On my speech

For anyone who didn't find it immediatly obvious, I am stricken from time to time by crippling stage fright. In general, I have trouble talking to people I don't know well, and in particular I freeze up when I know there are more than about four people listening to what I'm saying. Symptoms include mind-erasing fear and the complete inability to form coherant words. Anyway, considering that, I think I did pretty well.

My first disasterous, terribly embarrasing attempt could have been easily prevented if I hadn't assumed the speech was the same as the skits, and I'd brought my notes with me. My second attempt, wherein I actually managed to get to the end of my writing prompt, shows that to be clearly true. Having the words right there compensates for the fact that my mind has gone blank, and when I read from a prompt it's easy to pretend that I'm not speaking my own words, and so I don't have to be affraid of what the people listening will think of them.

Things I would do differently: Practice more and familiarize myself much more intimately with my speech. Why? Because that way when I inevitably freeze up and humiliate myself, I'll know for sure that it wasn't because I didn't prepare enough before hand. There's still some doubt in my mind about that particular nightmare, and there needn't be. Also, I'd strive for a bit more fluency, which can be heard at the best of times, much less when you're chewing on your pulse. I'd also probably include a visual aid, as a large piece of posterboard would be great for hiding behind.

In retrospect, my speech itself lacked variety in sentence structures. Also, I'm beginning to realize that it may be more effective to try and learn all the vocabulary and grammar in my writing and then translate the english story I know by heart into Japanese on the spot, rather than simply memorizing a series of japanese sentences that I posess little understanding of.

Speech File

Speech File

about last post

There you have part one. I finally bit the bullet and stoped trying to do it the hard way. Instead of searching in vain for something interesting about myself to write, or worse, lying about myself, from here on, I'll just write a little tale of my own design. Not sure how it'll go without a bigger vocabulary, but whatever. FYI, it may or may not be an allegory. Depends on what kind of mood I'm in when I write the next segment... IF i write the next segment.

私は話すのが大きらいですから。話を書くつもりです。

むかしむかし、とてもかなしい人は古い家に住んでいました。名前はゼロさんでした。一人ですから、たいていかなしかったです。ゼロさんは友だちがいませんから、話ったりあそんだりしませんでした。でも、ねこがかいました。ねこの名前はブッツでした。ぜロさんはかなしい人の時、ブッツとよく話しましたが、もちろんブッツはぜんぜんこたえません。ぜロさんのゆめの中で、ブッツは話すゆめが一ばん好きでした。

それから、なつの日、いいフェアリーは古い家に来ました。フェアリーさんはかなしいゼロさんを見て、フェアーリさんもかなしくなりました。フェアリーさんはいい事をしたいでした。でも、どんないい事をしますか。

でも、ゼロさんは「ブッツ、私はだらかと話たいです。私はブッツと会話をしたいです。」といって、フェアーリさんは聞きました。

about last post

Just a little bit of truth. I couldn't think of anything even moderatly interesting to talk about, so I decided to just complain instead. That's usually how these online live-journal things go, from my understanding. Why buck the trend?

ブログもきらいです

私はブログがしたくありません。私がブログを書く人は自分好きな人だと思いますから、私はこのごろまでブログを書ったことがありませんでした。それから、皆さんのつまらない日を読みたくありませんから、ブログもよんだことがありませんでした。でも、ブログでらいてんをとりたいですから、私はブログをします。

about last post

What can I say? I hate shopping of most any variety, and just because it means I get to eat decently, that dosn't exclude food shopping. Maybe I'm just lazy (in fact that's almost certainly it) but I'd rather sit around hungry than go out to buy food. Eating is overrated anyway.

スーパーがきらいです

今しゅうはかんたんじゃありませんでした。私はもうみんな食べものを食べましたから。私はスーパーに食べものを買うに行くのがきらいですから、私は食べないほうが食べものの買いもののよりすきです。スーパーは人がたくさんあって、たのしくありませんから、あまり行きません。

My posting history

I realize I haven’t been keeping up with my blog at all well, and that even these following posts are late. Complications with my ability to word-process in Japanese have made writing these far from easy or convenient, and I'm only now getting around to posting entries I wrote weeks ago. I’m sorry, and if that means I’m graded down then so be it. The last post was talking about my spring vacation, where I found myself subject to more work than I often face here at school.

ひる休み

先しゅうはひる休みでしたが、今しゅうのほうが先しゅうよりすきだと思ういます。ひる休み, 家にか帰りました。家族を会うのがすきだ、母のりょうりを食べるのが大すきでした。でも、家で毎日たのしない事をたくさんしました。ねって、テレビゲームをするつもりでしたが、かぞくにあいましたから、しませんでした。大へんですよね。