Moving on

I've not written anything here for a little while because there have been some developments that have kept me away from Japanese...

I've been interviewed for, and negotiating a contract, which would involve me travelling away from home.  A little company needs someone to help them set up a manufacturing operation, and I was in the right place at the right time.

Trouble is, it's the wrong place for Japanese - I couldn't be at home on a Wednesday.

I'm not going to stop learning though - I've come too far, and I need that GCSE.  I've been talking tonight about whether I can take part in lessons using a webcam or something. 

Getting the content of the lessons is one thing, but what will be hard to get will be interaction with my new Nihongo-friends, being able to gauge exactly how far behind I am from how the others are doing, swapping stories and titbits of information.  One possibility is getting together in something like Second Life - some have been meeting up with Japanese people there, and there has been talk of us setting up a Japanese club.

What I am going to do though is start writing more here about what I'm doing Nihongo-wise, what I understand and what I don't.  I'm thinking that at least I can get my Sensei on here giving me feedback, and at most I can get some interaction with my tomodachi (is that plaural and singular at the same time?). (Konbanwa tomodachi-san).

We did Adjectives again this evening, and the -TE form (used for present tense and imperfect), and had our first wad of Kanji and Hiragana sheets.  I'll post more on the content of the lessons so far in the next few days.  It'll serve to be a summary of the first term of Japanese GCSE (which ends next week).  Then I'll start posting on the lessons I'm doing.

Jon

Index to all links

Given that I've used so many links in this blog so far, it seems to make sense to have an index:

Books
"Let's Learn Hiragana" by Yasuko Mitamura
"Kanji Pictographix" by Michael Rowley

Kanji sites
My Kanji list, with links to about.com



Slime Forest Adventure - Kanji game
Knuckles in Chinaland - Kana game


Edexcel Kanji list - need to check that this is current
Kanji Alive - flash Kanji dictionary with writing guide
Kanji Workbook - Word format, 41 pages of Kanji lessons
Radicals - Declan software's list of Kanji radicals and 'what is Kanji'
Rikaichan - Kanji translation/ information plugin for Firefox & instructions.
Stroke order - wikipedia article
Wiktionary search - paste kanji & go...
Wikipedia kanji index by stroke number

The strokes

I'm making a few Kanji flashcards.
An obvious question comes up: how the heck do you write them?!  Would be good to learn a few rules rather than every character...

• Wikipedia (as ever) has a heavy going but useful article with some general rules on stroke order.  

There are plenty of sites showing how to draw the kanji:

• The animation comes from Saiga-jp.com, which has plenty of others.  I laughed when I saw that the kanji with the most strokes (29) means despondency...
• Kanji Alive is a web based dictionary, with animations;
• I found a workbook in Word format that take you through quite a few (like the Hiragana book that I've used).

Radical!

I've been using Rikaichan to look up kanji, and I've noticed that each one has a number of associated radicals.  Some of them I know from the games I've been 'playing'. Others I've seen repeated in many of the kanji I've seen and wondered what they are.  I've found a list on a site here with some more information on Kanji

	This is the for "harbour" with the radical for water highlighted in red.
	Here is the character for "country" with the radical for "outh, opening, sounding highlighted in red.
	Here is the character for "big" - it is classified as a radical itself.

From Declan Software's website

GSCE Kanji Index

Slow post - sorry! Should be worth it: below is every GCSE Kanji, linked to an info packed page. I think they're all there...
 
More resources here:

• wiktionary for in depth info (search for kanji characters, or stroke index). 
• Rikaichan for instant translations in Firefox, and roots of kanji characters (see usage instructions)
  

Mnemonics are the key to learning these I think (that's why the games work). I think I might get a copy of this Pict-o-graphix book.

Here's the list anyway

1 stroke

2 strokes
, ,,, ,,,
3 strokes
,,,,,,, ,,, (not),, ,  
4 strokes
, ,,,,, , ,,,, ,, ,,, , , ,,,,,, , ,,
 
5 strokes
,, , , , , , ,,,,,, , , , ,,, 
6 strokes
, ,,,,, ,, ,, ,,,,,,,, ,,,,
7 strokes 
, ,,,,, ,,,, , , , , ,, 
8 strokes
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 
9 strokes
,,,,,,,, ,,,, , ,, ,,,, 
10 strokes
,,,,,,,,,, ,,,
11 strokes
,,,,,,,,,,豚,,
12 strokes 
,,,,,,,,,
13 strokes
,,,,,,,,
14 strokes
, ,,,,
16 strokes
 
18 strokes