Just For Thought.

(By far one of my all time favorite movies. It has soooo much to do with “time”, in a philosophical manner that is. Please do check out Big Fish and Begonia)

きょう : today

きのう : yesterday

あした : tomorrow

おととい : the day before yesterday

あさって : the day after tomorrow

こんしゅう : this week

せんしゅう : last week

らいしゅう : next week

しゅうまつ : the weekend

こんげつ : this month

せんげつ : last month

らいげつ : next month

ことし : this year

きょねん : last year

らいねん : next year

まいにち : every day

まいしゅう : every week

まいつき : every month

まいねん/まいとし : every year

いつ : when?

なんじ : what time?

Practice dialogue:

いつ日本へ来ますか。

When (did you) come to Japan?

せんげつ日本へ来ました。

死ぬ「しぬ」 to die

くたばる to die, to drop dead

他界する 「たかいする」To die, to pass away

亡くなる「なくなる」 To die

死去する「しきょする」To die

死亡する「しぼうする」 To die (common in news reports)

泉下の客となる 「せんかのきゃくとなる」To die, to pass to the over side

神去る「かむさる」or 「かみさる」 To pass away (used for royalty/nobility)

永眠する 「えいみんする」 To pass away, to eternally slumber

儚くなる 「はかなくなる」To pass away (classical/poetic)

崩御する「ほうぎょする」To pass away (used for emperors/empresses)

天に召される「てんにめされる」 To ascend to heaven

崩ずる 「ほうずる」 To pass away (used for emperors/empresses)

薨ずる 「こうずる」To pass away (used for noblemen)

卒する 「しゅっする」or「そっする」 To die (person of high standing)

寂する「じゃくする」 To pass away (monk/priests), to enter nirvana

没する 「ぼっする」 To die

落ちる「おちる」 To die (animals, especially for fish and birds)

倒れる「たおれる」 To die, to collapse

Here we are with the second part of “Japanese for travellers”, enjoy!

01. Do you understand? || ¿Entiende?

わかりましたか。|| wakari mashitaka?

02. Yes, i understand || Sí, entiendo.

はい、わかりました。|| hai, wakarimashita.

03. No, i don’t understand || No, no entiendo.

いいえ、わかりません。|| iie, wakarimasen.

04. I speak a little || Hablo un poco.

すこしはなせます。|| sukoshi hanase masu.

05. How do you pronounce this? || ¿Cómo se pronuncia esto?

これはどうはつおんしますか。|| kore wa dō hatsuonshi masuka?

06. What’s the meaning of “….”? || ¿Qué significa “….”?

『….』はどうゆういみですか。|| “…” wa dō yū imi desu ka?

07. Can you write it, please? || ¿Podría escribirlo, por favor?

かいてくれませんか。|| kaite kuremasen ka?

08. Can you repeat, please? || ¿Podría repetirlo, por favor?

くりかえしてくれませんか。|| kurikaeshite kuremasen ka?

09. Can you speak slowly, please? || ¿Podría hablar más despacio, por favor?

行きます｜つもり｜ようと思う Hey guys, it’s been a while since I’ve made a post on this blog! I’ve been so busy with university and then as soon as my last exam was over I traveled back home to see my family! I finally have some time to myself so I thought I’d make a new post! This is all about how to say doing something in Japanese. This post won’t go into too much depth regarding these sentence patterns, so feel free to look them up for more information on how to use them! 行きます・Going to do: To say, “I’m going to__” in Japanese, you can follow this sentence pattern. Sentence pattern = subject+を+verb stem (ます form without the ます) +に＋行きます・行く。 e.g. 何をしますか？        What are you doing?        映画を見に行きます。        Going to see a movie. つもり・Plan to do: But what about how to say you intend on doing something, or you plan on doing something? In that case, you can use つもり! Sentence pattern = verb dictionary form+つもり+です・だ。

A little snapshot of my own hiragana and katakana characters. 

Many beginners encounter problems while learning Japanese writing systems: hiragana and katakana. I decided to take a look at the most common, in my opinion, mistakes made by learners.

Remember, the stroke order isn’t there to make your life harder (although it does most of the time). It is really important to write the characters the certain way as any other way makes them look slightly or completely different. 

Before I begin I would like to explain the particular way I write き・さ・ふ・そ.

There are, as far as I know, two different ways to write a character. The way I write them is more of a caligraphic approach (the second line). Mostly, learners tend to choose the first approach. 

I switched the way to write this characters as ふ is faster to write (three strokes instead of four). そ・さ・き plainly look better to me. 

Getting to the gist of the post now - common mistakes made by beginners.

1. Mirroring

Even though hiragana is more complicated (more strokes and more curvy ones), the characters are fairly more distinguishable. Learners might however make mistakes by mirroring the characters (き・ち・さ・く are the trickiest ones among them).

