光差す道となれ

the nengajo is a special type of japanese greeting card sent out to commemorate the new year! they are also called 年賀はがき (nengahagaki) because they are written on postcards.

何は年賀状をいただきますか。Who recieves a nengajo?

although some people only send them to friends and family, it is traditional to send them to everyone you know, including colleagues and people you haven’t spoken to in a while. these are means to keep in touch and express gratitude towards people in your life who have helped you! it is customary to send one back if you receive one from someone.

these cards are delivered on january 1st, and they are most often decorated to reflect the chinese zodiac year. 2019 is the year of the boar, so many 年賀状 will be decorated with pictures and art featuring pigs! some people decorate their own, but they can also be bought at post offices.

年賀状 also include lottery numbers printed on every card! many prizes can be won if you receive a card with the winning numbers on it!

if someone has a family member that passed away during the year, they are not supposed to send or recieve 年賀状. earlier in the year, they will typically send out a special type of card which announces this.

some useful phrases

明けましておめでとうございます。= Happy new year!

ご健勝とご多幸をお祈り申し上げます。= Wishing your family good health and happiness.

昨年はお世話になりました。= Thank you for everything last year.

I’m sure someone did something like this many times before, but here it is anyway. Let’s try to distinguish these troublesome characters once again!

The first visual clue is the angle of tiny short strokes: in シshi and ンn they are more horizontal; in ツtsu and ソso they are more vertical.

This is more clear with geometric or pixel fonts:

Though - surprise! - in case with ソso it’s not entirely vertical so as not to be confused with リri. And ノno just doesn’t have them at all.

Next clue is the direction of long bottom stroke: in シshi and ンn it goes from bottom left - up right; in ツtsu and ソso it goes from top right - down left.

This is more obvious with calligraphic fonts, as the long stroke always starts with a blob of ink.

Last thing about these characters is to write them correctly, so other people (or future you) will be able to distinguish them.

The last and most important clue is the stroke order in シshi and ンn strokes are written in order from top to bottom; in ツtsu and ソso strokes are written in order from left to right.

With this, you can make connection between katakana and hiragana: as in し stroke first goes down the left side, so do strokes in シ; as in つ stroke first goes from left to right, so do strokes in ツ. And the direction of the last stroke in シ and ツ also matches the direction of the stroke’s “tail” in し and つ.

Look at this messy calligraphic font and how シ and ツ are written. If it gets any more sloppier シ and ツ would literally transform into し and つ! In fact, it is said that both し and シ come from the same 之 kanji, and つ and ツ from 川. (look here if you want visuals and maybe some reading practice).

The whole gang gets together this week to discuss learning Japanese in a classroom. Everyone on the show has had different experiences learning Japanese, so it’s an especially interesting look into the process. If you’re currently in or considering taking a Japanese class, this is an essential listen.

You’ll hear a range of perspectives from:

Kristen’s traditional route

Koichi’s mixed educational experiences

Michael’s self-taught journey

One of the hardest Japanese grammar points for many learners to master is the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs, how to spot them, and which particles to use with them. Oftentimes, whether a verb is transitive or intransitive can change where particles go in a sentence (this is the case with causative-passive but that’s a lesson for another day).

Transitive and intransitive verbs exist in other languages. English has them, Spanish, French, German… In a moment I’ll explain the difference and you’ll understand why these verbs exist, but understand that in Japanese they operate differently than in other languages. This is because of particles, which Japanese uses to give words in a sentence function and meaning.

Using a transitive where an intransitive belongs and vise-versa can grammatically sabotage your whole sentence. This is why understanding the relationship between these two verbs is important!

Disclaimer: This post is written by a native English speaker and so will emphasize English to Japanese translation. Obviously other languages have different ways of meeting Japanese in the middle, so if you’d like to create your own post in which you compare your language with Japanese transitive & intransitive verbs, please do so!

24 • 07 • 17

✨ August 07 2017 |

Conditional Clauses || と、ば、たら、なら Hey guys, today we’re gonna talk about conditionals in Japanese. Conditionals are clauses and they often describe the result of something, such as “If A, then B.” In Japanese there are many conditionals and as a beginner it might be confusing trying to work out which one conditional is appropriate to use in a situation. と - “When A, B”: This basically means that when/if A happens, B will happen as a consequence. You can use と in situations when the clause is in present tense - you can’t use it in a past-tense situation. Rule = clause +と+ result e.g. 早く行かないと、遅刻します。         If you don’t leave soon, you will be late.

ば - "If A, then B”: This is pretty easy to comprehend because it just means "If A happens, then B”. There aren’t any assumptions or embedded meanings in ば statements, they’re pretty straightforward. You can use ば in situations when the clause hasn’t happened yet (future tense). Rule = clause +-えば+ result

verbs: change the U sound to an E sound and add ば (e.g. 食べるー食べれば)

い adj: drop the I sound and add ければ (e.g. 楽しいー楽しければ)

な adj and nouns: drop the NA sound and add であれば (e.g. 学生なー学生であれば)

e.g. 金持ちになれば、それを買います。        If I become rich, I will buy it.

たら - “If A, then B is possible”: This conditional is very similar to how you would use ば , but in order to use this conditional the clause has to be in past-tense (食べるー食べた). You can use たら in situations when you want to say what might happen if a nonexistent state came to be. Rule = change the noun, adjective, or verb to its past tense form and add ら (e.g. 会う―会えたら） e.g. お金があったら、旅行します。         I will travel when I have money.

晩ご飯の前に、風の強いテラスでちょっと漢字練習しています〜 🌬