Help Me Help You (Plus Extended Nara Mascot Contest Deadline!)

koichi has a sad face onHey Everyone. I need your help in a big way. I’m doing my senior thesis on Japanese Pedagogy (basically I’m researching how people learned Japanese, how they are learning it now, and how it should change in the future). I need to interview a lot of people who are learning Japanese to get a better feel of things. Below is a form with a bunch of questions regarding this topic. I would appreciate it so much if you filled it out (if you are learning Japanese). I don’t have much I can offer in return, but I will write you a thank you card (with my bare hands) and send it to you, if you provide me your address. I won’t use it for anything else but this, I promise. So if you could fill out the form after the break, I would appreciate it so much.

In somewhat not related news, I am extending the deadline for the Nara Mascot and Story contest by 2 weeks. Get your submissions in by April 9th. Right now there are around 6 or 7 in, so I hope to get a few more by the time the time is up. It will be voted on after the deadline and the winner will get a Japanese textbook of my choosing (depending on the winner’s level and what they already have). If you finish the story, you have a chance of winning some Japanese goods (also of my choosing). So now that you have two more weeks, don’t wait anymore! I really enjoy seeing your submissions, so please try it out if you’re interested!

The form of questions for Japanese learners is below, all you have to do is

*update! As of 10:30pm, March 27, I’ve gotten around 150 submissions. I’m really sorry, but as soon as it hits 200 I’m going to start becoming more picky about the thank you cards. If you’ve already turned one in, or you turn one in before number 200, don’t worry, I’ll get you one, but after that I’m going to write only to the especially thorough submissions. I’m really sorry for the inconvenience, but this is a lot more submissions than I expected! Thank you so much, and keep them coming!!

**update 2! As of March 28, I’ve gotten 250 submissions! Thank you so much to all who have submitted. At this point I can’t really promise thank you cards to everyone after the 200 mark, though I will try my best. If you can, please still fill out the form! I’ll do my best to thank everyone personally, but after 200…it’s getting crazy.

***update 3! As of April 1, I am verging on 4 billion submissions now, so I’m going to cut it off here. Thank you SO MUCH for all your help this far.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Rx5VfPUgOM']

Thank you so much for your help. I appreciate it in boatloads. On another note, did you see the new “top commenters” list on the far right column replacing an advertisement? Anything that replaces advertisements seem like a good idea, I think :)

  • Popkornage

    Hey Koichi, the video isn’t working. Sorry though, I dont think i can help that sad face because I just started a week ago and I haven’t got my textbooks yet :( (and also I can’t really answer most of the questions anyway)

  • Tyler

    Howdy Koichi. I filled out the survey. Hope it helps that sad face.

    Good luck on your thesis! :D

  • kevinnwhat

    i submitted my address, please keep that private. E-mail me if you have any questions, i kinda just typed it real fast, if you want it in a more proper way let me know

  • http://www.tofugu.com Viet

    mmm +1 to post count.

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    Don’t worry, nobody but me will see it

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    Thank you! Thesis isn’t fun :(

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    Probably because I just uploaded it. It’ll probably work soon / now

  • http://www.tofugu.com Viet

    !! I see someone is using the point system.

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    bwahaha

  • toole

    I’m writing a thesis too. I feel your pain.

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    never mind, i just fail. The video was set to private so only I could view it

  • JohtoKen

    I filled in my application. I hope you get it and better check on how I can approve in my studies.

    - JohtoKen

  • http://www.youtube.com/thelettucechan lettuceathome

    My application is probably the most unhelpful one ever! But oh well…I do hope it helps at least a little bit…

    P.S. I like your short hair, Koichi. :)

  • Donny

    hey koichi, if you send me a card can it be in japanee?

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    sure – just specify in the address section of the form please

  • http://www.neilduckett.com Neil_Duckett

    Done, let me know if you need anything else.!

  • fredydb327

    Man, I just filled out a lot, I hope it got through!!! :( If not I will be mad.
    I hope this helped! I hope I didn’t just make you read a lot for nothing.

  • fredydb327

    If I ever get to that picture thing. I want to do an Invader Zim style picture. But since I most likely won’t. Someone do that for me. :D

  • soar

    Good luck with your thesis Koichi, I’ve just submitted my survey. It should hopefully help you out.

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    Thank you so much!

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    I’m sure I’ll enjoy reading it!

