Another semester begins here in Mercer county and for the first time I am not taking a Chinese class! It it a strange and new experience, riddled with doubt and guilt that my Chinese could potentially deteriorate just as my French did. Given that one of my New Years Resolutions was to improve my language abilities, that would indeed be a shame.
However, if one thing’s for certain, it’s that I’ll make progress in my Japanese during JPN 102! My first 3 days of class have been very much like last semester, although my class sizes are larger and the classroom is further from the stapler room than last term’s classroom.
Nonetheless, as I am a goal-oriented person (maybe?), I will now take the time to set some goals! Well, sort of. And this is where the true meaning of Princeton comes in!
Last term, when we were asked to set goals for JPN 101 I listed all these things I wanted to do to promote my Japanese studies. However, due to the true meaning of Princeton (which is perpetual 時間がないので。。。, I didn’t do much more than what the course itself asked me to do. Don’t get me wrong; I would have liked to have spent time on all the extra stuff I had outlined, however, 時間がないので。。。 You get the point.
Anyway, if this term is to be at all like my last 3 terms, I will probably be busy as well. Thus when setting goals, I want to (need to) be simple. In class I feel we do not have enough opportunity to speak; there are simply too many students. What I ought to do (if the profs are willing) is meet with a teacher every week during their office hours for 15 minute or so and just talk to them there. It is only through repeated use of what we’re learning that I will make real gains in Japanese. I cannot let my resolution fall so soon; it’s still only February.
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