to connect nouns!
- Have no shame!
- Lastly, I hope all of you remember the phrase "Moo ichido onegaishimasu." There are no rules against you asking for the teacher to repeat what they said.
Okies! That's all, I think. I wish you all the best of luck! :)