Non est ad astra mollis e terris via"

2021 March 28th

physics again :| honestly elec & magnetism is alright but i HATE the parts where we have to integrate, i always get it wrong and confuse myself :(

Second post of the day! Here are some psychology notes 📝

How to Conduct a Close Read by academiix

Welcome back everyone! We have finally made it to the last post about the に particle. So far we’ve talked about how に marks

・the destination of movement

・places of existence

・the giver or source in sentences of receiving

・the performer in sentences with receptive verbs

・the receiver in sentences of giving or transfer

The crazy thing is that after all of that, there are still 4 MAJOR uses and 1 minor but still important use of the に particle left to talk about. (That’s why this particle can be so freaking confusing when you start learning Japanese!) Without further ado, let’s get into it, shall we? Because there is going to be a lot of vocabulary, I broke up the list into 2 parts. Here is part 1:

【Limit / Specific Time】

One of the most common ways that に is used is to establish limits. Here are some examples:

①　彼は｛週に２回｝残業をする。

= He works overtime ( the overtime is limited to twice a week)

= He works overtime twice a week.

②　私は｛早起きに｝慣れっている 。

= As for me, what I’m accustomed to is limited to waking up early

= I’m used to waking up early.

③　彼女は顔が｛お母さんに｝似ている。

= As for her, her face is similar (the similarity is limited to her mother)

= She resembles / looks like her mother.

④　｛私には｝とても有益だった。

= As for limited to me, (it) was very helpful

= It was very helpful to me (I don’t know if it was to other people).

An extension of this usage is that when you want to limit an action or occurrence to a specific time, に is used. For example, if I say that I go to work at 8AM, I’m limiting the time that I leave to one specific point in time - 8AM. If I say that I go to the gym on Tuesdays, I’m excluding the other days of the week. Basically I’m limiting my action of going to the gym to one day of the week. In these cases, Japanese uses に.

⑤｛午前８時に｝仕事に行きます。

= I go to work - limited to 8AM

= I go to work at 8AM.

⑥｛火曜日に｝ジムで運動する。

= I work out at the gym - limited to Tuesdays

= I work out at the gym on Tuesdays.

It’s important to keep in mind the difference between relative and specific time expressions. An example of a relative time expression would be tomorrow, today, last year, etc. The times that these expressions point to change, depending on when you read them. The “tomorrow” of when I wrote this post is most likely different than the “tomorrow” of when you read this.

Interestingly, in English we don’t use prepositions with relative time expressions. This might help you when you are torn between using に or not in Japanese. Here is a chart with some relative and specific time expressions that may help you.

【Result of Change】

Another use of に is to mark change. When something changes from one form or state to another, に marks the final form.

⑦　温度が低いと水は｛氷になる｝。

= When the temperature is low, as for water, it changes to ice.

⑧｛昨日は温度が｛零下５度に下がった｝。*

= As for yesterday, the temperature changed (by falling) to 5 degrees below zero

⑨｛秋に｝木の葉は｛赤や黄色に変わる｝。**

= In the fall, the leaves change to different colors, such as red and yellow.

*In example 8, notice that 昨日 is marked as the topic. It won’t normally be marked with に because it’s a relative time, not a specific time.

**Example 9 is our first time seeing two different に particles. The first one marks a specific time (fall) and the second one marks the result of change.

Throughout the rest of this post you will see a few more examples with more than one に. It’s OK to do this as long as you’re not repeating the same function twice. Because に has so many uses, it often shows up more than once in the same sentence.

And now here is part 2 of the vocabulary list:

【に of Purpose】

に is primarily attached to nouns. One interesting exception (but not really exception) is that it can attach to the combination of the verb stem and the い-column connector. This combination is sometimes called the “ます” stem of the verb and it actually does function in some ways like a noun.

