051320 | Seoul Day Two Log!

hello! i'm only starting to learn japanese and i'm finding it hard to know where i should start with the kanji. do you really have to learn kanji separately and memorize both their pronunciations or can you just learn the kanji in the vocabulary?

omg no! don’t stress yourself out like that anon!!

okay, i’m going to be real with the japanese language learning community: you all are doing waaaaaaaay too much when it comes to kanji.

there. i said it.

learning kanji does not have to be a headache!

i spent the first 6 months of my japanese learning “career” (for lack of a better word) trying to figure out the best way to learn kanji because every website and book was like “here’s the kunyomi, here’s the onyomi, now learn them both” but the fine print of that learning method says “you’re going to f*cking struggle”

but then i started realizing that kanji i read all of the time, i didn’t even “properly” study like those articles said. i didn’t know the kunyomi and onyomi for 行 for ages, but i knew it was read いく in 行く and こう in words like 旅行 and 直行. because i learned those words in context and on their own.

a few months after i came to japan, i started asking japanese people how they learned kanji and every single one of them answered the same way: they learn through vocabulary. i once asked my boyfriend how he learned kanji in grade school, and he said that they were basically given a kanji, and then they were given a list of vocabulary that included that kanji. they then memorized the vocabulary and grew to know the kunyomi and onyomi readings.

which, spoiler: kunyomi and onyomi is not always an accurate measure. lots of compounds use the kunyomi, some of them add dakuten (as in ちゅうごく instead of ちゅうこく in 中国), and others add っ (as in ちょっこう instead of ちょこう in 直行). this really isn’t something you can just magically guess.

but it’s important to remember that everyone learns differently. i don’t learn individual kanji – i learn kanji within various vocabulary words. i make sure to get as much exposure to the various ways a single kanji can appear within a larger compound, so 高 is not just a single kanji, but it is 高い and 高校生 and 高価.

i do, however, think it’s important to understand the meaning of a kanji. this can help you decipher the meaning of a word you don’t know yet. for example, 高価 (こうか) means “high price.” 高 means high and 価 means price. knowing their meaning individually can help decipher the meaning.

in this way you can argue that yes, knowing the individual readings of these two kanji makes guessing the reading of this word easier, but 価 can also be read “ke"! you can’t guarantee an accurate reading all of the time, but with more and more exposure to individual kanji, you will be able to tell.

which brings me to my main point: learning kanji is an individual experience. i, personally, think that learning onyomi and kunyomi readings for 2,000+ jouyou kanji is a HUGE WASTE OF TIME, but there are a lot of people out there that do this methodically and know lots and lots of kanji and vocabulary. i, personally, need kanji in a larger vocabulary word in order for it to stick, and my brain just catalogues the various readings away. that’s how my brain works and learns, but it’s not how everyone else works and learns. 

it’s important to find what works for you.

that being said, if you’re just starting out i highly recommend Jakka. it’s a website meant for japanese grade school teachers and has tons of grade school kanji material broken up into their appropriate grades. japanese school children are expected to learn and master a certain amount of kanji + vocabulary each grade level, so if you’d really like to learn like a child, learn like the school children do! (the website is in japanese but fairly simple to navigate.)

i hope this helps a little anon! and remember that learning kanji isn’t a race. if it takes you awhile to learn them, don’t worry. everyone learns languages differently.

not to sound hippie, but sometimes you really have to pick yourself up if you want to get better or do better. So much of your future is up to you, what YOU decide to do with your time, what YOU decide to practice and preach. Standing behind jealous of the people with drive or the people going places won’t do anything but leave you bitter. Sometimes you’ve literally got to look at where you are, whether you’re crying, lonely, upset with your progress or whatever, mentally brush yourself off, make a game plan and set off! 

july week uno! what do y’all think of this spread?

life really is so simple when you sit back and realise you don’t actually have to do a lot of things. i don’t have to be on my phone constantly. i don’t have to sit inside all day. i don’t have to reply to peoples messages straight away. i don’t have to have what’s in my fridge. i can go out and get groceries and make things that I’m craving. i can go on a walk. i can turn my phone off for a day or two. i can sit and read for hours on end. i can journal for as long as i want. i can mediate. i can cook. i can clean. i can breathe deeply. i can get myself a tea or a coffee. i can have meaningful conversations with my family. i don’t have to be in a constant state of “online”. i can disconnect. I’m not obliged to be here. my name isn’t being called out on a list. i can leave. i can take time away. i am allowed to live.

I started a studyblr not too long ago to motivate myself during quarantine and was wondering how on earth everyone takes such nice pictures of their notes! No matter how hard I try the lighting is always mediocre and it just doesnt look great, like how?????

Hi! Thanks for the ask!

