zadkiel / morax

he / they + neos ◇ trying to get back into langauges ◇ native english / learning russian , spanish , mandarin finnish

[nyahongo]

your strategy for learning/memorizing kanji? :)

Hi anon, thanks for your question! I'm sorry for the late reply; I was away from Tumblr and Japanese studies for some time.

I use WaniKani to learn kanji, and I've talked about what I think of it in previous posts (here and here).

Exposure is key

Other than WaniKani, exposure has also been key for me. Typing words out over and over again in my diary entries helps me remember which kanji are the correct ones from the IME predictive text list (Windows has a Japanese keyboard you can install called IME, provided by Microsoft). With this writing experience, I can see kanji in others’ diary entries or posts and recognize them.

See a new word

Look it up on jisho.org (an online dictionary)

Learn what it means and how to pronounce it

If there’s a kanji in it, look it up

Identify the reading that’s in the word I looked up

Write down the word and the reading

This process allows me to associate the reading for the kanji with the new word I learned.

For example, the verb 書きます

jisho.org says this is the ～ます form (i.e. the polite form) of the verb 書く

書く means “to write” (the most common definition)

There’s a kanji in this word: 書

書 in 書く is pronounced か, which is one of its kun-yomi (kun reading, which originates from Japan - check out Tofugu’s kanji series of articles; it’s really informative and helpful!)

書く = to write (かく; godan verb, which Genki calls a u-verb)

Here’s a screenshot from jisho.org:

Kanji can have multiple readings

① On-yomi are readings that originate from China.

② Kun-yomi are readings that originate from Japan.

The reason why it’s important to know kanji readings is because a single kanji can have more than one reading, and you won’t know which one is correct in vocabulary words you’ve never seen before. The more kanji you learn in the context of vocabulary words, the more you’ll pick up on which readings should be used in new, unfamiliar vocabulary words.

Kanji don't exist in a vacuum

Because kanji is found in vocabulary words, you might have some trouble remembering words out of context (i.e. sentences, which need grammar in order to be created).

By learning kanji readings in the context of vocabulary words, you:

Have something to associate with the kanji reading - this aids in memory.

Can learn vocabulary and kanji that matter to you - so you don’t waste time trying to memorize long lists of words you’ll never use.

Expose yourself gradually to kanji that have multiple readings - so you don’t get overwhelmed.

Here's another example: the kanji 中.

Looking up this kanji in jisho.org shows that it has two readings:

① なか is listed as a kun-yomi (i.e. a pronunciation that originated from Japan). For example, 中 in this sentence is pronounced なか in the word 中 (なか), which is a noun meaning “inside”:

本はカバンの中です。(The book is inside the bag.)

② ちゅう is listed as an on-yomi (i.e. a pronunciation that originated from China). For example, 中 in this sentence is pronounced ちゅう in the word 中国 (ちゅうごく) which means “China”:

彼は中国に行きます。(He is going to China.)

中 in this second sentence isn’t pronounced なか, so if that’s the only pronunciation you memorize or learn with the kanji 中, then you won’t know how to read the word  中国人. Memorizing 中 as ちゅう or なか doesn’t tell you much about how it is used in vocabulary words. By learning vocabulary, you’ll have something concrete to associate with a particular kanji. This makes it easier for you to remember, instead of trying to memorize stroke order or what the kanji looks like.

Here's a third example: 図書館 (としょかん).

This word means “library.” It's composed of three kanji, and each kanji has a specific pronunciation:

図 = と (one of the on-yomi readings for this kanji)

書 = しょ (the only on-yomi reading for this kanji)

館 =  かん (the only on-yomi reading for this kanji)

These kanji mean:

図書 = books

館 = house, hall, building; used as a suffix or a standalone noun

So 図書館 can be literally translated as “book building.”

Using Context to Predict Readings

Whether a kanji in a certain word is pronounced using the on-yomi reading or the kun-yomi reading depends on the context of the sentence or word it is in.

For example, the kanji 心 has two readings: しん or こころ

心配 = しんぱい; n., worry, concern, anxiety

心得る = こころえる; v., to understand, to be aware of, to regard as

心理学 = しんりがく; n., psychology

心 =  こころ; n., mind, heart, spirit​*

心 = しん; n., heart, mind*

* Note: 心 (こころ) and 心 (しん) are also vocabulary words on their own. These are single kanji vocabulary words.

As you can see, each of the above words has a different reading for 心. If you see 心配 in a sentence, you’ll need to learn to read it as しんぱい not こころぱい. The only way to do this is repeated exposure and patience.

Here’s a sentence with 心配 in it:

メアリーさんは試験を心配しています。 Mary is worried about the exam.

If you look up the word 試験 (しけん), you’ll learn that it means “exam.” So in this sentence, Mary is doing some verb to or about an exam. The verb 心配しています is conjugated in the ている form, indicating a continuing action. What could the verb be? One possibility is worrying. That’s 心配する (しんぱいする), which comes from the noun 心配 (しんぱい, worry) and just has する (to do) attached to it. So しんぱいする means “to do worry” or just “to worry.”

