sharing my Japanese journey one coffee at a time
Ease of Use: easy, pretty self-explanatory. Content: Very difficult IF you forget vocab/kanji easily, but a good way to test your vocab knowledge. Structure: It is broken into 30 tests/units and a two page 3 min review on katakana, keigo, idioms, set phrases, etc. after every 5 units. For each test: *Part 1: guess the… Continue reading Nihongo Power Drill: N3 Moji / Goi (日本語パワードリル: N3 文字 / 語彙) Textbook Review
Currently it is the 紅葉 (こうよう) season in Japan, and I hear it’s a beautiful time to visit. Lately I have been pretty busy, so I would share some tips that helped me the most with staying on track with studying when I’m busy with other things such as work. *have a set number of… Continue reading Just a Little Bit of Balancing Life and Productivity Advice
*Watch grammar explanation videos on YouTube I’ve mentioned this before, but videos have really helped me retain grammar as a self-studier. Not only can you hear how it sounds aloud in example sentences, more importantly they tell the situations it is used in and the smaller nuances. For example, they tell you whether or not… Continue reading How to Study Grammar (Updated)
Welcome to the Japan travel part of my blog. In this section, I will be talking about all things related to traveling in Japan. This includes travel within Tokyo as well as other cities and prefectures across Japan. I will be talking mainly about my personal experiences, and I will try to cover the more… Continue reading Japan Travel Blog
Honestly I cannot stress the importance enough of watching media in Japanese and copying them. Just from watching television and media over the course of many years, I realized there are a bunch of repeated speaking patterns you never see in writing or textbooks, so I thought I’d share some of them. This is good… Continue reading Speaking Tips: Colloquial Language 〜 Things I’ve Noticed to Make Your Japanese Sound More Natural
Now that I have completed the “dreaded” first book, I wanted to reflect and give some feedback that helped me. This can be a reminder if you already are familiar with these ideas. *Skip the prologue (and come back later) Prologues are often kind of vague or dreamlike on purpose, so it can be confusing.… Continue reading Tips to Complete Your First Japanese Book
My Reading Experience As you know, I started 天気の子 on Aug 16 and finished on Sept 8. It took roughly 3.5 weeks to complete, but with many hours each time I read. Thank you everyone who came on this reading journey with me and being so supportive. Is that slow? Is that fast?I’m not entirely… Continue reading Completion of My First Japanese Book and 天気の子 (Tenki no Ko) Book Review
Grammar Playlists by JLPT Level 日本と旅 / Nihongo to Tabi N4 N3 N2 N1 日本語の森 / Nihongo no Mori N3 N2 (shorter videos) N2 (longer videos) N1 Riki Nihongo Dayo N2
Here is a brief overview of these textbooks and my random thoughts on them. Beginners Genki 1: *simple, but better to learn in a classroom setting because there’s a lot of group exercises*a lot of random words; starts off with really difficult kanji for some reason*Mary and Takeshi (enough said) Marugoto A2: *conversation/speaking focused *simple… Continue reading All the Japanese Textbooks I’ve Used Over the Past 4+ Years
Film pictured: 秒速5センチメートル (5 CM per Second) Today’s topic is improving those listening skills through keyword repetition and breaking down long words, getting the gist, and using different listening materials. *Keyword Repetition: When you first start listening to Japanese speech, I’m sure it all sounds like a big jumble. You don’t know when the sentence… Continue reading Improving Listening Tips
framed in beige 