2. Confusing hiragana り and katakana リ

The hiragana ri り is shown at the left side. The first stroke should go down and then a little up (shown at the bottom). Because of this ri り could be written in hiragana as the 2nd and 3rd example on the left side show. 

The katakana ri リ however doesn’t have a pointed end in the first stroke (as shown on the right).

While writing a word in hiragana or katakana, you must make sure you write the correct ‘ri’. You musn’t write a word in one system and the throw a character from the other system! 

e.g. Writing リんご ( リんご ) instead of りんご

3. Mixing up similar characters

I think this mistake applies more to katakana. The most common mistake is writting shi シ insted of tsu ツ and n ン instead of so ソ.

Confusing so ソ and n ン

You should start by writing the small line first. Then the longer one. The longer line in so ソ should be pointing high, while the one in ン should be lower. 

Many Japanese people tend to make n ン really flat and so ソ higher (like me in the first picture).

Notice that the longer line is written from different sides!

Confusing shi シ and tsu ツ

The same goes for this characters. Shi シ is n ン with two small lines, while tsuツ is so ソ with two small lines. 

Confusing ko コ (the first one) and ユ (the second one)

Ko コ and yu ユ have similar writing patterns. The last stroke in yu ユ should be long and going past the first one. 

Confusing ku ク(the first one) and ke ケ (the second one)

Ku ク consists of two strokes, while ke ケ of three. The first and second line in ke ケ aren’t connected with their ends. The same goes for the second and third line. 

Confusing wa わ and re れ (and ne ね)

Easily mistaken characters in hiragana. 

From left to right: ne, re, wa

Plainly, wa わ should have a round stroke (like a belly) and re れ a little pointed end (like a leg). Ne ね has a little circle inside.

Notice that all three of them consist only of two strokes!

4. Ro ロ and its stroke order

Ro ロ has the same stroke order as the kanji for mouth 口. Don’t write it like a plain square. It has three strokes, not four! It looks different than normal when written using four or even two strokes.

Notice that the kanji looks bigger than ro ロ in normal digital font. 

Hope I cleared up some things for you. If you have some questions regarding Japanese writing feel free to ask me!

☆ New kanji lesson ☆ 

日本の四季 (にほんのしき) The four seasons in Japan 

🌸春 (はる)・spring → 暖かい (あたたかい)・warm 

 🌞夏 (なつ)・summer → 暑い (あつい)・hot 

🍁秋 (あき)・autumn/fall → 涼しい (すずしい)・cool 

❄️冬 (ふゆ)・winter → 寒い (さむい)・cold 

Additional vocabulary: 

春休み・はるやすみ・spring vacation 春分の日・しゅんぶんのひ・vernal equinox 夏休み・なつやすみ・summer vacation 冷夏・れいか・cool summer 真夏・まなつ・midsummer 秋分の日・しゅうぶんのひ・autumnal equinox 冬休み・ふゆやすみ・winter vacation 暑さ・あつさ・heat 寒さ・さむさ・cold, chill 寒波・かんぱ・cold wave (weather) 温暖な・おんだんな・warm, mild 暖冬・だんとう・mild winter 涼む・すずむ・to cool oneself 涼風・りょうふう・cool breeze 天気・てんき・weather 天の川・あまのがわ・the Milky Way 春夏秋冬・しゅんかしゅうとう・the four seasons  

会う　（あう）- to meet

開く　（あく）- to become open

開ける　（あける）- to open

上げる　（あげる）- to give

遊ぶ　（あそぶ）- to play, to make a visit

あびる - to bathe, to shower

洗う　（あらう）- to wash

ある - to be, to have (inanimate)

歩く　（あるく）- to walk

言う　（いう）- to say

行く　（いく）- to go

居る　（いる）- to be, to have (animate)

