15 comments

1. Is there a word for a bar inside a restaurant or bar? For example, I can go to a bar but there will be bartop seating (right in front of the bartender) and then there will be tables in the rest of the establishment. In English if i wanted to describe to a friend who is showing up, I would tell them I’m sitting at the bar.

   I want to say this as バ-ですわっています

   I could also add “I’m inside.” Would this work? 中にバ-ですわっています

2. This might be a bit of a silly question, but I was a bit confused by Genki when ［外のどこですか？］came up. If you were asking where something was, wouldn’t you use に for location, i.e. ［外にどこですか？］?

3. 質問が2つあります

   * When inventing or guessing the katakana for words with mm, is there ever a time to use (i.e.) ッマ or is it always ンマ, which seems to be very common?
   * I like to comment on Japanese YouTube videos, but I’m curious about this scenario. If it were an English video I might say something like: “3:18 That cat is cute”. 3:18 is a timestamp I created that links to a specific moment in the video. For the Japanese equivalent, would I use この　その　or あの? My mindset is:
   * * Maybe この because I posted the timestamp. However, someone else posted the video. I’m not sure which takes precedence.
   * * その might be more appropriate (it’s the YouTuber’s cat) feels weird as that would directly address a YouTuber with millions of subscribers. Feels a bit parasocial.
   * * あの I’m guessing it’s probably this, the cat being most important and I’m realistically addressing other commenters who are also separate from the cat.

   The weird thing is, I’ve seen a few fledgeling channels while going down the rabbit hole and I wouldn’t feel weird using その, as small channels tend to be starved for attention.

4. I have made it to lesson 8 in Genki and I am planning a trip to Japan for 5 weeks in April/May. A challenge I’ve set for myself is to go to a nail salon alone and get my nails done at some point while I’m there.

   Can someone please help me learn some vocabulary words for nail/beauty services? I would love to be able to ask for specific types of products (gel, powder, acrylic) and specify things like length and shape. Also just any cultural tips for these types of businesses would be appreciated.

5. can someone explain 果たし and 果たして. both have different meanIng In dictionary but they share the same pronounciation and kanji . how sImilar are these

6. Could someone explain to me why ください is used as a verb if it means “please”? I tried to look it up but couldn’t find an answer.

   Is this one of those situations where there was a longer phrase and it got shortened?

7. What is the best grammar resource for those who struggle with self study?

8. Is reading before fully understand Japanese pronounciation harmful?

   I am yet to fully understand pitch accent.

   As of right now, I have got 1.2k works in Kaishi 1.5k and in Bunrpo, finished N5 and 25% of N4. For grammar, I still need more understanding of some topics so I have ordered Genki.

   Anyways, I tried to use anime for immersion until my government banned the website I was using. I still use Podcasts but I am quite bored without anything visual so I can’t use them for a long time or for main immersion method.
   So I wanted to try Visual Novels but it will involve parts where I just have to read without any voice telling me how to pronounce the sentence. Speaking from experience in English, I am bound to develop an accent but can I fix this later on or how destructive will this accent be?

9. 今、人気の本はこれです。versus このビールは、とても人気があります。

   Why does one use です and one あります? I would really appreciate any guidance here!

10. What is the best workbook to start learning Japanese?

11. Best way to start practicing listening? I have been using WaniKani for 1.5 years along with bunpro for vocab and grammar etc but have 0 practice listening. I really want to take my N5 but tried a listening practice on YouTube and it takes me a few seconds of mental processing to understand maybe one or two words here or there..

12. When learning vocab for class, I can learn nouns really quickly, but I struggle a lot with everything else, especially verbs. Any strategies to help with that? Currently learning L16 of Genki 2.

13. Any tips or advice on recognizing words after they’ve had a long conjugation attached to it? I’m finding I can sorta follow simple text or subtitles when there’s something written to follow along with, but pure listening is so hard.

    I can know 会う means to meet and recognize it written no problem, or when said in it’s base form like that I can hear and recognize it. But then I try pure listening and hear something crazy long like 会わなかっただろう and there’s just no hope I’m going to recognize that the single あ sound at the beginning of that crazy long 9 mora string is just *half* of the word 会う, and we’re conjugating that word. It’s a single mora with like 8 more attached to it!

14. What’s the difference between 取り替える and　換える? On [jisho.org](http://jisho.org) both seem to mean exchange.

15. is adding 合う to verbs like adding “each other”? like with 慰め合う vs 慰める