JLPT4
- Word Of The Week: Choushoku (朝食)
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May 5th, 2010
This week’s Word Of The Week is – Choushoku (朝食) meaning breakfast (formal). There are two other versions of breakfast – 朝飯 (Asa-meshi) and the more polite 朝ご飯 (Asa-go-han). Why are there so many words for breakfast? If you think about it in English we have the same situation as breakfast can be known as “brekkie”.
- Word Of The Week: Monogatari (物語)
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April 13th, 2010
This week’s Word Of The Week is – Monogatari (物語) meaning story or tale. Monogatari is made up of two kanji – 物語 (ものがたり). The first kanji (物) means thing or object and has the readings – ブツ,モツ, もの – although we’re only interested in the もの reading for today’s example.
- Word Of The Week: Densha (電車)
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March 31st, 2010
This week’s Word Of The Week is – Densha (電車) meaning (Electric) Train – which in Japan is an integral part of everyday life, especially in the larger cities. A train station such as Shinjuku in Tokyo claims over 3.5 million commuters passing through its gates daily – an incredible figure.
- Word Of The Week: Gaikokujin (外国人)
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March 24th, 2010
This week’s Word Of The Week is – Gaikokujin (外国人) meaning Foreigner – a word that is historically well in-grained in the Japanese vernacular. Foreigner is made up of three kanji – 外国人 (がいこくじん).
- Word Of The Week: Toshokan (図書館)
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March 15th, 2010
This week’s Word Of The Week is probably still relevant for those of us constantly studying a language. I can’t say I spend alot of time in them anymore though since the interwebs came along. Library is made up of three characters – 図書館 (としょかん). The first two kanji (図書 – としょ) form a kanji compound, which is where two (or more) kanji are joined together to form a new word.
- Similar Kanji: Person vs Enter
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January 23rd, 2010
人 (Person) and 入 (Enter) are both JLPT4/N5 and learnt in Grade 1 in Japanese schools, however for a beginner, they can be very easily mixed up.
The only visual difference between the two is the small stroke at the top of 入 (enter), which is what I use to create a story in my mind to remember the two.
- WOTW: Doubutsuen
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January 17th, 2010
When we were last in Tokyo we visited the sprawling Ueno Zoo located in Ueno Park (上野公園), about 15 minutes train ride north of Tokyo. There was plenty to see and do in the park (and also in Ueno itself) including the zoo, an amusement park, temples and much more.
- 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!
- Learn Kanji: The Kanji Starter Kit
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December 23rd, 2009
So you’ve mastered hiragana and katakana and now you’re ready to move on to kanji. Kanji is where things really start to get interesting. You’re about to begin the final piece of the puzzle as there is nothing more, in terms of written language, after kanji – except for more kanji. (^_^)
I have two Kanji Starter Kit Worksheet downloads available – one with the meanings and one without the meanings so you can test yourself by writing the correct meaning below each kanji on the printed worksheet.
- 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.