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Hey guys! DON’T read the following tweets.

Like don’t. I’m not advocating for you guys to have access to materials not many can afford.

Don’t use any of these sites while I’m you’re in school.

Because let’s be honest, you should not have access to information

Like I said, don’t share this. Don’t get this out there to help a student.

[i-speak-for-the-stars]

I’ve been meaning to make this post for a while but I’m only getting around to it now because of the Power of Wanting to Procrastinate On Something Else.

You may be familiar with Ebbinghaus’s research on forgetting. Specifically, a graph that looks like this:

[Graph Source]

The TL;DR is that the more times you review something, the more you retain long-term. That’s why cramming may get you through a test, but you’re going to forget everything by the next semester.

So what exactly am I posting about? Well, I wanted to offer you my system for hijacking my memory systems to make sure I retain things with absolute minimum effort expended. I use this chart for all my classes (that I care about):

This is the ONLY reason I got an A in Statistical Methods II, considering I had forgotten everything from Methods I by the time I took it. Basically, just write down the section/concept/chunk of information and the date you first learned it. Then write down the next day’s date, then the date three days out from when you first learned it, then six days out from when you first learned it. I usually also pick a day before the exam/final to review each section.

As I go through the semester I check if I need to review something on a given day and then mark it off with a highlighter once I’m done. I try for maximum efficiency, usually by reading the textbook one day before the lecture (or one day after the lecture) then either doing the homework or just skimming back through my notes on day three. If I really, really, really need to understand something and I’m having trouble (like every single stats class ever) then I’ll re-write my notes on day 6 and combine the textbook + lecture notes.

It’s the lowest possible effort, because you don’t need to do anything fancy to review. Just spread things out as much as you can to take advantage of how your brain consolidates memories. Oh, and sleep. PLEASE SLEEP. You NEED sleep to retain information. I cannot stress that enough.

[i-speak-for-the-stars]

Hey guys! DON’T read the following tweets.

Like don’t. I’m not advocating for you guys to have access to materials not many can afford.

Don’t use any of these sites while I’m you’re in school.

Because let’s be honest, you should not have access to information

Like I said, don’t share this. Don’t get this out there to help a student.

[i-speak-for-the-stars]

Allergies

アレルギー: allergy (ger: Allergie)

アトピー: atopic; predisposition toward allergies

アレルギー症状/アレルギーしょうじょう [アレルギーしょうじょう] allergy symptoms

ナッツアレルギー: nut allergy

食物アレルギー[しょくもつアレルギー]food allergy

ペニシリンアレルギー: penicillin allergy

アレルフリー: allergy-free

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14.2) Conditional Forms (たら)

Hey everyone! 👋🏾 Sorry I’ve been MIA for a few months. I moved up to full time at my high school this school year, so work has been kicking my butt. Anyway, here we go with a new post, just for you!

Last time we talked about the conditional なら and 4 ways to use it. In this post, let’s look at a different conditional form and when you might use / see it in everyday Japanese.

Here is your vocabulary:

【The Grammar】

Japanese has many helping verbs that add extra meaning to verbs and adjectives. One of these helping verbs is た, which shows that a verb is in past tense. Because た is a helping verb, it turns out that there are different forms you can use for different purposes*. たら is the conditional form of た!

In the same way that た can be attached to verbs and adjectives, so can たら. There is also a たら version of the copula for nouns. In addition, it can also attach to the negative forms of verbs, adjectives and nouns.

【What It Means】

A たら clause indicates that there is an event that needs to happen first in order for a second event to happen. This will translate to either “when”, “after” or “if” clauses in English, depending on the situation. Take a look at the following 3 English sentences:

Even though たら has 3 different interpretations, the timing of the events is always the same. The event of the たら clause (clause 1) will always happen before the second event (clause 2).

【たら = When】

Let’s look at situations when たら means “when”:

①｛昨日、デパートへ行ったら｝、｛友達に会った｝。

= yesterday when went to the department store, saw friend

= Yesterday when I went to the department store, I saw my friend.

