The Gakusei Lists

The Gakusei Lists --> JAPANESE LANGUAGE STUDENT E-MAIL DISCUSSION LIST

These lists were established in March 1995 to provide a forum for college,
university, and independent learners of Japanese to 'talk' informally with
other students world-wide in Japanese. Subscribers are asked, therefore,
to write all of their messages in Japanese with an occasional English word
being acceptable.

Subscribers have a choice between e-mail in romanized Japanese or
e-mail in Japanese orthography (Kana / Kanji).

A NOTE ON TECHNOLOGICAL ASPECTS

If you don't have a computer of your own, it is better to use the
romanized (roomaji) lists. However, if you have a computer of your own
and you are willing to spend some time and perhaps money to 'Japanize' it,
then you should browse the following two web pages:
http://www.sla.purdue.edu/academic/fll/JapanProj/
http://www.panix.com/~tn/j-pc.html

WHY A "STUDENT LIST"?

There are many discussion lists for students and a handful of lists for
those interested in Japanese language or culture. On such lists,
subscribers may venture to post messages in Japanese, but this is very
rare. And even then messages are academic, formal, and contain complex
vocabulary.

Meanwhile, students of Japanese *are* interested in communicating with
each other as seen on the Japan channel on Internet Relay Chat (IRC).
With the Gakusei Lists, participation can be part of a class project.
With the Gakusei Lists, students will be 'in their element' which should
make posting less of a problem. In addition, these lists will provide
students the opportunity to interact with their peers around the world,
which should make participating interesting, enjoyable, and motivating.

WHAT DO SUBSCRIBERS SAY?

Ano "Gakusei List" to iu renrakumo wa totemo ii koto to omoimasu.
Mada jikoshoukai shita koto ga arimasen ga, yoku hokano no hito no
tegami o yomimasu. Totemo omoshirokute benri desu. Mainichi
sukoshi renshuu desu, ne. Tegami o yominagara itsumo atarashii
kotoba ka bunpo o moratte, tanoshii desu.

Andreas Eisenacher
Dietzenbach, Germany

Kono gakusei listo wa taihen yaku ni tatta. Kono listo igai
hotondo nihongo o tsukau chansu ga nakattan. Da kara gakusei listo o
tsukutte kurete, arigatou gozaimashita.

Anita Patel
Wayne, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia no koogai)

Gakusei3-l ga tanoshikute benrina renshuu da to omoimasu. Watashi
no yoo na isogashii hito demo nihongo ga sukoshi demo jootatsu
dekimasu.

Katari Brown yori
Marshall, Michigan USA

WHICH LIST DO I BELONG TO?

These are the general 'levels' for each list:

Gakusei-L first to second year, beginners in roomaji
GakuseiK-L first to second year, beginners in Kana / Kanji

If you can write a few sentences in Japanese and ask one or two questions
about yourself and your interests, then this list is for you. [There is
an unstated limit of 10 lines per message.]

Gakusei2-L second to third year, mid to high intermediate in
roomaji
Gakusei2K-L second to third year, mid to high intermediate in
Kana / Kanji

If you can write several short paragraphs, ask questions, use a
minimum of keigo in writing about yourself, your interests, your
experiences, then this list is for you.

Gakusei3-L fourth year and beyond, advanced speakers

If you can write up to two screens worth, use keigo and a variety of
jukugo to talk about social issues, cross-cultural problems, and the
like, then this list is for you.

SUBSCRIBING TO THE LISTS

Any student (and interested teacher) can subscribe to the list by sending a
message to:

listproc@hawaii.edu

The message should read:

SUBSCRIBE LISTNAME Yourfirstname Yourlastname

[Replace LISTNAME with gakusei-l, gakusei2-l, gakusei3-l, gakuseik-L, or
gakusei2k-L]

All new subscribers will be sent a welcome message providing more
information about how to participate.

IMPORTANT: If your e-mail address contains any one of the following: _ *
% = + - then it is highly recommended that you contact the List
Owner--address at the end of this message--so she can subscribe you
herself. Listproc does not readily accept those symbols in e-mail
addresses.

BUNPOU-L

Bunpou-L has been created exclusively for subscribers to any of the
Gakusei Lists to discuss Japanese grammar in English. After joining the
Gakusei Lists, you can subscribe to Bunpou-L by sending the following
command to listproc@hawaii.edu
SUBSCRIBE BUNPOU-L Yourfirstname Yourlastname

A NOTE TO TEACHERS...

If you are using e-mail in your Japanese language classes and would like
to have your students participate on these lists, then you are also
welcome to subscribe. Also, send a message to the list-owner stating that
you are a teacher. You will then be subscribed to Sensei-L, a discussion
list for teachers who are interested in using the Gakusei Lists in their
classes and you will be sent guidelines that will help make your students'
participation on the Gakusei Lists a success.
NATIVE SPEAKERS...

Please contact the list owner when you subscribe to receive tips on
posting messages.

RESEARCHERS...

Please contact the List Owner.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Laura Kimoto, Owner The Gakusei-l Lists
E-Mail: kimotol@hawaii.edu
University of Hawaii at Hilo
Hilo, HI 96720
FAX: (808) 933-3736