japanese progress

[kossai]

should really work on japanese again , have notebook that try write everything in japanese with visual help . all sample sentences from grammar guides and comprehensible input and things , this is one in many ways that try learn over time but do think this one is maybe best one .

no english to analyse and think through .
人だ is little stick figure with checkmark .
人じゃない , same but with X mark .
人だった ? arrow , stick figure , checkmark .
bet can not guess what 人じゃなかった is .

do have grasp at slightly more than literal baby level but , still helpful to write down everything .
really terrible penmanship though .

so first learn things about japanese when get into vocaloid - think first word that confidently know was 娘 . would be years before properly learn kana , and then get into utau for which read kana is ... pretty necessary .
sure , sometimes can find ust files that come in romaji , but not all voicebanks support this , and that number dwindle even further with good VCV banks . would convert romaji to kana and CV kana to VCV kana , which make hiragana skills stronger than katakana ones for long time .

then at some point , there was this rhythm game which play , which was not japanese exclusive but japanese version have much more to play . could not follow stories or anything but also did not care about that , so learn words like 練習 and 特別 , as well as various words that pick up from music in game .

around this time did also actually pick up some grammar guide things , and even try blog exchange .
… that did not go well , was many times incomprehensible . not as bad as person who just write " ohio " , but not good .
so that was pretty big damper and kind of give up . even with hardest try , still struggle that much , despite what able to understand . which is ... still not too much , but then maybe too harsh on that sometimes .

outside of intentionally basic comprehensible input , easiest to understand is still something like ... disney songs that originally write for english¹ , and then get japanese translation . because of different information density and what not , this make kind of " bite size " ... easier to distinguish words and understand meaning . still not understand everything , usually , but more than if was native material .

sometimes can pick up on random little dialogues in games . haruka in yakuza kiwami will shout 待ってよ or 早いよ if kiryu run too far ahead , and kossai know to slow down . haruka will also say 痛い if kiryu bump - and wish could say sorry !
then there is majima - うちに惚れたなあかんで and 一緒にゾンビになろうや , understand both of those . ( yes , majima is incredibly weird sometimes . this is why love . )

can read signs well enough to navigate and use as landmarks . kanji is gamble , but can read kana only signs with ease , at least , and identify important buildings by more than just colour or coincidental english signage . certainly would not be enough skill for real world japan , but good enough for games :P
sort of think about play rusted moss or something else that is already familiar in japanese , but that would throw right in deep end when not at high level , even if understand story already . not sure if actually good idea .

just have this kind of , patchwork of skills - patchwork enough that not sure where really need to go next .

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1. this is kind of song which talk about , for reference . originally this song from sofia the first :
   english line " i've got the shoes , i've got the dress , that makes me a princess i guess " become「きれいなドレスで見た目はプリンセスだけど」- shoes disappear from equation ! because song write for english first , some details drop entirely , and things shuffle to fit new structure . easier to pick out , but also miss out on things that would be in native speech .