LLearn Japanese

Daily Thread: for simple questions, minor posts & newcomers [contains useful links!] (October 25, 2025)

  • October 25, 2025

This thread is for all the simple questions (what does that mean?) and minor posts that don't need their own thread, as well as for first-time posters who can't create new threads yet. Feel free to share anything on your mind.

The daily thread updates every day at 9am JST, or 0am UTC.

↓ Welcome to r/LearnJapanese! ↓

  • New to Japanese? Read the Starter's Guide and FAQ.

  • New to the subreddit? Read the rules.

  • Read also the pinned comment below for proper question etiquette & answers to common questions!

Please make sure to check the wiki and search for old posts before asking your question, to see if it's already been addressed. Don't forget about Google or sites like Stack Exchange either!

This subreddit is also loosely partnered with this language exchange Discord, which you can likewise join to look for resources, discuss study methods in the #japanese_study channel, ask questions in #japanese_questions, or do language exchange(!) and chat with the Japanese people in the server.

Past Threads

You can find past iterations of this thread by using the search function. Consider browsing the previous day or two for unanswered questions.

by AutoModerator

17 comments

  1. I’ve encountered a word that I can’t find a definition for.

    Context: practice drill with mobile suite (mechs) in space.

    Full sentence: フロント2機はバズーカ装備の1番機を直衛

    My rough translation attempt: front 2 mobile suits guard(?)The bazuka equiped fist mobile suit.

    I just don’t know what 直衛 means. I guessed something like guard or escort due to the context and the kanji. But I’m really not sure.

  2. This is just a comment, not a question. I’m on my 35th calendar day out of 87 in Japan right now. A little over a week ago I wrote about being frustrated by constantly being eigoed just for missing a word and whatnot. Things have turned around since then.

    I ended up through dumb luck renting a few days at a 旅館 where the proprietress needs people to speak Japanese. There’s no internet in the house so she can’t….and tbh doesn’t want to use translation apps. I know my emails were sloppy but I managed to convince her.

    The face to face when I got there almost bombed, but eventually I got it together while she seemed to gradually determine my comprehension level. By the end of the three days we had conversed quite a bit and I gained the self confidence that I needed.

    Of course that in no way constitutes advice. If not for dumb luck, I would likely still be in a bitter funk. Since then, I’ve refused to let the 日本語 train stop. I’m two 宿泊 beyond that experience and both times I prepared a little relevant smalltalk to indirectly establish ground rules so to speak. Other tactics include:
    * Fake it til you make it. My 聞く理解 is still shaky but I don’t allow conversations to stall anymore. 「はい」and if my comp is tested, hope it’s on something I actually understood. 😹
    * A number of times I’ve waited for カラオケ or somewhere else to open. If someone else is waiting I seize the opportunity.
    * Occasionally I’ll demonstrate that I can read if it doesn’t greatly disrupt the flow of conversation.
    * I know it’s mildly passive aggressive, but if I’m long term eigoed instructions back in 日本語. はい、靴が棚に置きます。
    * Just being less reluctant in general
    * Better preparing for transit days so at least if something goes wrong I can converse it to 駅 staff in Japanese (until recently I got eigoed worst by the trains…)
    * When sufficiently alone, practicing out loud imaginary conversations inspired by what I see or by prior failed conversations.
    * I’m a huge カラオケ fan. Done over 25 sessions in 34 days lolol. I now fill ALL the dead space with imaginary Japanese language banter.

    Anyway, there’s my little anecdote on that. Maybe when the trip is over I’ll have something worthy of a standalone post.

  3. Is there much of a difference between saying 日本語の勉強が好きです
    As opposed to 日本語を勉強するのが好きです?

  4. Is it ok to learn Japanese through immersion? New here! If so the only thing I can’t do in Japanese is work because to login I have to use English characters 😛 is that ok otherwise I can make the entire website Japanese

  6. Does anyone know of any Japanese content that has a 1:1 translation, to include the grammar structure? I would like to see English translation that is not localized at all or restructured to sound natural in English.

    For example, “このうさぎは あなたのですか。” would be translated to “This rabbit, yours is it?”

    Has any content creator done this?

  7. I’m aware that が can be replaced with の in relative clauses (e.g. [日本人の知らない日本語](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/12825/how-does-the-%e3%81%ae-work-in-%e6%97%a5%e6%9c%ac%e4%ba%ba%e3%81%ae%e7%9f%a5%e3%82%89%e3%81%aa%e3%81%84%e6%97%a5%e6%9c%ac%e8%aa%9e)). Although, I am fairly unfamiliar with this usage, so I don’t have a feel for it yet.

    For what reasons would you choose between の or が? How does it change the feel of the sentence?

    The specific example from my books was:

    >なんとなくだが、八奈見にこれ以上言わせたくない。そんな**理屈の通らない衝動**だ。

  8. I’m a beginner and I’m watching a shojo J dorama. A male character said this まあメイクうまいもんないつもすげーって思うし! To a female  character. Another female character told him off saying he can’t talk like that to a girl. Is this linguistic or cultural? Why can’t he say that to a girl?

  10. Guys why the r sound is always hoping between /ɺ/ an /ɾ/ is drivin’ me crazy. Is there a pronunciation rule o is just random and changes to speaker to speaker

  13. I’m working on an N4 reading comprehension book (Kanzen Master) and am a little confused about something.

    The passage: It was written by someone who was sharing a news story they read. The news article was about a study showing if you treat cows nicely, they produce more milk. The students who did the study then taught their results to farmers.

    The quiz question was: だれに教えてもらいましたか。

    I thought it was asking who received the teaching (to who, teachings-received). But, it was asking who taught (by who, teachings-received).

    I think what tripped me up is that it’s not the person who received the teaching writing this. It’s from a third person perspective. In that case, how am I supposed to know whether に is “to” or “by” in this case when there is no は・が specified.

    Would the particle be something else if it was asking who received the teachings? e.g., だれを教えてもらいましたか。Would the whole phrase have been different?

    Can anyone share tips or advice to help me understand this better? ty ty in advance.

  14. Are both of these possible interpretations for the following sentence?

    ある事件があって、職場で孤立してしまったんです。

    “The incident is isolated to their place of work.”

    “After the incident, they were isolated in their place of work.”

  15. Hi, I’m doing some practice and I found this easy sentence: このズボンはきれいではありません.
    Could someone please explain to me what’s the meaning of で after きれい？I think that the sentence would have the same meaning also without that で or am I wrong? Thanks!

  16. Based on my current pace and calculations, by the time I take the N5 exam in December, i would have done around 800-850 words of Kaishi 1.5k Deck

    I am strictly using it for my vocab which is my weak point currently
    I am good at grammar and kanji but vocab is where i feel short
    My current progress is around 200 words with 50 in short term memory.

    So will that be enough for N5?

Comments are closed.