Victoria (she/her)🇬🇧 Brit 🏴 currently living in Japan 🇯🇵 Focusing on: Japanese (~N5/N4) Maintaining: Norwegian (C1) See 'My Languages' tab for more info :) These days I mostly use this blog to talk about my personal journey/experiences learning languages. I don't create that much content at the moment. Fitblr: @jo-jenova
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merry christmas to everyone who didn’t get presents today because their family couldn’t afford it and merry christmas to everyone who couldn’t make it home for the holidays and merry christmas to everyone spending it alone i want you all to know that i hope you all have a great great end of the year and i love you all and even if your holidays weren’t how you pictured them i hope you still have a good rest of the holidays and year
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Think I probably am gonna make a new blog for the new year
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I truly have an INSANE amount of notebooks
#i've already filled one box#plus a second box with ones i've not even written in that i can give to charity#AND I'M STILL FINDING MORE
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I have indeed made a new blog! Go follow @corvid-language-library if you want to keep up with the next phase of my life (also I have a Norwegian beginners crash course and a bunch of Word of the Day posts queued already!)
Think I probably am gonna make a new blog for the new year
#i know a lot of you said just rename this one BUT#this whole year has been a transitional phase#now i'm ready to move on#a new blog is kinda symbolic of that
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Finished The Kingdoms on my journey to the UK. I enjoyed it more than The Half Life of Valery K and The Bedlam Stacks, although I still think Watchmaker is my favourite Natasha Pulley novel. I really liked the characters and the concept of this one, although it was a bit predictable where I think she was trying to go for a bit more mystery.
I definitely won't have time to read The Alloy of Law, but I'm okay with that! I'll need something to keep me occupied on the train/planes/shinkansen on Tuesday. Besides, it's kinda nice that I started and finished 2023 with a Natasha Pulley novel!
December TBR
Rødstrupe - Jo Nesbø (GOAL: 16/12) FINISHED 18/12
Legendborn - Tracy Deonn (GOAL: 23/12) FINISHED 21/12
The Kingdoms - Natasha Pulley (GOAL: 31/12) FINISHED 24/12
*BONUS*
Japanese Short Stories for Beginners FINISHED 19/12
The Alloy of Law - Brandon Sanderson
I only have 3 stories left from my book of Japanese short stories, so I do expect to finish that pretty quickly. Especially because my Japanese is now at a level where I understand quite a bit even without looking at the English translation :)
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My Top 10 2023 Moments
In no particular order because how could I choose a top moment!
Hanagasa festival
The flight from Tokyo to Singapore where the sky was so clear I could see the Milky Way, plus there was a thunderstorm in the distance and also a meteor shower
Riding the shinkansen from Tokyo to Yamagata, specifically the part between Fukushima and Yonezawa when we go through the mountains and the view is just incredible regardless of season (but autumn was truly stunning!)
My friend's wedding!
Giving my niece an Anpanman toy and watching her have the BEST time
Going up to Yamadera, a Buddhist shrine in the mountains from the 9th century
Going to karaoke with my Japanese colleagues
Trying gyutan in Sendai
Going out for ramen at traditional ramen restaurants in the ramen capital of Japan
Talking to a Chinese man in Japanese on the plane to Shanghai
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UPDATE: All books claimed or have an interested party that I'm confirming details with. I'll post another update if anyone changes their mind.
Thank you so much for helping me out everyone!
Help me get rid of some books!
Hey folks! As I'm pretty sure some of you know, I'm briefly back in the UK to officially move out and clear out a load of my stuff. I have a couple of books I'd like to give away if anyone wants to pay P&P!

