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Practical guides on speaking, grammar, pronunciation, listening, and study planning, written for learners who want to use Japanese in real life.
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Earthquake Alerts and Emergency Announcements in Japanese
When an alert sounds, the information arrives fast and only in Japanese. This is a language guide to that moment, so the words on the screen and in the loudspeaker mean something to you the first time you hear them.
17 min readKakeru: The Most Overloaded Verb in Japanese
Kakeru looks like twenty unrelated verbs sharing a sound. It is really one idea applied to twenty different objects, and once you see the idea the collocations stop being a memory test.
15 min readTsukeru and Tsuku: Attach, Turn On, Arrive, Notice
Tsukeru and tsuku are the same idea seen from two sides: you put something onto a surface, or something ends up on it. Almost every meaning in the dictionary follows from that.
16 min readDeru and Dasu: Leaving, Attending, Submitting, Starting
Deru and dasu are the same idea seen from two sides: something comes out, or someone puts it out. Once you hear that pairing, dozens of everyday collocations stop looking random.
14 min readToru: Take, Book, Remove, and Which Kanji to Use
Toru is one of the busiest verbs in Japanese, and the hard part is not the meaning but the spelling: five kanji share the same sound. Group the senses by kanji and the verb becomes manageable.
14 min readHairu and Ireru: Entering, Joining, Adding, Switching On
Hairu and ireru are the same idea seen from two sides: something goes in by itself, or somebody puts it in. Once you own the pair, dozens of everyday sentences stop needing translation.
14 min readKiru: Cut, Hang Up, Turn Off, and the Kiru Suffix
ๅใ kiru is far more than to cut. It ends phone calls, switches machines off, drains noodles, sets deadlines and, as a suffix, means doing something all the way to the end.
13 min readThirty Japanese Phrases Built on the Word Ki
One small word, ๆฐ, sits inside dozens of everyday Japanese expressions. Learn what it points at and a whole family of phrases stops being a memory list and starts making sense.
17 min readTokoro: Place, Moment, and Just About To
Tokoro starts life meaning place, but most of the times you hear it in conversation it is marking a moment in a process instead. This guide walks the whole journey.
15 min readTwenty Mistakes That Mark You as an Intermediate Learner
Beginner errors get corrected quickly because they break the sentence. Intermediate errors survive, because everyone understands you and nobody bothers to mention them.
17 min readJapanese for a Homestay With a Host Family
A homestay is not a long visit. You are living inside someone else's routine, and the Japanese that makes that comfortable is mostly short, repeated and easy to learn in advance.
18 min readWhat Japanese Says With the Word Te
One short word, te, carries a whole department of Japanese: who is free, who is helping, what you managed to get, and how much trouble something costs.
17 min readPractical guides
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