salve!

a langblr sideblog for my languages adventures. main: lif-yeah. ita (native) -- eng (c1) -- japanese (going for n2). currently getting started on simplified chinese. je parle français (un peu). problemi con l'italiano? hmu!

[over-sleep]

日本語って冷静に難しすぎませんか…

・It’s OK. = 大丈夫 ・I’m good. = 大丈夫 ・That’s fine. = 大丈夫 ・I’m all right. = 大丈夫 ・Don’t worry. = 大丈夫 ・No problem . = 大丈夫 ・No thank you. = 大丈夫 外国の方からすればどの「大丈夫」か分からなくて、全然大丈夫じゃなさそう。

・すみません=Sorry. ・すみません=Thanks. ・いいよ=That’s good. ・いいよ=No thanks.

・ヤバい=Very bad. ・ヤバい=Very good.

・押すなよ=Don’t push me. ・押すなよ=Push me.

・もう嫌い=I hate you. ・もう嫌い=I love you.

なにこの言語…もう嫌い…

・Cute = ヤバい ・Crazy = ヤバい ・So cool= ヤバい ・Terrible = ヤバい ・Too bad = ヤバい ・Beautiful = ヤバい ・Awesome = ヤバい ・Dangerous= ヤバい ・Taste good = ヤバい ・So touching = ヤバい

何でも言える。もうよく分かんないけどけどとりあえずまじヤバい。

（ かおり🌐 Wanderism さんのツイート ）

[benkyogo-deactivated20190412]

5 Essential Textbooks for Learning Japanese

Here are 5 essential textbooks to learn the Japanese language from beginner to intermediate level.

STARTING OFF: THE GENKI TEXTBOOK SERIES

Available Here

The Genki textbooks are reknowned for being some of the most accessible beginners textbooks for learning Japanese. They’re well laid out into different chapters, provide vocabulary and Kanji, and you can also acquire workbooks with CD’s that allow you to self-study.

The 23 lessons of Genki introduce students to a wide range of elementary grammar points, nearly 300 kanji, and over 1000 vocabulary terms, which makes this a fantastic starter textbook for learning Japanese.

EASY TEXTBOOK KANJI METHOD: LOOK AND LEARN

Available Here

This accompamnying Kanji book to the Genki textbooks is a great, simple method to learn Kanji through illustrations and mnemonics - little stories that help keep them in your brain. I find this method really successful compared to boring repetition-based Kanji textbooks that exist elsewhere.

The various indexes at the end of the book allow learners to easily look up a particular kanji or kanji vocabulary. The book contains 512 kanji, as well as 3,500 essential vocabulary for beginner and intermediate learners. The book includes all kanji in levels 3 and 4 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), as well as all kanji in the Genki textbooks.

MOVING ON TO INTERMEDIATE: TOBIRA

Available Here

When you’ve conquered the Genki textbook series (both I and II), it’s the perfect time to move on to Tobira. Tobira bridges the gap between Genki and advanced Japanese. Although the lessons are intense, with up to 100 vocabulary per chapter, the structure, layout and contents of the book are much more interactive than those in the Genki textbooks - simply because you have more knowledge to work with!  The accompanying Kanji book is also brilliant to improve your Kanji recognition.

Tobira will make you realise you can finally read some intermediate Japanese, which Genki doesn’t push you to do. Find my full review here.

GRAMMAR: DICTIONARIES OF  JAPANESE GRAMMAR

Available Here

This set of grammar textbooks is known to be the most comprehensive and useful set around. The catch comes with the price - over £100 for the set (a cheaper alternative is listed below).

These dictionaries explain grammar points in terms of how to use them, the differences between one grammar point and other similar ones, and provides many examples in Japanese. A great review of the series can be found on Tofugu, here.

GRAMMAR: WHEN AND HOW? DONNA TOKI DŌ TSUKAU

Available Here

A cheaper alternative to the grammar textbook series above, the Donna Toki textbook categorises grammar points alphabetically, but salso includes what JLPT level they would be found in. For this reason, it’s great for learners who are studying for the JLPT.

