studyjapanesewithlynn

[studyjapanesewithlynn]

Counting People

1人 (一人) ひとり

2人 (二人) ふたり

3人 (三人) さんにん

4人 (四人) よにん

5人 (五人) ごにん

6人 (六人) ろくにん

7人 (七人) ななにん / しちにん

8人 (八人) はちにん

9人 (九人) きゅうにん

10人 (十人) じゅうにん

[studyjapanesewithlynn]

Studying Japanese #6

こんにちは！I’ve been using Duolingo these past few days to study Japanese. It starts out really simple, which is exactly what I need considering I’m still new to Japanese. Memrise has been great so far too! Lingodeer starts out pretty difficult, so I’m leaving that one for later! One of the new basic things I learned from Duolingo is how to count to ten in Japanese!

いち       one       一    ichi

に           two　   二    ni

さん       three　 三    san

よん       four      四    yon

ご           five   　五    go

ろく       six        六    roku

なな       seven   七    nana

はち       eight　 八    hachi

きゅう    nine　 九    kyū

じゅい    ten      十     jū

Learning how to count also gives me some really simple kanji to learn! I’m not trying to learn Japanese in a few months. I’m taking it slow. I try to study a little bit every day. Consistency is key! So I just try to spend half an hour a day studying Japanese. I think that’s the only way to combine it with my homework too. 

#japan #japanese language #japanese #langblr #japanese langblr #language #languages #langblog #japanese vocab #japanese vocabulary #vocabulary #vocab #studyblr #study blog #studying #studying japanese

[studyjapanesewithlynn]

Studying Japanese #5

⋆✶⋆Basic Vocabulary - Body⋆✶⋆

からだ            body

あたま            head

かお                face

くち                mouth

は                    tooth

め                    eye

はな                nose

くちびる         lips

した                tongue

みみ                ear

くび                neck

かた                shoulder

むね                chest

おなか            stomach

せなか            back

うで                arm

て                    hand

ひざ                knee

あし                leg

あしくび        ankle

あし                feet

かかと            heel

すね                shin

もも                thigh

かみ                hair

ひじ                elbow

つめ                nail

てくび            wrist

ゆび                finger/toe

こころ            heart (when talking about feelings)

しんぞう        heart

ち                   blood

I have a lot of words to learn... I’m not particularly looking forward to it, but I need to have some discipline if I want to learn Japanese. I’ve improved my Japanese today though, and that’s all that matters.

#japanese langblr #langblr #language #japanese language #studying japanese #Japanese #japan #studyblr #study blog #studyspo #languages #study #studying #japanese vocab #japanese vocabulary #vocabulary

[studyjapanesewithlynn]

Studying Japanese #4

Voiced consonants in Hiragana

In Japanese you have voiced and voiceless consonants. Voiced consonants are made by adding two dashes (one time you add circles) to specific kana from the Hiragana and Katakana charts. You need to know these when reading Japanese.

(k -> g)  が(ga)　ぎ(gi)　ぐ(gu)　げ(ge)　ご(go)

(t -> d)  だ(da)　ち”(ji)　つ”(zu)　で(de)　ど(do)

(s -> z)  ざ(za)　じ(ji)　 ず(zu)　 ぜ(ze)　ぞ(zo)

(h -> b)  ば(ba)　び(bi)　ぶ(bu)　べ(be)　ぼ(bo)

(h -> p)  ぱ(pa)　ぴ(pi)　ぷ(pu)　ぺ(pe)　ぽ(po)

These first few days I’ve been focussing on learning the Japanese alphabets first. I sometimes wonder what I’ve gotten myself into, but I don’t regret starting with learning Japanese and I won’t give up! For anyone out there also learning Japanese, know you can do it! Consistency is key!

#langblr #languages #japanese langblr #language #japanese #studying japanese #studying #studyblr #study blog #student #japan #hiragana #consonants #japanese student #self taught #learning

[studyjapanesewithlynn]

The greatest amount of wasted time is the time not getting started.

