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#japanese #japan #japanese vocab #learning japanese #manga #langblog #tumblr language #langblr #japanese vocabulary

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Marugoto notes on giving and receiving

#japanese study #japanese studyblr #grammar #japanese langblr

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☁️💙 A kanji dump💙☁️

#japanese #learning japanese #langblr #kanji #top 100 #list #vocab

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#grammar #japanese #learning japanese #japan #japanese vocab #langblr #nihongo #study #flowchart #tips

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Last time, you learned how to make subjects of Japanese verbs with the particles が and は: 雨が降る (new information) and 雪は降らない (contrast). In this lesson, you will learn how to make objects of Japanese verbs by using the particles: を, に, and と.

#japanese #nihongo #日本語 #grammar #learn japanese #learn japanese online #study #online #website

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あいづち

Paying attention in Japanese

When talking with Japanese people, in English or Japanese, you might notice that they frequently nod or interject something like はい or yes frequently while you are talking. This participatory style of communication characterizes spoken Japanese. With あいづち (aizuchi) or short interjections, the listener is letting you know that they are following you.

If the listener doesn’t show any reaction during a conversation, a Japanese person might feel uneasy and stop and ask if you understand. In some cases they may repeat what they said if they assume you don’t follow the conversation. Over the telephone this might happen if the listener doesn’t respond enough, with the speaker asking もしもし？ to see if the listener is still there.

あいづち is an important part of Japanese conversation, and even if it seems strange at first, with enough practice it will become second nature.

Examples of あいづち

はい (does not necessarily mean “I agree” when used as あいづち; formal)

ええ (less formal than はい)

うん (more casual than はい and ええ; sounds closer to a short, hard “mm” sound in English)

ああ (”ah, I see”; less formal)

へえ (”no way”; casual)

そうですか (”is that so?”; formal)

そうですね (”I see”; less formal)

そうっか (”I see”; casual)

そう (”I see”; casual)

そうなんですか (”oh really?”; expresses with extra emphasis)

ほんとうですか (”is that true?”; formal) 

ほんとうに (”oh really?”; less formal)

マジ (”really?”; casual)

なるほど (”I see”, “that’s right”; formal)

You can always start with a nod (in person of course) to show the speaker that you’re listening, or interject a friendly はい when the speaker pauses (Japanese people will do this because they are used to receiving あいづち). Then start throwing in a new one each time you have a conversation and you’ll be on your way to becoming an あいづち natural!

#interjections #talking #reference #japanese #日本語 #japanese language #japanese langblr #langblr #studyblr #conversational interjections in japanese #speaking japanese #あいづち #相槌

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Japanese Resources

Essentials

Rikaisama - Pop-op Dictionary - based on Rikaichan Yamasa.cc - Learn Handwritten Stroke Order Anki - Spaced Repetition Software Japanese Stack Exchange - Ask Questions, Get Answers Dictionary Codes and Meaning - ex: v4k, vi Chinese and Japanese Characters Mnemonics - Stroke Orders, Lists, Study Sheets A better Japanese font for Windows web browsers Verb Conjugation Chart - gaoshukai Similar Kanji Lookup

Dictionaries

Jisho.org Tangorin - English⇆Japanese Online Dictionary Honyaku Star - Simple and Fast Dictionary | No ローマ字 | Specifically for Translators JLect - Japanese Dialect Word Search TMdict - vocabularies from games, books, anime, and other works by Type-Moon.

Kanji Alive_ Web App - Kanji Lookup, Stroke Orders, Examples, Picture Mnemonics Kanji Dictionary - 漢字辞典 Etymologies - A comprehensive, illustrated dictionary with etymologies, pictographs & definitions in English and Japanese More Eymologies - Traditional & Simplified CH/JP Oichan’s Dictionary - CN/JP/EN Dictionary Proverb Dictionary - Dutch, English, and Japanese

語源由来辞典 - Etymology Dictionary 平明四字熟語辞典 - 4-Character Idiomatic Compound Dictionary 故事ことわざ辞典 - Proverb Dictionary 日本語俗語辞書 - Colloquial Language Dictionary 日本語コロケーション辞典