You can use this supplementary to your main textbooks for more example sentences and explanations. It also includes Chinese and Korean translations.

Any other recommendations? Leave them in the comments below!

[jslangblr]

the timeless minna no nihongo is also a good book to start with tbh. it goes from beginner to lower intermediate, and i've always found its method to be pretty good. for the tobira series: i used the tobira kanji book and it's good! you can get to around 1,000 kanjis with it. (one i really didn't like is the manabou nihongo series, but that's my biased opinion)

[jslangblr]

Hi! I see you study/studyied japanese at uni and even got the N2 cerficate (Congrats!!!! ^^) I want to do this as well and I was wondering how is the job finding in this area? Many people either encourage me to study japanese or tell me it's totally useless if I do japanese alone and that I'll never get a nice job :,)

hi! sorry for the late reply, but i had a busy weekend. 

i am still studying japanese at uni! i’m in my master’s degree, and i will probably graduate in march 2020 after a semester in Tokyo. 

re: job finding ... i haven’t really tried to find a job until now, since i’m still in school. but yea i can agree that learning a language on its own without any other skill is not always enough to lead you to a good job. my advice is: think about what kind of job do you want to do after studying japanese. is it translation? go for japanese and translation studies (and yes you need those to actually do a good translation job, trust a translation major). is it diplomacy? go for japanese and political sciences! want to work in a firm or in international trading? make sure you take some economy classes. interested in languages in general and how they work? go for linguistics! a fancy science! etc etc.

i don’t really know how the school system works in your country, so i hope that you can find a way to have all these options available to you. 

depending on what you decide to do and where you live your job finding prospect may vary a lot. i can surely tell you that right now the demand for translators of literary works from japanese to italian is pretty high due to a recent popularity of contemporary japanese literature here in italy, but those info are pretty specific to the italian book market.doing some research to find out what the situation is in your country will surely help!

i hope this was helpful somehow. and readable ... i’m writing this at 7am after 4 hours of sleep so please forgive any spelling or grammar mistakes! if you have more doubts/questions/wanna chat hmu!

[jslangblr]

i have officially started revision for my japanese final. hard to believe that this is the last one of my school career!

[keytoanothergalaxy]

Uni Vocabulary (LGBT and social problems in Japan)

I decided to continue this series, since quite a few people seem to be interested in the vocabulary I pick up at University. This week’s topic was, again, the media and media representation but focus on LGBT issues and other problems in Japan. I hope you find this helpful and learn something new!

衆院　(しゅういん) - lower house 議員　(ぎいん) - member of the diet 念頭　(ねんとう) - mind 生産性　(せいさんせい) - productivity

向き合う　(むきあう) - the be opposite 性的少数者　(せいてきしょうすうしゃ) - sexual minority 多様性　(たようせい) - diversity 象徴　(しょうちょう) - symbol 大通り　(おおどおり) - main street 練り歩く　(ねりあるく) - to parade 配布　(はいふ) - distribution 可視化　(かしか) - visibility 規模　(きぼ) - scope 当事者　(とうじしゃ) - person concerned

尊厳　(そんげん) - dignity 暴力　(ぼうりょく) - violence 孤独　(こどく) - isolation 排除　(はいじょ) - exclusion 攻撃　(こうげき) - attack 優性　(ゆうせい) - eugenic まかり通る　(まかりとおる) - to get away with 根気　(こんき) - patience

[futurefrenchprof]

Meal Time Vocab

25/7/2018

Agencement (m.) d’une table - Layout of a table

Assiette (f.) - plate

Couteau (m.) - knife

Cuillère (f.) - spoon

Fourchette (f.) - fork

Serviette (f.) - napkin

Table (f.) - table

Tasse (f.) - cup

Verre (m.) - glass

Nourriture (f.) - Food

Apéritif/Apéro (m.) - before-dinner drink

Boisson (f.) - drink

Dessert (m.) - dessert

Entrée (f.) - first course

Plat (m.) - course

Divers - Miscellaneous

Addition (f.) - check

Pourboire (m.) - tip

Restaurant (m.) - restaurant

Serveur/Serveuse - Server

Des phrases importantes (f.pl.) - Important Phrases

Ce sera tout ? - Will that be all ? (Your server will most likely ask this question)

Excusez-moi, l’addition s’il vous plaît - Can we/I get the check please ?

