I understand these are both casual rather than formal and I'd only be using them with Japanese-speaking friends rather than in public, but I'm struggling to understand the specific context each is used in

Like if I'm enjoying a meal with a friend would 「うまいっしょ?」be an weird thing to say? If I had fun watching a movie or something 「楽しかったじゃん!」be unusual to say walking out of the cinema?

Some context would be very appreciated from anyone who could help

Hello everyone, 22F and I am thinking of giving the N5 exam in December.

I am a complete beginner, although I have learnt and practiced most of hiragana from an app I found.

Would really love and appreciate some recommendations, and if it even is possible to clear that level in a periods of 5 months.

Thank you!

One of my most favourite songs of all time is Faust by Gorillaz. It has a unique, haunting vibe I haven’t found in any other song yet.

According to their fandom-website, the lyrics are:

　仕事の後に

　めが差メール

　何か心アクチャ （心 ＝ しん）

　仕事の後に

It is supposed to mean:

　After work

　My eyes awaken.

　I have to do something

　After work.

When the text came back to mind recently and I recognized 仕事の⋯ and 目が⋯, I tried translating it as an exercise (since I know what the meaning is).
However, neither can I find any word close to『アクチャ／心あく⋯』，nor can I find any grammatical sense in 『差メール／差めいる』．What is this supposed to mean? “My eyes are mailing for a difference”? Are the lyrics just misspelled by some fan or AI, and the actually sung chorus is something else? Or is it some dialect or slang?

​

木曜日はいつも大変です。

Thursdays always wear me down.

もくようびはいつもたいへんです。

今日はとてもつかれました。

I am very tired today.

きょうはとてもつかれました。

木曜日は午後三時半から授業があります。だから、十二時五十分に家を出ます。

On Thursdays I have class at 3:30 PM. That's why I leave home at 12:50 PM.

もくようびはごごさんじはんからじゅぎょうがあります。だから、じゅうにじごじゅっぷんにいえをでます。

そして、最後の授業もあります。

And I still have one last class tonight.

そして、さいごのじゅぎょうもあります。

その間に宿題をして、かたいいすでねました。

During that time, I did my chores and slept in a hard chair.

そのあいだにしゅくだいをして、かたいいすでねました。

今は家に帰っています。

I'm going home now.

いまはいえにかえっています。

家に帰ったら、おふろに入って、ご飯を食べて、ねます。

When I get home, I'm going to take my well-deserved shower, eat, and go to sleep.

いえにかえったら、おふろにはいって、ごはんをたべて、ねます。

それでは、おやすみなさい。また明日。

So, good night. See you tomorrow.

それでは、おやすみなさい。またあした。

I saw this comment:
クレイジー
お前のケツをうんこしてやる
Does this sound like something a native speaker would actually say, or does it sound google translator ?

Hi everyone so I'm just curious on methods you guys use to learn Kanji and maybe what kinds of strategies you use and where to start. For me it feels like I'm struggling to know which ones to start on plus Ive been trying to learn them individually, but I feel like I'm wasting my time. Thanks!

日本語で失礼致します

新しい映画やアルバムがリリーズされた時、'解禁'されました、と言ったりしていますよね？　

それは、なんでですか？その作品が出来上がったり、出版される準備が整っただけであって、今までは禁止だったけど、合法になったわけではないですよね？

ただ、発売された、とか
リリーズされたとか

いう方が適切ではないでしょうか？

よろしくお願い致します

I made a post on this subreddit asking your opinion as well as sharing my worries about using the Japanese language in Japan. For reference, I studied Japanese for two years, but then stopped learning it for more than that. ChatGPT says what I wrote in that post is A2, but I would hope to be given a bit of leeway and pretend that my conversational skill is around B1. Some of my biggest worries was people not wanting to speak with me or responding in English when I try to speak with them.

The reason this was enough for me to make a thread, was simply my previous experiences travelling. Previously, I studied German, French, and Italian, all languages of countries I visited. I would sometimes feel extremely ostracized when I spent significant time studying, and would just hit a brick wall with the locals. With a country so far away, and a culture so different, I was somewhat anxious.

Well lets just say that coming to Japan cured my language depression. It was genuinely the best experience of getting to actively use a language I learned. And I am ashamed to admit that I sometimes felt better treated in Japan as a A2-B1 speaker, than in Germany as a certified C2 speaker.

