Tag: Japanese language

Another interesting aspect of Japanese is that there's not just one writing system, but four -- hiragana for fundamental grammar, ...

Each language has various unique features. One of the interesting aspects of Japanese is that there are multiple first- and ...

It's time for another installment of Peter's Japanese Pronunciation Guide. First, understand that Japanese is a syllabic language, meaning that ...

The next time you utter the phrase "walk to work," you've just done something that's very difficult for Japanese ESL ...

One odd thing about learning Japanese is getting used to revised versions of words from your native language. The Japanese ...

I try to promote study of Japanese on J-List because it's been such a satisfying journey for me. One challenge ...

The other day my wife gave me a haircut, since she insists that the place I usually go to -- ...

The other day my son took a standardized test to measure his academic ability compared with other students in Japan. ...

You've been in Japan too long when you get a nihongo ga jozu ("you speak Japanese very well") and feel ...

The Japanese love to abbreviate long, hard to pronounce words. Whether its lopping off some kanji to change Tokyo Daigaku ...

I read an article on BBC's news site about a study of facial expressions around the world, which essentially found ...

McDonald's Japan is currently running a bizarre promotion using a caricature of an American named Mr. James, who hails from ...

The primary test for students of Japanese is the Japanese Language Ability Test, or JLPT, used by a mind-blowing 500,000 ...

The other day I was writing one of my J-List updates, and a rather embarrassing thing happened to me: I ...

Last time I talked about how when coming to the U.S., Japanese people will actually prepare themselves mentally to be ...

It's time to mark a very special anniversary which has meant a lot to many of my generation. While you ...

The Japanese language is, of course, very different from English -- about as different as you can get, as languages ...

My first Japanese textbook was Foundations of Japanese Language by Soga, a book which I'm thankful for now but which ...

One of the first words anyone studying Japanese learns is honto, which means "really" or "truly," and whenever a gaijin ...

Hello from beautiful San Diego! I've made the hop from Japan to my hometown, a journey of about 24 hours ...

Sometimes names in Japan work in ways that are puzzling to Westerners. At a recent concert celebrating the 10th year ...

One of the themes I write about a lot is how people in Japan are sensitive to how they're viewed ...

Every gaijin who decides to put down more permanent roots in Japan needs to strike a balance with his surroundings. ...

One of my favorite Japanese words is kinben (keen-ben), which means industrious, diligent, and studious. Just as America has always ...