Study plans and JLPT
Practical guides on speaking, grammar, pronunciation, listening, and study planning, written for learners who want to use Japanese in real life.
Study plans and JLPT · Page 12
Learning Japanese as a Hungarian Speaker
Hungarian builds words the way Japanese does, by attaching pieces in sequence, and it already distinguishes long from short vowels.
6 min readLearning Japanese as a Czech Speaker
Czech already writes long vowels differently from short ones, which means you are listening for the contrast Japanese depends on.
6 min readLearning Japanese as a Polish Speaker
Polish gives you the idea that a noun carries its own role marker, which is most of what Japanese particles are.
6 min readLearning Japanese as a Ukrainian Speaker
Ukrainian gives you case marking, no articles, and unstressed vowels that keep more of their value than in some neighbouring languages.
6 min readLearning Japanese as a Dutch Speaker
Dutch already sends the verb to the end of a subordinate clause, so the operation Japanese asks for is one you perform daily.
6 min readLearning Japanese as a Romanian Speaker
Romanian already attaches a grammatical marker to the end of a noun, which is more preparation for Japanese particles than most European languages offer.
6 min readLearning Japanese as a Swedish Speaker
Swedish uses both vowel length and pitch to distinguish words, which is a rarer preparation for Japanese than it sounds.
6 min readHow to Write Meeting Minutes in Japanese
Minutes are the easiest Japanese business document to write, because the structure is fixed and almost nothing in them is a full sentence.
6 min readWriting a Business Report in Japanese
A Japanese business report puts the conclusion first, which is the opposite of how most people are taught to write one.
5 min readWriting a Formal Apology in Japanese
A Japanese apology letter is judged less on how sorry it sounds and more on whether it explains what will stop the problem recurring.
6 min readWriting Numbers and Dates in Japanese Documents
A Japanese form may ask for a year you have never used, written in a numeral system you have not needed until now.
5 min readChecking Your Own Japanese Writing Before You Send It
Writing gives you time that speaking does not, which means a written mistake is one you had every opportunity to catch.
5 min readPractical guides
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