Category Archives: culture
Japanese comedy highlight: Sandwich Man (a comedy duo)
Understanding jokes and other forms of comedy in a foreign language can be a difficult undertaking for language learners. To begin with, comedic wordplay based on homonyms (two words with the same sound but different meaning) is often used and may involve subtle aspects of pronunciation (intonation, etc.) Pop culture references are also abundant, including… Read More »
Vocabulary list: Classical Japanese kanji
Ki-Aikido Lessons: learning from everyone
Japanese Literature Translation: Excerpt from “My Life”, an essay by women author Hayashi Fumiko (林芙美子)
Japan’s amazing “Braille Blocks” for the visually-impared (点字ブロック)
Japanese literature paperback release: “Fast Forward Japan: Stories by the Founding Father of Japanese Science Fiction” by Juza Unno
Japanese literature translation: 風の又三郎 (Matasaburo of the Wind) by 宮沢賢治 (Kenji Miyazawa) [Part 2]
Beware of fake Japanese proverbs
When learning a foreign language, it’s generally a good idea to learn some proverbs, what we call “kotowaza” (諺) in Japanese. It’s not just because they are a fun way to learn new words in context, but also because proverbs can express meaningful ideas in a concise form that often reflects that country’s history and… Read More »
An eclectic interview with Edward Lipsett of Kurodahan Press, publisher of Japanese literature
I posed a series of questions to Edward Lipsett, one of the founders of Kurodahan Press, a publisher that focuses on new translations of Japanese literature as well as reprints of classic texts. We touched on a variety of topics, including learning Japanese, Japan’s culture, translation checking, and the daily activities of a publisher, so I think there’s a little something for everyone.