IT用語辞典 e-Words - Internet and Technical Terms 三省堂 Web Dictionary - Sanseido Weblio - 辞書 - Main Dictionary Weblio - シソーラス - Thesaurus Weblio 翻訳 - Translate alc.co.jp - Another Great Dictionary goo.ne.jp - Goo’s Dictionary kotobank.jp - Uses yahoo.co.jp dictionary with a nice Interface Tatoeba - Example Sentences Tsukuba Corpus 複合動詞レキシコン - Compound Verb Lexicon Yamasa.cc - Learn handwritten stroke order kotoba.ne.jp - Extremely useful once you learn its capabilities Excite.co.jp’s Dictionary with Pitch Accent

Software

Houhou SRS - Dictionary + SRS Tagaini Jisho - Dictionary on each OS zKanji - Another Dictionary + SRS Capture2Text - Get Text from Manga and Other Images JGloss - Automatically annotate Japanese text with readings and translations KanjiTomo aard OmegaT - Translation Memory Tool Foreign Language Text Reader Learning With Texts Language Tool - Proofreading/Spellcheck Program Lingoes - Dictionary & Translation StarDict Wakan - Dictionary App for Chinese and Japanese

Thesauri

Goo.ne.jp’s Thesaurus 類語同義語辞典 - Quasi-synonym/synonym Dictionary

Learning the Language

Wanikani - Learn Kanji Through Spaced Repetition (Paid Subscription) Japaneseclass.jp - Vocabulary and Kanji Kapibara - Apps and Materials U-biq - Japanese study Japanese Stack Exchange - Ask Questions, Get Answers Tae Kim’s Guide - Site for Complete Beginners Chinese and Japanese Characters Mnemonics - With much more material Japanese Parts of Speech - 日本語 Japanese Linguistics - General Terms, Parts of Speech, Particles, etc - General Linguistics Loanwords - gaoshukai.com Esaura - Q&A site dedicated to J<->E translation. Lang-8 - Write Journals, Get Corrections from Natives (All Languages) Japanese Reading Practice with Tanaka Corpus Tips on Japanese JLPT Study Materials JLPT Vocabulary Lists HiNative - Q&A OnomatoProject - Practice Japanese onomatopoeia (擬音語) and mimetic words (擬態語) with examples and illustrations!

Grammar

Imabi - Lessons From Basic to Classical Japanese | Everything You Need for Grammar Kanzen Grammar - Sentences broken down in detail JGram - Japanese Grammar Database Renshuu.org - Over 600 entries for Grammar Jtest4you Auxiliary Verb Chart

Radicals

Kanji Radical Names - 仮名 and ローマ字 214 Traditional Radicals - From Kanji Alive Radical Names in Japanese - with kanji used More Kanji Radicals

Kana

Rapid Recognition Trainer for Hiragana and Katakana Multiple Font and Stroke Magnifier Kana - Anomalous Cursive Syllabary

Advanced Learning

Mistakes & Differences Guide Different Kanji With Same Reading and (Usually) Meaning Slight Different Meanings Read Your Level

Reading Material

Aozora Bunko - Japanese Project Gutenberg Bauddha.net - Similar to Aozora Children’s Reading Material - Fairy Tails Reajer - Bilingual Texts & Frequently-updated Language Blog

Manga & Light Novels

Comico - Manga & Light Novels Mangabox Vomic - Manga with Voice (Mac users download VLC web plugin) Kadokawa - Free Comics

Light Novels

Tueee 小説を読もう！

Anime

AniChart Anime List Hummingbird - MAL Alternative Anime Recommendation Finder

Crunchyroll - Watch Anime Legally Japanese Subtitles

News

SmartNews - Japanese Smartphone News App SANSPO.COM（サンスポ） NHKニュース and NHK Easy Version 朝日新聞 - Asahi and Children’s Edition Japan Times Japan Today MATCHA and Easy Japanese Version - Japan Travel Magazine Metropolis Magazine | Japan’s Number 1 English Magazine Tokyo Weekender - English Magazine Yomiuri, Children’s Edition, and English Edition Easy News - Newsinslowjapanese.com Nikkei Sankei

Japanese Sign Language

ITEC More Lessons

Dialect Study

JLect - Dialect Word Search Osaka-Ben Kansai-Ben Kansaiben.com Kansai-Ben Word List

Pitch Accent

U-Biq Pitch Accent Diagram Excite.co.jp’s Dictionary with Pitch Accent OJAD Online Japanese Accent Dictionary

