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[pickleblrs]

I changed my phone to japanese for the challenge today! challenge by therealpolygot

#i legit put this on my reblog blog and didnt notice until just now

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hey, sorry i havent been posting recently! ive been really busy w various things

since its artfight season, i think im gonna take a break from my langblr a bit until its over so i dont burn myself out

see y'all then!

[pickleblrs]

finally learnt my first 103 kanji using these worksheets!

now that i am finished with JPLT N5 kanji i can move onto JPLT N4 kanji! wish me luck! 

if you want to download these sheets for yourself here’s the link: https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/619889025/jplt-n5-kanji-printable-worksheets?utm_medium=SellerListingTools&utm_campaign=Share&utm_source=Raw&share_time=1528531198000&utm_term=so.slt

happy studying!

#printables #writing #kanji #queue

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Would you look at this, two (2) different practice printables for N5 vocab! (Hey, @pika-pii, I believe you asked? I hope this helps!)

☑  Proofed by native speakers (please do still contact me if you have corrections!) ☑  11 questions and answers (2 A4 pages total) for some light practice ☑  Multiple choice ☑  Totally free in every way!

Download here.

more like this | my posts | buy me a coffee | let me know how you do!

#printables #queue

[pickleblrs]

How To: Understand and Play Video Games in Japanese

The best way to learn a language is to immerse yourself in it. That can be tricky when you’re not living in a country where they speak the language you want to hear. In this post I’ll be showing you how you can study Japanese using video games - and learn while having fun! 

Step 1: Choose your Game 

The first step is to choose the game you want to play in Japanese. Be realistic - can you access the Japanese copy of this game? Is your console region-free? Can you change the language settings on your console to Japanese? Most importantly, can you locate the Japanese script online? … That leads us to step two. 

Step 2: Locate the Japanese Script

Locating the Japanese script can be easy if it’s a popular game. A simple google of ‘[Title] Japanese Script’ can normally bring up the result you want. Usually the script will only contain character’s spoken text, and not include information such as menu items and options. You may need to research this vocabulary separately through playing the game or observing screenshots. A list of popular RPG titles and Japanese subtitles can be found on this reddit thread and KanjiKoohii here.

Step 3: Text Mining with User Local

Website link: [Here]

UserLocal is an incredible website that analyses text for you. You can input a massive amount of text, and in a few seconds you will have downloadable, analysed data. The best part is… it’s free! Paste your whole game script into the box as detailed below and click ‘テキストマイニングする’.

Step 4: Utilize the Data

Once UserLocal has analysed your text, it provides a bunch of useful charts and data for you to browse and utilize. First, it provides a spider-web graph which shows the relationship between vocabulary used in the game. Second is a word cloud of the most-used vocabulary words. I have anaylsed ‘Final Fantasy X’, and below you can see that the most used words are character names ‘ ’ユウナ’ (Yuna) ‘ティーダ’ (Tidus), and so on. THIS is the document you want to download by pressing the green button next to ‘ワードクラウド’. 

The website organizes vocabulary into Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives, whilst showing the amount of times the vocabulary is used. You may find that you recognise a lot of the commonly used verbs, ‘する, ‘くる’ ’思う’ and so on. However, in order to progress through the game in Japanese it’s the less-frequently used vocabulary that you have to study! 

Step 5: Figure out What You Need to Know 

On downloading the data, I open it with Numbers (Mac OS) or Excel (Windows OS). I then go through the list and highlight what words I know and can read with ease (Green), words that I think I know but I’m not 100% (orange), and words I can’t read or I’ve never seen before (Red). Some of the most frequently used words in games aren’t words you’ll often see in daily Japanese, ‘召喚’ for example means ‘summon’ and is used when talking about summoner spirits in Final Fantasy…  despite not being used often in daily life, it is in the top 10 nouns of the Final Fantasy X script, so I gotta know it! 

Step 6: Learn your Vocabulary!

You will need a good concept of grammar to understand the game, however if you’re looking to play a whole game in Japanese I have to assume you already have your grammar down! The main step is learning the vocabulary, which you can do using SRS software such as Anki. 

Step 7: Play your game!

I don’t recommend starting to play the game until you have the vocabulary memorized. Nothing is more soul-destroying than thinking your Japanese is incredible, only to play a game or watch a film for 2 minutes before realising you know nothing! Remember: this isn’t necessarily an indication of your ability, it just may be that your video game has very specific vocabulary! 

Step 8: Enjoy Learning while Having Fun!

That’s it! You can also apply this method to movies, anime, and any other material you can get an online script for. 

