Learning Japanese Through Translation

Hello everyone, Following my disappointment with Genki, I decided to go back to reading material to learn Japanese. It took a little while but I finally found some children books available in pdf format for free (it's legal). Beginner Books in Japanese There are only three books available at...

Introduction For the last entry, I thought I'd do all remaining 10 as I find Lesson 6 pretty easy generally speaking. Much easier than は vs が anyway. Exercise #21 to 30: #21. 隣の家「①から」火が出て、明け方「②まで」「③に」三軒が全焼した。 ①：I think this is a good instance of @Toritoribe was talking about when he said to look...

Introduction This is a follow up to my two previous entries about the four particles. This time I'll be doing from #16 to #20. I just realized I forgot to use an image for my last few blogs. Sorry about that. Exercise #16 to 20: #16. 果物屋「①に」行ったら、バナナがとても安かった「②から」おやつ「③に」買ってきた。 ①に：「果物屋」is a place...

Introduction This is a follow up to my two previous entries about the four particles. This time I'll be doing from #11 to #15. Exercise #10 to 15 #11. わたしは広島「①へ」行きたいんですが、電車は何番線「②から」出ますか？ ①へ：destination ➡広島 ②から：the translation of the sentence reads: ''but from which platform'' indicating a point...

Introduction This is a follow up to my previous entry where I explore and try to understand the distinctions between the four particles. Exercise #6 to 10 #6. 今日はストライキで電車が走っていません「①から」、うち「②から」会社「③まで」歩いて行きました。 ① から：used to indicate the reason for something: a subordinate conjunction which...

Introduction Hello guys, Sorry I made a mistake in the last entry. It was the same as the previous one. This is entry is the good one. I had already started this exercise but lost all of my progress for some reason so here it is again. Exercise #1 to #10 #1. コンサートホール「に」たくさん人が出てきました。 ① に: I...

Introduction: Alright, here it is then, the last part of this exercise. I'd say it was easy for more than half but then got harder towards the end, especially regarding the difference between に & で. Exercise: #21. ヘリコプター「で」乗って、空「に」飛んでみたいなあ。 ① で：means of transportation➡ヘリコプター. ② に: where the...

Introduction: This is a continuation from the previous part 1 about the same particles as before. In the first part, I made a single mistake so I would say it's going well so far. を and へ are very simple and never really cause any trouble at all. で and に is where the "challenge" is I would say...

Alright, let's get to work! Although there's still some misunderstandings in my previous exercises, I don't want to wait too long before getting to work. No time to be lazy. New Particles So I practiced で & を which was rather easy. へ is part of the easy particles too. I think に is a harder one...

Hello guys, You might be surprised about this exercise topic, I know I was. I was expecting the particles to keep adding up and become more challenging but as it turns out we're back to two rather basic ones: で and を. I consider these two to be part of the "easy" ones along with の. Anyways, as...

Alright so we're back to making new exercises, this time with 「の」included. I've always thought of の as a fairly easy particle so it's not like it's really going to make the whole thing a whole lot more challenging. I definitely still need to watch out for は and が however. As usual, I'll be...

Introduction So after having practiced が vs は it's time for some more particle practice fun including も this time. In order to make this more organized and structured, I have provided explanation from reference books for each one of the answers. Answers in green are correct and answers in red...

Hello everyone, It's been a few days since the last blog entry as I moving in my new apartment and had no internet. Today I will talk about 「は」 vs 「が」. This is probably not JLPT 5 level but it's come up multiple times in my reference books so might as well tackle it. Exercise and Comments Each...

Introduction In my previous attempt at a JLPT 5 I encountered a verb I wasn't familiar with yet: 渡す / わたす: to hand over. Vocabulary (from last time) 渡す / わたす: v. to hand over 椅子 / いす：chair 本棚 / ほんだな：bookshelf I think there are only three from last time. This is understandable considering that...

Introduction Before delving into more JLPT 5 testing, I figured it would be important to reflect to what I've learned or at least was exposed to in my last venture. Vocabulary Vocabulary-wise, there are a few words that I was introduced to last time and which I've practiced in writing...

Introduction In this entry, I'll finish covering the rest of JLPT 5 exercises I started two entries ago. It's a fun exercise to figure out which elements I have yet to understand and which vocabulary words I'm missing from my personal lexicon. Reading Comprehension In the last part of the test...

This is a follow-up to my previous entry about JLPT-5. Comments (11) Children: -We're home. Mother: -Before eating, let's wash our hands. I think I got the right answer on this one but I was lucky as it involved a lot of guesswork. I knew that 「まえに」meant before. I didn't recognize the other...

So I was wondering if I'd be able to do some JLPT 5 reading comprehension after one month and a half just reading authentic material and Tae Kim's book. Let's see how well I fare. JLPT 5 Reading Comprehension I found the first two questions pretty easy. 1. Japan's Ramen are delicious. 2. I...

Get a Textbook Ever since I created my first thread here at JREF, one comment I kept receiving was to get a textbook to learn Japanese, more specifically Genki: * * * * * * and more and more examples. My Experience with Textbooks Having had my share of experiences with textbooks in the...

So for my 20th blog entry I thought I'd add a bit more personality to the format. In this entry, I wanted to compare The Key to Kanji by Niroko Kurosawa Williams with Remembering the Kanji by James W. Heisig. Remembering the Kanji by James W. Heisig. ➡ Heisig's book is available for about 40$...