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Hey there- I’m Helen, or Orcashark if you want to go by my net nickname, take your pick.
Let’s see. I’m from southeastern Ohio, I’m 22, and I’m a bit of a dork who spends a lot of time online. I graduated from university this past December, although I’m still figuring out what to do with my life. During my time in college I took two and a half years of Japanese. Considering that, you may or may not be wondering what I’m doing here on Textfugu, since it takes a more beginner approach. Well. Here’s the long answer (or you can scroll down for the short one):
actually I’m going to just link it here because that got really tl;dr
Whew. That was pretty long-winded, sorry about that.
Short answer: Due to various factors, I had to quit Japanese a couple years back and now I’d like to take it back up again. However, due to how much time has passed and teaching styles that didn’t mesh with me, I need to review and reinforce a lot of basics if I want to progress comfortably into any level of fluency.
But now that I’m out of school, I can learn anything I want on my own with no hard deadlines, right? Except I’m not great at self-teaching. I’m great at paying attention and doing work in classes, but without an instructor or structured guidance I just kind of flop around. I’ve been poking around at resources and such for a while, and I’ve been using WaniKani for maybe a couple months and I love it. But I do need to learn more than just kanji. I went through the first season of Textfugu before subscribing as well, even though it’s all basics that I already know- but I feel that the approach it takes is not only engaging and suited to how my brain works and therefore helps me retain information better, it provides that much-needed structured guidance that I’ve been searching for.
So, my goal here is to go through each season and reinforce the basics, hopefully to where I can actually retain them as opposed to having to resort to google or flipping through a textbook just to make sure I’m reading or saying a simple sentence correctly. And hopefully learn new things in the process, too. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about language learning, it’s that you never stop learning.
Belatedly, I love Japanese and Japan for a variety of reasons, which I won’t elaborate on just now because I’ve already talked a lot (let’s just say I’m not in any danger of losing motivation). I’ve also been to Japan once myself, if only for a month as part of a summer study abroad program. But hey, now you know more or less why I’m here. It’s nice to meet you, 皆さん。
こんにちは、Orcashark Helen-san! はじめまして!
Helen is a nice name, but Orcashark is epic. I will have trouble deciding. Hrm.
Anyway, my name is Eihiko (not really, but shh don’t tell anyone) and I am also an Ohioan, except of the Northern variety. The video game industry is a mess, and well-established educational programs are sparse. Many modern 3D games use technology that’s a decade old because there’s simply no way to learn how to use the new technology. I’m actually taking a computer graphics course (the programming kind) for my master’s this upcoming semester, and it’s centered around a version of OpenGL that was deprecated in 2003.
Anyway, my point is that if you really want to get into the world of game design, you’ve just gotta dig into it. Don’t worry too much about lacking formal education- you can fill the holes along the way. My focus is Artificial Intelligence, but I do a bit of game programming for fun, so if you’re ever looking for a game design discussion, I’d be happy to discuss ^_^
Of course if you want to abandon the videogame world and dedicate your life to a quiet study of the Japanese language, that’s completely understandable c:
Um um, what else… OH your dog looks just like my dog! I hope that it’s just the lighting or something, because my dog is hella ugly. But don’t worry, I’m sure the camera just caught it at a bad angle.
- Long, winding post: check!
- Frequent tangents and lame jokes: check!
- Insulted her dog: check!
Yay for dubious first impressions! D:
よろしくおねがいします
ーEihikoNot from the desk of Eihiko. Eihiko's boss took his desk away from him.どうぞよろしく！ I spotted your introduction earlier (which alas meant I was not able to use the timeless Ohio/Ohayo pun without being redundant). I lived around the Cleveland area for a few years when I was a wee child and I have relatives up there, so I do occasionally find myself up north.
It’s true, the industry is a mess. There are an unfortunate amount of complications and stigma that come with being a girl in the video game industry (or just being a gamer), too. We did do some programming in my class, but it was just a tiny bit of really basic javascript. I lean more toward the visual/art side of things myself; I was an art major before I switched over. But since the whole track was jammed into one set of classes, we had to do a little of everything without actually learning much about how to do any of it. :\ I do still have some interest in game development, but the experience killed my desire to try and shoulder my way into what would probably be a very competitive and high-stress industry, especially since right now I’ve dabbled in a variety of things but I’m not good enough at any one skill to use it professionally. But you know, I do love games, and in the (probably very) long run it would be cool to translate Japanese video games. As for you, I know programming is a sought-after skill in pretty much any computer-related industry, AI even more so, so even if what you’re using is outdated I imagine you’ll make out okay. (Hopefully it’s something you enjoy too, if you’re getting a master’s in it!)
