Are? Yet another use of the word “are” (あれ)
In this post I go over an interesting use for the word “あれ”, along with a few other common uses.
Category Archives: General
Japanese grammar: Solving the mystery of “僕に言われても” (boku ni iwarete mo)
In this post I go deep into the phrase “僕に言われても” and try to figure out why “に” is used, which seems to be contradictory with typical usages of it.
Japanese fairy tale audio narration: “The Soul Lives On” (by Mimei Ogawa)
When practicing my fiction writing skills some years ago, I learned the technique of reading what you write out loud in order to catch mistakes that would otherwise be missed. In recent years I’ve discovered this also helps improve the naturalness of my translations, and I try to read aloud at least portions of my… Read More »
Japanese literature review: 人間 (“Ningen”) by 又吉直樹 (Matayoshi Naoki)
I reviewed the latest novel by Matayoshi Naoki (又吉直樹), titled “Ningen:” (人間).
The majority of the review is via a Youtube video, but I have also provided a summary of my findings.
Japanese fairy tale translation: “The Soul Lives On” (by Mimei Ogawa)
I’ve translated and published the full text of the classic Japanese fairy tale “The Soul Lives On” (たましいは生きている) by Mimei Ogawa (小川未明), a poignant tale about the strength of a brotherly bond, even after death.
Japanese literary phrase: さも (samo)
In this post I’d like to go over the phrase さも (“samo”), which you are likely to come across if you read enough Japanese literature, along with a few examples and explanation of its origin. さも is usually written in hiragana, but it can technically also be written with partial kanji as 然も. さも is… Read More »
The patterns “shite dou?” / “shitara dou?” and vagueness with verb tenses in Japanese
Compared to other languages, such as English and Spanish, Japanese has a fairly small number of verb tenses. So it’s not much of a surprise that some of the tenses have many different uses, and often do not give much information as to when an action happened. In this post I’d like to talk about… Read More »
Japanese novel review: “Desert: A Campus Life” (砂漠) by ”Kotaro Isaka” (伊坂幸太郎)
With the majority of both my job and hobby life involving computer screens and keyboards, I like to try and set aside some time away from technology, or at least screens. Calligraphy is a fun hobby that I’ve recently picked up, although I still use digital reference materials frequently. But audiobooks are great because they… Read More »
Japanese drama review: “Million Yen Women” (100万円の女たち)
Ever since I got a membership to Netflix as part a promotional deal, I’ve been watching little bits of anime and life-action series on there. For the most part, even if I find something that is good in the beginning, it’s never compelling enough for me to make it through the end (and this includes… Read More »
Japanese fairy tale translation: “The Crane’s Flute” (鶴の笛) by Hayashi Fumiko
In this post I’ve translated Hayashi Fumiko’s classic fairy tale “The Crane’s Flute” (鶴の笛) in full, a simple story that touches upon important topics.