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charleyandlanguages · 8 years ago

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文法：～にくい／がたい／づらい（Hard to ~）

These phrases all combine with the verb stem to add the meaning “hard to do (verb)”. However, each has a slightly different meaning, and it may be wise to google different combinations of verbs to see which ending is more commonly used.

V Stem ＋　にくい　（難い）

The most everyday usage of the three. When in doubt, you can probably get away with using this one. にくい does seem to refer to physical difficulty completing an action rather than other meanings.* This is the most objective difficulty, as everyone would have trouble doing the same task.*

（文字が小さすぎる／眼鏡を掛けていない／など）から、読みにくい。 Because (the letters are too small, I’m not wearing my glasses, etc.) this is hard to read.

V Stem ＋　がたい　（難い）

While using the same kanji as にくい above, がたい usually has a more extreme meaning, such as something that is “impossible to do” or “can’t be done.” It also usually has to do with emotional difficulty doing something.*

（死んでいる母から手紙だ／酷い事件について記事だ／など）から、読みがたい。 Because it’s (a letter from my dead mother, an article about a terrible incident, etc.), I can’t read it.

Set phrases involving がたい*: 忘れがたい思い出 - unforgettable memories 信じがたい出来事 - unbelievable events 筆舌に尽くしがたい苦労 - indescribable hardships 動かしがたい事実 - undeniable facts

V Stem ＋　づらい　（辛い）

づらい is more unique compared to the other two, as it comes from the kanji 辛 which can be used in the adjectives for both spicy (からい) and painful, heartbreaking (つらい)。づらい is used for tasks that, while they can be accomplished, they require a lot of hard work to do so.* This one is more subjective, and dependent on the person accomplishing the task.*

（知らない漢字が多すぎる／辞書を使えばならない／など）から、読みづらい。 Because (there are too many kanji, I have to use a dictionary, etc.), this is hard to read.

Because there’s so many different readings for the kanji, you will typically see these stems written in kana rather than kanji.

J-Rock Examples:

生き抜けない　少し生きづらい I can’t survive　It’s a little painful to go on living ［関取花 - 東京］

#JPN grammar

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charleyandlanguages · 9 years ago

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This website is a collection of commonly used phrases based on the following categories:

旬の話術 - conversations for particular times

あいさつ - greetings

＋の話術 - positive conversations

－の話術 - negative conversations

行動の話術 - conversations related to particular actions

The best thing is that the site is searchable! So you can look up 誕生日 and get example sentences to say on someone’s birthday.

#JPN #JPN resources #grapefruitcase user always share the best info

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charleyandlanguages · 9 years ago

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This is (who I tend to) be

We all have quirks about ourselves that makes us unique, things that set us apart. It’s not just the things that we want or like to do, but also the things that we do without even trying or wanting to.

This is different from the previously mentioned しまう, where a specific action was done unintentionally once. When something about you happens often and without your direct control, it is a separate instance.

After all, everyone forgets an appointment or two. It happens. But how would you describe a person who is actually forgetful?

Some of you may think at first thought: その人がよく忘れます。”That person often forgets”.

Meaning-wise, it’s clear. But both the Japanese and English forms of this are unnatural and almost formal. There is actually ways to say “That person is X” and “That person tends to be Y” in Japanese. Let’s talk about がち, っぽい, and ぎみ.

がち

がち translates directly to “apt to do ___, tends to do ___”. It can be used with any noun or verb, but there is a catch. You see, がち has to be negative. In other words, it’s something that you or someone else often does without trying, or when you notice that you or another person has been doing something negative lately. For example:

暇な時に、お菓子を食べがちです。

When I have nothing to do, I tend to eat candy.

たびたびけんかして、離婚がちです。

They’re always fighting, so they’re likely to divorce.

