Tag Archives: language

Japanese children’s book review: 「にほんのマナー えほん” (Japanese Manners Illustrated Book)

Studying Japanese using Japanese books written for children is always something I suggest to leaners who are in the beginner or intermediate levels. As long as you pick a book that isn’t too difficult (you can start with baby books to be safe) you will some good reading practice, and also the satisfaction of actually reading a… Read More »

Japanese Children’s Book Review: 「言葉図鑑」(Visual Word Encyclopedia) by Taro Gomi (五味 太郎)

Sometime back, I mentioned that I recommend reading children’s books in a foreign language as a good way to experience native-level content that isn’t too difficult. For Japanese, this is especially useful since you will have very little, if any, kanji to worry about, which is one stumbling block when reading Japanese books. I’ve read a great… Read More »

あらせられます (araseraremasu): A triple-polite Japanese word

One of the distinguishing things about the Japanese language is how there are many different ways to say the same thing while varying the level of politeness. For example, the below words all mean “to eat” in increasing levels of politeness. 食う (kuu) 食べる (taberu) 召し上げる (meshiageru) Besides the many different verbs, there is also… Read More »

Ep 8: Watch more Japanese Variety Shows!

In this podcast I talk about how Japanese “variety shows” (バラエティ番組 – “baraeti bangumi”) are a great way to help refine your Japanese language and cultural knowledge, especially if you are not living in Japan. I recommended the show “ホンマでっか” (honma dekka) which you can see an episode of here. Also I mentioned “Youは何しに日本へ” which you can… Read More »

Ep 7: A detailed look at the Japanese verb “shiru” [知る] (to know)

In this podcast I give a detailed explanation of the verb 知る (“shiru”) which means “To know” in Japanese. I talk about some of the main verb conjugations, and then give some examples which can be used in daily conversation (ex: 知るわけない, “shiru wake nai”)   Dictionary form: 知る (shiru) Negative form: 知らない (shiranai) Masu… Read More »

Self Taught Japanese Podcast: Episode 1: Celebrating the traditional event shichi-go-san (七五三) in a Buddhist temple

This is the first episode of a new podcast whose content will roughly mirror my blog: discussions about learning Japanese self-taught, Japanese culture, and other linguistic stuff. In this first episode, I talk about how I went to a Buddhist Temple in Portland and celebrated Shichi-go-san (七五三) with my son. The picture is of the bag… Read More »

Japanese literature review: Kenji Miyazawa’s “Matasaburo of the Wind”

I’ll have to just come out and admit it: of all of the books I have read there is a small group I never made it to the end of, including both Japanese and English works. One of these is Kenji Miyazawa’s (宮沢賢治) “Night on the Galactic Railroad” (銀河鉄道の夜) which was a deeply moving story when… Read More »