Last night I had my first trial session with a Japanese tutor found on iTalki. I need speaking practice more than anything due to my lack of opportunities in that regard, so that's what I'm aiming for in my lessons.
We had a practice conversation where she asked me simple questions about myself, such as my name, what foods I like, what my hobbies are, and where I work. Those are all fairly basic, yet it was extremely difficult to answer because even if I know the vocab, putting those thoughts together to express myself is something else entirely.
I felt like an idiot, frankly, but I think that's inevitable when learning a new language like this. I was able to answer the first two questions, but I'm less familiar with the words used relating to work and hobbies, so those were more challenging.
For the next week I think I should study vocab and sentence structures used in a basic self-introduction so I can improve upon that ability. I've scheduled another half-hour lesson (because I think an hour might be pushing it right now), so I hope to be much better next week.
To have a sort of formal list I can check off, my goals for next week are:
1. Improve vocabulary in terms of hobbies and jobs
2. Practice speaking introductory sentences
3. Have more confidence!
I think confidence will be one of my biggest hurdles, because if I'm unsure about a word I often pause to debate its usage. Really I should just speak it as I think of it and have my mistakes corrected. I'm hoping my next lesson is a bit less nerve-wracking for me.
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