langgo7

[langgo7]

cool new language resource i just discovered: lingotrack! it functions somewhat like polylogger, allowing you to log your activity for languages, but, more than that, it has an explore section where you can find media that's in a particular language, such as books, tv shows, films, etc! one of the hardest things when you reach a more proficient level of a language is finding media in that language to engage with, so i think this is probably a good resource, or at least a place to get started. besides the explore function, there's also collections of media/resources, and a library function where you can add your own resources. it does require you to have a paid account to log study time for multiple languages (the free version allows you one primary language), but the other aspects seem to be available to free users in their entirety!

[langgo7]

Podcast Review: ことのは

Podcast Title: 日本語の会話のpodcast −ことのは−

(にほんごのかいわのpodcast −ことのは−)

Available On: Spotify, YouTube

Ease of Listening: ★★★★★

Length of Episodes: ★★★★★

Level of Engagement: ★★★★★

Episode Frequency: ★★★★★

Overall: ★★★★★

Today I will be reviewing the Japanese conversation podcast ことのは (Kotonoha) by Yamamo-sensei and Kibi-sensei. They have episodes for all levels, separated by JLPT level N5-N1 and labeled so you can determine which episodes best suit your level or challenge yourself with a higher level.

Do I currently listen to this podcast?: Yes, I like this podcast a lot and listen to it frequently.

General Overview

Good For Levels: Beginner | Intermediate | Advanced

In this series, Yamamo and Kibi, two Japanese language teachers based in Japan, speak on a variety of topics in a conversation style of podcast. The conversation-style format is good for training your ear to listen to questions and responses, and every day banter between two speakers. They talk about Japanese culture and their own personal experiences which gives listeners an insight to the particulars of daily life in Japan.

Length of Episodes ★★★★★

The podcasts are usually around 20-30 minutes long. This is ideal for a commute or when you have some down time. They cover 2-3 subtopics within each topic they pick, so the conversations are very interesting and catch my attention and they don't seem too short or too long. They plan out each conversation topic carefully and keep it interesting and informative.

Level of Engagement ★★★★★

The conversation format is very engaging because they cover 2-3 subtopics within the main topic and structure the conversation to focus on each point of the topic. They keep the listener engaged with carefully planned-out topics and conversations, and there is obviously a lot of work that goes into their podcast. They match the vocabulary and pace of speaking with the level they are targeting, but even in the higher level podcasts I believe beginners would be able to catch the general flow of the conversation and challenge themselves to understand the content.

Episode Frequency ★★★★★

New podcasts come out once a week, and with the planning that goes into each episode it's a very good pace. There is also a lot of episodes already produced so you can go through them fairly quickly without running out of material.

Overall ★★★★★

This podcast is designed by two Japanese language teachers to convey information about Japanese culture completely in Japanese. The episodes are labeled by JLPT difficulty and I find the label system to be very accurate. It is a good podcast with which to practice your listening skills for every day conversation and to learn a bit more about Japanese culture.

[langgo7]

my friend and i were going to study a language together and wound up having to cancel our plans due to scheduling pressures, but! through research we came across a really cool resource for reading in a TON of languages: bloom library!

as you can see, it has a lot of books for languages that are usually a bit harder to find materials for—we were going to use it for kyrgyz, for example, which has over 1000 books, which was really hard to find textbook materials for otherwise. as you can see it also has books with audio options, which would be really useful for pronunciation checking. as far as i can tell, everything on the site is free as well.

[langgo7]

Japanese Apps instead of Duolingo

Beelinguapp

Bluebird

Bunpo

Busuu

Clozemaster

Drops

HeyJapan

Hiragana Quest

Infinite Japanese

kawaiiDungeon

Ling

Lingodeer

Lingopie

Lingvist

LingQ

LyricsTraining

Mango

Mondly

Oyomi Japanese Reader

renshuu

Takoboto Japanese Dictionary

Todaii

Qlango

Write It! Japanese

[langgo7]

you know how mathematicians have the journal of recreational mathematics, right? where they publish stuff like, ‘oh i found this cool property of this one seemingly boring number’, or, ‘this is literally nonsense but it sounds ~scientific~’ and it’s all great fun to read?

well

behold, the journal of recreational linguistics

with such delightful papers as ‘tennis puns’, ‘animals in different languages’, and ‘gifts from a homonymous benefactor’

excuse me while i go read all 50 volumes in one sitting

[langgo7]

Duolingo Sucks, Now What?: A Guide

Now that the quality of Duolingo has fallen (even more) due to AI and people are more willing to make the jump here are just some alternative apps and what languages they have:

"I just want an identical experience to DL"

Busuu (Languages: Spanish, Japanese, French, English, German, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Polish, Turkish, Russian, Arabic, Korean)

"I want a good audio-based app"

Language Transfer (Languages: French, Swahili, Italian, Greek, German, Turkish, Arabic, Spanish, English for Spanish Speakers)

"I want a good audio-based app and money's no object"

Pimsleur (Literally so many languages)

Glossika (Also a lot of languages, but minority languages are free)

*anecdote: I borrowed my brother's Japanese Pimsleur CD as a kid and I still remember how to say the weather is nice over a decade later. You can find the CDs at libraries and "other" places I'm sure.

