[nyahongo]

「まるごと」 Starter A1: Writing Prompts (Part 1)

Prompt 1:

あなたの周りにどんな日本語がありますか。What Japanese is there around you?

周りに ＝まわりに (surroundings, neighborhood, vicinity)

Life and Culture

Prompt 2:

あなたは他の人をどう呼びますか。How do you address other people?

他の人はあなたをどう呼びますか。How do other people address you?

他の人＝ほかのひと (other people; ほか: other; ひと: person, people)

どう＝how

呼びます＝よびます (呼ぶ: to name, to call someone)

Prompt 3:

私の家族とほかの人の家族では、呼び方が違います。

The way I address my family and other people’s families is different.

家族 (かぞく) ＝ family

呼び方 (よびかた) ＝ how/way of addressing someone (方: method, way of)

違います (ちがいます) = is different; is wrong (conjugated from 違う)

あなたの国ではどうですか。How about in your country?

国 (くに) ＝country

Prompt 4:

あなたの国にはどんな店がありますか。安いですか。美味しいですか。早いですか。

What kinds of restaurants do you have in your country? Are they inexpensive? Delicious? Fast?

あなたはファーストフードの店で食べますか。Do you eat at fast food restaurants?

店 (みせ) ＝ restaurant, shop

安い (やすい) ＝ cheap, inexpensive

美味しい (おいしい) ＝ delicious

早い (はやい) ＝ fast

Your Neighborhood

Prompt 5:

あなたの家の近くに何がありますか。デパートはありますか。公園はありますか。レストランはありますか。

What things are there near your house? Is there a department store? A park? A restaurant?

家＝いえ

〜の近くに＝〜のちかくに

何＝なに

公園＝こうえん

Prompt 6:

あなたの家を書きましょう。住みたい家でもいいです。Draw your house, or a home that you want to live in.

あなたの家の絵を使って案内しましょう。Show someone around your house using the picture.

書きましょう＝かきましょう (let's write/draw; from 書く: to write, to draw)

住みたい家＝すみたいいえ (the home/house you want to live in; 住む: to live in a place)

〜でもいいです＝it's okay to〜 (as in, "it's okay to do X")

絵＝え (picture, image)

使って＝つかって (て-form of 使う: to use)

案内しましょう＝あんないしましょう (let's show A around; 案内する: to show someone around a place)

Prompt 7:

部屋をどう使いますか。How do you use your rooms?

部屋＝へや (room)

Daily Life

Prompt 8:

あなたの一日を話しましょう。何をしますか。何時しますか。

Talk about your daily routine. What do you do? What time do you do it?

一日＝いちにち (daily, every day)

話しましょう＝はなしましょう (let's talk; conjugated from 話す: to talk)

何時＝なんじ (what time)

Prompt 9:

あなたの来週のスケジュールはどうですか。What is your schedule for next week like?

あなたはいつ暇ですか。When are you free?

来週＝らいしゅう (next week)

いつ＝when

暇＝ひま (free, available; 暇な: free as in "free time")

Prompt 10:

朝何時ごろ何をしますか。What do you do in the morning and what time do you do it?

夜何時ごろ何をしますか。What do you do in the evening and what time do you do it?

朝＝あさ (morning)

何時ごろ＝around what time (ごろ: around, approximately)

夜＝よる (night, evening)

[the-relaxed-student]

I've been using Shin Kanzen Master N3 for a while now and I really like it ! Sometimes I would like more explanation on nuances because I struggle with some exercises but it's nice to use

[peachkoii]

10 | 06 | 26

Starting this blog to keep myself accountable for studying and ! not ! procrastinating, especially as I’m taking the upcoming JLPT N2 in July

Today:

- JLPT N2 mock test - passed

- Correction notes taken

- 4km run

[jlang-gen]

So here's the stack of my new study materials and y'all... kanji in context is arguably the best reference book for kanji I've come across in my life. I cannot praise it highly enough.

It's designed to be gone through three times. The first time is learning the kanji and the readings for the vocabulary in red. The second time is for review and all the unmarked black words. The third time is for mastery and the unusual, difficult, or obsolete words marked by diamonds. I love it a lot.

The workbook might be the true gem though. That's where the "in context" part comes from. You get practice and a bunch of example sentences actually using the vocabulary. Two words really similar in meaning that you can't tell the usage apart? No problem here. You'll get to see how it's actually used and, by extension, continue building and reinforcing your vocabulary.

Overall, this is one of the best designed textbooks I maybe have ever seen. It's designed for intermediate/advanced learners, so it's probably not the best for people who are just starting out in their Japanese studies. That being said, there's such a gap for that level of learning it's really exciting to see such a great resource targeted at us!