②｛試験が済んだら｝｛長期休暇をとるつもりだ｝。

= when tests were completed, take long vacation plan exists 

= When my tests are done, I plan to take a long vacation.

【たら = After】

Sometimes, たら translates instead to “after”

③｛薬を飲んだら｝、｛頭痛が治った｝。

= After medicine drank, headache was cured

= After I took some medicine, my headache went away.

④｛食べたら｝｛宿題をし始める｝。

= after ate, homework will start

= After I eat, I’ll start my homework.

Notice that the literal translation of the たら clause is past tense however it’s the tense of the second clause that determines the real translation. Example 3′s second clause is in past tense, so the first clause will also become past tense. In example 4, the second clause is not in past tense, so the translation is not in past tense either.

【たら = If】

The majority of the time though, たら translates to “if”.

⑤｛雨が降ったら｝、｛タクシーで行きましょう｝。

= If rain fell, by taxi let’s go

= If it rains, let’s take a taxi (there).

⑥｛お母さんがお金をくれなかったら｝｛どうしよう｝。

= if Mother didn’t give us money, what should do

= If Mother doesn’t give us money, what should we do?

⑦｛もしよかったら｝、｛コーヒーでも入れてくれませんか｝。

= if it was good, can I receive you making some coffee = 

If it’s OK, can you make some coffee for me?

In order to clearly show the “if” meaning of たら、the adverb もし is often used at the beginning of the sentence. It also helps to soften the meaning of the sentence.

【Alternate Reality たら】

たら sometimes is used to talk about alternate realities. The nuance here is that either something didn’t happen or that if something didn’t happen the outcome would be very different.

You can see that example 8, the speaker imagines a reality where he/she didn’t have the listener’s help in the first clause. Because the second comment is something that is not good (できなかった) this ends up showing appreciation. In example 9, the speaker imagines a reality where he/she did something. The comment says that it would have been better so this ends up expressing disappointment / annoyance.

In these kinds of sentences, the nuance section is very important because it will tell you if the sentence is expressing appreciation, regret, disappointment or just imagining a different timeline. Common sentence endings are のに (for regret) and だろう (for asserting a point).

【たら = How About If…?】

The final way that たら sentences are sometimes used is for suggestions.

⑩ もうちょっと塩味をきかせてみたら？

= if you added a little more salt (that might solve your problem)?

= You should add a little more salt.

As you can see, the nuance is that by doing what comes before たら, it might be a solution to whatever is the problem. In keeping with たら meaning “if”, you can think of this usage as “How about if…?”. But a more natural way to think of this is a suggestive “you should…”.

【The Second Clause】

Let’s end by talking a bit about the second clause. One thing to remember is that it has to be something that the speaker can’t control. In example 1, seeing a friend wasn’t something planned so this sentence sounds natural. If you replaced 友達に会った with 服を買った, it would sound strange because buying clothes is something that you can control.

Example 4 might seem like it goes against this rule. The truth is, because we can’t control the future, starting your homework is taken as intent and not as forecasting the future. Japanese is very weary of saying that something will happen if it’s not 100% guaranteed to happen.

【Conclusion】

So there you have it! I hope that now when you see たら tacked on to the end of words that you will have a better idea of what is going on. I hope that you also try using it in your daily conversation and see how your listener reacts. Smooth conversation means you did it right!

Next time, we’ll continue our look at conditional forms. See you then!

Rice & Peace,

– AL (アル)

👋🏾

* There are three forms of the た helping verb: (1) た (2) たら and (3) たろう. 

たろう is rarely used but it asserts that something would have been the case. For example, “If he didn’t help me, I would have failed.” This is similar to the alternate reality section in this post.