Using Jisho.org to Look Up Words

Most words in Japanese are written using kanji only or a mix of kanji and hiragana. I don’t yet know how to look up words by radical (kanji component) yet, so I rely on the online dictionary at jisho.org to look up new words. I type in hiragana and search that way. Jisho will usually be able to give you the word you’re looking for, with kanji (and furigana above each kanji character).

For example, the verb つくる (which has a kanji character, 作):

I typed in つくる in the search bar, hit Enter, and the first thing that came up was the verb I was looking for: 作る.

Another thing to try using is a Japanese keyboard. I have one installed on my phone (you can add languages in the keyboard settings if you have a smart phone) as well as my computer (the IME keyboard, which I mentioned earlier). Both keyboards give kanji recommendations, which can be helpful if you have an idea of what kanji are in the word.

As you can see in the screenshot below, the first recommendation is 作る, which turns out to be the right word I was looking for. Using the IME keyboard, just press Enter and the hiragana you type will be automatically converted into kanji. You can also just click on the recommended word. Then, copy/paste it into the search bar on Jisho to see what it means.

Be aware though that the first recommended word in a keyboard's list might not be the correct one (which is why repeated exposure to the right kanji will help you differentiate between similar-sounding words). A good example of this is 洗濯 versus 選択. Both of these words are pronounced as せんたく but only one of them means "laundry." As such, always check what words you're using to make sure they're the ones you actually mean! Jisho.org is a great dictionary to use for this.

Further Reading

Here are links to some kanji-related articles on Tofugu that I found really helpful:

The History of Kanji

On’Yomi and Kun’Yomi in Kanji: What’s the Difference?

Learn Kanji with Radicals and Mnemonics: The Definitive Guide

How to Find the Kanji Radical

How to Look Up and Read Kanji You Don’t Know

For more resources and information on kanji, check out the #kanji tag on my blog as well as:

These posts:

https://japanesetranslated.tumblr.com/post/161866274410/

https://chokopan.tumblr.com/post/187312734039/

https://chokopan.tumblr.com/post/650479596548046848/

https://chokopan.tumblr.com/post/651113807515664385/

https://chokopan.tumblr.com/post/651283446512091136/

These websites:

https://www.tanoshiijapanese.com/lessons/kanji_lessons.cfm

http://guidetojapanese.org/learn/complete/kanji

https://www.kamesame.com/

http://guidetojapanese.org/learn/complete/kanji

I hope this helps! 漢字は難しですが、できるよ！！(´っ･ω･)っ

[soulbutterlanguages]

Learning to read in your target language !

Learning to read in any language is difficult!  There’s nothing more frustrating than picking up a book you’ve read in your mother tongue and not understanding a word in your target language. Luckily, it’s a matter of vocabulary ! 

You won’t understand everything

 Even in your native language, you still don’t understand EVERY WORD, you use context to try to figure out something you don’t know. But you’ll find that if you keep at it, you will get visibly better.

I read Harry Potter as my first long text in French and I high lighted every single word that I didn’t know. Looking back, about 35% of the words on the first page are high lighted vs. about 5% on the last page.

To get the most our of language learning, you should start trying to read as soon as possible !

You get so much passive input out of reading comprehension. It’s easy to subconsciously pick up commonly used phrases and putting grammar points and vocabulary into application.

So, what methods can I use to get the most out my reading?

A.) Read a paragraph through and look up the words and their definitions, then read it again and really try to find the meaning of each sentence. This might be the most taxing method and easy to lose focus or motivation, but honestly it’s the best for learning. 

B.) Stop at every word you don’t know and look up the meaning. I personally don’t like this method. I find myself looking more for words I don’t know than the meaning behind the whole sentence. I also don’t like stopping and starting and stopping and starting. 

C.) Skim the paragraph or page for words you don’t know, highlight them, define them first, THEN read the whole piece of text. This is my favorite method. I like looking back at the beginning of the book and seeing all the words I didn’t know then but I know now.

D.) Try to gather context of sentence without looking up any words. This is what native speakers do, and it is, of course, the best method but it requires a deeper meaning of the context that most A1/A2 learners have yet to understand.

You might be struggling learning through textbooks because the vocab lists prioritize subjects like “body parts” and “animals” over giving you basic tools to describe things. It’s great to know words like “knee” and “candle” but how often do those really come up in conversation? Instead of finding random lists that might be useful one day, I suggest creating a list of vocab based on your reading content! When you see a word that has come up a few times and you still can’t gather from context what it means, look it up, then every time you see it in the text from now on, it’ll enforce that knowledge in your brain.

If you aren’t sure what kind of texts you should be reading or want more information and tips, check out my other post.

[estudioscaoticos]

Fillers words are those small interruptions we put in our sentences whenever we talk. Mostly shunned upon when writing papers, or giving speeches, but in casual conversations it pops up all the time.

There are times where I just end up saying, “um,” “like,” “uhh,” and so on. You know, things like that and was curious how I can also transfer that blank state of mind in another language.

