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ことわざ are Japanese proverbs, and I have listed some basic proverbs, their equivalents in English, and a rough translation of the meanings of the Japanese phrase.

There is a test for ことわざ called the ことわざ能力検定 (ことわざのうりょくけんてい) and these are some of the phrases that appear in level 8 or 8級 (10 being the lowest level). Try one or two of these out the next time you speak with a native Japanese speaker!

Additional ことわざ (こと検8級): 19 | 20 More ことわざ (こと検9級): 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 Even More ことわざ (こと検10級): 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

猿も木から落ちる

さるもきからおちる

Even monkeys fall from trees

Even experts make mistakes.

触らぬ神にたたりなし

さわらぬかみにたたりなし

Leave the gods untouched and no curse will come

Stay away from trouble and you avoid problems.

三人寄れば文殊の知恵

さんにんよればもんじゅのちえ

Two heads are better than one

Three people together have the wisdom of Monju (the boddhisatva who represents wisdom).

失敗は成功のもと

しっぱいはせいこうのもと

Failure is the foundation of success

You learn from mistakes and improve.

親しき仲にも礼儀あり

したしきなかにもれいぎあり

Even among close friends, there is etiquette

Be respectful even with people you know well.

知らぬが仏

しらぬがほとけ

Ignorance is bliss

Not knowing is Buddha.

好きこそ物の上手なれ

すきこそもののじょうずなれ

What one likes, one will do well

People improve at things they enjoy.

雀百まで踊り忘れず

すずめひゃくまでおどりわすれず

Habits from youth remain for life

A sparrow never forgets dancing even at 100.

急いては事を仕損じる

せいてはことをしそんじる

Haste makes waste

Rushing causes mistakes.

背に腹はかえられぬ

せにはらはかえられぬ

In an emergency, necessities come first

One cannot substitute the back for the belly.

備えあれば憂いなし

そなえあればうれいなし

Forewarned is forearmed

If prepared, there is no worry.

そうは問屋がおろさない

そうはとんやがおろさない

It won't be that easy

"If someone breaks in dude, you beat the ever-loving shit out of them real hard dude, you beat the shit out of them, Chancho, you hear me?"

"You just beat the shit out of anyone who breaks in!"

translation notes:

– https://searchmysite.net/ Search engine for the indie web, personal websites, digital gardens. You can also find them in websites like Neocities, Indieweb, Blogarama, and write.as. There is also a big list of personal websites.

– https://search.marginalia.nu/ Search engine that focuses on non-commercial content, and promotes websites that aren’t usually at the top of the list.

– https://www.worldcat.org/ Search engine for items in libraries (books, but also maps, articles, sound recordings, theses, etc.)

– https://scholar.google.com/ Search engine for scientific papers, reviews, etc. It’s still google, but a lot better than the normal search engine counterpart.

– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_search_engines A list of search engines sorted by subject, area, and more. If you’re searching on a specific area, it might be worth checking if there is one focused on that area.

– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_academic_databases_and_search_engines A list of academic databases and search engines.

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🌵 flowerfeeder Follow

insane when you eat nectar and then get a bug in your mouth. like how does benefit either of us

🦂 piebaldpallid Follow

nutrience.

🌵 flowerfeeder Follow

3,314 notes 🔁❤️

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🩸 rotund-rotundus Follow

pissing the entire time while feeding on blood is your body giving you an s rank

15 notes 🔁❤️

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🦇 mymymyotis Follow

anyone else sick of the moths jamming their echolocation

🦋 eye-of-the-tigermoth Follow

lmao git gud

🦇 mymymyotis Follow

IKIKIKIKIKIKIK

🦋 eye-of-the-tigermoth Follow

FKFKFKFKFKFKFK

10,560 notes 🔁❤️

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🍈 fruitcrunch Follow

how tf do i remember where all these fruit trees are but not who i hooked up with last breeding season

3 notes 🔁❤️

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🥭loosey-juicey Follow

how the hell do you guys eat bugs all year but live where it snows all winter. like do you just leave

🐞 laserious Follow

we just leave.

