日本語を勉強している学生:

21 year old, aspiring polyglot - UK Here I'll be sharing my experiences and resources - Let us learn Japanese! ~Follow-for-follow~

[learnjapanesebod]

#JapaneseWordoftheDay

現実味 (げんじつみ/genjitsumi) “(sense of) reality”

[themedicalstate]

How Learning A New Language Changes Your Brain And Your Perception

Learning a foreign language opens us up to new experiences, work opportunities, and allows us to meet people we may never have otherwise. More than that, research has shown learning a language can also physically change brain structure and adjust perception.

When we learn a language, we create new neural pathways in our brain, which can lead to noticeable changes. The left hemisphere is generally believed to be the logical part of the brain and is where many of our language skills originate. However, a 2012 Swiss study observed that learning a foreign language later in life is associated with thickening of the cerebral cortex — a layer of neurons specifically responsible for memory, thought, consciousness and, of course, language. This increased thickness can lead to better memory and sharper thinking later in life.

Learning a new language doesn’t just change the physical makeup of the brain. Based on a theory known as linguistic relativity, learning a new language can also change the way we see the world. This is specifically true in relation to our color perception. For example, Japanese speakers have far more words to describe the color blue, and as a result are generally able to see more shades of blue than English speakers. On the other side of the spectrum, the Himba tribe of Namibia in Southern Africa have only five words to describe all the colors in the world. Researchers have observed that, without a word for the color blue, the Himba struggle to tell it apart from green — an easy feat for English speakers.

Infographic by the team at Sunbelt Staffing

[nihongo-banzai-blog]

Incredible insight :) as if we needed any more reasons to learn !

[linguajunkie]

Japanese Phrases for Summer Plans. What are YOUR Plans?

get the lesson here: http://www.japanesepod101.com/japanese-vocabulary-lists/how-will-you-spend-your-summer-vacation

ハイキングに行く

haikingu ni iku

go hiking

日本食の作り方を学ぶ

Nihon shoku no tsukurikata o manabu

learn to cook Japanese food

海外旅行に行く

gaigai ryokō ni iku

travel abroad

サマースクールに参加する

samā sukūru ni sanka suru

attend summer school

バーベキューをする

bābekyū o suru

have a barbeque

家にこもってインターネットをする

Ie ni komotte Intānetto o suru

stay inside and browse the Internet

オールでパーティする

ōru de pāti suru

party all night

アルバイトする

arubaito suru

work a part-time job

友達と遊ぶ

tomodachi to asobu

have fun with friends

肌を焼く

hada o yaku

get a tan

エアコンを求めて映画館に行く

eakon o motomete eigakan ni iku

go to the movies for the air conditioning

泳ぎに行く

oyogi ni iku

go swimming

一日中テレビを観る

ichi-nichijū terebi o miru

watch TV all day long

海辺でのんびりする

umibe de nonbiri suru

relax at the beach

[getstudyblr]

Hello, everyone! Someone asked me to make this masterpost, and i agreed instantly: taking care of your mental (and physical) health is extremely important, and I want you guys to have a great study experience. My chat and ask box are always open and it would be no problem to help if any of you are having problems! ❤️

Managing Stress 

How to not panic before a exam

Stress tips

Guided relaxation

Studying while mentally ill

Studying with an eating disorder

Study with ADHD

Study tips for students with ADHD

Study with OCD

How to concentrate

Stress relievers

How to meditate

Sleep better

Self help tips

Self care reminders

More useful masterposts:

Help masterpost

Study masterpost

Exams masterpost

Basically everything

Anxiety Masterpost

Self love masterpost

Self care masterpost

Mental health resource masterpost

Recovery resources

Mental Illness and others

Motivate yourself!!

ways to motivate yourself

tips on how to stay motivated

motivational quotes masterpost

motivational quotes

how to increase motivation

100 reasons to study

For your body:

Exam foods

Stay healthy!

Brain power foods

Exam nutrition tips

17 Power Snacks For Studying

Extra:

how to get up in the morning

how to get ready for the day

feeling down?

This is sand

Virtual relaxation room

coping skills and distractions

ED recovery

[nihongo-banzai-blog]

Problems many of us face :)

[learnjapanesebod]

Learning Japanese Master Post #01. 

