Kanji Makes Japanese Easy

January 10, 2010 Kanji

Kanji and Japanese aren’t the same. At least that is how I see it in my head, for better or worse. It is very odd to see it that way so it takes some explaining.
One day I plan to learn Chinese after I learn Japanese. Since kanji is from China originally and the Japanese incorporated [...]

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Rangaku Learning About the West

December 14, 2009 History

Rangaku is the term used for “Dutch Learning” and started the Japaneses curiosity about the west from finding an anatomy book. From there it moved to all sorts of subjects some examples are: Political Science, Astronomy, Medicine, Physical Science and Cooking, and many more.

The Dutch were the first westerners to find Japan and they had [...]

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Why my JLPT Fail was Still a Win

December 7, 2009 JLPT

Yesterday was JLPT day and I did fail it. Whether it is graded that way or not I am not sure. However, I failed it in my opinion. That being said I would not trade the experience for anything in the world. I am going to include some picture of the trip too so not [...]

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The JLPT CAN be Used to Measure Proficiency

December 5, 2009 JLPT

It is JLPT season and emotions are running high as people cram at the last minute and trolls come out in droves to tell JLPT takers how pointless it is. I have seen no less than 15 tweets on how pointless the JLPT is to measure Japanese ability.
As noted in the comments of “What is [...]

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Consistent Action Leads to Extraordinary Results

November 29, 2009 Learning

There are many sayings and most have some “truth” to them, but none, to me, are as powerful as this one.
Consistent action over a long period of time leads to amazing results.
I am not sure I am even saying it completely or where I heard it. However, that is the saying I remember. What it [...]

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Guest Post over at Wide Island Review – Building Japanese Vocabulary

November 16, 2009 Learning

Learning words through context has the benefit of showing you when and how to use the word from the beginning, but it can take a lot of time to learn the words this way since you are learning more than one thing at a time.
Flash cards are a quick way to gain a lot of [...]

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10 Tips for a Successful Japanese Language Panel

November 10, 2009 Learning

Doing a panel at a con can be a bit stressful if it is your first one, heck anywhere if it is your first. So here are a few tips to help with doing a panel on Japanese language if you have never done one before or just want to improve.
1) Plan – This is [...]

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It is ALL about Passion

November 8, 2009 Learning

I tend to have a bout of introspection at the oddest times. Today it just so happened while I was on the elliptical reading an interesting history book. The word Passion was used to describe early followers of Buddhism in Japan. Their Passion led to people going to great lengths to accomplish their ideals. This [...]

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Japanese Verb Conjugation tai We have Hopes and Dreams

November 5, 2009 Conjugation

Everyone constantly wants something. Whether they want a hamburger or a new car, maybe even a pencil. In English we have the word want. We want things from objects or dreams to come true, and you probably want to know how to say in Japanese. Well fortunately this is super easy. Just add たい to [...]

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Don’t do that with short forms

October 29, 2009 Conjugation

We often hit on doing stuff or requesting stuff be done, but sometimes there are just things you don’t want people to do. Like don’t eat the car. Not taking pictures in a museum.
To start be sure that you have reviewed short forms present tense. Because what you are going to do is add ～でください [...]

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