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Planty Stuff Pt.2

Harvest shūkaku 収穫

Rose bara バラ

Dew ro 露

Salad sarada サラダ

Greenhouse onshitsu 温室

Stem of the flower hana no kuki 花の茎

Tomato tomato トマト

Lawn mower shibagariki 芝刈り機

Tulip chūrippu チューリップ

Banana tree banana no ki バナナの木

Bench benchi ベンチ

Wood mokuzai 木材

Birch tree shiro kabanoki 白樺の木

Bouquet of flowers hanataba 花束

Bud. tsubomi つぼみ

Broccoli burokkorī ブロッコリー

Boxwood tsuge no ki ツゲの木

Bush busshu ブッシュ

Bulb kyūkon 球根

Cactus saboten サボテン

Celery serori セロリ

Cherry tree sakura さくら

Fungus ma kin 真菌

the way michi 道

Oak ōku オーク

Honeysuckle suikazura スイカズラ

Cabbage kyabetsu キャベツ

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basic conjunctions & connectors

しかし: however

また: also

この後: after that

その時: at that time

場合は: if you, if this happens

例えば: for example

それから: then

だから: so

. ˚◞♡   ⃗ 📷 *ೃ༄: I'm not totally sure on the translation but pls correct me if I'm wrong, byee and have fun learning- fibbi

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Fish words🐠🐟🐡

Kanji 魚

魚 【ギョ】 depicts a fish, which is also its original meaning.

On readings: ギョ

Kun readings: うお、さかな、[⋯ざかな]

魚[さかな]fish

魚屋[さかなや]fish market; fish dealer

魚肉[ぎょにく]fish meat

魚介[ぎょかい]marine products; seafood; fish and shellfish

魚釣[さかなつり]fishing

魚眼[ぎょがん]fish eye

魚粕[うおかす]fish meal

魚網[ぎょもう]fishing net

魚心[うおごころ]favor done for somebody

魚礁[ぎょしょう]fish reef; reef where fish live and breed

魚鋤[うおすき]seafood and vegetables cooked sukiyaki style

魚市場[うおいちば]fish market

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Free Kana iPhone Wallpaper

Something that helped me a TON with learning Kana was having my lock screen be a chart for either Hiragana or Katakana. Having the repetition of looking at the chart over and over will lock the information deeper into your consciousness. It’s a simple trick that gives you a little extra push to your existing routine.

I tried finding lock screen wallpapers for the kana charts online, but I didn’t find any that I liked that were clean, bold, or fit my lock screen well.

So I made my own!

I know it’s nothing special, but I figured I’d share incase anyone wants it.

If you want to use this yourself but want a different color, literally just send me an ask with the color code and i’ll make it for you!

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Planty Stuff Pt3.

Soil dojō 土壌

Lime tree raimu no ki ライムの木

Sunflower himawari ひまわり

Tree trunk ki no miki 木の幹

Garden hose niwa no hōsu 庭のホース

Worm wāmu ワーム

Orchard kajuen 果樹園

Vineyard budō hatake ぶどう畑

Leaves ha 葉

Flowers grow hana ga sodatsu 花が育つ

Gloves tebukuro 手袋

Green beans ryokushoku no mame 緑色の豆

Vegetables yasai 野菜

Lenses renzu レンズ

Weeds zassō 雑草

Garden tools engei kōgu 園芸工具

Peas endō mame エンドウ豆

Chickpeas hiyoko mame ヒヨコマメ

Garden shed niwa no koya 庭の小屋

Weed zassō 雑草

Water the flowers hana ni mizu o yaru 花に水をやる

Picking flowers hana tsumami 花摘み

Plant kōjō 工場

Push osu 押す

Mow the lawn shiba o karu 芝を刈る

Fertilize koyasu 肥やす

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とんでもない

① that's okay, no problem, don't mention it

Aさん：　この前はありがとうございました。 　　　　　Thank you for the other day. Bさん：　いいえ、とんでもないです。 　　　　　No, that was no problem.

Aさん：　この前はすみませんでした。 　　　　　I'm sorry about the other day. Bさん：　いえ、とんでもないです。 　　　　　No, that's okay.

