Vocabulary list: Classical Japanese kanji
In this post I give a list of words which contain kanji not commonly used in modern Japanese anymore, as a way to help those wanting to get into reading classical literature that is 50+ years old.
Category Archives: Japanese Study: Advanced
Japanese Literature Translation: Excerpt from “My Life”, an essay by women author Hayashi Fumiko (林芙美子)
I published my translation of the essay “My Life” by Hayashi Fumiko (林芙美子), a notable woman Japanese author of the early 20th century.
Japanese expression ともなく (to mo naku)
In this article I’d like to go over the expression ともなく (to mo naku), which you may come across when reading Japanese literature. While it is usually written in hiragana as ともなく, sometimes you can see it written in a mix of kanji and hiragana as とも無く It’s composed of three parts: the particle “to”,… Read More »
Japanese expression:「言葉が足りず、すみませんでした」 (kotoba ga tarizu, sumimasen deshita)
In this post I go over the expression 「言葉が足りず、すみませんでした」, including some variations and related expressions.
Blog review: Landofnudotcom (landofnu.com)
It’s rare that I read blogs written in English about Japanese, but there is one blog I do check out pretty often so I thought I would highlight in a focused post: landofnu.com. This blog, which seems to have started in February 2011, has a variety of topics: Japanese (kotowaza and 4-letter compounds), fiction, non-fiction,… Read More »
Japanese Grammar: Abbreviated causative-passive forms
During my Japanese studies, I’ve made it a point to try and have a thorough understanding of Japanese grammar because I feel that it gives me a good base not only for speaking and writing correctly, but also understanding nuances of the language I might otherwise miss. Just the other day the word “呼ばされる” (yobasareru)… Read More »
A surprising meaning of the Japanese word その(“sono”).
You probably know that the Japanese word “sono” means “that”, but in this article I will talk about an alternate way it can be used.
The Translation Project of a Lifetime
For the most part, my translation career so far has been about translating Japanese fiction in written form to English (the exception being a few months of freelance translation at Gengo). But the other day I accepted a job that was in a very different form, providing new challenges that stretched my boundaries as a… Read More »
Japanese phrase: 〜ことから (~koto kara)
In this post I go over the Japanese phrase “〜ことから” (~koto kara) and give a few examples of its usage.
Japanese Literature Release: “The Masquerade Ball” by Edogawa Rampo (Bilingual Edition)
I’ve released an ebook of “The Masquerade Ball” in bilingual Japanese/English format. It’s written by Edogawa Rampo, master of classic Japanese mystery.