I learnt the term 親展 (confidential, as in "confidential document") on WaniKani the other day, and today was the first time I could use it in an email to a colleague in our Tokyo office.

I never thought the kanji numerals could be confusing, until I saw the 10s and 1s columns. Or are those plus and minus columns?
#languageLearning #learningJapanese

I really wish this course would teach you more on how to structure a sentence.

These exercises are frequently enraging.

I received notice that the JLPT scores are coming out on this Friday (Thursday for those who took the exam on the west coast). Nevertheless, I will keep trying, double down with immersion, and start studying for the exam probably a few months earlier.

But listening is probably going to need more work than anything else.

「ルビンの壺が割れた」を読み始めた

From last weeks episode of Chiko-chan will scold you, if you are learning Japanese, you might be wondering why Furigana is also referred to as "ruby/ルビー”

It was gained from a Japanese person studying the printing press.

“Ruby” refers to the size of the font, which is at 5.25 mm. Since Furigana is shown as a size of a gem. The term itself is derived from religious books as they are named after jewels with the size of the letters used in the book. 7 refers to Ruby, which is the same size font used at 5.25 pt. They also compared the other sizes referred to as Emerald (6 pt) and Diamond (4.5 pt).

Furigana is basically Ruby text used as a reading guide. Of course with the use of Furigana, it improved reading literacy in Japan. Of course, songs will use a different reading although the Kanji means something different. Furigana is used in this case.

Mnemonics are dumb.

Firefighters (消防士 しょうぼうし) are not suffering from a shortage of hats (少 しょう + 帽子 ぼうし)

Japanese maths textbook, year 3

Unit 5: Let's learn about kilometres and how to use a tape measure!

Unit 6: Let's analyse the circumstances of accidents at school, and represent the data from a 2-dimensional table using a bar chart!

Article about learning to read Japanese, something that's very relatable to me right at this point in time.

(I'm reading a story I've already seen the anime for, so that helps in knowing what's going on in a scene.

But I really need to take a step back and memorise the Hiragana and Katakana better than I do know. I think I'm gonna hand craft some lookup sheets)

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/jan/13/learning-to-read-in-a-foreign-language-has-taught-me-to-embrace-ambiguity-one-sentence-at-a-time

#learningjapanese #astronomy
Lately my Japanese learning has taken me to the names of the planets, and it's been super fun to see how the five "close neighbors" reference the five Chinese "elements" (unsurprisingly) while at the same time exhibiting some of the greco-roman god connections we are familiar with in latin-based languages (to varying degrees, admittedly). I'd love to learn more about the history behind those names.

Here they are (Earth excluded, Pluto included (I know I know)), the first five in an order familiar to some, but maybe not the order you might first think of. Can you figure out which is which? Bonus points for identifying the ordering itself.

火星 : kasei, "Fire - Star"
水星 : suisei, "Water - Star"
木星 : mokusei, "Wood - Star"
金星 : kinsei, "Gold - Star"
土星 : dosei, "Earth/soil - Star"

海王星 : kaiōsei, "Sea - King - Star"
天王星 : tenōsei, "Heavens - King - Star"
冥王星 : meiōsei, "Dark - King - Star"

Agreed, Duolingo is basically a waste of time and given that they are relying on AI, which has questionable value.

It seems that the resources are similar to what I suggest. I do recommend Quartet I and II for Intermediate.

Also, immersion is recommended after finishing Genki I and II. Watching shows geared towards children from the NHK via Jme.tv (Like, well おかあさんといっしょ, みいつけた, etc) can help since it uses Japanese that is relatively easy, until you can get used to listening and understanding Japanese. Subtitled DJdramas in Japanese (no English subtitles) also help too.

https://unseen-japan.com/learn-japanese-without-duolingo/

くらいなら and より for comparisons have a similar structure, it's just that with くらいなら both options really suck!

When I do Bunpro reviews, I first look at the highlighted part, and then maybe at the context in the Japanese sentence.

So I almost typed 落ちるの

(which would give "Do you like to fall?")

Today I learned the On-Yomi reading for the kanji for “decimal point” is pronounced “ten”. Guess I should start a list of the easy ones. I’m thinking it might fill a post-it one day.
#learningjapanese

Quick shoutout to Jlabs Beginner Japanese anki deck - it's free, it's well made and most importantly fun. And it's following the well-regarded and free Tae Kim's Grammar Guide. It's not really a beginner course but more of a supplemental exercise in listening comprehension.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWYrc_KTvfE

https://www.japanese-like-a-breeze.com/guide-for-beginners/

The deck:
https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/911122782

The anime-based deck is focusing on listening comprehension using snippets from #anime.You should probably start mining your own sentences and vocab later on - but creating cards from video sources can be quite overwhelming for beginners and this deck will keep you busy for a while.

Tae Kim Grammar Guide
https://guidetojapanese.org/learn/
https://archive.org/details/japanese-tae-kim/

Small letter, big impact: A little 'tsu' makes all the difference - The Japan Times

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2024/12/26/language/little-tsu-japanese-grammar/?utm_source=pianodnu&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=72&tpcc=dnu&pnespid=pujmljmp8aux5po0uhavr6yv9bavuzr4ha50rly3t1gvqegbyjdcafwimtd.2uc6ay8n

> When reading the small 'tsu,' shorten the preceding vowel slightly and then start with the sound of the subsequent consonant.

#Japanese #English #日本語 #英語 #LearningEnglish
#LearningJapanese #日本語の勉強 #英語の勉強 #Japan #JapaneseCulture

Cost of private education through high school hits record high in Japan - The Japan Times

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/12/26/japan/society/school-fee/?utm_source=pianodnu&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=72&tpcc=dnu&pnespid=4o2qyigj7lad4vxpqxmv4akeveeypzv3lf14huho6h2vpnamsnbuclcyhcrnvz1jkbb_

> Total education costs for children who attend private schools from kindergarten through high school, including tuition and cram school fees, are approximately ¥19.76 million.

#Japanese #English #日本語 #英語 #LearningEnglish
#LearningJapanese #日本語の勉強 #英語の勉強 #Japan #JapaneseCulture

Japan Will Demand Parents Explain Kids' "Kira Kira" Name Pronunciations - Unseen Japan

https://unseen-japan.com/kira-kira-name-restrictions/?utm_source=Unseen+Japan&utm_campaign=6611dbfd6a-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_12_23_01_38&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-6611dbfd6a-558341406

> The days in Japan where you could casually name your kid "Nausicaä" or "Pickachu" are coming to an end thanks to a new law.

#Japanese #English #日本語 #英語 #LearningEnglish
#LearningJapanese #日本語の勉強 #英語の勉強 #Japan #JapaneseCulture