Learning Japanese

I feel like I'm treading water, trying to learn Japanese.  Because I'm finding it hard to remember the characters (hiragana--I haven't learned katakana yet) as I work through the Rosetta Stone lessons.  I try to read the sentences rather than listen to them, with mixed success.  I actually think I'll be more use to my family if I can read Japanese--I think it's difficult to speak a language as a beginner once the words are taken out of context.  In other words, when I look at a Rosetta Stone picture I may know what it means, but I'm less able to recall words "out of the blue".  But as my son reminds me, I've only been studying Japanese for a few months.  I do like the fact that Rosetta Stone shows the Japanese kana, rather than romanji (Japanese sounded out using our alphabet).  The only place they don't do that is when we're asked to spell, since we have to type.  I saw an ad for an iPad the other day, and it showed someone drawing a Japanese character--that would be great if Rosetta Stone eventually could teach the kana strokes.

all things Japanese

I'm sitting here eating sushi--left over from a dinner at Shiki Sushi, thanks to Groupon.  The dinner was part of an effort to familiarize my husband and son with Japanese food--in preparation for a possible family trip to Japan next May (2012).  Although I doubt that you can get a Maryland or Ballston sushi roll in Tokyo.  Anyway, we haven't decided whether we'll be able to go--my son, Matt, wants to take summer classes in preparation for his transfer to a 4-year college; the classes start during the period I was hoping we could take our trip.  My idea--it was my idea--was to take a family trip to celebrate Matt's graduation from a 2-year community college.  Seemed like the last 2 weeks in May would be a really good time to go overseas.

Japan was Matt's idea, not mine or my husband's.  I suggested Italy, since it's where my husband's family is from, and neither he nor Matt have been there.  (I, on the other hand, have been many places, including Italy and Japan.)  My husband suggested South America or South Africa--a bit overwhelming, I thought.  Matt mentioned Japan, and I remembered that he's talked about going there--even living there--for years. And I have spent quite a bit of time there, on business travel, so I feel like it's a country I can navigate. 

Ever since we started this discussion a few months ago, we've been doing research and discussing our possible trip to Japan.  I realized that, while I've been there many times, I've never been there on personal travel, so I never had to pay for things.  So we've been looking at airfares, and hotels, and trying to get more airline and hotel points to defray the costs.  Even if we defray those costs, we have to be careful how much we spend in country.  And the yen is so high right now, that's not helping.

Oh, yes, and I bought Rosetta Stone so I could learn Japanese.  Guess I had to have a new project, now that my intensive yoga instruction program is completed.  I know a few words and phrases from my travels, and tried to learn Japanese years ago, but traveled so much I wasn't able to get very far.  And I didn't even try to learn kana--thought it would be too difficult.  But I had bought a Japanese Kana Workbook (that's the name)--so I have gone through the hiragana section and learned them.  I'm having more trouble absorbing the katakana--and I have to keep looking back over the hiragana to keep from forgetting them. 

After the initial enthusiasm, it seems like my son is more apprehensive about the trip.  I think it's because he's worrying more about the transition to a 4-year college.  So we'll see.  If  May 2012 doesn't work out, maybe we'll have to try another year...