要る　（いる）- to need

入れる　（いれる）- to put in

歌う　（うたう）- to sing

生まれる　（うまれる）- to be born

売る　（うる）- to sell

起きる　（おきる）- to get up

置く　（おく）- to put

教える　（おしえる）- to teach, to tell

押す　（おす）- to push, to stamp

覚える　（おぼえる）- to remember

泳ぐ　（およぐ）- to swim

降りる　（おりる）- to get off, to descend

終わる　（おわる）- to finish

買う　（かう）- to buy

返す　（かえす）- to return something

帰る　（かえる）- to return, to go back

かかる - to take time or money

書く　（かく）- to write

かける - to call by phone

貸す　（かす）- to lend

借りる　（かりる）- to borrow

消える　（きえる）- to disappear

聞く　（きく）- to hear, to listen, to ask

切る　（きる）- to cut

着る　（きる）- to put on 

曇る　（くもる）- to become cloudy/dim

来る　（くる）- to come

消す　（けす）- to erase, to turn off

答える　（こたえる）- to answer

コピーする - to copy

困る　（こまる）- to be worried

咲く　（さく）- to bloom

差す　（さす）- to stretch out, to raise

散歩する　（さんぽする）- to stroll

死ね　（しね）- to die

閉まる　（しまる）-  to close, to be closed

閉める　（しめる）- to close something

締める　（しめる）- to tie

知る　（しる）- to know

吸う　（すう）- to smoke

住む　（すむ）- to live in

する - to do

座る　（すわる）- to sit

掃除する　（そうじする）- to clean, to sweep

出す　（だす）- to put out

立つ　（たつ）- to stand

頼む　（たのむ）- to ask

食べる　（たべる）- to eat

違う　（ちがう）- to differ

使う　（つかう）- to use

疲れる　（つかれる）- to get tired

着く　（つく）- to arrive at

作る　（つくる）-to make

つける - to turn on

勤める　（つとめる）- to work for someone

出かける　（でかける）- to go out

できる - to be able to

出る　（でる）- to leave, to go out

取る　（とる）- to take something

撮る　（とる）- to take a photo or film

鳴く　（なく）- to chirp, roar, croak etc

無くす　（なくす）- to lose something

習う　（ならう）- to learn

並ぶ　（ならぶ）- to line up, to stand in line

並べる　（ならべる）- to line up, to set up

なる - to become

脱ぐ　（ぬぐ）- to take off clothes

寝る　（ねる）- to sleep, to go to bed

登る　（のぼる）- to climb

飲む　（のむ）- to drink

乗る　（のる）- to ride, to get on

入る　（はいる）- to enter, to contain

はく - to wear, to put on trousers

始まる　（はじまる）- to begin

走る　（はしる）- to run

働く　（はたらく）- to work

話す　（はなす）- to speak

貼る　（はる）- to stick

晴れる　（はれる）- to be sunny

引く　（ひく）- to pull

弾く　（ひく）- to play an instrument

吹く　（ふく）- to blow (wind)

降る　（ふる）- to fall (rain, snow)

勉強する　（べんきょうする）- to study

曲がる　（まがる）- to turn, to bend

待つ　（まつ）- to wait

磨く　（みがく）- to brush teeth, to polish

見せる　（みせる）- to show

見る　（みる）- to see, to watch, to look

持つ　（もつ）- to hold

休む　（やすむ）- to rest

やる - to do

行く　（ゆく）- to go

呼ぶ　（よぶ）- to call out, to invite

読む　（よむ）- to read

練習する　（れんしゅうする）- to practice

分かる　（わかる）- to be understood

忘れる　（わすれる）- to forget

渡す　（わたす）- to hand over

Do you know these times when you’re sitting in front of your textbook, trying to learn these boring af vocabs you’ve seen 1000 times but still can’t remember and just wish to do something different (or hoping that the world explodes so you can at least stop)?

Well, there are more ways to learn a language and I think because we just learned how we “should” learn a language at school, we’re limited in creativity. Thanks to school it’s hard to think outside of this “textbook, vocab lists, tests, etc.” stuff but there are ENDLESS things you can do to learn a language. Remember: everything you do in your native language, you can try to do in your target language!

This is for all the people who are tired and exhausted, who are thinking about quitting or don’t have fun with their target language anymore. DON’T YOU DARE TO GIVE UP! YOU’VE COME SO FAR!

_____________________________________________ Examples for different ways of learning a language:

write a diary

summarise an article about a topic you like (cooking, fitness, etc.)

listen to a podcast/radio

listen to music (while reading the lyrics)

try to sing along with music

read out loud while reading a book/magazine/blog/etc.

watch movies/series/videos

record videos in your target language or about how studying is going (progress, problems, etc.)

write a blog (well hello there :))

use apps that make it more fun (duolingo, memrise, lingodeer)

chat with native speakers

actually talk to native speakers ( I know what a crazy idea)

read websites about things you’re interested in

use social media only available in your target language

change the language of your smartphone

change the language of your pc

change the language of your life

play games in your target language (like not necessarily for learning it, I mean just playing a normal game IN your target language)  

take online lessons with teachers that make you forget you’re learning

do a challenge! (I love this one so much)

find a learning group

be active in forums (no matter about language learning or a forum in your target language)

find a language exchange partner. (You should, seriously.)

watch lessons on youtube

read a (children-)book (with audio)

talk to yourself 

think in your target language (a fun way is to tell a story about your life while it’s happening like “I went down the road with a stranger always behind me, who could it be? What does he want? It got quite… too quite. I tried to keep calm but was it really a coincidence? All in the middle of nowhere?” I know I’m bad at this but I hope you get what I mean, think of it like reading a book.)

learn vocabs with pictures, type in the word you want to know and ONLY look for pictures, try to feel the word. If you google for “strawberry” (in your target language and don’t know what it means) look at the pictures, the colours, how could it smell? Make a sentence with the new word. When was the last time you ate it? How was it?

