Way back in high school, like most American kids, I had to study things like Spanish, French, etc. I took German for two years in high school, but I didn’t find it very interesting, and I didn’t like my teacher very much. So, I never put in much effort. Later, one of my friends toldContinue reading “Chinese versus Japanese Character Readings”
Tag Archives: Japanese language
Basic Japanese Particles, Part 2
In our last episode, we talked about some basic, fundamental particles used in the Japanese language. Today, we’ll cover some other, essential particles: “ni” に, “de” で, “yo” よ, and “ne” ね. The first two are often required for parts of speech, but the second two are often used to provide “flavor” or “nuance” toContinue reading “Basic Japanese Particles, Part 2”
Basic Japanese Particles, Part 1
Japanese, as a language, isn’t really all that hard to learn, especially if you know the Golden Rules, but compared to English, it’s quite different. This means that you have to unlearn English ways of expressing things, and start from the ground-up. A good place to start is to learn the common particles used in Japanese. I’veContinue reading “Basic Japanese Particles, Part 1”
My JLPT N1 Test Results for 2023
I finally got my results back from the JPLT N1 exam I took in December 2023, and the results were not surprising. I failed, as expected. However, the results were not what I expected: Category Results Vocab / grammar 28 / 60 (pass) Reading 7 / 60 (not pass) Listening 26 / 60 (pass) TotalContinue reading “My JLPT N1 Test Results for 2023”
Failing the JLPT
So, I took the JLPT N1 exam last weekend, and unless I got lucky, I am fairly certain I failed the test. Wait, you might be thinking, didn’t I give up on the test this year? Well, yes and no. I did become discouraged and stopped studying for a few months. But after spending theContinue reading “Failing the JLPT”
Kyoto and Nara Dialects
While visiting Kyoto and Nara recently, I started to pick up on some differences in Japanese language that took me a bit off-guard. I am not fluent in Japanese, but I consider myself functional (i.e. “good enough”), and since my wife is from the Kanto region around Tokyo, I’ve gotten used to Tokyo-style Japanese. IContinue reading “Kyoto and Nara Dialects”
Understanding Japanese Kanji
The Japanese writing system is … complicated. Japanese as a language isn’t particularly difficult, no more or less than other languages, but its writing system demands considerable time and investment to really get comfortable with. Written Japanese comprises of a mix of a few different things: A typical sentence might look like: 今日はズボンを買った。Everything in blueContinue reading “Understanding Japanese Kanji”
A Mirror of the Parents
As of writing it is the month of March, or in the traditional calendar of Japan, the month of Yayoi (弥生, “new life”). We frequently get certain Buddhist-themed calendars from Japan every year due to my wife’s family’s connections, in particular the Honobono calendar series. In addition to the terrific artwork, each month has someContinue reading “A Mirror of the Parents”
Rhythm in Japanese Language
Japanese language, on its own terms, isn’t that difficult a language to learn I believe, but it does have some things that are pretty different from English, and require re-learning. One of them, surprisingly, is rhythm and lack of stress accents. I’ve talked about the “flat” sound of Japanese, but I haven’t really talked aboutContinue reading “Rhythm in Japanese Language”
Gleanings in Buddha-Fields 