🐛 eptesicus-serotonin Follow

some of us hibernate! :) during hibernation we go "torpid" which means our metabolism just slows down a lot so we don't need to go out and eat every night

🐞 laserious Follow

we just leave.

1,056 notes 🔁❤️

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🍍 rousettus-stone Follow

what the fuck do frog-eating bats even eat. i hope you guys are having fun tho

🐸 wingcrust Follow

name threw you for a loop huh

602 notes 🔁❤️

! click on website name to be redirected !

all websites can be used for free and without subscribtion (thats why japanese101 isnt included)

-> apps for japanese learners (soon)

1. JLPT Sensei

study guides (N5-N1)

includes grammar, kanji, vocabular, adjective, verb and other lists for orientation when studying

free JLPT practice tests

2. Japanese Verb Conjugator

automatic verb conjugator

verb database

kanji database & kanji tester

over 180,000 example sentences with sound

3. Tanoshii Japanese

japanese-english dictionary (with stroke order!)

pratice games & interactive lessons (Kanji Mahjong etc.)

learning resources (japanese novel, textbook, magazine, movie recommendations)

4. Jisho

fast and smart japanese-english dictionary

draw and radical function apart from keyboard search

searching by topic and categories by adding #[topic/category]

JLPT levels, sentences, particles, counters, names included

5. Map Quiz

world map quiz in japanese

divided into continents and north, east, south and west

6. Japanesetests4you

free JLPT N5-N1 reading and listening tests

free JLPT N5-N1 vocabulary, kanji and grammar lists + tests

7. Shiritori Online

Shiritori (しりとり) is a popular japanese word game and is ideal to exercise vocabulary for japanese learners. 2 or more players take turns saying a word that starts with the last kana of the previous word. The game ends when someone answers with a word ending with -n (ん) because there are no words starting with ん.

it is up to the players whether all forms of a hiragana (kana and its diacritics; は,ば and ぱ etc.) are allowed or not (e.g やぎ -> きよう).

Summary points:

If the Receiver is higher in level than you (e.g. boss, teacher): use さしあげます

If the Receiver is the same level as you (e.g. friend, family): use あげます

If the Receiver is lower in level than you (e.g. animal, child): use やります

If you receive something from a Giver of higher level than you: use いただきます (instead of もらいます）

If the Giver is higher in level than you: use くださいます (instead of くれます）

Verbs need to be in their て-form when combining them with the above.

omg no! don’t stress yourself out like that anon!!

okay, i’m going to be real with the japanese language learning community: you all are doing waaaaaaaay too much when it comes to kanji.

there. i said it.

learning kanji does not have to be a headache!

i spent the first 6 months of my japanese learning “career” (for lack of a better word) trying to figure out the best way to learn kanji because every website and book was like “here’s the kunyomi, here’s the onyomi, now learn them both” but the fine print of that learning method says “you’re going to f*cking struggle”

but then i started realizing that kanji i read all of the time, i didn’t even “properly” study like those articles said. i didn’t know the kunyomi and onyomi for 行 for ages, but i knew it was read いく in 行く and こう in words like 旅行 and 直行. because i learned those words in context and on their own.

a few months after i came to japan, i started asking japanese people how they learned kanji and every single one of them answered the same way: they learn through vocabulary. i once asked my boyfriend how he learned kanji in grade school, and he said that they were basically given a kanji, and then they were given a list of vocabulary that included that kanji. they then memorized the vocabulary and grew to know the kunyomi and onyomi readings.

which, spoiler: kunyomi and onyomi is not always an accurate measure. lots of compounds use the kunyomi, some of them add dakuten (as in ちゅうごく instead of ちゅうこく in 中国), and others add っ (as in ちょっこう instead of ちょこう in 直行). this really isn’t something you can just magically guess.