The first scenario is similar to a moment when we could use しまう, but in this case it would have happened so many times it just became a pattern. The second scenario describes a sort of general rule. It makes sense that couples who fight a lot will divorce. Both these scenarios are definitely something that a speaker is ashamed of or is concerned about. You couldn’t use がち like this:

家に次第、晩ご飯を作りがちです。

As soon as I get home, I tend to make dinner.

In English, the sentence would be fine, but in Japanese, using がち implies that you don’t like that part of yourself, as if you have a problem with making your own food. And maybe it is a problem if you have to make it for an ungrateful family. My point is that using がち makes people think you don’t like that particular habit or circumstance.

っぽい

I really like the term っぽい because it’s a translation of something we use in English all the time. っぽい means “-ish” or “-like”. If I didn’t just unlock a new world for English speakers, then you’re not speaking English right or you speak it too well. “-ish”/”-like” is used when you want to make a comparison to something, but you want to use it as an adjective rather than a simile. っぽい is the same. It’s an い-adjective used with nouns, but also for verbs and adjectives. It’s great.

Try to practice translating っぽい with some of these terms:

大人っぽい

忘れっぽい

やさしっぽい

みどりっぽい

RPGっぽい

先生っぽい

おどろきっぽい

Okay, there was a bit of a moment I went a little nuts, but the meanings are easy to grasp, aren’t they?

Adulty

Forgetty

Kindish

Greenish

RPG-like

Teachery

Scaredish

In English, none of these are actual words, but the meaning gets across. That is the magic of っぽい. Now, some っぽい terms have been used so often, that they are actual words in Japanese (i.e. 子供っぽい, 忘れっぽい). However, if there is ever a moment that you are stuck in how to describe something, っぽい is your best friend. It’s like a Foreigner’s Privilege way to make a word into an い adjective. It’s also a good way to ask for the actual word version of things. (i.e. おどろきっぽい is better known as よわき, meaning “timid”). So don’t feel embarrassed about not knowing the real version of an adjective. As long as you know a word that relates to it and っぽい, you’ll be okay.

気味／ぎみ

Last is 気味／ぎみ. 気味 is a bit like the in between of previous two. While っぽい may very well be a part of that situation forever, がち can certainly be temporary or in the past. Like っぽい, 気味 is neutral. However, like がち, 気味 is often temporary. What makes 気味 unique is that the trait is rarely full blown. Let’s compare:

忘れっぽい vs 忘れ気味

If someone is 忘れっぽい, they are, and probably has always been, forgetful. It’s just who they are. Someone who is 忘れ気味 is a little forgetful lately. Notice that it implies out of the ordinary behavior, or when observing someone for the first time. However, it does not mean complete and utter embodiment of that trait. For example, everyone has moments when they feel a little tired or a bit bored, but this does not mean this is always who they are. If someone has been late recently due to construction, that is 遅着気味 (ちちゃくぎみ). If someone is ALWAYS late no matter what, even if you gave them an earlier time on purpose, then that is 遅っぽい.

疲れがち vs 疲れ気味

If someone is 疲れがち, they do not like being so. However, that is something about themselves they have noticed for a good long while. Before it got to 疲れがち, people were probably saying 疲れ気味. 疲れ気味 is not necessarily negative, but it is an observation that people tend to be concerned about. People who are 疲れ気味 may not ever become 疲れがち, and they may not even be that bothered by it (like they know it’s due to new medication or jet lag). Remember that to use 気味, the trait cannot be full blown or an annoyance. がち is used when a trait is annoying and even in full swing.

高直がち vs 高っぽい

Here, you have two words meaning “expensive”. But keep in mind that がち is used negatively. In other words, it’s frustratingly expensive. You can use this when the rent on your apartment goes up, or when scalpers mark up the price of Fire Emblem Fates Special Edition by an extra 200%. It is used when something, at the moment, is in the condition of being annoyingly expensive, further implying there is nothing you can do. 高っぽい is neutral, so it doesn’t carry that same emotional weight. 高っぽい would be closer to understandably expensive. Like organic food at Whole Foods would be 高っぽい, but you buy it anyways because you feel that the price increase is fair and/or necessary. You also wouldn’t use がち in the Whole Foods case because Whole Foods has always had comparatively higher prices and probably always will. You also (hopefully) wouldn’t use 高っぽい with the scalper example because those prices tend to change based on product availability.