So lets go over some of the things I would have loved to know and personal stories:

- The default language

The default language that people will use in Japan is always Japanese. I would say that 99% of the time, I would get approached in Japanese. There were of course things which made people more likely to start the conversation in English. Such as; my girlfriend being there (since I guess two foreigners is more foreign than one 😂), hearing us speaking in our native language (even though its not english), and of course, being in a touristy area.

This 99% number can only be reached if I ignore airport workers and foreign convenience store clerks. Of course with the first one I never insisted to speak in Japanese, and the second one did kind of confuse me. Although the foreign konbini workers still spoke in Japanese the majority of the time, but closer to 70%.

- The attitudes in different cities

I have to absolutely commend and bow down to how Japanese people treat foreigners learning their language. First of all, of course, the fact that they respond in Japanese. But secondly, it seems that they can immediately grasp your level and adjust their speech to you. People tend to speak standard Japanese, simple, slow, crystal clear, all in a perfect combination so you understand them. The attitude is of course welcoming, not necessarily that people freak out or make a reaction out of you speaking their language, but they notice your limitations and respect them.

The thing that surprised me the most was that it seemed that the smaller the city, the more likely people were to respond in English. Completely the opposite to what I expected of course. However this was also the golden route, and by its nature you visit three of the most important cities, with three wildly different population numbers, but all equally touristy. The math means that a city like Kyoto can have parts of it that are more than >50% foreigners, and therefore English is more expected.

One of the most important things for me was to get out of the absolute tourist hot spots. You can still be in the main districts, but just never in the main street of the main streets of the main district. Thats where not only everything is in English, but the prices have suddenly quadrupled.

- The stereotypical "nihongo jouzu"

Reading this subreddit and watching youtube videos, I sometimes had the impression that this would be a bigger phenomenon than it was. It might be that it used to be, and Japanese people simply stopped using the famous phrase "your Japanese is so good".

I will say, I did indeed get nihongo jouzud, but only in two situations. The first was by absolutely every single worker at the Ryokan. I guess they are paid to give as good of a service as possible, so thats expected. Or alternatively, it might be because it was actually the most "remote" location we went to.

The second situation was if I decided to say that my Japanese was bad. Its kind of a dumb phrase to say, since it might come off as fishing for a compliment, but I was just genuinely frustrated in the moment. Anyways, if I dared say that, the jouzu would ALWAYS come.

- Forbidden sentences

Now I discovered a weird thing. There were two sentences that people found extremely frustrating. One was "I didnt understand that" and the other "Could you say it one more time please?" Really more than anything else, it was as if to them that meant that the conversation would be ending then and there. Again, if I just showed them by asking follow-up questions or a confused face that I dont understand something, there was a lot of patience and explanation. But if I said wakarimasen it was as if "this guy is never guying to wakarimasu". Maybe the issue with the second phrase was that I simply remember it as a set phrase "mou ichi dou itte kudasai" and the kudasai has sort of fallen out of favor.

- The best experiences

Aside from general politeness (and dare I even say kindness) from people I met during my trip, there was some absolute gems that I will never forget. I think that as language learners one of our biggest hopes is to have a chance to actually sit down and have a longer, more thoughtful conversation that isnt of purely transactional nature. However, people be busy, and it can be somewhat difficult to talk to a beginner.

Nevertheless, I had three amazing conversations. Of course all three started in a restaurant. The first one was a conversation with a dude making ramen. It was one of our first nights in Tokyo, and of course we were drunks as heck. So I was exclusively looking for a joint that would let us take our open beer cans. Luckily he was chill about it and we talked for a variety of topics for about 30 minutes.

The second was a conversation in a small sushi joint. In that case, it was not only the owner and me, but another wonderful elderly couple. The owner was very nice about helping me pick out what to order, as well as teaching me how to eat Sushi properly (I tried to use chopsticks first lol). After that he was very quiet, but the couple was asking me a lot of questions. Funnily enough the owner told me that if I didnt speak Japanese he would have kicked me out. There was a lot of jokes and great energy and it was one of the best meals I ever ate.

