日本語で作文の練習
I had clearly underestimated the Lang-8 community.
To be honest, I thought Lang-8 wouldn’t be worth the hassle— apparently my mistake was regarding it as another language-exchange community (i.e. private messaging someone else on the false premises of making friends and hoping they will help you back and not turn out psychotic or anything). In the end, I decided to give it a try and signed up for an account, only to find out that the whole process is fairly different from what I first pictured. After going through the standard profile-editing, you are given a personal space including a journal, where you write an entry/short composition in the language you are studying. Afterwards, the magic happens: native language speakers correct your composition sentence-by-sentence. The system makes it easy enough for you to correct/edit each sentence effortlessly.
Additionally, there are a bunch of other free [and premium] features I have yet to check out, but I’ll definitely stop by Lang-8 more often from now on. After all, what does this ultimately mean for my own language learning process? Well,
- It forces me to write in Japanese, which, at the same time, involves:
- acquiring new vocabulary (I had to look up a bunch of words and expressions, not only to write up my own sentences, but also to help me understand the answers.) I realised I have spent too much time learning vocabulary through repetition drills and the like, but haven’t yet put any of that in use!
- practising grammar
- gain confidence
- It helps me realise my own mistakes. What good is it to practise your writing skills in a language other than your own when you are not aware of the mistakes you are making, anyway?
- Practice = fluency.
Here’s how my first attempt went…
こんにちは、アナです。近頃日は自分でも本語を勉強してみます。これは私の一番日の本語を作文ですからちょっと牛歩です。試験を受けるうと思ています、だから頑張りましょうよ！漢字が大好きでもまだましな文書くように沢山の文法を勉強しなければなりません。この作文を直していただきたいんです。
よろしくおねがいします！
And these are some interesting corrections I got in barely five minutes from its original posting time:
- 近頃日は自分でも本語を勉強してみます。
(近頃日本語を勉強しています。)(近頃日最近私は自分でも本語独学で日本語を勉強しています。)
- これは私の一番日の本語を作文ですからちょっと牛歩です。
(これは私の最初の日本語での作文ですからちょっと心配です。)(これは私の一番日最初の本語を作文ですからちょっと牛歩短文です。)(日本語の作文は、初めてなので、苦労しています。)これは私の最初の作文ですからちょっと未熟（みじゅく）です。
- 試験を受けるうと思ています、だから頑張りましょうよ！
(試験を受けるようと思っています、だから頑張りましょうよす！)
- 漢字が大好きでもまだましな文書くように沢山の文法を勉強しなければなりません。
(漢字が大好き、でも、もっとましな文を書けるように沢山の文法を勉強しなければなりません。)(漢字が大好きですが、より良い文を書けるように沢山の文法を勉強しなければなりません。)
- この作文を直していただきたいんです。
(この作文を直していただきたいんです。)(この作文を直していただきたいのです。) N/A: 話し言葉（はなしことば）ではアナさんの書いたとおりですが文章では”いただきたいのです。”になります。informal/formal.
To sum up, from a (rather lame, I know) 7-sentence paragraph I wrote down roughly 15 new vocabulary items and tried to familiarize myself with three new grammar points: “in order to” (ように); “must do/have to do” (still trying to get this one.); “should do” (verb -ta + ほうがいいです).
Not bad, not bad.