"I have a pretty neat library card"

Mango (Languages: So many and all endangered/Indigenous courses are free even if you don't have a library that has a partnership with Mango)

"I want SRS flashcards and have an android"

AnkiDroid: (Theoretically all languages, pre-made decks can be found easily)

"I want SRS flashcards and I have an iphone"

AnkiApp: It's almost as good as AnkiDroid and free compared to the official Anki app for iphone

"I don't mind ads and just want to learn Korean"

lingory

"I want an app made for Mandarin that's BETTER than DL and has multiple languages to learn Mandarin in"

ChineseSkill (You can use their older version of the course for free)

"I don't like any of these apps you mentioned already, give me one more"

Bunpo: (Languages: Japanese, Spanish, French, German, Korean, and Mandarin)

[langgo7]

Beginner Manga Recommendations for Japanese Learners

It's time, you've done your due diligence in studying. Now it's time to jump into native material. But where to start? Here are a few manga series that I've read that I think would be a reasonable place for a Japanese learner to start their immersion journey.

Disclaimer: I haven't read every series, and the manga that's interesting to me might not be interesting to you. We also all encounter different words as we go along our language learning journeys. A series that I find relatively easy might have you looking up every other word. The trick is to not get discouraged and just keep on pushing through! As with everything, it gets easier the more you practice.

消えた初恋 - アルコ＆ひねくれ渡: This BL series follows a group of four friends and their experiences with love in high school (it also has a drama adaptation that I highly recommend! Available to watch for free on Viki). This series is so silly and just a fun time. The art has great visual gags and it's definitely a series where you can sit down and not even realize that suddenly you've gone through an entire volume and why didn't you buy more of this series to start with? It has furigana on everything, but the characters do speak pretty casually, so there's some slang and less standard language. This series is completed with nine volumes.

佐々木と宮野 - 春園ショウ: This is another sweet BL about Miyano, a high school first year, who catches the eye of an upperclassman, Sasaki. After asking to borrow Miyano's book, the two bond over a shared enjoyment of BL manga. The vocabulary is pretty simple in this one as well, but it does use quite a bit of otaku slang, which can be difficult if you've never encountered it before. It has furigana on everything, though! This series is ongoing with nine volumes and also has a spin off series titled 平野と鍵浦 which is also ongoing with four volumes.

月刊少女野崎くん - 椿いづみ: The first manga I ever read in Japanese! This series follows a high schooler, Sakura, as she confesses to her crush and classmate, Nozaki. However, Nozaki thinks that Sakura is just a fan of his shoujo manga series, and recruits her to be his assistant. This series is so enjoyably silly with a wonderful cast of characters that absolutely steal the show. There's a bit of vocabulary specific to the process of making manga, but it isn't too overwhelming. There's also plenty of casual speech and some great moments that can't quite come out in translation (bonus fact: I actually wrote a paper on this series and how humor is translated in one of my university linguistics class). It also has furigana on everything. It's ongoing with fifteen volumes.

加瀬さんシリーズ - 高嶋ひろみ: This adorable little GL series follows two high school aged girls, popular and athletic Kase and the shy gardener Yamada, as their relationship develops over their high school years. The vocabulary in this one is relatively simple with the exception of some more specific words, but those tend to pop up time and time again. This one doesn't have furigana but I think it's a great introduction to readying manga without furigana! This series is completed with five volumes, but there's an ongoing sequel series called　山田と加瀬さん that currently has three volumes released.

ささやくように恋を唄う - 竹嶋えく: This is a music based GL series about a high school first year, Kino, who tells an upperclassman, Nagi, that she loves her music. Nagi, however, misunderstands this as Kino confessing her love for her. The story follows both the relationship between Kino and Nagi as well as the trials and tribulations of Nagi's band. This is another one without furigana, but the vocabulary tends to be simple enough that I think it's still pretty accessible. It's ongoing with eight current volumes.

かけた月とドーナッツ - 雨水汐: Our last GL, this follows two coworkers, Uno and Satou, and their blossoming relationship in a society that pushes conformity and marriage on women. I really loved the way this series depicted coming into one's sexuality as an adult. Another one without furigana, but simple vocabulary regardless. A possible difficulty with this one might be the office vocabulary, though. This series is completed with four volumes.

[langgo7]

Hey! I'm Samuel (サムエル) (not Sam) and my pronouns are he/him.

I'm studying Japanese at university and self studying Mandarin Chinese less intensively. I have a whole list of languages I want to learn, though (off the top of my head, Vietnamese, Thai, Arabic, Hebrew, Spanish, and more).

My first language is British English.

I'll post about my progress, general language learning stuff, useful ways to learn and just stuff about culture/pop culture of the countries whose languages I'm learning. I'll also post about things I find helpful as a person with ADHD, as I don't think I approach things in the standard way.

But yeah, hi ig.

(My main is shiny-sylveon00).

#langblr #language learning #polyglot #japanese #chinese #new langblr #languages