We have:
Genki 1 third edition (ISBN 978-4-7890-1730-5)
Norwegian Folktales (in English, but good if you're interested in Norwegian folklore!) ISBN 978-0-394-71054-9
Norwegian Verbs & Essentials of Grammar (ISBN 978-0-8442-8596-2)
Short Stories in Norwegian (graded reader for beginnerd, CEFR A2-B1) ISBN 978-1-529-30259-2
Please shoot me a DM if you're interested in any of them! I'm here until Jan 2nd, so the sooner you let me know the better. I can ship internationally as long as you pay p&p. If you're not interested but have followers who might be, please reblog or tag them so they can see!
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UPDATE: All books claimed or have an interested party that I'm confirming details with. I'll post another update if anyone changes their mind.
Thank you so much for helping me out everyone!
Help me get rid of some books!
Hey folks! As I'm pretty sure some of you know, I'm briefly back in the UK to officially move out and clear out a load of my stuff. I have a couple of books I'd like to give away if anyone wants to pay P&P!

We have:
Genki 1 third edition (ISBN 978-4-7890-1730-5)
Norwegian Folktales (in English, but good if you're interested in Norwegian folklore!) ISBN 978-0-394-71054-9
Norwegian Verbs & Essentials of Grammar (ISBN 978-0-8442-8596-2)
Short Stories in Norwegian (graded reader for beginnerd, CEFR A2-B1) ISBN 978-1-529-30259-2
Please shoot me a DM if you're interested in any of them! I'm here until Jan 2nd, so the sooner you let me know the better. I can ship internationally as long as you pay p&p. If you're not interested but have followers who might be, please reblog or tag them so they can see!
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UPDATE: Norwegian Verbs & Essentials of Grammar + Tante Ulrikkes vei are now taken! Everything else is still looking for a new home.
Help me get rid of some books!
Hey folks! As I'm pretty sure some of you know, I'm briefly back in the UK to officially move out and clear out a load of my stuff. I have a couple of books I'd like to give away if anyone wants to pay P&P!

We have:
Genki 1 third edition (ISBN 978-4-7890-1730-5)
Norwegian Folktales (in English, but good if you're interested in Norwegian folklore!) ISBN 978-0-394-71054-9
Norwegian Verbs & Essentials of Grammar (ISBN 978-0-8442-8596-2)
Short Stories in Norwegian (graded reader for beginnerd, CEFR A2-B1) ISBN 978-1-529-30259-2
Please shoot me a DM if you're interested in any of them! I'm here until Jan 2nd, so the sooner you let me know the better. I can ship internationally as long as you pay p&p. If you're not interested but have followers who might be, please reblog or tag them so they can see!
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I have such a long tbr 😅
Definitely more Brandon Sanderson! I've already got myself all the Mistborn era 2 books.
Kinda wanna read some non-fiction about North Korean defectors because I find their stories fascinating
I think the third Fire Sacraments book is scheduled for release this year? Might have been pushed back to next year though. Either way I still need to read Sidewinders and I finally treated myself to that one for Christmas
He Who Drowned the World - Shelley Parker-Chan
Bloodmarked - Tracy Deonn
More Harry Hole novels in Norwegian
I just rediscovered my copy of Six of Crows so if I can find room in my luggage I'd love to finish that!
More Neil Gaiman! I love his writing style but actually haven't read all that much by him
so what are some books you wanna read next year? :)
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Also, some books in Norwegian:

Odinsbarn - Siri Pettersen (Norwegian fantasy, actually pretty good and I need to read the rest of the series! Best for B2+)
Nordlys - Malin Falch (comic book so very good for maybe A2-B1 level)
Den Siste Magiker - Sigbjørn Mostue (kid's book so language isn't overly flowery, good for maybe B1/B2)
Tante Ulrikkes vei - Zeshan Shakar (criticallh acclaimed, an insight into the life of immigrant teenagers in Norway, recommend for at least B2 because of dialects and purposeful misuse of grammar)
Harry Potter og Føniksordenen (I've highlighted bits but if you can deal with that then it's almost free learning material)
Harry Potter og fangen fra Azkaban (not highlighted this one)
And a French translation of one of my fave books when I was a teenager that I never got round to reading because I quit French: TAKEN


Slide into my DMs if you want anything, otherwise I'll have to send them to book heaven as I don't have space and charity shops won't take them 😭
Help me get rid of some books!
Hey folks! As I'm pretty sure some of you know, I'm briefly back in the UK to officially move out and clear out a load of my stuff. I have a couple of books I'd like to give away if anyone wants to pay P&P!

