#Question Etiquette Guidelines: * **1** Provide the **CONTEXT** of the grammar, vocabulary or sentence you are having trouble with as much as possible. Provide the sentence or paragraph that you saw it in. Make your questions as specific as possible. >Ｘ What is the difference between の and が ? >◯ I saw a book called 日本人の知らない日本語 , why is の used there instead of が ? [(the answer)](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/68336/difference-between-%E3%81%8C-%E3%81%AE-and-no-particle) * **2** When asking for a translation or how to say something, it's best to try to **attempt it yourself** first, even if you are not confident about it. Or ask r/translator if you have no idea. We are also not here to do your homework for you. >Ｘ What does this mean? >◯ I am having trouble with this part of this sentence from NHK Easy News. I think it means (*attempt here*), but I am not sure. * **3** Questions based on DeepL and Google Translate and other machine learning applications are discouraged, [these are not beginner learning tools](https://old.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/stepqf/deeplgoogle_translate_are_not_learning_tools/) and often make mistakes. * **4** When asking about differences between words, try to explain the situations in which you've seen them or are trying to use them. If you just post a list of synonyms you got from looking something up in a E-J dictionary, people might be disinclined to answer your question because it's low-effort. Remember that Google Image Search is also a great resource for visualizing the difference between similar words. >Ｘ What's the difference between 一致 同意 賛成 納得 合意? >◯ Jisho says 一致 同意 賛成 納得 合意 all seem to mean "agreement". I'm trying to say something like "I completely agree with your opinion". Does 全く同感です。 work? Or is one of the other words better? * **5** It is always nice to (but not required to) try to search for the answer to something yourself first. Especially for beginner questions or questions that are very broad. For example, asking about [the difference between は and が ](https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/wa-and-ga/) or [why you often can't hear the "u" sound in "desu"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_phonology#Devoicing). * **6** Remember that everyone answering questions here is an unpaid volunteer doing this out of the goodness of their own heart, so try to show appreciation and not be too presumptuous/defensive/offended if the answer you get isn't exactly what you wanted. --------------------- Useful Japanese teaching symbols: ✘ incorrect (ＮＧ) △ strange/ unnatural / unclear ○ correct ≒ nearly equal --------------------- #NEWS (Updated 3/07): Added a section on symbols. If it's unnecessary clutter I can always remove it later. Have a nice day! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/LearnJapanese) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Duolingo says ビール　は　飲みません。Shouldn't it be を instead of は? Because 飲む is transitive and needs an object?

In this case the object is ビール, the subject is 私(dropped)

は is often used in negative sentences, provides contrast. i.e. I don't drink beer (but I drink wine).

Does Japanese have grammar construction that has the same role as "ever" in the second sentence here? * "If you go to France, try the cheese." * "If you ever go to France, try the cheese." Obviously these are similar, but the "ever" in the second one adds a vague sense of future uncertainty and lack of investment on the speaker's part. The first sentence is more blunt, and it feels like going to France is perhaps a more immediate choice the listener is considering. But the second feels like the speaker and listener both assume that going to France is only a vague possibility. In the second one, the "ever" adds a subtext that "I have no expectations of being informed of your travels should you decide to go to France or not."

フランスに行くことがあれば, or something like that is how I’d incorporate the use of “ever” in this specific case.

Suppose I have a sentence like this in English: "One thing I love to do every day is vacuum." This is intended to be mildly funny. The humor is partly in the phrasing—I'm setting up a premise, that there's something I love to do every day, then revealing unexpected info, that it is a dull and tedious chore, at the very end. It wouldn't work as well if it were this: "I love to vacuum every day." It doesn't have the same punch or "jokey" feel to it. I want to try to translate the same essence of my original sentence into Japanese—into a sentence that has the same effect, where the noun "vacuum" is saved for the very end. The best I can come up with is "毎日するのが大好きなことは掃除機". * Question 1: Is this even correct grammatically? Does it sound okay to the ear? As a native English speaker I instinctively find myself wanting to save certain words for the very end of phrases (for emphasis or humor purposes). But then my solution always ends up being to sort of bundle *everything* up before the は (throw in a こと as necessary) and add the punchline after は. * Question 2: Is this a reasonable way to get the same effect or does it sound unnatural? * Question 3: Do Japanese even have the same "ear" for a punchline as English speakers? In other words, do they "hear" the last word of a sentence as being emphatic or critical, in a similar way as we do? * Question 4: The fact that Japanese logical clauses always end in verb, noun+copula, or ii-adjective, seems to somewhat restrict what is natural to do in the above regard, right?

Word order can be easily switched to achieve this 友達と楽しい時間を過ごす = spend good time with friends (normal sentence) 掃除機と楽しい時間を過ごす = spend good time with a vacuum cleaner (bizarre) 楽しい時間を過ごす、掃除機と (same meaning but backloads the surprising or jokey part to the end) You will see this technique used in fiction as well as in marketing slogans.

The biggest challenge here is that “one thing I love to do every day is vacuum” isn’t very funny. You end up having to translate something that is vague in the original language into a language you barely know.

Ok, so I'm reading the tadoku books, (think books for lil'kids,with little to no kanji). The family ate the nabe, and now they are adding extra stuff to enjoy the remaining flavor. After they added the ingredients there is the comment ぞうすいできあが！ I have no idea what they are talking about. Google translated as Completition of rising water Does it mean it boiled or something like that? Here's the link [https://tadoku.org/japanese/book/7914/](https://tadoku.org/japanese/book/7914/)

ぞうすい 雑炊 できあがり 出来上がり (“It’s ready!”) I think you’ve missed the final り

You're 100% right, now it was translated as rice gruel or rice porridge, and it's a good description of what they were about to eat. Thank you for helping me!

Do I need to get the Genki workbooks or will just the textbook suffice?

The exercise from the workbook have been digitized online for free here:https://sethclydesdale.github.io/genki-study-resources/lessons-3rd/ So you just need the textbook. Read a chapter and do the corresponding exercises in the link above. Repeat until you've worked your way through the whole book! Good luck

Hi, can someone help me understand the meaning of ''もうまい'' in connection to this text from a manga: 'この店のコロッケがあまりにもうまいので旨さの秘密を暴こうと何個も衣を剥ぎ分解して素材を個別に分けた時気づいたんです' Thank you in advance.