Here’s a master post for the first 50 video lessons in the Learning Japanese video series, all view-able for free on YouTube! That’s right, each topic gets its own episode! All arranged in order and linked below. Check out all 200+ video lessons at the official YouTube channel here. And so, the journey of learning Japanese starts with lesson one, mastering Hiragana:

Intro to Japanese - The Hiragana Syllabary, Vowels, Pitch Accents, and More

The Katakana Syllabary

First Person Pronouns, or, Ways to Say “I” in Japanese

Second-Person Pronouns, or, Ways to Say “You” in Japanese

Basic Phrases (How-to Greet, Thank, Introduce Yourself and More)

XはY(です/ではありません) as “X is/is not Y”, Noun Modification with の, も as “also”

Existential Verbs (Aru, Iru, Irassharu/ある、いる、いらっしゃる)

Locational Markers へ, に, で

The Particle に as an Object Marker and Indirect Object Marker

The Particle で as an Instrument Marker

ね and よ as Final Particles

Introduction to Verbs, Dictionary Form, ます-Form

VERBing Alone with 一人で (hitori de) and Together with と一緒に (to issho ni)

Expressing “From X to Y” (Time and Space) with から and まで

Pre-ます Form + ましょう as “Let’s VERB” or “Shall we VERB”

Noun Verbs/Verbal Nouns

Polite Past Tense Form of Verbs (ました-Form) 

How to say “I intend/plan to VERB” with VERB + つもりです

How-to say “Won’t you/Would you like to VERB?” with Pre-ます Form VERB + ませんか

X は Y があります as “X has Y”

X から Y as “because of CLAUSE X, CLAUSE Y”

How-to say "Why is that?” or “How come?” with どうして

Listing Nouns Indefinitely with NOUN X や NOUN Y など

もう as “already” and まだ as “yet”

Negative ない Form (Verb Conjugation)

How-to say “Go/come/return to do VERB” with Pre-ます Form VERB + に + (行く/来る/帰る)

How-to say “I can VERB” with Dictionary Form VERB + ことが出来る

Answering to Negative Yes-No Questions

Introduction to Adjectives (い-adjectives and な-adjectives)

Basic Introduction to the Particles は and が

X でYがある as “There is Y (an activity) in/at X”

Introduction to Adverbs - Common Degree Adverbs 

The Particle が as “But/However”

X は(どう/いかが)ですか as “How is X?”

XはどんなYですか as “What kind of Y is X?”

Kochira (こちら)/Sochira (そちら)/Achira (あちら) as “this/that way”

Introduction to the て-Form (Verb Conjugation)

How-to Say “Please do VERB” (て-Form VERB + 下さい/下さいませんか)

How-to Say “am/is VERBing” (Ongoing Action) (て-Form VERB + いる)

The Particle まだ as "still”

How-to say “I like/love/hate Y” with X はY が(好き/嫌い)です

How-to Say “X is good/bad at Y” - XはYが(上手/下手/とくい)です)

X にする as “decide on X”

How-to Request an Object with X を(下さい/くださいませんか)

た-Form VERB +ことがある as “have VERB-ed before” 

かかる as “it costs X/it takes X time”

ぐらい and ごろ（に） as “about/approximately”

Comparing 2 Objects/Entities (XとYとでは、どちらの方がAですか) 

Comparing 3 or More Objects/Entities (XとYとZとでは、Xが一番A) 

Modifying Nouns with Clauses

Support Learning Japanese on Patreon! Please do consider checking out our milestone goals on Patreon and becoming a patron to support the continuation of this video series and expansion of the curriculum! https://www.patreon.com/learningjapanese

This video series is presented by becauseofdreams http://becauseofdreams.com/

[easy-japan]

How to say I want something in Japanese? Expressing desire is not hard, but you need to make sure that you understand about Japanese concept of desire before you start saying “I want this, he want …

Talking about what you want in Japanese, is not as easy as saying “I want this, and I don’t want that” in English. you need to consider the difference in culture. So before we learn about how to express your desire, let’s quick review the concept of desire in Japanese.

…………………………………………

Concept of desire in Japanese

1. It is not proper to talk about the other party’s desire. In Japanese, we need to assume that we never know what the other person would want. So it’s not appropriate to say “He/She want this”. Although it’s okay if you say “He said that he wants this” or “I think that he wants this”.

2. It is considered rude to say that you don’t want something when being asked about it. Although you could say that you “don’t want” something, rejecting something is considered rude in Japanese. So how do you say that you don’t want something in Japanese without being rude? Check out the image below.

3. Differentiate word for different type of desire In English, the word “want” can cope with this three different type of desire 1. I want a new book 2. I want to read a new book 3. I want you to read a new book

But in Japanese, we need a different word for each of them. For [1] the type of desire we want is the object itself. While [2] is action, either just an action or an action toward an object. Type [3] however, is considered a request. Wanting to order something from a restaurant or similar situation is also considered a request.

We will cover type [1] and [2] on this lessons and [Request in Japanese] on future lessons, so stay tuned! ｡ﾟ✶ฺ.ヽ(*´∀`*)ﾉ.✶ฺﾟ｡

………………………………………… 

To say that you want to do something (verb) we use -たい conjugation.

