meowbrown

I love learning languages! Language learning notebook for polyglots. #meowbrown #langblr #studyblr

[meowbrown]

Hello World! 🐾

For some reason, my original post disappeared all of a sudden, glad that I backup periodically.

Last updated: 2026-03-15

你好世界！Hallo Welt! Halo Dunia! こんにちは世界！ 🇺🇸🇹🇼🇩🇪🇮🇩🇯🇵

I am Meowbrown, you can also call me 貓布朗.

Obviously, I’m a cat and I meow 🐾

I love brownies and languages.

#meowbrown for personal stuff.

#meownotes for my language notes.

#meowbook for curated content which I should be learning at the moment.

#meowfollow for langblrs I’m following because this is a sideblog. I’ll also follow with my main blog.

#meowteach for my teaching notes.

Quick links

2026-03-15 Small Update for Meowbrown

Apps/sites for learning Japanese

2025年日本語の勉強ゴール

Mandarin podcasts to listen to for the whole day

What is this langblr for?

Talk to other meow friends

Organize notes and resources

Languages I meow

English (Fluent)

中文 (Fluent)

Bahasa Indonesia (Conversational)

Deutsch (B1)

日本語 (probably N3)

한국어 (Super beginner)

Hiatus

Korean progress

[meowbrown]

手に入れる vs. 手を入れる

Came across this sentence:

理由はシンプルで、運用していた個人サーバに手を入れられない状態が続いたためです。

Source: https://falog.net/blog/others/000_restart/

I remembered learning using に and not を when I learned this expression, so I looked into this a bit more.

手に入れる（てにいれる）- put something in my hands -> to get, obtain, acquire

手を入れる（てをいれる）- taking my hand and put it into project/work -> to repair, maintain, tweak, make improvements

So in this context, it's to maintain the server.

The funny part: why am I "suspicious" of a native Japanese's Japanese 🤔

[meowbrown]

Mandarin Doesn't Need A Subject

While studying, t is mentioned that a subject 主語 is not required in Mandarin. This feels a lot like Japanese too.

下雨了。主語

雨が降る。Update: This sentence in Japanese actually has a subject, but see the reply below for examples. Thanks @pinklesbionade!

It is raining. (It is the subject)

In English it is required.

I find it quite interesting as I didn't really notice this while using the language.

[meowbrown]

Reflections on Friendships

I find giving gifts a hard thing. It's like if you don't give anything, nothing happens. But if you send a bad gift, you might lose the friendship. I feel a bit more calmer after learning that someone else also feels the same.

暫停鍵 (zhàn tíng jiàn): To press the pause button (metaphor for taking a break from a relationship)

禮物殺手 (lǐ wù shā shǒu): “Gift killer” (someone notoriously bad at picking gifts)

少根筋 (shǎo gēn jīn): To be scatterbrained or lacking a certain social "nerve"

揪團 (jiū tuán): To organize a group activity (like group buy)

主揪 (zhǔ jiū): The lead organizer

13. 衛生紙當生日禮物？三十歲後，我學會按下友情的暫停鍵 | Toilet Paper for a Birthday Gift? Pressing Pause on Friendships After 30

Ms.Chin's Bedtime Mandarin: Learn Taiwanese Mandarin in Your Sleep · Episode

Note: This podcast is for upper-intermediate level, but I think it's generally good just for immersion and one of the few podcasts that provide Zhuyin transcripts.

[meowbrown]

～したほうがいい vs 〜したらいい (Should)

Yesterday I went to speak at an event, and before the event I wanted to ask what should I prep or bring in advance.

tl;dr

Ask with: したらいい？ (What should I do?) - I should ask with this usage!

Warn with: ほうがいい。 (You’d better do this.)

〜したほうがいい

Usage: Strong advice/warning

Vibe: You really should do this (or else...).

病院に行ったほうがいいよ。 You should go to the hospital. (or else it won't get better)

パソコンを持っていったほうがいい。 You should bring your computer. (or else it would be a bother)

〜したらいい

Usage: Asking for instructions, asking for advice, or making a light, non-pressuring suggestion.

Vibe: What’s the best way to...?/It would be fine if you did...

