ただいま！ I’m back! Ask me a question :)

21 comments

1. Hello Mikiya! Since you requested questions, I have two questions for you.

   1. When you were learning English, what was your favorite way to acquire vocabulary?

   2. For your students, do you favor learning to read before speaking much, learning speaking before reading, or a mix of these?

2. こんにちは
   I’m a student and I’ve been practicing since the start of the year. I’ve taken a Japanese class in college and I’m taking my second semester in the fall. I’m studying using a mix of my school, Duolingo, and recently JPDB for vocab. My goal is to be able to read manga in Japanese, is there something I’m missing or should I continue down the path that I’m currently on?

3. my hand-writing is something I frequently lack confidence in as I’m learning an entire new writing system from the ground up. what are the worst habits that you see among non-native students when they are writing? Or things to avoid when learning to write?

4. If I’m having a conversation with someone and I wanted to say “I’m glad you understand” would it be 喜ぶ分かる or 嬉しい分かる。And both the I and you can be omitted right? Since the context of which I’m saying it should be understood? Or could both of these be right and I’m jus overthinking

5. 最近日本語の駄洒落や漢字のかしこい使い方にすごく興味があって、気になりました。

   アニメや漫画によく出るヤクザのキャラの夜露死苦みたいな言葉はあるのでしょうか？実はその例以外あまり知らなくて、気になりました！

   ちなみに、日本語の学生の質問を答えて本当にありがとうございます。いつも一生懸命、全員に答えてなんかミキヤさんすごいねと思っていました。

6. I have a question! Once Japan let’s us back in I’m bringing my son, but he’s allergic to nuts. I want to make him a card to show at restaurants so they can tell us if we can eat there or not. What would I say and how?

7. おかえりなさい!

   Do Japanese couples use diminutives or pet names with each other? In English we have honey, dear, baby, etc. Does Japanese have similar counterparts?

8. How do young people say goodbye in a formal or semiformal manner at a school, or similar educational institution? I’ve tried to look it up myself, but I’m not sure I understand which one is the right one for my situation.

9. Hello! I’m going to be a Junior in highschool this year, and plan on doing a semester or two of study abroad in Japan once I get to college. What are some things I should be doing now to prepare that might not be obvious? Stuff like how much spending money I need, job experience and/or a work visa, etc.

10. I am not sure if this is a good question to ask. I am having trouble trying to understand this song グッバイ宣言

    Can you summarize the story? I can see the EN translation but it just translates the lyrics and the story is not clear. Maybe a native Japanese can understand better.

    And this part i really have no idea what the author trying to say

    引きこもり　絶対 ジャスティス 俺の私だけの　折の中で

    聴き殺してランデブー　俺の私の音が　キミに染まるまで

    引きこもり　絶対 ジャスティス 俺の私だけの　折の中で

    聴き殺してランデブー　俺の私の音を　キミが包むだけ

11. If I’m a regular at a cafe and I know they know my usual order, how do I tell them “the usual” in Japanese? 😂😅

12. Muteki is a word that is getting thrown around to label the assassin who killed Abe. There is a recent nuance to this that is not dictionary based

    Intentionally not writing it with Kanji, because this has all been IRL converstations, and I assume it is 無敵 but really do not know.

    Enlighten me please! What is the new connotation to this word that I am missing?

13. Do you have any recommendations for Japanese shows that are interesting and very useful to a beginner learner?

14. Hello! I wanted to ask how the Kansai accent is seen in Japanese. Is it considered crude/informal like the “Boston/New York” accent? Also, I recently went to Japan for a connecting flight and thought it was a neat chance for me to try my Japanese out. I’m using multiple resources, with the primary one being Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese Grammar (could be wrong on the title). As such, the first tenses I learned were the casual/informal one. I tried to remember to use the formal tense but occasionally my causal tense will slip out as I really only learned Japanese to converse with friends. Thank you! じゃね！

15. How should I laugh over text in japanese?

16. Hi! I only have one big question..

    How/where can I learn Kanji?

17. Questions regarding the content:

    1) will there be any kanji or is that beyond the scope of the lessons being provided? I was using Duolingo to learn but once they stopped “translating” the kanji (into the hiragana) it mostly killed all progress I was making. Those robotic voices are terrible.

    2) Any work involving pitch accent? I understand native Japanese would understand based on context but *what if you want to sound as authentic as you can*?

    Bonus: can I use my Spanish vowels? Both languages share 5 vowel sounds.

18. Hey there! I have had some thoughts of trying to learn Japanese again, but for me language learning is something that really takes motivation, but one of my main motivators is reading. I’ve been reading Haruki Murakami lately, and I have really loved some of his stuff. Do you have any recommendations for other Japanese authors? Who are your favorites (if you have any)?

19. Potentially silly question but is the う sound in -ます *ever* pronounced?

20. Hello! I am using Duolingo to learn japanese. I have found that the word “alcohol” can be said “さけ” but sometimes it also comes as “おさけ”.

    So whats the difference and why / when is it used in which way?

21. So this may at first glance sound stupid but what is your opinion on American English speakers learning passable oral Japanese from years of watching anime, while at the same time making sure to be aware of informal or odd phrases used commonly in anime that don’t sound right in normal conversation so as not to offend. Like for example after years of anime I already kinda knew the difference in status and contexts when you use certain self identifiers like orewa or watashi or Boku no, so if you’re decent at intuitively getting that stuff is it still unreasonable to say a person could get conversation worthy in Japanese from anime?