JapanesePod101.com Blog

Congratulations to Jenni from Southern California on winning the GRAND PRIZE of Mail Bag Contest II! Jenni is in high school currently and absolutely LOVES Japanese!  Much like many of our other listeners, she became interested in the language and culture first through Japanese media like anime and  manga.  She was a bit discouraged when she first thought of learning Japanese, but toughed it out and is moving along and learning quickly! Have a look at the mail she sent us: "My name is Jenni and I'm a junior in high school. I am 16 years old going on to 17 this year. I became interested in Japan through anime and manga. That soon developed into a greater passion for the Japanese language, its people, and its culture.  I started trying... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary When my husband read the Sunday New York Times this week, he came upon some kanji in a photo and decided to give me a quiz. Covering all the surrounding English, he said, "You don't get any context. See if you can read this." Here's what it said: 大企業の首切りを許さないぞ！ My first reaction was to panic and to go blank. I don't know why that is. I love kanji as much I love chocolate and tea, and I've never panicked on seeing either of those things—not once. Then again, chocolate and tea don't require much of me, except perhaps willpower! Once I gave myself a moment, though, things started to fall into place. I could easily recognize 切 as ki(ru), "to cut." So what was being... Show more

JapanesePod101.com was created with the intent to help people study, but we've found out some people even use our tools as a reference for work! One such individual is Darryl, age 59, from Oklahoma.  He works for Hitachi as a technical Japanese translator, a true veteran in his field! "Since my job at Hitachi is to translate technical drawings, procedures, reports, operating instructions and email communications between our office here and the headquarters office in Japan, I have to use my Japanese-language skills everyday. If JapanesePod101 was a store, I would call it a “One-Stop Shop” because it provides ALL the tools you need for learning the Japanese language.  That's why it is now my only reference tool. I used to read and... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary Last week I mentioned that an email from Japan had left me scratching my head about one word. Actually, more than one word in the letter had that effect! The following sentences also gave me pause: 社員のリストラとか、良くない景況の話ばかりです。それでも人々は健気に精一杯前を向いて生きています。 Shain no risutora toka, yokunai keikyō no hanashi bakari desu. Soredemo hitobito wa kenage ni seiippai mae o muite ikite imasu. With downsizing and so forth, all anybody talks about is the bad economic outlook. Nevertheless, people are bravely doing all they can to look ahead and move forward. There are so many things to explore in this passage that it's hard to know where to begin! So I'll wrestle with each thing in... Show more

Konbanwa Listeners! This evening I thought I'd bring you a story about a foreigner living in Tokyo, but finding it difficult to practice Japanese. In Tokyo many Japanese speak basic English or the store clerks have mastered simple phrases to conduct business with the many foreigners living here.  This is great for the newly arrived or confused traveler, but for those trying to speak the language it can be quite frustrating!  There are also many people who speak only English at work and have no contact with Japanese. This makes learning even more difficult! This week's story comes from Julie Mitchell  in Tokyo.  Julie shared a story with us about this difficult to escape "expat bubble": "Why am I studying Japanese?  I ask... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary In an email I recently received from Japan, the first sentence contained an intriguing compound: お元気に活躍されている様子嬉しく存じます。 O-genki ni katsuyaku sarete iru yōsu ureshiku zonjimasu. I'm happy to know you appear to be healthy and doing well. What the Words Mean ... Actually, before 活躍する intrigued me, it stumped me, because I didn't know 躍. Then I looked it up and discovered this great breakdown: 活躍する (katsuyaku suru: to flourish, do well, be actively engaged)     lively + to leap! More Sentences with 活躍 ... The first character, 活, means "active, lively, energetic, moving" here. All that makes sense in the context of the sentence. But 躍 involves leaping?! I didn't... Show more

Konnichiwa! I'm sure everyone is waiting in anticipation to hear who the next Mailbag Contest winners are, but until we decide the final results I'd like to introduce another listener. This week's story comes from Richard Murabayashi, age 71 in Hawaii.  Murabayashi-san shared a story with us about how he started studying Japanese and how he currently studies. "I'm a soon to be 71 year old nisei and sansei, born and raised in Hawaii. Though I picked up some Japanese as a child, after the war broke out I didn't have a chance to study any longer. After that it was one thing after another, and Japanese was on the back burner until I retired at age 64. I started with 3 adult education classes in Japanese. And that was right about... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary This week, as the United States ushers in a new president and a new era, it seems appropriate to focus a bit on politics. Here are three political words that intrigue me: 共和党 (kyōwatō: Republican Party)     together + harmony + faction The breakdown gives us "harmony together"! And the first two kanji mean "cooperation"! Sounds like socialism to me! 進歩的 (shinpoteki: progressive)     to progress + progress + adjectival suffix The Japanese word for "progressive" actually involves "progress," 進歩. Strangely, the progress seems to come not from running but rather from walking (歩)! (Although 歩 generally means "to walk,"... Show more

Konnichiwa listeners!   Welcome to the new section of our blog, The Mail Bag. This is where we'll share stories from our listeners about their endeavors with Japanese. We hope stories from fellow students can help motivate and inspire you to learn Japanese with JapanesePod101.com or give you that extra needed push and renewed sense of strength when you think it's impossible to get become more proficient in Japanese!   This week we'd like to introduce you to Jalees, the winner of  the Mail Bag Contest and recipient of a free 1 year Premium subscription.  She had this to say about her Japanese studies: "My Japanese story is as simple as this.  I felt like my brain was MELTING! Why, you may ask? Well to make a long story... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary If English speakers talk about seeing something quickly, they usually mean that they glimpsed something as it whizzed by but couldn't study the image in detail. In Japanese, looking at something fast has an entirely different meaning: 早見 (hayami: chart, table)     fast + to see An alternate way of writing this compound features another "fast" kanji: 速見 (fast + to see). In both compounds, notice the kun-kun construction. This is old Japanese. A chart organizes the bare bones of information, enabling you to find what you need quickly! And what would it mean to look at something slowly in Japanese? Think of quintessential Japanese... Show more