Comics Are Back!

Well I haven't done comics in a while. This sheet was actually started nearly two months ago and I just finished it today. I know a lot more Japanese now so hopefully I can start doing these more.

"What do you want for your birthday?"

おたんじょび？：your birthday? (or something like that)
ごはん：rice
CL おんがくビヂオ： CL music video
くつ下：socks
チョコラート：chocolate
When asked what I wanted for my birthday and what I was looking forward to I said I wanted rice, chocolate, and socks and that I was looking forward to being able to watch the music video for CL's "Hello Bitches" because it was age restricted. I got all of these things (and the awesome ninja candles I didn't know I needed in my life) and got to watch the music video, which by the way is just like normal American music videos.

"Kpop dance club"

ヤー and ヒェー: screaming noises
なにですか？：what?
わかりません：I don't understand/I don't know
ダンスクラブ： dance club
So I'm in a kpop dance club at my college and for some reason or another we scream a lot while dancing, especially when dancing "Oh NaNa" by KARD. One day a new girl showed up and was wondering why everyone was screaming and to be honest I don't really know either. It's just fun. There are seven girls in the group but a new girl joined after I drew the comic so I put her in the title panel because she is awesome.

"Amazing bookstore"

本やすごいです！：amazing bookstore!
私は本やに行きたい: I want to go to the bookstore.
In the roommate search process for my university, I met a Japanese girl and have been emailing her. She sent me a picture of an amazing bookstore near her house with very tall bookshelves and a plant running along some shelves and it was very すごい and made me want to go there.

"Good at bad at"

私はりょりすることが上手です。： I am good at cooking.
私は車をちゅしゃすることが下手です。： I am bad at parking the car.
This is just me practicing what we learned in class. We are starting to learn more complex sentences so I've been trying to use them. Not necessarily the most interesting comics, but they are fun to write and draw.

More Fun with Comics

And I'm back with another page of comics! I split everything up so it's easier to read and I can explain them better, but everything here does all fit on one page.

"What kind of tree is this?"

これは木です。＝ this is a tree
So I was showing a Japanese exchange student around our property and was pointing out a tree and then realized I wasn't sure what it was called so I just said it was a tree and we had a good laugh pointing at all the different kinds of trees and saying they were trees.

"That didn't go as planned"

きょう、わたしはごご１２じいえでうばう。＝ today at 12pm I will rob the house (or something like that)
。。。＝　awkward silence
いいえ！＝　NO!
One of my classmates told us a story of a time that some kids tried to rob her house but when they burst into the basement with a crowbar and found her in a t-shirt and underwear eating a sandwich they ran away I just knew I had to make a comic of it. Here is the story shown with my limited Japanese.

"This is my cat"

それはなんですか？＝　what is that?
これは、わたしのねこです。＝ this is my cat.
せんせい＝ teacher
せいせき？＝ grades?
 これは、わたしのねこです。＝ this is my cat.
いま、なんじですか？＝ what time is it?
これは、わたしのねこです。＝ this is my cat.
がくせい＝ student
かみ＝ paper
「ごみばこ」は英語でなんといいますか？＝　how do you say "gomibako" in English?
これは、わたしのねこです。＝ this is my cat.
When I was talking with the Japanese exchange student, who has amazing English by the way, I was saying that the extent of my Japanese was stuff like 「これは、わたしのねこです。」 which translates to "this is my cat," which won't get me very far. These are examples of it not getting me very far. By the way I can actually answer all these questions. The answer to the first one is correct, the answer to the second one is A's, the third one is ごぜん１じ５９ふんです, and the answer to the last one is 「wastebasket」といいます.

My Japanese 101 Final

As you may or may not have noticed, I didn't post a lot of stuff in the past week. That's because it was finals week for me so I was studying and also working because others wanted to study (Small Thing Number One, folks). Anyway, one of the things I was studying for was my Japanese final, which was a presentation about my schedule. The sentences written here are about as complicated as my Japanese can get, which is still really simple.Translations are provided for the slides so if you don't know Japanese you can still enjoy them.