何を準備したらいい？ What should I prepare?

どう言ったらいいかな？ How should I say it.

[meowbrown]

について usage

Today I made the mistake of using を with について: 最近、AIについてをたくさん投稿している。

を is not needed as について already acts as the bridge to the verb, so it should be: 最近、AIについてたくさん投稿している。

So here's a quick refresh of how to use について:

Noun + についての + Noun

[Noun] about/regarding [noun]

AIについての投稿。 A post about AI.

Noun + について + Verb

Do [verb] about [noun]

AIについて投稿する。 Post about AI.

日本語について勉強した。 Learned about Japanese.

[meowbrown]

Indonesian Texting Shortcuts

Since my goal is to be able to chat in Indonesian with friends, these are very common:

dari = dr

uda/sdh = sudah

yg = yang

ga/gk/gak = tidak/nggak

utk = untuk

bkn = bukan

Tokopedia can be said the green one due to their logo so it's ijo (hijau), which the "H" is dropped and the "au" is simplified to "o," resulting in Ijo.

For example:

habis -> abis

hilang -> ilang

hujan -> ujan

[meowbrown]

Why Build In Public

10. 留下一點存在過的痕跡：I 人的 Build in Public 安靜累積 | So We Aren't Forgotten: An Introvert's Build in Public

Ms.Chin's Bedtime Mandarin: Learn Taiwanese Mandarin in Your Sleep · Episode

This podcast is definitely more for intermediate-advanced Mandarin learners. This topic has been fun:

船過水無痕: To leave no trace or impact behind

撕破臉: To have a public falling-out (when friends become not-friends)

背書: To endorse or vouch for someone

接案: To take on freelance projects

小人物: Ordinary people or "nobodies"

I'm also kinda building in public with my language notes? 🤔

[meowbrown]

Hi, do you have any tips on how to get better at breaking down/understanding longer japanese sentences? I more or less know what which particles does (and i can always look at my notes) but when I compare what i thought a sentence means vs what it actually means im just way too off

I'm also still working on this and on my end I think the key for me is "practice." With AI around I usually ask it to give me 10 questions on the sentence I got wrong. For example, I'm really bad with the particle に. When I get it wrong, the sentence sometimes mean something completely different. For example:

留学している妹に、母が手紙を送りました。

弟に宿題をさせました。

I kinda get confused who was the person that did the action to whom. And if that's messed up, it changes the meaning of the sentence a lot.

I think it would help if you share some sentences that you had trouble identifying. Maybe I'll struggle with it too 😅

[meowbrown]

れば vs なら

I feel like I'll probably make many posts on how to say "if", but today in class we talked about these two specifically.

A れば B

Point of view: On the result

A is the key to B

郵便局に行けば、切手を買えますよ。

Vibe: I want to buy a stamp (result). So someone says if you go to the post office you can buy a stamp.

なら

Point of view: On the current info

A is just the background knowledge of B

郵便局に行くなら、切手を買ってきて。

Vibe: I am not in urgent need of a stamp, so if you go to the post office (background knowledge), you can buy it (but if you don't it's totally fine)

[meowbrown]

試験 related

試験を受ける - take the exam

試験に受かる - pass the exam

試験に落ちる - fail the exam

いつも忘れちゃうから、書きました🫣

[meowbrown]

語系

漢藏語系 Sino-Tibetan Family

使用人口僅次於印歐語系 Indo-European Family (English is in this family)

南島語系 Austronesian Family

台灣高山族的語言屬於這個，例如 mata 這個詞展現了台灣原住民語言與南島語系（Austronesian）強烈的關聯性。

泰雅語 (Tayal)： mita (看) / mata (眼睛)

阿美語 ('Amis)： mata

排灣語 (Paiwan)： maca

布農語 (Bunun)： mata

卑南語 (Pinuyumayan)： mata

馬來語/印尼語： mata

菲律賓語 (Tagalog)： mata

毛利語 (Maori)： mata

[meowbrown]

中國古代四大韻文

Putting this down so I don't forget

漢賦

唐詩

宋詞

元曲

Note: 宋朝也有一種叫散文賦跟漢朝的賦不一樣，但既然叫做賦，也要押韻。

[meowbrown]

Reading Comprehension

2000 words - basic meaning

6000 words - sentence comprehension

silent reading is more important because reading out loud is slower - I think I feel this when I try to read Japanese, if I read it out loud, I can read everything but not understand it

SQ3R

Survey - skim through quickly

Question - ask questions, what was the title, what was it about?

