I used to think NHK stuff is boring until my Japanese teacher shared it with me today. They tried to “animenize” some dry topics like environmental topics. I find it quite cringe to watch the actor, but also much more fun if they didn’t do that.
“you open the tin to find a letter, a dusty fountain pen and a pressed leaf.”
This blog is being made to encourage myself to keep up with my language learning endeavours. I suppose its a studyblr? well, its probably going to be more of an online diary. I’m not exactly the studious type, but language learning has slowly been growing into a passion for me. I also want an outlet to try typing in my target language, and maybe make some friends?
Goals for this blog:
document and encourage myself while learning. I kind of want to treat this blog as if I’m talking to an audience, but also I’m really just talking to myself lol.
organize any information i find useful, or want to remember.
update it semi-frequently? don’t expect a content hose or anything. this blog is for me, primarily.
document what I’m immersing in. Primarily using immersion based methods to study, and honestly id like to talk about the experience more than just gas-lighting myself into acquisition lol.
practice some self output. talking in my target language is still far a ways a way, but i still want to get used to flexing that muscle more.
so yeah. if you’d like to talk about language learning with me, please feel free to shoot me an ask or a dm. I’m far from an expert, more just soap-boxing on my own, but I’m always looking for new things to immerse in and love talking about media. 🙂
This is a side-blog, so it stays on topic. Interactions from me will probably go through my main! @lukrio99990
There are so many て form songs on YouTube, but this is the one I learned in class a couple of years ago and I couldn’t find the exact one. So I’m recording it for backup purposes in case my memory fails me.
うつる->って
ぶむぬ->んで
く->いて ぐ->いで
す->して
くる->きって
する->して
例外 (れいがい)→行って
て form songmeowbrown
For る verbs like 食べる, all you do is replace る with て so no need to memorize.
I wonder how everyone else learned their て forms 🤔
Today I will be reviewing the Japanese conversation podcast ことのは (Kotonoha) by Yamamo-sensei and Kibi-sensei. They have episodes for all levels, separated by JLPT level N5-N1 and labeled so you can determine which episodes best suit your level or challenge yourself with a higher level.
Do I currently listen to this podcast?: Yes, I like this podcast a lot and listen to it frequently.
General Overview
Good For Levels: Beginner | Intermediate | Advanced
In this series, Yamamo and Kibi, two Japanese language teachers based in Japan, speak on a variety of topics in a conversation style of podcast. The conversation-style format is good for training your ear to listen to questions and responses, and every day banter between two speakers. They talk about Japanese culture and their own personal experiences which gives listeners an insight to the particulars of daily life in Japan.
Length of Episodes ★★★★★
The podcasts are usually around 20-30 minutes long. This is ideal for a commute or when you have some down time. They cover 2-3 subtopics within each topic they pick, so the conversations are very interesting and catch my attention and they don’t seem too short or too long. They plan out each conversation topic carefully and keep it interesting and informative.
Level of Engagement ★★★★★
The conversation format is very engaging because they cover 2-3 subtopics within the main topic and structure the conversation to focus on each point of the topic. They keep the listener engaged with carefully planned-out topics and conversations, and there is obviously a lot of work that goes into their podcast. They match the vocabulary and pace of speaking with the level they are targeting, but even in the higher level podcasts I believe beginners would be able to catch the general flow of the conversation and challenge themselves to understand the content.
Episode Frequency ★★★★★
New podcasts come out once a week, and with the planning that goes into each episode it’s a very good pace. There is also a lot of episodes already produced so you can go through them fairly quickly without running out of material.
Overall ★★★★★
This podcast is designed by two Japanese language teachers to convey information about Japanese culture completely in Japanese. The episodes are labeled by JLPT difficulty and I find the label system to be very accurate. It is a good podcast with which to practice your listening skills for every day conversation and to learn a bit more about Japanese culture.
Thanks for the detailed review, exactly what I’m looking for. I’ll listen to this episode today!
I take classes once a week so it usually starts with my teacher asking:
では、週末は何をしましたか？ What did you do on the weekend?
何が予定がありますか？ Do you have anything planned?
先週は何をしましたか？ What did you do last week?
Main reason is 語彙が足りない
語彙 (ごい) が足りない (たりない): Not enough vocabulary
Examples
I had a health checkup recently, I know health is 健康 (けんこう) but don’t have the words to say checkup. If I knew the word, it’s just 健康診断 (しんだん) に行きました。It make sense to not know all of the words such as 採血 (さいけつ) or 血液 (けつえき) 検察, but at least I can say something like 血を取られた, but at that time I can’t even remember 血。
Saying I need to travel around the end of February, all I can remember is 二月中旬 (ちゅうじゅん) and not have the vocabulary for 下旬 (げじゅん), which is supposed to be a pretty common word when talking about my activities.
Explaining things that’s too hard for me
Recently, I’ve watched 陰の実力者になりたくて (The Eminence in Shadow) and am having trouble to explain what the anime is about. I feel it’s okay-ish for not being able to say it in Japanese because I’m even having a hard time saying it in English.
The main character is actually really strong, but has severe 中二病. He also has a hobby of acting like a background character that you usually see in anime. I tried to explain the “what you see usually” part as: like being the first one to get injured, and stuff like that.
It’s hard for me to explain it clearly, I should’ve focused on how the main character hides his powers and stop there.
覚ます (さます) – to wake someone up 彼は早く目を覚ます必要があります。 He needs to wake up early.
直接 (ちょくせつ) – direct, directly 彼は直接社長に報告しました。 He reported directly to the president.
爆発 (ばくはつ) – explosion 彼女は昨日の爆発で亡くなった。 She passed away in yesterday’s explosion.
詰まる (つまる) – to be clogged, to be blocked 流しの排水管が詰まっている。 The sink drain is clogged.
放す (はなす) – to release, to let go 鳥を空に放した。 They released the bird into the sky.
我慢 (がまん) – patience, endurance 彼女は痛みを我慢した。 She endured the pain.
戦う (たたかう) – to fight, to battle 彼は正義のために戦う。 He fights for justice.
拝む (おがむ) – to pray, to worship 彼女は毎日神社で拝む。 She prays at the shrine every day.
虹色 (にじいろ) – rainbow-colored 空には美しい虹色が広がっていた。 A beautiful rainbow color spread across the sky.
山門 (さんもん) – the main gate of a temple 古い寺の山門は立派だった。 The old temple’s main gate was magnificent.
wow, thank you for transcribing them and giving examples!
I’m putting this particular vocabulary deck together myself based on things I’m encountering in my daily life, songs I like, as well as vocabularies from my grammar deck, so it’s great to see more examples using them.
That’s what initially drawn me to this post because I have a feeling this is where the vocabulary is coming from 🥳
ALT
