Post No.1!

僕のブログにようこそ！I'd like to write my entire blog in Japanese, but I just started trying to write it and there are too many things I am unsure of when writing, so I will use both English and Japanese. I guess I should be a bit more brave, but I don't want to write things that don't make any sense. Despite my years of learning Japanese, I still find it difficult to put a sentence together. Deva, a little evil cat at the back of my head, tells me that what I'm writing is ungrammatical or a whole lot of nonsense! Damn him! You can meet him HERE if you like. Please tell him to leave 涼 alone! Hopefully, with help from this language learning journal, I will defeat him and he will leave me alone for good!

So, here is a list of words that I have been trying to learn for the last month. The trouble with making a vocabulary list is that it is easier said than done. I have a programme called J.E. Dict which, at first, I thought was a great computer dictionary. Sometimes it is ok, but mostly when I type in an English word and hunt for the Japanese word, I really have to hunt for it. The programme comes back with over fifty or so results, and with some words, I can work out which ones aren't the word I'm wanting to use, but with most of them, I wouldn't have the slightest idea which one to use. I'm sure some of the words must be archaic or slang, and I know that English also has a lot of words to express one idea, but I really need to find myself a simpler dictionary - but not too simple!

For the following list, if there is a translation that is more frequently used rather than one I have written below, please tell me! Apologies for the lousy attempt at putting these into columns...

中華街　                         ちゅうかがい      　chinatown (n)
言語                                  げんご　                 language (n)
外国語　　　　　　　  がいこくご　　     foreign language (n)
以来                                  いらい                     since, henceforth
興味                                  きょうみ　　         interest (in something) (n)
羨ましい　　　　　　  うらやましい　　 envious, jealous
有用な                               ゆうような　   　 useful, helpful
役立つ　　　　　　　   やくだつ　　　　to be useful, helpful
語学学習　　　　　　   ごがくがくしゅ    language study, language learning (n)
修理  　　　　　　　　 しゅうり 　　　   repairing, mending (n)
冷蔵庫　　　　　　　   れいぞうこ　　    refrigerator (n)
訳ない　　　　　　　   わけない         　   easy, simple, "there's no way..."
恋に落ちる　　　　　   こいにおちる　    to fall in love
危ない　　　　　　　   あぶない　　　　dangerous, risky, hazardous

Some of those words are quite simple, and I was happy that as I was typing them out, I could remember most of them! YAY!

Well, thank you for reading! I will leave you with a song that I really like at the moment by バンプオブチキン！ またね！