Tag Archives: learning

Japanese and One Word Statements

A friend commented on my previous post on “ureshii” about how one-word statements are hard on early Japanese learners. He blamed his inability to “think in Japanese.” Well, how about I show you a small part of how to do … Continue reading

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Defragmenting the Human Mind

More Efficient Thinking and Learning Language education, and many other kinds, fill the mind with all manner of trivia, from which the word trivial is derived. This information is like specs of information on a hard drive, fragmented and difficult … Continue reading

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Japanese: Making Things Clear (Hakkiri)

はっきり So you want to spell things out in simple terms? To say it straight? To make things crystal clear? In Japanese, this is being hakkiri (はっきり) about it. There is no kanji for “hakkiri”; it is a native Japanese-ism … Continue reading

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Japanese Idioms: O-tsukaresama desu

Thank You For Your Hard Work Usually, when お疲れ様です (o-tsukaresama desu) rolls off the Japanese tongue, it can be safely understood as “Thank you for your hard work.” The “o” part means that this applies to someone else. The “tsukare” part … Continue reading

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So You Want To Read Manga In Japanese

Try This. I only just saw this, but try this link and take a look. It’s by the Japan Foundation and well, I can’t draw and I can’t program in Flash by myself, so I don’t want to repeat anything … Continue reading

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Japanese: Making Things Plain

はっきりする The word はっきり (hakkiri) exists only in hiragana.This does not mean it is unimportant. Rather, it simply means that its roots are entirely native Japanese. This word is most often pressed into service as a “suru” (する) verb, which … Continue reading

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Informal Japanese: Why It’s Important

Not Every Situation Is Formal One of the real, visceral failings of standard Japanese courses is that they only teach the formal versions of verbs in the classroom. Granted, this is good for academic situations, the conduct of professional business, … Continue reading

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Japanese Language: The Above Text

以上の文 Beyond the two uses of 以上 (ijou) mentioned in the previous post, there is an additional use very important to all aspirants to pass tests like the JLPT and so forth. In the headline above, 文 (bun) means sentences. … Continue reading

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Japanese Language: End of Message

以上 Many Japanese e-mails, letters, and so forth, end with the above kanji, read as ijou. This is used in the same way as many Americans would use EOM, standing for End of Message, indicating that there is no more … Continue reading

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The Nuances of Learning Japanese

It’s About The Little Things Some other things in my life have stabilized so I’m going to devote a little time to this blog to put some ideas out. Nihongo: A Precision Instrument In Japanese literature, the meanings of Japanese … Continue reading

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