This is a list of Japanese words related to school and educational institutions. I’ve always enjoyed school and If you are staring to use these terms either for yourself, or for a loved one, I wish you the best luck! While I haven’t attended a school in Japan personally, I hear that they are much more difficult… Read More »
Language and Culture are inextricably connected, and to master a language of any country surely requires a strong grasp of its traditions, manners, beliefs, and other aspects of culture. Getting a proper fill of culture is one of the most difficult things about studying a foreign language self-taught when not in a country where that… Read More »
Sometime back, I mentioned that I recommend reading children’s books in a foreign language as a good way to experience native-level content that isn’t too difficult. For Japanese, this is especially useful since you will have very little, if any, kanji to worry about, which is one stumbling block when reading Japanese books. I’ve read a great… Read More »
Today I’m going to provide a vocabulary list for a topic that I discuss on a daily basis on Japanese: child upbringing. I’ll be focusing on words that are useful for babies through toddlers (roughly ages 0-4), but some of the terms can be used for any age. 子育て (kosodate): child upbringing 育てる (sodateru): to… Read More »
Although it has been over 4 years since the Fukushima Diaster in Japan, from what I have heard there are still many thousands of people who have not been able to return to their original houses, or are otherwise struggling because of the aftereffects of this terrible tragedy. Within the first few months after this… Read More »
One great thing about having kids is you get to see all the cutesy videos made for them. When my son was very young he was into the “Super Simple Learning” videos on Youtube, especially the “Twinkle Twinkle little star” one, which has great visuals and sound. Bringing up my son bilingually Japanese, I also… Read More »
Although Japanese anime was the first thing that got me really interested in Japanese culture, the more I studied Japanese the more I learned to appreciate other media such as Japanese novels, dramas, and (live action) movies. Having said that, once in awhile I still get in the mood to enjoy some high-quality anime from Japan,… Read More »
As I’ve touched on several times in this blog, one of the themes in my Japanese studies is uncovering what real Japanese is like. Not the stuffy textbook Japanese (though that’s also important in it’s own way), but things like slang expressions and other phrases you’d hear on the street or spoken by an everyday native… Read More »