Let’s sum things up.

If a trait is NEGATIVE, and likely either temporary or a general rule, がち is a good choice.

If a trait is PERMANENT, and often accepted and meant neutrally, っぽい is the best fit.

If a trait is MINOR, and relatively recent, 気味 works well.

Of course, any trait can require the use of any of these three depending on the context. Much like English, half the usage of Japanese terms is the emotional meaning behind it.

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

#JPN #JPN grammar #that was very well explained

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charleyandlanguages · 9 years ago

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そんなあだ名は嫌だな。

そんなあだなはいやだな。 That kind of a nickname is lame. (lit. bad).

A Japanese pun I found.

#JPN #that's a good one!

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charleyandlanguages · 9 years ago

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americans: *see one text post about dead migrants in the mediterranean on tumblr dot com and assume it’s an extraordinary occurrence without knowing anything about the context of it* i can’t believe this wasn’t on the news!!!!! the world doesn’t care because it didn’t happen in the europe!!! i can’t believe they took a pic and didn’t help #blacklivesmatter”

southern europe:

#Ahah

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charleyandlanguages · 9 years ago

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I know Theon had a beautiful redemption arc and everything but like….his best ever moment is still in ACOK when Balon yells at him so he pouts about it and wears all black to dinner, what kind of emo fuck-

#theon greyjoy

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charleyandlanguages · 9 years ago

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disclaimer: this is a reference, not a lesson, so I understand there’s v. little explaining the difference between ところ and ばかり in this graphic or further uses of ところ and ばかり

apologies

#JPN #JPN grammar

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charleyandlanguages · 9 years ago

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Today I’d like to talk about something that I was taught as a student of music that I think could be relevant for language learners. It’s something a teacher told one of my teacher’s who in turn, passed the knowledge down to me.

It’s all about raising the ceiling and raising the floor.

So what do I mean by this?

Let’s imagine, for a moment, that your language ability is a room. The ceiling is the highest potential you’re capable of when the situation happens to be just right and everything is fresh in your mind. The floor, on the other hand, is the worst you may do if things don’t turn out the way you planned, let’s say, for example, the person you are speaking with has an accent you don’t understand or they don’t reply in the way you might have expected, or the environment you’re in is noisy and you have trouble hearing the other person clearly, leaving you at a loss.

When it comes to deciding just what you’ll study, you have two options. You can raise the ceiling or you can raise the floor.

Defining the Ceiling and the Floor in Language Learning

When you look at your language ability as having a ceiling and a floor, the ceiling height is determined by how well you can access the material you already know in a language (your active knowledge in the language) and the floor is determined by your total knowledge in a language (this includes things you know both actively and passively).

Active knowledge in a language is that which you are able to use when speaking or writing without any reference. It includes the words and grammar rules that you can actively recall. Your passive knowledge in a language, however, are the words and grammar rules that you’ll recognize upon hearing or seeing, but may not have come up with on your own when speaking or writing. If you’ve ever had an experience where you found yourself saying “oh yeah, that’s what that word is” or “that’s right, I forgot that’s how to conjugate that verb in that tense”, that’s your passive knowledge at work.

How to Raise the Ceiling

The ceiling, or your active knowledge in a language, is raised by reviewing and further instilling the material you’ve already learnt in your target language. I wrote a post last month covering how to work on the things you already know in a language, but I’d like to touch on it a bit more today. So how do you raise the ceiling?

