Hi guys,

So after working on it for a while and getting some help from 2 of my Japanese friends (and therefore learning some new vocab and a lot of new grammar points), here's what I have:

皆さんこんにちは。今日は漢字についてお話したいと思います。漢字は日本語の中で最も難しいけれどまた最も便利なものです。多くの学生達は漢字を勉強することが嫌いです。かれらはすべての日本語の本や新聞にふりがなをつけてほしいと願っています。私は漢字は日本語の中でも最高のものだと思います。漢字を読むことが出来ると、あたらしい言葉の意味をかんがえ易く（やすく）成ります。また、漢字を書くことが出来ると、文が短く成ります。今から、漢字を勉強することがいかに大切か話したいと思います。

今、私は５００個ぐらい漢字を知っています。五月までに１９４５個常用漢字を覚えたいと考えています。十二月に書き順と英語の意味勉強し始めました。私にとって、漢字の構成はとても面白く、漢字の偏（へん）やつくりを学んでその後（あと）それを含む（ふくむ）漢字を学びたいと考えています。

私が漢字の勉強で一番好きなことは初めて見た言葉の意味を想像することです。例えば、もし「pseudocyesis」の意味をアメリカ人に聞いても分からないでしょう。同じ意味の言葉の日本語「想像妊娠」は、ひとつひとつの漢字を知っていると意味を推理（すいり）できるのです。If you know the meaning of each kanji, you can guess the meaning of whole words. はじめの二つの漢字の意味は「imagined/そうぞう」で、最後の二つの漢字の意味は「pregnancy/にんしん」です。英語だと、辞書で調べる必要があるでしょう。しかし、日本語だと、ひとつひとつ漢字から意味を想像することができるのです。

[Conclusion goes here]。ありがとうございました。

Not finished, but almost there. I have to read it by Saturday. I know most of the vocab, but there are a couple of new words for me in there, so I'm practicing. Thanks for the help, guys. What do you think of the speech?

Kanji is the hardest part of Japanese? hardly!

You should add a と言われている to that.

Hrmm.. good point. I'm really trying to suggest that it seems like the most difficult thing in the eyes of most beginning Japanese learners. I mean, if you walk into most any Japanese class room on the first day kanji is introduced, you're going to see a lot of "oh jesus, are you serious?" faces and a lot of "can i still withdraw from this class without getting an F?" faces.

I agree. Thanks for pointing that out. What would be the best way to say "one of the most difficult things"?

Anymore suggestions?

I wonder. Kanji isn't the most lastingly difficult part, but it produces an extremely shallow learning curve that, even with Heisig-style methods, isn't an easy barrier to get across. "Difficult", maybe not, but I think it's reasonable to call it the largest barrier to learning the language.

~J

Seth, you pulled that off pretty quickly! Good luck on Saturday. I have a couple comments for you, but I'm not sure if you'd be interested in adding/changing anything at this point.

(1) I assume your audience will be Japanese people or Japanese teachers? They might not understand how someone can 'learn' 1500 kanji in 3 months. Perhaps you could append to the 2nd para something like: "In other words, I will learn the readings after I have learned the meaning and writing of each kanji." (By adding this, they'll know you aren't just naively ambitious and they might be genuinely intrigued by your unique approach.)

(2) I like your idea of giving a concrete example. I'm less convinced that using the English word "pseudocyesis" is the best choice however. First, the meaning of English words can often be guessed if one is familiar with the etymology of the parts. Second, we often have to look up the 'unguessable' Japanese words just like we do in English. And third, "false pregnancy" has a kind of icky or sad connotation to it. If you want to stick to an English comparison, perhaps pick a word that cannot be guessed in English and has a more upbeat (or humorous) meaning?

Or, alternatively, why not use one or two amusing four-character idioms to really make your point about the pleasure of being able to guess the meaning? It would be a way to inject a bit of humour. (You could even suggest an amusing alternate interpretation - plausible but incorrect.) It would also avoid the need to compare looking up English words. You would probably want to confirm whether you are allowed to hold up a sign with the characters on it - or better yet, write them on the board yourself! (Audiences seem to perk up when there's a prop or some movement on stage...)

You can find several examples of these idioms in threads on this forum and on various websites. One common one that comes to mind is 弱肉強食 (weak meat strong eat - "survival of the fittest"). Another (from wikipedia) is 十人十色　（"different strokes for different folks"). Perhaps you could tie the latter idea back to your unconventional approach to learning kanji in the conclusion of your speech.

