I struggle to think in Japanese, maybe because I don't know a lot of words and not really sure how the grammar works, but in reality-
It's because I keep translating everything from English to Japanese. It takes time to do and by the time I have my sentence, I forgot what I was replying to. [It also trains my brain to do that by default, which makes it difficult for me to remember the words-.]
But I have found a video that helped me understand and made it a little easier to think in Japanese.
The thing that took me years to consciously grasp is that the collocations for English and Japanese are very different even when it comes to basic words you learn as a beginner. You're taught that ureshii means "happy," which is sort of true, but you can actually only use it when you felt happy as the result of something, so it's really more like "gladdened." We're taught that 人 means "person," which is true, but depending on context we might need to use 名 or 方 or 者 or 員 or 人間, ningen, which again we're taught means "human," but you actually use ningen in a variety of contexts where using "human" in English would sound hilarious.
And basically every single word in Japanese is like this forever, in a way incomparable to any germanic or romance languages English speakers might learn.
So in short my advice is don't bother, join a bowling team, go spelunking, throw a birthday party, take a nap.
Connecting words in Japanese — と · や · とか · など · か
と、や、とか、など、か — five ways to connect nouns and other parts of speech in Japanese, and when to use which.
と — exhaustive list
と limits the list to exactly the items mentioned. Nothing else is implied.
Used after every item except the last, which takes a case particle
Nouns only
Also means "together with" (アンナと = with Anna; Anna and I)
バナナとリンゴを買った。
→ I bought a banana and an apple. (just these two)
と after verbs is a different grammar point — conditional "if/when." More here.
や — representative examples
や signals that the listed items are the best or most relevant examples — others exist but aren't worth listing.
Nouns only
Can appear more than once in a sentence (AやBやC)
Don't use it after the last item
Slightly more formal than とか
Common structure: AやBなど
指はオレか伏黒が集めてくるから
→ As for the Sukuna fingers, me or Fushiguro will collect them.
Gojo uses や — he and Fushiguro are the most qualified, the obvious choices. Using とか here would suggest he named them arbitrarily, that other people might do just as well. や implies they're the right examples for the job.
変な音や声が聞こえた
→ I heard strange sounds and voices.
Sasaki uses や — strange sounds and voices are the specific, definitive examples of why the rugby pitch is out of use.
学校や病院のような場所
→ Places like schools and hospitals.
Schools and hospitals are the canonical examples of where curses appear — not random picks, but the defining cases. や fits.
とか — non-exhaustive list, all parts of speech
とか works like や — items are examples, not an exhaustive list — but it's more casual (話し言葉) and extends to verbs and adjectives.
Nouns, verbs, adjectives, phrases
Use after every item: AとかBとか
More conversational than や
傷つくとか怯むとかしない
→ It won't get hurt or falter. (or anything else — Yuuji talking about Yaga's cursed doll)
花とかも買ってくるんじゃねえ
→ Don't go bringing flowers and things like that either.
とか can also be と (quotation marker) + か (question particle). In that case it's not a listing particle at all — it's a rhetorical question or quoted content. Context will tell you which reading applies.
Megumi uses とか here as と + か — not listing, but quoting something and questioning it rhetorically.
など — et cetera
など signals that the list is incomplete — "and so on; etc."
Used once per sentence (A, B, C など)
Primarily after nouns; can follow verbs in formal contexts (formal equivalent of たり)
Common structures: AやBなど · AとかBなど
呪霊の肉体など
→ A cursed spirit's flesh, and so on. (Sukuna hinting that cursed spirits can take other forms too)
か — alternatives
か between items gives alternatives — "either... or."
All parts of speech
With な-adjectives: drop な before か
With verbs: plain form + か directly, no nominalization needed
For alternatives in a question, use それとも between the two options instead
今死ぬか、全部の指を食ってから死ぬか
→ You can either die now, or after eating all the fingers.
Two alternatives, no ambiguity. Gojo presenting Yuuji's options.
呪いか虎杖か
→ The curse or Yuuji?