After you attach に, the resulting bundle can be translated to “for the purpose of 〜ing”. Here are 3 ます stems attached to に and their rough translations:

見る　➡️　見 + に = 見に (for the purpose of seeing)

迎える　➡️　迎え + に = 迎えに (for the purpose of greeting / welcoming)

聞く　➡️　聞き + に = 聞きに (for the purpose of listening)

Here are some examples showing the に of purpose:

There are 2 things to notice in the above examples: 1) The verbs used with the に of purpose are mostly verbs of movement and 2) sentences with the に of purpose very commonly also contain other uses of に. Just remember that they are being used in different ways. With that, you should be able to figure out exactly what is going on with each に. 😃

【Adverbial に】

Way back in post 10.2, we talked about how some nouns are used to describe other nouns. Most simply use の. Others are able to use the な particle. Now I want to tell you about the connection between that な and に.

It turns out that all three particles are actually just different forms of the copula! The copula is flexible enough that it can change forms depending on what you want to do with the noun it’s attached to. You want to end the sentence? It’s だ. You want to describe another noun? It’s の or in some cases な. If you want to express how the action of the sentence occurred or is occurring, that is when you use に. You can think of it as the adverbial に.

When I see the adverbial に, I often translate the bundle as “in a 〜 way”. Here are some examples:

⑬　雨が｛滝のように｝降ってきた。

= The rain, in a way like a waterfall, came down.

= The rain fell like a waterfall.

⑭　この問題は｛僕には｝｛あまりに｝難しかった。

= As for this problem, limited to me, in an excessive way, it was difficult.

= This problem was too difficult for me.

⑮　彼らは｛非常に｝｛静かに｝部屋を出た。

= As for them, in a great / huge way, in a quiet way, went out of the room.

= They left the room very quietly.

Note that not all adverbs that end in に are nouns that use な (な-adjectives). However it does happen often enough that you should take notice. There are several often-used nouns that take な to describe other nouns and that take に to act adverbially:

〜てきな〜 and 〜てきに〜

〜みたいな〜 and 〜みたいに〜

〜ような〜 and 〜ように〜 (as in example 13)

〜そうな〜 and 〜そうに〜

そんな〜 and そんなに〜

This connection is an interesting one, so I plan to talk about it in a future post.

【Cause / Reason】

The last usage is one that may not be so common but is good to know about. に sometimes marks the cause or the reason for an emotional or a physical reaction. Take a look at the following examples:

⑮　彼女は｛その話に｝感動して涙した。

= As for her, because of the story, she was moved and then cried

= She was moved by the story so she cried.

⑯　私は｛息子の教育に｝多くのお金を使った 。

= As for me, because of my son’s education, I used/spent a lot of money

= I spent a lot of money on my son’s education.

The first example describes the reason for an emotional reaction while the second example describes the reason for an action. In the next example, something very interesting will happen. Take a look:

⑰｛ ［彼女の到着が遅いの］ に｝彼らは心配した。

= They worried about her arriving late.

The に for cause / reason usually attaches to nouns, but instead of a noun we have a sentence (her arrival is late). The way to get around this is to use the の particle!

When you attach の to a sentence, you are basically making the whole thing into a noun. Now you can attach another particle to this noun to express whatever you would like. In this case, her late arrival is the cause for their worry.

Here is one more example with the のに tag team, this time with the inner sentence ending with a verb:

⑱　私たちは｛ ［船を作るの］ に｝努力した。

= As for us, building the boat was the reason for really working hard.

= We worked very hard to build the boat.

【Conclusion】

And that is the end of that! This post had a lot of information in it so take your time processing and letting it all sink in. This 4-part series also had a lot of information in it about the に particle so don’t stress if you don’t remember it all.

My goal was just to make a resource for you to come back to, as you encounter more and more native Japanese. Inevitably you will see many uses of the に particle so I know it can be confusing at times. Hopefully something I wrote can clear up any misconceptions you may have. Of course, if you have questions don’t hesitate to ask. Maybe we can learn something new together!

As always, thanks for reading, and see you next post!

Rice & Peace,

– AL (アル)

Hey there!