② unthinkable, unexpected, offensive, outrageous

Aさん：　日本語の勉強をやめましょう。 　　　　　Let's stop studying Japanese. Bさん：　とんでもないことを言っていますね。 　　　　　What you are saying is outrageous.

③ absolutely not, far from it, no way

彼が学者だなんてとんでもない。 He is anything but a scholar.

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Let's Learn Natively (TL :Japanese) | Reading

Why it's important to read as much native materials as you possibly can in your target language and where/how to start.

※ When learners first embark on their journey of picking up a new language, the first thing we do is familiarize ourselves with the alphabet, pronunciation, and other important innerworkings on the language. With Japanese, the first step is to learn hiragana and katakana. A lot of people stop in the middle of that because they feel that it's not worth learning the language if they have to learn that many letters. But what if you've made it past that point? Where do you go from there? Of course, we move on to basic grammar and sentence structure so that you can begin to understand why sentences are formed the way that they are. (and, of course, vocab words).

※ However, while textbooks and workbooks do teach us the way that sentences are formed, it's stiff. Of course, the purpose behind that is to make sure that you understand the basics before you move on to more native/nuanced versions of the structures. But once you're ready to do that, where do you go? Click below to keep reading:

★If you're ready/interested in reading native material, and you don't know where to start, I highly recommend trying out Natively. Think of this as a goodreads for Japanese learners.

★If you're concerned about picking a book or series that's too difficult or too long for you, the website has already taken that into account. The website is structured so that all of the books and series that are on there are added, graded, and reviewed by fellow Japanese learners. The grading system that is utilized goes from Level 0 to Level 41; the grades roughly correspond with JLPT levels (if you're preparing for the JLPT and are trying to prepare for the reading comprehension section). You can learn more about the grading system by clicking here.

★The website includes all sorts of books: textbooks, graded readers, light novels, manga, novels, children's books, short stories, and other kinds of books. When you click on a title or see it in the search results, the color coded grade will pop up next to it. These grades are user-determined. When users finish reading a book, we're prompted to grade the difficulty level in comparison to other books that we may have already read. In doing so, the difficulty level of the book might change when calculated in with other reviews. The point of this is to help fellow learners gauge what types of reads you find find difficult and which ones you find to be easy. Here's an example photo:

☞Caveat: don't feel discouraged if you found a book to be difficult even though it didn't seem like it would be. Everyone thrives in different areas and different subjects. Just because something was graded at N5 and you had difficulties with it at N3 doesn't mean anything--it might mean that it wasn't something to your liking. There are some series that I have difficulty with because of pacing or because I lacked interest in it. ❀ If you're worried about reading a book or series on your own and you're looking for friends to read and discuss about it with, come join us over on the discord and propose it as an option in the bookclub. ㉄ Can't find a particular book or series that you're looking for on the website? You can request for it to be added here.

★ The website is also equipped to let you "organize" your library into categories and track your reading progress. Additionally, you can make your library and reading progress private if you don't want anyone to see. As I'm currently using this blog to be as open as I can possibly be on my language learning journey, mine is made public. Feel free to check me out on the website.

★This is not sponsored, but if you receive a welcome message from Brandon, the owner and creator of the website, tell him that maobuchou sent you (that's me! ☺️). Brandon is really nice, so if there's anything that you're confused about or if you have suggestions for the website, he has an option for you to contact him.

★If you're interested in seeing what I'm currently reading, what I'm interested in reading next, and what I've graded thus far, click here to follow me (I'll follow back). Following other users allows you take a peek at what books they're reading. I also update my profile to say what book is also being read in the discord bookclub.

There will be more posts to come in the future about ways to become comfortable with reading in your target language.

