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

Making decisions – にする、ことにする、ことになる

Decided to summarize expressing decision making as I already know three ways to do it!

Noun/な-adj + にする

コーヒーにする。
I will have (decide on) coffee.

にしている

This infers that ongoing effort is made, for example like a preference or a habit.

部屋をきれいにしている。
I keep my room clean.

ことにする

Now we can add verb + ことにする, so I can express decisions on actions too and not just a noun.

日本に行くことにした。
(I decided that) I am going to Japan.

ことにしている

Like にしている but can use verbs.

毎朝ジョギングすることにしている。

ことになる

The nuance here is that the decision is not made you. I remember this by like なる is become, so something becomes a decision, doesn’t mean that I made the decision.

日本に行くことになった。
(It has been decided, or some other external factors) I am going to Japan.

ことになっている

Usually used when it’s like a policy, a rule, for example it’s a company policy that every Monday there is a meeting:

会議は毎週月曜日ことになっている。

A 時 B

Came across this card in the Migaku course. The sentence I had a bit of issue getting through was:

フランスへ行く時、帽子を買う。

Order of actions implied:

1. Buy the hat
2. Go to France

So the translation is more like: When I go to France (on the way there/before leaving), I will buy a hat.

Scenario: You are at the airport in your home country or shopping a week before your flight.

AI suggested a helpful way to remember this: Think of the dictionary form (行く) as “the act of going has not been completed yet.” Therefore, the hat-buying happens while “going” is still a future or ongoing plan.

Another example sentence makes this more obvious:

学校へ行く時、傘を持っていく。

Before going to school, I will bring the umbrella.

If it were:

フランスへ行った時、帽子を買う。

This one is pretty obvious buy a hat AFTER getting to France.

バタバタ – 忙しい

When you’re soooo busy you’re all over the place バタバタしてる.

今日は朝からバタバタしていて、お昼を食べる時間がなかった。

Using バタバタ feels a lot more visual than just saying 忙しい.

nihongoseito:

meowbrown:

下手 と 苦手

They both means not good at something. My teacher mentioned the easy way to use it is 苦手 sounds more polite to use it when you talk about other people.

a similar distinction applies to 上手 and 得意 as well! 上手 is most appropriate for talking about others, while 得意 is more typical when talking about yourself, your family, or otherwise your in-group.

(side note: 苦手 can also be used to describe things you yourself don’t like or aren’t good at tolerating. for example, カフェインは苦手です = “i can’t handle caffeine”!)

Thanks for adding to this! I’m finding it useful too!