Dawson Trotman

#studying japanese #studyspo #studying #studyblr #langblr #japanese langblr #japanese language #language #languages #learning #today i learned #qoutes #inspo #inspiration #german #french #spanish #hobbies #study blog #study motivation

[studyjapanesewithlynn]

Studying Japanese #3

Basic Japanese vocabulary - Colours

iro /shikisai      colour      いろ

aka                  red           あか

kiiro                 yellow      きいろ

midori              green       みどり

ao                    blue         あお

murasaki         purple      むらさき

shiro                white        しろ

kuro                 black       くろ

pinku               pink         ピンク

chairo              brown      ちゃいろ

haiiro               grey         はいいろ

orenji              orange      オレンジ

I’m focusing on learning a couple of new words every day. I’m going to try to learn most of the ‘1000 basic Japanese words’ list! I’m also keeping a notebook where I write down all the new words I learn. またね！

#Japanese #langblr #japanese language #japanese langblr #studying japanese #study #studying #vocabulary #japanese vocab #japanese vocabulary #japan

[studyjapanesewithlynn]

Studying Japanese #2

So I know most Hiragana characters but the Katakana is way more difficult for me to learn for some reason! I’ve been learning some easy words written in Hiragana by Duolingo and Memrise, and Tinycards really helps me learn the characters quickly! You should try out Duolingo’s decks on there.

https://tinycards.duolingo.com/

I won’t give up though! I’ve only just begun with studying Japanese, so if I don’t learn their characters now I’ll just get stuck later on!

#japanese language #japanese #japanese langblr #japan #studying #self taught #langblr #language #languages #memrise #duolingo #lingodeer #studying japanese #studyblr

[studyjapanesewithlynn]

Studying Japanese #1

Total beginner, but this is what I’ve learned so far!

1. Japanese writing exists out of three systems: Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji.

Hiragana is smooth and rounded and every character represents a sound like ‘ka’ ‘shi’ ‘sa’. Hiragana can be a part of a word or a particle or verb.

Furigana: Hiragana characters that are placed above kanji to show how you should pronounce it.

Katakana has harder edges and angles than Hiragana. Every katakana character has a hiragana character with the same sound. Katakana is used to write foreign words that have been adapted into Japanese.

Kanji in Japanese looks a lot like Chinese characters, but they’re pronounced differently and usually have different meanings too.

Romaji: Shows how you should pronounce Japanese characters by writing them in letters from the alphabet. You have the Kenrei-shiki system and Hepburn system. The latter is usually used to learn Japanese because it really shows how you should pronounce kana, while the Kenrei-shiki system is more orderly and shows what the kana would be if read from a Hiragana/Katakana chart.

I’ll learn to read all Hiragana and Katakana characters, and then gradually introduce Kanji characters into my vocabulary. 

#langblr #japanese language #japanese langblr #japanese #japan #studying #study #studyblr #study blog

[studyjapanesewithlynn]

This actually helped me a lot. I’m A0 in Japanese, A1 in German, and C1/C2 in English.

How to know which language level you’re at and tips for improving your skills - divided by proficiency level!

These are all my personal thoughts and experiences from reaching a proficient level in one language, and an intermediate in another!! Feel free to correct me or add whatever you wish<3

 1. A0 - Knowledge Level: Nothing

At this stage, you have absolutely no knowledge or very little knowledge about a language. My advice is to start out slow: the alphabet, pronunciation rules, basic pronouns, colors, etc. At this point, there’s not much you can improve on (Reading/Writing, Listening and Speaking) since you’ve got no actual knowledge to expand upon. Try apps like Duolingo, have fun with translating words such as your favorite animal, plant, or swear word. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself at this point, it’s all in good fun! Try starting a notebook in which you write down new words, (i.e. all of them) or watching a couple videos on Youtube, even if you don’t understand much.

2. A1 - Knowledge Level: Just a Bit

This is when you slowly exit the stage of “is this even a language” and enter the “beginner” world. You know a couple basic verbs (to be, to have, eat, sleep, walk, talk, etc) and some sets of basic nouns/pronouns. (weekdays, months, numbers, colors, objects you find around the house, and all that fun jazz.) You can string together a couple sentences you’ve heard twenty times on Duolingo! Regardless of the fact that “The boys drink milk” is not really something you’ll need in irl conversation, it’s good that you’re getting familiar. By this time, you should start looking into proper grammar rules such as verb terminations, tenses, noun declinations, pronouns, etc. Children’s books are a good way to learn a lot of stuff you’d need. The language is simple and it goes straight to the point, which is the only type of writing you understand, mostly. Right now, speaking is not really an option aside from learning to pronounce words right. Listening, on the other hand, can be done really easily! If you find that Youtube channels in your target language are boring or too hard to understand, music is the way to go. You’re especially lucky if you’re a Disney fan, because most of their songs are easy to remember and are dubbed in a lot of languages, so have fun with finding what fits you best!