Well, that and it gives you time while you’re thinking of the right words for your target language. It sounds more natural than saying the English filler words and it won’t confuse the native speakers as much.

These are the filler words in the languages I’m learning:

SPANISH

Pues – Well

A ver – Let’s see

Digo – I say

O sea – I mean

Entonces – So/therefore

Asi que – So/therefore

Bueno – Well

Es que – It’s just that

Este – Umm/uhh 

La cosa es – The thing is

A lo que me refiero es – What I refer to is

JAPANESE

えーと [eeto] – Umm

あのう [ano] – Well/say

その [sono] – That/the

ええ [ee] – Uhh

なんか [nanka] – Something

それで [Sore de] – So

You can extend the way you say it such as eeeeto, or sonooo.

ITALIAN

Meno male – Thank goodness

Allora – So

Ma dai – Come on

Quindi – Therefore

Vediamo un po’ – Let me see

Siccome – Seeing as/since

Visto che – Seeing as

Comunque – Anyway

A proposito – By the way

Per la maggior parte – For the most part

Forse – Maybe

Magari – Perhaps

RUSSIAN

Ну – Well

Это/эта – Well

Типа – well, kinda

Как бы – Sort of

В общем – Basically, so

Слышь – Y’know

В принципе – Theoretically

Это самое – Whatsit, whatchamacallit

Собственно – As a matter of fact

Значит – So/well then

Скажем – Say

Однозначно – Sure thing

Так сказать – Sort of/kind of

Жесть – Sick/awesome/sick-awesome/harsh/heavy

В натуре – Actually, for real

Прямо скажем – To be honest

Короче – Bla-bla-bla, long story short

То сё, пятое десятое – This and that

Реально – For real

На самом деле – Actually

Круто – Cool

Конечно – Totally

Прикольно/ по приколу – Fun

FRENCH

Alors – So

Allez  – Right/Go ahead

Euh – Uhh

Quoi – What

Bref – Basically

Bien  – Well

En fait  – In fact

Quand même  – Still/anyway

Tu sais  – You know

Bon/bon ben  – Well

C’est-à-dire – That is to say

A la limite  – I mean/I suppose

PORTUGESE

Ou seja – Like/I mean/That is to say

Bom – Well/um/ok

Então – So/then

Pois – So/then

Ahn/Hum – Um/er

Mas – But

Bem – Well

Certo – Right

Certo/é  assim – Right/isn’t it

Como – Like

Try using these words as you slowly start forming sentences, or just use it whenever you’re studying in your target language.

Feel free to add more, or let me know if I missed anything! Happy studies!

[serenata-your-neighborhood-lefty]

[mayflower-gal]

“I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.”

-Stephen Jay Gould.

[las-lus]

This quote is great because so was Einstein himself! He never saw himself as a genius, as a mind like no other. He saw himself as a guy who studied alot and he was very dedicated to give that opportunity to others. He also spoke very openly against racism and was one of the few professors that thought black people at the time. Here are some great pictures of him in 1946

[serenata-your-neighborhood-lefty]

Adding onto this: I really recommend Einstein’s short, entry-level essay “Why Socialism?”, found here. It’s ~10 min read and it does a great job of explaining the crux of socialism. 

Here are some of his major points:

The individual and society form a symbiotic relationship. A healthy individual needs a healthy society and a healthy society needs healthy individuals.

Capitalism undermines democracy by concentrating wealth into the hands of an economic elite, which in turn funds a political elite to represent its interests in government. The ultra-rich also control the media and educational systems to manipulate public opinion and prevent free thought. (Here Einstein is pre-empting Noam Chomsky and Ed Herman’s propaganda model).

Capitalism’s profit motive entails human needs going unmet to satisfy human greed.   

The “worst evil” of capitalism is the crippling of individuals, which begins in school where an exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student.

A transition to socialism is necessary to overcome these problems, and is in fact imperative to avert constant warfare and ecological catastrophe. We need a fully democratic society where society’s productive capacity is not concentrated into the hands of a few, but owned by workers and society itself. 

[hachama]

Please do not ignore one of the bedrock reasons why Einstein identified with black people in America: Einstein was a German Jew.  Check those dates.  He fled the Nazis.

[alvsstudies]

WaniKani for Kanji Studies

WaniKani, for all your kanji learning needs~

WaniKani, the glorious, glorious site that’s been a permanent tab on my computer for years. Boy, where do I even begin to describe the wonder that is this kanji studying website and its community? Actually, other than the very basics I’ll probably stick to mentioning the things I personally love about it and let you explore the ins and outs of the page on your own, because the WK community site already has loads and loads of guides, support, and tips ‘n tricks for you if you want to give it a go and need someone to point you in the right direction. Oh, and then there’s also the official knowledge guide which includes FAQ, of course. Heaps of information on there. Totally recommend it. 🐊🦀✨

“Everything you need to know about waiting a really long time for your precious reviews”

“Okay, okay, we get it. But, what is WaniKani?” Ah. Right. Well, first things first, in Japanese ワニ (wani) means crocodile, or alligator, and カニ (kani) means crab. The mascot for the page is the almighty Crabigator that is more or less worshipped by the community. If you venture into the weird parts of it, that is. But if you’re not into that stuff you can just. Y’know. Forget everything I just wrote and pretend it doesn’t exist. 