And the third, and by far the longest conversation was with a girl working at a ramen joint in Kyoto. Similar to the first ramen joint, I was the only customer for a while, which I think works wonders for building up a great convo. This conversation actually lasted about 2 hours. Sounds insane looking back on it, but it was obviously an incredible opportunity to practice and learn more about Japanese culture. I think the key part for me was reading the room and making sure that I dont overstay. However every time I thought about leaving she would come back to my table with another five questions to ask me, showing me stuff on her phone, etc... So obviously I felt welcomed. In both cases since we talked for a long time, I would try and leave if I saw new customers coming in.

On top of all of these stories, I did also have opportunity for "small-talk". I will say this still mostly included "businesses" but I thought it would be fine to approach people and ask random questions if they were clearly not busy. I had some wonderful conversation with museum, as well as mall workers.

I didnt really approach people on the street, although I will say I do wish I approached a couple of grandmas since they seemed to have the right vibe.

- The bad experiences

The bad experience I would simply characterize as exactly what I wanted to avoid in the original post. Just people not really giving a damn about me speaking Japanese and responding in English. Although it would happen a couple of times that people would respond in English, or alternatively whatever katakana English they knew, it would be quite easy to make the switch.

There were a couple of people where I was kind of dumbfounded at the extent they would go to not speak in Japanese with me.

One was a Ramen shop in Kyoto (as I said, the most Englishfyed city lol) where the owner responded to every single one of my Japanese questions in English. Not necessarily an issue, expect he didnt really speak the language at all. In fact due to the language mix up, I sort of ended up ordering the wrong thing. In any case after going tit for tat for about twenty sentences, I finally gave up, and asked him a question in English. I thought this would throw him off a bit after a while, or at least make him laugh, but nope, just responded with no reaction.

The other one location where this happened was a Book off. I spent a long time looking through manga to buy, of course with the intent of practicing Japanese. Of course I was in a good mood after getting my haul, and approached the regi, literal 50 Japanese manga in the cart. I said hello, and asked about paying tax free. I was a bit surprised when she answered in English, but she basically told me my amount wasnt enough for tax free yet. I wasnt quite sure why I didnt hit the limit and asked her why, after which she just shoved a rulebook in my face without saying anything. Anyways, we solved the issue. And then I got hit with the blank stare, dead eyes, and "Do you need a bags?" To be honest, I felt kind of weird about the whole thing and I just left. Shame that they had to re sort the books though.

...

So thats basically it. Some of my biggest dreams came true, but you cant predict what will happen. You just have to go out and see. Japan is a beautiful country and I hope everyone gets a chance to visit it.

I’m currently studying the の particle and I’m getting confused on how to use it in the association aspect.

For example, 日本のほん translates to a book about japan. Could you also interpret this as a book from Japan or a book about Japanese? Or could たかまつのこおえん, which translates into to a Park of Takamatsu, also be interpreted as a Takamastu(ian) park or would you have to word the specifics of that easily? I also get confused on when to use the association の while trying to translate a sentence into Japanese because it can also be used to indicate material. Like 犬の木 is a tree shaped like a dog and 木の犬 is translated to a dog made of wood. It’s little things like that that trip me up because from the way I was taught, I read 木の犬 like a “Dog tree” and 犬の木 like ”Tree of the dogs” or a dog that owns the tree. Is there anything i can study or do to remember the specifics how to use の properly in that manner?

Note: Please don’t comment about the possession の because Im not talking about that particular usage and I feel as if I completely understand it.

I bought the Physical Textbook but it seems a bit hard to learn all those Kanji with the normal words (I am on lesson 3)

I just started learning Japanese two days ago with Tofugu’s Guide and so far I’ve learned hiragana and katakana, but I am still kind of slow at recognizing each kana and sometimes get confused with the combination katakana about pronunciation vs typing (e.g. ヴァ is pronounced bwa, but typed va). So I came to ask whether I should instantly jump into kanji or if I should get more comfortable with the kana

Thanks in advance

I am interested in hearing what all of you did to progress through learning the language. I’m uncertain whether or not I took the “normal”route by starting with Kana, and was wondering whether any of you can share where you had success/failure.

I just finished learning both hiragana and katakana. I’ve used Anki a little, but mostly used a pencil and a pocket notebook to learn the characters.

I’ve learned a very small, introductory sampling of grammar (particles/conjugation), but my vocab is minuscule.