呪いか虎杖かも
→ Might be the curse, might be Yuuji — I can't tell. (か + もしれない)
Nakaguro — neutral separator
The middle dot ・ separates nouns in a list without implying exhaustiveness or non-exhaustiveness — it just enumerates. It's more neutral than や or とか and tends to appear in formal, literary, or stylized writing rather than casual speech.
辛酸・後悔・恥辱 人間が記憶を反芻する度
→ Hardship, regret, humiliation — every time a person ruminates on their memories.
辛酸 (しんさん) = hardship; bitter experience
後悔 (こうかい) = regret
恥辱 (ちじょく) = humiliation; disgrace
反芻する (はんすうする) = to ruminate; to chew over
The three nouns are separated by ・ rather than や or とか — the effect is colder, more rhythmic, more deliberate. This is a monologue, not a conversation, and ・ gives it a literary register that the other connectors wouldn't.
・ is also commonly used to separate names (first name・last name or foreign names) and to list items in titles or headings.
Quick reference
と — this and this, exactly, nothing else (nouns only)
や — representative examples, more implied (nouns only; neutral/written)
とか — loose examples (nouns, verbs, adjectives; spoken)
など — and so on, etc. (primarily nouns; once per sentence)
か — either/or, alternatives (all parts of speech)
Any Japanese language learning program that doesn’t have writing and stroke order aspects for hiragana, katakana, AND kanji has automatically failed in my eyes. You cannot expect students to be able to learn a whole new writing system by just looking at it, especially when kanji is nearly entirely based on memorization.
Writing, especially repetitive writing, is a universal part of learning a language for a reason.
Different handwriting styles are present (and prevalent) in every language… Learning is a journey, friends, and there will always be room for improvement. When you become more comfortable with the language and practice more often, your handwriting will follow suit. It will begin to become less rigid and more natural.
Yes, I completely agree! ☝
Practice takes time; you build upon your knowledge and muscle memory little by little. The more you practice writing, your fingers, hand, and wrist will get used to the physical movement, your eyes will get more familiar with what you’re writing, and your brain will connect the physical movements with the visual appearance of your handwriting. This connection process takes repetition, time, and patience. Keep at it, and don’t lose hope if your handwriting isn’t as pretty or neat as you’d like. You’ll get there! (｀・ω・´)ゞ
@bentothuglife also notes how correct stroke order is key to distinguishing between similar characters:
Correct stroke order is so important, like we make a lot of jokes about mixing up シ、ツ、ソ and ン but literally the difference is due to stroke order and becomes much easier to discern when you look at it from a stroke order perspective. And these are some of the SIMPLEST kana with two and three strokes only. When you get into complex kanji with many more strokes it’s even more crucial.
Another excellent point!
Consider the following kanji:
As you can see, they all look really similar - like, frustratingly so! How can we tell them apart?
Came across the phrase 「怒るなら怒ればいいのに…」 in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and I tried looking up the grammar but it just gives me like "the difference between なら and ば! How to master Japanese conditionals!" and like. I know what なら means, I know how to use the ば form, I just want to know what it means when I have both of them together like this please.
(GT says "if you're going to get angry, then get angry" which makes sense in the context so...? But if anyone has other insight then please do share!)
what i've noticed is people (mostly just ppl who are new to learning the language) seem to be very intimidated or even repulsed by learning kanji. this isn't a post to say 'i'm sOoOo different' because i was once intimidated too but... once i started appreciating kanji i just never went back. i think kanji is important to not just learn, but love as well. kanji is more than a hurdle to overcome, i think - kanji can also be your friend; it is a way of expressing so many things in the world, and that is beautiful. kanji is really difficult to learn sometimes, you have to work hard to understand it, but that doesn't mean you have to hate the process. approaching kanji with a bit of curiosity and even excitement is so valuable!
as a short disclaimer, i do believe the 'learn words before kanji' works really well for efficiency. but what i'm tryna express is that you can also just enjoy learning about kanji. that's not a bad thing! if kanji interests you, follow that interest - 'words before kanji' can help you learn the language faster, but you don't have to adhere to that if learning about kanji is interesting or even fun for you. don't needlessly suck the life out of your study!