Je n’ai pas encore choisi - I haven’t decided yet

Je prendrai/je vais prendre … - I’ll take …

Je vous remercie - Thank you (extremely polite)

Monsieur/Madame - Sir/Miss (I know this isn’t a phrase but it’s important to always use these titles before you address a worker in France)

Quel est le plat du jour ? - What is today’s special ?

Quelque chose à boire ? - Would you like something to drink ? (Your server will probably say this if you forget to mention what you want to drink)

S’il vous plaît - Please

[jslangblr]

today i re-opened memrise for the first time in years and

revised some grìko (katiòitaliotika, greek dialect spoken in southern italy) vocab

opened the korean 1 course and reviewed hangul

decided to learn some Hawaiian vocabulary and grammar since there are several course on the site

[languagessi-deactivated20210423]

By “not-so-popular languages” I mean languages that not many people in the langblr community are learning. Albanian Memrise Loecsen Goethe Verlang Digital Dialects BABADADA Basque  Memrise Digital Dialects BABADADA

Belarusian Memrise Goethe Verlang Internet Polyglot BABADADA Bosnian Memrise Goethe Verlang Digital Dialects BABADADA Breton Memrise Loecsen Bulgarian Memrise Mondly Loecsen Innovative Language Goethe Verlang Internet Polyglot Digital Dialects BABADADA Catalan Memrise Loecsen Goethe Verlang Digital Dialects BABADADA Croatian Memrise Mango Languages Mondly Loecsen Goethe Verlang Internet Polyglot Digital Dialects BABADADA Easy Languages Czech Memrise Duolingo Mango Languages Mondly Innovative Language Loecsen Goethe Verlang Internet Polyglot Digital Dialects BaBaDum BABADADA Danish Memrise Duolingo Mango Languages Mondly Innovative Language Loecsen Goethe Verlang Internet Polyglot Digital Dialects BaBaDum BABADADA Estonian Memrise Loecsen Goethe Verlang Oneness City Digital Dialects BABADADA Galician Memrise BABADADA Greek Memrise Duolingo Mango Languages Mondly Innovative Language Loecsen Goethe Verlang Linguti Internet Polyglot Digital Dialects BaBaDum BABADADA Easy Languages

Hungarian Memrise Duolingo Mango Languages Mondly Innovative Language Loecsen Goethe Verlang Digital Dialects BaBaDum BABADADA Easy Languages Icelandic Memrise Mango Languages Digital Dialects BABADADA Irish Memrise Duolingo Mango Languages Digital Dialects Latvian Memrise Loecsen Goethe Verlang Digital Dialects BABADADA Easy Languages Lithuanian Memrise Loecsen Goethe Verlang Oneness City Digital Dialects BaBaDum BABADADA Luxembourgish Memrise Macedonian Memrise Goethe Verlang Languages Online BABADADA Maltese Memrise Digital Dialects BABADADA Montenegrin Memrise Romanian Memrise Duolingo Mango Languages Mondly Innovative Language Loecsen Goethe Verlang Internet Polyglot Digital Dialects BaBaDum BABADADA Scottish Gaelic Memrise Mango Languages Digital Dialects Serbian  Memrise Mango Languages Loecsen Goethe Verlang Digital Dialects BaBaDum BABADADA Easy Languages Slovak Memrise Mango Languages Loecsen Goethe Verlang Digital Dialects BABADADA Slovene Memrise Goethe Verlang Digital Dialects BABADADA Ukrainian Memrise Duolingo Mango Languages Mondly Loecsen Goethe Verlang Internet Polyglot Digital Dialects BaBaDum BABADADA Easy Languages Welsh Memrise Duolingo Digital Dialects BABADADA

[jslangblr]

guess what came in the mail!!!!

