The 2008 (and 9) weaboos learning Japanese thread *chairs are thrown at miles*

Tape? Our Genki book came with a cd for the workbook and a cd for all the vocab and dialogues in the textbook. Although those dialogues sound rather exaggerated and abnormal compared to the speech you'd hear normally.

I'm in 2nd year Japanese in the second half of Genki Vol. 2
It's actually really easy when you're keen on learning it, so there is motivation to study without too much prodding. The standard trick of using a word in a sentence per day should theoretically help.

The hardest parts so far are: 1) the particles, as for when exactly to use は、が、に、を、and へ in particular and 2) being able to distinguish, speak, and understand the honorific, humble, and extra-modest expressions seamlessly. memorize all intransitive and transitive pairs, since opening a door in Japanese is not the same as if the door opens by itself.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by AcerBandit

No, I haven't applied but a very good buddy of mine who I described did and was flatly rejected. They won't tell you why you failed your interview either. It's just "please try again next year".

The application process is pretty convoluted but hey if you want to do JET it's something you have to muck through. I wish you luck if that's what you want to do.

Regarding JET, I had my interview a couple of months ago, and it seems like the emphasis is heavily placed on what you know about your own culture. The whole Japan atmosphere is almost like an afterthought, at least from my impression of the interview. It seems as though you'd have to be very knowledgeable about your local culture, and what you can offer to the kids in respect to that knowledge.

Of course, the whole process is convoluted and takes the better portion of a year, and it's not like JET is the only program that'll land you in Japan. It's just the most popular and well known one. I applied to another program sometime around midnight, and the very next morning I got a call, saying they currently had a hiring freeze due to every contract being renewed, although they expressed deep interest in my application. Apparently so, since I wasn't expecting such an instantaneous turnaround. Point is, you should look into other opportunities too!

There's nowhere I can't reach.