Japanese learning blog
Practical guides on speaking, grammar, pronunciation, listening, and study planning, written for learners who want to use Japanese in real life.
All articles · Page 147
Taking Notes in Japanese at Work and in Class
Notes taken in a language you are still learning have one job: to be readable by you, an hour later, when you have forgotten the context.
5 min readWriting a Notice or Announcement in Japanese
A Japanese notice is written to nobody in particular, which is why its register is unlike anything else you write.
5 min readWhen Handwriting Is Still Expected in Japan
Most Japanese writing is typed now, and the handful of places where it still is not are the ones where it matters most.
6 min readHow Japanese Kanji Compounds Work
Once you can read two hundred kanji, compounds start giving you words you have never studied, which is where kanji begins paying you back.
5 min readOkurigana: Where the Kana After a Kanji Go
The kana after a kanji tells you how to read the kanji, which is why moving it changes the word.
5 min readKanji That Look Almost the Same
Some kanji differ by a single stroke, and the pair usually turns up in the same kinds of sentence, which is what makes them stick together in memory.
5 min readLearning Kanji Through Words, Not in Isolation
A kanji learned alone gives you a meaning and no way to use it; the same kanji learned inside three words gives you three words.
5 min readReading Japanese Personal Names in Kanji
Japanese people routinely cannot read each other's names, which should be reassuring rather than alarming.
5 min readKanji Components and Why They Make Characters Stick
There are thousands of kanji and a few hundred parts they are built from, which is the fact that makes the whole system learnable.
5 min readCounting Kanji Strokes and Why It Still Matters
Stroke count matters less than it did and has not stopped mattering, which is an awkward amount of usefulness.
5 min readHow Often to Review Kanji So It Actually Sticks
Every kanji you learn adds a small permanent tax on every future review session, which is why the size of the deck matters more than the size of the day.
5 min readDo You Still Need to Write Kanji by Hand?
Almost nothing is handwritten any more, and handwriting is still the fastest way to stop confusing two characters.
5 min readPractical guides
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