References: List from Kanji.sh and words and meanings sourced from Renshuu.
Note: accompanying vocab is just limited to one simple word per reading, in order to aid memorization of the various readings. this list is not exhaustive and doesn’t represent the N2 essential vocab.
* means that the kanji reading is not in common use/some other kanji is more commonly used for that reading and meaning instead
^ means that the reading is the word with the mentioned meaning
●●の魔法 USJ特別編 『憧れにひたれる魔法（あこがれにひたれるまほう/Akogare’ni Hitareru Maho）』 / Marumaru no Maho, Universal Studio Japan Special Version “A Spell to Immerse Yourself in a World You’ve been Longing for”
Please note that all the English words are just my translation, including the titles.
You can find the short video uploaded by the official account of TOHO animation on YouTube here.
Heiter “Frieren, what kind of spell do you think it is, the grimoire we found in the dungeon earlier, ‘a spell to immerse yourself in the world you’ve been longing for’?
<verb> 憧れる（あこがれる/Akogareru）: long for, admire
This word means that you are strongly drawn to and yearn for things or people that you admire. It’s generally used for someone or something that seems more distant and unattainable than someone or something that you simply like. It’s generally like a dream or an ideal; someone you want to become like, something you want to get, but at the same time you know it’s not easy at all.
Frieren “To begin with, I don’t really understand what it means to immerse yourself in a world you’ve been longing for. For example, what kind of world each of you want to immerse yourself in?”
Himmel “In my case, on the other hand, it’s something reassuring for everyone. I think it may be a world overflowing with as countless sculptures and paintings of mine as the stars so that my handsome face will be remembered forever.”
「その点、僕は安心だ」＝その点について、僕（にとっての憧れの世界）は（みんなにとって）安心だ
This sentence is very difficult for non-Japanese speakers to understand because it omits a lot. It looks like he is saying “I’m relieved,” it actually means different. He is saying “Heiter’s (desired) world worried us, but my (desired) world is reassuring, so don’t worry.”
星の数ほど（ほしのかずほど/Hoshi’no kazu’hodo）: as many as the stars in the sky, countless as the stars
Heiter “Excitement means different things to different people. So, if it says everyone, it means that anyone can immerse themselves in their own exciting worlds.”
Eisen “If I can immerse myself in such an exciting adventure, I’d welcome it. Frieren, you might also be able to immerse yourself in a world you’ve been longing for but haven’t yet found, right?”
“It is a journey to trace memories. A journey to realize how precious the ordinary things were. Immerse yourself in this adventure. Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Story Walk – Echoes of Adventure.”
Readings: と^、こ
井戸 いど water well
戸 こ counter for households
神戸 こうべ Kobe (city)
５４４ 庫 WAREHOUSE
Readings: くら＊、こ
＊くら is written commonly with 蔵
在庫 ざいこ stock, inventory
金庫 きんこ safe, vault
５４５ 固 HARD
Readings: かた、こ
固い かたい hard, solid
固定 こてい fixing in place
５４６ 呼 CALL
Readings: よ、こ
呼ぶ よぶ to call, to summon
呼吸 こきゅう breathing, respiration
５４７ 個 INDIVIDUAL
Readings: こ
個人 こじん individual, personal
個 こ counter for small objects
５４８ 限 LIMIT
Readings: かぎ、げん
限り かぎり limit, extent
期限 きげん term, period of time
５４９ 現 PRESENT
Readings: あらわ、げん
現れ あらわれ manifestation, materialization
現在 げんざい present, now
５５０ 減 DECREASE
Readings: へ、げん
減る へる to decrease
減少 げんしょう decrease, decline
References: List from Kanji.sh and words and meanings sourced from Renshuu.
Note: accompanying vocab is just limited to one simple word per reading, in order to aid memorization of the various readings. this list is not exhaustive and doesn’t represent the N2 essential vocab.
* means that the kanji reading is not in common use/some other kanji is more commonly used for that reading and meaning instead
^ means that the reading is the word with the mentioned meaning
●●の魔法 特別版(とくべつばん) ミツカン味(あじ)ぽんコラボ 『食卓をしあわせにする魔法（しょくたくをしあわせにするまほう/Shokutaku’o Shiawase’ni Suru Maho）』 / Marumaru no Maho, Special Version, Collaboration with Mizkan’s Ponzu Soy Sauce Ajipon “A Spell to Bring Happiness to Your Dining Table”
Please note that all the English words are just my translation, including the titles.
