〜ようになった

Context (skip this part if you’re here for the Japanese)

I haven’t shared it on here but I’ve been laid off this April. And a couple of people reached out to me to help them with their websites. And I finally finished my first project this week!

能力 (verb potential form) + ようになった

to become able to

so here it’s always used as an affirmative case as mean to gain the ability, therefore using the potential form of the verb

やっとフリーランサーって言えるようになったが気がする！
I feel like I can (be able to) finally say I’m a freelancer.

What about an ability affected negatively?

According to the reference post below, it’s to stick with なくなる, so for example:

食べられる -> 食べられなくなる

Reference

Potential verbs with and without ようになる

「決める」と「決まる」

決まる – 自動詞

It is a state going from not being determined -> determined.

僕、バイト決まったよ。
I got a part-time job. (not have part-time job -> have part-time job)

日程（にってい）が決まる。
The schedule is decided.

決める – 他動詞

The person talking decides it.

日程を決める。
The schedule will be decided.

Reference

【自動詞v.s.他動詞】「決める」和「決まる」的差別

白い目で見る

映画中に携帯をマナーモードにせず、電話が鳴った彼は周りから白い目で見られた。
He who didn’t put the phone on silent mode during the movie and it rang, he was looked at coldly by those around him.

Reference

The preview picture in the post is spot on!

白い目で見る

～ずに

without

朝ごはんを食べずにオフィスに行くと、疲れますよ。
You’ll get tired if you go to the office without eating breakfast.

若い頃は何も考えずに、思うことを全部書いた。
When I was young I wrote down everything I was thinking about without thinking.

So for verbs it’s actually ない form of the verb but remove the ない + ずに. It’s that my verbs used here are all Group II words so it wasn’t obvious.

Notes from 2025-02-18

Reference

JLPT N3 Grammar: ずに (zuni) Meaning – JLPTsensei.com

年代が上がるにつれ…

as X then Y

年代が上がるにつれ、いつも会うのは難しいです。
As the years go by, meeting often becomes difficult.

Grammar

Noun + につれ/につれて

Verb (dictionary form) + につれ/につれて

につれ is the shortened form

Reference

I forgot which podcast episode this was from but it was from

SAYAS Japanese Lesson

JLPT N3 Grammar: につれて (ni tsurete) Meaning – JLPTsensei.com

meowbrown:

2025年日本語の勉強ゴール

Looking back at 2024, I’m around N3 for reading and listening. And because I know Chinese, I can guess the meaning of a lot of 漢字 (although I don’t know how to pronounce them).

But I’m still very weak with outputting (writing and speaking), maybe around N5-N4 level.

As I rarely study outside of my lessons (1 hour lesson per week), I’m not going to go with a plan that changes what I’m currently doing drastically. With aggressive plans, it’ll probably fail within a month.

So my 新年の抱負 (ほうふ) is:

Write one diary per week and no more than 3 entries if I’m really into it to not burn myself out.

週に一回日記を投稿するようにします。やる気があるときは最大 (さいだい) 3回までにして、燃え尽きない (もえつきない) ように気をつけます。

Half year check in!

Although I stopped posting my 日記 to tumblr, I’ve been doing once per week up until now (since I have Japanese class each week).

One thing I’d like to note is that I started using Migaku in May. I’ve studied more vocab than ever since I started using it and the streak is going strong!

It is the best tool for immersion IMO because all you need to do is just install the browser extension and you’re good to go.

Check Kanji Level

Kanji Level Check | MLC Japanese Language School in Tokyo

I’m around 1000-1100!

Check to see how you’re doing ❤️

Actually I can “understand” more than that due to the Chinese helping me, but I only ticked the boxes where I really know how to read/pronounce the word.

「働く」と「勤める」はどう違いますか？

They both mean work, but 勤める is like a specific case of 働く.

働く (はたらく)

More general of work, paid or unpaid.

毎日働くのは大変だ。
It’s tough to work every day.

彼はよく働く人だ。
He is a hardworking person.

勤める (つとめる)

Almost always used with a specific company, organization, government office, etc. Often followed by the particle に to indicate the place of employment.

私は銀行に勤めています。
I am employed at a bank.

この会社に10年勤めています。
I have been working for this company for 10 years.

So if you 勤める somewhere, you are also 働く there.

〜だけで and 〜でだけ

Found that this nuance is quite interesting and would like to make a note of it.

話し合いだけでこの問題を解決できる。
This problem can be solved just by discussion.

This implies the problem can be solved other ways, but we can simply do it with discussion alone.

話し合いでだけこの問題を解決できる。
It is only by means of discussion that this problem can be solved.

This implies that solving the problem in other ways is meaningless.

だけで is used more commonly as でだけ has a strong exclusivity which people may use when they want to put the emphasis on ONLY BY DOING….

になります for being polite

When I first learned about になる it was about “to become” like

医者になります。
Become a doctor.

But today I saw this sentence:

中古品として購入したものになります。
It was purchased as a second-hand item.

So I tried searching Noun + なります without much luck until I found:

What does ものになります mean?

So it’s just a polite way for noun + です. It is often used by store clerks.

Instead of saying: コーヒーです。
They’ll say: コーヒーになります。
Here’s your coffee.