but it’s important to remember that everyone learns differently. i don’t learn individual kanji – i learn kanji within various vocabulary words. i make sure to get as much exposure to the various ways a single kanji can appear within a larger compound, so 高 is not just a single kanji, but it is 高い and 高校生 and 高価.

i do, however, think it’s important to understand the meaning of a kanji. this can help you decipher the meaning of a word you don’t know yet. for example, 高価 (こうか) means “high price.” 高 means high and 価 means price. knowing their meaning individually can help decipher the meaning.

in this way you can argue that yes, knowing the individual readings of these two kanji makes guessing the reading of this word easier, but 価 can also be read “ke"! you can’t guarantee an accurate reading all of the time, but with more and more exposure to individual kanji, you will be able to tell.

which brings me to my main point: learning kanji is an individual experience. i, personally, think that learning onyomi and kunyomi readings for 2,000+ jouyou kanji is a HUGE WASTE OF TIME, but there are a lot of people out there that do this methodically and know lots and lots of kanji and vocabulary. i, personally, need kanji in a larger vocabulary word in order for it to stick, and my brain just catalogues the various readings away. that’s how my brain works and learns, but it’s not how everyone else works and learns. 

it’s important to find what works for you.

that being said, if you’re just starting out i highly recommend Jakka. it’s a website meant for japanese grade school teachers and has tons of grade school kanji material broken up into their appropriate grades. japanese school children are expected to learn and master a certain amount of kanji + vocabulary each grade level, so if you’d really like to learn like a child, learn like the school children do! (the website is in japanese but fairly simple to navigate.)

i think u should check out any of these books💖:

Gay Bar: Why We Went Out

Rediscovering Gay History: Archetypes of Gay Love in Christian History

Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe

Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe

And the Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic

Spaces between Us: Queer Settler Colonialism and Indigenous Decolonization

Gay Indians in Brazil: Untold Stories of the Colonization of Indigenous Sexualities

Contemporary Women’s Gothic Fiction: Carnival, Hauntings and Vampire Kisses

Le Deuxieme Sexe (and all other books of simone de bauvoire)

Some Papers:

When “No” Means “Yes” and “Yes” Means Harm: HIV Risk, Consent and Sadomasochism Case Law

From Monsters to Monsters: Perverted Predators and Diseased Deviants – Queer Representations in American Slasher Film of the 1980s

Gynaehorror: Women, theory and horror film

Michael Field’s Sapphism: A Tiresian Ontology of Openness between Life and Death in Long Ago

Talking back to Chandler and Spillane : gender and agency in women’s hard-boiled detective fiction

Queer Mysticism in the High Middle Ages: Pain, Love, Earth, and the Female Body in the Illustrations of Hildegard of Bingen’s Scivias

Homosexuality is a Poem: How Gay Poets Remodeled the Lyric, Community and the Ideology of Sex to Theorize a Gay Poetic

Gay and Lesbian Subculture in Urban China (article - free/no paywall)

Shanghai Lalas: Female Tongzhi Communities and Politics in Urban China - Lucetta Kam Yip-lo (book)

At the Juncture of Censure and Mass Voyeurism: Narratives of Female Homoerotic Desire in Post-Mao China - Tze-le D. Sang (article - paywall Duke U press)

Tongzhi Living: Men Attracted to Men in Postsocialist China - Tiantian Zheng (book)

Chinese Male Homosexualities: Memba, Tongzhi and Golden Boy - Travis Kong (book)

Squeezed in the closet: Get married and be quiet are the messages China’s LGBT community is given - Hannah Leung (article, full access)

Being Different with Dignity: Buddhist Inclusiveness of Homosexuality - Fung Kei Chung (article, full access)

As Normal As Possible: Negotiating Sexuality and Gender in Mainland China and Hong Kong - Yau Ching (book)

I’ll reblog in a bit when I can dig up my little bibliography abt gender studies/history (mostly 20th c)

