#advanced Japanese language learning

[mylanguageclasses]

Understanding 〜てばかりいる in the Japanese Language

Japanese is a language rich with nuance and subtle grammatical expressions. One such structure is 〜てばかりいる, a phrase used to indicate that someone is repeatedly or exclusively engaging in a specific action. In this post, we will explore the formation, meaning, nuances, and advanced usage of this structure. Additionally, we include example sentences, interactive exercises, and practice questions to…

[benkyoutobentou]

language learning culture is always watching children’s media in various languages

[ariane-ashen]

Can I just live here...

[shiraishi--kanade]

An. An, beloved, why are you struggling with 珍 of all things. An that is N2 level kanji. An please

[alittlepracticeeveryday]

Vocab Challenge

Take 10 words from your vocab spreadsheet and use them in as few sentences as possible:

顔なじみ, ウキウキ, 黄色い声, 冬日和, てっきり, 無暗に, 童顔, ふわり, 倒産, 帰省

帰省する日はいい冬日和で、出かけに行って駅前でウキウキしようと思ったけど、すぐに株を無暗に買って倒産してしまった顔馴染みに出会った。てっきり彼がもてなくなったと思ったのに今までも女性があの童顔を見ると、黄色い声があがる。聞くと思わずにふわり耳を擦った。

[langcompanion]

Learn Japanese with anime (free)

For learning Japanese with anime, I recommend this website

https://animelon.com/

It makes watching anime for learning accessible even for beginners and is free to use. They have a large library with different anime series to choose from, that range in difficulty level from slice of life to more advanced topics.

Here's a small sample from their most recent uploads:

The website is easy to use and ideal for Japanese language learners who are interested in or enjoy watching anime as part of their learning process.

While watching an episode, you have a range of options for display of subtitles including: don't display subtitles, display with hiragana / kanji, furigana, as well as a translation along with the Japanese in English. You can click on an individual word in the subtitle for a direct translation.

The player can be set to full mode, but can also be set to display a full list of the dialogue or a list of the translated words next to the episode. There's also a tool for quizzes on the episode dialogue for people who like that. If you make an account, you can save your translated words (however, it's not necessary for using the website).

The easily adjustable range of accessibility applied to native level material makes it suitable for learners of all levels. From beginners to intermediate especially, while even advanced learners might find something relevant in the library. Even completely novice learners could use the website if they are keen to learn with anime, due to the access to English translation and direct translation of words with a range of easy to understand anime.

[dokushoclub]

In 2023, I started working full time and thus had less time to read compared to 2022. In addition, I also started preparing for the JLPT N1 and tried to read novels in Japanese that would challenge my reading comprehension accordingly as well.

These are my top 5 Japanese novels of 2023:

5. 余命10年 by 小坂 流加 4. カラフル by 森 絵都 3. ちょっと今から仕事やめてくる by 北川 恵海 2. 少年探偵団 by 江戸川 乱歩 1. 告白 by 湊 かなえ

You can read the full post about my 2023 novels here:

I also joined Tumblr in 2023 and am really happy to have found the Japanese langblr community! Since a lot of what I’m reading comes through recommendations I’m super grateful to have a community again to share resources and reviews with. Thanks for all the great books I was able to read along with you guys!

[katzenklavierr]

So next semester is my final semester of undergrad and in addition to the three classes I have to take for my degree, I need 2 more credit hours of literally anything to graduate. I was planning to take another drawing class, but my uni wouldn't let me register for it even with a prereq transfer credit, so I emailed them about it and they didn't at all answer my question but basically implied that I can't take any art courses through the university because it's not my major so I'm like. Okay whatever, let's go for my second choice, which is a course about first language acquisition. I was under the impression that even though it's under the speech pathology degree, my linguistics courses would be equivalent to the prereqs needed for that class (I was told this last semester by one of the speech patho profs), but apparently no I can't register for that one either. I have not emailed that college to ask about it but my hopes are not up.

Anyways so I guess unless I decide its worth it to email them I'm taking fucking. Elementary German I. Because why the hell not let's throw a third foreign language onto my transcript.

[bhumi1066]

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[phaoi]

I can’t decide whether I wanna start learning Italian, Swedish or Japanese next semester lol

[wallyhastoomanynuzlockes]

An obscure little book from the tiny French section of the kids books in my bookstore.

