LLearn Japanese

Daily Thread: for simple questions, minor posts & newcomers [contains useful links!] (August 17, 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.

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10 comments

  1. https://preview.redd.it/tcytsj676hjf1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=7b678623f1cab928cbddc01d0d04040cd74b81b7

    I just have some questions about the “よ” at the end here. To me its a pretty vague thing so i wanted to double check my info with you guys.
    So far what i believe is true is:
    -adds a little bit of force/like it expresses the intend to do something
    -and i believe ive heard somewhere that its typically used by males?

    and on that note:
    how is it different from 急ぎましょ? (is that maybe the female version?)

    Edit: i mightve mixed some things up with ぞ at the end of a sentence xd

  2. If I were, say, reading aloud, how do I pronounce the meter unit in something like「１０ｍ」? Is it just「メーテル」? What about other SI units?

  4. For immersion, I’ve only heard people say “no subtitles, or jp subtitles,” but as a beginner, I thought it’d be more effective to quickly read subtitles, then listen to the rest of the sentence. Is this ineffective in comparison to no subtitles/jp subs?

  6. Okay weird question.

    I have some ママ友 friends that I used to talk a lot to. One of them was talking about muscles.

    She said there is something(a word or words) Japanese people cheer at bodybuilding contests and when she said it, the other Japanese women agreed and were familiar with it. She was surprised that Americans don’t have this kind of cheer. If I remember correctly, it’s when the men are flexing?

    The thing is I cannot find it online and I cannot remember what she said to save my life.

  7. So I’m seeking advice on how I should prepare for N1.

    I’m signing up for N1 in December and tested myself using the official tests on the JLPT website to see where I’m currently at: I received around 30% on a practice exam for N1, whereas I received 65% for N2. The biggest hurdles for me in the N1 exam were vocabulary, both within listening and in terms of selecting the correct phonetics/hiragana for the kanji characters. N2’s listening was also the hardest section of the test for me, and where I lost most of my points.

    I’m looking into finding a local tutor in Tokyo, but am also curious about self-study methods.

    Would getting the Shin Kanzen series be a good way for me to build up to N1? Are there any specific methods I can be using for listening aside from passively listening to media — are there options that would test my listening and require me to answer questions based on listening?

  8. So in Dragon Quest II (Famicom version), there’s an NPC who says this:

    ムーンペタのまちに ようこそ。ここは ひとと ひととが であうまち です。

    (No furigana because famicom)

    What confuses me is the ひととが which I assume is supposed to be 人とが, but is combining the と and が particles even allowed? Or is it just a typo and is supposed to be ここは人と人が出会う町です?

  9. how do I get mokuro reader to remember the page I stopped reading at? It saved it on my first session and at no other point after that.

  10. Hello, I am a student doing a study abroad in Japan and I have been learning Japanese for nearly a year now, so unfortunately I don’t even know if I’d consider myself conversational yet. I also am not super familiar with Japanese culture. How should I address my host parents? For example, would I use Last Name-san, First Name-san, or just use okaasan or otoosan (sorry I haven’t quite figured out how to type in Japanese on my phone yet). Or even better, how can I ask them “how would you like me to address you” or “what name would you like for me to call you?”
    Their kids are quite young so I know I can use their first name and -kun/-chan, but I am not sure about the parents.

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