[thotsfortherapy]

it’s not “am I good enough to do it?”, it’s “do I like it enough to be bad at it?”

[the-relaxed-student]

I am back i hope ?

Not a lot of things happened since last time, I passed the Kanji Kentei level 8 and I wanted to take the jlpt N4 in July but it was so popular they can't take more applicant. I tried a mock exam online and passed so I decided to study for N3. It's my first time using a Shin Kanzen Master book and I really like it so far !

[tokidokitokyo]

How to Read in Your Target Language

So you've decided to jump in and start reading in your target language. This can be daunting, so how do you go about setting up a strategy for reading?

Relaxed Reading

This is an easy way to start. You don't look up vocabulary, grammar, character readings, or anything while you read. This is similar to how you would read in your native language and will take less time because you aren't stopping and looking anything up. The goal is to improve critical thinking and overall fluency, while maintaining the relaxation of reading (no pressure to look things up).

This can be good for someone just starting out reading because you can gauge how much you understand in a book. You can determine if you think that the book is harder or easier than your current level, or just about right.

Pros:

Takes less time than looking things up

Cons:

You might not understand as much as you hoped

If you understand > 70% of the page, and can use critical thinking and existing knowledge to make educated guesses based on context clues, then this would be a good strategy. If you understand < 60% of the page, you might need to find something easier or shorter to start with for this exercise. You want to be able to make guesses for <30% of the information and to be right most of the time.

Active Reading

This is when you want to mine for vocabulary or if you are reading something above your level and want to understand what you are reading but can't without a dictionary. The goal is to enjoy reading but also to actively learn vocabulary, grammar, characters, etc.

Pros:

Learning new vocabulary/grammar/etc.

Comprehensive understanding of what you read

Cons:

Takes more time

This can be thought of as a study session, and you can take notes or make flashcards as you go along. You might also stop to look up grammar points as you go to make sure that you understand them. This method is more about quality than quantity.

Combination

As the name suggestions, this is a combo of the first two methods. You combine active reading (taking notes and looking things up) with relaxed reading (guessing when you don't know a word but can generally understand based on context clues). You can set this up any way you like.

Start out reading a page, a chapter, or a whole book without looking anything up or stopping (the relaxed reading bit) and then go back and actively look things up and take notes (the active reading bit). You can mark where you got stuck by a highlight or a note and then you'll remember where you were tripped up when you do a second read-through.

You can also go along in the relaxed reading strategy, guessing where you think you generally understand things from context, and only looking up things you really aren't sure about.

Pros:

The best of both worlds - recreational reading and study-focused reading

Cons:

This method can take up more time (although you do get to pick how long you'd like to take to read)

This method will allow you to practice the flow of reading, but also go back and look up the parts you didn't get so that you can ensure comprehension. You can also do this over the course of several days if you like.

[ramune-notes]

２０２６年３月８日

i finished my notes for lessons 1 & 2 in genki 1 !! i left out the things i'm quite familiar with, including ね and よ, but i'm quite happy with how this turned out :)

i'm technically up to lesson 5 in genki at this point, but redoing my notes is definitely helping all of the grammar points stick.

[corvid-language-library]

"My speaking skills suck, I should really spend more time working on them!" *Continues to exclusively work on reading*

[the-relaxed-student]

The books read in february

I continued the series "Toilet bound Hanako kun", I love the story and I feel that I read with less and less difficulties.

The light novel took me 3 months to finish for multiples reasons, it was a little bit above my level and I decided to concentrate on the Kanji Kentei exam in january. I don't recommend it because unfortunatly the story was kinda bad !

[konkonto]

Study Update | 2026/3/2

Days until the JLPT Exam : 125 Currently reading: 君の膵臓を食べたい Currently watching: 初恋（泣）

Spring has arrived, so I knew I had to get outside to study in the sun! I'm slowly getting the hang of learning large swathes of words again. I'm trying to do a single chapter of the vocabulary book every few days as long as I'm not falling behind with the Anki cards. It really takes me back to my university days where we had to learn ~120 new words every week.

I'm also almost done reading Sumino Yoru's I want to eat your pancreas. Anyone who knows me knew that as soon as I read that title I knew I wanted to read it. It's a very sweet book and I relate a lot to Sakura, the main character. Why all my favourite characters end up dying in their respective stories... it's a strange pattern. As soon as I finish writing this I'm gonna snuggle up in bed and see if I can read the last few chapters.

Apart from that JLPT signup season is also upon us! I'm not sure yet where I want to take the exam. I can take it at my old university but it'd be way more fun to turn the exam into a little adventure abroad. Hopefully I can get a spot somewhere where I can go by train and sortof speak the language.