[nordic-language-love]

CEFR level

Guys I found this PDF here and it gives you a detailed breakdown of what skills you should have for each CEFR level, eg. watching tv, listening to announcements, reading for correspondence, understanding instructions, informal conversation with friends etc. So if you’re not sure what level you might be, or you’re not sure what to aim for to improve your level, have a read!

[ravenlesslangblr]

Langblr asks

1. What do you think is the most beautiful thing about your target language(s)? 2. Is/Are your target language(s) more difficult than your native language? 3. How long have you spent learning foreign languages? 4. Do you prefer traditional methods with textbooks and vocab lists or do you have other methods to learn? 5. Do you find it helpful to speak to other learners? 6. If your native language didn’t exist, which one of your languages would you pick in its place? 7. What does multilingual mean to you? 8. Do you prefer languages from the same language family or from different families? 9. What do you struggle with the most while learning a language? 10. Are you able to pick up a book and read it in your target language(s)? 11. What advice would you give to somebody trying to start learning your target language(s)? 12. Have you noticed and short term and long term language learning benefits? 13. What are your language learning goals? 14. Do you prefer learning alone or in a group? 15. Subtitles or no subtitles when you’re watching in your target language(s)? 16. What is going to be your next target language? 17. Which language you’ve learned could be considered the easiest? 18. Which language you’ve learned could be considered the hardest? 19. Have you got a favourite language? (you don’t have to be able to speak it) 20. Has anything got you inspired to learn foreign languages? 21. Three things you wouldn’t be able to go without while learning a language. 22. Have you ever thought about teaching or doing translation? 23. Do you like using Duolingo? (Or other learning apps) 24. How is it important to you to be able to speak different languages? 25. Would you ever like to work in your target language(s)?

[apardonablemonomania-deactivate]

hard to swallow pills

[breezy-jpn]

mar 5, 2019

DAILY VOCAB

田舎 ( いなか ) rural/countryside

祈る ( いのる ) to wish

いらっしゃる to be, to come, to go [respectful]

～員 ( ～いん ) member of ~

植える ( うえる ) to plant

うかがう to visit, to ask

[easy-japan]

Learn from Japanese proverb (kotowaza)

Today’s proverb is:

穴があったら入りたい (ana ga attara hairitai)

穴 ana means HOLE あったら attara comes from ある (aru) which means TO EXIST the たら (tara) conjugation change the meaning into “IF (something) EXIST)” 入りたい hairitai comes from 入る (hairu) which means TO ENTER the たい (tai) conjugation change the meaning into “WANT TO ENTER”

The literal translation is quite obvious. If a hole exist, (I) want to enter

This phrase is used when someone feel so ashamed that they want to hide somewhere.

[breezy-jpn]

Hello! I’m trying to make a list of active Japanese study blogs. Everyone is welcome to be added to the list. My only condition is that at least half of your blog’s content is dedicated to Japanese study or Japanese content, and that you’ve made a post in the last month. Any level of study is welcome, as well as sideblogs.

Here is a link to the list as it currently is. I’ve tried to get it going with a few that I personally know of. If you’d like to be added, feel free to reblog, send me an ask, or reply to this post! Reblogging to spread the word would help a bit too.

Thank you for your help! Let’s learn together! ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

[dsm-wannabe-linguist]

[gachagachagogo]

Japanese Resources

Essentials

Rikaisama - Pop-op Dictionary - based on Rikaichan Yamasa.cc - Learn Handwritten Stroke Order Anki - Spaced Repetition Software Japanese Stack Exchange - Ask Questions, Get Answers Dictionary Codes and Meaning - ex: v4k, vi Chinese and Japanese Characters Mnemonics - Stroke Orders, Lists, Study Sheets A better Japanese font for Windows web browsers Verb Conjugation Chart - gaoshukai Similar Kanji Lookup

Dictionaries

Jisho.org Tangorin - English⇆Japanese Online Dictionary Honyaku Star - Simple and Fast Dictionary | No ローマ字 | Specifically for Translators JLect - Japanese Dialect Word Search TMdict - vocabularies from games, books, anime, and other works by Type-Moon.

