LLearn Japanese

Daily Thread: simple questions, comments that don’t need their own posts, and first time posters go here (May 02, 2025)

  • May 2, 2025

This thread is for all simple questions, beginner questions, and comments that don't need their own post.

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If you have any simple questions, please comment them here instead of making a post.

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Seven Day Archive of previous threads. Consider browsing the previous day or two for unanswered questions.

by AutoModerator

9 comments

  2. I’m having so much trouble learning Kanji. I learnt Chinese over the past 2 years and can understand most of the meaning when presented with Kanji. However, even grinding Anki daily, I *cannot* memorize any of their Japanese pronounciations, especially when they’re nowhere close to Chinese. Does anyone have any tips?

    fwiw I also learnt Hokkien & some pronounciations are closer but it’s still a problem that I’m not learning them properly but rather leaning on other languages I’ve learnt.

  3. I’m reading また、同じ夢を見ていた and the narrator mentions いい匂い a few times. I thought it might be a metaphor for “a good air about someone” or good vibes or something like that, but the mention of incense sticks here is throwing me off. What am I misunderstanding here? Or is the narrator just randomly talking about what people smell like and comparing it to incense?

    おばあちゃんの言うことは嘘じゃない、そう分かったので、とても嬉しくなりました。おばあちゃんの言葉や笑顔からは、お線香とは違ういい匂いがします。他の大人達とは違う、匂い。

  4. I had the worst day in Anki since the beginning. It feels terrible to have to make mature cards go back to 9D interval again. How do you guys deal with such days? I know the answer is just trust the system or move on or stuff like that, but damn it hurts.

  5. I’ve only been studying Japanese for about a month or so now, but am starting to get a little confident in my Hiragana reading abilities. So, what are some good, easy reader books I can check out? When I say easy, I mean elementary school level with very little Kanji. Any suggestions?

  6. hi, I wanted to ask for some advice.
    If I’m already at the N5 level (or at least I think I am), if I were to study 1hr a day for 7 months a year and 2.5hrs a day for the remaining 5 months (during sem breaks), is it feasible to take the N2 test during Dec next year?

    Reason being that I’m looking to go to either Tokyo Tech or Tokyo U for sem exchange during Apr 2027, but if I want to take Japanese classes (as most of the mods I can map over are in Japanese), I’ll have to submit my N1 certification by February (which I believe is quite tough to achieve?) There are some other unis which accept N2 certification but I’m thinking of trying my best to see how far I can go.

    Does anyone know how big the jump from N2 to N1 is? As I’m thinking of either taking N2 or N1 next year Dec (do call me out if it’s infeasible).

    Background: Chinese, studying computing

    During the holidays, my current schedule is as such:
    Anki (learn 10 words/day+review) = 30mins
    Bunpro + Sakubi readup (tbh I can’t seem to be as consistent with Sakubi) = 30mins

    Immersion (Tadoku graded learners + NHK news + Youtube vids) = 1hr30mins

    Is anyone able to suggest how I can improve on my plan? Since it’s the holidays now, I literally have the whole day free.

    Lastly, is anyone able to offer advice on grammar? I feel like that’s the part that I’m somehow staying away from the most as I originally only did Bunpro (grammar only), but was told to leave that for later and read through the whole Sakubi’s grammar guide first (which I’m struggling to as I’m not used to just reading a bunch of text and not getting to practice it via questions right after).

    Would really appreciate it if someone could help out and upvote as I don’t have enough karma to make an official post, thank you.

  7. How would you ask someone the Japanese equivalent of “can I stop by real quick and say hi”? I’m going to Japan soon and I’d like to bring gifts to the people who’ve tutored me to thank them. Especially since they’re volunteers. But I’m not sure what the right way to broach the subject would be.

  8. There is a question in some online survey that reads: ペットと一緒に生活したいと思われますか.

    I am not sure about the conjugation of 思われます. I don’t think 思われます is in honorific form because the previous questions do not use this honorific form.

    Is 思われます an example of 自発? I mean it is the same one used in 故郷が思われます.

  9. Hello I have a question, I travel yearly to Japan to buy certain items.

    While checking the condition of the given item sometimes multiple at a time what would I say for the following:

    I would like to buy this?

    No thank you (or any other polite way to decline the purchase)

    Previously I have used the following phrases

    **For buying:** okay (not Japanese but seemed to work)
    **For not buying:** いいえ (ie)

    But I thought I would make a bit more effort as I didn’t want to come across as rude! Especially if I’m going to the same establishments yearly.

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