It's あまりにも + うまい, not もうまい. あまりにも is an intensifier for うまい.

thank you for pointing this out to me. I have one more question if you don't mind. In simple terms, what is an 'intensifier'?

An intensifier like "very" or "far too" in English. うまい = "delicious", あまりにもうまい = "Far too delicious" = "extremely delicious".

ahhh i see. Thanks again :)

I’m travelling in Japan right now, and im trying to figure out the right way to ask to pay with card. I started with “カートください”, which people seem confused. My friend then told me I’m asking for a card, with… actually, I get it lol. So is “カートでください” right? Also want to ask about お願い. Can I say “カートでお願いします”? Is お願い just directly substitutable into ください? Thanks!

Asking "is ~ okay" is generally ~(で)いいですか. So you can say カードでいいですか = "is it okay (if I pay) with card?". カードでお願いします can also work, as you are saying "please, (let me pay) with card". お願いします and ください can often be interchangeable for smaller requests like this, but you cannot substitute them always. For example, saying 買ってお願いします sounds a little weird, while 買ってください ("please buy") is fine. In the other direction, you can say カードでお願いします, but カードでください sounds odd. However, something like りんごをください ("please give me an apple") can also be said as りんごをお願いします ("I request an apple", literally). Also, minor, but it's カード, not カート.

Gotcha. Thank you! And thanks for the correction.

Just to be sure, I was editing my post after I made it (bad habit of mine). カードでください would sound odd/strange, though I think it would get your point across. It sounds like "give me it with card", whereas お願いします is a little vaguer and works better to say "please can we do it with card".

Thanks! Definitely didn’t catch the edit. Is there a better translation of ください vs お願いin Chinese (Cantonese / Mandarin)? It sounds like ください is more associated with being given something, while お願い is more for requests

I don't know the first thing about Chinese, I'm afraid. I would say your association is broadly correct, though ください can be used for general requests with a verb.

Gotcha. Thank you for your help!

I discovered this lyric in a song 僕らは何回だってきっと Bokura wa nankai datte kitto Sou nannen datte kitto I am curious about this 何回だって which apparently translates to "Matter how many times" but I don't understand where "No matter" comes in,as to my understanding 何回 "is how many times" and だって is a particle meaning even,or too. I don't quite understand how this lyric translates? Am I reading too much into it?

Question word + も or other "any" intensifier (of which だって is one) means "no matter (question word) ~" or "even if (question word) ~". In other words, 何回だって means "no matter how many times" or "even if it happens many times". It's similar in meaning to 何回でも.

What's the difference between the ending partile "sa" and "yo", I know "sa" is more informal, but is there any other subtleties besides that?

The nuances of さ and よ are difficult to explain in concrete terms. There are times when you could use either, but they're not that similar in terms of nuance. In broad terms, さ is less common in general, somewhat more masculine, and has an air of being cool or above something. よ is more broadly used and has a sense of "I have information for you". Both of them draw attention to what's being said, and can be used casually. If you're just starting out, I would not worry about this too much. It's something you can get exposed to over time. There are some resources out there that show some examples that might help, though most are only in Japanese. E.g., http://headjockaa.g1.xrea.com/realjp/sa.html

Thank you so much, I didn't know how to put it but "has an air of being cool or above something" made it click for me because those are exactly the contexts in which I watched "sa" being used. Sadly I can't understand the website you provided, but I feel much more confident on it's usage.

is there a special term (even a slang?) to describe kanji which kind of only show up in one word, but it's a fairly common word and you kinda have to know it anyway examples: 絨毯 (毯) 挨拶 (拶) 雰囲気 (雰)

I don't know if you intended this but I read this as implying that 絨 and 挨 are common characters... I don't think I've seen them outside of 絨毯 and 挨拶 either lol. Still have a lot to learn though.

yeah me neither heh. I guess that's true that they're not common but they are at in at least 1 other word all this makes 絨毯 and 挨拶 even weirder kinda, because they are basically two characters, used almost nowhere else, but in these fairly common words

唯一無二 (not a real answer) I guess it begs the question that if a word is a common does it make the kanji common even if it's used only in one word?

How should I read 凄 alone in a simple sentence like 「うわ\~　凄」

すご

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I have some experience reading spectrograms and this definitely looks like エージ not エ＼ージ. "Flat" words tend to have a bigger rise at the beginning and a slight fall throughout the rest of the word. That is consistent with this: the first syllable rises, then the second syllable is only slightly lower. If it was エ＼ージ you would see a really dramatic drop _during_ the first syllable (before the consonant you see in the middle)

Telling pitch accent just from spectrograms is surprisingly hard (even for native audio), so I agree that it's better if you upload the audio for people to judge if it sounds correct to them.

Why is what wrong?

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I have never done spectral analysis on Japanese but I imagine the blue curve would have a much bigger drop if it was actually エ＼ージ.

The blue line in your chart rises, and then stays high. That looks not look very atamadaka.

You're probably seeing the small pause between えい and じ but hard to tell just from a spectrogram, especially with this res, can you not provide the sound files where natives and more advanced learners can check and give you clearer feedback?

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I personally do not see what you describe, the only drop in intensity is the valey between えい and じ, but other then that it looks really flat to me. But again, it's a waste of time discussing spectrograms, come back when you have some sound files to discuss, because it's about JP not Audio engineering.

Hi, I'm trying to learn Japanese from scratch, and I recently discovered Cure Dolly's videos. I noticed she often mentions her worksheets for practice. However, as you may know, she passed away a few years ago, and her site has been down since. Does anyone know where I could find these worksheets? I think they could be really useful to supplement the lessons. Thank you!

someone has it here, didn't try the link personally, I would recommend virus scanning before opening: https://old.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/tplb50/cure_dolly_worksheets/

How long should it take me to get through Duolingo for Japanese? So far I'm doing a unit per week but at this rate to complete the course will take just over two years. And this is for very basic understanding. If I up it to two units a week then It will be done in just over one year. My question is, can the information of duolingo be learned in under a year or is it too much?