Kanji Alive_ Web App - Kanji Lookup, Stroke Orders, Examples, Picture Mnemonics Kanji Dictionary - 漢字辞典 Etymologies - A comprehensive, illustrated dictionary with etymologies, pictographs & definitions in English and Japanese More Eymologies - Traditional & Simplified CH/JP Oichan’s Dictionary - CN/JP/EN Dictionary Proverb Dictionary - Dutch, English, and Japanese

語源由来辞典 - Etymology Dictionary 平明四字熟語辞典 - 4-Character Idiomatic Compound Dictionary 故事ことわざ辞典 - Proverb Dictionary 日本語俗語辞書 - Colloquial Language Dictionary 日本語コロケーション辞典

IT用語辞典 e-Words - Internet and Technical Terms 三省堂 Web Dictionary - Sanseido Weblio - 辞書 - Main Dictionary Weblio - シソーラス - Thesaurus Weblio 翻訳 - Translate alc.co.jp - Another Great Dictionary goo.ne.jp - Goo’s Dictionary kotobank.jp - Uses yahoo.co.jp dictionary with a nice Interface Tatoeba - Example Sentences Tsukuba Corpus 複合動詞レキシコン - Compound Verb Lexicon Yamasa.cc - Learn handwritten stroke order kotoba.ne.jp - Extremely useful once you learn its capabilities Excite.co.jp’s Dictionary with Pitch Accent

Software

Houhou SRS - Dictionary + SRS Tagaini Jisho - Dictionary on each OS zKanji - Another Dictionary + SRS Capture2Text - Get Text from Manga and Other Images JGloss - Automatically annotate Japanese text with readings and translations KanjiTomo aard OmegaT - Translation Memory Tool Foreign Language Text Reader Learning With Texts Language Tool - Proofreading/Spellcheck Program Lingoes - Dictionary & Translation StarDict Wakan - Dictionary App for Chinese and Japanese

Thesauri

Goo.ne.jp’s Thesaurus 類語同義語辞典 - Quasi-synonym/synonym Dictionary

Learning the Language

Wanikani - Learn Kanji Through Spaced Repetition (Paid Subscription) Japaneseclass.jp - Vocabulary and Kanji Kapibara - Apps and Materials U-biq - Japanese study Japanese Stack Exchange - Ask Questions, Get Answers Tae Kim’s Guide - Site for Complete Beginners Chinese and Japanese Characters Mnemonics - With much more material Japanese Parts of Speech - 日本語 Japanese Linguistics - General Terms, Parts of Speech, Particles, etc - General Linguistics Loanwords - gaoshukai.com Esaura - Q&A site dedicated to J<->E translation. Lang-8 - Write Journals, Get Corrections from Natives (All Languages) Japanese Reading Practice with Tanaka Corpus Tips on Japanese JLPT Study Materials JLPT Vocabulary Lists HiNative - Q&A OnomatoProject - Practice Japanese onomatopoeia (擬音語) and mimetic words (擬態語) with examples and illustrations!

Grammar

Imabi - Lessons From Basic to Classical Japanese | Everything You Need for Grammar Kanzen Grammar - Sentences broken down in detail JGram - Japanese Grammar Database Renshuu.org - Over 600 entries for Grammar Jtest4you Auxiliary Verb Chart

Radicals

Kanji Radical Names - 仮名 and ローマ字 214 Traditional Radicals - From Kanji Alive Radical Names in Japanese - with kanji used More Kanji Radicals

Kana

Rapid Recognition Trainer for Hiragana and Katakana Multiple Font and Stroke Magnifier Kana - Anomalous Cursive Syllabary

Advanced Learning

Mistakes & Differences Guide Different Kanji With Same Reading and (Usually) Meaning Slight Different Meanings Read Your Level

Reading Material

Aozora Bunko - Japanese Project Gutenberg Bauddha.net - Similar to Aozora Children’s Reading Material - Fairy Tails Reajer - Bilingual Texts & Frequently-updated Language Blog

Manga & Light Novels

Comico - Manga & Light Novels Mangabox Vomic - Manga with Voice (Mac users download VLC web plugin) Kadokawa - Free Comics

