2752: Being Boring
Photos and guilt later. I'll clear the queue in advance this time =p
I copied to MP3 and have been listening to Instant Immersion Japanese by Topics Entertainment, after having had it gathering dust for umpteen years, and it's like... UGH XBM
Fawx: This is the one where the first phrases are "頭が痛い" "おいくつですか" "エレベターのうしろにあげます" "遠慮しないで" "これは美味しいです"--"[My] head hurts" "How old are you?/How many [years old] are you?" "Behind the elevator" "Relax, don't hold back" "It's tasty"--a collection of excellent phrases to know, especially in conjunction, I'm sure!
The problem is the narrators are a trio? of the most BORING people I've ever heard, reading what seems to be a lesson plan comprised of, "We're going to read from the dictionary [字書] for you, and if you don't remember something, you can play the CD again." It's just DRILLING--further, it's drilling in the wrong order ["Here's a word in Japanese. Here's the word again. Now we'll tell you what it means. Repeat with another word entirely."], which isn't really the best way to learn and remember these things, especially when the words aren't repeated again until MAYBE another disc. How is anyone supposed to be able to think, "I want to say 'the cat is mewlicious' in Japanese. Ah! It's 「猫はミュウリシアス」"?
I mean, have you ever tried to become fluent in a language just from reading the dictionary?? There's so much lost in learning merely the literal translations without any sort of cultural notes. If memory serves, there's all of two "in-depth" explanations of the language in this disc set: that formality is important to the Japanese people [though it's not explained much beyond that], and--get this--"When a Japanese person hands you his business card, it is important that you take it with both hands and pretend to read it." Because you can't be bothered to actually pay attention to it >:(
What's worse, they do the whole thing in this "*gong sound* です" "*gong sound* is" format, which is like saying "___です" means "___ is" but in a really irritating way. Like:*gong sound*の*gong sound*です
I am *gong sound* of *gong sound* [company]
which is just a little misleading, if you see what I mean. Do you know from that example where to put your name and the company's name in the blanks? Like for, "I am Diane Johnson of Sony"? [ソニのダイアンジョンソンです--Sony's Diane Johnson]
They don't even play the gong sound all the way through, sometimes, as though even they hate the sound and think it's a waste of time. What does THAT say, hmm?
[Okay, I lied--they give up doing the gong thing about halfway through the eight CD compilation. What does that say, hmm?]
Also, the English narrator keeps saying "hunderd" and things like "listen to the words below" [...there's no direction in audiobook!!] 苛立って!! XO Isn't the idea to get someone with NO dialect to do these, and to have it NOT sound like it's someone reading from a workbook? Or is it what I think it is: somebody's crap class project =p
I think I'm overcharging for it on Half.com--it's only $1 less than the lowest asking price. Unfortunately, it DOES cover vocab not in Pimsleur, and I've gotten and gone through all of the latter already... *grump* but I'm still not any closer to recognizing a few words in passing, and after some thought. Luckily, we didn't need much last time... :/
I did find two of the Neojank books at Borders, after some looking. I mean, I knew they'd be kiddie books, but I don't quite see how anyone--much less a young "independent reader"--would enjoy them much without having played at least a little of Neopets. Both of the ones I got were Parts 1 of a three-book series, and they just kind of... END, rather than arriving at some form of conclusion. "It's an ending that's a beginning!" I hate those X(
If you want the Virtual Prize for Nomi's Quest or The Creeping Danger, though, and you don't want to actually go through the hassle of buying the books [why not?], lemme know what questions you get on the quiz, and I'll give you the answers. [I'm pretty sure you could also just keep trying until you get the right combo, too, given it's multiple guess, but I didn't want to test them.]
I copied to MP3 and have been listening to Instant Immersion Japanese by Topics Entertainment, after having had it gathering dust for umpteen years, and it's like... UGH XBM
Fawx: This is the one where the first phrases are "頭が痛い" "おいくつですか" "エレベターのうしろにあげます" "遠慮しないで" "これは美味しいです"--"[My] head hurts" "How old are you?/How many [years old] are you?" "Behind the elevator" "Relax, don't hold back" "It's tasty"--a collection of excellent phrases to know, especially in conjunction, I'm sure!
The problem is the narrators are a trio? of the most BORING people I've ever heard, reading what seems to be a lesson plan comprised of, "We're going to read from the dictionary [字書] for you, and if you don't remember something, you can play the CD again." It's just DRILLING--further, it's drilling in the wrong order ["Here's a word in Japanese. Here's the word again. Now we'll tell you what it means. Repeat with another word entirely."], which isn't really the best way to learn and remember these things, especially when the words aren't repeated again until MAYBE another disc. How is anyone supposed to be able to think, "I want to say 'the cat is mewlicious' in Japanese. Ah! It's 「猫はミュウリシアス」"?
I mean, have you ever tried to become fluent in a language just from reading the dictionary?? There's so much lost in learning merely the literal translations without any sort of cultural notes. If memory serves, there's all of two "in-depth" explanations of the language in this disc set: that formality is important to the Japanese people [though it's not explained much beyond that], and--get this--"When a Japanese person hands you his business card, it is important that you take it with both hands and pretend to read it." Because you can't be bothered to actually pay attention to it >:(
What's worse, they do the whole thing in this "*gong sound* です" "*gong sound* is" format, which is like saying "___です" means "___ is" but in a really irritating way. Like:*gong sound*の*gong sound*です
I am *gong sound* of *gong sound* [company]
which is just a little misleading, if you see what I mean. Do you know from that example where to put your name and the company's name in the blanks? Like for, "I am Diane Johnson of Sony"? [ソニのダイアンジョンソンです--Sony's Diane Johnson]
They don't even play the gong sound all the way through, sometimes, as though even they hate the sound and think it's a waste of time. What does THAT say, hmm?
[Okay, I lied--they give up doing the gong thing about halfway through the eight CD compilation. What does that say, hmm?]
Also, the English narrator keeps saying "hunderd" and things like "listen to the words below" [...there's no direction in audiobook!!] 苛立って!! XO Isn't the idea to get someone with NO dialect to do these, and to have it NOT sound like it's someone reading from a workbook? Or is it what I think it is: somebody's crap class project =p
I think I'm overcharging for it on Half.com--it's only $1 less than the lowest asking price. Unfortunately, it DOES cover vocab not in Pimsleur, and I've gotten and gone through all of the latter already... *grump* but I'm still not any closer to recognizing a few words in passing, and after some thought. Luckily, we didn't need much last time... :/
I did find two of the Neojank books at Borders, after some looking. I mean, I knew they'd be kiddie books, but I don't quite see how anyone--much less a young "independent reader"--would enjoy them much without having played at least a little of Neopets. Both of the ones I got were Parts 1 of a three-book series, and they just kind of... END, rather than arriving at some form of conclusion. "It's an ending that's a beginning!" I hate those X(
If you want the Virtual Prize for Nomi's Quest or The Creeping Danger, though, and you don't want to actually go through the hassle of buying the books [why not?], lemme know what questions you get on the quiz, and I'll give you the answers. [I'm pretty sure you could also just keep trying until you get the right combo, too, given it's multiple guess, but I didn't want to test them.]