まいしゅうのがつようびとすいようびだいがくにいきます。＝Every Monday and Wednesday I go to college.
アルバイトにいきません。＝I do not go to my part time job.
(also, that calendar is my real calendar for March. Some of the activities mentioned in Small Thing Number Eleven are in there)

まいにちごぜん８じにおきます。＝ Every day I wake up at 8am.
これはわたしのねこです。＝　This is my cat.
(I don't actually wake up at 8am every day, just on days I do anything useful. Also, "kore wa watashi no neko desu" is probably my favorite sentence right now XD)

まいにちごぜん８じ２ふんにはをみがきます。＝　Every day at 8:02am I brush my teeth.
(and yes my cat is definitely part of everything that happens while I'm at home. There were more slides initially and in every single one where I was anywhere close to my home my cat was in them)

わたしは、おんがくのききます。＝　I like listening to music.
(we also had to add in things we like and don't like. Also, for all those curious, the lyrics are from the kpop song "Blood, Sweat, and Tears" by BTS)

わたしは、くるまをちゅしゃがすきでわありません。＝　I do not like parking the car.
いいえ！＝No!
(parking stresses me out and I don't like parking near other cars. I'm weird)

せんしゅう、わたしはごご１２じ５０ぷんにだいがくでダンス。＝ Last week, I was dancing at college at 12:50pm.
(yes, I do dance in the hallways at school. That particular time because that's the most common break for me to dance in. Also, that's my friend from art class looking at me like I'm crazy)

きのう、わたしはとしょかんでべんきょうしませんでした。＝ Yesterday, I was not studying in the library.
きのう、わたしはいえでべんきょうしました。＝　Yesterday, I was studying at home.
(and my cat appears again)

And that was my final! My classmates didn't cringe so I think it is decent. Also, I got an A in the class so I'm stoked about that :D.

More Comics!

So a great way to learn a language is to write it a lot. Another good way is to make up your own things to say. You know what combines these two? Comics!

Basically I have been using my limited Japanese to make silly comics. I don't know much so I stretch what I do know and rely a lot on facial expressions at times. There will be translations provided so you can either practice your Japanese or enjoy these without knowing any Japanese

"Counting"

So one day at work it was early and I had nothing to do so I started cleaning tables and counting in Japanese. By the way, you should never write numbers in hiragana. It's really inefficient.

All that hiragana=numbers 1-21

"Haanbaagaa"

Can we take a moment to appreciate how fun it is to say haanbaagaa? HAANBAAGAA!!!

ハーンバーガー　を　りょうり　します＝cooking hamburger
ハーンバーガー　を　たべます＝eating hamburger
ハーンバーガー＝HAMBURGER
火＝fire

"Hai, sou desu"

To make eating pickles right out of the jar even weirder...(in my defense, chopsticks are the perfect tool for getting things out of jars).
はい、　そう　です＝yes, that is correct

"Crazy Weather"

We were taught how to say stuff about the weather. Of course I had to say the weirdest thing possible. ごめんなさい、シェルさん
カンサス　の　てんき　は　どう　ですか？＝What is the weather like in Kansas?
あつい　です＝it's hot
ゆき　です＝it's snowy

A Small Comic

I make little comics sometimes so I thought maybe people would want to see them. However, there is a little twist on this one: it's entirely in Japanese! That probably sounds really cool and all but my Japanese is exceedingly limited so there is a grand total of three words in the whole thing XD. 

"Don't mind me dancing in the corner"

おんがく　を　ききます＝listening to music
がかさん＝ painter-san

(the gist of what is happening here is I was dancing to this song in a hallway of the art building and a cute guy from the painting class walked passed and I kinda freaked out XD)


Welcome to the life of an awkward nerdy college student! :D