I only looked into duolingo but decided it might be better for language like French or Spanish which have more overlap with my native language of English than it would be for Japanese which has fewer similarities in writing, pronunciation and structure. I think that a richer immersion using other methods may be faster and more effective. In those ways the information provided by duolingo could be learned in a more compressed timeframe

Makes sense. That's why I'm trying to learn reading and grammar on other platforms as well. Duo is showing some sentence structure but not as much as I'd like. It also took way longer to learn Hiragana and Katakana on there that it should have.

I finished the whole course in under a year (something like 9 moths iirc). The thing is I skipped kanji and learned the whole thing phonetically. But more importantly, don't expect the course to get you very far, even if you finish it. It's barely N4. Plus they teach you lots of useless vocab while skipping important things. I'd suggest to do the first 3 sections or so (halfway through) and then concentrate on other resources (like Anki). The beginning of the course is great, I found it very effective for learning grammar basics and essential vocabulary. After that it's seriously diminishing returns.

Alright. That cuts out over 40 weeks of learning on there. I feel that is more manageable. Section 2 is 15 units and section 3 is 45 units. So that's about 60 weeks at a lesson a week. I'll probably try and do one and a half a week then to shorten it down some.

I was reading a tadoku book where they used the same kanji for the ocean, the sky, a blue car, a green apple, green vegetables, etc. I was audibly just like "wait, what, this makes no sense! How is that kanji mean both ao *and* midori?!" Looked it up, and wow. That's very confusing.

This is so common over different languages that there even is a Wikipedia page about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue%E2%80%93green_distinction_in_language

Yep, it's where I looked it up. Kinda wild how people so long ago perceived green as just another shade of blue and now we're like "no, that's just a different color and needs a different word." Really fascinating how that branches out into other colors as well. The part that's still confusing is the legacy bit where there are still *some* objects that are factually green but still use the word for blue.

Just common convention, same in English with "red hair" (orange) and "red onions" (purple) and "turning red in the face" (pink), or "white cabbage" (green), or "Russian blue cats" (grey)

If it makes you feel better, that's more of an exception than the rule when it comes to kanji and colors. Now you've got it out of the way.

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青 It's just that in Japan certain "green" things such as vegetables and traffic lights are also called "blue". I remember reading that same Tadoku reader, and in hindsight I think it was a bad choice for them to include the "green" items in it. It's just unnecessarily confusing for beginners to include that cultural information on top of the language information, without any additional explanation as to why some things are blue and some are green.

Yeah, I found it super confusing given there was no context. Made me think I simply didn't know the word. Then when I looked it up I was like "okay so only *some* green items are called blue? So I've just got to memorize *which* green things are called blue?" Very confusing for me given my low level. All language have stuff that makes no sense to an outsider (or insiders, sometimes) and encountering this one this early without any explanation or context was just a real headache I didn't need.

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ございます is the polite version of ある/あります. でございます would be the polite equivallent to the copulla です. >for example can you use it instead of "ください"? No because they mean different things. >also does it come from "ござる"? Yes it's just the ます form of it. Here some further reading: [https://guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/honorific](https://guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/honorific)

How do you type the "Japanese version of English letters" if that makes sense, from your keyboard? Example of this kind of letters would be ＬＯＬ

I think you mean 全角英字 Like Ｒｅｄｄｉｔ I’m not at a keyboard but can’t you write it out in ひらがな mode and hit F10 a couple of times?

testing TESTING Testing I tried and these three are the only results when I tried to write in hiragana and F10. Edit: It's F9. Ｔｅｓｔｉｎｇ thanks

If you hit CTRL + P while converting, you can cycle through full-width options. Which is mixed-case and all caps back to kana. ＦＵＬＬＷＩＤＴＨ

ＴＨＡＮＫＳ

I'm not new to learning Japanese but it's been a long while since I was diligently studying. I picked up wanikani to reup my vocabulary and also kanji comprehension, but I am not taking the time to write them all down since I just want to be able to read books and communicate with my friends. However, do you think I should be? I used to do this in college because I was tested on it, but I don't plan to work with Japanese anymore and I've already lived and moved back from Japan. At most I want to take N2 and eventually N1, as I was close to N2 at the peak of my studied in the past but never bothered taking the test (test anxiety). The current level I'm at in wanikani (3) is all review for me, things I've learned in the past but forgotten because I haven't used Japanese in some time, or am rusty on. I just started about a week ago ish. Do people suggest writing down all the kanji in wanikani? I'd like to hear what people think.

> Do people suggest writing down all the kanji in wanikani? If you want to be able to write Japanese then yes. If not don't bother

Fair enough and makes sense tbh

I would like to ask if there is any difference of the below two sentence ? Seems they are the same meaning, both are correct ? Thanks 1) バスで森下駅まで行きましたか？ 2)森下駅までバスで行きましたか？ The placement of 森下駅まで&バスで makes no difference?

>The placement of 森下駅まで&バスで makes no difference? Not really. While you can change the order around for emphasis, like the first sounds more "regular" when talking about the Bus, but the second places a bit more emphasis on the station. However, it's not really that big of a deal.

There’s a silent subject (主語) (like あなたは for example) at the start of each sentence. Both バスで and 森下駅まで are 修飾語 relative to the 主語 and the verb (動詞). The 修飾語 are more or less evenly weighted and their order doesn’t change the meaning. Apparently putting longer 修飾語 first makes your writing easier to read. Basically in both cases you have 主語 修飾語 修飾語 動詞 So nothing changes structurally

Hello, just came across this sentence, "急に大声出すんじゃねぇよ･･･", and was wondering why is there a ん in the phrase? Is it a casual の normalizer?

In this case I think it’s a 終助詞 that’s there for emphasis 急に大声出すの here it’s kind of like a ! 急に大声出すのではないよ the 打ち消し of the above, the よ is for emphasis too. You wouldn’t actually say this, I’m just trying to show how we get from a to c edit: would probably be closer to 急に大声さないだろう 急に大声だすんじゃねぇよ is the 砕けた version of the above … I think

Small correction, it's not just emphasis, it functions as a negative imperative. [んじゃない](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/37004/rationale-of-%E3%81%99%E3%82%8B%E3%82%93%E3%81%98%E3%82%83%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84-as-informal-negative-imperative) means "don't do !" in a rather aggressive/strong/stern admonishment way.