I hope your studies are going well as well! Please tell me what you're up to, I'd love to study together. I was gonna write more but I really want to finish this book so... bye for now!

春が来たな。窓の外を見たとき、すぐに太陽の下で外で勉強したいなーと思ったよ。また大量の単語を学ぶのに少しずつ慣れていく。語彙帳を数日おきに1章ずつ進めようとしたいんやから、毎日アンキ頑張らないとな。大学で毎週単語を１２０語を勉強しなければならなかったことが懐かしいわ。

住野よるの「君の膵臓を食べたい」もうすぐ読み終わる！うち知ってる人なら、うちがそんなタイトルの本はおもろいと思うことに驚かへんやろうな、、、けど！ほんまにいいストリーやし、メインキャラクターの桜良の気持ち、めっちゃわかるんねん。なんでいつも死ぬキャラが好きになるかわからんけど。この投稿書き終えたらすぐにベッドで最後の数章読みたい。

それより、今月JLPTを申し込まないとわね。まだどこで試験受けたいか決めてない。うちの大学で受けられるけど、海外で受けて冒険にした方がめっちゃ楽しそうやろう？？電車で行けて、そこの言語が話せる国で試験受けられたらいいと思っとる。

みんなの勉強も順調に進んでるといいですね！何勉強してるのか教えてくれませんか？一緒に勉強したいからですね。

もっと書こうと思ったけど、小説を読み終えたいので、、、

じゃ、また！

[the-relaxed-student]

I decided to take the kanji kentei level 8 in January ! I can recognise all the kanji but writing them is very hard

[f-like-m]

Start

[the-relaxed-student]

It's been a long time since I posted here because I didn't have the time to study (and unfortunately I did burn myself out a little)

I finished Quartet I and read 誰が勇者を殺したか, it was hard because I didn't know the vocabulary related to hero and demons but the story was very nice !

Next step is reviewing the grammar I learned so far before continuing with Quartet II

[dokushoclub]

Where to get books with furigana

Reading novels in Japanese can be a real challenge if your reading flow comes to a stop every time you encounter a kanji you can’t read, so getting a book with 100% furigana can help cutting back on that frustration.

There are several Japanese publishers with a younger target audience, whose books all have furigana on every kanji while still presenting complex and interesting stories about 150 – 300 pages long.

They are my top recommendation for all intermediate readers, who already have experience with graded readers, easy childrens stories or manga, but have yet to read a longer novel aimed at native speakers.

講談社青い鳥文庫 – Kōdansha Aoi Tori Bunko

集英社みらい文庫 – Shūeisha Mirai Bunko

角川つばさ文庫 – Kadokawa Tsubasa Bunko

小学館ジュニア文庫 - Shōgakukan Junior Bunko

双葉社ジュニア文庫 – Futabasha Junior Bunko

静山社ペガサス文庫 – Seizansha Pegasus Bunko

TOジュニア文庫 – TO Junior Bunko

You will recognize them easily by their colorful frames around the covers and they include popular anime movies like 君の名は。novelisations of anime series or disney movies, light novels and even the Harry Potter books.

I go into more detail about my recommendations for each publisher on my blog.

Introduction to reading Japanese novels – Where to get books with furigana

Reading novels in Japanese can be a real challenge if your reading flow comes to a stop every time you encounter a kanji you can’t read. The

[tokidokitokyo]

note - Japanese Social Media

Have you heard of note.com?

note ――つくる、つながる、とどける。

クリエイターが文章やマンガ、写真、音声を投稿することができ、ユーザーはそのコンテンツを楽しんで応援できるメディアプラットフォームです。だれもが創作を楽しんで続けられるよう、安心できる雰囲気や、多様性を大切にしています。

It's a livejournal/blog/posting kind of website where people make posts, sorted by topic, in Japanese. You can find posts about almost any topic you might be interested in!

Japanese Reading & Writing Practice

I recommend this for Japanese reading practice because although there is some net slang (and you can't guarantee that people won't make mistakes), there are a lot of posts using correct written Japanese by Japanese people. The post format gives you the opportunity to read small bits of text at a time. And with the wide breadth of topics, you can find something that will interest you to practice reading.

You can also start your own note account for Japanese writing practice! It's anonymous, so even if you make a mistake, I feel like it is less intimidating.

Tips for note

The site is completely in Japanese, so you might be more comfortable using it if you are around JLPT N3/intermediate, especially for creating an account. However, you might be able to click around and muddle your way through it (or use a translate app?) so don't let that deter you from checking it out.

I hope this helps make your Japanese study a little bit more enjoyable!

[momoxstudies]

I came across a cute coffee shop back when I was in Tallinn and decided to start reading an old japanese magazine I bought two years ago and never opened