あるある – Typical thing

I told my teacher that I’m going to 北海道 so we searched the keyword 北海道あるある, and I was like 「あるある？」

It has the vibe of:

• Typical for ______
• That is SO me! I totally get it!

It’s like the short form of saying:

そういうことはよくある。
That kind of thing happens all the time.

例文

A: 最近リモートワークしてるんだけど、結局3時間くらいずっとTikTok見ちゃってる…
I started working from home (remote work), but I just end up scrolling TikTok for three hours…
B: それ、あるあるだよね〜！
That is SO me! I totally get it!

真冬でも、家では半袖短パンでアイスを食べるという"北海道あるある"
A classic Hokkaido thing is eating ice cream in a T-shirt and shorts at home, even in the middle of winter.

真冬 – まふゆ

半袖 – はんそで

Reference

真冬でも、家では半袖短パンでアイスを食べるという"北海道あるある"｜AKIYO SUZUKI（鈴木明世）

何も vs. 何でも

The way I remember this (probably only works for me), was when I was watching Chobits, there was a book in the anime called 誰もいない町.

So drawing from that context:

• 何（なに）も + negative
• 何（なん）でも　+ positive

For example:

何も食べません。
I’m not eating anything.

何でも食べます。
I’ll eat anything.

Other examples:

どれも選びません。
Not choosing anything.

どこも行きません。
Not going anywhere.

誰でも参加できます。
Anyone can join.

どれでも選べます。
Can choose anything.

どこでも行けます。
Can go anywhere.

Exception: どこも

When describing a state, どこも + positive is used.

どこも混んでいます。
It’s crowded everywhere.

Reference

Reading this reference helps me make sense of the exception too. The grouping is like Everywhere—this place, that place, and that place—is crowded.

The reason for using 何も+negative, but 何でも+positive

ない/ていない/まだ/もう

I know the difference between ない and ていない, but the others aren’t that clear to me. So making this as a reference.

❌ The Negatives (Not eating)

Notes: ない is for making this personal decision to not eat, I don’t feel like it, I don’t want to kinda vibe. ていない is more of expressing the state of whether one ate or not.

• 食べない I won’t eat / I’m not eating.
• Vibe: I’m choosing not to eat.
• 食べていない I haven’t eaten (yet).
• Vibe: I want to eat, but haven’t yet.
• まだ食べない I’m not eating yet.
• Vibe: I don’t feel like eating right now.
• まだ食べていない I haven’t eaten yet.
• Vibe: “I haven’t eaten, but probably going to soon.”
• もう食べない I’m not eating anymore.
• Vibe: I’m full / I don’t want to eat anymore.
• もう食べていない I’m no longer eating.
• Vibe: I’m full / I’ve stopped the action of eating.

✅ The Positives (Eating)

Notes: もう食べる is the most confusing one for me. I’m thinking it’s just like an emphasis of I AM going to eat. (“on my way” type of emphasis?)

• まだ食べる I’m still going to eat.
• Vibe: I want more or I’m not finished with my plans to eat.
• まだ食べている I’m still eating.
• Vibe: I’m in the middle of my meal!
• もう食べる I’m about to eat.
• Vibe: Haven’t started yet, but I’m literally sitting down to do it.
• もう食べている I’m already eating.
• Vibe: I’ve already started.

バッチリ vs. ぴったり

I was trying to use 見てもらえる and 見かける in my diary today, as I recently just had a note on 見かける.

I was curious if I used it correctly so I asked AI for feedback and then checked with my Japanese teacher.

• For my use of 見てもらえる, the feedback was 一番ぴったりです。
• For 見かける, the feedback was 「見かけた（noticed/spotted）」と言うのは、過去形でバッチリです！

So I was curious what was the difference between バッチリ and ぴったり

• ぴったり: Used when a word “fits” a situation perfectly. It’s all about the match.
• バッチリ: Used when you “nailed it.” My grammar was correct, so the result was spot on.

ぴったり is about alignment, バッチリ is about success/outcome.

ぴったり is also very common when talking about whether a physical size or space fits, for example:

この靴は私にぴったりです。
These shoes fit me perfectly.

見る/見える/見かける

Actually I’m writing this because I saw this sentence:

批判っぽいコメントも見かけた。
Came across criticism-ish comments.

When I talk, I mostly just use 見る or 見える, so time to add 見かける to my vocab.

見る – This is active. You have the intention to look. Watching a movie, looking at a map, or deliberately checking someone’s social media.

見える – This is passive/spontaneous. It describes the physical ability to see or the state of something being in your field of vision. Having good eyesight, seeing a mountain in the distance, or noticing that a screen is visible.

見かける – This is accidental. You weren’t necessarily looking for it, but you “spotted” it or “ran into” it while doing something else.

So why not 見える in my example sentence?

見える feels more like “I can see comments on my screen.” (Stating a physical fact).