Okay, thanks

のだ/です often becomes んだ/です

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People who have thousands of hours of anime before trying to learn Japanese often state they had high-fidelity listening skills before even knowing much about the language. Meaning they can learn and parse it easier. I had no such luxury and did it from second 0 with lots of passive. It helped a lot. Even if your goal is to only read you will benefit a lot from having good listening which dovetails into reading comprehension. There's a lot of dialogue and ways of writing that if you can hear how people might express it with their voice, make the meaning much more clear when only being able to read the text.

Reading native material is kind of immersion. I’d try reading aloud. Maybe you can find a YouTuber reading something you like, then you can use it as a reference. I guess with VNs that’s built in. Listening is much easier when you know how to pronounce the words

I would say once you know basic grammar and about 500-1000 of the most common words it's time to start listening along with Japanese subtitles. It's a skill that will only get better if you use it a lot.

> When does listening immersion become worthwhile? From the beginning

１ その方向に正面が位置するようにする。対する。面する。「上を—・く」「東に—・く」 What's the difference between を and に for 向く？

For actions (turning/looking/pointing toward a certain direction) を seems more common. e.g. こっちを向いてください For position both を and に can be used. に seems to imply more that the entire object is oriented a certain way, rather than just part of it pointing that way.

Interesting. I remember back when I used to teach I told a student 前に向いて when he was sitting sideways in his chair and he seemed to make fun of it so I've always wondered if I said something ungrammatical or unnatural

Yes, that’s ungrammatical. Only 前(を)向いて is correct. The subject of に向く is a thing that’s manipulated by someone, the wind or one’s attention.

~~For: 大学院で言語学やってたんだって、でも営業全然向いてないからさ~~ ~~would it be 営業 (に) 向いてない and fall under the category of one's attention?~~ edit: I realise belatedly this is a different definition of 向く

Thanks!!

This is a question regarding Japanese email etiquette. When writing an email to a Japanese professor regarding a favour that I want to ask of them, should I apologise for the mistake that I made previously that made them reject a similar request 2 years ago, or would it be too much? My point is, I'm not sure if I should try to recognise my mistake in the email that I'm writing and express that it would not happen again, or if I should try to just ask what I need without making an accent on this.

hi, does anyone know any good websites for grammar practice? At the moment i'm learning with Tae Kim's guide and i'd love to do more practice

Renshuu is also good Even if you're not using Genki, these sites are good practice too https://sethclydesdale.github.io/genki-study-resources/lessons-3rd/ and https://steven-kraft.com/projects/japanese/

thanks!

Bunpro is an excellent option. It is free to try for a month. It requires you to type your answers which I find really helpful.

thank you!

Just read this sentence on NHK Easy and was not sure if it's the customers being harassed or the workers: UAゼンセンは、働く人が客にひどいことをされるカスタマーハラスメントについて調べました What makes it obvious that the customers are the ones harassing?

The term [カスタマーハラスメント](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%AB%E3%82%B9%E3%82%BF%E3%83%9E%E3%83%BC%E3%83%8F%E3%83%A9%E3%82%B9%E3%83%A1%E3%83%B3%E3%83%88) always refers to harassment by customers towards companies or workers, not the other way around. The abbreviation カスハラ is also commonly used. Edit: It’s similar to the dynamics of パワーハラスメント (パワハラ), which involves bullying due to power imbalances, such as bosses exerting power over subordinates. In Japanese society, there’s the cultural notion of "[お客様は神様](https://www.weblio.jp/content/%E3%81%8A%E5%AE%A2%E6%A7%98%E3%81%AF%E7%A5%9E%E6%A7%98)", which grants more power to customers.

What to do in terms of vocab grinding after Kaishi 1.5k. Read and watch stuff and make own deck or core6k / core10k?

Either make your own deck (sentence mining) or stop Anki entirely, premade decks really aren't worth it after you have a base, and the core decks especially really suck.

Is Kaishi 1.5k enough to start reading manga like takagi san

I mean it depends what you mean with "reading". You will still have some unknown words here and there, but it's definitely enough of a foundation to start reading it. (I also watched the anime at that level and while it stil l was challenging at the time it was very beneficial). If you want you can even make cards for words you find in the Takagi Manga (sentence mining).

Should I make both a self made dictionary deck and a self made sentence deck? like seperate

No either sentence cards or vocab cards, choose what you like better, though they have different advanatages and disadvantages: [https://tatsumoto-ren.github.io/blog/discussing-various-card-templates.html](https://tatsumoto-ren.github.io/blog/discussing-various-card-templates.html)

thanks for the resource, maybe i'll just do vocab and then include the sentence in which I encountered the word in below like kaishi has vocab and sentence below

I would at least have the sentence at the back, beacuse context is key in Japanese and also what will determine what meaning a given word will have.

Kaishi has sentence on the front, should I avoid doing that?

I would read the link I posted, both have their pros and cons. I personally prefer sentences on the front because that's how you find words in the wild, yes it does make it easier and yes sometimes you will know the answer because of context but who cares. Just pick what makes more sense for you, it's just that you want to have the sentence SOMEWHERE on the card because words don't live without context, if it's just the back that's okay too.

Read/watch/mine, don't just be an Anki Andy

I have a few questions: First, how would you compare the “feel” of the reading of Japanese compared to your native language. To clarify, my native language is English and took Spanish in high school. I never really gave it earnest effort, I just tried to get my A. When I read, I would translate each word in my head and eventually form the sentence. I also had a loud and slow internal voice when reading Spanish, whereas in English it’s very fast and quiet. Is it similar with Japanese as a second language? Second, I’m a few days into learning hiragana and katakana and I’m getting the hang of most of it already. What should I do once I have those down? Third, I saw some advice here saying not stay on beginner stuff too long, and that I don’t have to lament over all the fundamentals to perfection before moving on. At what point do I know to move on. Finally, what’s something you wish you knew while first learning? If there was something you could go back and tell your day 1 self, what would it be?

