10 comments

1. >大手

   >major company

   >big company

   >front castle gate

   >force attacking the front of a castle

   Anki and the way we draw connections with words can be quite silly, my reaction after seeing this card for the first time in a few months was “oh yeah that’s force attacking the front of a castle, or uh yeah big company.”

2. How does one go about forming a sentence which “combines” two verbs? I’m not talking about the て-form of verbs, but something like: “I do not know how to say this in Japanese.” The verbs “to know” and “to say” sort of play off one another. I don’t know the term for this grammar point, but after researching a bit, I’m thinking it could be accomplished with nominalizers? That is, “to say this in Japanese” would become the noun which “[I] do not know [how]” acts on? I’ve also seen this accomplished with the と particle, but I sense that this particle is reserved for quotations. Am I on the right track?

3. 信じられており. What does Ori means?

4. Is there any good way to learn and remember kanji? Also does one needs to know how to write every single hiragana , katakana or kanji?

   Oh also how do we even know the meaning once we learn all 3 ( hiragana , katakana and kanji? ).

   I’m just almost done with katakana I’m kinda lost in thought about kanji..it just looks so damn hard.

5. I am coming to the end of Chapter 20 of Genki, but I am still a bit confused about some parts of the “humble expressions” of keigo.

   If I wanted to say “I am studying Japanese” (humbly)… which of the following would be correct or most correct?

   勉強しております

   勉強いたしております

   ご勉強いたしております

   I am thinking it is the first one because a similar example in the book is like this, but why does the する not become いたす in this case? I do not think it is the third one but when to use ご as a “humble expression” vs without it is not clear to me.

6. In the sentence: “僕は毎日毎日勉強詰め”, is 詰め read as づめ or つめ?

7. So I know that rote memorization isn’t exactly the best way to learn. But I really want to memorize how to write more kanji efficiently so I can keep a journal for myself. I know the vocab just fine, my current setup I just leave a small space so I can add the kanji in later instead of breaking my flow and trying to look up the stroke order for the word I’m trying to remember.

   Would it be worth it to memorize radicals so I can break down kanji to make it easier to remember how to write? I’m not really sure how to incorporate SRS into writing practice, maybe write along with a quick top whatever thousand most common kanji deck? Any ideas would be appreciated! I really love writing things down.

8. I am at about low N4. What textbook should I use now?

   Basically, I have conquered N5 although I could still learn more kanji and have moved into about low N4 level. I’ve done both Genki textbooks already. Which one is best for me to move on to? Something comprehensive would be great (something with grammar, vocab etc) but if not that’s okay. I live in Japan so I am constantly learning new words and grammar every day, but I want to supplement it with a textbook. Thanks 🙂

9. I often go to the cafeteria at my school for lunch and I am having troubles with the sizes. For example I want to order something like 唐揚げカレー or ライス. I see they come in sizes 大、中、小。I assumed these were read as おおき、ちゅう、ちいさい。I tried to order a small rice because I figured I could get 小さい off without stuttering. I said 小さいライスください。The cafeteria lady tried to correct me by saying “ライスの[something]?” It definitely wasn’t ライスの小さい but I couldn’t pick it up what she was trying to say. How am I supposed to read/order different sizes? Am I wrong in assuming the Kanji reading? I’m trying to listen to other students order before me but they each seem to have a different way to ordering.

10. When 角 is used to mean ‘horn’ (as in the pointy things on animals’ heads), which reading is usually used? Jisho has horn as a definition under both the かく and つの readings, and it’s confusing me a little.