28 comments

1. [https://youtu.be/_Z20cw4SejA?t=11](https://youtu.be/_Z20cw4SejA?t=11) what’s the nuance here with 「カメラを回しています」? Does it just mean the same as 撮影しています or ビデオを撮っています? I’ve never heard 回す used in this way

   [https://youtu.be/_Z20cw4SejA?t=22](https://youtu.be/_Z20cw4SejA?t=22) here 回る is used in a different way, 「どんなところを皆さんと回ろうかなってかなてたんですけど」, does it mean to travel around a location without visiting any part in particular?

2. How often in everyday use would the Kanji form of a word be used over the spelling? Like for example, using さま or 様, or バカ as opposed to 馬鹿. I’m fairly new to Japanese, been teaching myself for about two years. Mostly using Duolingo combined with consuming Japanese media and some practice work.

3. [https://youtu.be/_Z20cw4SejA?t=163](https://youtu.be/_Z20cw4SejA?t=163) I have hearing issues, the speaker in this video is saying 「建設」（けんせつ）according to the subtitles, but I hear 「けいれつ」. Do native speakers hear 「けいれつ」(maybe it’s just the audio quality) or is it just me?

4. On Animelon.com: How do we adjust the subtitles’ timing?
   I’m finding that the subtitles are sometimes significantly out of sync with video & audio. For example, the subtitles come ~4 seconds early on Naruto Episode 4 (https://animelon.com/video/5e2a1298dd23ca0eb4028cfc).

   If I were using ASBPlayer, I could move the subtitles’ timing around a bit, but I can’t figure out how to do it on Animelon.

5. I have a question around a particular sentence L says in death note during the tennis match. Hopefully you’ve seen death note, but for context, L is trying to get close to Light to try and sniff out clues for the Kira case.

   The sentence is: しかし お前は先にこっちの捜査状況などを見せ、まず「自分を信用させろ」と言ってくるだろう。

   I’m having trouble wrapping my head around what he means by this. Checking against the English subs (often unreliable, I know), the translation is: [But you’ll tell me you’ll need to know if you can trust me first, and then you’ll try to get me to give you details on the Kira case.]

   I’m seeing “お前は先にこっちの捜査状況などを見せ” as [You will (first) show me the ‘condition/details of our investigation etc’], though it would make more sense to me if it was actually more like “you’ll try to get me to give you details on the Kira case”, but the use of the continuative form ”見せ” is throwing me off. If it was the causative “見せさせ”, I coud understand. My other guess is that there’s an implied “ため” kind of thing as in “見せるため”?

   But right now there’s obviously some piece that I’m missing in my understanding here. Any help is much appreciated 🙂

6. Learning on Lingodeer. Don’t understand the syntax here:

   kore wa terebi desuka. kamera desu ka.
   これはテレビですか。カメラですか。

   It presents this as a way to ask an “a or b” question but this seems strange. Maybe it’s my english speaking mind but I don’t see how this is an “a or b” question and not just two questions?

   It doesn’t read like “is this a tv or a camera?” But more like “is this a tv? Is this a camera?”

   What am I missing?

7. 無断：a. 許可ガいらない or b. 許可をもらわない I want to know which one is it a or b, thanks in advance

8. can someone explain the expression “その中の一つ”, like how it is formed

9. What’s the difference between 押し通す and 押し付ける

   Both imply pushing your ideas, values, and opinions onto someone wlse

   「押し通す」は、強い抵抗があっても自分の意見や主張を貫き通すこと、一方「押し付ける」は、一方的に自分の考えや物事を相手に強要したり、負担させたりすることを意味します

   If I am say “Some religious people love to impose their religion onto others”

   Which one is that? 押し通す or 押し付ける?

10. Dunno if this is the right place for this question, but here we go.

    So Marumori just super obscure, or why is there basically no reviews of it to be found?
    The start certainly didn’t convince me, swamping people with learning “dates” instead of useful vocabulary.
    31 days of the week seems super unimportant and shouldn’t be before week days, today, tomorrow etc.

    What do you think about Marumori compared to other services, like WaniKani for example?

11. Hi,

    I think I have either an Anki issue or a deck issue:

    I was using the Recognition RTK deck a few years ago.

    I re-imported my laptop’s local copy on my iphone, and to restart study from 0, I did Browse > Select all cards > Reset the cards.

    The cards still have my own annotations, so each card is fine.

    But some primitive elements refer to a primitive element that is way later in the deck. Like, Apron is card 37 and its explanation refers to Towel, that is card 306.

    I’m pretty sure I also have kanji referring to a primitive element coming later, although I don’t recall exactly.

    It seems like the original sorting order has been mixed up, am I missing something?

    Thank you very much in advance.

12. Can someone explain shadowing?

    When it comes to speaking I often hear that “shadowing” is a good method and I know somewhat what it is but there is one thing I am unsure of?

    Is it that you actually speak along in real time like you would sing along to a song?

    Or is it that you listen to a small potion and then pause it and then speak after what you heard?

13. Hi all,

    I want to add a bit of background before my question. I passed the N3 test in december but have difficulty with reading and listening because i don’t engage in those activities nearly enough. For listening i use “nihongo con teppei”. For reading i used to read NHK News Easy. I am in italy so finding stuff in japanese is difficult and when i do it’s either too easy or too hard.