Through WK you get to memorise both kanji and vocabulary containing the kanji you learn. 2,000 kanji may sound like intimidatingly many squiggles and lines to learn, but nope! WK’s got your back! Instead of memorising each and every line, you learn using radicals. Suddenly you’ll look at a kanji and see three radicals instead of 10+ strokes. Magic ✨ You’ll also learn the different pronunciations/readings of the kanji, and when you learn new vocabulary you’ll have a bunch of example sentences of varying difficulty help you see the word in its proper context.

Kanji readings made easy. And fun!

The learning process is separated into different levels (60 in total), each containing a certain amount of radicals, kanji, and vocabulary. There is a “Lessons” button for learning new stuff, and a “Reviews” button for reviewing the stuff you’ve previously learnt. Easy peasy, right? 🍋

Welp, that’s essentially the gist of it. I’ll now introduce some of the things I love about WK real quick:

First few levels for free - this way you’ll get a feel for how WK works while at the same time learn some basic kanji. Then you’re free to choose which type of membership you’d like to purchase (if any). (It’s so worth it though, if you ask me)

SRS: spaced repetition system - to optimise learning based on how human memory works. Greatly appreciated by my psychology major brain 

The design, art, layout - clean, colourful, pretty, simplistic, professional, and easy to use only begins to describe it! Besides, how could we possibly hope to learn anything at all if the page weren’t aesthetically pleasing, amirite 

Humour - good god there’s nothing worse than really dry textbook material. How about some really dry humour instead? Believe me, there are some GEMS in the example sentences

Game-like - the level up system makes you want to keep going back for more so you can level up. It’s sort of like that TED-talk about the Super Mario Effect: you’re so engrossed in the “I want to level up!” mindset that you forget that you’re actually learning heaps of useful kanji in the process

Community - whether you want someone to answer your questions about those pesky particles, want to laugh at extremely disproportionate manga drawings people have found while reading, want to practice chatting in Japanese with fellow learners, want a morale boost by checking out some wholesome doodles and gifs, lowkey want to join a Crabigator cult or want to join a Japanese book club - the WK community is the place to go. I just wanted to learn some kanji, man. Who would’ve thought I’d make actual, solid friendships? Aw. Wholesome  

And last but not least:

The Tofugu guys who run the show - accommodating, kind, funny, professional, and quick to reply if something’s up. You see them lurking around in the community posts sometimes. You should totally consider checking out their articles about Japan and Japanese learning over on their blog, Tofugu. Super helpful! Or their podcast about the same stuff. All good times over there. (One of my personal faves is probably the one about ようかい.) They’re also currently working on developing a Japanese-learning-online-textbook-type of thing (…nailed it) called EtoEto. Super excited for that!

And that’s that on that! 🎊 If you have any questions about WK just send me an ask or pop by the WK Community (my @ in case you want to say hi: Alolvovan). Happy kanji learning! 頑張って！

[michelle-languages]

What about a Bullet Journal dedicated to language learning?

New post today! YAAAAY, I missed blogging sooooo much but I came back home to visit my parents.  You guys know, if you follow me on Instagram too, that I looooove the Bullet Journal method, I use it every day for my studies and right now for work too. So why not creating a new bullet journal only dedicated to language learning? Here’s what are the possible useful spreads I will create in the near future:

Yearly log: probably a vertical spread and for each month I will list the goals I want to reach in each language

Monthly log: a classic monthly log but with the days in the middle, on the left side I will list what are my daily goals and on the other one I will write what I actually did

Monthly tracker: for each day I’ll track how many hours or minutes I’ll spend for each language (color coding needed)

Level 10 fluency: for each language, I will list how much I feel fluent in each category (reading, writing, speaking, listening) from 1 to 10

Resources log: for each language, I will dedicate one page in order to list all the resources I use or I have in store and I’ll also track for which field it’s useful

Textbooks collection: for each language, I will list the textbooks, both physical and digital, I have 

Lag-podcasts collection: a list dedicated to languages podcasts I listen to and I will discover

Favorite Tumblr masterposts: you know that here on Tumblr there are tons and tons of very useful masterposts, so why not creating a collection for them in order to always remember them? 

What I learned this month: as the last page for one month, it would be nice to keep track of what you studied and understood

Website/Blog collection: I follow too many interesting blogs and sometimes I can’t even remember their names, this collection would be teeeeerribly useful for me

 Fluency tracker: let this Pinterest pic speak for me 

So guys what do you think about this idea? Would you like to see the #langbujo in a new article as soon as I will complete some pages and some spreads?  Stay tuned!! 