You can find the short video uploaded by the official account of TOHO animation on YouTube here.
フリーレン「食卓(しょくたく)を幸(しあわ)せにする魔法(まほう)？」
Furīren “Shokutaku’o shiawase’ni suru maho?”
Frieren “A spell to bring happiness to your dining table?”
シュタルク「えらくザックリしてるな」
Shutaruku “Eraku zakkuri’shiteru’na.”
Stark “That’s pretty vague.”
ザックリした（ざっくりした/Zakkuri’shita）: rough, general
フェルン「量(りょう)が増(ふ)えるとかでしょうか？」
Ferun “Ryo-ga fueru’toka’desho-ka?”
Fern “Perhaps the quantity will increase or something like that?”
Readings: き、こう
効く きく to be effective
効果 こうか effect, result
５３３ 公 PUBLIC
Readings: こう
公園 こうえん public park
５３４ 候 CLIMATE
Readings: こう
気候 きこう climate
天候 てんこう weather
５３５ 交 MIX
Readings: まじ、ま、か、こう
交える まじえる to mix/combine
交じり まじり mixed with
交わす かわす to exchange (communication)
交通 こうつう traffic
５３６ 誤 MISTAKE
Readings: あやま、ご
誤る あやまる to make a mistake
誤解 ごかい misunderstanding
５３７ 御 HONORABLE
Readings: お、ご
御～ お～・ご～ honorific prefix (e.g. ごはん; written in kana usually)
御門 みかど Emperor of Japan
５３８ 互 MUTUAL
Readings: たが、ご
お互い おたがい each other
交互 こうご alternating
５３９ 雇 EMPLOY
Readings: やと、こ
雇う やとう to employ
雇用 こよう employment
５４０ 湖 LAKE
Readings: みずうみ^、こ^
白鳥の湖 はくちょうのみずうみ Swan Lake (ballet)
湖畔 こはん lake shore
References: List from Kanji.sh and words and meanings sourced from Renshuu.
Note: accompanying vocab is just limited to one simple word per reading, in order to aid memorization of the various readings. this list is not exhaustive and doesn’t represent the N2 essential vocab.
* means that the kanji reading is not in common use/some other kanji is more commonly used for that reading and meaning instead
^ means that the reading is the word with the mentioned meaning
Two-Month Review of AirLearn (And Why I Will Not Be Going Back)
I spent about two months using AirLearn after seeing an ad for it on TikTok. (I know, I know.) I’ve been kind of frustrated with the sharp decrease in DuoLingo’s quality the past several years, so I thought that I’d give it a try.
The first thing that you must understand about AirLearn is that it feels like the Temu version of DuoLingo. Which, considering that the current DuoLingo feels like the Temu version of what it once was, that’s really saying a lot about the quality of AirLearn.
It’s basically the same, swapping out DuoLingo’s green owl for a blue cat.
First up, the things that I did like. AirLearn did explain the grammatical stuff to us, explaining about how adjectives fit into the sentence structure, and how to conjugate the verbs. Now, I can already speak a bit of Japanese, so I knew a lot of this stuff already. But when you compare it to DuoLingo that no longer does literally any of this, it’s a vast improvement.
But when your option is “teaches you literally no grammar”, the bar is kind of on the ground here.
I also like the little cultural tidbits that connected to each lesson. They were really interesting.
Now, for the bad.
Right off the bat, the first thing that’s noticed is the crappy text-to-speech voice. However, it would be talking along in English, come to a new Japanese vocab word, and then switch to a DIFFERENT crappy text-to-speech voice. Zero effort was put into any of this. It sounded awful, and the jump between English to Japanese and back to English created awkward pauses. I could literally read the sentences twice as fast, and eventually started to read through and skip ahead to the next part.
It took ages for them to introduce the hiragana and katakana letters to us. And when they did, there wasn’t any sort of rhyme or reason to them. Sure, the letters were introduced in order. But one lesson, I’d be learning about ordering at a restaurant. Then “Let’s continue learning our hiragana and katakana!” And then after that little mini lesson, it would jump back into ordering at a restaurant.
And this is probably specific to non-Roman alphabet courses, but… There were some bizarre things that they did. They were trying to say “please drop the picture of the character into the matching bucket”. But then both the bucket and the picture would contain the same character. So it’s like… Who is this helping? Because if I didn’t already know how to read hiragana and katakana, this wouldn’t have helped me to learn the characters in the slightest.