#ref #reading #queue

[pickleblrs]

Topics to write about in your target language(s)

These are for a range of different levels so do what you can!

Introduce yourself. Talk about your birthday, hobbies, languages you speak, etc.

Create characters and introduce them

Talk about your favourite book/book series. Why do you like it?

Favourite movie?

Favourite animal(s)?

Least favourite animal(s)?

What’s the weather like outside? What was it like yesterday? What do you hope it’ll be like tomorrow?

Describe your favourite colour without using the word

Talk about a childhood memory

Talk about a family member

Describe your pet/a pet you want

Where do you see yourself in the next year? next 5 years? next 10?

Describe your dream date

Complain about something that’s been bugging you lately

Talk about your day

Write a letter to anyone. Your mom, your friend, a stranger you saw on the train

Write a poem

Write about anything but the first letter of each sentence has to spell a word

Write what you need to do in the next week, month, year

Talk about your favourite food

What was your favourite story you read as a kid? Who read it to you?

Why did you start learning your target language(s)?

What language(s) would you like to learn in the future?

Talk about a dream you had

Pretend you’re at a restaurant. What type of conversations will you have there?

What’s something you’d never tell anyone? Why would you never tell anyone?

Your pet suddenly got the ability to talk. What do they say to you?

You’ve woken up somewhere you’ve never been before. Describe what it looks like

What do you want to do in the future?

Dream trip?

Do you want kids? Why or why not?

Translate a conversation you had with someone

Talk about your favourite weather

Favourite season?

Pretend you’re telling your childhood stuffed animal something

Write a to-do list

Talk about your favourite plant(s)

Write about something funny that happened to you or someone you know

Write about a time you were scared

A time when you were happy

Sad

Angry

Miserable

Give a summary of different books/movies you’ve read/watched

Write about your favourite teacher. Why did you like them?

What’s your favourite meal? Who makes it?

What’s your dream job? It doesn’t have to be realistic

What names do you like. Why?

Write about one of your fears

What motivates you to learn your target language(s)?

#ref #writing #langblr #queue

[pickleblrs]

Devoicing in Japanese

Okay, so full disclaimer here: this is gonna be a kind of difficult post to make without any Native Audio recordings to explain this, since this is an explanation of phonetics. Bear with me though, cause this is something that can boost your Japanese accent a LOT, with relatively little effort. Also, there’s gonna be a fair amount of explanation here cause I have to teach you some words about how your voice works and stuff. 

So what exactly *is* devoicing? It’s probably actually easier to explain voicing first, so I can get to explaining what devoicing.

Voicing

is basically just a fancy linguistics term for moving your vocal cords when you make a sound; try holding your fingers against your throat when you say “aaaa”. Do you feel it vibrating? Those are your vocal cords making sound. Try making a “t” sound by itself without a vowel, holding your fingers against your throat. You don’t feel it vibrating, do you? Try it now with “d”. 

The only major difference between the sounds ‘t’ and ‘d’ make in English is their voicing; T is devoiced, D is voiced.

Japanese has 4 major pairs of Voiced and Devoiced consonants.

K · G

S · Z (J)

T(Ch)  · D

H/P  · B

If you know Hiragana, you can almost 1:1 correlate this to characters with and characters without tenten (ie た and だ)

So now that we have that out of the way, how do we put it to use to actually make us sound better?

In Standard Japanese, ‘i’ and ‘u’ get devoiced between unvoiced consonants.

That probably doesn’t seem like a large revelation by itself, but it can actually improve the way you sound by a lot!

Try saying the sentence ‘くたくただった’ without devoicing anything; it doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, now does it? Now try pronouncing it devoiced, something along the lines of ‘k’tak’ta datta’. 

It’s a lot easier to say, isn’t it?

Here’s a few more words to try out:

すかすか - Hollow (s’kas’ka)

すき - Appreciated (s’ki)

できた - Was Able To (dek’ta)

Here are a few more side notes, for those more interested in phonetics.

If the mora with the i or u is a downstep, devoicing isn’t a necessity; you can do it if you want, and a lot of natives do, but it won’t sound unnatural if you don’t.

If there’s an i or u at the beginning or end of a word, it may be partially or completely devoiced (This is why you probably learned to pronounce です as ‘des’. The u lies at the end, so it gets devoiced to “des’”.)

I’m sorry for this super rambly lesson! It’s my first post on Langblr, and since I don’t have any access to Native Audio, it’s really hard to explain phonetics stuff! I really want to go more in depth into Pitch Accent though, so please follow me on @aki-no-arashi if you want to keep up with any of that!