Give the Material You’ve Learnt a New Context // If you’ve primarily worked with one or two sources to learn your target language, throw a completely different method into the mix. So let’s say, for example, that you’re learning Korean and that your focus has been on working through vocabulary on Anki, studying with Flashcards, and listening to audio lessons on KoreanClass101. For a quick change, try watching a free television show on Hulu or Drama Fever with the subtitles while taking notes on phrases you think will be useful or by jumping onto HelloTalk to chat with fellow Korean speakers. The more places you see vocabulary or grammar patterns pop up, the more likely you are to remember them. Giving your target language a new context can do a lot to help you retain some of what you’ve learnt elsewhere.

Speak Your Target Language // One of the best ways to maintain your knowledge of a language active is to speak it. The improvisation required as part of a conversation will not only help you keep your vocabulary active, but it might also do the double duty of raising both the ceiling and the floor (if the person you’re speaking with helps you out with any corrections). Don’t play your conversations safe, though! To really maximize this language learning tool, make a point of using new words or phrases appropriate to the conversation. It will help them transition over from your passive knowledge into your active knowledge.

Start Reading in Your Target Language // Another way to keep your target language fresh is by reading material in the language. There is a lot to choose from here – you can check out graded readers, translations into your target language, kids books, comics, articles, short stories and even books originally written in your target language. An important thing to keep in mind, especially if you’re not a huge fan of reading, is not to force yourself to read something you wouldn’t read in your native language. If you have no interest in biographies or the news, but you enjoy gossip columns and comics, steer clear of the former and indulge in the reading material you enjoy in your target language. The Language Reading Challenge I’m currently hosting is a great way to get started with this method!

Turn the Subtitles Off When Watching Film or TV // Even if you don’t understand everything that goes on in the film, you’ll find you pick up quite a bit more watching film and tv without subtitles. When we watch tv with the subtitles on, we tend to focus on what’s written and block out part of what we’re hearing.

Start Free-Writing in Your Target Language // One way you can help keep your vocabulary active is by free-writing in your target language. This can take the form of journaling, letters, short stories, poems, etc. It doesn’t really matter and no one else has to see what you write (unless you want them to, of course). Free-writing is a nicely balanced challenge – you have a bit more time to think about the words that you want to use than in a conversation, but you also don’t want to spend too much time thinking about which words you want to use because you’ll lose the flow of writing (and maybe even your train of thought).

Translation // This is another tool that you can use to raise both the ceiling and the floor because even if you can freely translate a good portion of the text, there’s a really significant chance that you’ll need to look a couple things up.

Listen to the Radio, Podcasts, or Songs in Your Target Language // If you need to reference a transcription or a translation of the audio, try listening to it alone at least once, first. After you take a look at the transcription or translation, listen to it again without reading along to see just how much your comprehension has increased. Finally, if you have the time and energy to do it a third time, you can listen while reading along.

How to Raise the Floor

Pickup a Coursebook in Your Target Language // But first, make sure it contains material that is above your level. There are a ton of fantastic coursebooks available in most languages and they often cover a wide range of vocabulary and grammar. The coursebook that I personally enjoy is Assimil.

Use Dual Language Readers // When you’re not quite ready to dive into reading material entirely in your target language, dual language readers can be a really great asset. I personally prefer side-by-side dual language readers because I cannot see the translation just below what I’m reading and I therefore try a little harder to figure it out on my own before jumping over to the next page for the translation, but you can use whatever you’re comfortable with.

Watch TV Shows or Movies in Your Target Language with Subtitles // I have picked up quite a few useful expressions watching film and tv in my target language, but I wouldn’t have been able to do it if I hadn’t been watching with the subtitles on. When I watch foreign films without subtitles, I’m so concentrated on catching the things I do understand that I often totally miss new material. Subtitles, however, give me that extra little bit of help that increases the odds I’ll pick up a few new things.

Take Notes // Whenever you’re working with a resource, whether it is a textbook, a course, a teacher, or a podcast, take notes. There are studies that have shown we retain information better when we write it out by hand, and I’ve found it to be true in my own experience.