Overt and covert treasures : essays on the sources for Chinese women’s history - Clara Wing-chung Ho (book)

Redemption and Revolution: American and Chinese New Women in the Early Twentieth Century - Motoe Sasaki (book - full ebook on JSTOR)

Heroines of the Qing: Exemplary Women Tell Their Stories - Binbin Yang (book - complete on JSTOR)

Bound to emancipate: working women and urban citizenship in early twentieth-century China and Hong Kong - Angelina Chin (book - complete on JSTOR)

Different Worlds of Discourse: Transformations of Gender and Genre in Late Qing and Early Republican China - Nanxiu Qian, Grace Fong and Richard Smith (book - complete on Ebook Central Online)

So, you've made it to the point where you'd like to branch out and read some novels and children's books in Japanese? Then you've come to the right place! Let's talk about three helpful publishers (Kodansha, Kadokawa, and Shueisha) that can make reading native materials less daunting!

The Kodansha Aoitori Bunko Books (青い鳥文庫) were created and published by Kodansha with elementary schoolers in mind, so almost all kanji has furigana on it. The text is larger and there's normally a bit more spacing in between it (like our children's chapter books in English). Just like other children's chapter books, there are occasional photos included. Aoitori Readers include both original series as well as some translations of international literature (i.e., Little Women, Murder on the Orient Express, Sherlock Holmes, etc.). There are also some adaptations of other series はたらく細胞 (Cells at Work) Those books have blue around the cover.

The Kadokawa Tsubasa Bunko Readers (角川つばさ文庫) operate on the same concept, except the series are normally on a more advanced level. With this in mind, they may use more advanced grammar than the Aoitori series. There are original series, but sometimes books/series for a higher comprehension levels will be adapted into Tsubasa Bunko Readers. This includes popular Japanese novels and series as well as international classics (i.e., Chronicles of Narnia, Pippi Longstocking, Anne of Green Gables, etc.). For adaptations of Japanese novels and series, there will be the "regular" version of the novel and then the Tsubasa Bunko version bc it's the same kanji, same grammar, same words. It'll also supply the furigana for those kanjis and might give little annotations or some photos here and there. For example, the award-winning novel 夜は短し歩けよ乙女 (The Night is Short, Walk on Girl) by 森見 登美彦 (Morimi Tomihiko) has both the "regular" publication and the Tsubasa Bunko version. Tsubasa Bunko Readers have green around the cover. Click on the links to get a preview of each version to compare and contrast.

The Shueisha Mirai Bunko Books also operates the same. There are adaptations of manga series (like Kaguya-sama: Love is War and Demon Slayer) as well as original series. Mirai Bunko Readers have orange around the cover.

If you're worried about attempting to read any of these on your own, come suggest some of them for us to read together at the Seitokai Bookclub! (And even if it doesn't get selected immediately, someone might be interested in being a reading buddy with you :D).

n.b.: if you don’t know the difference between 尊敬語 (sonkeigo) and 謙譲語 (kenjougo), or much about 敬語 (keigo) in general, i recommend a quick google search or glancing over an article like this one! also, i won’t be glossing any kanji, bc i’m lazy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

みなさん、お久しぶりですね！ today i’m going to guide you guys through the verb forms for japanese 敬語. 敬語 can be pretty tricky, but the rules for forming 敬語 verbs (like many rules in japanese) are actually quite consistent. 

there are three 尊敬語 (honorific) forms i’m going to go over today: the Vください form, the Vになります form, and the “simple 尊敬語” form. i’ll also give a brief list of verbs that have specific forms in 尊敬語. after that, i’ll go over one 謙譲語 (humble) form, the Vします form, and then a list of 謙譲語-specific verb forms. さて、行きましょう！

尊敬語：お・ごVください

this form is used to say “please” to a superior, but it doesn’t use the 〜て form like in 丁寧語. here’s how to form it with ichidan, godan, and する verbs.

