Japanese vocab list: house-related words
This is a handy Japanese vocabulary list about words related to houses.
Category Archives: Japanese Study: Intermediate
Japanese Bilingual Reader Release: “Kantan! Read Japanese Stories Like a Native (Volume 3)”
I’m happy to announce Arigatai Books’ latest release: a bilingual reader featuring a story by Hayashi Fumiko, an important woman Japanese author.
Japanese word deep dive: “nakama” (仲間) [as heard in One Piece]
When studying a foreign language, it’s nice to learn a little bit about a lot of words. But at the same time, it’s also nice to get deep and learn the various nuances of certain words, especially those that are used frequently. In this post I want to do a deep dive on the word… Read More »
Japanese expression: (何となく） “nan to naku”
Lately I have been doing less articles about grammar and expressions and more on media reviews and other topics, but since I recently got a request from a colleague I thought I would give a treatment of the expression 何となく “nan to naku” (which can also be written in full hiragana as なんとなく). First, let’s… Read More »
A reconsideration of teaching Japanese intonation (and a useful tool to examine intonations)
Japanese intonation, in a nutshell, consists of a series of high and low pitches, where each word has a characteristic pattern of these high and low pitches. There are words where the pitch rises, words where the pitch falls, as well as where the pitch both rises and falls. When a word is said in… Read More »
Japanese Youtube Recommendation: Taigu Osho (talks from a Buddhist Priest)
As part of my continuing education in Japanese I’m always on the lookout for good content in Japanese that is interesting, educational, or both. While watching videos is fun, in terms of budgeting my time I find I have many more opportunities to experience content going on a walk or driving, so I tend to… Read More »
Japanese literature release: “Classic Japanese Fairy Tales [Volume 7]” by Mimei Ogawa
I’m happy to announce the 6th book of my series on Japanese classic fairy tales, written by Mimei Ogawa. Each story is published both in English-only and parallel English/Japanese versions.
Japanese bilingual reader book release: “Kantan! Read Japanese stories like a native (Volume 2)”
I’m proud to announce the second book in my new series of Japanese bilingual readers, showcasing “The Bowels of the City”, a historically relevant experimental work by modernist author Riichi Yokomitsu (横光利一).
Japanese grammar: the fickle word “ii” (良い) and a trio of particles
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 »
Important Japanese word: よく (yoku)
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 »