Rikaichan & Tae Kim & Studying in America

Index » 喫茶店 (Koohii Lounge)

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Reply #1 - 2009 March 16, 11:15 pm
welldone101 Member
Registered: 2008-12-21 Posts: 289

So, I just discovered Rikaichan Firefox plugin and Tae Kim's website-grammar book on the same freaking day.  Where have they been all my life?  I wish I knew about Heisig, Anki, Tae Kim, Rikaichan (um.. and Kanji, Hiragana.. how to bow.. etc) when I moved to Japan 2 years ago.  /Le Sigh

On the other hand I learned a ton using this textbook from a correspondence course so not all my time was wasted, just not as efficient as I would have liked it to have been.

Now to my question, if you have some insight.  In August I'm moving to Palo Alto (SFBay Area) and am going to continue studying Japanese in the US.  For those of you studying in the US, how do you cope with the lessened amount of Japanese encountered in day to day life?  Do you spend a lot of time listening to radio everyday? Or just focus on academic studying and do the listening/speaking stuff in big clumps (i.e. a weekend of Japanese movies or a conversation circle once a week)  Any tips would be appreciated; and any of you hail from the San Fran area?

Reply #2 - 2009 March 16, 11:46 pm
saizen Member
From: Japan Registered: 2008-04-21 Posts: 134

Well I lived in san jose for 6 years before moving to japan and let me tell you there is a japan town in san francisco and one in in downtown san jose(very small though). Spend a lot of time in these places if you can.

Reply #3 - 2009 March 17, 12:45 am
welldone101 Member
Registered: 2008-12-21 Posts: 289

saizen wrote:

Well I lived in san jose for 6 years before moving to japan and let me tell you there is a japan town in san francisco and one in in downtown san jose(very small though). Spend a lot of time in these places if you can.

That sounds awesome!  I wonder if they have much experience with American's speaking Japanese...  btw, do they call non-Japanese gaijin even though they live in San Jose?  Just wondering if the term is geologically dependent or not haha.

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Reply #4 - 2009 March 17, 1:23 am
suffah Member
From: New York Registered: 2006-09-14 Posts: 261

I watch a lot of dramas and meet with a language partner.

You can also spring for TV Japan if you need more media.

Last edited by suffah (2009 March 17, 1:24 am)

Reply #5 - 2009 March 17, 3:33 am
Tobberoth Member
From: Sweden Registered: 2008-08-25 Posts: 3364

www.alljapaneseallthetime.com

Reply #6 - 2009 March 17, 4:14 am
yukkuri_kame Member
From: Florida US Registered: 2008-05-30 Posts: 185

welldone101 wrote:

btw, do they call non-Japanese gaijin even though they live in San Jose?  Just wondering if the term is geologically dependent or not haha.

Technically, the Japanese living in America would be 外国人 gaikokujin.  It simply means foreigner.  Literally "outside" "country" "person".

Last edited by yukkuri_kame (2009 March 17, 5:45 am)

Reply #7 - 2009 March 17, 6:18 am
yukkuri_kame Member
From: Florida US Registered: 2008-05-30 Posts: 185

somewhat off topic, but is there an E>J version of rikaichan?

Reply #8 - 2009 March 17, 8:36 am
cloudstrife543 Member
From: tallahassee Registered: 2008-10-26 Posts: 82

Is there a Rikaichan type similar program for Internet Explorer?

Reply #9 - 2009 March 17, 10:00 am
uberstuber Member
Registered: 2007-03-27 Posts: 238

cloudstrife543 wrote:

Is there a Rikaichan type similar program for Internet Explorer?

No.

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