I totally get what you mean about the lighting and taking nice pictures- when I first started my studyblr I had no clue how to replicate the clean bright look of the typical study pictures. I’ve tried to think of some tips for you:

Firstly, try not to worry too much about the look of the photos because I, and the vast majority, of studyblrs will reblog whatever you post regardless of the quality of the picture

NATURAL LIGHT!!!! Like I cannot stress this enough. It makes the biggest difference to any photo that I take. I used to take all my pictures in the evenings when it was dark cause that’s when I got home but I now try to take them in the middle of the day with as much light as possible

Try lots of different angles and set ups. For each set of notes I usually take pictures from at least 4 different angles so play around with it so you can find out what you like

Use apps to edit the photos! I personally use VSCO cause it’s got everything I look for but another popular one is snapseed. I usually always increase the exposure, contrast and clarity. I sometimes also alter the saturation and colour tone of the picture. The important thing is not really to use a specific filter, rather edit each photo individually because every photo will need to be edited in slightly different ways

Here are some posts by other studyblrs that are really useful:

How I take and Edit my Instagram Photos - @emmastudies

Picture Taking Tips - @studypetals

How I Edit my Studyblr Photos - @the-girlygeek

I hope this was helpful! If you have any other questions please feel free to message me or send me asks any time!

Also what is your studyblr because I would love to check it out! 💕

Japanese Reading Resources for Absolute Beginners

A question I encounter often is "How much Japanese should I study before I can begin reading in Japanese?"

From my experience as a learner and reader myself and from managing a Japanese book club for other learners I can honestly say that you can start way earlier than you probably think!

There are many resources that only require knowing hiragana. Those texts usually teach vocabulary through pictures and only use basic grammar.

Some are even simpler than that: The Japan Foundation's Hiragana Books are great for those, who are still remembering hiragana characters. Every short book introduces only 1-2 new characters, so it's a great reading exercise for those who've just started.

The free graded reader 「どうぞ、どうも」 by the NPO Tagengo Tadoku only uses the words 「どうぞ」 and 「どうも」 to write an entire story. Again, this makes for a great exercise in reading hiragana and understanding context. Another "level 0" recommendation by the same NPO would definitely be 「しろい？くろい？」. This book uses the full range of hiragana characters but the grammar is simple and all used vocabulary is illustrated.

Another site with great resources for absolute beginners is Nihongo Tadoku Dōjō. If you have memorized both hiragana and katakana and know how the particles を and で work you will be able to read this text about stationary (ぶんぼうぐ) and understand everything by looking at the pictures!

The resources linked so far can all be accessed completely free on the linked websites. If you have the money to spare, please also have a look at the box 「スタート」 from the series reberubetsu nihongo tadoku raiburarī published by the NPO Tagengo Tadoku and ASK (affiliate link). This box includes 8 little books in very simple Japanese.

All these texts for absolute beginners will get you started reading in Japanese with very little knowledge of characters and vocabulary.

Reading in Japanese is a skill that requires practice. But once you get used to it, it can be such a valuable tool to reinforce new vocabulary and grammar. So please don't wait until you're "ready" before you start reading - start early at your own level!

Sorry to be a pain but I was wondering if you had any Japanese children’s book recommendations? I’m a beginner (just learned hiragana and katakana and only know very basic phrases and vocabulary) and I was also wondering if you had an advice on how to read them? For example as I am a very beginner beginner I won’t know many words so should I start but reading paragraph by paragraph and translating everything I don’t know? Thank you 💕

First of all, sorry for late reply! I was busy these past weeks, that I only opened Tumblr yesterday.

I recommend this site for the Japanese children’s book. Notice that I did not recommend you a particular book, because I believe that each children book gives joy, and I want you to enjoy reading each one of them (^o^)

For the reading part, I suggest you to know first the meaning of each word, before reading it by paragraph. In this way, not only you learn the meaning, but also understand the content of the story. Make a flash card (like Anki deck) so you can memorize easily each word you have to learn (^_-)

I hope I was able to help you @jupiturde!

For anyone looking to expand their Japanese vocabulary a little bit, here’s a complete list of the kanji and vocabulary I need for my kanji midterm! It’s got 167 words on it, divided into 2 levels – one that tests English to kana, and another that tests kana to kanji. Feel free to use this to branch your vocabulary out a bit! It’s full of words like 手術 and 針金 and 職業 and 刺す and 美術館 and 御馳走. Have fun!

I’ll add 2 more levels at the end of the semester when I need to review for my final exam ^^

↳ 05.20.19.

i always make my new weekly spread monday mornings, look how blissfully empty :’) currently annotating chinese textbook readings while watching “love is a bonus book” on netflix, i loooooove it so far ✨

( double tap for better quality )

back to posting!! hello, hello, nice to see u all again!! i know a lot of schools are closed, both in the us and internationally, so i hope everyone is doing well and staying safe. due to my lil unscheduled hiatus, i have a lot of spreads and content coming up soon!! if ur off school/work, or working from home, is there anything u have planned??