20 posts tagged “tumblr”

I know it's old news that Pownce is closing, but I just went across there to pick up my posts as an export for vox and when I got to the point of importing I noticed that all my posts were being fed there from Twitter anyway. Talk about redundant. Long ago I must have begun feeding Twitter to Pownce, and completely forgotten about it.

One less blog/microblog/social networking service to worry about. I wonder if I can take the knife to any more? Jaiku?

Alright, so there are many reasons to be cheerful, but lets start with three. Not the only ones, nor the most important ones, but 3 being the magic number, a good place to start.

Almost a year ago Mick and Min and Nettie bought me a moleskine when they came to Japan. I've been writing in it  almost every other day and I'm starting to feel as though it's had a transformational effect not only on writing about things I experience but on observing them as they happen.

Until today I haven't really been that interested in going back through it and reading it again, but I was prompted by a freinds retrospectiveness to delve into the waybackmachine and visit one of my first blogs. Most of the links are broken and the jpegs are missing due to the archive not following links contained within javascript, but it's still there, frozen in time.

Moments we capture in print or on screen are also indelibly imprinted on our psyche. I am who I today for as much I have determined for myself, shaped by the influence of others.

Today I am tired and sore. Yesterday was a 16 hour working day, and tomorrow will be another fourteen. I am happy for the standard 8 today, but feel so driven to produce something of value I am up writing now.

How different things are now to what they were a year ago. I was newly out of work and expecting my third child. It was getting very cold and I was sporting a long beard. I was in a foreign country surounded by people speaking a foreign language and those that did speak English were paying for me to do so.

Things couldn't be more different. I am clean shaven and working three jobs to get back on track. My third child is almost walking, and all three of my kids are at least in the same city. I still get paid to speak English, but this time it's different because it's my second job and the pressure is off. Now I'm able to poor my talents and skills in to my day job I'm a lot more settled.

I still have a long way to go before I can say I'm doing exactly what I want to do, but I am getting there. I'm in a place where I can share my vision and make a difference. I could be getting paid more, but that's beside the point, I'm learning and growing into my responsibilities and that feels good.

Where I'm going from here is the nexus of technology and learning. I have a couple of plans that are slowly being brought to fruition. I won't be revealing all just yet, but you can see things slowly taking shape in places like rainbowhill88 and jrfiction on YouTube, and rainbowhill and jrfiction on tumblr. If you're a higher frequency person, then join me on twitter in either Japanese or English flavours.

There's also edufire, which is where I'm off to now, to try and build up my student base. I'm tutoring in Japanese and English over there. If you're a teacher maybe you should come and join us, if you're a student maybe you should come and learn from me!

When I first considered a job teaching English in Japan I had a vague idea of what learning a foreign language might be like. My experience of learning a language at school in Australia was disjointed at best, and was centred around standardised classroom texts and didactic teaching methods. Subsequently I didn't learn much of the Japanese, Italian, French, German, Latin or Ancient Greek I was taught.

I was fortunate however to have been educated in a school where most of the students spoke a second language at home, so I knew even then that bilingualism was a reality for many people. When I made the commitment to go to Japan, I also committed myself to learning the language, and studying martial arts over a two to five year period. My best chance of learning the language centred around being immersed in the culture, and using it to accomplish tasks of an everyday nature.

When I arrived in Japan, I enrolled in survival Japanese courses offered at the local international centre and took my notes home and practised phrases every day. I also mastered hiragana and katakana early on because I wanted to be able to read. Towards the end of my first year I moved to a rural town, from a prefectural capital, and my opportunities for engagement with the locals grew. I was beginning to feel more confident in my language ability.

Being a language learner gave me a much greater appreciation of what my students needed in the classroom. Everyone learns differently, and made sense for me to approach language acquisition from a learners perspective. I took the Japanese Language Proficiency Test in my second year, and sat it each year following. Studying for the test helped me understand the different modalities of language learning. Doing the past exams helped me to understand my weaknesses and better prepared me for what was ahead. I was constantly on the lookout for different learning techniques. Language learning itself, became my hobby.

When I met my then future wife in 2004 all of our communication was in Japanese. As we grew together as a couple my language needs changed, I was now required to understand things with a degree of subtlety that I hadn't had before. Speech was infused with nuance, and although the potential for miscommunication was high, I credit my wife's patience and understanding with my current language ability. We now have two children, a boy and girl aged 2 years old and 3 months respectively. They will be joining me in Australia in June.

I have come to the realisation that language learning is not separate from cultural experience. Language learning doesn't happen in a vacuum, it must be connected with and through people to what you want to achieve as an individual. Just as the motivation for learning a language must come from within, so too should the approach. Language learners are individuals first, and approaches to language learning should be centred around individuals.

It's been about three years, since I saw Brisbane but I never imagined it as green as this. It's almost as if I've been transported back to the Brisbane of my youth, except for the traffic and the development. Things are alive, growing, and the air is full of potential.

Or perhaps it's just the humidity getting to me. When I left Japan it had snowed heavily in the week before I left and was freezing as I stepped on the plane. As I stepped off the plane in Brisbane, almost a years rainfall had fallen in some parts of the state in the same time. Subtropical lows and a monsoonal trough are bringing an end to the drought here. There isn't enough rain yet to fill the state's dams, and there is heavy damage to crops in the north, but everyone I meet is saying it's a good thing.

There also seems to be plenty of work around. The resources boom in Australia is in full swing and Queensland is at the forefront of the boom. I'm looking for work in two areas, English as a second language (ESL), and software development. I'm hoping to put my Japanese skills good use use in either one of those areas.

ESL will provide some continuity and is perhaps more accessible in Brisbane, due to the high number of foreign students studying here.