[polemicandcontent]

10 unusual language learning tips !

i see a lot of the same (sometimes unhelpful) tips being thrown around, so here’s my two cents:

1. write shopping lists/to do lists in your target language - often you don’t learn this vocab but it’s conversational & v useful! also writing yourself notes (lil pep talks on the bathroom mirror, for example) can work.

2. buy a small whiteboard and practice verb conjugation (esp. romantic languages) or script writing 

3. talk to pets in target language if possible!

4. look for quotes in your target language - often the turns of phrase are  more colloquial, and is a good opportunity to see how things are translated from your native language 

5. find a fairly easy news headline (in target lang) and try to re-write it w/ vocab you already have. you’ll quickly find gaps - this is a good thing! (if you’re feeling extra spicy, try writing a small subheading or description about the article).

6. create an imaginary friend who you speak with on the shower, or on the train, doing the laundry etc. talk w/ them in your target lang (in your head, obvs) about your day, future plans, etc etc.

~for more advanced learners~

7. when you’re more advanced, and have some grasp of past/future tenses, buy a children’s/tween’s/YA book that you’ve already read. highlight and annotate the shit out of it. you’ll know the general gist already, which makes context clues easier to find.

8. change wikipedia settings into target language - same goes for any social media site. this can be a mega challenge, but is so good for vocab, plus you’re more likely to remember the info since you worked so hard for it.

9. write a review for a book/film/record/whatever you’ve most recently consumed. maybe start a diary of them, or just have an ongoing word doc.

10. find a bilingual edition of poetry/literature if possible. you might find you can spot translation differences, but you’re sure to find some new vocab.

[moononherwings-deactivated20230]

an autistic’s foreign language study tips

preparation

choose a specific notebook for everything you learn. having one place to put everything down helps with organising your own brain. it doesn’t matter what your notebook looks like, but I would recommend finding a pretty or good quality one - it helps you see your language practice as more valuable and significant to your life

create a system to keep track of your progress, and DATE EVERYTHING. this is big in self-motivation and encouragement. if you have tangible evidence of how far you have come, it is easier to convince yourself, your self-doubt and anxiety, that you ARE doing good

put together or find a few playlists of songs sung in your chosen language to listen to, while you study or in your free time. this is called immersion. regardless of whether you understand the words or not, this gets you used to hearing your chosen language. the music itself can be catchy or chill, but most importantly, music in general trains your brain to focus (esp for us peeps who struggle with studying in silence). alternatively, podcasts or youtube videos are great resources!! listening to how native speakers pronounce the language will train your brain to pronounce the words the same as you study and practice - just like how when you were learning your first language, the pronunciations of the people around you molded the way you speak. side note: if your executive functioning is making it difficult to study, listening to your chosen language can keep your brain in the mode of learning without the stress of sitting down to study.

beginning

learn the personal pronouns first. words like I, you, we, me, they, she, he, etc. are immensely helpful when writing simple sentences. once you learn the most commonly used verbs, you can use both to begin expressing yourself and things around you.

find a list of the top most commonly used verbs. study these using whichever method fits your learning style the best. try to master 10 first, then move onto 20, gradually increasing the amount of words you study/memorize. make sure you adjust to your own capabilities; don’t overwhelm yourself, but don’t forget to challenge yourself a little.

HANDWRITE your chosen verbs. this will aid in muscle memory. you can copy the words down once or a hundred times, whichever works best for you, but writing it in your own handwriting imprints the image of the word into your mind. once you become familiar with the look of the word, it will be easier to read and recognise it.

learn how to conjugate your chosen verbs. conjugating is probably the most difficult, BUT once you figure out the basics, it’s smooth sailing (aside from the irregular verbs. they can sink into the abyss).

balance learning verbs with learning easy vocabulary. for me, learning words such as flower, tea, and forest are somehow much easier to remember than most verbs. that’s because these are things that you can SEE. you have an object to connect the word with - bam! automatic association technique.

begin writing your own sentences. it doesn’t matter if the sentences don’t make sense, it’s even better because the stark ridiculousness of your imagination will help you remember your vocab.

learn the lyrics to songs in your foreign language. this will help you practice the speaking skill of language learning. and we all know lyrics are much easier to memorise than lists of vocabulary. side note: singing along to songs is an effective way of learning if you don’t have time to sit down and dedicate an hour to studying. it’s also super fun!

IMPORTANT!!! continue to record your progress, whether it be in a notebook or a digital platform. i can’t seem to keep up with a bullet journal, but whatever system you create to keep track of your improvement, update it OFTEN (every day, every other day, or every week). you might even have fun recording your pronunciation (on video or audio) to look back on a few months down the road.

maintaining

study as often as you can, but DO NOT pressure yourself to do so every day. if you physically cannot study every single day, try the two day method. keep up the habit of studying your chosen language as much as you can, but if you need a break day, TAKE IT. but don’t allow yourself to go without studying a second day. this will be a challenge, but depending on how you schedule yourself, there is plenty of time for rest and recuperation. side note: there are challenges that you can do to externally motivate yourself to study often, such as the 30 days of studying or 100 days of productivity trends.

begin a journal in your chosen language. writing little things about your day, your thoughts, your life will advance your language learning process. you will become more familiar with everyday expressions, verbs, nouns, and you will practice conjugating in a low-stress, low-pressure environment. AND if you write often, even if it’s just a few sentences or words, you will train your brain to think in your chosen language in a way that is personal and memorable.

start a quote book. translate quotes from english to your foreign language, or find quotes already in your foreign language, and WRITE THEM DOWN. this will expose you to new vocabulary and motivate you to discover new sentence structures. this way you can meld language learning with your favourite interests and self-motivate

translate the lyrics to songs you love. whether it’s from your first language to your second or your second to your first, translate the words that make you happy. this mixes your passion with something that is a little more challenging and builds motivation and self-esteem.

