Enlightenment etc
What's with the name?
This looks similar to another site I've seen before...
Who are you?
What's your background in relation to learning Japanese?
How good's your Japanese really?
doogooroo is a play on duugaruu (ドゥーガル) which is how my name (Dougal) is pronounced in Japanese. (Dougal rhymes with Google by the way. I'm a tad older though.) Given that the website is about how I've learnt Japanese, I thought it might be a good way to channel the geeky Japanese language learner side of my personality.
That, plus the old domain name was pilfered (see below).
This looks similar to another site I've seen before...
Guilty as charged. In 2005 when I was a CIR on the JET programme, I started up a site with very similar content. I bought a domain name thinking it was the bee's knees and could hardly sleep at night for all the excitement. Then I got busy, the domain name expired, I was notified (apparently) but I missed the email and the domain got pilfered.
I won't tell you what the domain name was because (a) I'm still in mourning and (b) I don't want to encourage traffic that benefits internet pirates - heathens - but I'm sure you'll be able to disgorge it from Google's entrails if you're desperate to know.
My name is Dougal Phillips. Besides Japanese I'm also into clinical neuropsychology and shadow yoga; I'm a beginner at both. I have a short professional bio and cheesy picture here.
What's your background in relation to learning Japanese?
I did six years of Japanese at high school in Australia before heading to Yonezawa in Yamagata prefecture for an eight month working holiday. I worked at a butcher's by day and a yakitoriya by night. I then did two years of university in Australia before returning to Japan to do a year long exchange at Keio University. I headed back to Australia again, finished my majors in psychology and Japanese then started working as a freelance Japanese translator and interpreter. I also started teaching Japanese and related subjects at RMIT University, Swinburne University and the University of Melbourne. A few years later I spent a year in Gifu prefecture on the JET programme as a CIR. I stayed on for another six months doing a leadership course with Landmark Education in Nagoya and generally just hanging out. All up I've spent 3.5 years in Japan. After returning to Australia I went back to university as a post-graduate psychology student where I'm currently finishing off my master's thesis. (Yes, this website is an exercise in procrastination.) I still work as a Japanese translator to pay the bills.
How good's your Japanese really?
I think this question might also be framed, "Can I really trust your advice on how to learn Japanese?", to which I would say, suck it and see. If it works for you, go for it.
In terms of my level of Japanese, it's getting up there but there's still a lot of stuff I suck at, for instance, understanding jidaigeki or news broadcasts on sumo wrestling. Reading Japanese cursive script is another example of something I'm crap at not to mention my abysmal simultaneous interpreting. This is all despite studying Japanese consistently for almost 20 years!
So, when you read the blowing your own horn bit below, be mindful that I too still have a long way to go. (See also In the beginning...)
In terms of the few successes I've had (and at the risk of sounding like a complete tosser), I got 92% for level 1 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test in 1998, won the 30th Australian Japanese Speech Contest in 1999 and was awarded the Grand Jury Prize for the Thirteenth Annual JET Programme Essay Competition (Japanese Language Category) in 2005 for this essay. (By the way, if you definitely think I'm a tosser now, you're not alone.)
But don't envy my (or anyone else's) Japanese ability because, truth be told, I envy that luxuriant head of hair of yours and would swap it for my Japanese any day. (Thank god for finasteride.)
Seriously, though, avoid comparing yourself with other people because it will only end in tears. It also misses the point that we're all climbing the same mountain that is mastering Japanese.
Rather stay your true course which is to express "you" in Japanese and understand other Japanese speaking people for who they really are. While Japanese language skills are needed for this so too is courage and compassion.
Best of luck.