YukiI feel like every day of November has gone by so slowly, even though during the day it might not always feel like that. I don’t know…maybe I’m just paying more attention to my clock or something. I’m very tired right now and it’s only 8:45, but that’s actually a good thing, since I need to be waking up earlier in the morning (I love mornings!). Last night, I checked sleepyti.me for what time I should try to get up at if I went to bed at the time of checking the website, and then I set my alarm for 7 AM and went through the day without feeling tired! It was really great because the past week or so I haven’t set my alarm, or had it set only to get my brother up for school and then go back to sleep. I would wake up anywhere from 7:30 to 8:45, which is okay for most people, I guess…but I really prefer to wake up “early,” like at 5 or 6 AM. (Thus, getting up at 5:00 is not “early” for me. 2:00 is early!)
I got the juicing done very quickly, practiced guitar, reviewed WaniKani (and reached Level 8!!!), drew some more, and had another look-just-for-fun at both of my copies of Rosetta Stone. Back in 2008, we bought Japanese and French editions, and really, only the Japanese one got used…until today. Today, after re-confirming the terribleness of the Japanese edition thanks to its slow speech, I decided to check out the French edition.
I discovered something both expected and unexpected. The French edition seems to teach you vocabulary and grammar much quicker compared to the Japanese edition (though I’m slightly biased because I already knew some Japanese when I first started using Japanese Rosetta Stone, and I didn’t know any French), and the speaking seems to be more natural, even if it might still be a bit slow. I was surprised that I, with no previous knowledge of French, completed the very first core lesson in Level 1 with 98% correct. However, since there’s no explanation of grammar at all, you’re still left with guessing what things mean.
As expected, I got tired out more than halfway through and had to force myself to finish the lesson. (For some reason, Rosetta Stone is just tiring!) Unexpectedly, I was pronouncing French with a Japanese accent! o_o
This really confirmed to me that foreign languages should be learned one at a time, rather than simultaneously. Japanese first, then French or Chinese or whatever I want to learn next. ^^;
(Also, after the French, I turned off the speech thing for the session and took the final review on Rosetta Stone’s Level 1 Japanese with much ease. No wonder I’m so bored with re-checking Rosetta Stone whenever I remember it’s sitting on my computer! I’m past Level 1!)
If you happen to have the Japanese Rosetta Stone and regret buying it (like me? Sorry Mama, that I asked you to get it…), I would recommend to set the course to reading and writing only; that way you won’t have to deal with the pesky slow-mo audio and you might be able to get more out of it.
/
Posts like this would be quite long in Japanese, wouldn’t they? XD More posts on specific topics are coming soon (my new desk and chair, process of overcoming stress, my artbook, etc.)… Lately I’ve felt like a whirlwind of activity, and so I haven’t posted much on the internet at all, even Twitter. ^^; I kinda want to do reviews on certain products too. I don’t know; they might be helpful to somebody!
Oh. NaNoWriMo [artbook] is going…well, it’s going, all things considered. I would say it’s going fairly well, since I did reorganize the page layout the other day. I deleted some pages, rearranged a lot of the pages, made notes for different pages, and began on some miscellaneous pages such as my profile page. Since I’m thinking in terms of pages and not pictures, I could actually finish out November close to my goal–if I don’t hit it, that is!
Today’s NaNoWriMo count: 1