Darlo's World

Classes started again at 9 o’clock this morning and man does it look like it’s going to be a buggar of a year … again. As far as Japanese language classes go it seems we’re all now together regardless of level; we were told we’d all come back and be roughly the same level. I was sitting next to someone who’d studied Japanese since school (and was in the higher class pre-japan) and behind someone who’d just been living there for 2 years. Not exactly on what I’d consider to be my level of play. I did receive some kind words from one teacher though who said that it appeared from my resit that I had been studying hard. True as this is, I still couldn’t learn my result other than ‘pass’.

I made a change in my modules this morning as a few new ones had been added onto the system since initial registration, dropping a 20 credit Japanese history module in favour of two 10 credit Japanese Economy/Management/Environment ones. On arrival to my environment class this afternoon, it seems that not many other students had thought about it either (I only found out about its existance on Friday) as I was the only student. After a short while we were joined by one more student, doubling the student population of the room. I’m intrigued to see how the class progresses from here.

On Saturday I had a rather fun time at a Jiu Jitsu “give-it-a-go” session, thanks to Leeds Uni Jiu Jitsu club. Tonight I’ll be heading over there again to see how I feel about it. I still want to try a few other clubs before I settle on a sports one (to add to Japan Soc, LSTV, Anime Soc and possibly LURPS).

Well I’ve finally finished it. Ish. The animation that I started over a year ago. The only thing I’m missing is sound, and I’m hoping that’s where you come in. I’m looking for a narrator to interact with Anna, the main character, while she learns a simple Japanese phrase. I don’t mind about the voice too much, as long as you’re clear and easy to listen to, but remember that this is in the style of a children’s show (though if Stephen Fry wanted to audition I’m sure he’d be perfect). As Anna’s learning a Japanese phrase, a basic knowledge of how to pronounce Japanese words (written in romanised text) would be helpful. I should also point out that Anna doesn’t physically speak, but uses text bubbles. So if you want to have a go, here’s what you need to do.

Record yourself following the audition lines below in MP3 format, and send them to me at darlo@darlosworld.co.uk. The audition deadline will be Saturday 10th October (6pm BST), so there’s still plenty of time.

Audition Lines:

• Good morning Anna, are you ready to learn today?
• Would you like to learn some Japanese?
• Do you know any Japanese already? (Anna thinks, but doesn’t seem to know any) Oh I’m sure you know some Japanese words, let’s think really hard.
• To say “I am Anna”, you say “Watashi wa Anna desu”.
• (Anna get’s it wrong and laughs it off) Never mind, shall we try again?
• Very good Anna well done … (stammers and get’s cut off as Anna recites a phrase of Japanese) oh Anna, now you’re just showing off, aren’t you.

Here’s the animation so you can get a feel for it. Don’t worry about timing the lines accordingly, as I will make adjustments to the timings.

AUDITIONS RECEIVED (last updated 10th October 09)
Kakkun
Jason Phelps
katy
R Wong
slowolf88
Tiffany
wushubabe
Damaru12
Jennifer Vaughn
KingTsundere
Tylec