Dan Learning Japanese

[danlearnjapanese]

意 - Ideas and thought 味 - Flavor and taste

意味 - Imi, meaning, significance, sense.

So the meaning of a thought is how it tastes 👍

[danlearnjapanese]

I will never remember 前 is "mae" for front!

"It's in 名前, na-mae."

I will super easily remember 前 is "mae" for front! It's the present the goblin gets in namae!

"The what the who gets now???"

[danlearnjapanese]

I can remember 仕事, work, for the most depressing reason. It's "shigoto".

"Shi" can be death (though different kanji). Death from overwork.

"Goto". "Go to". Go to death.

~yaaay mnemonics~ 😰

[danlearnjapanese]

見える is for something to be visible.

覚える is for something to be truly seen (understood, learned)

This can be nitpicked, but SSHHH! I'm mnemonic-a-ing a way to memorize a verb for memorizing over here!

Also: 👑Mi learned the Oboe 🪈

[danlearnjapanese]

"Hi! I'm 後, あと! If referring to time, I'm later! If referring to location, I'm behind! I am not at all confusing!"

😠

"Also, I'm in the word for afternoon! 午後, ごご!"

😡

"OooOoo, I'm behind you, 後ろ, うしろ..."

(I keep getting words with this kanji wrong, so this is me trying to reinforce some things)

[danlearnjapanese]

私はライトノベル書きたくて日本語を勉強して異世界に旅行する

“Watashi wa raitonoberu kakitakute Nihon-go o benkyō shite i sekai ni ryokō suru”

“I want to write a light novel, so I'm studying Japanese and traveling to another world”

[danlearnjapanese]

Breaking this sentence down for funzies:

私は - Subject. "I". Lots of options for it, but I decided Watashi was fine for the implied protagonist.

ライトノベル - Katakana light novels. I don't know if this is actually proper, but it's what the Google Translate app threw back at me.

It's just occurred to me I might be missing a particle here? Maybe を? Ah well. I'll learn later if I am. I haven't properly reviewed particles in a while, and I really should. I know more now, and I think they'll be less confusing in general.

書き + たくて - Writing combined with te-form of want i-adjective (tai) to connect to next part.

日本語 - Japanese

勉強 + して - Study plus te-form of suru to connect to next part.

異世界 - Isekai. I'm not gonna remember the individual kanji any time soon, but I think I'll recognize the full word.

旅行 + する - Travel plus suru to verbify the heck out of it. I'm probably going to remember how to say this own because I used to be big on Tenchi Muyo, and it's "Ryokou". Not exactly Ryoko's name, but close enough for mnemonics.

And oh hey, that second kanji is the same as in 行く for going. Neat.

[danlearnjapanese]

私はライトノベル書きたくて日本語を勉強して異世界に旅行する

“Watashi wa raitonoberu kakitakute Nihon-go o benkyō shite i sekai ni ryokō suru”

“I want to write a light novel, so I'm studying Japanese and traveling to another world”

[danlearnjapanese]

Couple days ago me: "I know some of the vocabulary in this anki deck. I'm going to increase it from 10 to 15 new words a day."

Me today: "Going back to 10 my brain can't handle 15 right now it's too much."

I think one of the issues is simply that 15 is a BIG increase (100% -> 150%‼️), but it's small numbers, so it doesn't SOUND like a lot 🤔

But a sudden 50% increase IS a lot, don't be fooled into thinking otherwise! 🛑

Like, I'd like to get to 15 words a day, even 20, but I shouldn't go from 10 to 15. If 10 feels easy, go from 10 to 11. If 11 feels easy, then 12. Etc. 👍🏻

[danlearnjapanese]

For I think the first time, I remembered a Japanese word in my head because I remembered what the Hiragana looked like.

I was trying to remember what the word for dream was, and had it wrong, but then I remembered how it looked: ゆめ (yume)

[danlearnjapanese]

The more I practice Japanese, the less it seems feasible for AI to accurately translate anything that's not, like, a novel.

The context sensitivity is just off the charts.

[danlearnjapanese]

I'm PRETTY sure Pokemon games on the Switch use a Japanese keyboard due to how selecting languages is in-game (Skyrim keeps you using an English one even though everything is in Japanese).

