After studying a foreign language for a certain amount of time, you develop a level of confidence about grammar and commonly used words. But for all of us that have learned a language as a non-native, there comes a time when we fail to use even the simplest of words properly, resulting in disastrous consequences…… Read More »
In this post I want to highlight a common and important word in the Japanese language, “yoku”. It can be written in hiragana as よく, and depending on the meaning can also be written in kanji as 良く or 欲. The first meaning I would like to go over is the most common one, which… Read More »
As we learn a foreign language, we gradually improve our vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation, and at the same time gain other more abstract skills that help us understand and communicate better. Often these things happen subconsciously, but you can also learn these types of skills explicitly and try to apply them to your daily language… Read More »
“Mono” in Japanese (usually written in hiragana as もの, and sometimes in kanji as 物) is a word that has the basic meaning of “thing”, generally in the sense of a physical (often tangible) thing. 店でいいものを買ったよ (mise de ii mono wo katta yo) I bought something good (=a good thing) at the store. However this… Read More »
Learning a language involves not just understanding the meanings of words and combinations of words, but also their nuances and when it is appropriate to use them. In this post, I would like to go over the casual expression “かもだけど” (ka mo da kedo). This expression is composed of two parts, the “ka mo” and… Read More »
Recently someone on Twitter was asking about the difference between “のが” (no ga) and ”のか” (no ka). I responded briefly to their post, but I wanted to give a little more detailed treatment here. In the case of “のか”, the の is often used to an explanatory or factual feeling, similar to how it does… Read More »
In this post I’d like to go over the meaning, origin, and usage of the word “yosage”, which can be written either in full hiragana (よさげ) or in a mix of kanji and hiragana (良さげ). This word can be a bit confusing since you might think the verb “sageru” (to lower) is related, though it… Read More »
Yesterday I did a brief survey-style quiz on Twitter with the following single question: Quick Japanese Quiz: What is a polite way to ask someone to begin eating a meal? Answer choices: (note: the romaji didn’t fit in the original post due to length limitations) 食ってくれ [kutte kure] いただきなさい [itadakinasai] 召し上がってください [meshiagatte kudasai] お腹にお入れいただけませんか？ [onaka… Read More »
Changing your PC’s language setting to Japanese is a great way to get daily exposure to a bunch of words, and to actually test your understanding of those words in a real way. There are drawbacks, like the possibility of running into unnatural translations (since after all much software is first written in another language… Read More »
In the Japanese language, while there are many variations, the basic word order looks like this: [subject] [object] [verb] 僕がりんごを食べた boku ga ringo wo tabeta I ate an apple. You can expand this out to include more types of speech like this: [topic] [subject] [direction or location of action] [object] [verb] [emotive particle(s)] 今日は僕が学校でりんごを食べたよ kyou… Read More »