102
The fastest way to learn modern Japanese is to relearn English with Japanese pronunciation
yua uerukamu
104
The good news is that more katakana loan words means less hard to read kanji
The bad news is that katakana is harder to read than kanji
105
Private speaking practice vs. public conversation
#日本語
106
Trains in Tokyo vs. trains everywhere else
#日本
108
Today someone got really mad and called me 前, but they put an honorific お in front, so I know they still respect me
109
The sometimes but not always nasal Japanese G (鼻濁音).
More information and in-depth Japanese pronunciation lessons at patreon.com/dogen
110
What Japanese politicians say:
“We will make Japan a global hub, full of people from different cultures, countries, and upbringings. We will embrace multi-lingual communication, cross-continental tradition, and trade!”
What I hear:
“Peanut butter coming to Japanese supermarkets”
111
The four steps to learning kanji
1. Memorize proper stroke order
2. Drill the fundamental radicals
3. Enroll in a two-month shodō class
4. Move to Japan and forget how to write everything except 日本, 東京, and four of the five kanji in your address
112
Short (incomplete) list of useful Japanese resources
1. The Genki series
2. Minna No Nihongo
3. Oxford’s Take Off in Japanese
4. JapanesePod101
5. Hentai
6. Pimsleur’s Japanese
113
Being a foreigner in Japan is the best
Don’t come though I want to be special
114
Dear Japan elitists: Japan is becoming more international. The language is evolving. The people are developing new values and tastes. DEAL WITH IT wait natto McFlurry no take it back
115
A kanji’s meaning can often be determined by its individual parts. For example, boulder (岩) is mountain-stone, sound (音) is stand-day, and learn (習) is feather-white wait half of these don’t make any sense
116
After living in Japan for almost ten years, I can now say with conviction—
Saitama didn't become One Punch Man by doing 100 pushups, 100 crunches, 100 squats, and running 10 kilos a day.
He became One Punch Man by not using his AC during the Japanese summer.
117
Kanji often have two readings
For example, white (白) is read as しろ in the isolated 白い, but はく in compounds like 白米
Likewise, hair (髪) is read as かみ in isolation, but はつ within words
Thus, 白 and 髪 put together are read as はくはつ
But also しらが good luck
118
A brief breakdown of the Japanese 'z'. This is a fun one—once you become aware of the word-initial [dz] sound, you'll start hearing it all the time.
More info at patreon.com/dogen
119
My Japanese is perfect unless
-I’m sleep deprived
-I’m on the phone
-I’ve had coffee
-I’m talking to my boss
-Other foreigners are around
-I haven’t had alcohol
-It’s a Wednesday
-There’s a chance of rain
-Native speakers are listening
-I’m awake
Other than that though
120
In Japanese there are many ways to say yes but all of them mean no
122
The trick to speaking Japanese as well as your native language is to suck at your native language
Japanese teacher