Basic Japanese Cheat Sheet: Digital Version!
Today I am releasing a version of the Basic Japanese cheat sheet which has been fully optimized for use on a computer (or computer-like device).
5 Traits of a Successful Japanese Learner
Let’s be honest, learning a language is tough. While some learners go on to be highly proficient speakers, living and working in their second language, a large number (probably a majority) either give up half way or struggle to progress beyond the intermediate level.
Fortunately, whether or not a person will become an advanced-level bilingual doesn’t seem to have any relation to their IQ or age…
Shorthand Kanji Forms
Shorthand kanji forms (called
Otaku Expression: MINAGITTEKITA!!!
Today’s post will be a short one on my favorite expression in Japanese: ミ・ナ・ギ・ッ・テ・キ・ターーーー！！！！！
Saying “You” in Japanese
Saying “you” in Japanese is much trickier business than in English. In English, we have just the one word, and we use it all the time. Japanese has a much broader vocabulary, but also a strong tendency to avoid using it.
Japanese Cheat Sheet Pack
At last, the time has come to unveil what I’ve spent the last several months working on: a pack of Japanese cheat sheets for intermediate to advanced Japanese learners.
How to use Japanese Counters
This blog topic will take on one of the more neglected topics of Japanese language. And by “neglected”, I don’t mean that it is not covered in text books, what I mean is that the coverage given in textbooks tends to lack structure and be inadequate for advanced learning.
Taking Kanji Apart: Radicals and Components
As any learner knows, kanji are an inescapable and daunting aspect of learning Japanese. There’s more than 2000 of the little devils and each one has multiple pronunciations, multiple meanings, and a predefined stroke order. That’s a lot to learn, so it’s understandable that most teachers and books avoid…
Japanese vocabulary: crime words
Japan is one of the safest countries in the world, but not without its share of problems. Mostly, these problems amount to stolen bicycles and umbrellas (I had my own bicycle stolen last fall). Recently I played through
7 polite phrases foreigners aren’t supposed to know
One of the joys of learning Japanese is seeing that shocked and dumbfounded look on native speakers’ faces when you fire off a difficult word or phrase that even they probably wouldn’t have come up with. You get to smile snobbishly and think to yourself: Ha! you didn’t see THAT coming, did you!?
More from Nihonshock…