IMPORTANT!!! continue to keep track of your progress. update that system you created in the beginning. maybe even once you’ve become comfortable enough speaking simple sentences, you can record yourself on video or audio. and if it’s not too anxiety inducing, maybe you could share your video/audio to ask for critique

note: this is by NO means, a complete “guide to language learning”. this is simply a list of things that have helped me learn better and encouraged me to study more often.

[desultory-suggestions]

Hello, lovelies! I’ve gotten a couple of asks about studying so I decided to condense them into one post for you guys! I’m trying to hit a bunch of different topics so if you need an even more specific post you can send an ask! Without any further ado, have some tips! My studyblr is @spacey-scholar​

Prep

First, you always need a good base for your day! Especially if you’re studying a lot.

Make a good full breakfast! Ex. Eggs and Toast, Smoothie and fruit, Pancakes and a cup of juice. 

How’s your hygiene? Do you need to shower, brush your teeth, wash your face, condition your hair? Do it! You’ll be distracted if you feel messy!

Get dressed like it’s a normal day. Staying in PJ’s is okay! But being ready for the day seriously helps focus!

Likewise, your space should be clean. A clean space is a clean mind! Remove dishes, trash, scrap paper, and extra items. Wide down your desk, organize your pens and books. Your space should feel like your space!

Now make a list of what you need to get done! What needs to be done Now, what needs to be done Soon, and what needs to be done Later? 

Order your list how you want your day to go, and don’t put super-tough subjects back to back, or subjects that are similar exercises i.e. reading thirty pages of two different books back to back is no fun.

The Studying

It’s important to buckle down with No Distractions! If you find yourself distracted put your phone away! If you need your phone, put it on Do Not Disturb until you’re done. I also do this at night for better sleep. 

Pick the best technique for you, Pomodoro, reward-based, group studying, etc.

Play music but only if it will not distract you! If you sing along or daydream it’s the wrong music! Classical, Lo-fi, and White noise are all good! My Spotify Here has some good ones.

Use a nice journal (I don’t mean expensive!) and pens/pencils you enjoy using. I like to have a specific journal and color dedicated to each subject. 

Take notes on recorded lectures and classes, if you’re doing online classes right now try to screen record or record the audio! That way if you space out you can play it later and take notes, and you can absorb the lesson better instead of being distracted.

Don’t worry about your notes, stationary, pictures, being beautiful and your grades being perfect. Life doesn’t always look the way it does on Instagram. And the people who spend hours trying to get a good photo of their coffee are not studying! 

Use flashcards! Quizlet is good if you need premade ones! If you can save up and buy them, Barrons AP Flash Cards are the best in my opinion. Very clean, not too long, very durable, and cover all subjects.

Feeling Distracted 

If you catch yourself drifting off and getting into your head, get up and take a quick walk, stretch, or energizer. 

It’s okay if this happens, don’t guilt yourself! practice affirmation. The best and smartest still get distracted. 

If you are drifting, why? Are you hungry? Tired? Thirsty? Bored? Get a snack and some water, take a break and rest, find a way to make your studying more enjoyable. 

Remember that Motivation and Discipline are different things. Sometimes we just won’t be motivated, we won’t want to do it and it will be rather frustrating. But the cure to this is not shaming its discipline. Remind yourself “This may be hard, and I may not want to do this, but I want to reach my goals and If this is what It takes I will make it happen. 

Always do just one more page of you’re tired. One at a time and oh you did it! Maybe just one more? One more? Eh, one more just to finish the train of thought, Oh just- I’m done? Nice!

If you really can’t focus just move on and come back to this subject, you can always ask for help.

Supplementary Things

There are so many apps you can use to study, for free! My favorites are Tide, Quizlet, Focus Keeper, Forest, Flora, Egenda, SpanishDict, Photomath, and Kahn Academy. 

You can also join a study group! You may know one, but if you don’t, there are a lot of online ones! I’m in a study Discord and have been for a while! it helps a lot and motivates me to finish my work!

You can make a studyblr, but don’t do it just for the aesthetics! It’s about studying, and sometimes that gets messy! Sometimes we fail a test, we spill our tea on our notes, we cry because we don’t understand the formula. That’s the part you don’t see!

Having cute stationery can really help, as well as nice organizers and decorations for your space! I don’t have much money so I get a lot of stuff on Amazon or FB Marketplace.

