Category Archives: Japanese Study: Intermediate
Are? Yet another use of the word “are” (あれ)
Japanese grammar: Solving the mystery of “僕に言われても” (boku ni iwarete mo)
Japanese literature review: 人間 (“Ningen”) by 又吉直樹 (Matayoshi Naoki)
Japanese fairy tale translation: “The Soul Lives On” (by Mimei Ogawa)
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 »
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 expression: というのも “to iu no mo”
In this post I want to go over the expression というのも (“to iu no mo”) as it is something you will probably hear eventually if you listen to enough native speech. It can also be written in kanji as と言うのも, though perhaps the hiragana representation is a bit more common. I will be focusing on… Read More »
Japanese fairy tale translation: “The Crane’s Flute” (鶴の笛) by Hayashi Fumiko
Analysis of a common Internet phrase: “詳しくはこちら” (kuwashiku wa kochira)
Languages have different vocabulary and grammar for different areas (or “domains” as I call them), for example newspapers, popular novels, and Internet forums. This can be frustrating because being knowledgable in one domain doesn’t mean you’ll have an easy time in another. But the plus side is that once you learn some common phrases and… Read More »