It's now Week 3; that means it's time to review what my current obstacles. Next post will have the promised anime favorites. Sorry about the delay!
Week 3 Challenges
Most of my current challenges seem to be centered around hearing sounds properly. In particular, the root of all of my problems seems to be that in normal conversation (or even a class), when I hear Japanese spoken at a normal pace, I struggle to hear the rhythm, or the number of beats (or syllables) in each word, which makes identifying long vowels or double consonants exceedingly difficult. Figuring this out will have to be one of my top priorities.On a similar note, I'm having difficulty hearing the separations between words in spoken speech. This seems less limiting at the moment, as most exercises have a set pattern, and I know what to listen for. However, with time, I can see this becoming a limitation indeed. A better vocabulary could help equip me to face this, but that will take some time to develop, so in the interim, I will need to be better at differentiating words.
Finally (for now, at least), I've noticed that I've had difficulty dealing with the multiple forms of ん. Since it can take an 'n', an 'm', or an 'ng' sound, I have found that in some cases, it seems to blend with the following sound. For example, んが might have confused me. I think I'm starting to get a better sense of its use and differentiating it in speech, but I'll need to keep it in mind, for certain!
じゃあ、また。
Hello! It's good that you are reflecting on what you struggle with in class; I definitely think that identifying the problem is half of the battle. I, too, am struggling with understanding the different sound since they are so subtle (although, the tonal nature of Japanese is one of the reasons it's so beautiful), but I think that this is something that will come naturally as we progress, practice, and listen. Don't worry too much about it, and work hard!
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