There was also no way to turn off the romaji options in brackets after each sentence, too. It was really confusing, and it was throwing me off. It was super annoying. I get that not everybody goes into Japanese already knowing how to read it. But at the same time… You’ve got to stop giving people crutches! It’s not helping! Teach them the hiragana and katakana first, and then go on from there. This shouldn’t have even been a question; why were the lessons in this order anyway?
Some of the lessons would ask me “listen and select what sound this character makes!” Option A would say “Bo”. Option B would say “Po”. And let me tell you… THOSE SOUND THE FUCKING SAME. At least with their shitty text-to-speech voice option. Like why would you format it like this? Who decided that this was a good idea?!
And while there was an option to skip over all of the listening sections, you didn’t get points for doing them. Which meant less points at the end of each lesson. Which meant that your overall score for the week would be less. It felt like people who have an audio-processing disorder like I do were actively being punished. And forget about deaf people; fuck them, I guess? They don’t get to learn another language.
And trust me when I say that I tried to find a way to turn it off. There was literally no way to do it. There was only the “skip” button on each individual question.
When I first started AirLearn, there were these sections where they would ask you to say something into the phone’s microphone. However, by the time that I uninstalled, I hadn’t gotten any of those for a while. I guess that they were removed. But they were also… bizarre, touchy, often incorrect, but would randomly accept stuff that I hadn’t said. It’s probably for the best that they removed that feature, since it wasn’t great.
The lessons themselves were in kind of a random order as well, with seemingly no rhyme or reason to any of it. If I wasn’t already familiar with the grammatical structure and basics of Japanese, I would have been lost. I’d be curious as to how people who were starting with nothing of a language could do with this app. If it would make it better or worse for them.
There was also no way to opt out of the “leagues”. Say what you will about DuoLingo, but at least you can turn that off. I found myself constantly being pitted against people who not only had subscriptions and thus unlimited lessons every single day, but who were clearly sitting around and doing nothing but lessons all day every day. And while I applaud their work ethic to study whatever language, it’s unfair for the rest of us to be in a league against these people. Here I am with 5,000 weekly points. And my opponent has 50,000. How is that a competition? There’s literally no way to get ahead.
The report button was broken as well. A few times, I tried to report something because the entire thing was so mind-boggingly STUPID that surely they’d want to know about this. However, whenever it would pop up with the thing that would be like “please tell us the problem!” the entire screen would do something funny. I did my best to type out “pictures are confusing”, but I’m pretty sure what came through was little more than kljaPICTURESlkalkjdfoi.
Exactly what point is there to having a report button if the users can’t even offer up feedback? When I finally quit the app and uninstalled, I decided to leave a review complaining about this. They wrote back almost right away, using the same generic response about “sending feedback to [email protected]”. Which… You clearly don’t actually want to hear feedback, or else your report button would actually work.
And that brings me to my final complaint. The straw that broke me. The pictures.
Yes, every single picture in this app was AI generated. They were laughable at best.
Vague, confusing, and docked me points because I couldn’t tell the difference between “a room” and “room with a book in it” at worst.
I don’t even care about the quality of the pictures. Or the fact that they were AI.
What I care about was the fact that they’d give me three pictures of the sun, and expect me to somehow figure out which one was supposed to be “setting” and which one was supposed to be “rising”.
There would be two pictures of a man standing in front of a house. And one of them was supposed to be “saying goodbye for the day” and the other was supposed to be “arriving home”. AND THEY WERE SO FUCKING IDENTICAL, HOW THE HELL IS ANYBODY SUPPOSED TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THESE WITHOUT FURTHER CONTEXT?!
The picture question that broke me was four pictures of a man standing on a train platform, all mostly identical. We were supposed to pick the one “I ride the train”. I picked option B. That’s not it. I picked option D. That’s also not it.
I closed out the app. I was so frustrated.
Then I decided that I’d had enough. No more being forced to choose between these identical pictures of “ride the train”, and somehow are supposed to know that this really specific image of him doing this hyper-specific action is the “correct” choice. WHEN ALL FOUR OF THEM HAD HIM AT THE TRAIN STATION, INTERACTING WITH THE TRAIN IN SOME WAY.
AirLearn might have come about with somebody’s frustration over the dramatic drop in quality of DuoLingo. But with their heavy reliance upon AI, it makes it no better than DuoLingo. It’s only a baby app, only having been out a year-ish. And I did witness them decide to drop the voice-input test questions, so they are obviously working on improving it. But they have a really, REALLY long way to go before it’s remotely usable.