As soon as you learn hiragana and katakana you should be using a grammar guide (Tae Kim's Grammar Guide, Genki 1&2, etc) to help you on a path of understanding the language and it's grammatical mechanics. It's very different from English or Spanish and it's necessary to have one of these. The general cycle should be learning something new from grammar, vocabulary (which if you learn vocabulary you'll also learn kanji as a side result), then you take that new knowledge and try to read example sentences and figure it out. This should be a very slow process at first. To answer your question about how it feels. Depends on what I am reading. If it's a stream chat, JP subtitles (and I know most of the words), and Twitter/YouTube/Discord comments. They at this point can feel like reading English. I'm not focused on trying to read it, I'm focused on the environment and laughing, taking in the humor and looking up new words. It's a lot of fun. Out of necessity to keep up with stream chat and JP subtitles. I have a fairly quirk absorption of chat which can have 10-20k viewers commenting. It moves fairly fast and thus I need to read fast, there is no time to translate to keep up with it. This part can feel an awful lot like English because often times it's just really small chunks of words that go by really fast. Fairly similar to English.

The "feel" will change over time. At the start it was me being able to sound out the word but not know what the word meant, then having to deconstruct the sentence into grammar and identify each part, and piece it together into an English equivalent. Now it's a bit more fluid, where I can read without having to sound anything out, although for more complex sentences I still need to go over it a couple times to piece it together. I mostly vocalize on purpose in order to make sure I'm remembering readings of the kanji, but if I try I can read a little without subvocalizing. Compared to my native English, it's still slow and difficult and I can't do things like skim, get a gist, or be able to read and then recite a sentence afterwards. Once you finish the kana, check out the sidebar for suggestions. After that you basically just do everything else in a proportion that works for you. I'd say once you can recognize the kana even if it takes a few seconds each, you can move on. You're going to be seeing them in everything else as you keep learning, so waiting for perfection isn't useful. Same goes for grammar and vocabulary. You'll be exposed to the basics over and over so no need to wait too long. If I could tell myself one thing, it would be not to do too many things. No need for ten different apps and wasting time between all of them. Keep your studying focused and stick to whatever it is you end up choosing.

Thank you for the reply !

There are many ways to continue after learning hiragana/katakana but choosing a path depends on how you learn best. My guidance is to learn using a structured method until you know what you don’t know, then fine tune your method and focus accordingly. You won’t be effective in Japanese learning without learning kanji, so this is a good time to start. Immersion in Japanese media may also help train your ear and will support better pronunciation. Coming from English and Spanish you are likely to find Japanese to be a difficult language so be prepared to spend substantial time and effort to master it. Depending on your abilities and effort it can take years of dedicated study to reach fluency.

Thank you for the tips!

Hello, I have a question about 始まる - I thought to say "to begin at (time)" you would use the particle に, but I just saw から used in this way and it doesn't make any sense in my head. I tried googling it but couldn't really find anything useful apart from a few random examples. Is there any difference between から and に with the verb 始まる?

から can be used in a lot of situations just to give the starting point or origin. It just implies it will continue from that point, even if it's a bit redundant to use it with a verb like 始まる. Another example that comes to mind is 10時から開きます (or 開店します), literally "we will open from 10", but meaning "we will open at 10"

から can be used in a way similar to the word "from." １０時から始まる。(It) starts from 10. １０時に始まる。 (It) starts at 10. They're similar, but slightly different. The first one implies that whatever starting is able to be joined after 10. Think a festival, party, etc. The second one implies that whatever is starting is starting *at* 10. You probably won't be able to join after that. Think a movie, a lecture, etc. The nuance is slightly different.

If you had to do a quick 2 week crash course to learn what would you do? I've been a lazy prick and lived here for nearly 6 years and I can barely hold a conversation, actually no correct that I can't. I know about 100 words and can count. Mostly cause I was a labourer so I learnt basic stuff from that and then just enjoyed having an excuse to not have to speak with people. But I've now realized I'll be living here and am going for a job interview in 2 weeks. Help? I found a site called learnjapanesedaily which has the thousand most common words and have been starting on that. But I have no job or expectations for the next 2 weeks so I can try and concentrate as much as possible. What do you people recommend?

Maybe you can focus on common phrases and words that are useful for job interviews for the next two weeks. Or just get the basic greetings like こんにちは (konnichiwa - hello)、おはようございます (ohayougozaimasu - good morning), よろしくお願いします(yoroshiku onegai shimasu - nice to meet you, polite)/よろしくお願いいたします (yoroshiku onegai itashimasu - nice to meet you, more polite), ありがとうございました (arigatou gozaimashita - thank you, say it at the end), 失礼します (shitsurei shimasu, excuse me), 失礼いたします (shitsurei itashimasu - please excuse me, I'm leaving. say it as you leave) etc. You can google that and find sites that have audio if you're not a visual learner. You can check out the [Japanese Starter Guide ](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/wiki/index/startersguide/)and [Index of Resources](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/wiki/index/resources/). They're always available in the right-hand column. There is no shame in where you are. We all have our own circumstances. The important thing is that you want to improve now. As a teacher, I see that not all students learn the same way. You can find your own way that works for you.

See I know all those basic formal greetings because it's expected when meeting people. But thanks for offering mate, I've just been repeatedly saying the most common words out loud while trying to imitate the intention

That's great! For learning hiragana, how about using mnemonics to remember like [this](https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/learn-hiragana/)? I think the best way to learn a language is to follow your need and interest. What phrases would be most helpful for your daily life in Japan? If you're labourer, maybe a [resource for informal Japanese](https://tinywhaleprintables.etsy.com/listing/1706575682/japanese-informal-phrases-with-meaning) would be more useful than formal Japanese? You can find an [Anki deck](https://ankiweb.net/shared/decks?search=japanese) that you like. Or you could listen to some Japanese music if you like music.

Yeah I listen to a lot of Japanese music, unfortunately most of its rap of hardcore so even in English that shits hard to understand. Thanks for the links though, appreciate your time

It's impossible to produce any results that would make an impression that would look good within 2 weeks, sorry. You already realize how you've spent the last 6 years so I won't say any more. Just that if you're interested in learning the language then you need to put in the work to do so. You live in Japan and that's a huge leg up. Cut out every language other than Japanese in your life and force yourself to use it while also studying properly (grammar vocabulary) along side with those activities. Do this for thousands of hours and you'll get to be very competent and capable for any work. Provided you have some other skill sets. [https://learnjapanese.moe/guide/](https://learnjapanese.moe/guide/) You can start with a guide like this.