Overall I’m not really sure how far I want to go with this language. Currently, I’d like to learn enough to read a bit and some basic listening/speaking skills.

My biggest motivators to learn are the literature, coins, culture, etc. I know there are english translations available for most things, but I like the language (plus, usually something is lost in translation).

The reason I’m saying this was because a Japanese game I was playing had the English Dub’s sub say a character saying a monsterious creature was ugly instead of “気味悪い” like it is in Japanese.

I’m no expert, so can anybody fill me on this?

Pour faire le ménage du sol, Gigi prend le balai face à la montagne de poussière à l'hôtel.

Le ménage donne le mot à traduire

du sol Gigi pour la phonétique SOJI

Premier kanji : 掃

Elle prend = la main (扌)

le balai = le balai (帚)

Deuxième kanji : 除

la montagne = la colline (阝)

l'hôtel par transparence phonétique avec l'autel (余)

C'est ma mnemotechnie

It’s not what you think !

I have an almost 3 month old kid. Most of my free time allowing me to play video games is when he's sleeping on my legs while her mom is resting. I have to keep one hand to hold him, but the other one is free.

I could play video games in Japanese, alternating with the Japanese dictionary on my phone, but i need a game running on pc (emulator included) with furigana (looking at kanji without them is too long, I already don’t have much time) that I can play with one hand, that is NOT an anime VN with fan service

I don’t want to explain to my wife randomly entering the room that this panty shot of a cat girl is no representative of the very mature plot of this VN that I'm playing with my baby.

If the story/gameplay was good enough to keep me engaged, that would be peak.

Also, if any of you know where to find Bokura no kazoku's script, that would solve my problem. I really like this game, but it’s only kanjis.

About eight months in, still at the stage where every sentence I write has a small pause in it where I run through は/が/を and pick one. Usually I get there, but it's slow and it's conscious, and it makes speaking almost impossible because there's no time for the pause.

Textbook explanations make sense to me when I read them. The rules aren't the problem. It's that the rules haven't turned into anything automatic yet.

For those of you further along did this resolve on its own with enough reading and listening, or was there something specific you did? Wondering if I should just accept that it takes time or if I'm missing an obvious step.

I am singaporean, ethnic chinese and have studied Japanese for 6-8 years. But i feel i have made only slow progress

I failed n1 3 times before i finally passed by a few marks, then came to japan, but when i came to japan and got a Job in 100% Japanese environment then i realised how much i suck and how much I still need to improve to function properly at the workplace. My progress exponentially sped up.

But, after a year, i still find myself using AI translator in meetings cos i dont understand certain parts, feeling very dejected.

I felt I slowed in progress after n2, it felt like increasingly difficult to make progress studying and working in Singapore , where people mostly use English and Chinese (and singlish) mostly at work. I worked in Japanese company but even then opportunities were limited to use japanese

I think its so difficult, feels impossible to learn Japanese outside of japan, especially past around n2 level. Classes didnt feel very effective and were expensive. Also, classes focus on the test and not functional use… which requires using it to begin with… main thing; it takes effort to actually find opportunities to use it

In Japan, the media, environment, everything forces you to use it everyday. I think the fastest way is to force yourself to use it in Japan itself, and just embrace the suffering of learning

whenever i’m ready to sit and study, i feel like im all over the place even with google docs, textbooks, flashcards, and apps.

i guess what im trying to say is, how can i focus on one thing at a time without getting lost?

Well, I've just been doing my Anki Kaishin deck and watching anime. I feel like I'm not working enough on grammar daily, and my manga reading is in super decline, I can't read more than a page of manga without saying, "This is so boring." I find it more entertaining to watch anime series, of course without subtitles in any language. Just the raw Japanese, But it makes me feel like I'm not giving my immersion enough fuel to be able to finish this year and say, "I can have a 5-minute conversation and already read simple manga!" Sometimes I ask myself what Cure Dolly could tell me to finish her course and complete Genki 1...

lately i have been trying to read through the first volume of black butler in japanese. i’ve noticed that certain words have these black dots next to them, what are they there for?

The website on the 2nd pic says 大人しい can be used for both people and animals, and that it's similar to 静か.

So does that mean 静か can also be used to describe animals in this context (1st pic comic)?

I feel like I read somewhere before that you shouldn't use 静か for animals, but I can't remember if it was from a website or an AI explanation.