ichidan/godan verbs: おVますください

かける → かけます → ソファにおかけください

入る → 入ります → どうぞお入りください

する verbs: ごNするください

注意する → 閉まるドアにご注意ください

尊敬語：おVになります

this form is used as a more formal replacement for the usual Vます form, but shouldn’t be used with する verbs* OR verbs that have special forms in 敬語 (see below).

ichidan/godan verbs: おVますになります

書く → 書きます → この教科書は鈴木先生がお書きになりました

帰る → 帰ります → 何時にお帰りになりましたか

する verbs: ❌*

❌ ご説明になりました*

⭕️ ご説明なさいました・説明されました (see below)

*according to the textbook i’m using (see sources), these are incorrect. however, i have seen some posts online that say ごNになります is an acceptable form, so it’s not impossible you’ll see it in the wild (perhaps the times they are a-changing?).

尊敬語：簡単尊敬語 (aka the “active passive”)

have you ever seen a japanese verb in the passive and said to yourself, “actually that makes no sense at all”? it was probably one of these “simple 尊敬語” forms! they are used like the active voice but written like the passive, so you have to tell the difference from context. also, they are NOT used with ください.

ichidan verbs: Vないられます

食べる → 食べない → 刺身を食べられますか

godan verbs: Vないれます

読む  →  読まない → 今朝の新聞を読まれましたか

する verbs: Nするされます

紹介する → 先生が新しい学生を紹介されました

ください form: ❌

❌ 英語で話されてください

⭕️ 英語でお話しください

this form is not quite as formal as おVになります, and it comes across as a little more friendly or “気軽,” so be careful when you use it. it might be more appropriate to use with strangers, for example, than with your boss.

尊敬語： verbs with special forms

some verbs are actually completely different in 敬語, for reasons probably more complicated than i care to find out (lol). here is a list of some common ones for 尊敬語!

行きます・来ます・います → いらっしゃいます・おいでになります

言います → おっしゃいます

見ます → ご覧になります

飲みます・食べます → 召し上がります

知っています → ご存知です

します → なさいます

くれます → くださいます

寝ます → お休みになります

着ます → お召しになります

住んでいます → お住まいです

死にました → お亡くなりになりました

です → でいらっしゃいます

謙譲語：お・ごVします

when speaking about your own actions to a superior, you can use this 謙譲語 form to be more humble and formal than you would be using Vます. this form isn’t used with verbs with special 謙譲語 forms.

ichidan/godan verbs: おVますします

届ける → 届けます → この書類をお届けします

持つ → 持ちます → 社長の荷物をお持ちします

する verbs: ごNします

説明する → 先生に新しいパソコンの使い方をご説明します

a quick note about this form: generally when using 謙譲語, it is common to omit 私が at the beginning of sentences/phrases, since you are already referring to yourself by using humble language anyway.

謙譲語： verbs with special forms

just like with 尊敬語, 謙譲語 has verbs whose forms change entirely. here are some of the most common ones!

行きます・来ます → 参ります・伺います

います → おります

言います → 申します (in 自己紹介)・申し上げます

見ます → 拝見します

飲みます・食べます → いただきます

知っています → 存じております (thing)・存じ上げております (person)

思います → 存じます

します → いたします

あげます → 差し上げます

もらいます → いただきます

会います → お会いします・お目にかかります

聞きます → お聞きします・伺います

あります → ございます

です → でございます

sources

As you probably know, kanji originated in China. In China, kanji were categorized into one of six basic classifications depending primarily on how the character was formed.

The first category, the pictograph, is the most primitive type of kanji and was created as a representation of the physical appearance of an object. In modern Japanese there are relatively few of these characters.

Example: 日　ひ　sun

The second type of kanji represent numbers, positional relations, and abstract concepts.

Example: 二　に　two

Kanji in the third group are a combination of two or more of the first two types of kanji.