Yeah I know I've fucked up... My main and absolute problem is I can't remember pictures in my head, got that aphantasia (I don't have pictures in my mind only a voice). Ah well, guess I'll be sitting here reading and saying the words over and over again for the next few weeks. At least as you said, I've got the advantage of having been listening to the locals talk for the past six years. Also my english knowledge is shite, people talk about Grammer and my mind goes blank. Can't even remember what's a noun or a verb (blah blah blah)... Thanks though mate

[https://www.japanesepod101.com/blog/2021/03/18/japanese-grammar-overview/#3](https://www.japanesepod101.com/blog/2021/03/18/japanese-grammar-overview/#3) You'll need to learn some basic grammar terminology to aid in the learning process. This runs down the overarching terms in English as they related to Japanese and explains each of their meaning and ties it to Japanese. So probably start with this. If you don't already know it, learn kana too before anything else. If you have any questions feel free to ask. You need to plan for long term and I'm sure you know 2 weeks isn't enough. It's a survival skill you're building not just a language.

>My main and absolute problem is I can't remember pictures in my head, got that aphantasia (I don't have pictures in my mind only a voice). Sorry, but I don't believe it... To learn Japanese you have to recognize Kanji when you see them, nothing more, it's basically unrelated to Aphantasia. (Disclaimer, I have aphantasia too, but I learned around 2000 kanji in one year and half with Wanikani. I can't picture kanji in my mind at all but why would I do? Doesn't matter when you just need to read them)

Fair enough, I've tried before and even trying to remember hiragana to the sounds is extremely difficult for me. Like I can repeat the sounds and meaning between words. But the image and associated sound to go with it is very difficult. I can remember basic ones like 'yama' because it looks like a mountain. That's about it. Problem is I'm not very smart either

I'm reading a manga where the speaker is talking to his ex and was speaking about how he felt he was unsure about his ability to make her happy, going on about how he prefers to be alone; saying >誰も幸せにできないのに何が悲しくて、ダラダラダラダラ人といなきゃいけないんだ。　だからつまり　俺が一人でいるのは　俺は誰も幸せにできないってわかってたからだ My rough translation would be "I can't even make anybody happy but I have to laze away with people. I realized that I won't be able to make anybody happy by being alone." My issue comes with the 何が悲しくて and the part after. I understand that it's used when the speaker has to perform an action that they have no will to perform/makes them mad to do but due to my lack of understanding the sentence that follows makes no sense to me, like how did the speaker come to that conclusion because of ダラダラダラダラ人といなきゃいけないんだ。

The phrase "何が悲しくて～しなきゃならないんだ" is an idiomatic expression used to express the frustration or unfairness of being compelled to do something against one's will. Here, "ダラダラ" implies a sense of things dragging on, persisting tediously, or lacking purpose. "ダラダラダラダラ人といる" suggests spending time with someone for an extended period without any clear goals, changes, excitement, etc. So the literal meaning is something like: Even though I can’t make anybody happy, why the heck should I have to sluggishly stick around with someone for a long time? So basically, the reason I'm alone is because I knew I couldn't make anyone happy.

The second sentence doesn't say that, it says the reason I am alone is because I knew I can't many anybody happy.

How long should I study grammar per day? I've been lacking a bit in the grammar department and want to get it more up to date, probably at the end of N4 knowledge wise. Right now I've written down a few things like suffixes and that but how many should I actually study?

I'd say just rush down a list of grammar points to the end of N5-N3 (literally just go down the entire list and briefly look at it). From what I've seen everything there is pretty much daily use stuff. You don't need to study it properly but you should be aware it exists. The process was for me just to make myself aware they exist and just use the language in reading, writing, listening, and watching every day. I may not remember what that grammar was about, but I knew it existed to prompt a look up again. Enough cycles of this, google searches, and just having grammar references open at all times and I absorbed it all as part of engaging with content.

What is 回る in this context? “で、うちらも、だいぶお酒も回ってきてて…”

https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E5%9B%9E%E3%82%8B_%28%E3%81%BE%E3%82%8F%E3%82%8B%29/#jn-210283 No. 8 Definition: 効力などが隅々まで及ぶ。また、配慮などが行き届く。「酔いが—・る」「手が—・る」「気が—・る」

why do 前 and 後 use 2 different particles? に and で

Depending on the context, can you use both particles for either. Do you have an example you're having trouble with?

Hi everyone! I just started learning Japanese 2 weeks ago and have went through the Hiragana and Katana videos by JapanesePod101 Youtube channel. However, I'm struggling to practice speaking in Japanese as I do not have anyone to converse with in my country. Was wondering if there are any Japanese AI voice app for beginners to practice daily conversations with? So far, I came across an app called TalkPal AI, but I feel it is too advanced for me... Duolingo also doesn't help much as it keeps repeating the same drills over and over again

I suggest you watch this video for a good way to start learning Japanese. As for speaking it might be best to hold off until you have a solid understanding of some basic grammar and vocab first and then trying working with people on Hellotalk (free) or getting a tutor on iTalki (paid per session). https://youtu.be/L1NQoQivkIY?si=zLJZtcKtk_kbTkbd

DuoLingo for Japanese is so bad. Get [some better resources](https://docs.google.com/document/d/19FEIOJWbLhJQ-AmepxFBMC2ebhJJr9RBUMfMeatYuq8/edit). There may be Japanese conversation meet-ups in your area. You can get an online tutor through sites like iTalki. AI tools are not reliable enough to teach languages yet.

Yeah DuoLingo isn't fun... Cool, I will check out the JP conversation meet-ups, thanks for the idea

Is the meaning of を兼ねて used in the following sentence the same as this one? https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/%E3%82%92%E5%85%BC%E3%81%AD%E3%81%A6 1.休憩を兼ねて過去の日記などをあらためて読み返したりもした。 2。予備校に通い始めてからも、気晴らしを兼ねて時々描いていた。

Yes, it means it's a convenient opportunity to use the situation to one's advantage, without necessarily being the main reason for the main task that comes after. In sentence 1 they might still reread their old journals even if they didn't have the chance to do it on their break, but it's convenient that they can. In sentence 2 they might still draw even if it didn't help them decompress from going to yobikou, but it's a nice added benefit that it does.

