Bauddha

Bauddha is a site that offers parallel texts of texts in both english and japanese with a built in dictionary accessed via double click any kanji. The link leads to a simple english version of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Nights Dream, however the site has a number of works my many other authors. All in the public domain, of course. The main page of the site can be found: here. In the future, further sites which offer similar translated works will be listed under the the 読み label.

Rikaichan

Rikaichan is a simple to use Firefox Add-on that acts as an in browser translator. Once installed, just hover over any Japanese word within the Firefox browser and a translation is offered with details on the kanji, its meaning/keyword in English, its on/kun readings, and other information. I only wished the add-on work with my Safari browser, but its not a perfect world.

Gravitation

Once I complete volume I of Heisig, I will purchase a copy of volume 1 of Gravitation by Maki Murakami and attempt to read it along side my English copy. That manga was what began my venture into learning the Japanese language and it is only fitting that I return to it eventually.

Heroes

I need to keep a wish list of thing I like to do. I will set them with specific goals that way I have something to look forward to as I progress. As for my first wish:

Once I complete the Volume II of Heisig, I will re-watch the first two seasons of Heroes and try to understand as much of Hiro and Ando scenes as I can without reading subtitles.

Rosetta Stone Complete

I have just completed all 3 levels of Rosetta Stone in Japanese. やった！

Tentatively, for the next two weeks I will be doing a grammar review. I say tentatively, because, It may take long than two weeks. At minimum, I will devote 30 minutes a day to all grammar, all the time. I've got books and web resource that should keep my plenty occupied. Once the grammar review is complete, I will repeat all of the Rosetta Stone core lesson. I will also begin posting the equivalent of a journal entry on this blog everyday. At least twice a week I will also transfer those post over to my Lang-8 account for corrections. The other great thing about Lang-8 is the fact that I can ask question and potentially get answers from native speakers.