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    Thanks much, I like it too. It’s so convenient

  • http://youtube.com/profile?user=chokudori クリス

    Just got home and saw this, I started to fill out the form, but as I scrolled down, I saw I a lot more to fill [I'm extremely tired, drove 250 miles today, and now it's 1:45AM. This is the reason why I didn't finish this form, haha.]. I downloaded the RTF file and I’ll complete the rest of the form from there. It’ll probably submit it by tomorrow. I hope your thesis goes well.

    My Quote of The Day:
    “If you’re not, then bugger off… you know?” lol

  • Aleks

    Just finished the form. I’ll be happy to answer any of your follow up questions, if there are any. I tried to be detailed, but I also didn’t leave you with an essay to wad through :)

    I also live in Canada. I hope that won’t be a problem. ^_^

    - Aleks

  • Aleks

    Oh, and best of luck on your thesis. ^_^

  • Aivy

    Konnichiwa Koichi-san

    Just submitted the form. Hope that helps =D
    I just started watching your video’s on youtube and it’s interesting!
    keep up the good work!!

    Ganbatte!

    Aivy

  • Casey

    *yawns* I did it! woot! *does random dance* If you do send the thank you, just put my name on da’ envolope, or else my mom just throws it away.

    Laterz!
    Casey

  • Thomas

    wow, i spent about 90 minutes to answer this survey but it was worth the time ^^.
    i had much fun filling it out and i hope it will help you in some small way :)

    - Thomas

  • mikku

    Lol looks like youre quite buisy these days writing cards! *evil laughter*
    Sugoii desu ne? xD

  • gerbyl

    I filled out the survey as well. I know things like these can be helpful and i hope my answer help at least a tiny bit with your thesis and things. I might have rambled on too much when answering 2-3 questions. sorry, means you have to read through a lot ….

    *goes watching the vid now*

  • bmibble

    hey koichi. Just filled out your survey..hopes that makes that sad face go away. ha.

    I think I’m actually gonna try the contest because it seems not that many people submitted a picture so maybe I’ll win….

  • Rua Greenwood

    I just filled out your survey. I hope I helped you out. Good luck on whatever it is you need it for. ^_~`

  • teamlouise

    Filling out your survey just made me feel bad about what a slacker I am when it comes to Japanese!

  • Azah aka aja2fighty

    hi there, koichi-kun =)
    done filling ur survey …hope ur smiling now!
    thesis o’ ganbattene~ p(^_^)q

  • peachy_keen

    Gah. I feel like I wrote too much for you survey. Don’t die of boredom… Pleasee….
    Hope I helpeddd~

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    I’m sure I’ll enjoy it thoroughly, thank you!

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    then everything has gone exactly to my plans…er…I mean..bwahaha. jk
    thanks for filling it out though

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    Thank you so much!

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    You totally should submit something. I’m looking forward to seeing it!

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    Yeah, it will be fun writing them for sure :P

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    will do, thank you!

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    wow man, I look forward especially to reading yours then. I like it when people fill out a lot. Thank you!

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    Thank you very much!

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    Take your time kurisu,
    that’s a lot of miles to drive. I’ve got a big drive ahead of me pretty soon, but it’s only around 180 miles, so you deserve a break :P

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    Thank you so much!

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    *smiles!*

  • Rebekah

    First thing I did today was fill out the form.
    I don’t feel mine will be of much help. Sorry in advance if it completely fails! ^^;

  • Bluregarde_Q_Kazoo

    I filled out the form and i’m gonna work on the mascot thing today!

    xD

  • http://bowryj.wordpress.com/ Mizuu

    I filled mine in the morning, so I didn’t have any time left for a comment. But here I am again:
    I’d love to hear the results of your thesis because I’ll be doing mine on Japanese glottodidactics (it’s a hard word derived from Latin meaning teaching languages to non-native users) – my teachers of Japanese want me to write a draft of textbook of Japanese in my native language, but it takes YEARS.

    I’m really willing to this but it’ll be a hard project lasting for several years. But then, hey, I can teach Japanese as the best teacher around, mwahahahaha. ;)

    Ganbatte ne ;)

    PS. I took time to get use to your short hair. But you’re not a mythical hero (just a person I look up to!), you don’t lose your 3v1l-languages-speaking-powers just because you lost your hair… YOU STILL HAVE THE MAGICAL PANDA HAT, DO YOU?! :DDDD

  • Vicky

    Well, I have filled in your survey, I hope my answers help ease the pain a little! I remember when I had to write my disertation on Music and the Right side of the Brain. It took me all year! The problem was I only had 20,000 words to do it in!

    Good luck with it all, and I would be very interested to see the results.

    ~Vicky