[mylanguageclasses]

Mastering the Passive Reflexive 'Se' in Spanish

Introduction The passive reflexive ‘se’ is one of the most versatile and commonly used constructions in the Spanish language. It allows speakers to express actions in a way that emphasizes the action itself rather than who is performing it. This structure is particularly useful when the subject is unknown, irrelevant, or generalized. For example, instead of saying “Someone sells fruits here,”…

[kragehund-est]

every single language learning app on the market rn is like

LangBabble: Connect with Language!

Thousands of Lessons, Sign Up for Free Today! (6 free lessons and then it's $12 a month to access like 50 addtl. lessons)

Proven Professional Academic Study Lessons! (duolingo copy paste pattern recognition games that give you 0 understanding or ability to produce language.)

Advanced AI-Powered Learning! (fired all their native speaker developers for a glorified google translate. probably has a chat bot and an algorithm that tracks your mistakes. )

Memorable Learning Materials! (vocab flash cards and writing system games... but no grammar, pronunciation, or deeper explanations.)

User-Friendly, Stylish Interface! (highest saturation corporate blob artstyle, duolingo rip-off)

Start Speaking Immediately! (repeat common greetings and the same 24 useless phrases that were jammed down your throat dozens of times)

50+ Languages Supported! (has full courses for German, English, French, Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, and Klingon. a couple dozen half-dev'd euro languages and conlangs, and permanent "coming soon! under construction!" for endangered minority languages.)

[sapphicfandompirate]

Did any of the Strawhat's even go to school?

Chapter 1134 has sparked discussions on the state of the Strawhat's education, so I figured I would do a little analysis on my thoughts on it based on canon.

Luffy- Feral jungle child. Makino probably taught him to read and write, and attempted to teach him manners. Jury is out on whether or not Garp actually taught him anything. Doesn't seem to know much history. Does know beetles, and probably a lot of survival skills, including hunting.

Zoro- Ok this is the real reason why I made this post.

A dōjō (道場, Japanese pronunciation: [doꜜː(d)ʑoː]) is a hall or place for immersive learning, experiential learning, or meditation. This is traditionally in the field of martial arts. The term literally means "place of the Way" in Japanese. -Wikipedia

Isshin Dojo (一心道場, Isshin Dōjō?) is a kenjutsu school, a school of Japanese swordsmanship. Its owner is Koushirou, who is a skilled swordsman and father of the deceased Kuina. It is the place where Zoro trained his Three Sword Style and in the anime is the only dojo Zoro did not take down the sign of. -One Piece Wiki, Emphasis added by me

As a member of the Isshin Dojo Zoro has attended school! Koshiro taught him primarily swordsmanship and meditation, but someone taught him reading, writing, and math and I'm just going to guess it's Koshiro as well. Seems to know a bit of sword-related history, but not much world or local history.

Nami-Stole education books. Not formally educated. Everything was probably taught by Bellemere and the rest was learned on the fly. Probably knows the basics of mainstream world history. Is capable of formulating advanced equations, and has vast sailing, navigation, cartography and weather knowledge. Studied at Weatheria during the timeskip, but it doesn't seem like a formal institution.

Usopp - Orphaned street rat. Unknown who taught him to read, write, and do math. Possibly Banchina before she passed away. Somehow he knows chemistry and engineering? Might have borrowed books from Kaya? Mostly self-taught it seems.

Sanji- Definitely has a formal education, up until he ran away. Noble child who had a variety of tutors. Learned whatever noble children learn plus a variety of fighting techniques and fields of science. Then was taught cooking by Zeff. Boy definitely knows how to do math. Anyone who cooks for a large group of people can at least multiply on the fly, or has a calculator taped to the wall. One Piece appears to use the metric system, so at least he doesn't have to figure out how to quadruple a recipe that originally called for 1 2/3 cups of flour.

Chopper - Professionally taught by Dr. Kureha (and Dr. Hililuk). They are both referred to as Doctors, but it is unknown what sort of medical knowledge is actually needed for that title, or if there is like a degree or anything. Assumably one of them taught him reading, writing, math, and chemistry in addition to medical stuff. Also read all of the books in the Torino Kingdom during the timeskip. According to the wiki, Kureha established an academy during the timeskip.

After establishing a medical academy, she taught and trained at least eighty students who became skilled enough to join the Isshi-20, expanding their members to a hundred under her leadership.