Finding the right pathway back in to IT might be a little more difficult, since I've been out of the industry for about 5 years. My experience as a multimedia/web developer spanned over 7 years and 5 countries. It was top class, but now I need to work hard to update my skills, and demonstrate my ability.

I'm looking forward to the challenge.

In Japan people will pay exorbitant prices to have you talk to them in English, in stuffy little glass cubicles, in forty minute fixes. When the venue for formal study of language school chain is gone, they will have you around for coffee.

I love coffee and it isn't very hard to convince me to have another cup. So when three of my former students wanted to make it a regular Thursday morning event I just couldn't refuse.

The pretence of course, is a lesson in daily conversation, although they the mostly speak to each other in Japanese. I'm quite happy to let them wander off on tangents, as long as they afford me the illusion of teaching them something from time to time. It's a wonderful arrangement.

I may be preaching to the converted here, but I believe coffee contributes in many untold ways to the art of conversation. Let's see how you can apply the same principles you do when enjoying a cup of coffee, to the art of conversation.

The ritual of coffee.
When you set time aside for the preparation of a fine cup of coffee, you are creating a buffer between yourself and he outside world. Which ever way you prefer to brew your coffee, your attention to the details of your chosen method allow you to focus your thoughts on a single point, the perfect cup of coffee. Elusive as it may be, this ideal is essential for perfecting your art.

So too with the art of conversation. When you give your time to someone, give them your full attention. Let them know you are listening, and that nothing will intrude into the space you have created for them. Allow time for the conversation to develop at it's own pace. Respect the conversation as if it were something in it's own right, more than the sum of it's parts. Not just a speaker and a listener, but equal participants in piece of performance art.

The space between sips.

Last week our host served coffee in these eccentric cups and saucers, each one unique. As we admired their quality and craftsmanship a little more breathing space came into the conversation. Although the cups were small, we were in no hurry to put them down.
 
Some people are more comfortable with silence than others. When it does happen don't be afraid to sit back and just observe the space it creates. When you're not the first to talk, you might hear something genuinely refreshing.

The caffeine conclusion.
A small amount of the stimulant caffeine should leave you with a buzz, bringing you to the business end of conversation. You may feel able to express yourself more freely, but don't over do it.

Having the courage to speak your mind is accompanied by the responsibility to be receptive to the opinions of others. If you can strike the right balance, while learning to express yourself positively and in a non-threatening way, then you will win the respect and admiration of your peers.

Now, I wonder how I can translate that same coffee aesthetic in to one that generates conversation on this blog? How does coffee work for you socially? What is it about the ritual that has a lubricating effect on conversation for you? I would be happy to hear your thoughts over a cup or two.

I've just spent the better part of the morning emptying boxes of junk ready for the trash, and packing others for the big move. My flight back to Australia is booked for the 25th of January. Through all of the turmoil and hardship over the last couple of months, I am embracing change as the only certainty. Bring it on.

At home we are preparing to welcome a newcomer to the family. C is due to give birth just before Christmas, she tells me she is ready now. It looks like I will have about one month or so with our newest addition. Leaving her, R and C behind is going to be one of the hardest things I have to do next year, but it's for the best.

I had to knock back two job offers yesterday. As much as we need the money, I couldn't justify starting with a company that expected me to work well in to next year, only to turn around and leave in under two months. That wouldn't feel right. My private students are still happy to have me, and they are even bringing in new students. It feels much better to support those who have supported me.

On Sunday I sat the JLPT, I had no trouble in either the writing/character or reading comprehension/grammar sections of the test but felt uncertain the whole way through the listening section. Usually the listening is my best section, and I was counting on it to pull me through to a low pass, because I knew I wasn't going to get the marks I needed in the other sections. We'll just have to wait and see, the results are out in February or March next year.

Now that my test is over, I can focus on being a full time father for a while and it feels great. Lot's of walks to the park, cuddles and story-time, just what I need.

I just learnt today that one of my favourite children programs on Japanese TV derives it's name from arguably the worlds most influential mathematicians and philosophers, Pythagoras. I was watching this video posted on Smiley's blog and posted beneath the video were the words Pythagoras Switch, a translation of the Japanese name of the program, ピタゴラスイッチ　(pitagora suitchi).

Smiley I thought you might like this, as I do, for it's garage flavour. Enjoy.

When I started twittering in Japanese about a year ago, I had no idea how far I would go with it, or what benefit it would bring to my study of Japanese. At times it has been a distraction, and at the height of my addiction attraction to it, kind of costly, as my international SMS bill went through the roof.

What it has helped me do is be more productive, more outwardly expressive with my inner Japanese speaker. In some respects it has helped me find my my Japanese voice, as clumsy and stilted as it still feels. Sometimes there is a dialogue maintained with other twitterers, and sometimes there is not. There is always the need to formulate thoughts into comprehensible sentences.

Just recently I have been gathering my daily twittering into the one post with the help of a service called LoudTwitter. I was hoping that it would spur me on to breaking out of the 140 character limit, and into writing more consistently in Japanese on this blog. So far only 5days of this kind of daily diary through twitter have been posted here.

Never would I have in wildest dreams thought any one would go to the bother of translating my twits into English. But , someone has. Now I'm not quite sure how I feel about this, the illusion of anonymity and privacy provided by blogging in my second language has just been erased a little further.

Blogging in my second language I feel I am far less critical of my self, perhaps blunter and less self conscious about it. In English the same expressions may come across as selfish, and ill-conceived. As a Japanese speaker I am not yet beyond the junior high school vernacular, but that's OK with me.

There are plenty of people blogging in a language that is not their first. Does it provide you with a different sense of self?  Do you feel safer presenting parts of you that you wouldn't in your mother tongue? If you could blog in another language, what would you say? Would it be different from what you already write about?