14 comments

1. Does anyone have any advice for when you know all of the words in a sentence but can’t figure out what it’s trying to say? For example, I can translate the following:

   今までの10年でいちばん大おおきいです

   into “until now, 10 years the best big” But how am I supposed to figure out what that actually means?

2. I’m wondering about the usage and meaning of 肚（ハラ）in these sentences. It even came with furigana in the original text for some reason. 

   * 俺たちのことをピエロに仕立てようって肚みてぇだが……

   * 要はギルドのお株を何とか奪って人気取りをしようって肚なわけだ。

   My guess is that it’s probably slang that basically means つもり, which seems like it could replace those 肚 without affecting the meaning. Could anyone confirm?

3. reading the 銀行atm使い方 from quartet 1

   次に、カードを機械に入れます。黒いーテープのほうを下にして入れてください

   1. confused with 下にして. is this にする the “to make” grammar that genki 2 mentioned can be used with adjectives, except its being used with a noun(下?) instead? Like is this saying: make(place?) the black tape side of the card down?

4. I want to have fun while reading, the best example was Crystal Hunters.

   What/Where’s a good place to read things for **fun** immersion? (I did buy Voice of Cards, but it’s a little too advanced – either that or too fast. And yes I already beaten Pokemon Red in Japanese a while ago, I’d prefer something with Kanji)

   I’ve tried the usual stuff, NHK, Tadoku (great for beginners), YomuYomu, but I just want **to read things that I’d enjoy**, not current events or a children’s story.

5. Is there any

   (1) full list of vocab or grammar? I know N1 is a open syllabus but relatively full would do

   (2) anybody had made a website for fast flashing MC that grills things into your memory?

   English or Chinese would do. Would like to just grind for the exam. ty. or if there is no fast firing MC i might make one for that if there is a relatively full list. ty

6. How do people usually say phone models?

   S25 Ultra -> Sニジュウゴウルトラ or simplyＳニゴウルトラ?
   iPhone 16 -> iPhone ジュウロク or iPhone イチロク?

7. Just posting this as a really unintentionally funny thing for a cheap laugh.

   It’s from a “review” someone posted in the self-promotion thread for their “AI language learning” thing and I skip to this part that had me in tears. I’m okay with throwing these things under the bus because it’s just as bad as you would expect. Lazy, trash shovelware where it’s only value is really just getting a cheap laugh out of it.

   The funny part (at least to me) is that it’s read in English and it’s accent fluctuates about every other word from Chinese to British to Spanish to Angry American to Bad American Japanese accent as annotates things about your submission. It’s only worth a 30s watch (make sure you open it in a private window to avoid algorithm issues) and it highlights the accent freaking out. The part that made me laugh personally is when it read “watashi wa koohi oh nomimasu” in an angry American accent and delivery.

   [https://youtu.be/pYhgSJz21rs?t=2052](https://youtu.be/pYhgSJz21rs?t=2052)

   I don’t get why these exist

8. Hey everyone, I wanted to get your thoughts on a study method I’ve been trying for Japanese.

   I use Renshuu for vocab, but there are always a few words that I just can’t seem to remember, no matter how many times I review them. So I started taking those words and putting them into ChatGPT, asking it to create a short text that uses all of them. Even if the context ends up a little weird, I’ve noticed that seeing the words in a text helps me remember them much faster than just drilling flashcards.

   Do you think this is a solid way to study, or is there a risk that ChatGPT won’t use the words correctly and could mess things up?

   Here’s an example:

   Let’s say I absolutely can’t remember these five vocab words:

   – 関連 (かんれん, relation/connection)

   – 構う (かまう, to mind/care)

   – 観察 (かんさつ, observation)

   – 確実 (かくじつ, certain/sure)

   – 覚悟 (かくご, resolution/determination)

   Here’s how ChatGPT used them in a short text:

   先生は動物の観察(かんさつ)に関連(かんれん)する宿題を出しました。私は少し大変だと思いましたが、友達が「失敗しても構(かま)わない、重要なのは学ぶことだ」と言ってくれました。その言葉を聞いて、私は確実(かくじつ)に最後までやり遂げる覚悟(かくご)を決めました。

   (In this example, I understand the rest of the vocabulary and the grammar, so I can use the context to figure out the meanings of the words I’m trying to learn.)

   English translation:

   My teacher gave us homework related to observing animals. I thought it might be a little difficult, but my friend told me, ‘Don’t worry if you fail, the important thing is to learn.’ Hearing those words, I made up my mind with determination to definitely see it through to the end.

9. I’m taking JPNS 301 this semester, and today was the first day of class. I didn’t do very well last semester in JPNS 202, but got by with a B. Tonight was our first class and sensei asked us to read a slide off the screen. I didn’t know most of the kanji and really struggled. But half the class read their passage in native speed.

   If I decide to stick with it, what’s the best way to get me up to their speed and fast? Anki drills over and over? Will try to post pic of slide for context

10. Does anybody have advice on using visual novels for immersion? A bunch of anime I’ve enjoyed such as Higurashi and Summer Pockets are based on VNs so they seem like an excellent way to practice reading. Is there a ScummVM style engine that will play them and add yomitan type functionality on top or should I be expecting to be back and forth between my phone dictionary and the game a lot?

11. Is audio only content the final boss of immersion?

    I’ve been coping with getting addicted to a video game that requires no mental effort a lot of the times with putting on audio books while I play it but I’m struggling to even understand the broad plot of these stories.

    In a subtitled show or a video game there’s so much to grasp context from even if you don’t pause for lookups but listening to an audio book feels completely hopeless.

12. I’ve been learning for awhile now and I’m at around an N4 level, but would like to push to N3. I’ve been going slow and want to speed it up and I think the thing I’m lacking right now is vocab volume. Where or what is the best Anki deck that I can just straight up grind?

13. Is there a place where I can compare English and Japanese manga?

14. I installed the Japanese Microsoft IME keyboard to type in Japanese. This works when I type in my browser bar, or in Google Docs. But when I open Microsoft Word, I cannot get it to type in Japanese even though I have the IME keyboard active. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to get the keyboard to work in Word?

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