#speaking #queue

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みんなさんこんばんは。今日のチャレンジはテレビを見るので日常のアニメを見たんだ。

でももうちょっと疲れたので少ししゃべるのことだけを訳す

みお：ねむかった  Mio: im sleepy

ゆうこ：みーおーしゃん！ Yuuko: miioo shan!

みお：何？その笑顔 Mio: Whats with that smile?

ゆうこ：ノート見せて！ Yuuko: let me look at your notebook!

みお：まさかまた宿題忘れたの？ Mio: Did you really forget your homework again?

ゆうこ：いやあお恥ずかしいかぎりで  Yuuko: ugh im so embarrassed

単語：

恥ずかしい - shy, ashamed, embarrassed

かぎり - (after adj) very

しゃん -

sorry its so short today! I really did watch TV for a while, but typing it all up was too time consuming...

Challenge by @therealpolyglot as always

#level up language challenge #nihongo #japanese #langblr #studyblr #original

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all of the japanese resources i use;

to take notes

google drive

notebook

grammar

imabi

guide to japanese

jgram

japanese test 4 you

puni puni japan

yes japan (japanese from zero)

japanese ammo

vocabulary

japanese test 4 you

mango languages

duolingo

memrise

puni puni japan

essential japanese kanji vol 1

japanese ammo

learn 101

i love languages

101 languages

language guide

my languages

i languages

culture

japanese ammo

reading

bilingual manga (yotsuba&)

mangaz

bookwalker

comico

mangabox

comic walker

writing

learning japanese hiragana and katakana workbook

mango languages

listening

netflix

anime lab

anime planet

reference

tangorin

textbooks

genki (beginner)

basic japanese

tumblr blogs

@learnjp

@japanesetest4you

@studying-conversation

@learnjapanesebod

@qkv-japanesevocab

@japanese-with-anime

@master3languages

@punipunijapan

@kokoninihongogaarimasu

youtube channels

learn japanese from zero! - grammar, culture, vocabulary

japanese ammo with misa - grammar, culture, vocabulary

learn japanese -  grammar, culture, vocabulary

learn japanese 123 video -  grammar, vocabulary

puni puni japan -  grammar, vocabulary

japanese with hanako -  grammar, vocabulary

that japanese man yuta - culture

learn japanese from some guy -  grammar, vocabulary

kemushi chan - culture

ask japanese -  culture

rachel and jun - culture

apps

hello talk - apple / android

duolingo - apple / android

drops - apple / android

memrise - apple / android

mango languages - apple / android

beelinguapp - apple / android

italki - apple / android

hinative - apple / android

lingodeer - apple / android

#resources #queue

[pickleblrs]

みんな、おはよう！

I made these printable grid sheets for my own use, and thought I would share them here!

I couldn’t find grid paper that had interior lines in different colors, so I made my own. (I chose a light blue color for contrast without being too distracting.) I made these in Photoshop, and then saved them as images. Then, I printed them to PDF files. These are standard U.S. legal size (8.5″ x 11″) sheets, but Tumblr shrunk them slightly.

The download links below will direct you to the PDF versions of these sheets (which are 8.5″ x 11″). They are hosted on my Dropbox account. I hope these help you with writing practice! (I actually printed 1 of each and had them laminated so I could write on them with a dry erase marker and re-use them!)

If you have any suggestions for more printables, feel free to let me know! ^_^

DOWNLOAD:

5 mm grid paper: Dropbox

10 mm grid paper: Dropbox

#kanji #writing #resources #queue #printables

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今日のチャレンジイはイメージを書き表すのことです。 これは僕の猫の古い写真ですよ。 ここに毛布が２つある。オレンジと青いです。 そして, 毛布の上に言葉がある。 この猫はちょっと太いですけどめちゃかわいいね! 猫は緑目があるで, 茶色毛皮です。 大好きだよ! Challenge: @therealpolyglot

#language level up challenge #日本語勉強 #日本語 #langblr #japanese study #original #i hope you dont mind im @ing you for these

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〜時（とき）・ when…

This is about the use of 〜時 as a suffix to mean “when…” in a dependent clause. The construction is simple (but usage can get tricky).

Before 時, use a verb in plain form, a 〜い or 〜な adjective, or a noun + の. (You can add a に after 時/とき. It’s optional and, when used, puts the emphasis on time/that time.)

Vう / た / たい… + 時(に) 

Adj.い / かった + 時(に) 

Adj. + な / だった + 時(に) 

N. + の / だった + 時(に) 

A few examples:

With a verb: 

この映画を観た時、私は眠れない。 （この えいがを みた とき、わたしは ねむれない） When I watch this movie, I can’t sleep.