Learn the Words to Your Favorite Songs and Then Find Out What They Mean // It’s one thing to look up the lyrics to your favorite songs in your target language, but it’s another to spend the time translating them. In addition to being a fun way to learn your target language (and improve your accent), song lyrics often tend to include creative and more colloquial language than sources like textbooks, so listening to popular music can be a fun way to pick up new words.

Spend Some Time with Flashcards // Flashcards are a great way to study new vocabulary and my personal favorite. A few years back I wasn’t a huge fan, but now that I use Memrise and Anki, studying flashcards has become a much more efficient part of my learning routine.

Do you need to raise the floor or the ceiling?

If you find yourself constantly tripping over things that you “should” remember or that “you know you know”, then it’s likely time for you to raise the ceiling. On the other hand, if you find that you have a pretty good recollection of the material you’ve worked on and you’re feeling you’ve hit a bit of a plateau, you might need to raise the floor.

In a perfect world, the floor and ceiling would meet. In reality, we’ll never really be able to actively remember every bit of information we’ve learnt. And that’s totally okay. As long as you have clear goals in mind and you’re taking the steps you need to in order to keep moving in the right direction, that’s really all that matters.

There will be days where we’re frustrated with our progress, but there will also be days where things go smoothly and it makes everything worth whatever frustration we may have felt.

An important thing I’d like to point out before I close out this article is that self-evaluation is an important step to figuring out how you’re going to go about your studies. Having the ability to look at what your doing and take note of whether it’s working for you or not is critical to your progress. If you find a certain study technique isn’t working for you, stop spending time on it and look for a way that works better for you. If you find other techniques are helping you make huge strides in your learning, see if there’s a way you can spend more time on them!

There are, of course, plenty more ways to either raise the floor or ceiling (or to do a little of both at the same time), so I’d love to hear about the ways that you improve your active and passive knowledge in your target languages! Leave me a note in the comments below!

The post How to Become a Better Performer in Your Target Language appeared first on Eurolinguiste.

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charleyandlanguages · 9 years ago

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Hi! I'm starting to try to keep writing a lang-8 entry everyday but the thing is I always do not know what to say. Do you have/know any posts or prompts for journal entries? Sorry for bothering you!

For Lang-8:

Something that happened yesterday, something that happened today, something that will happen tomorrow.

20 things that make you happy

20 things that you or your family bought recently (it’s ok to include things from the supermarket- the goal is to build vocabulary)

20 things you can see in your room

20 things you see on the way to your local bus stop/store/station etc

20 things you feel lucky to have in your life

Glue in a photo and label everything you can, write sentences about the photo to describe it underneath, try to use prepositions if you can to describe the location of objects in relation to each other (this is great practise for tests as this is a typical task given to beginners in speaking exams)

what you think or feel about something that happened today

what you like to do in your free time

what you used to do and would like to start up again (a habit or hobby)

What has changed in your life recently

What your hopes for 2016 are

What you’re happy you achieved in 2015

What you’re like (your personality)

What you’ve become able to do recently

What you do well

What the best present you ever got was

What makes you angry

What surprised you recently

What you think about ghosts

What your favourite animals are and why you like them so much

What the strangest/funniest/most inspiring thing that ever happened to you was

What would happen if animals could talk

What would happen if you found a lot of money

What law you’d make and why if you could make one new law for your country or town

What you do when you feel sad/happy/sick//angry/can’t sleep/nervous

What you have lost recently

What natural environments and features (streams /trees /meadows /mountains) you like the most and why