Light Novels

Tueee 小説を読もう！

Anime

AniChart Anime List Hummingbird - MAL Alternative Anime Recommendation Finder

Crunchyroll - Watch Anime Legally Japanese Subtitles

News

SmartNews - Japanese Smartphone News App SANSPO.COM（サンスポ） NHKニュース and NHK Easy Version 朝日新聞 - Asahi and Children’s Edition Japan Times Japan Today MATCHA and Easy Japanese Version - Japan Travel Magazine Metropolis Magazine | Japan’s Number 1 English Magazine Tokyo Weekender - English Magazine Yomiuri, Children’s Edition, and English Edition Easy News - Newsinslowjapanese.com Nikkei Sankei

Japanese Sign Language

ITEC More Lessons

Dialect Study

JLect - Dialect Word Search Osaka-Ben Kansai-Ben Kansaiben.com Kansai-Ben Word List

Pitch Accent

U-Biq Pitch Accent Diagram Excite.co.jp’s Dictionary with Pitch Accent OJAD Online Japanese Accent Dictionary

Recommended Books

White Rabbit Japan - Buy Things From Japan - A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar - A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar - A Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar - Dictionary of Misused Japanese - Kanji Dictionary - 1006 Kanji Picture Dictionary - ALC’s Japanese for Business: Business Etiquette

J-LIST - Buys Things From Japan - Handbook for Newcomers, Migrants and Immigrants to Japan - Bilingual - Encyclopedia of Japan - Bilingual

Amazon - The Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Dictionary: Revised and Expanded - Kodansha’s Furigana Japanese Dictionary (Kodansha Dictionaries) - The Kodansha Kanji Dictionary - The Original Modern Reader’s Japanese-English Character Dictionary - The New Nelson Japanese-English Character Dictionary

Culture & Life

AFA Channel - Japanese Pop Culture Video Channel Becomming Legally Japanese - Information on Naturalization Danny Choo - Culture Japan Japan-guide - Your Guide to Japan Japan Subculture Research Center - Yakuza and other cool culture information Just Bento - Blog About Bentos Just Hungry - Japanese Food & Recipes néojapanisme Spoon & Tamago - Japanese Art, Design, and Culture What Japan Thinks - Surveys of Japanese People Niponica - Free Multilingual Magazine in HTML, PDF, or E-Book Nippon.com - Your Doorway to Japan

Music

JPop Asia - Asian Music Videos, Top Charts, Lyrics, & Forum Kasi-time - Lyric Search Utamap - Another Lyric Search utaten - Lyrics with Furigana Lyric Get - Copy Lyrics on Restricted Japanese Lyric Websites

Information

JLPT - Japanese Language Proficiency Test Information JNTO - Japan National Tourism Organization JET Programme - Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme Japanese Language Schools - List of language schools in Japan Society for Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language

Scholarships

JASSO - Japan Student Services Organization Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program - U.S. Citizens

Work

GaijinPot - Jobs and Other Information Japan Today Jobs - International Jobs in Japan Kansai Flea Market - Jobs, Classifieds Metropolis Classifieds O-Hayo Sensei - The Newsletter of (Teaching) Jobs in Japan White Companies - Information

Wanikani Extensions

KaniWani - Reverse WaniKani Duendecat - Sample Sentences from WaniKani Progress WaniKani to Anki Exporter

Misc

Free Japanese Kana and Kanji Fonts http://www.find-job.net/startup/ Convert Japanese Dates and Western Dates Japanese History - Wikibooks Japanese Ghost Stories - Hyakumonogatari Reading Speed, Comprehension and Eye Movements While Reading Japanese Novels - Scholarly Article Hinoki Project 何年.jp/ - Japanese 平成 (Heisei) Year Lookup Math Symbols & Readings Traditional Colors of Japan - With Hex Values Color-sample - Colors in detail Onomatopoeia Picture Game - in Japanese Kanji Used in Important Documents Free Beautiful Handwriting - Handwriting Practice Sheets with Your Own Data