8 comments

1. Looking for people that have had experience or know any good language programs/schools in japan. I would probably go for 3 months or less just because of budget but am curious of other peoples experiences as a student in japan learning. Would like to have housing options as well

2. When should I use “はじめまして” and when should I use “どうぞよろしく”?

3. Been stuck on this song lyric “群れを帯びてる魚のように.” Specifically 帯びる’s meaning in this case as I cannot seem to match it to one of its English definitions. Any help would be appreciated.

4. from 鏡の孤城:

   > 自分の他にも、同じくらいの他の子たちがいるせいで、今日は昨日ほど彼女のことも怖くなかった。

   She’s less scared by a girl (wearing a wolf mask) today than she was yesterday (when she was alone) because today there are other kids around.

   Isn’t せいで only used in bad/negative situations? I don’t get the negative here. The only thing I can come up with is that she’s turned into a bit of a loner who’s afraid of/avoids social interaction, so maybe having people around is negative in a sense.

5. Dont understand these sentences from quartet 1 chapter 2

   1. 3月10日に大使館に行かなければいけない用事があるので、その日の授業を休ませていただけませんか

   Confused with 用事, why is it placed in that part of the sentence? To me this reads like

   “I have to go to the embassy on march 10th… i have things to do, so(用事があるので)… could you let me be absent/excuse me form class that day?”

   2. コンテストに出るので、一度スピーチを聞いていただけないでしょうか

   Does the 出る mean exit, Like: I will exit a contest? or something else?

   3. A student is giving her professor a gift(looks like a box in the drawing)

   あの、これ、本のお礼の気持ちです。

   そんな必要なかったのに。

   いえいえ。少しですが、召し上がってください

   Confused with そんな and 召し上がって. What does そんな mean here? i understand 必要なかったのに as “that wasnt necessary”, but what does the そんな do?

   And isn’t 召し上がる honorific for 食べる・飲む,? Does it mean that the gift is food?

   4. どころで、インターンシップはどうでしたか。

   町の人と交流することができたし、自分の国について知ってもらえたし、とても面白かったです。

   “I could exchange(interact)? with the townsfolk, got to learn about their own country(?), so it was fun”?

6. What’s the best way to get Japanese subtitles on Crunchyroll please?

7. I’m looking into taking the N2 this December and I want to grind out the specific vocab/kanji so that I am prepared for those specific words (for the record, I am still immersing but I want to prepare as much as I can). Anyways – is it ok to just study vocab (written in Kanji) for the test? For example, Nihongo Sou Matome and Shin Kanzen Master both have separate vocab and kanji books. If you were to just study the vocab list, would you be covered for the kanji requirements on the test, or are there specific readings/questions that ask for readings beyond what you learn in vocab?

8. Is it weird that I cannot stand the mnemonics system for learning? I completely understand why people use it and it’s helpful for them, however I found that I get too bogged down in remembering the story that I personally cannot remember the Kanji association, the only one that’s worked for me is for 森 since you need 木 to make a 森

   Should I just not bother with it and find another method that works better? Or should I just tough it out and continue trying to use mnemonics?