What you’d most like to see or learn about in Japan and why

What about your favourite food/restaurant/band/place/childhood toy/book is

Who you admire and how do they motivate you

What is something you couldn’t ever give away and why

Who has had a big influence on you

Who you’d like to spend more time with and why

Who you’d like to become in the future

Who you used to admire, but don’t any more and why

Who you turn to when you need support or advice and why

Who you can always rely on to make you laugh

who would you most like to talk to from history and why

How you thought your life would be at this point when you were a child

How you think your life will be in five or ten years

How you think technology will develop in 10 years

How you make your favourite food

How you feel today

How you’d spend the money if you won the lottery

Describe a journey you took recently

Describe your family

Describe your pet

Describe your room

Describe your school or workplace

Describe your first memory

Describe your morning or evening routine

Describe a recent dream

Describe your idea of heaven or hell

Describe something that happened that changed you forever

Describe some recent news event or article and your opinion on it

Describe a place you’d love to visit and why

Describe your favourite sounds

Describe your perfect date

Describe what you do when it snows

Describe what you do on really hot, sunny days

Describe what you do on your favourite holiday or festival

Describe something from your country or region that’s unique or that foreigners wouldn’t recognise, but everyone from your country instantly knows (e.g. Jaffa Cakes in the UK, marimo in Japan, milk in a bag in Ontario, in France etc)

Describe a legend, mythical creature or folktale from where you grew up

Describe things you enjoy doing in each season

Describe what animal you’d like to be and why

Describe what you’d like to do on your next birthday

Describe what kind of clothes you’ve been wearing recently and how you feel about them, this could focus on fashion, the weather or whatever you like

Describe what you’d take to a desert island

Describe what instrument you’d like to be able to play and why

Compare two foods/animals/places/seasons and say which you prefer and why

If you’re searching on google look for things like ESL or EFL journal prompts- there is an absolutely ENORMOUS community of ESL teachers online, yo’re bound to find more ideas than you could ever possibly use. There’s no reason why you can’t use these to write in Japanese- it’s just a springboard topic idea.There are some examples here and here.

This post would be excellent of high intermediate or advanced students: 365 journal prompts.There are also some prompt blogs on Turmblr you could follow:journalwritingprompts

daily-journal-prompts

For those who prefer to practise handwriting:

I like the 日記ノート book which is a handwritten diary with some prompts and vocabulary in it. (ISBN:978-4757415553)

#JPN #JPN resources #very helpful

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charleyandlanguages · 9 years ago

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#nihongo #JPN #JPN vocab

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charleyandlanguages · 9 years ago

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I feel like there’s no WAY this hasn’t been posted, but here’s a reminder that drawmeakanji.com is wonderful.

You enter any Japanese word or phrase, and it writes the entire thing step by step, showing stroke order.

#JPN #JPN resources #it may save a life

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charleyandlanguages · 9 years ago

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How I Study Japanese Texts

Right now I’m mainly reading Level 1 books of the Japanese Graded Readers series (which I talk a little about in this post). It’s fairly easy for me to understand, so rather than just reading it, I go through a few more steps to learn from what I read.

Read without looking up words. The first time I read a book, I avoid the dictionary and just try to get the gist of what it’s saying through what I already know and the pictures provided, if there are any. This is a good way of measuring your level.

Transcribe the text line by line while looking up words you don’t know and looking out for grammar points. On the second read, I write down a line of text after I read it. I’m not too nitpicky about my stroke order because it’s not too hard to guess a kanji’s stroke order. I bought a notebook with squared boxes for this since I believe it helps with handwriting and spacing, but regular notebooks are fine. After writing down a line, I look up words I don’t know from that line, if any. I write the reading and definition on the side. For grammar, I take note on grammar points I’m currently studying by circling it. If there are any particle usages that I don’t understand, I look it up and jot down the usage on the side.

Write a translation. After I finish transcribing the entire book, I write a little summary of translation on the bottom. It isn’t really necessary, but it’s helpful for me to write out exact translations rather than just having it in my head.

Have a space to practice kanji characters. I always pick out ten or so kanji characters or compound words to practice my writing. It helps with memorizing the vocabulary as well as what exactly the kanji looks like so I have better recall when I reencounter it.

Read the book a third time, out loud. This time, I know pretty much exactly what every line is saying, so it’s just a final review. Reading it out loud is just helpful for speaking.

I hope this was helpful! I feel like I’m getting a lot more out of these books through this process. What do you do when you read a Japanese book?

#JPN #JPN resources

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