As for my userpic, that’s not actually me (if only I were that pretty), so you’re in the clear as far as insulting my dog. He’s a Japanese actor and singer by the name of Miura Ryosuke (and that’s his family dog Manda). I’m a pretty big fan of his. I do have a dog though, but rather than a lap-sized cute thing he is a large cute lazy lump.
Uhhh what else. I’m bad at coming up with decent conclusions. ごめん。
Welcome to TextFugu!
I too took Japanese at a university (3 years) and let it lapse, so I feel your pain. I’ve started studying again 3 times since then and have let it lapse on all but the latest, which I’m only barely pulling off not letting it lapse again. I’m all hanging from the ledge with my finger tips and such…
Stupid ledges…
I’ll refrain from posting my usual links, as it appears you have already seen them.
So…
がんばって！
@Aikibujin: nooooo, you can’t lapse anymore! It’s out of the question. You’re simply not allowed. I will make you read me Japanese children stories before bed if I must O_O
@Helen Orcashark: My dog is half Japanese, so maybe Manda is her long lost cousin. Where around Cleveland are you from? My family’s been living in the Cleveland area since the Mayflower ran aground on the shores of Lake Erie! Also… you don’t by any chance do any 3D modelling do you? Since your background is in art, I imagine you do 2D design, but if you happen to do 3D, I will love you forever ^o^
Not from the desk of Eihiko. Eihiko's boss took his desk away from him.@Aikibujin I hope you can pull yourself up off that ledge for good this time! I know I’ve had trouble procrastinating on things like this in the past myself, but I’m determined to see this through even if I only study a teeny bit each day.
@Eihiko I’m not entirely sure, though I think it was somewhere in the vicinity of Shaker Heights. Some of my relatives live around there, at least. We moved around a couple times before we left Cleveland entirely, though. And I did take a year’s worth of 3D modeling classes using Maya, though I bet I’m already rusty. 3D modeling can be pretty neat, up until you also have to texture, rig, and animate it, then it’s a huge pain in the butt. I’ve dabbled in various types of digital media creation software, I guess just like making things on computers (most of my drawing these days is done via my trusty old wacom bamboo tablet + photoshop).
@Aikibujin: nooooo, you can’t lapse anymore! It’s out of the question. You’re simply not allowed. I will make you read me Japanese children stories before bed if I must O_O
LOL.
What happened to your desk btw? It was such a good desk…
@Aikibujin I hope you can pull yourself up off that ledge for good this time! I know I’ve had trouble procrastinating on things like this in the past myself, but I’m determined to see this through even if I only study a teeny bit each day.
It’s more lack of time for me as I am currently working towards a PhD in psychology. So during semester breaks I go strong again, but in between, my studying gets pretty dicey.
On the topic of art/gaming: I’m actually a bit of an animator right now. I primarily use Adobe Flash, so it’s not anything 3D, but I can do some pretty cool Egoraptor-y stuff. I think we gaming-based Fugunites should host group skype convos or something, since the Teamspeak is…uh…yeah.
@Aikibujin I believe TextFugu was designed with the thought that your memory of older lessons may degrade, which is why a lot of stuff is based on Anki as well as explaining things in a way that’s very easily memorable due to the content and pace. I’m always sure to clear all my Anki decks and do at least one lesson every two days. However, I can understand if this is either too much for some people, or if others simply can’t retain it. I have extremely strong- nearly photographic- memory, which is obviously a huge catalyst for learning tedious things like Kanji.
In the event that you do all of the things I mentioned above(and I’m sure you were doing it all before I bothered typing this), then I highly recommend finding a penpal that speaks English on top of native Japanese. Not only is it much, much more useful to talk to an actual person in the language you’re learning, but you can get constant feedback, learn many different colloquialisms and slang, and probably best of all, there’s a good chance you’ll make a great friend.
Since there’s a lot of programming talk going on in the thread, I’m just going to make a quick analogy. Learning foreign languages is very similar to learning programming in that classes and lessons will only take you so far. You have to go out and dissect real examples of it being used so you can learn more efficient ways to do something and discover new tools you can use.