Recommended Books

White Rabbit Japan - Buy Things From Japan - A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar - A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar - A Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar - Dictionary of Misused Japanese - Kanji Dictionary - 1006 Kanji Picture Dictionary - ALC’s Japanese for Business: Business Etiquette

J-LIST - Buys Things From Japan - Handbook for Newcomers, Migrants and Immigrants to Japan - Bilingual - Encyclopedia of Japan - Bilingual

Amazon - The Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Dictionary: Revised and Expanded - Kodansha’s Furigana Japanese Dictionary (Kodansha Dictionaries) - The Kodansha Kanji Dictionary - The Original Modern Reader’s Japanese-English Character Dictionary - The New Nelson Japanese-English Character Dictionary

Culture & Life

AFA Channel - Japanese Pop Culture Video Channel Becomming Legally Japanese - Information on Naturalization Danny Choo - Culture Japan Japan-guide - Your Guide to Japan Japan Subculture Research Center - Yakuza and other cool culture information Just Bento - Blog About Bentos Just Hungry - Japanese Food & Recipes néojapanisme Spoon & Tamago - Japanese Art, Design, and Culture What Japan Thinks - Surveys of Japanese People Niponica - Free Multilingual Magazine in HTML, PDF, or E-Book Nippon.com - Your Doorway to Japan

Music

JPop Asia - Asian Music Videos, Top Charts, Lyrics, & Forum Kasi-time - Lyric Search Utamap - Another Lyric Search utaten - Lyrics with Furigana Lyric Get - Copy Lyrics on Restricted Japanese Lyric Websites

Information

JLPT - Japanese Language Proficiency Test Information JNTO - Japan National Tourism Organization JET Programme - Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme Japanese Language Schools - List of language schools in Japan Society for Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language

Scholarships

JASSO - Japan Student Services Organization Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program - U.S. Citizens

Work

GaijinPot - Jobs and Other Information Japan Today Jobs - International Jobs in Japan Kansai Flea Market - Jobs, Classifieds Metropolis Classifieds O-Hayo Sensei - The Newsletter of (Teaching) Jobs in Japan White Companies - Information

Wanikani Extensions

KaniWani - Reverse WaniKani Duendecat - Sample Sentences from WaniKani Progress WaniKani to Anki Exporter

Misc

Free Japanese Kana and Kanji Fonts http://www.find-job.net/startup/ Convert Japanese Dates and Western Dates Japanese History - Wikibooks Japanese Ghost Stories - Hyakumonogatari Reading Speed, Comprehension and Eye Movements While Reading Japanese Novels - Scholarly Article Hinoki Project 何年.jp/ - Japanese 平成 (Heisei) Year Lookup Math Symbols & Readings Traditional Colors of Japan - With Hex Values Color-sample - Colors in detail Onomatopoeia Picture Game - in Japanese Kanji Used in Important Documents Free Beautiful Handwriting - Handwriting Practice Sheets with Your Own Data

#masterpost #resources #japanese #master list #日本語 #nihongo #learning #references #tips #guide

[taeastudy]

みんな、こんにちは！元気ですか。

最近、仕事は助かれているけど、漢字チャレンジを続けるのが頑張る！げんき１」のレッスン１０をまだ始めなかった。週末に始めたい…頑張る！

とにかく、漢字チャレンジが好き！難しくてけど、楽しいも！

–

What I’ve been doing to learn how to recognize kanji:

1. Pick apart the kanji and break it down into its components (also called ‘primitives’ in the RTK method, which are fully indexed on this blog). Reference Japandict and KanjiAlive for radicals to better understand how the kanji is put together. (Why this is easier than trying to memorize all the radicals)

2. Come up with a story that links the kanji’s keyword with its components. If I can’t come up with my own story, check Kanji Koohii and/or Heisig.

3. If the keyword seems odd or hard to remember, copy/paste the kanji into jisho.org to see if there’s a better meaning. Cross-reference this meaning with Heisig’s keywords (using this list) to avoid redundancy. (This article talks about renaming keywords a bit more.)

4. Edit the card in Anki during steps 2 and 3 as needed.

5. Do reviews in Anki.

–

This article incorporates learning how to write the kanji during the above process:

Read through the story and write the kanji down, listing the primitives next to it.

Say the kanji character’s story to yourself aloud while you write it and create a mental image of the story.

Go into Anki and do your review for the day. As you review each kanji, write it out on paper. If you get it wrong, re-read the character’s story, write the kanji out again 2–3 times, and say the story aloud as you write.