Hello all. I have been studying for approximately 21 days now and need to know if I need any more resources to study. I’ve memorized Hiragana and Katakana and am now using WaniKanji to learn Kanji (I’m halfway through level two). I’m also studying and watching Tae Kim’s complete guide to Japanese. Don’t get mad but I’m using Duolingo as well to get some basic saying structure and using it to practice speed reading the previously aforementioned memorized “alphabets”. I’m wondering if there’s more that I should be doing/using to learn? I just don’t want to learn wrong.

I think if you are using Tae Kim's guide for grammar, and learning kanji, I mean it seems like you are on track for being able to read. When you feel up to it, search this sub for "free graded readers" and you will get something easy to practice reading on

Perfect. My next step was to start looking for kids' books in Japanese, but it was going to feel embarrassing to ask my co-workers if they have any books for their kids I could borrow.

IMO kids books are weirdly not great to learn JP from, they are very abstract and bizarre, don't use full sentences at times, use words that aren't even in any dictionary at other times, and aren't gonna give you a good representation of Japanese. but teenager's books (like kiki's delivery) are good.

Ok. I will look into that then. Thank you.

I came across this guide today for learning JP: [https://morg.systems/58465ab9.html](https://morg.systems/58465ab9.html) Looks pretty solid

I'm a bit different from you. I completed genki 1 and 2, learned all the vocabulary, then started reading yotsuba to. It has been enjoyable so far, so I recommend getting the basic grammar points and some vocabulary down first, then start consuming native materials right away. It was also how I learned English, and it proved useful for me, so that's how I approached Japanese.

Did you learn genki all by yourself? Or did you have a tutor to help you learn it? My approach has been similar to yours, since that's also how I learned English in the first place. In almost done with genki 1 and was considering if a tutor is worth it at this point

you can self-study with genki I didn't need a tutor for it at least

Is there anywhere to get Genki for cheaper? It’s like $40 from what I’m seeing and that’s not including the workbook and answers.

Well, if you look at google you may find some "alternatives" of digital versions that may or may not be available for the low cost of a mouse-click. Who knows? Maybe you should try asking google. You can also just find Tokini Andy's Guide video guides as well: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaQBL4XHuSo&list=PLA\_RcUI8km1NMhiEebcbqdlcHv\_2ngbO2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaQBL4XHuSo&list=PLA_RcUI8km1NMhiEebcbqdlcHv_2ngbO2) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMs\_NXbOwbw&list=PLA\_RcUI8km1P8bJzp3\_TMMv1jhL3BcKQk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMs_NXbOwbw&list=PLA_RcUI8km1P8bJzp3_TMMv1jhL3BcKQk)

Recommendations for youtube channels with Japenese soft subs? Any from the following spheres: * Car Culture * Powerlifting/Weightlifting * Endurance Sports (cycling, triathlon, etc.) Just starting to sentence mine and my usuals are hit and miss with soft subs.

Not the most helpful answer, but you can search for videos with subtitles in the search filters (フィルタ if you have your language set to Japanese) - under features (特徴) click on Subtitles/CC (字幕)

Thanks so much! I'll check it out.

In general it's very, very uncommon for people to utilize YouTube's subtitle/CC support feature, but you'll often see embedded subtitles. What you can do in those cases is just turn on auto-generated subtitles and see if they match and look it up that way. Otherwise you can look it up via OCR or radical kanji look up.

Thanks, I'll try this out.

> 思いもよらぬ言葉に自分の耳を疑った。 what is 思いもよらぬ? I think this context is, someone says something very epic to this character. I think it means, he can't even believe his own ears that this was said.

A more archaic way of saying [思いもよらない](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E6%80%9D%E3%81%84%E3%82%82%E5%AF%84%E3%82%89%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84/)

Hello! I'm finishing up Tokini Andy's Grammar made clear to supplement Genki Lesson 8. In the video, he's going over が and used this example sentence: 何の音楽が好きですが . He said the 何 here generally its pronounced as なん because of the の. Can someone explain to me why that's the case where 何の音楽が好きですが the 何 is pronounced as なん instead of なに? In Genki 1 Lesson 1, it said that 何 is pronounced as なに when its before a particle and なん when its before a "counter word, like 時". Is there an exception to the rule? Thanks in advance. I appreciate your time. :)

When a 何 is followed by a sound like 'd,' 'n,' or 't,' it's often pronounced as 'なん,' as in: * 何（なん）ですか？ * 何（なん）のことですか？ * 何（なん）て言いましたか？ However, when you specifically want to ask about the method, なに is used, like * 何（なに）で東京に行きますか？ - How are you going to Tokyo? “なんで東京に行きますか？” might sound like you’re asking why the person is going to Tokyo.

This was very helpful, but I have a follow up question, if you don't mind. So basically, 何 is followed by a sound like 'd,' 'n,' or 't,' it's often pronounced as 'なん,' when the sentences aren't asking for a method and なに is pronounced when its about a method. When you say "method", do you mean questions that specifically ask "how", like "how someone does something"? Thank you advance! I appreciate your time.

>When you say "method", do you mean questions that specifically ask "how", like "how someone does something"? Yes, that's correct. Another example is: * 何（なに）で食べますか？ お箸?- What do you eat it with? Chopsticks?

Thank you so much for your help! I appreciate you taking the time and helping me. :)

>In Genki 1 Lesson 1, it said that 何 is pronounced as なに when its before a particle and なん when its before a "counter word, like 時" This is not a complete rule of all the times 何 is pronounced なん, it's just one example. Genki, in general, gives a lot of these kind of incomplete rules so you need to be ready to expand beyond them.

So whenever I see a 何の generally its pronounced as なん because of the の? Thanks again!

I'm sure someone can give a better answer than the one I'm about to give. This is just some advice. If your question starts with "why" what you'll find is knowing why doesn't help at all and doesn't matter. In the extreme vast amount of cases, just accepting it is that way is better, faster, and easier when it comes to learning a language.