If you have a math, or science related subject (like I always do), you’ll find that you really can’t escape analysis and problem solving, especially if you’re majoring in something science or maths related. So I am here to share some tips that actually made studying technical subjects a little bit easier and manageable for me in college:

Practice solving. If you have a subject that requires you to solve, you really have to practice solving, there is no easy way out of this one. This allows you to develop your own technique in solving the problem. You can start by doing the problems you did in class, then venture out to some examples in textbooks, then further into the problems in the textbooks until you get the hang of how the concepts and theories are applied. 

Listen during class. I know, it’s boring. But you have to do this. This way, you’ll be able to understand the topic once it is presented to you. In my opinion, it’s better if you let an expert explain it because they know the important bits in the lesson. Then study it afterwards on your own to develop your own techniques.

Ask your professors. Don’t be afraid to ask questions in class. Or if you’re shy, you can ask them after the class. However, it’s important that you ask them about the lesson when you already did your part; meaning: you already studied the material/solution over and over again but there’s just something that you can’t seem to grasp. 

Study before the class. Studying the lesson in advance doesn’t hurt. Plus, it works because you already have an idea about it. However, I don’t do it usually. What I do is that prior the discussion, I study the lessons that are going to be essential to the next topic. Example: Say that our topic later will be about introduction to thermodynamics (which includes derivation of various thermodynamic formulas); what I’m going to study instead is the different integration and derivation techniques, and different basic thermodynamics concepts like laws of thermodynamics. This ensures me that I know the prerequisite lessons of the next topic in class.

Absorb the conceptual parts of the topic first. Before diving into the problems itself, try to digest the concepts or theories behind it first. This way, you can understand which information is important and easily think of a solution because you know the problem’s framework. Even when your professor gives you a problem that seems different from your other sample problems, the concepts will still be the same throughout.

Reverse engineer the solution. Reverse engineering is reading and understanding your solution from bottom to top. I do this to make connections while going through the solution. I usually ask myself “‘where did this come from?’, ‘why did this happen?’, or ‘why is the answer like this?’” It allows me to look into the parts that I missed which are usually concepts or theories that I forgot to apply in solving the problem.

Look for key terms or phrases. There are some problems that put in information that may seem unimportant, but actually is really important. Examples such as the phrases constant velocity, constant acceleration, starting from rest, accelerate uniformly, reversible isothermal, adiabatic conditions, isobaric/isochoric compression/expansion, etc., are easy to miss but actually gives you vital information especially when solving a problem.

Try to ask yourself how or why it happened in every step of the solution. You can do this to gauge your mastery of the lesson. If you can answer yourself confidently, then you’ve studied well enough. But, if you can’t or if you feel that it’s not enough, then you better get your pen, paper, and calculator to practice some more.

If you have to draw it, draw it. Some problems need the use of your imagination, and these problems are the ones that get tricky most of the time. It’s easier to draw each of the time frames that are important so you get the sense of what’s going on between these pictures. This way, you’ll know which information you’re missing and which ones are you failing to take into account.

It’s okay to be messy and slow while practicing. Not all of time you can solve in a tumblr-esque manner because, dude, tumblr notes or solutions are soooo pretty to look at, BUT, what’s more important is that you understand each step of the solution and how the answer came to be 8.0658 m/s directed 32° south of west. So it’s okay to have dashes, strikethroughs, and crosses on your scratch paper, as long as you’re learning, a messy solution on a paper you’re not going to submit to your professor is fine.

IF YOU’VE REALLY GOTTEN THE HANG OF SOLVING IT, try to solve a fresh set of problems as fast and accurately as you can. Try to solve as if you’re in an exam. This is also to gauge how well you’re prepared for it, but you need to do this accurately. I repeat, accurately. It doesn’t work if you’ve finished it in less than an hour but all of your answers are wrong.

I’m currently facing the dilemma of how to take notes from a textbook. It’s hard to know where to begin or what’s the best information I need to really understand the material I’m reading. I have gathered tips and resources to better decide the best method to use the textbook most effectively.

-Preview. Glance over charts or photos used on the pages. Read study questions or summaries that might be given at the end of the chunk of pages. It preps me for the type of reading I will do and to think about the questions as I read. 