I have yet to try this, but I want to give it a shot. Recently, I’ve been growing more and more convinced of the utility of handwriting kanji to help learn them, differentiate them from each other, and make them stick in my long-term memory. (Check out this article!)

–

Additional resources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sspUdoV9Il0 - A hilarious video by Chris (Abroad in Japan) about the RTK method

https://hochanh.github.io/rtk/rtk1-v6/index.html - Lists all 2200 kanji in volume 1 of RTK (the newest 6th edition) with links containing animated stroke order and stories from both RTK and Kanji Koohi

https://rtkwiki.koohii.com/wiki/Walkthrough - Tips from people who got through the RTK method successfully, organized by lesson

https://www.japandict.com/kanji - Wonderful online dictionary with different search functions, including by radical (what Heisig calls ‘primitives’)

https://kanjialive.com/214-traditional-kanji-radicals/ - Full list of radicals

#japanese #japanese language #japaneseblr #langblr #kanji #nihongo #studyblr #日記 #日本語 #ダイアリー #learning #guide #links #masterpost

[taeastudy]

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

#resource #japanese #japanese language #japaneseblr #langblr #printables #guide #kana #grid #worksheet #practice

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How I Study Japanese Grammar

My process for studying Japanese from the Genki textbook hasn’t changed since my previous post about the subject (see the links at the end of this post). However, the format of my notes has changed - and this is what I’m going to talk about in this post!

Keep reading

#langblr #japanese #japanese langblr #language #japanese language #japaneseblr #日本語 #notes #grammar #tips #advice #note taking #nihongo #self study #guide

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How I Study with 「げんき」

I’ve had some comments and questions asking how I study Japanese with the Genki textbook. I thought I’d break it down in writing, and try to explain my method.

始めましょう！～

Keep reading

#langblr #study #tips #advice #notes #note taking #studying #guide #japanese #nihongo #genki #workbook #textbook

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heya! as i’ve posted this morning, i’ve prepared a #lockdownstudyblr challenge for anyone who has to stay inside! i’m lucky enough to go to work every morning but i figured this challenge could help you guys stay productive and help us to motivate ourselves all together! here’s the prompt:

x day one : your to-do list

x day two : what are you studying at the moment ?

x day three : favourite subject

x day four : your dream job

x day five : show your notes!!

x day six : study routine

x day seven : your favourite motivation quote

x day eight : why did you join the studyblr community (explain your tumblr url) ?

x day nine : one thing you want to learn during this lockdown

x day ten : favourite stationery 

x day eleven : favourite book

x day twelve : show us your desk/room!

x day thirteen : what’s your method to be productive ?

x day fourteen : who’s your favourite studyblr ?

x day fifteen : did you reach the goals you set for November ?

i’ve done fifteen days for now, i’ll see if you guys are interested for more if we’re still stuck at home !

the challenge will start tomorrow (12th of November) but you can start whenever you want :)

feel free to tag #lockdownstudyblr and #heyaly if you decide to do it ♥

stay safe and take care !

- aly

#oooh i wana try ! #studyblr #studyspo #challenge #November #productivity #study

[taeastudy]

studied particles and made a list of vocab that’ll be handy in my beginner conversations 🌸

#you can’t tell but the brightness is on -37 #langblr #nihongo #vocab list #google spreadsheets #spreadsheet #japanese #hiragana #kanji #list #study #organization #studyblr #studyspo

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evening hiragana and particle studies ! ☕️

#this is my first post I’m so awkward skjdhdjd #notebook #notes #studyblr #studyspo #langblr #nihongo #japanese #learning #hiragana #particles #desk #pens #stationery #stationary #taeastudy #aesthetic #my post

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From Beginner to Intermediate: an intense plan for advancing in language

Introduction

I've studied Spanish at school for 3 years and now I'm at a low B1 level. I can actually understand pretty well while listening or reading but I can't communicate fluently.

This plan will include vocabulary build up, some grammar revision, a lot of listening, reading and writing. And could be used for the most languages, not only Spanish.

