Japanese Talk
@japanesetalk
Tips and tricks for learning Japanese language through novels, manga, anime, podcasts, etc. (JLPT N1. Translator. Live in Japan.) Don't just study Japanese, use it! 勉強だけでなく日本語は、使えば使うほど上手になるんです。 100% HUMAN. 🇯🇵 jtalkonline.com ☕️
Was at a restaurant and they had this on the menu: コカ・コーラ（ゼロも有〼） I thought it was a mistake but my coworker told me it's actually read as ます because it looks like a square sake cup (which is called a "masu") So it says ゼロもあります!!!
Next on the reading list is パラレルワールド・ラブストーリー in honor of recently departed Keigo Higashino. I'm not sure where the story is going but it's intriguing so far. I like the writing, which is a little challenging but flows well, making it easy to picture the scenes.
Turns out Kanae Minato came out with a new book the other week! 王国 (Kingdom) is apparently the "ultimate bromance mystery" following the murder of the Coral Queen. VERY different from her previous mysteries like 告白 and 母性. I normally try to wait for the bunkobon, but the tankobon was signed ✨
Just like most short story collections, this book has some great, mid, and plain bad stories. But they're all 8 pages long, so relatively quick reads (15-20mins). Each story is written by a different person so the difficulty ranges widely from N3 to N1 level. ★★★☆☆ Level: N3-N1
I also popped by an indie bookstore called Seiwado and picked up some more books for the book gods. リバース (Reverse) by Kanae Minato and the Japanese translation of Dungeon Crawler Carl. The bookshop gives you these cute original paper book covers too! For free!
Took the day off and sat in the park for a bit trying out a new book, 5分で読めるひと駅ストーリー 本の物語 (Stories You Can Read at a Station in 5 Minutes: Stories About Books) You're supposed to be able to read these short stories in 5 minutes but it takes me about 20. 😂
3. "Learning Japanese Hiragana and Katakana" great book for teaching the basic alphabet with audio to help with pronunciation. (But not a must if you want to save money.) 4. A teacher to help you practice. There's nothing worse than studying for years only to be unable to say anything.
1. Renshuu is a good free app that covers a lot of elements of the language. Because it's free it's a great resource to experiment with without wasting money. 2. "Speak Japanese in 90 Days: A Self Study Guide to Becoming Fluent" great little book for teaching yourself the language.
I've read eight Japanese books this year, more than last year in total (I was very burned out). It's a pretty good dent in the pile of books I put aside to read but I also got ten new books 😅
Finished reading 青い春を数えて by Takeda Akane, a series of somewhat connected short stories about highschool girls each with their own worries about adolescence. ★★★★☆ JP Level: N3~N2
Finally had some time to go to the bookshop for a bit of a belated birthday 爆買 (shopping spree). Spouse gave me four words and I had to pick four books that matched those prompts (although I got a bonus book because I couldn't decide between all the books I'd picked up 😂)
It is a blessing and a curse. "Am I just not good enough to read this novel in Japanese? ...No. It's the writing that's bad."
It's pretty well done! You only have one weird unnecessary line. Get rid of that and it'll be perfect.
You can edit what readings you get in KanjiStudy too. I often use this feature to remove uncommon readings which just bog my kanji learning down.
So for 人 you would study: ひと "person" アメリカじん "American にんげん "human" So you have words to more easily associate with the kanji readings. It also let's you see which uncommon readings you don't need to know, like the え reading for 会 isn't useful because it's only use in 1 advanced word (えしゃく)
For kanji readings I would say pick 1 commonly used word per reading and study that along with the kanji. KaniiStudy has a number of great features to help with this, such as the recommended vocabulary section, as we as the ability to favorite words with ❤️ and use the + to easily add them to Anki.
Next book is 密室の鍵貸します (I'll Lend You the Locked Room Key). A comedy mystery about a student who's accused of murdering his girlfriend and friend.
Decided to read something easy as a pallet cleanser, so picked up 言いふらしたい僕らの話 by Ao Funtsuki. A cozy romance between a loner who likes to draw dinosaurs and the popular boy in class.
I made this which has a brief explanation of what they're used for if you're interested. Pretty much, hiragana is the phonetic representation of words and kanji can be used to make it easier to convey the meaning. Katakana is mostly used for loan words.
Started my next book! 神の蝶、舞う果て by Nahoko Uehashi (author of The Best Player, Deer King, etc.) but can't say I'm impressed. It's just been a lot of info-dumps so far and not very descriptive. I hope the story actually kicks off soon.
If you're just starting, learning all the words in books like "Nihongo Tango Speed Master" or "1000 Essential Vocabulary" will give you a really strong foundation of common vocabulary.
I started reading 楽園とは探偵の不在なり (There are No Detectives in Heaven) a few weeks ago and I can't put it down. The story is so compelling. It's a murder mystery in a world where angels will drag you to hell if you kill two or more people.
You can use a dictionary app and a handwriting keyboard on your phone. I use Gboard 手書き keyboard, but I'm sure there are ones for iOS of you use iPhone.
三ツ星カラーズ (Mitsubishi Colors) is my top recommendation for learners. The main characters are kids doing everyday stuff so they use a lot of language beginner Japanese learners use.
"I decided to ask ChatGPT to translate for me and see if that helped."