Monthly Archives: January 2015

Japanese intonation changes in two-word compounds

Japanese pitch accent (something I’ve written about before) is tricky because each word has a different combination of up and down pitches, and sometimes the accent of one word can affect a word immediately after it. To make things even more complicated, different regional dialects of Japanese have very different patterns of accents – for example… Read More »

Japanese expression 「ならではの」(nara de wa no) – a lump of particles with an interesting meaning

Being really into the grammar aspect of languages, when I first began studying Japanese I read any grammar-related book I could get my hands on. Particles, little words that pack a great deal of meaning, are integral to Japanese and also alot of fun to learn. Usually one starts with something simple like “を” (‘wo’,… Read More »

Japanese magazine review: 「子供の科学」 (Science for kids)

In the age of the internet, anyone studying a foreign language can access nearly limitless content in the language of their choice if they search hard enough (though I have read that know some languages are more represented than others online). Having said that, I feel there is something special about using magazines for foreign language study.… Read More »

Japanese vocabulary list: Science terms

For this post I’ve decided to create a vocabulary list for scientific terms in Japanese. I’m personally interested in science and enjoy trying to read Japanese magazines and books written about science, and I hope this list inspires some of you to try out the same. I will try to stay to pretty general terms… Read More »

Survey: What is your level of advancement in Japanese?

I’d like to wish a Happy New Year to everyone and best of luck with whatever foreign language(s) you are studying, if any. I’m always curious to learn more about those who read my blog, and it helps me customize the content to fit my audience. With that, I’ve created a poll that focuses on… Read More »

Distinguishing between 〜う words and ~お words in Japanese

Japanese, unlike English, has the convenience of a pretty direct mapping between writing and sounds, at least where Hiragana and Katakana are concerned. In other words, if you see a word in writing it’s pretty easy to guess how it should sound and vice versa. However, there are some cases where things are pronounced a… Read More »