Plan

Every day:

Conjugate one verb in present, past and future tenses

Make a list about 10 - 30 words long

Create flashcards with them and start learning them (I use Quizlet for flashcards)

Revise yesterday's set of flashcards

2-3 times a week:

Read an article or a few pages from a book

Write a few sentences about anything in your target language

Listen to one episode of podcast (at least one)

Once a week or every two weeks:

Watch a movie in your target language, preferably animated movie as the language used there is easier. You can watch with subtitles

Grammar exercises

Translate some short text

Once a month:

Write something longer, like an essay or report, on chosen topic

Additionally:

Talk to yourself, to your friends, to your pets

Text with someone

Look at the transcription while listening to the podcast for second time

Repeat what you hear (in podcast or movie)

Check words you don't know from the listening and reading

Read out loud

Listen to music in your target language - you can even learn the text and sing along

Watch YouTube in your target language

Change your phone language to the one you're learning

Think in you target language!!!

***This is very intense plan for self-learners, you don't have to do all of these things in the given time. Adjust it to your own pace. I'll try to stick to this, if I have enough time.***

#self study #learning plan #japanese #nihongo #language learning #schedule #plan #calendar #studyblr #studyspo #langblr

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#kanji #reference #poster #studyblr #helpful #japanese #nihongo #learning #begginer #language #langblr

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Hello! I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but how do you become proficient at handling conversations in Japanese/handling grammar very well? I read your post on the JLPT, and it addressed issues I have been tip toe-ing around--indeed, passive actions such as listening or reading are easier than the active ones. How did you go about that? Did you write a bunch of sentences daily? Did you have a conversation partner? What would you rec. to someone who lives outside Japan? Thank you!

This is an excellent question, and one that I get asked a lot irl by Japanese people in particular. Let’s talk about gaining fluency and the ways we can go about it!

How to Gain Fluency in Japanese (and Other Languages)

Speaking Fluency versus Accuracy

Language proficiency is divided into two separate categories:

Fluency: Although there are no widely agreed-upon definitions or measures of language fluency, someone is typically said to be fluent if their use of the language appears fluid, or natural, coherent, and easy as opposed to slow, halting use. In other words, fluency is often described as the ability to produce language on demand and be understood.

Accuracy: Correctness of language use, especially grammatical correctness and word choice.

By the above definitions, a “fluent” speaker may make grammatical mistakes, but they can speak without having to stop and think too much about conjugations, word choice, etc.

An “accurate” speaker can speak with nearly zero grammatical/word choice mistakes. However, the speed of their utterances isn’t generally taken into account, so it could take an “accurate” person twice as long to articulate the same idea as a “fluent” person. 

Ideally, you need to strike a good balance between these two qualities when speaking. I have a boss, God bless him, who is 100% fluency and 0% accuracy and…man is it hard to understand what he’s saying sometimes, but he can generally get his point across just barely. I have another coworker who is 100% accuracy and takes about 3 minutes to form a sentence because he wants it to be perfect. 

How to Increase Speaking/Writing Accuracy

First, let’s talk about the easiest thing to improve, which is accuracy. It’s also (in my opinion) the least fun thing to improve, because it means grammar books and vocabulary memorization. 

You can only use a language accurately if you know what is correct and what is incorrect, and you can only learn that by studying grammar and vocabulary (or if you’re a native speaker and picked it up innately, you lucky bastard).

So here’s some things you can do to increase your accuracy:

For example, if you’re having a hard time using the passive, you need to review that part of your textbook and find some exercises to drill it into your head. 

Say the correct thing aloud. Lots. Sometimes I just walk around my apartment and narrate everything I see/do like a crazy person, but that’s good practice. 

Write example sentences using the grammar you’re struggling with and say them aloud too. 

There’s a bunch of cool apps that connect you with native speakers that can help correct you too! I used to use HelloTalk, I think. 

If you’re a creative soul, when I was studying for the JLPT, I took 1 grammar point and 5 vocabulary words from my JLPT study books and used them to write a 2-page short story about the adventures of ネギ, a stray black cat that smelled like green onions because she napped in an onion field. Then I had a Japanese friend check it over for me and mark mistakes. I hand-wrote them to improve my abysmal handwriting at the same time. It was really fun! I sometimes think about doing it again just for funsies.

When someone corrects you, don’t feel like your entire life is over and you’re a failure and you’ll never get it right haha. I’ve seen people fall into that hopeless mindset, and that’s just nonsense. It’s a good opportunity for learning and nothing more! Say the correct thing you’ve just been taught out loud, then write it down if you can. And, if possible, find a chance to use it in conversation asap.