Example: 林　はやし　woods

The fourth and most important type of kanji consists of one part that represents some aspect of its meaning and another part that suggests how it was pronounced in classical Chinese. The kanji for あじ or み, 味 (flavor), consists of a mouth (the square) and the character for not yet with the idea being that this is a character that has something to do with the mouth and sounds like the word for not yet. This category consists of more than 80% of the kanji used in modern Japanese.

Example: 味　あじ　flavor

The fifth classification of kanji contains characters whose meanings have changed or been extended over the centuries. For example, the kanji 楽（らく）had the original meaning of to play a musical instrument but now has an addition meaning of enjoy.

Example: 楽　らく　music➡enjoy

The sixth and final classification of kanji consists of those borrowed to express new meanings simply because of their sounds, irrespective of their meanings. For example, the Chinese character meaning two people facing each other was used to represent north, which was pronounced the same.

Example: 北　ほく　north (original meaning: two people facing each other)

I did not receive any formal classes or training when comes to sending formal business emails in Japanese.

It is indeed a completely ball game and normal jlpt Japanese knowledge didn’t help me at all. When I first started sending and replying to my jp boss, it took me almost 2 hours just to reply a simple email because I was so afraid of messing up and offending him. However as time goes by and learning by myself + on the go, it became easier for me to do so. I’m still far away from replying naturally and comfortably for biz jp emails but I’m happy I’ve made significant progress!

here are some resources which helped me improved my business jp for emails

knowing the to-do’s, especially the not to-do’s is very important as a head start imo! learn how not to offend anyone comes first, focus more on the common mistakes. youtube has some of such similar resources too so feel free to check them out. Here are some website recourses of mine:

https://lamire.jp/200943

https://kicho-navi.jp/keigo-phone-mail/

https://business-textbooks.com/honorific70/

templates ranging from 催促、ご確認、依頼、ご指示、ご教義、お礼、お詫び、ご報告 etc, really depends on what you wanna search 🌟

https://email.chottu.net

https://business-mail.jp/example

https://biz.trans-suite.jp/category/マナー/メール

http://nomad-salaryman.com/category/ビジネス

Hello, sorry this is extremely overdue ><

Yes you are right — they all have to do with love. However, 恋 (koi) and 恋愛 (ren ai) are both similar, while 愛 (ai) is a bit different.

愛 is more of a general term for love as it can refer to all types of love rather than just romantic love. For instance, love between a mother and her child, love for a friend, or love for a religion. (definition)

ex. 親の愛 (oya no ai) - parental love

ex. 兄弟愛 (kyoudai ai) - sibling love

ex. 母の愛 (haha no ai) - maternal love

ex. 神の愛 (kami no ai) - God’s love

ex. 家族への愛 (kazoku e no ai) - love for (his) family

ex. 男女の愛 (danjo no ai) - love between men/women

ex. 日本に対する愛 (nihon ni taisuru ai) - love of Japan

ex. 世界への愛 (sekai e no ai) - love of the world

—-

On the other hand, 恋 and 恋愛 are more specifically for romantic kinds of love. Both have the same kind of meaning, but 恋愛 is heavier and more serious, whereas 恋 can be that or a cuter/lighter love like puppy love. You can say 恋愛する (ren ai suru), but 恋をする (koi wo suru) is more common. 恋愛 is also used as a genre name. 

お菓子作りが好きな理由は、みんなの嬉しそうな顔を見るのが好きだからだそうです。

Whew, this one had… many things I really needed a refresher on! (That’s why I make these, so yay!). Comments and thoughts always appreciated.

My first thought was “You’re either heartless or your feelings are getting brighter,” but the situation didn’t seem to fit with the ‘heartless’ aspect, so…

Turns out both 心なし and 心なしか mean “somehow; somewhat; seemingly.”

It’s two connected bubbles in Noragami, for context the first is 夜ト様も人の願いがあってこそ, then どんな願いもないがしろにしてはいけませんよ