Learning Nihongo

The subject of learning Japanese while one is living here can get a little heated. There are those who don’t want to learn the language at all, for various reasons and there are those (many of them in the blogosphere) who think none of those reasons could possibly be legitimate and subscribe to the wtf-of course-you-should-learn-the-language-what-are-you-some-arrogant-jumped-up-tourist-learn-the-language-or-gtf-out-of-the-country opinion.   Though I lean towards the learning the language... More...

Any native English speakers living in Japan will have experienced Japanese English speakers/students when lost for either words or courage flip out their electronic dictionaries and deftly tap away with their thumbs till they come up with the English word they need. At this point they will either show you the screen or say the word, depending on their... More...

Last week, after our Monday Japanese lesson, I finally decided to take the plunge and learn Katakana before the next lesson. I had been weirdly worried that if I learned Katakana too quickly I would forget my Hiragana but that was of course just silly and I can now read both, if slowly. Nevertheless I did kind of overdo it (who, me? hehe)  On the... More...

Every Monday at 6pm and Thurs at 5:30 pm for the last few weeks, a 6ft, willowy Japanese woman named Akiko (written with the kanji meaning “bright”or “shining” & “girl”) comes to our humble flat to teach us Japanese. She will do this for the next few months in preparation for our move to Nagoya in the last weeks... More...