3. A2 - Knowledge Level: Basic/Preliminary

Now we’re beginning to see some major improvements. You pick up words easier, you can read almost perfectly even if you don’t understand everything, and you can form really basic sentences by yourself. For speaking, by now you should be able to say your name, the place you live in, and maybe talk about your hobbies or your favorite stuff! It depends on if you’ve worked with a teacher until now or not, so don’t worry if you’re still struggling. As a stepping stone between beginner and intermediate, this level can either be the one when you slowly improve or make a really big jump in your skills. Listening to songs and youtube videos should be easier, but nobody is expecting you to actually comprehend everything. As for vocabulary and reading, learning new words should come more intuitively by now, but again, you’re still in the early days. Writing is still something that can be difficult, so try maybe linking a couple sentences together to make a short story and translating some simple texts. But it you don’t find it difficult, writing a hundred words once a couple days may be the way to go.

4. B1 - Knowledge Level - Intermediate

Finally, we’ve reached the intermediate stage! By now you should be able to hold very basic conversation and reveal information about yourself. You should be able to pick up words you know from the people around you, and understand mostly everything if spoken slowly and clearly to. Reading light books or magazines should be challenging but okay, while you should be able to remember certain words without making too big of an effort. By this stage, active learning is still essential, as you probably have a lot more ahead in your language learning journey. I encourage you to write short stories or several sentences about your day in a diary, depending on what works for you. Watching Youtube videos should be something you do often, because it improves listening skills greatly and gets you accustomed to informal speech patterns and filler words.

5. B2 - Knowledge Level - Advanced Intermediate

Yay! You have officially reached the advanced intermediate stage! You should be able to hold everyday conversation without too big of a headache, listening probably isn’t a breeze for you but still, if you watch a basic youtube video you can pretty much get all of it. YA books should be a regular part of your reading, since they’re not too hard to comprehend but still a good reading exercise. Vocabulary probably isn’t a bother anymore, since you know most of the words you need and the ones you don’t, you hear them once or five times and they stick to you. At this level you can probably write some basic fanfiction, or anything that doesn’t require advanced language skills but is still challenging. Congrats! You’re almost at an advanced level!

6. C1 - Advanced

If you’re still here, means you’ve got a strong sense of dedication. C1 is the advanced level, where you have pretty much everything that you need to comfortably live your life in a country which speaks your target language. If you’re already here and most of the above things seem far, far away to you, then maybe it’s time to get down on some serious reading. Look up local classics, or contemporary works that stimulate your mind. Writing essays, reviews, reports, etc, should be something you are able to do, as you have a good grasp on both formal and informal language, both literary concepts and idioms/phrasal verbs/slang. Listening should come easily, with the ability to understand everything that is spoken to you without worries, as long as they don’t have an alien accent. Speaking, too, should be a breeze by now, with everyday conversation being a piece of cake and more formal conversations not posing too big of a challenge. If you want to reach the next– and last– level, it can be done through thorough preparation of skills that are usually required by exams or for language-related jobs. If you don’t care about either of these, congrats! You learned a language! 

7. C2 - Proficient

Long past fluency, you now wish to master a language, down to its very core and history. Pick up some of the big classics to read. Watch a bunch of those complicated videos explaining complicated concepts. Write poetry and prose,and speak to people in contexts which require more than the average range of vocabulary. If you’re still not satisfied, get a damn teacher. Tumblr can’t help you now.

#japanese language #langblr #language #japanese langblr #culture #studying #studyblr #japan #german

[studyjapanesewithlynn]

Starting with Japanese

“Any reason to learn a new language is a good reason”

I’m not sure where I heard that, but it stuck with me and I can’t help but agree with it. I love learning about new cultures and languages, and Japanese has fascinated me ever since I heard it. It sounds beautiful, and I want to know more about Japanese culture, so what’s a better place to start than with Japanese itself?

I don’t have a lot of money to spare on taking classes, so I’m trying to start learning Japanese myself. There are a couple of apps I’ll try to use first:

- Memrise (For vocabulary)

- Duolingo (For grammar and learning sentences)

- Lingodeer (A language learning app that focuses on Asian languages and seems really promising, so I’ll try it out!)

School doesn’t leave me with a lot of energy to spare, but I want to spend more time studying something I love. I hope it gives me more motivation to study for school as well.

I’m starting my journey to learn about Japan today! :)

#japanese #studying #japan #langblr #language #languages #study #japanese language #japanese langblr #starting