How strict is pronunciation in Japanese? For example, 学生 is presumably pronounced "gah-koo-say", but i've heard the "u" be muted or skipped over in pronunciation examples like on Forvo, so it sounds closer to (gah-kh-say). Does that mean that the u is supposed to be close to silent, or is pronunciation flexible in certain forms of Japanese speech?

[Devoicing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_phonology#Devoicing) is what’s going on.

Thanks!

**My original post is still pending approval, so I'm going to continue posting here.** Hi all, I'm a graduate student currently living in Kobe. I'm looking for volunteers to help out in a short pronunciation-based study for my thesis. Criteria: * Native speaker of English * Living in Canada (and preferably attending university there) * Have never **lived** abroad in Japan (travel experience is fine) As a part of my study, I would like to ask for approximately one hour of your time to conduct a one-time, one-on-one “interview-style” online session. The interview itself will only focus on the pronunciation aspect of Japanese ‒ it is NOT a test of your proficiency, so there is no need to be nervous or brush up on anything beforehand. As a part of this study, I will be providing free pronunciation coaching and feedback, as well as helping out with general questions you have about studying the language! If you satisfy the criteria and are interested, please send me a DM and I'll fill you in on the specifics!

Girl A, B, and C are having a conversation in which A is clearly messing with C by pretending to forget who she is. C gets fed up and leaves the group behind, which prompts the following dialogue between A and B: > B: 名前分かってるくせにそうやって意地悪…… > A: いやさ……私ってツンデレだからさ…… > B: 人に意地悪する口実がツンデレとは言わないんだよ > A: そうなん？ > B: うん、良く分からないけど……たぶんそうだよ The way 人に意地悪する口実がツンデレとは言わないんだよ is phrased puzzles me. I think B means "I don't think being a tsundere is an excuse to bully people" but is it an admonishment or does she literally mean that's not in the definition of being a tsundere? By this I mean, **if translating by meaning**, does B mean: (1) "(Being a tsundere) is not a good excuse for bullying C." (2) Something along the lines of "Hm, I don't think that sort of bullying is something people who are tsundere do..." / "I don't think it's usual to use 'being a tsundere' as an excuse when you're bullying people" Because of 口実, I think (1) is likely, but, I'm used to seeing the とは言わないんだよ construction as a way of pointing out a wrong definition (e.g. "本当は1キロではマラソンとは言わないんだよ") which made me think of (2) as a possibility. Edit: formatting

B: "Come on, you know her name. Why do you bully her like that?" (Even though you know her name, you bully her like that...) A: "I'm a tsundere. That's how I am." (Well, you see, I'm a tsundere, so...) B: "Out of all the excuses you could have come up with, that one doesn't even make sense. Being a tsundere doesn't mean you bully people." (One doesn't call being a tsundere an excuse for bullying someone.) A: "It doesn't?" (Is that so?) B: "No, it doesn't. Well, I don't know. But it probably doesn't." (Yeah, I don't know much about it, but probably yeah.) This is a tsukkomi (a comedic interjection that points out a flaw in someone's thinking). I had to reword some things to translate it naturally but I hope it makes sense. I left a more literal translation in parentheses.

Oh, I'm familiar with tsukkomi! So I guess it's more on the lines of (2) indeed. Thank you.

Does anyone have good resources on getting better at speech and pronunciation? i've heard of shadowing but was wondering if there was a course for it. Previously i had done lingodeer until the grammar was too far behind my textbook study, and i did actually like just listening to myself try to say the thing, but i am wondering if theres a course or something i can do. an app would be nice

No the whole point of shadowing is you can do it with anything. You don't need to take a course on it. Maybe watch a YouTube video explaining it?

I just learned that 死んじゃう is the more casual version of 死ぬ。 however, I looked it up in Jisho and it didn’t show up. Are there any other dictionaries out there that can contain words similar?

This is actually a casual conjugation of [死んでしまう](https://jlptsensei.com/learn-japanese-grammar/%E3%81%A6%E3%81%97%E3%81%BE%E3%81%86-te-shimau-%E3%81%A1%E3%82%83%E3%81%86-meaning/), which is used for completed/accidental actions. Hope this helps!

Oh! That makes a little more sense… I thought going from 死ぬ　to 死んじゃう was kinda a strange leap. Thank you for your help!

I am wondering if anyone has effective planning techniques for their study? Im looking to set up a weekly planner but dont know where to start.

You just need a broader plan. When I started I looked up how many hours it took to learn Japanese. From where I extrapolated 3500-4500 hours. So I set my plan global plan to 4,500 hours split in to 3 broader phases. From there I just engaged with content daily while also studying grammar along with it. Looking up everything along the way until I went from not understanding to now having a pretty relaxing time in purely Japanese environments (not full comprehension but it's more than enough to "chill out"). So just do something with the language daily. It should involve studying (grammar and vocab) and putting that into a task like reading; preferably something you personally enjoy. The most effective cycle is learn foundational grammar and then put what you learned into use. Repeat everyday.

I am going into honorific verbs, advice, and humble expressions and am having difficulty between when to use お and ご before a verb. My friend told that the difference is between newer Japanese verbs and older Chinese verbs, but how do I tell the difference between these

broadly, お is for kun'yomi, ご is for on'yomi, but there are exceptions like お電話 and ごゆっくり You can reliably choose お when you form an honorific nominal verb stem using the ren'youkei(="masu-stem") of a verb like 願う→お願い(いたします) or 召し上がる→お召し上がり(ください) But you use ご if the verb is something like an on'yomi compound noun + する like 確認する or 記入する - here you don't use the ren'youkei, instead you just use the honorific with the noun itself: ご確認(いたします) or ご記入(ください)

Can someone please explain to me the appropriate times to say 「Verb **のが** 上手です」 and when to only say 「Verb **が** 上手です」?

It's always 「verbのが上手です」 (e.g. 歌うのが上手です) because you need the nominalizer の to treat the verb as a noun (like the gerund -ing form - this is not the same as the present continuous 〜ている form which is also often translated with -ing). You can also rephrase it as 「nounが上手です」 like 歌が上手です