How to use it? First, you conjugate the verb into the [polite ます] form. And then you replace the ます with たいです. So simple!

…………………………………………

To say that you want something (noun) we use が ほしい

As previously, it’s also super simple. Just say [object/noun] + が ほしいです

Example: B:なにがほしいですか。 Nani ga hoshii desuka? What do you want to have?

A:赤いフェラーリがほしいです。 Akai Feraari ga hoshii desu. I want to have a red Ferarri.

That’s all for now~

Don’t forget to check out the link to review the full lessons to learn how to safely express other people’s desire using たがっています and ほしがっています! (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

You will also find a lot more additional information regarding the material.

…………………………………………

Useful links:

• [This lesson’s link] • [CrunchyNihongo Lessons Index] - Find a lot of useful simplified JLPT lessons! • [Easy-Hiragana link] - Make sure you master Hiragana before starting to learn grammar~ • [Guide to start learning Japanese] - New to learning Japanese? Read this to help you start your journey.

…………………………………………

We’re always waiting for your message! What do you hope to see more in our blog? What can we improve? Find any error/typo? Send us a notification

Happy learning! °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

[nihongo-banzai-blog]

Bound for Japan!

Finally booked my flight tickets to Japan; departing in October! Bring on Fukuoka-shi!

[nihongo-banzai-blog]

Dissertation deadline, failure fear is real...

With a mere month left, I've had to shelf what social life I had and pause my Japanese study. It's hard to find motivation despite the consequences; I at least cling to the belief that on the other side of this stress and anxiety we all push through, is the life we envisioned for ourselves before we committed to this torture. #studentlife

[lifeinatextbook]

PREPARATIONS FOR AN EFFECTIVE STUDY SESH

1. Wash your face so you feel refreshed and ready.

2. Get a bottle of cold water and a small healthy snack to stay hydrated and nourished which really does help when you’re studying because it keeps the brain active. A study snack example could be, fruit and nuts or maybe a guilty pleasure (but don’t go overboard!)

3. Clean your study area if it isn’t already. Remember, a messy area = messy brain. But thats not the case always I know. However, a clean and organized study area stimulates your mind and makes you want to sit down and study.

4. Gather ALL your study essentials like your pens, pencils, ruler, paper (basically your general stationery), and most importantly, your actual subject material of course (textbooks, notebooks, handouts and past papers).

5. Lay all your study essentials neatly on the desk to how ever you think everything will be easily approachable.

6. Block out ALL distractions which will prevent you from studying effectively. Turn off your phone and put it away as far as possible. Put away EVERYTHING that you know for a fact that will keep you from studying your best. If you listen to music while you study, then classical music is said to be very helpful, however use the phone just for that purpose, and for what you will encounter in the next tip. You can also use your iPod if you have one or any thing that plays music. Just remember, don’t procrastinate. 

7. Set yourself a timer to make sure you don’t spend too much time doing one thing or waste time. Keep your phone ONLY for this purpose, unless your watch can set the timer, anything else. Most popular method is the pomodoro method. If you are unfamiliar with this, let me explain. So basically in this method, you study for about 25-30 minutes and take 5 minute breaks and then a long 15 minute break. You change this to how ever you want but don’t go extreme for example study for a about 40 mins and then take a 20 minute break. No. Again, if using the phone for the timer, PLEASE PLEASE refrain from checking social media. 

8. Start the studying now that you are fully prepared. Remember, practice active studying rather than passive studying. Active studying would include annotating lecture notes, doing practice questions, organizing and identifying main points, making summaries, etc. Passive studying would be just reading through your notes.

Hope you found my tips useful (and i hope they made sense) even though you probably saw these everywhere else. I’m just here spreading them out again to remind you what’s better for you and your grades and general studying. My name is Aditi, and I hope everyone is having a fantastic day! 

[nihongo-banzai-blog]

Pretty great tips :)

[learnjapanesebod]

#JapaneseWordoftheDay

模様 (もよう/moyou) “pattern, figure, design”

[tofugu]

How to Type in Japanese (And Fun Characters Too!)

Start typing in Japanese right now. It's easy to learn. Also we'll show you the fun secrets hiding in your Japanese keyboard. (⑅∫°ਊ°)∫

Once you’ve installed your very own Japanese keyboard, it’s time start typing. Mash those keys and you’re greeted with romaji quickly morphing into kana quickly morphing into kanji. Plus there’s a dropdown box. And if you hit the spacebar, things start getting really crazy.

Hit the brakes. Just because you know how to enable IME, doesn’t mean you know how to type in Japanese. It’s pretty easy once you’ve figured it out, but can be tricky if you’ve never done it before.