-Read actively. Don’t take notes or highlight as you read. Read a short section before you stop to take notes and highlight. Your first step after you read the paragraph is to highlight a phrase or two that were the important parts that you’ll need to know for future reference. Also, go to the margins (or your post-its) and start writing a question or two for the paragraph. When you’re done with the entire section, go back and try to answer these questions without looking at the book. If you can answer it, you are doing well on recalling that paragraph. This is also a good time to make some notes for class.

-Review. At the end of the reading, write a summary (in your own words) of what you just read. It helps to understand what you retained from the reading and highlight parts you need to review. I also like to go back and try to answer those questions I made in the margin again. The BEST thing I like to do is to answer the comprehension at the end of the chapter. Each textbook has one. Answer those and, if you’re unsure of the answer, ask them during class!

Other tips:

-Try to keep your notes in your own words.

-If something is not making sense, try reading it out loud. That can often help you process the material in a new way.

-Multiply the number of pages you have to read by 5 minutes. That is the amount of time the average college student needs to spend on their reading assignment.

-Writing in the book itself is highly recommended, but if you have some reason for not doing that, you might also want post-its and use those on each page in place of writing in the book.

Resources:

Write Notes, Not Textbooks

How to Take Notes from a Textbook

So you want to start self-studying Korean but have no idea how or where to start? I’ve been there and hope I can help with some tips!

1. MAKE IT FUN

Memorizing a new writing system isn’t easy. Korean is luckily designed to be quite simple, but it’s still a lot of characters. If you’re starting to get frustrated, not being able to read things quickly because you keep forgetting the sounds, consider coming up with fun mnemonic devices that although not something you should depend on in the long run, are super good for pure beginners. 

A couple months ago, I used this method to teach my mom Hangeul in one hour on a bus, and she still remembers them now! 

(If you’d like me to let you know what all my images are for each consonant and vowel, let me know!)

2. DON’T ROMANIZE

Any website about learning Korean will likely tell you this. That’s just how important it is. The reason is because romanization doesn’t accurately depict how things sound.

For example, 가 (ga) means to go and 나가 (naga) means to go out. If you’re just reading the romanization, “ga” and the “ga” in “naga” should both sound the same, but they don’t. When it starts a word, 가 takes on an ever so slightly harder g/k sound, whereas in 나가 the 가 is more of a rounder “ga.”

Plus, there will never be a context in which knowing romanization is helpful. If you visit Korea, everything will be written in hangeul. If you watch dramas, signs and texts are all written in hangeul. Better to just learn it from day one and never depend on it. You can do it!

3. RESOURCES

All right, so what resources should you use to learn Hangeul? I think you really only need one thing - Lingodeer. They do a great job showing you stroke order, pronunciation, and multiple methods to get you to remember them. I view Lingodeer as a Duolingo that’s specifically designed for East Asian languages. 

Hangeul Master is also a great book. I haven’t personally used it but I’ve flipped through it at the bookstore and really like it. The best part is that it shows you different handwriting variations for each character and how they look put together.

Some videos that I skimmed through and seem nice: TTMIK’s 8-part series (some old school 2010 Hyunwoo wow) and Go! Billy’s 90-minute series. Again, I only used Lingodeer and I think that’ll be good enough for you too!

And a video just for fun when you need a break, from Jolly.

4. READ READ READ

Once you’ve gotten the characters, it’s time to practice. Here are a variety of ways to just keep consuming content in Hangeul, even if you have no idea what you’re reading. Again, at this point just keep reading Hangeul so that you’re familiar with it and it doesn’t hold you back when you are actually studying.

Korean webtoons (I recommend Yumi’s Cells [English ver.] [Korean ver.], it’s so good.)

Sing Korean karaoke - can you read as fast as they sing? (the main karaoke company TJ has youtube videos for pretty much any song, or you can just sing along with the actual song)

TTMIK Beginner reading

TTMIK Beginner conversations

Read along to Kdrama scripts

Korean news