はじめまして。 Krambeer です。 どうぞ よろしく。
Hello everyone! My name is Matt Krambeer and I am a student in first year Japanese at the University of Notre Dame. In this blog I will post regularly about my experience with learning Japanese. Currently I do not know much more than the hiragana alphabet and a couple of phrases. As I learn more Japanese, I will stop using English in this blog.
*Edit*
I forgot to tell you more about myself! （すみません！） I am a senior in the joint philosophy/theology program, and I am also getting a supplemental major in math. I enjoy most things relating to any of these three subjects, so I might post some things about those too.
*End Edit*
Incidentally, does anyone know of a convenient way to write hiragana on the computer? Right now I am using this website: (http://www.lexilogos.com/keyboard/hiragana.htm) to write, and then I copy/paste the text. This seems pretty convenient. Are there other convenient ways to write hiragana on the computer?
I first became exposed to Japanese culture through video games (though I did not know they were Japanese at the time). I've been playing Pokemon since elementary school and I still play some of the handheld games, like the latest Pokemon Y version. I also watched Dragon Ball Z growing up, and in high school I had several friends introduce me to more anime. Since then I have enjoyed watching anime and reading manga. One of the main reasons I am excited to learn Japanese is so I can enjoy anime and manga in the original language, instead of through English translations. Also, last year I took a course here at Notre Dame called "The History of Modern Japan" and I found that I enjoyed learning about Japanese history and culture as well. I believe that learning Japanese will be useful and fun for many reasons.
That will be all for my introduction. I will continue to post as I learn more Japanese words, phrases, and katakana (and eventually, kanji)!