If you learned Japanese in a classroom, you probably did a lot of handwriting practice. If you’re lucky, you didn’t use much romaji, and jumped straight into hiragana and katakana.

That’s great! But being familiar with the two most common romaji, or romanization systems of Japanese, makes typing much easier. It can also help you find simple typing shortcuts, especially if you’re using a romaji keyboard to type in Japanese. Keep that in mind while you read!

Read more!

[japanese-kanjisymbols-blog]

“Suishou” – Japanese Kanji for Crystal or Quartz: I wrote “Suishou“. It’s Japanese kanji symbols for “Crystal” or “Quartz“. It’s one of birthstones in April. “Sui” means  the water “Shou” means the crystal As for the stone words, Purification, Perfection and Mysterious. What jewel Do you like? Please … Continue reading →

[nihongo-banzai-blog]

Learn more about Japanese and Japans culture!

[janken]

[nihongo-banzai-blog]

Learn more about Japanese and Japans culture!

[okadas-deactivated20140626]

[nihongo-banzai-blog]

Learn more about Japanese and Japans culture!

[tofugu]

Spring in Daigoji Temple - Asano Takeji (Showa Period 1951)

いにしへの奈良の都の八重桜 けふ九重ににほひぬるかな

The double cherry trees, which grew At Nara in past days Now beautify this Palace, and Their blossoms all ablaze Perfume the royal ways.

(By 伊勢大輔 from 百人一首)

[nihongo-banzai-blog]

Learn more about Japanese and Japans culture!

[tofugu]

Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum

Ramen. Although originally a Chinese import, it’s now a huge obsession in Japan and an icon of Japanese cuisine around the world. Part of the excitement is that so many different kinds and styles have developed. People wait in long lines at renowned shops and travel a long way to experience regional variations.

Now, as much as I’d love to travel to Kyushu just to eat their ramen, I didn’t have to. I just had to go to Yokohama. And at the Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum, I not only got my soup, but a cool place to eat it in.

Uniqueness: 7/10 – Though the website claims the museum to be the first food theme park, there are now lots of similar places in Japan for different foods, and I’ve seen others that are also cute old-time reproductions of street stalls and such. This one is a much bigger production than the others I know of though, so it still gets a high score.

Access: 7/10 – Pretty easy to get to from Tokyo via various trains at various speeds and price points.

Nostalgia: 9/10 – Even if you weren’t alive in 1950s Japan, the old Coke machine and movie posters have a familiar vibe.

Deliciousness: 7/10 – It was definitely good, but to be honest ramen isn’t my favorite Japanese food and I probably didn’t make the wisest choice. Your mileage will probably vary.

Overall: 8/10 – Definitely worth a trip if you like ramen and if, like me, you are a sucker for the Showa era and for indoor historic reproductions of Japanese street scenes.

Read more.

[nihongo-banzai-blog]

Learn more about Japanese and Japans culture!

[studentinmaastricht]

After having to explain the different types of writing to many family members and friends, I thought I might do a general explanation on Tumblr as well. Because let’s face it, if you’re new to this language it might seem like a big pile of the same weird scribbling.

There are three types of Japanese writing Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. This means I’m not including Romaji and the writing of numbers.

HIRAGANA - ひらがな

Hiragana is a set of 46 written symbols that represent syllables which make up words. Meaning that it is a phonetic alphabet where each symbol stands for a sound. Hiragana is used to write native words that have no kanij, such as grammatical particles. It’s also used  when the kanji is unkown to the writer, or too formal.Hiragana can also be seen written above Kanji to show the pronounciation, this is called Furigana.

KATAKANA - カタカナ

Katakana is just like Hiragana a phonetic alphabet and together they are referred to as Kana. The difference between the two is, that Katakana is used for the transcription of foreign words into the Japanese language and the writing of “loan words”.

KANJI - 漢字

Kanji are originally Chinese characters that are used along with Hiragana and Katakana. The difference is, that one Kanji character can represent one word. There are thousands of characters, but a little less than 2.000 characters are used regularly.

When reading and article, give or take 60% will be in Hiragana, 30% will be in Kanji and 10% will be in Katakana.

And finally: why do I use the charts made by Kira Kira Doodles? Well, besides that they are awefully cute, they are also acurate. If you are learning to read/write Japanese you will find that one specific character can be written differently in some charts. For example: the Hiragana symbol for ‘ki’ can be shown as き, or as the version shown in the chart. きis a typewriter version of ‘ki’ and is ONLY used when typing on a computer. So if you are interested in learning this language, I recommend charts like these. Also make sure to check out the stroke orders ^^

[nihongo-banzai-blog]

Learn more about Japanese and Japans culture!