I mention this because I'm hoping to practice Katakana by using it exclusively for my Pokemon names, and not necessarily names that mean anything beyond "these are Katakana I need to practice".

For example, a reply on a previous post brought up the difficulty of differentiating フワウ (Fu-wa-u), and ソツシン (so-tsu-shi-n), so I plot for those to be pokemon whose names I say when used.

"Fu-wa-u, GO!"

Just have pokemon pummel Katakana into my mind brain.

[danlearnjapanese]

I have to do the unthinkable.

I have to... I HAVE TO...

Actually learn Katakana properly in spite of it being less frequent because it still pops up everywhere like a speed bump.

I have some manga (well, three volumes of Bofuri) and games with Furigana now, so Katakana has suddenly become more of an obstacle to reading practice than Kanji 🙃

Below are many practice charts, which is how I went about Hiragana. I basically read through them as fast as I can. With Hiragana, I gradually added to which ones I read each day, so that's what I'm also going to do with Katakana.

EDIT: I should note in the "W" column, it doesn't match up with the vowels on the right. It's Wa, Wo, and N. I THINK I was mimicking how it was written elsewhere.

I guess I may as well include the ones I made for Hiragana. I was worried about having too many images, but each of these are relatively small, so... It's fine. It's probably fine.

[danlearnjapanese]

何こいつ･･･やばくね？

Dissecting this sentence from the Bofuri manga is interesting to me. 🤔

“Nani koitsu… yabaku ne?”

The English manga localized it as

“How the—Is she cheating?”

The original doesn’t mention cheating. It’s more like “what is this person? That’s not normal, right?” with the “what is this person” phrased rudely, according to Jisho.

I find “nani koitsu” interesting, because I assume that’s not a common way to ask who someone is. 誰ですか (dare desu ka), or something like it, is what I’d expect.

Anyway, now I’m going to be on the lookout for 何こいつ. See how wrong I am about it’s commonality 😉

[danlearnjapanese]

いただきます！

I probably shouldn’t use an English word for remembering a Japanese expression, but “itadakimasu” is said before eating, it starts with an “eat” sound, and realizing that has suddenly made it really easy for me to remember, whereas before it just did not stick 🙃

[danlearnjapanese]

Holy carp. Okay, it’s VERY small text, but I got the first three Bofuri manga in Japanese, and it uses Furigana! Hiragana next to EVERY KANJI!

Absurdly SMALL Hiragana. This is smaller than English manga volumes…

GASP! I actually have a reason to use those clip-on magnifying glasses I bought gods only knows how long ago!

(Soon) I am SO near-sighted with these on, BUT EVERYTHING NEAR MY FACE IS HUGE

Anyway, what’s important is I CAN READ THIS! I might not know all the words, but just being able to read the characters is a huge first step.

Also, I need to remember these lenses are an option for other things, like Switch games.

[danlearnjapanese]

気

I keep noticing this elephant, so I assume it’s a common kanji.

(Note: Not an elephant)

Which is actually fantastic, because it only has three readings, and two of them are the same: ki.

Kun: Ki き

On: Ki キ, Ke ケ

So pretty good odds on getting it right, or close to right (ki Vs ke).

I first noticed this kanji due to skyrim. Ice effects in it use 冷気 (reiki), and it stood out for looking like an elephant to me, so it made me think of mammoths.

Pretty easy to remember mammoths in Skyrim 🦣

[danlearnjapanese]

Attempting to keep track of where a Japanese audiobook is while looking at the Japanese text is a daunting task for me, but I was already doing better by the end of the first chapter.

This is supposed to be a “toss Dan into the deep end” thing. It’s similar to Skyrim in that regard, but it’s a lot easier to control.

For example, with this book, I can select a chapter, and repeat. Over and over again.

In Skyrim, it’s just “I think I heard ‘sanzoku’? Guess I’ve got bandits to take care of,” and getting a handle on item descriptions without in-game audio.

Ultimately, I do like playing Japanese Skyrim, but I think the book thing will be of more immediate help. Plus getting used to following the text will help with subtitles.

In theory, anyway. This light novel is PROPER Right to Left with Sentences going Up -> Down. It’s quite different to what I’m used to.