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肌「はだ」のケアの単語

I’ve been watching a lot of J-beauty YouTubers and getting into Japanese skincare. I might make another skincare vocabulary post just because I love talking about skincare lol

Routine/Product Vocabulary 

クレンジング: oil cleansing, *can use する with this word

メイク落とし 「おとし」：makeup remover

メイク落としを使う 「つかう」：to use makeup remover

洗顔 「せんがん」: water based cleansing, *can use する with this word

化粧水 「けしょうすい」: it’s translated to lotion in English buts it’s more of a hydrating toner

美容液  「びようえき」：essence/serum/ampoule

乳液 「にゅうえき」: lotion/emulsion 

化粧水 / 乳液を付く 「つく」：to put on toner/lotion

保湿「ほしつ」クリーム：moisturizing cream like the thicker stuff for dry skin

日焼け止め 「ひやけどめ」 クリーム：sunscreen

美容液 / 保湿「ほしつ」クリーム / 日焼け止めクリームを塗る 「ぬる」：to put on serum/moisturizing cream/sunscreen

Skin Types

乾燥肌 「かんそうはだ」：dry skin 

脂性肌 「あぶらしょうはだ」：oily skin 

混合肌 「こんごうはだ」：combination skin 

 敏感肌 「びんかんはだ」：sensitive skin 

普通肌 「ふつうはだ」：normal skin

[i-speak-for-the-stars]

so much of learning japanese is looking at the grammar rules and going “what?? why?!?”

[i-speak-for-the-stars]

嵐　「あらし」　storm

淹れる　「いれる」 　to make (tea, coffee)

歳下　「としした」　younger

歳上　「としうえ」　older

柊　「ひいらぎ」　holly

父親　「おやじ」　father

濡れる　「ぬれる」　to get wet

虹色　「にじいろ」　rainbow-colored

匂い　「におい」　odor

半端　「はんぱ」　remnant, half-hearted

見出す　「みいだす」　to find out, to select　

綴る　「つづる」　to spell, to write, to sew together

射す　「さす」　shine

覆う　「おおう」　to cover, to hide

憂鬱　「ゆううつ」　depression, melancholy

居候　「いそうろう」　freeloader

椅子　「いす」　chair

亡くなる　「なくなる」　to die

嬉しい　「うれしい」　happy, joyful

黄昏　「たそがれ」　dusk, twilight

虹　「にじ」　rainbow

瞳　「ひとみ」　pupil

観る　「みる」　to see, to watch

同棲　「どうせい」　cohabitation, living together

哀しい　「かなしい」　sad, miserable, lamentable

夜更け　「よふけ」　late at night

愕然　「がくぜん」　astonished, shocked

昏睡　「こんすい」　coma, deep sleep

闇　「やみ」　darkness, the dark

滅入る　「めいる」　to feel depressed

淋しい　「さびしい」　lonely, lonesome

自虐　「じぎゃく」　self-torture, masochism

群青　「ぐんじょう」　ultramarine

薄闇　「うすやみ」　very dim light

悪寒　「おかん」　chill, shakes

翻弄　「はんろう」　having at one's mercy, toying with

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cozy Japanese youtube channels~

here are some youtube channels I recommend if you want to enjoy some easy-going, chill content in Japanese ^-^

Haru ch. はる🌷　🌿 i recommend her animal crossing streams! her town is really pretty and the language she uses is quite easy to follow ^^

nao　🌿 she makes wonderfully calm and relaxing videos of her daily life. she doesn’t talk in her videos but she narrates what’s she’s doing via subtitles (if you prefer reading then you’ll enjoy this channel!)  

Choki　🌿 similar to naoさん. lovely aesthetic/asmr videos following her daily life (and lots of delicious cooking!)

カフェとノート / Nakanote　🌿 stationary/study channel. i really like her narration style and note-taking tips!

in living.　🌿 one my fave youtube channels! she chats about recent purchases, moving house, morning/night routines etc. super chill and enjoyable to watch.

those are my recommendations! let me know if you end up watching any of these channels (and if you have similar recs please reply and i’ll check them out!)

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雨の音・The Sound of Rain

ぽつぽつ　in drops, falling lightly

ぱらぱら　falling in large drops (e.g. rain, hail), pattering, clattering

しとしと　gently raining, drizzling

ざあざあ　raining heavily

どしゃどしゃ　downpour, pouring rain, heavy rain