When learning a foreign language (or anything for that matter), the more you can interact with the material, the more likely you are to maintain focus and retain what was learned. For example, in order to improve conversation ability, the best way is clearly to have frequent real conversations with native or fluent speakers. But… Read More »
In this blog I’ve written quite a few articles on Japanese grammar, particularly about particles, one of the tricker areas to master. In this article I’d like to talk about にも (ni mo), a commonly used particle combination. Fortunately, a majority of the time にも can be understood by simply combining the meaning of these… Read More »
When studying a foreign language, one often looks up words in their native language (in my case, English) and then remembers that definition, hoping that eventually that definition can be replaced with a sense of what the word means without having to rely on a another language. While that process can work, you can run… Read More »
(quick link to my new particle quiz book on Amazon) For anyone who has followed this blog you probably know that in the last few years I’ve started putting out eBooks with my translations of various pieces of Japanese literature. A few of these are in parallel Japanese / English to help those studying Japanese,… Read More »
Sometime during my high school years, I remember being shocked to discover that a friend could understand Spanish, and yet barely speak it herself. While I’ve since accepted that passive activities (listening and reading) are quite different from active ones (speaking and writing), even now it’s still a little mysterious to me. One way to… Read More »
Particles––small words that can have a big impact on the meaning and nuance of a sentence––are arguably one of the most difficult things to master in Japanese grammar (the other being various forms of politeness). Over time I’ve written a bunch of posts about particles, which you can see here. This time I would like… Read More »
The Japanese language has a small number of verb tenses, but in place of those are various combinations of words that can be tricky to understand and translate. In this article I’d like to go over the phrase 疲れにくくなる(tsukare nikuku naru) that combines three words to create one idea. First I’d like to review the… Read More »
In this post I illustrate 50+ sentence patterns in Japanese using example sentences and English translations. The examples are minimal and the focus is on how small changes (especially involving particles) can lead to very different meanings.
While I believe it’s a good idea to learn fundamentals of a language in a relatively formal setting like a classroom or at least using a textbook, often expressions that are considered slang will be omitted or deemphasized in those forums. That’s why I think it’s good to actively seek out slang expressions that you… Read More »
Because of the unfortunate situation in the world at this time, many people are turning to online options to continue their learning, social interactions, or even exercise. Blogs like this one already take advantage of the internet, and if anything I have seen a rise in hits over the last few weeks. But I’ve been… Read More »