9 comments

1. So I just started studying Japanese a few weeks ago and was wondering if anyone could explain if my interpretation of these (incredibly basic) words/phrases are correct:

   わたしは means I am, and わたしの means mine, so would it be appropriate to say わたし is equivalent to saying “this sentence is about the me, the speaker”, with ほ meaning am or is, and の being possessive? I’m asking, because I’ve also seen that の is used to link some adjectives and nouns. Is that correct?

   Does that mean that in Japanese you need to specify when an adjective is linked to a noun with の, like you would use は to link verbs to the subject of the sentence?

   I know this is a stupidly complex way of looking at very simple phrases, but I’m trying to grasp the sentence structure as much as I can early on. Any help/guidance would be appreciated.

2. When using ~たり~たりする to list a set of events how would I make a statement that applies to all events, for example:

   If I wanted to say I went shopping with a friend, and went to see a movie with them. Would I have to use ともだちと for each part? ともだちと買い物をしたり、ともだちと映画をみたりしました。

   Or is there a way to apply something to both events without making it seem like it only applies to the first event?

3. I’ve been doing the grammar exercises in Tobira for a while now and I find that often what I wrote is different from the answer key.

   For example, in this question:

   日本には英語のRと同じ発音がありません。だから日本人は___(that’s why they can’t pronounce R well)__

   I answered （Rの発音が上手く出来ないわけです）、while the answer key has (Rが上手に発音できないわけです）。

   Is this just a matter of word order where both are fine, or is there one answer that’s more “correct” and native sounding? Thanks

4. Any advice for N1 reading/読解? I did a lot of the 新完全マスターN1読解, found them incredibly easy, but still bombed the N1 reading on the last test. I read a lot (Newspapers, articles, editorials, essays, novels, light novels, etc) but I’m thinking I may need better test focused materials. Idk.

   Any advice? Anyone know N1 materials that are more difficult than 新完全マスター? Thank you!

5. I’m watching the anime “apocalypse hotel” and the episode 1 title is “a true hotel is always storied”. the jp is “ホテルに物語を”. I cannot parse this sentence out at all, haha. what is ni doing there? and the wo but with nothing attached to it? Do you just have to guess at the verb? if i saw this on its own i think the best i could come up with is something like “giving stories to a hotel” or something…

   I feel like I saw this a lot in Japan too, but mostly in advertisements and such. where for example there would be a “wo” just on its own like this…i always am curious about it haha but anyway in this instance I’m curious how you’re supposed to interpret this!

6. So I just noticed that だいがっこう is written as 大学校 but there is also the very similar term だいがく which is written as 大学. Just curious – what’s going on here? Do these mean different things?

7. Watching the Tokini andy Quartet 1 chapter 4 ような気がする grammar and confused with だと which he used in these 2 example sentences he made

   1. 面接の話だと、この仕事は私にとって少し難しいような気がする。

   He translates this as:
   ‘Based on our talk at the interview, i have a feeling that this work might be a little difficult for me”

   2. このままだと何か悪いことが起きるような気がする

   He translates this as
   “if this continues i have a feeling that something bad will happen”

   I think i already understand the ような気がする grammar, but i have no idea what だと does in those sentences. Never seen that mentioned before in genki or quartet, and he didnt explain it either. I googled だと and according to the Bunpro website it can mean “if its the case”, but dont see how that definition fits in sentence 1. At least in sentence 2 “if its the case” kinda makes sense to me.

   this is how i understand both sentences after looking at bunpro:

   1. If its the case（だと?）of the interview talk(?), i have a feeling that this work might be a little difficult for me.

   2. If its the case・in the case（だと?） that this’ll continue・go on（このまま?）i have a feeling that something bad will happen

8. I was gonna buy [this ](https://bushido-shop.com/the-ronin-oversize-tshirt)shirt but I can’t read the kanji behind it, the seller claims it says “Blade and Honor” but are the kanjis archaic or something?

9. I wanted to make a post for any potential advice but my youngest daughter is interested in learning Japanese. We watched a few advice videos on YouTube about ways to learn and the man in the video said something that sparked a memory. We bought her a couple Leapfrog items as a toddler and young kid to help her learn her colors, shapes, states and other simple things that. Obviously there’s Anki and other flash card apps we’ve heard about but does anyone know of any other options like simple apps for toddlers or anything to learn Japanese? I assume with the technology that by now there would be options available.