Health

Remember that no matter what you are good enough. It’s okay if you fail, it’s okay if you struggle.

It’s also okay if your path doesn’t go the way you expected! Maybe you go to a different school than expected! Or choose a trade instead! Maybe you take a gap year! Maybe your passion changes! Maybe it changes six times!

Your health is always more important than your school. If you are in pain, mentally or physically, if you are anxious, exhausted, burnt out, talk to your teachers about it! You matter more than a grade.

Your best is good enough! And your best doesn’t look the same as someone else’s best! Don’t compare!

Now go get out there and study!

[matcha-s]

- I decided to say screw it all and slap down my current resources bc it’s getting out of hand (✿ᵒᵕᵒ) - bolded are my faves - my tagalog resources

頑張りましょう！

♡ DICTIONARIES ♡

語源由来辞典 etymology

故事ことわざ辞典 proverbs

日本語俗語辞書 colloquial language

Imiimiimi : slang

Jisho

JLect : search by dialect

Kanjikai

kotoba.ne.jp

日本語 eな

Tangorin

Weblio - シソーラス

♡ KANJI ♡

クルミの日本語

1,900 readings (on+kun)

All Kanji by grade

Kanji Koohii

Kanji level checker

Kun vs On

Learn Kanji fast

Moji.Tekkai: kanji in different styles

Radicals

Repeater (no readings!)

Radical cheat sheet

Riraikun

Suiren: words by kanji

Tobira: exercise sheets

Yojijukugo: 4-kanji compounds

♡ GRAMMAR ♡

日本語ください

Bc of Dreams: full list

Bite-sized grammar

By JLPT level (full list)

Find sentence examples

Maggie-sensei

Mistakes and differences

Particles

The ~small~ letters

300+ pages of grammar

♡ JLPT ♡

Grammar plan

Study plan

Level requirements

Level summaries

MLC: Short questions by grammar

Mock tests (ジェイグラム) (jtest)

N2 study (books)

♡ LEARNING ♡

みなと

ぷにぷに

Clozemaster (+ writing challenges)

Duo

General situations

Memrise

OnomatoProject

Quizlet

U-biq

Verb conjugator quiz

Vocabulary size quiz

YT: 国語－文法 (middle school grammar)

YT: N2 grammar

♡  READING/ LISTENING / WATCHING ♡

Apps for a language partner

Bookmeter (Japanese Goodreads)

Media by Level

朝学

Aozora Bunko (Jp. Project Gutenberg)

Bum Detective / おしりたんてい

天文学辞典

Alice in Wonderland

Buzzfeed

Calvin & Hobbes

Fairy tales + short stories

Japanese children’s stories

子供朝日 - children’s newspaper

KC読む読む - preschool books

Japanese.io

News Web Easy

日本語学習読本

Reading

小説を読もう - light novels

Stories - Tokyo Intl. University

Tadoku graded readers

Tatoeba Corpus

Unesco: About Japan in Japanese

ひろがる

福娘 - short fairy tales

Hearing numbers practice

Japanese documentaries

Listening - daily life

Lyrics training

Mykikitori

SuperNative

Top JPop tracks

Daiweeb

Isle of Dogs

モンポケ

YT: はじめしゃちょー

YT: fairy tales

YT: PDRさん

♡ REFERENCES ♡

世界の国・漢字略称

時雨の町 (grammar examples)

CEFR level test

TTBJ proficiency test

What’s your level? (self determine)

Adjective list

Cotoacademy

Date converter

General Japanese refs　

Humble and Honorific

How to write on essay paper

Improve speaking skills

Keigo cheatsheet

Language level challenges

Math terms

Naverまとめ - slang articles

Onomatopedia

Verb conjugator

World map

♡ VOCABULARY ♡

“All”

Counters

Fake your fluency

Harry Potter

Hobbies

Water cycle (英語で）

♡Don’t give up!♡

[snaily-mail]

things to talk about in pen pal letters 💌

💌 talk about your day and your plans for the upcoming weeks

💌 talk about your friends, family and pets

💌 talk about beautiful things you saw in your day (maybe you can each do a list every letter of 5 magical things you saw in your every day life)

💌 talk about shows/media you’ve been watching or consuming lately

💌 talk about shared interests you have (be it a book, tv show, hobby ect)

💌 if you speak another language write down some little phrases and translate them so your pen pal can learn something new

💌 talk about events you’ve been to/ are going to/want to go to

💌 talk about the changes in your life and how they’re effecting you

💌 talk about something/someone that never fails to make you happy

💌 talk about what you want in your future and some of the things that you can do to get there

💌 talk about what ever you want and what ever makes you happy!