見かける is closer to what we want to express, like describing an encounter.

Mandarin podcasts to listen to for the whole day

Experimenting with the idea of listening to different podcasts at different times of the day.

I listen on Apple Podcasts but I think all of them can also be found on Spotify.

Morning Commute – 還可中文 Haike Mandarin

Multiple hosts on the show, so it’s more of a conversation and also talks about recent events. Also has some episodes dedicated to learning a new phrase.

還可中文 Haike Mandarin

Lunch Break – Learn Taiwanese Mandarin With Miss Lin

I really like Miss Lin’s voice! Talking speed is moderate and calm. Miss Lin also has a YouTube channel.

Learn Taiwanese Mandarin With Miss Lin Podcast│Taiwanese Mandarin Conversation│Taiwanese culture

Home Commute – 大人的 Small Talk

This podcast isn’t for the purpose of learning Mandarin. The topics it discusses are around career/personal development, which gives a nice mental boost after a day in the office.

大人的Small Talk

Bedtime – Ms. Chin’s Bedtime Mandarin

Relatively new podcast. It’s like looking into Ms. Chin’s diary while she is writing it. Filled with personal thoughts which feels okay to fall asleep in the middle of it. Very calming and a nice for language immersion.

Ms.Chin’s Bedtime Mandarin: Learn Taiwanese Mandarin in Your Sleep

I really like podcasts nowadays due to I can do other stuff while listening. (Well except for the bedtime one??? But I’m also doing “sleeping”)

どんぐらい、どれぐらい、どのぐらい

Heard どんぐらい in a YouTube video (will mention below), and wanted to write down now I know three ways to ask!

All three can be used interchangeably. Ask about quantities, time, distance, degree, etc.

ぐらい and くらい is also the same, with ぐらい being more used in everyday (informal) language.

どのぐらい: Standard and polite. Safe for most situations.

東京から京都まで、新幹線でどのぐらいかかりますか？

どれぐらい: Also standard and very common in daily conversation.

昨日のテスト、どれぐらい難しかった？

どんぐらい : A casual, contracted version. It’s “slangy” and best used with friends.

昨日の夜、どんぐらい寝た？

All example sentences can swap out with each of the choices 🙂

Reference

どのぐらい・どれぐらい JLPT – 日本語文法

どんぐらい | Kansaibenkyou.net

The video I was watching, probably an interesting topic for Japanese learning too: イケメン日本男子のリアルデート事情, talks about a Japanese dating 5 women at the same time 🫣

The YouTubers are from Taiwan, but this episode is in Japanese. If you hear the weird English dubbed version, remember to switch to the original audio ❤️

反覆、重複

In Traditional Chinese, most commonly used is 反覆，not 反復，and then if you want to say 重複 it’s a different word. I think the best way to remember is that it is how it is. 🫣

覆 contains the component for “to cover” or “to flip” (like a lid), the 覀 on top. Imagine a pancake being flipped. You flip it over, then back again.

複 has the radical 衤 which is also known as 衣 makes you think of clothes so you have layers and layers of clothes. Imagine layers of clothing. You aren’t “flipping” your shirt; you are putting one layer on top of another “duplicate” layer.

For example:

這段錄音很不清楚，我反覆聽了好幾遍才聽懂。
This recording is very unclear; I listened to it over and over (carefully/repeatedly) before I finally understood it.

You are “turning the audio over” in your mind to extract meaning.

這首歌太好聽了，我整天都在重複聽。
This song is so good, I’ve been listening to it on repeat (again and again) all day.

You are simply “duplicating” the experience because you enjoy it.

待ちきれない

I found this phrase while I want to express “I can’t wait”, meaning I’m anticipating it very much.

So this is actually 待ち＋きれない

切る（きる）

means to do something ‘til the end/finish something

• 食べ切る -> eat it all
• 食べ切れる -> can eat it all
• 食べきれない -> cannot eat it all

So 待ちきれない literally means I cannot finish waiting

Notes

The polite/more formal way to say this is 楽しみしている, 待ちきれない has a stronger feeling and is used more in casual cases.

For example

お腹もペコペコでもう待ちきれない。
I’m starving, I can’t wait (to eat)!

I think starving is a strong feeling, and there are words like hangry that has emotions linked with it 🤣

たって

I had a bit of trouble remembering this one until I saw this example sentence:

N1 に合格したって、日本語を話せない。

The other part about たって is that it is common a verb will become 〜ったって and I find it hard to pronounce. For example:

タクシーを乗ったって間に合わないよ。

派手な服を娘に買ったって着ない。

The little pauses are kinda hard to master, does anyone have any tips on that?

The other similar grammar I know is ても, it is more formal than たって during my quick research.

Reference

JLPT N3 Grammar: たって (tatte) Meaning – JLPTsensei.com

看圖便懂【たって・だって】變化・用法・中文意思