Read

Recite - paraphrase

Review - read the headings and try to recall the key points

REAP

This feels not as important as the textbook barely says anything about this

Read

Encode - into the reader's own system

Annotate - summarize in own words

Ponder

DRTA (Directed Reading and Thinking Activity)

Predict - predict the content from the headings/images

Read - silent reading

Prove - teacher asks open questions

ReQuest

The teacher and student both read. Then take turns asking questions, the person asking can check the text; the person answering can't look at the text.

(This one actually sounds kinda fun to see in practice)

QAR (Question-Answer Relationship)

This one is kind of like the reading comprehension tests where you read and then answer questions.

Questions right in the text

Need to think, combine and integrate information from the text

Need to combine information from the text along with their own knowledge

Knowledge that the reader needs to know beforehand

[tokidokitokyo]

どんくさい

slow; clumsy; stupid; irritating

(note: from Kyoto dialect; TIL: くさい is not related to bad smell, but rather in Kyoto dialect it means っぽい or みたい and is thus used to soften the blow of the どん which means "slow" or "inept")

彼はどんくさいけど、優しいところが取柄やねえ。 かれ は どんくさい けど、やさしい ところ が とりえ やねえ。 He's clumsy, but his kindness is his best quality.

[meowbrown]

プーさんはちょっとどんくさいね。

[meowbrown]

集中識字法 vs. 分散識字法

Methods for teaching Chinese characters. In short it's (1) learn the characters in a group or (2) learn the characters in context.

集中識字

先識字，後讀書 (learn then read)

easier to compare and contrast the different characters when put together in a session 媽、姊、妹、奶、姑 -> student may grasp: if I see 女, it's a female 把、吧、疤、巴、肥 -> if I see 巴, it usually sounds like ba, but notice there are exceptions

might cause confusion when similar words are put together in a session 渴、喝 -> might confuse these two characters 請、清、晴 -> might confuse which one is pronounced what

分散識字

字不離詞、詞不離句、句不離文 (learn in context) 太陽很大。The sun is big -> Very sunny Students will know to use 大 instead of 多 to say sunny

Combining the two together might be: 隨文識字，集中歸類. For example:

Encounter 喝 in text

Then also give examples of other characters like 吃、叫 they also have 口 so these are characters related to mouth

Or with 太陽很大 as example:

In context: 太陽很大。The sun is big -> Very sunny

Group the words: 太、大, use a mnemonic like: It's so big (大) that a drop of sweat (丶) fell off. That's too (太) much sun!

[meowbrown]

あるある - Typical thing

I told my teacher that I'm going to 北海道 so we searched the keyword 北海道あるある, and I was like 「あるある？」

It has the vibe of:

Typical for ______

That is SO me! I totally get it!

It's like the short form of saying:

そういうことはよくある。 That kind of thing happens all the time.

例文

A: 最近リモートワークしてるんだけど、結局3時間くらいずっとTikTok見ちゃってる… I started working from home (remote work), but I just end up scrolling TikTok for three hours... B: それ、あるあるだよね〜！ That is SO me! I totally get it!

真冬でも、家では半袖短パンでアイスを食べるという"北海道あるある" A classic Hokkaido thing is eating ice cream in a T-shirt and shorts at home, even in the middle of winter.

真冬 - まふゆ

半袖 - はんそで

Reference

真冬でも、家では半袖短パンでアイスを食べるという"北海道あるある"｜AKIYO SUZUKI（鈴木明世）

これは、北海道の住まいに関する講演会などでいつも使う話のネタ。 北海道民なら多くの人が似たような経験をしたことがあるし、道外の人には驚きの"あるある"なので、良いアイスブレイクに使えるのである。（・・・ダジャレではなく） 今回は、そんなお話。 北海道の家は、冬はしっかりあたたか