[snaily-mail]

Things to put in pen pal letters

💌 pressed flowers

💌 tea bags (you can write little things about why you like the tea)

💌 a little playlist

💌 polaroids of you and your friends

💌 stickers

💌 postcards from where you’re from

💌 print off photos of your pets

💌 rings or other small jewellery

💌 little drawings and sketches

💌 a heart shaped note with all the things you love about them

💌 some washi tape (you can wrap it around a popsicle stick)

💌 little origami things

💌 small prints

💌 some sweets from where you’re from

💌 a sticker sheet

💌 pretty note paper

💌 some hot/cold beverage sachets

💌 face masks

💌 beauty samples

💌 sticky notes

💌 cut out magazine photos or articles

💌 collages

💌 poetry (either poetry you wrote or your favourite poetry)

💌 you can go to charity stores and find cute cheap books and cut out pages from them to put in your letters

💌 business cards from shops you like

💌 flyers from places you’ve been

💌 maps (of your city or hand drawn maps)

💌 a pen pal tag, a list of questions you want then to answer (There’s a list of them on my blog)

💌 any other little things you want!

[lang-queen]

Things to write about in your target language journal

Things that happened during the day.

Describe a dream.

Talk to yourself

Talk to your future self.

Talk to your past self.

Describe someone you hate/love.

Write a little story.

Describe what did you eat during the day.

Describe why you like certain colour/food/movie/song/etc.

Do a summary from a book/movie.

Write about a country you want to visit.

Write a to do list.

Translate something.

Describe your pet.

Write about how you wished the world/your life was.

Write about the things you're doing to accomplish your objectives.

Describe your daily routine.

Describe your way to work/school and back home.

Describe your favourite mythical creature.

Talk about your favourite mythology.

Write common phrases you use everyday.

Write down some slang. Look if your language's slang exist in your target language.

Talk about what superpower you would like to have.

Write letters, it could be anyone: a living or dead person, someone you know/ don't know/ barely know/ wish to know, a famous person, a fictional/ historical character, etc.

Try to write a poem. Emphasis on the word "try".

Talk about what scares you the most.

Talk about what makes you very, very happy.

Talk about what makes you sad.

[meshkwahkihaki]

idk what shit-eating truscum needs to hear this, but your rhetoric directly harms people with culturally-specific genders. i’m native and two-spirit, that label describes my gender and my attraction. i use they/them pronouns and your “nonbinaries and cringey stargender trenders aren’t valid” bullshit is getting old. our languages were demonized and erased, our gender and attraction labels along with them. my experiences with dysphoria exist because of colonialist ideas of gender. we have been forced into arbitrary ‘male’ and ‘female’ categories by colonizers for centuries and truscum rhetoric perpetuates racist colonialist violence against natives.

your experiences are not universal, you’re not forwarding justice for trans people, and you’re definitely not an ally to natives or other people of color. you’re just a fucking colonizer. 

[meshkwahkihaki]

non-natives, reblog this post

[diskhorsedudes]

As a black person, people in the notes telling Native Americans not to use “non native” because it’s appropriation or whatever need to shut the fuck up forever. No one owns the word “non”. I’m so tired of y’all (who are mostly non black) pushing this idea.

All poc need and deserve accessible and easy to understand language to talk about their experiences. We do not get to make non black poc jump through hoops just to find or create terms they can use when perfectly good language already exists that we all have been using for decades. No, we don’t all experience racism in the same way but that doesn’t mean we should drive a wedge between our communities that will further divide us. Please get a grip and focus on real issues of racism and anti blackness instead of policing who gets to use “non”. It’s a fucking waste of time and energy.

[i-like-to-think-that-im-cool]

REBLOG!!!! SPREAD THIS PLS!!! EVERYONE IN OR AROUND VIDOR PLEASE STAY SAFE!!!

[remakingggggggg-deactivated2020]

this is no joke. you don’t go to vidor.

[themurderscene-deactivated20140]

and if you turn to ur left you’ll see the emos

[rnyselfie]

is that my chemical romance?

[penceyprepster-deactivated20160]

OH MY GOD not every group of emos is my chemical romance stfu tumblr

[chxmical-rxmance]

but it actually is my chemical romance

[losered]

this is the funniest fuckibg thing I’ve ever seen

[gay-emo-quotes]

I’ve…. seen this everywhere except on Tumblr itself. It’s the blessed post.

[wafflesmcgeesus]

I reblog this everytime it comes on my dash and I’m unashamed

[something-of-a-hermit]

I’ve waited so long to see this post in person

[take-some-vampire-money-bro]

Damn…… What a way 2 start the decade. Ive only seen this post in screenshots…….

[goodmorningglory]

i’m crying- this is-???? ahh? i- i can’t-

[s-c-o-o-b-y-s-n-a-c-k]

it’s THE post

[fieryfantasybooklover]

I’m finally worthy! It’s THE post aah

[netheriteforeverite-deactivated]

Are you truly an emo if you havent reblogged THE post?

[bingusing-deactivated20220119]

holy shit it’s on my dash–

[emovampy]

You’re missing the best part:

[flyingtentacledlampfucker-deact]

any mention of black lives matter has disappeared off my dashboard so i thought y'all might want to know that police stormed a peaceful vigil in memory of elijah mcclain, attacking mourners with pepper spray. families were there. children were affected. this movement isnt over just because it's no longer trendy.