Nihongo ha kantan desu ne

So Many Choices: Vocabulary

September 20, 2020September 22, 2020O47rashomonsNo Comments

There are a lot of ways to learn Japanese vocabulary. This is one of the times where I think a mix of self-study methods is better. Textbooks I started learning my vocabulary the old-fashioned way. Took some Japanese courses, didn’t do a lot of my homework, and then stammered in class when 先生 asked me a question. I don’t recommend this as a great method, but still, you do retain some things. Genki I/II Sure, there are lots of other textbooks out there, but these give you a great start in studying Japanese. Sure, the situations and vocabulary are a bit skewed towards academia (do I really need to immediately… Read More

So Many Choices: Kanji

September 19, 2020September 19, 2020O47rashomonsNo Comments

I started off this blog talking about kanji. and I’ll never stop talking about kanji. Intriguing, beautiful, frustrating, vital…what’s not to love? These characters, borrowed from the Chinese and then evolved by the Japanese over many centuries, are one of the biggest obstacles in learning Japanese well. You can certainly get to some level of proficiency without learning kanji. but if you can’t read in a language, how proficient are you really? Books I didn’t start my kanji studying with books, but I certainly splashed out some cash on them. Remembering the Kanji This certainly is one of the most well-known study guides. James Heisig locked himself in a library to… Read More

So Many Choices

September 17, 2020September 17, 2020O47rashomonsNo Comments

What are the pillars of a language? Grammar Vocabulary Reading Writing Speaking Those are the major ones, anyway. Back in the day, you would go to a school, and the school would assign you to a teacher. Someone would assign you a textbook or two or three, and off you went. Do your homework, write some tests, speak the new language in class in usually artificial conversations. and if you were diligent, you might have wound up understanding a new language. How did you choose where and how to study? Well, pretty imply, where could you afford to live for at least nine months and also fund your studies? If… Read More

お金

September 9, 2020September 9, 2020O47rashomonsNo Comments

日本語の授業を受けりたいと、お金が大切だな？お金とか時だとかやる気も大切だと思う。このごろ「Zoom]を使わなければいけない。教室で出席するのよりリモートの授業で出席する時は足りない感じだと思うな。たしかに、見立ては少ない。どうする？家で授業を練習して、いつも頑張りましょう。

At the Japanese-English Language Meetup

September 7, 2020September 7, 2020O47rashomonsNo Comments

I enter the Japanese-English meetup and am assigned to a group. For the first part of the meetup, we speak in English. Then, forty to forty-five minutes later, the host tells us to switch languages. Sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we just keep speaking English. No one objects. For some, Japanese is a scary language, and for others, they appreciate getting more English practice. Sometimes we do. Then the fluency stream takes over. Either you are swimming in the stream, or swimming as hard as you can so you don’t drown. The native speakers and the people who are almost fluent dominate. Sometimes I get a word in. Sometimes I just… Read More

Grasping This Beautiful Moon

September 6, 2020September 7, 2020O47rashomonsNo Comments

A Zen Master lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening, while he was away, a thief sneaked into the hut only to find there was nothing in it to steal. The Zen Master returned and found him. “You have come a long way to visit me,” he told the prowler, “and you should not return empty handed. Please take my clothes as a gift.” The thief was bewildered, but he took the clothes and ran away. The Master sat naked, watching the moon. “Poor fellow,” he mused, ” I wish I could give him this beautiful moon.” — from… Read More

ビールトブログ

July 1, 2020September 9, 2020O47rashomonsNo Comments

お、みなさん。お元気ですか？今日は休日なので、いっぱいビールを飲みながらブログで書いている。本当にビールは掃除するの後で自分の見返りだ。日本語を勉強するのもう始めている。確かに、世界もうちょっとボロボロで人生もつづいてる。カンパイ！🍻

Inspiration

June 15, 2020June 15, 2020O47rashomonsNo Comments

So, it’s not easy to be inspired during a global pandemic. Even less so when you’re watching fools prance around with no masks on, breathing wherever they feel like it. But, of course, the secret to life is not just inspiration. It is effort after inspiration. And it’s not easy to put effort into anything but the basic survival skills during a global pandemic. However, what is the alternative? Working, eating, sleeping and nothing else? It’s like one goes through a set of stages of experience with the facts of the world around them. Like the stages of accepting death is coming, but a bit different. My stage now is… Read More

自粛省察の恐怖

June 14, 2020June 15, 2020O47rashomonsNo Comments

ビールが好きな？俺も！一緒に居酒屋行こう！マスク？マスク？？マスカは弱虫な人の事だぜ！コロナウイルスは終わった！終わった！おーおーおー。待って。見て。あそこマスクを被る人。面白い！弱虫の人だな？牛乳しか飲んでいる！うふふふ！横に行こう！顔で咳き上げよう！いいジョウダンだぜ！セエノ！そう。マスクを被っている。コロナウイルスは深刻だと思う。家族が別れた。友達が別れた。他人が好きとマスクを被るのは大切だ。その二人は、何をしているか？一緒に笑って、近くに来ている。冗談は何だ？

Japanese in the times of Novel Coronavirus

April 12, 2020April 12, 2020O47rashomonsNo Comments

So Shakespeare wrote King Lear during the plague, did he? Who did the cooking and dishwashing and cleaning while this mighty man was dipping his quill in the ink? I’m not going to lie. My studying stopped a month ago. Mentally, I couldn’t handle work, and isolation, and general life, and studying Japanese. The most I’ve done is write some moments on HelloTalk. But last night, I had a thought. “If you don’t care, why are you bothering?” This seems like a stupid thought, but it reminded me: I began studying Japanese because I loved its culture I began studying Japanese because I wanted to travel around and not starve… Read More