How to Increase Speaking/Writing Fluency

Now this is the hard one. Especially for those learners who do not have native speakers nearby. 

I’m going to be dead honest with you. I started formally studying Japanese at uni, and I had a Japanese roommate/best friend since year one. I had a 4.0 GPA in my Japanese classes (and only my Japanese classes lol) because I was and still am a MEGA NERD about it. 

…But it wasn’t until I studied abroad in Japan my 4th year of uni that I gained fluency. 

There are a lot of things that can hold us back from fluency. An interesting thing I’ve noted is that Foreign Language is perhaps the only subject in which a student’s personality can directly affect their progress. To gain fluency, you have to go forth and speak, but if you are naturally a shy person, that is going to hinder you. If you are the kind of person who takes mistakes/failures poorly, you will be less likely to take risks and try to say harder sentences. In contrast, you can get full marks in math regardless of the above personality traits. 

I’m not saying that you have to be an outgoing explosion of a human being in order to gain fluency. But what I am saying is that you have to be willing to seek out conversations, and you have to be willing to take chances. Get out of your comfort zone. Use that new word you picked up the other day. Try to explain something that is difficult for you. 

My problem was that, while I lived with a native speaker who would have happily taught me anything I asked, her English proficiency was much higher than my Japanese proficiency. And when I struggled to say something in Japanese, I’d fall back onto English. And when she told me something I didn’t understand in Japanese, she’d repeat it in English instead of Japanese, because that was easier for us both. The same thing happened when I was in Japanese class as well. I always had the assurance that I could fall back on English.

But when I elected to study abroad in Japan for 3 months, I knew that this was my big chance. So on the host family form in the “other requests” area, I wrote that I specifically wanted a host family that could not speak English. I was setting fire to my crutches, and I was scared but excited to see them burn. 

By the end of my three months in Japan, I had gone from “Chotto matte kudasai” and needing a minute to form my reply, to “Okay, yeah I see that movie too and I liked the action scenes, but I didn’t care for the story little.” (I’ve underlined mistakes that I would have made in Japanese, to show you that I sacrificed some accuracy to obtain higher fluency.)

So, in short, the easiest and quickest way to increase your spoken fluency is to throw away all the crutches you can and use the language as much as possible. Every single day. Even if you’re just having an imaginary conversation with yourself! And like I said, there are a bunch of cool apps that connect you with Japanese people who want to learn English and you can do language exchanges with them. I had a lot of fun with those in the past. 

As for increasing writing fluency…well. That’s a tough question with Japanese, because I can type Japanese at like 100 wpm, but my Japanese handwriting fluency is at a 10/100. I can read and type at the level of a native Japanese high school student, but I can only write the kanji that 7 year old can write. That’s no exaggeration.

The big reason for that dichotomy is that my work is paper-free. 100% of my work is done on screen, so about the only time I have to write out something is when I’m filling out a form, which includes my name (katakana), address, and maybe occupation. 

If you want to increase your Japanese handwriting speed, just keep on writing. Write those little short stories about ネギ like I did, or find some writing prompts (I just started a side-blog with writing prompts yesterday btw) or keep a little diary. Make opportunities to write. 

How to Have Nice Handwriting in Japanese

Okay, full disclaimer: I am the absolute LAST person qualified to talk about this, because I have awful handwriting in Japanese. 

Unless you have prior experience with a different language that uses kanji, or you lack the keen eye of an artist, you will likely struggle to develop neat handwriting. 

Personally, I really like using this app called Japanese Kanji Sensei. It’s on Android (not sure about iOS), and if you pay just a few bucks you can make your own kanji sets and stuff. Anyways, it will show you how to write the characters prettily. It gives you a good frame of reference for what nice, pencil/pen-written characters (versus calligraphy characters). It has hiragana and katakana on it too!

I get a stylus and write out the characters on this app for the muscle memory, so my hands remember the sensation of writing a certain character. (The muscle memory is different if you only use your fingertip.) This muscle memory and repetition is how Japanese people learn how to internalize kanji as well. I really enjoy and recommend this app. I’m sure that there are others out there like it too.

Summary

TL;DR: Review your textbooks, take risks, use every resource available or make your own, and just have fun with it! 💗

#langblr #study #japanese #nihongo #fluency #tips #advice #techniques #studying #languages #studyblr #studyspo