I understand if some of this isn’t feasible as I can only speak from my own experiences, but I just hope that some of this helps you out.Noice.Ooh this conversation is getting complicated!
@Orcashark Helen-san: Wacom tablets are where it’s at! I have an old graphire 4 and GIMP because photoshop scares me. Ive never tried Maya, though if it’s even slightly more user-friendly than Blender, I might be willing to try it out ^-^ my current project is to rig a basic human character and use inverse kinematics to get his feet to stop going through the terrain when he climbs up hills. Rigging is not fun :c
@Aikibujin-san: MY BOSS TOOK IT FROM ME THE DIRTY TRAITOR. People in my office are getting moved around and I have been temporarily displaced. Rumour has it that my new desk will be 2, nay 3 times as fancy as the old one, with motorized height adjustment and a built-in drawer! Also, its sorta awesome that youre getting a PhD. Do they take an indeterminate amount of time at your university? Around here , phds can take 5-8 years. Also is there a Japanese honorific for doctors? Also also, have you considered integrating your japanese studies into your phd studies, perhaps by writing your dissertation in Japanese?
@igmdigm-san: (and helen) I’m totally down for skype, though you should be warned: I am painfully shy at times. Also, i will almost certainly try to convince you to join my game projects, all of which are doomed to fail ^o^
Also i dont fully understand what this teamspeak thing is/was, but ive got a dedicated server just chilling if we ever want a chat server again.
Not from the desk of Eihiko. Eihiko's boss took his desk away from him.@Igmdigm – Methodology isn’t my problem. It’s making time. Even now I should be writing a paper on ERP, which is a cognitive behavioral approach to managing OCD. I used to teach English as a second language, so I am intimately familiar with the process, if I only had the time to actually devote myself to them.
@Eihiko – Your new desk sounds tre cool. ^_^
Yeah it’ll be about 8 years.
I believe doctors often go by せんせい.
I don’t think the psychology staff would appreciate trying to evaluate and grade a paper in Japanese. :P
It would be cool if I had the skill to actually do it though. ^_^はかせ also gets used.
Man, we are getting hella off topic.
If any of you are actually interested in skype or teamspeak, feel free to fire me a request at anonymousafu
@aikibujin S-sorry senpai…
Anyway, I misread the problem, and I apologize that. If you’re in the rigorous process of working towards something as grand as a PhD, then there’s not really much you can do time-wise except work your alternative studies/hobbies when you can without burning out. The only other way is to use my magic Igmdust to freeze time, but I’m afraid it’s far too valuable for me to give to you.Sorry for derailing your thread, Helen. :c
Noice.@Aikibujin Ouch, yeah, having to balance with other responsibilities and learning is difficult. Now that I’m out of school I don’t have that problem, but for you it’s probably okay if you don’t push yourself too hard on Japanese when you’re not on break. Not that you shouldn’t study at all, but even if you just study one or two things each day, maybe you can keep yourself immersed so when you’re on break you can jump back into heavier studying more easily.
@Igmdigm I haven’t used Flash myself since high school, and from what I hear the program has changed a lot since then. My more recent experience is with Adobe After Effects, though even with that it’s been a year or so since I last touched it. But I have done animations in both in the past. I unfortunately don’t have a working mic setup for Skype right now, not to mention I also have @Eihiko‘s problem (shyness), but I wouldn’t be opposed to giving it a try.
@Eihiko My first tablet was a Graphire which served me well, but alas it bit the dust many years ago which was when I got my Bamboo. Maya is the only 3D modeling software I’ve touched so I can’t personally compare it to anything else, but it’s a bit of a beast- lots of buttons and functions and fifteen different ways to achieve the same results. The good news is, if you have a student email you can sign up on the Autodesk website and download virtually any of their software with a free 3 year student license. You get the whole fully functional program; the only caveat is that when you open a file saved in the student version, it pops up with a window to say this file was saved using a student version of Maya, can only be used for educational purposes, etc. As for rigging, it would be more fun if it wasn’t so easy to run into technical issues that break everything if you can’t figure out how to fix it.
As for the doctor thing, I may be wrong, but I think it’s that せんせい is commonly used for medical doctors and はかせ more for other kinds of doctors/professors or otherwise learned people, though せんせい is acceptable in either case.
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