Write a story/book online or just for yourself.

Make a mindmap

Use a topic jar (a jar where you put in notes with different topics on it, you take one every day and write/talk about it)

use social media to find groups interested in learning a new language or your target language

translate texts and act like you’re a famous translator who’s the only person on earth who can translate your target language (for example if you’re reading articles about historical stuff, act like you’re the only one who can find out what happened back then and the whole world is counting on you!)

try to solve random online tests

listen to a song/audiobook/whatever and write down what you hear

search for words you want to learn and build up (funny!) sentences with them or even whole stories

read comics/mangas/etc.

search for receipts  in your target language and pray to god you’re doing it right… if not, well you won’t forget the vocab again. Win-win situation. :p

search for language learning groups near your living place and actually meet them (stay safe and check everything before)

listen to children songs (I still remember the first children song I learned in English lessons… like… 11 years ago in 5th grade) these songs are supposed to stick… *cough* head shoulders knees and toes knees and toes *cough* sorry where was I?

connect with language learners over Skype (useful groups of course like German trying to learn French, Frenchman trying to learn Turkish, Turk trying to learn German)

write a list (you know… like I do right know so I don’t forget English)

describe things you see (more fun with a partner)

teach your target language to others

listen to audio while sleeping

take notes in your target language (I don’t mean for grammar rules or something like that, I mean notes you would take in your native language anyway)

write a letter (so much better than an e-mail)

write an e-mail (who has time for letters)

learn rimes 

learn jokes (it’s also useful for social interaction)

talk to your pets (at least if they listen to you, if I start to talk to my cat she starts yelling into my face)

translate songs and learn the vocab of it so you have more fun listening to it later

Hello polyglots! I apologize for the lateness of this post! As you know I posted about how to create a study schedule if you are studying a language(s) intensively. Now I’m going to talk about how to study one language or multiple languages casually.

First, I need to define what casual studying even means. Studying casually means that you are foregoing certain aspects of language study in order to maintain a slow and low commitment pace. For example, say you’re learning French casually. Instead of psycho crazy grammar schedules filled with practicing grammar and vocab over and over, and quizzing yourself every day until your brain turns to pulp, you opt for a simple audio lesson every day for 15 minutes after you come home from work or school. Easy right? Yes! That’s the goal. With casual studying your schedule is freed up for other things. In addition, casual studying gives you the leisure to take your time to learn things deeply and thoroughly. Casual studying, however, implies that you are not studying so much for full fluency but for practical, everyday usage. So casual learners care a little less about learning the specifics about complicated grammar but instead want to learn how to use it in conversation by learning dialogues and repeating phrases. So how do you create a casual study schedule? Here’s what you’ll need to get started.

JAPANESE BASIC COLORS

Remember about colors? Let’s rehearse with today’s lessons~ ;)

The kanji for colors is 色 (iro) Green: 緑 (midori) Blue: 青 (ao) White: 白 (shiro) Black: 黒 (kuro) Purple: 紫 (murasaki) Red: 赤 (aka) Yellow: 黄色 (kiiro)

Note that above words are the noun version. There are I-adjective version for some of the words such as 赤い (akai) for red and 青い (aoi) for blue.

Happy learning ! ｡ﾟ✶ฺ.ヽ(*´∀`*)ﾉ.✶ฺﾟ｡ 

…………………………………………

Links:

So I get a lot of questions here and on Instagram about the books I use for Japanese and what I would recommend to beginners. So I thought I’d put together a little list of books I would suggest you start off with as a beginner in Japanese (these are all books I have used myself or had/would consider using) Obviously I’m not saying you need all of these books, pick one and see how it goes (although I do recommend using more than one resource)! I may do another post like this for intermediate learners if there’s enough interest (with the textbook series they will take you to a higher level, but this is just recommendations as a starting point) ^^ 

Learning Hiragana and Katakana Flashcards

Japanese Kanji Flashcards Volume 1

Japanese Kanji for Beginners

Japanese From Zero Series

Kana From Zero | Hiragana From Zero | Katakana From Zero | Kanji From Zero

Japanese From Zero 1 | Japanese From Zero 2 | Japanese From Zero 3 | 

Japanese From Zero 4

Genki Series

Level 1 textbook | Level 1 workbook | Level 2 textbook | Level 2 workbook

Japanese For Busy People Series

Kana workbook | Level 1 kana ver | Level 1 romaji ver | Level 2

Basic Japanese

Japanese for Beginners

A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar

Essential Japanese Grammar

Essential Japanese Vocabulary