We have:
Genki 1 third edition (ISBN 978-4-7890-1730-5)
Norwegian Folktales (in English, but good if you're interested in Norwegian folklore!) ISBN 978-0-394-71054-9
Norwegian Verbs & Essentials of Grammar (ISBN 978-0-8442-8596-2)
Short Stories in Norwegian (graded reader for beginnerd, CEFR A2-B1) ISBN 978-1-529-30259-2
Please shoot me a DM if you're interested in any of them! I'm here until Jan 2nd, so the sooner you let me know the better. I can ship internationally as long as you pay p&p. If you're not interested but have followers who might be, please reblog or tag them so they can see!
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Help me get rid of some books!
Hey folks! As I'm pretty sure some of you know, I'm briefly back in the UK to officially move out and clear out a load of my stuff. I have a couple of books I'd like to give away if anyone wants to pay P&P!

We have:
Genki 1 third edition (ISBN 978-4-7890-1730-5)
Norwegian Folktales (in English, but good if you're interested in Norwegian folklore!) ISBN 978-0-394-71054-9
Norwegian Verbs & Essentials of Grammar (ISBN 978-0-8442-8596-2)
Short Stories in Norwegian (graded reader for beginnerd, CEFR A2-B1) ISBN 978-1-529-30259-2
Please shoot me a DM if you're interested in any of them! I'm here until Jan 2nd, so the sooner you let me know the better. I can ship internationally as long as you pay p&p. If you're not interested but have followers who might be, please reblog or tag them so they can see!
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#27#doesn't sound like much but it's a record for me!#i probably read more as a teen but this is by far the most i've read in a year as an adult#my goodreads goal this year was only 15 books too so all in all i'm really proud of myself!
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for chinese new year they get all these famous actors and comedians together and they do a lil show and one of the comedians was like “i was in a hotel in america once and there was a mouse in my room so i called reception except i forgot the english word for mouse so instead i said ‘you know tom and jerry? jerry is here’
#tried to explain to my japanese tutor once that i like british food because it's what i'm used to#had no idea how to say i'm used to something or something is more familiar#so i went with 'english food is my house'
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@ocs-and-chapters is this for the holidays?
Me returning to the UK? Yeah, I'm heading back to Japan after the new year
#decided to stay for at least 1 more year but we'll see what happens#might stay until my visa runs out#we'll see#i still have so much japan to experience!#next year i wanna travel around japan more. def wanna head to hokkaido and kyoto and osaka at some point!#maybe okinawa too
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接続詞(せつぞくし)
conjunctions - words that are used to link phrases together
情報を加える // Adding information:
しかも besides そのうえ moreover, on top of that さらに moreover, on top of that そればかりか not only that, but also... そればかりでなく not only that, but also...
情報を対比する // Putting into contrast:
それに対して in contrast 一方 whereas
他の可能性・選択肢を言う // Giving alternatives:
あるいは or perhaps (presenting another possibility) それとも or (presenting another option within a question)
結論を出す// Drawing a conclusion:
そのため for that reason したがって therefore そこで for that reason (I went ahead and did...) すると thereupon (having done that triggered sth. to happen) このように with this (adjusting a conclusion to the arguments given beforehand) こうして in this way
理由を言う // Giving a reason:
なぜなら...からだ the reason is というのは...からだ the reason is
逆説を表現する // Expressing a contradiction:
だが however, yet, nevertheless (contradicting what one would have expected) ところが even so (spilling a surprising truth) それなのに despite this, still それでも but still (despite a certain fact, nothing changes)
説明を補う // Amending one's explanation:
つまり that is, in other words (saying the same thing using different words) いわば so to speak (making a comparison) 要するに to sum up, in short
説明を修正する // Revising one's explanation:
ただし however (adding an exception to the information stated beforehand) ただ only, however もっとも however (obviating any expectations that might arise through the previous statement) なお in addition, note that (adding supplementary information)
話題を変える // Changing the subject:
さて well, now, then (common in business letters after the introductory sentence; is often ignored in tranlations) ところで by the way
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