通りを渡る時に気をつけて。 （とおりを わたる ときに きを つけて） Be careful when you cross the street.

彼女は外へ行く時手袋をします。 （かのじょは そとへ いく とき てぶくろを します） She wears gloves when she goes outside.

あなたは考えたいときにどこに行きますか？ （あなたは かんがえたい ときに どこに いきますか？） Where do you go when you want to think?

With an adjective:

母はイチゴが安い時にたくさん買っておいた。 （ははは いちごが やすい ときに たくさん かっておいた） My mother bought a lot of strawberries when they were cheap.

暇な時に私と一緒にランチに行きましょう。 （ひまな ときに わたしと いっしょに らんちに いきましょう） Let’s have lunch together when you are free.

With a noun:

学生の時よく勉強しました。 （がくせいの とき よく べんきょうしました） I studied hard when I was a student. 

Notes (here’s the slightly tricky part, imo):

1) If the subject of the 〜時 clause is different from the main clause, use が.

私が高校生だった時父は海外で働きました。 （わたしがこうこうせいだったときちちはかいがいではたらきました） When I was in high school, my father worked abroad.

2) If the verb before 時 (i.e. in the dependent clause) expresses a state and the main clause is in past tense, then the verb before 時 can be either past or non-past. (There can be nuances, but—yeah.)

私は日本にいる／いた時彼女に会った。 （わたしは にほんに いる／いた とき かのじょうに あった） I met her when I was in Japan.

寂しい／寂しかった時この音楽を聞きました。 （さびしい／さびしかった とき この おんがくを ききました） When I felt lonely, I listened to this music.

3) When the verb before 時 (i.e. in the dependent clause) expresses an action or movement, the meaning of the sentence changes depending on the tense you use. (The thing to keep in mind is that you have to read the tense before 時 in relation to the tense of the main clause.)

日本に行く時、日本語を勉強しました。 Before going to Japan, I studied Japanese.

日本に行った時、日本語を勉強しました。 When I went to Japan, I studied Japanese.

日本に行く時、日本語を勉強します。 Before going to Japan, I’m going to study Japanese.

日本に行った時、日本語を勉強します。 When I go to Japan, I’m going to study Japanese. 

A/N: I’m just starting to wrap my head around this (in other words, trying to learn this expression correctly instead of using it haphazardly), so if anyone wants to help clarify, you’re very welcome! 

#grammar #時 #時に #queue

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im gonna start queuing reblogs ive had saved for a while~

#pickle talks #delete later

[pickleblrs]

hey!! i need more studyblrs to follow so reblog this if you post:

studyblr aesthetics

japanese

history/art history

culture studies

italian

university studyblr

thank you!

[pickleblrs]

@languagesandshootingstars ありがとうございます!

#pickle talks

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Good evening! Challenge day 3 entails finding 10 cognates, aka, words in Japanese that sound the same and mean the same thing as in English! Of course, some of them are slightly different due to the language, but i believe it still counts!

さあ、始めましょう！

１．イメージ - image

２．ジュース - juice

３．エレベーター - elevator

４．ドラマ - (tv) drama

５．ホテル - hotel

６．カメラ - camera

７．カレンダー - calendar

８．ガラス - glass

９．テレビ - televi(sion)

１０．マッチ - match

Challenge: @therealpolyglot

#japanese #nihongo #langblr #studyblr #vocabulary #original

[pickleblrs]

こんばんは！今日のLEVEL UP CHALLENGEは。。。音楽を覚えるのことですよ！

だから、ヨルシカの言って勉強します。

それで、始めましょう！

*Given this is my first time fully translating a song, theres some things im unsure about. I put a lot of things i was having trouble with at the endnotes. If anyone wants to take a look and help me out, id really appreciate it!

言って

Say It

あのね、

hey,

私実は気付いてるの

to tell you the truth, I've already started to realize

ほら、君がいったこと

you see, about that thing you said

あまり考えたいと思えなくて忘れてたんだけど 

I didn't really feel like thinking about it and I forgot but

盲目的に盲動的に妄想的に生きて

living blindly, rashly, delusionally

衝動的な焦燥的な消極的なままじゃ駄目だったんだ

and impulsively, impatiently, and negatively that way didn't do me any good

きっと、人生最後の日を前に思うのだろう

surely, when I think before the last day of my life

全部、全部言い足りなくて惜しいけど

it wouldn't be enough to say that everything, everything was precious, but

あぁ、いつか人生最後の日、君がいないことを

ah, on the last day of my life, you won't be here

もっと、もっと、もっと

more, more, more

もっと、ちゃんと言って

more, clearly say it

あのね、空が青いのって

hey, i don't know how to convey to you

どうやって伝えればいいんだろうね

that the sky is blue

夜の雲が高いのって

i don't know how to make you understand

どうすれば君もわかるんだろう 

that nighttime clouds are long

言って

say it

あのね、私実はわかってるの

hey, to tell you the truth i understand

もう君が逝ったこと

that you're already gone

あのね、わからず屋って言うんだろうね

hey, you're probably calling me an idiot right?

