Tag Archives: language

Japanese culture highlight: 挨拶 (aisatsu)

Having spent no more than a few weeks in Japan in my lifetime, I usually hesitate to speak too much about Japanese culture because I have so much to learn and so little to teach. However, the topic I have selected this time – 挨拶 – is something I feel I have enough experience with… Read More »

More foreign language tracking: vocabulary words

When creating my language learning website Language on Track, I wanted to add some other features in addition to goal tracking to really make it a nice set of tools to help study foreign languages. The one part of LOT that I likely spent the most time on and am the most proud of is… Read More »

バトンタッチ (“Baton Touch”) in Japanese

This expression is an interesting one, which I’ve seen used in a unique way in both real life and in a Japanese movie. The original meaning is pretty easy to guess – it’s the term for when passing a baton on in a relay race from one runner to the next. However the meaning has… Read More »

Of the many ways to enjoy studying a foreign language

One of the great things about studying a foreign language is there are so many different ways to study it apart from boring textbook work. Whether it’s striking up a conversation with your waiter in a foreign language, making a penpal from a country of interest, or attempting to read a magazine in a foreign… Read More »

Japanese podcast highlight: 夢夢 (Yume yume) Engine

With a busy schedule and very limited time, listening to a Japanese podcast in the car on the way to and from work is one of the few things I can do consistently to keep up my Japanese ability and learn new words. Ecclemon was nice enough to recommend the podcast 夢夢 engine (http://www.tbsradio.jp/yumeyume/) and… Read More »

Language goals help foreign language study

One thing that is certain about foreign language study is you have to learn about many different types of things: reading, writing, grammar, conversation, culture, etc. If you are taking a formal language class at a college or similar place, the teacher will guide you to to a proper balance between all these topics through lectures, choice… Read More »

Language on Track, a new tool to help language learning – open to the public

Not sure if anyone has noticed, but I’ve stopped posting for quite some time, having been busy with work and just life in general. I tend to get focus most of my free time and effort on one or two things at a time, and that energy has been sucked up by other tasks lately.… Read More »

Three great Japanese verbs about the mind: 覚える(oboeru), 思い出す(omoidasu), and 思いつく(omoitsuku)

For this post I’ve chosen three Japanese verbs which I think will be very useful for the beginner Japanese student. All of them relate to thought and/or memory in some way. 覚える (oboeru)is a verb which can be used to mean  ‘to learn’, or ‘to remember’, depending on the context. One of the most common ways… Read More »

Understanding in Japanese: 分かる(wakaru)

Learning Japanese can be quite tricky for those just starting out. First you learn some basics, like how objects are followed by the を particle. Then, you learn 分かる (wakaru) means ‘to understand’ in Japanese. Your first instinct would probably be to try and write a sentence like this: 僕は日本語を分かる [Wrong!] However this sentence is grammatically… Read More »

Foreign language fluency – what is it to you?

The other day I read a fellow blogger’s review of the book “Fluent in 3 months” (which you can see here), and that got me thinking about what foreign language fluency really is. If I did an online search I’m sure I could find hundreds of explanations, but I decided to take a different angle and… Read More »