Vocabulary
- Japan Signs: A Day At Ueno Zoo
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February 24th, 2010
This sign is in the grounds of Ueno Zoo in Tokyo. We visited there when we last stayed in Ueno and apart from being the coldest and wettest day of our trip, it was definitely worth the visit. There’s a fair bit going on in this sign but don’t worry as we’ll go though the kanji and katakana one at a time.
- 3 Ways to Learn Japanese With YouTube
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February 17th, 2010
YouTube offers an amazing array of free resources for anyone wanting to learn Japanese. From anime to cooking, sports and Japanese news broadcasts, anyone with an internet connection can get instant access to tens of thousands of videos on demand.
Here are three ways to harness the power of YouTube to improve your Japanese.
- Similar Kanji: Eye vs Oneself
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February 14th, 2010
目 (eye) and 自 (oneself) are separated by just one small stroke and as such prove to be tricky for beginners to remember. Both kanji are part of the JLPT3 and are taught in grade one and two at Japanese schools respectively.
- Japan Signs: Going Overseas?
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February 9th, 2010
I took this shot of an ad hanging on a train somewhere on the Yamanote line in Tokyo. I think it’s a great real-life example of the use of Katakana for foreign city or country names.
To start you off I’ll go through the first line and then you can take it from there. We put all the first line together and get “Rondon” or London as it is known in English.
- Use Twitter To Improve Your Japanese
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January 25th, 2010
The ubiquity of Twitter means you can connect to the Twitterverse in so many different ways.
Having the ability to always connect to Twitter on the run means you essentially have a free Japanese resource available to you at any time and wherever you happen be.
- Similar Kanji: Noon vs Cow
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December 29th, 2009
My advice to separate the two in your mind is to imagine that the line at the top of 牛 (cow) is the horn of a bull, which is similar enough to a cow to trigger the memory.
As soon as I used that idea it was very easy to separate the two in my head and I moved on to the next 1943 kanji to memorise!
- Japan Signs: Waiting Room
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December 14th, 2009
This kanji sign caught my eye at Shinjuku station in Tokyo as it was quite a cool November morning and the glass waiting room (待合室) attached to the sign turned out to be a whole lot warmer than standing on the platform waiting for my train up to Nikko.
- Similar Kanji: Taste vs Wisdom
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December 9th, 2009
While these kanji (味 – Flavour, taste and 知 – Know, wisdom) are less alike than some of my previous examples in this series, they still can provide some confusion at the JLPT 3rd and 4th levels with the same basic box on the side and a similar looking object on the side.
- Should You Take The JLPT?
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December 7th, 2009
The JLPT is over for another year. Some of you attended, some may have missed it, others didn’t know it was on and the rest. Well, care factor = 0.
If you spend any time reading around the interwebs this time of year, you’ll notice the great unwashed coming out of their caves and denouncing the JLPT as a waste of money and/or time.
- Japan Images: Park Fishing Tokyo Style
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December 6th, 2009
I stumbled across a local park in Meguro, Tokyo on an afternoon photo walk and in the middle of it was a large concrete pond with one side lined by mostly old guys fishing for carp. It appeared to be a user-pay system but I can’t confirm the cost or bag limits.