Robin- Got a degree in archaeology at the age of 8. Has all of the reading, writing, and history skills, including dead languages. While she taught herself how to read the poneglyphs, I think it's safe to say that Professor Clover taught her regular history, math, science, reading, and writing. Robin went to school!

Franky - Apprenticeship under the shipwright Tom. His state of education was unknown before meeting Tom at age 10. Should know all of the basic skills (reading, writing, math) in addition to carpentry, and shipbuilding. Tom's Workers is referred to as a shipbuilding company, so I don't think it counts as a school? Knows at least enough medical knowledge to turn himself into a cyborg with scraps from a ghost ship after being runover by a train. And Survive. Somehow.

Brook- APPARENTLY??? Stated that school makes him nostalgic, which implies he attended. Also knows a variety of things usually nobility would, namely various musical instruments and fencing. He also knows sailing, and various other things to be a battle convoy leader and pirate captain. I have questions for this man.

Jinbe - Dojo again, this time the Fish-Man Karate Dojo. Later joined the Neptune Army. So, since a dojo counts as a type of specialized school, he's attended a school as well as had military training! Knows basic historical stuff, especially that pertaining to fishmen and human-fishman relations. Seems to know other basic life skills (reading, writing, math, ect)

So, in conclusion:

Went to school: Zoro, Robin, Brook, Jinbe

Private Tutors: Sanji

Vocational Training under a Professional: Sanji, Chopper. Franky, Nami,

Self Taught with some instruction by a parent or other adult (non-professional): Luffy, Nami, Usopp

Out of the ten members, 4 of them attended a school of some sort and several others had some sort of professional training or supervision of study.

Feel free to add on if I missed anything!

[randomaccessmind]

tips for translingual people!!

find worksheets for the language you want to learn!! ill provide links for language worksheets in a spreadsheet, with different sheets representing difficulty level! (basics, beginner, intermediate, advanced, etc)

find communities that are mostly spoken in your desired language! for example, im going to use japanese. some services that are mostly in japanese are LINE, niconico, and ameba/ameblo (basically japanese tumblr/wordpress)! you can also make a secondary account on most social media platforms and set the language to your desired, thus increasing the likelihood of seeing content in that language!

listen to songs in your desired language! read the lyrics and their translations, and try to pinpoint what each word in your desired language means!

[bsd-bibliophile]

BSD-Bibliophile Online Library:

Recently Published Translations

Novels, Short Stories and Poems

Articles and Essays

Published English Translations

Quotes and Facts Collection

Fun Facts

Author Connections

Photos and Handwriting Samples Library

Video Library

Bungou Stray Dogs Resources:

Official Websites and Twitter Accounts

Manga, Light Novels, BSD Wan! and more!

Translators and Translation Projects:

Maplopo

Translations: Check out Maplopo’s translations of Dazai, Nakajima, Sakaguchi, and Soseki.

Maplopo Magazine: Coming this year! Click the link to reserve your copy!

Learn Japanese: Find the advanced Japanese language program that puts you ahead of your goals. Iterative. Intuitive. Expansive. To respect educational principles is to build upon them. Our highly collaborative, growth-oriented methodology entwines trusted pedagogy with new forms of active learning and is designed to address current wants while also preparing learners for needs not yet imagined. No matter the environment, we help learners internalize the Japanese language… from roots to branches.

Yobanashi Café

Access to their translations free on their website.

Buy the collection Retrogression by Dazai Osamu on Amazon.

Translations Page: where you can find translations of literary works by Dazai Osamu, Satō Haruo, and Tokugawa TsunayoshiBiographies Page: where you can find short biographies on a variety of authors related to the translations.

Publications: Want to buy their translations and add them to your library? Check out these publications available for purchase.

Dazai’s School Notebooks: Dazai Osamu attended Hirosaki High School from 1927 until 1930, and many of his school notebooks from this period, complete with the inky doodles of a bored schoolboy, are currently being held in various University and Museum archives.

M Skeels

List of published translations

Free practice translations

Purchase M Skeels’ translation of “Immaculate” by Oda Sakunosuke at Project MUSE!

Award-winning sound novel Scarlet and Blank is now out in English on Steam! 

Japan Reads (Shelley Marshall)

Buy their translations on Amazon.

Read Short Stories Now

. 

Anne’s Side Blog:

My side blog where I post anything and everything that is not included on my main blog. The Ask Box is currently open.

Bungou Stray Dogs Discord

Join us, be a part of over a thousand members in one of the most active and friendly communities here on Discord!