Other tips: It can be helpful to practice a speech by recording it, if that's possible for you. If not, then just make sure you practise it aloud rather than just reading it. Perhaps your Japanese friends can help with intonation etc when the time comes. Also, if some old guys in the audience look like they're sleeping - don't take it personally. It's just what they do - they're concentrating.

Hi everybody,

Thora, thanks for the thoughtful response I indeed plan to change the jukugo before I actually have to give the speech. I'm not sure if I explained before, but tomorrow is only the preliminary round. It kind of decided who really gets to participate. The speech, I'm sure, will go through quite a few more edits. Today I met with my 先生 and we went over my speech to try to simplify things, as I *am* only a first year and it would seem kind of funny for a first year to read the speech above. So, this is what I've got now:

皆さんこんにちは。今日は漢字についてお話したいと思います。漢字は日本語の中で最も難しいけれど最も便利です。たくさんの学生は漢字を勉強することが嫌いです。学生達は全ての日本語の本や新聞にふりがなを
つけてほしいと思っています。私は漢字は日本語の中で最高のものだと思います。漢字が読めると、新しい言葉の意味がよく分かります。また、漢字を書けると、文が短く成ります。今から、漢字の大切さについて話ます。
今、私は500個ぐらい漢字を知っています。五月までに1,945個常用漢字を覚えたいです。十二月に書き順と英語の意味を勉強し始めました。私にとって、漢字の構成はとても面白いです。初めに「へん」と「つくり」を勉強します。それから、新しい漢字を勉強したいです。新しい漢字の意味を想像することが大好きです。例えば、アメリカ人は「pseudocyesis」の意味が分からないでしょう。「Pseudocyesis」は日本語で「想像妊娠」です。「想像妊娠」の漢字を知っていると意味を想像出来ます。｢想像」は「imagine]です。｢妊娠｣は「pregnancy」です。英語だと、私は辞書が要ります。でも、漢字だと、意味を想像出来ます。
漢字はとても面白いです。漢字を使うと、日本語が簡単に成ります。ありがとうございました。

As you can see, at the expense of some nuance, it is a bit simpler now and more similar to the work of a first year student. I'm actually sitting here writing in all the furigana in my open-office document in case I get nervous tomorrow and forget the reading for a word or two.

I recorded my speech earlier today and found that I sound a lot better speaking Japanese in my head Thankfully, it confirmed the length is adequate. It ran about 3 minutes and 10 seconds.

I wish I could make this speech more detailed. I also wish I could mention Heisig more... unfortunately, my current level of Japanese won't allow. I'll be entering the speech contest again next year, when I'm a second year. The second and third year winners get a shot at the grand prize: free round trip to Japan! So, I've got to study hard, eh?

Anyway, I guess I'm rambling when I should be typing in more furigana (a very boring task ) or reviewing my 415 kanji! I'll be to 500 or more by the time I have to give the speech (April 4th, I believe)... or at least, I hope so!

-世澄

Some other public speaking tips:

Look at the audience. This will be very difficult, but practice with a mirror. If you can see your eyes, you know you're doing good. I'm assuming they want a mix of both reading off the page and looking at the audience. You'll lose "points" if you do too much of either. However, your teacher would have more to say on this.

Since it's in Japanese, listen to it perfectly. Have your teacher record a reading of it for you to listen to. Heck, find a Japanese friend on Skype that'll read it for you to record.

Make "pause" and "gesture" notes in the speech. This will help slow you down, as you probably will read it much faster once you are on stage. Having the word "PAUSE" in the middle is an easy reminder cause you're going to forget to do it otherwise.

Hi guys,

Sorry for drudging up this old post, but today was the date of the actual speech contest. I placed 1st in my division Normally, this wouldn't be that great, seeing as how placing in a competition really means nothing for my fluency, BUT, I got:

1. A Canon Wordtank (been wanting one forever!)
2. $200 in cash!

So, although I loathed it ethically (VERY much input before output), it turned out to be profitable in the end.. as I now have some cash and a more than sufficient handheld dictionary!

Just thought I'd let you know, for all the kind souls who posted here to try and help me out with it.

Omedetou sethg! Prize-winning output is a nice way to get your audience's attention Fluency in reading, understanding AND speaking/writing is the eventual goal, after all, isn't it? Appears you are way out ahead of your class on several of the categories

Jen_Ai_Chan Wrote:Congrats!
Nice win

Good luck in next year's contest.

Thanks! Were you at the competition? Did you compete?

Oh, and just as an aside, the number I came out with in my speech (of learned kanji) was 八百字ぐらい, although I'm really around 940 or so now. I was just too afraid that, since I'd been practicing saying happyakuhigurai that I'd screw up if I tried to change it into 九百字ぐらい.

Congratulations!