Weekly Japanese Language Challenges!

[morningmusubi]

Hey guys I just want to promote my new site, Morning Musubi. It is a site about all things Japan of course, but focusing on learning japanese. The main point of the site is the Weekly Japanese Challenge, which at the moment, because it is so new is not being used to it's full potential.

I've got a forum setup to handle user interaction with the Weekly Challenges but so far not enough user to justify putting it live. At the moment i'm just encouraging people to comment on the blog posts.

So check it out for me, and let me know what you guys think. I really wanted to create a site that pushes each other to better our Japanese. And of course if you have any ideas for a weekly Japanese challenge...let me know!

Cheers guys.
Adam.

 

[Mike Cash]

I have the same feeling about new Japanese learning sites that I have when I see a new conbini opening up.....a couple hundred meters from half a dozen other conbinis.

 

[morningmusubi]

Yep those and blogs on people living in Japan, I hear what you're saying. Just learning the language myself and it helps push me along, I hope to do the same for other people thats all.

 

[Mike Cash]

Out of curiosity, where are you sourcing the photos you're using?

 

[morningmusubi]

flickr.... you can search for photos that are released under the creative commons licence.

 

[Mike Cash]

Good man. Glad to hear you're not one of those who decorate their blogs with stolen stuff.

 

[morningmusubi]

haha yeah it's not necessary to steal any of it. There is soo much incredibly good stuff out there that people are willing to share.

 

[Reinie]

Yep those and blogs on people living in Japan, I hear what you're saying. Just learning the language myself and it helps push me along, I hope to do the same for other people thats all.

Hi morningmusubi, I can totally relate. I, myself, am planning to make a blog chronicling my adventures as a foreigner here in Japan. My aim is to help those with unique situations like myself. I am an (Asian) American, married to a Japanese (who is half American and looks relatively Caucasian upon first glance), and I'm stuck under a lame visa called SOFA. I already bought the domain and now I just need to sit down and make it happen!

Oh and by the way, I visited your website and it took a while to load. But I'm looking at it now and it looks great! Maybe we can link exchange in the future?

 

[Davey]

I quite like the idea of the weekly challenge, something I haven't seen before.

Keep it up!

 

[morningmusubi]

Hey Reinie, yeah i think writing things down is a good way to keep motivated. You should definitely get your blog going, it's been nothing but good experiences so far for me.
Thanks for the heads up on the site being slow, was it painfully slow? I'll have to have a look into it, and for sure on the links exchanges when your up and running

Davey, yeah I like the weekly challenge idea too. I just need to somehow get people to start using it, I think if there was a small community of people behind it, you could really push yourself to better your Japanese. I'm going to put up a new challenge for this week, so if you have any suggestions let me know!

 

[Mike Cash]

Some live totally surrounded by a large community of Japanese speakers and still manage to avoid feeling inspired to learn....

 

[Reinie]

Some live totally surrounded by a large community of Japanese speakers and still manage to avoid feeling inspired to learn....

...(cue violin)...I am one of those people. I've lived in JP for a total of 7 years now. The first two were the culture shock years and I was still in high school. The rest I met my (halfie) husband/then boyfriend who spoke to me (and still does) in English. He is a terrible teacher. And I am a lazy student. Also, I get UN-inspired when I try to make sentences and I make an a** out of myself. What's worse is I kind of LOOK Japanese too so people give me these quizzical looks like..."Is she mentally challenged?" LOL

BUT, something that really inspires me though: Wanting to share conversations with interesting people. I've heard over and over again that the best way to learn Japanese is by making Japanese friends. I'm truly starting to see the wisdom in this.

---------- Post added at 12:06 ---------- Previous post was at 12:02 ----------

Hey Reinie, yeah i think writing things down is a good way to keep motivated. You should definitely get your blog going, it's been nothing but good experiences so far for me.
Thanks for the heads up on the site being slow, was it painfully slow? I'll have to have a look into it, and for sure on the links exchanges when your up and running

It was indeed painfully slow. I think it took about maybe a full two minutes? And then when I clicked on individual blog posts, it just completely hangs.... Hey have you tried "Lang-8 - Multi-lingual language learning and language exchange | Lang-8" ? It's a really helpful site in my opinion. I suggest going on there and socializing (and learn too!) and perhaps more people will visit your site.

 

[Mike Cash]

I have found that making your rent and groceries depend on it is also a good way to learn.

 

[morningmusubi]

Cheers, I use Lang-8 frequently it's a great resource.

I just put this weeks weekly challenge up, check it out for me and let me know what you think!

Thanks!