    Now, my sister went on a trip to japan and came back with a few books. We both don’t know their level (she got a couple of murakami, those are probably too hard for me right now). In particular i started reading “mononoke mori no hyakki yakou”by Kairi Aotsuki.

    Question: i can read a page moderately well BUT i find a whole lot of kanji i don’t know so i end up filling a page of a notebook with those and then proceed at a snail’s pace. Am i doing something wrong or do i just keep at it? I know full well i have to work on my vocabulary but i wonder if i am making a mistake with reading a book and should focus on something else… The book doesn’t seem too hard, feels like it’s made for teenagers but i find so many words i don’t know, as well as some alternate kanji: for example “mori” is written “杜” instead of the one i know “森”.

    Thank you for your time, i apologize if i didn’t explain myself too well.

14. おにぎりもお団子も、　戦国武将が好んでいた、**戦**飯なのよ

    is 戦飯 something like “food consumed during war” ?

15. If my goal is to be able to read Japanese manga, would it be better to study the meanings and radicals of Kanji with something like Wanikani or RTK for a few months first before learning vocabulary or just jump straight into vocab?

16. Does anyone know why fountain pens are called 万年筆? I have heard two stories of this. One is that the fountain pen is really durable and can be used for a really long time. Hence the name 万年筆, literally ten thousand years pen. Another story is that the first person to sell the fountain pen in Japan is called 金泽万吉. So people referred to the pen as 万さんの筆. This then became 万年筆.

17. Hello! I wrote a series of haiku during a hiking trip and wanted to put the kanji of the series title vertically on the prints of the poems. The title of the series is “Guided into Quiet Spring”, which I believe translates to:

    静
    春
    へ
    導
    か
    れ
    て

    I have 2 questions:
    – Does this term in Japanese make sense or would there be a more correct way to articulate the title?

    – Would the kanji being horizontally have a different meaning or is there a subtle cultural nuance to vertical vs horizontal that I’m missing or not capturing?

    Here is the first part of the haiku series:

    I followed a breeze

    Soft winds guided me, slowly

    Towards tender sound

    —

    Swollen with fresh rain

    The spring remains peaceful, calm

    Birdsong fills the air

    —

    Leaves fall from above

    The water around me, still

    I become the quiet

    —

    Goodbye friendly spring

    Your rhythm moves me, gently

    Carries me away

    Thank you in advance!

18. I’ll arrive in Japan the day after tomorrow and I’d like to practice as much as possible, but I was wondering how could I say “please, bear with me”.

    Like 日本語がとても下手ですから、”please,bear with me”.

    Thanks a lot!

19. Hey everyone! I’m interested in taking the JLPT N5 and I’m not really sure where to start. I know it’s the most basic level, but there’s still a lot to cover — hiragana, katakana, vocab, grammar, etc.

    For those who have passed N5 or are studying for it now:

    * What resources did you use (apps, books, websites)?
    * How did you structure your study routine?
    * Any tips for memorizing kanji or grammar points effectively?
    * How long did it take you to feel ready for the exam?

    I’d really appreciate any advice or personal experiences you’re willing to share. Thanks in advance!

20. I don’t know how to phrase this so probably no one will know what I’m talking about, but do people who speak ヤンキー like “roll” there らりるれろ sounds sometimes? Does anyone hear it that way/ knows what I mean? 😅

21. What would you recommend to study alongside WaniKani? I’m about to reach level 5 but I’m starting to feel like I need to add more to my study resources rather than just learning kanji/vocab in isolation.

22. Context : someone did something reckless and immediately regretted it.
    He says “こんなはずでは、、、” which was translated to ”it was a bad idea”

    I’m guessing what he says is a shortened version of ”こんなはずではない” or would the complete sentence be different?

23. I’ve heard ”礼を言う” for saying thank you. Is that a common usage or something of the past / in certain contexts ?
    Thank you !

24. Recognise this kanji?

    https://preview.redd.it/xny8bjwn5gte1.jpeg?width=259&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=af76dc46de82895f9ba0200d7a9adaa5d53e8c74

    My coworker just got back from Japan and had a t-shirt with kanji looking like this. Only lvl 7 wanikani but looked like fruit + poop radical + drop. It might have been 1 or 2 more drops.
    He thought that it meant happiness/joy or something like that. Anyone recognise know which kanji it might be?

25. This was very hard to read, especially the second word.

    https://preview.redd.it/q4sghcef9gte1.png?width=848&format=png&auto=webp&s=f4dc2d956aaffa2072ec1efec32a5004f96076d7

    The t is a j in the second word, wtf, and apparently they played with the dakuten for that.

    The s in the second word looks like the ra katakana and that really confused me, I had no idea they were playing with japanese here.

26. Is there any difference between 峰 and 峯 or both are acceptable like “gray”/”grey”? Seen in names

27. Any recommended Japanese beginner textbooks for a ten-year-old kid with severe ADHD who loves Mario and wants to learn Japanese? He likes using Duolingo but keeps getting his phone taken away for behavioral issues at school, so a physical book would be ideal.

28. Speaking as someone who just started learning Japanese a few weeks ago, I was wondering if anyone here had experience with College level classes. I’m staring school in the fall, and was hoping that, if I’m still learning Japanese by then, I could take their Japanese 101 class.