忘れたいんだけど 

i want to forget it but

もっとちゃんと言ってよ

say it more clearly

忘れないようメモにしてよ

write it down so you don't forget it

明日十時にホームで待ち合わせとかしよう

meet me on the platform tomorrow at 10 or something like that

牡丹は散っても花だ

a peony that scatters is still a flower

夏が去っても追慕は切だ 

even if summer passes it's still earnestly yearned for

口に出して

say it with your mouth

声に出して

say it with your voice

君が言って 

it's you who has to

そして人生最後の日、君が見えるのなら

and if I can see you on the last day of my life

きっと、人生最後の日も愛をうたうのだろう

surely, on the last day of my life too, ill sing of love

全部、全部無駄じゃなかったって言うから

because you say that everything, everything, wasn't all a waste

あぁ、いつか人生最後の日、君がいないことがまだ信じられないけど 

ah, I still can't believe you won't be here on the last day of my life but, 

もっと、もっと、もっと、もっと

more, more, more, more

もっと、もっと、もっと、君が

more, more, more, it's you who has to

もっと、もっと、もっと、もっと

more, more, more, more

 もっと、ちゃんと言って 

more, clearly say it

Unsure Sentences:

きっと、人生最後の日を前に思うのだろう

*only really because im not completely sure how 前に works here

あのね、わからず屋って言うんだろうね

not,,, completely sure what to translate this to. especially in a way that sounds eloquent

全部、全部言い足りなくて惜しいけど

this whole thing was basically guesswork + me vaguely remembering the old english translation i read for this song a long time ago. i sort of get 言い足りなくて means “saying isnt enough”. but 惜しい meaning both “precious” and “regrettable” is a doozy. On top of that, i dont entirely get the grammar being used here, so if anyone has an explanation thatd be great.

牡丹は散っても花だ 

I think i get what this means, even if my phrasing could be better. But actually, i wanted to make a note because i remember in another yorushika song “petals falling” is in reference to a young life ending. so i think here its saying like, “even if you die young, you still have worth.” or something like that.

夏が去っても追慕は切だ 

i feel like theres a lot of ways to translate this and im not sure which ones the best/which makes the most sense >.>

あのね、わからず屋って言うんだろうね 

全部、全部無駄じゃなかったって言うから 

to me, its unclear who is saying this here, but since im guessing it wouldnt be quoted if its the singer, and the only other character is “you”, i decided to go with my gut and hope for the best

also,,, these could be interpreted as future tense >.>;;;;

New words / words i don't remember well:

気づく・ 気付く - きづく - to notice, to realize

盲目的(に) - もうもくてき(に) - blind (trust, devotion, ect)

盲動的 - もうどう・ぼうどう acting rashly

妄想 - もうそう - delusion

衝動的 - しょうどうてき - impulsive

焦燥 -  しょうそう - impatient

消極的 - negative, unmotivated, passive (???)

的 - てき -like, typical

惜しい - regrettable / precious (???)

伝える - つたえる - to convey, to communicate

待ち合わせ - まちあわせ - appointment

ホーム - train platform

牡丹 - ぼたん - peony

散る - ちる - to fall (blossoms, leaves)

去る - さる - to leave / to pass, to elapse

追慕 - ついぼ - cherishing the memory of, yearned for

切 - せつ - eagerly, earnestly

無駄 - むだ - futility, a waste

信じられない - しんじられない - unbelievable

わからず屋 - わからずや -blockhead

That took,,,, way longer to translate than i thought it would! I dont do a lot of japanese typing on my computer, so that doesnt help much either. Anyways, theres another “learn the lyrics to a song” day in this challenge later on, so i think im gonna use that to come back to this. My initial plan was to translate to get a good understanding and then memorize the lyrics, but i just dont have the time or energy today :( anyways! thanks for any help anyone can give me on this! and thank YOU for reading!

Challenge by: @therealpolyglot

#japanese #langblr #nihongo #level up language challenge #studyblr #long post #original #edit: went back and changed a few tiny things