The monkeys at Toshogu Shrine aren’t telling me something. I know it.

Some people study Japanese for hours a day. Others might only spend a few minutes of daily practice. Either way that is a good amount of time to use for something. Time that could be used vegging out in front of the TV or playing iPhone games. And everyone knows those are essential life-changing activities.

Study Japanese could also be the source of a lot of stress and anxiety. Test-taking can make some people very nervous. And not getting the score you wanted can make you so frustrated you want to throw your books out the window.

So, one of the biggest and most closely kept secret about learning Japanese might come as a bit of a surprise to you. You may very well go crazy wondering why nobody told you it before. The big secret is that you don’t need to study Japanese.

You don’t need it to get a job (as long as you natively speak English) in Japan. You don’t need it to live in Japan. And you don’t even need it to travel in Japan. If you speak English natively or semi-natively you’ll never need to speak Japanese.

Let me explain.

Life as an English Teacher in Japan

If you come to Japan as an English teacher (like I did), life is generally pretty sweet. Nobody expects you to know any Japanese at all, so they do their best to surround you with English stuff.

Depending on which path you take, someone will probably meet you at the airport and take you to where you will be living, which has already been arranged and they will generally babysit you during any interaction with Japanese people including going to get a cell phone and hooking up your gas.

And to be honest, you don’t need Japanese to go shopping either. You just see stuff that you want to buy and check out. Nobody is going to ask you any questions really. They might ask if you need chopsticks, but that is about it.

Now with the Internet, you don’t even have to leave your favorite TV shows behind. You can grab what you want to watch through various means and be done with it. You can pretty much wall yourself off from Japanese and live a good life. Take in the sights in your free time and call it a day.

And if live in Japan, you know there are people that have lived here for well over 10 years and don’t speak any Japanese at all. The don’t need to because they teach English at a university, private school, or high school and don’t need Japanese to live.

Why Study if you don’t Need it?

It’s a tremendous amount of hard work to study a language. You may very well spend hours of time studying and you will probably spend at least a couple thousand yen for classes, materials and other resources. I personally spend around 5000 yen a month on materials and I think some would consider that being a little cheap.

You’ll also inevitably go through a lot of failures. You will probably be misunderstood a lot and you will probably misunderstand a lot of people as well. You’ll embarrass yourself, as I have several times.

But, why do we go on dates? I mean unless you are extremely lucky, you’ll go through more failures dating than wins (at least in my experience). And you have to get dressed up and spend money on dates and do some hard work here and there to keep relationships going. So why do we do it?

Well, when I first came to Japan I saw Japanese as a friend. Something that helped me get around and check into hotels or ask where the bathroom was. It was a pretty good friend because it was always with me. I didn’t have to call it up and ask it to come with me.

Of course, I didn’t need it. I could have just fumbled around until I found what I needed or had a friend do it for me, but I didn’t want to abuse my new friends, so I tried to learn as much as I could and managed to get pretty conversational and pass N4 within about a year and 3 months while still having a life.

But, then my Japanese stagnated mostly because I just needed a friend. Somebody to be there every once in awhile to help me out while in Japan. And this is where I think anyone casually studying a language should be because it is good to have a friend and it doesn’t take that much time and effort.

It wasn’t really until I made the decision to stay in Japan long-term that I made up my mind to be fluent. I wanted to be able to handle things as the head of the household on my own instead of relying on my wife to walk me through everything.

Through this process of trying to be as fluent as possible, I’ve discovered a lot more benefits to be fluent and passing the N1 than just having the qualifications for a job. Being able to express yourself well in another language helps you to almost literally see the world in a different way.

It also helps you to communicate in your native language a lot better because you notice things about it that you didn’t see before. Things like different levels of directness or politeness or how to explain things in simpler terms.

So, in some ways I guess you could say I fell in love with learning Japanese. Like any healthy relationship, Japanese and I started out as friends and then it moved into something more serious. And just like a serious relationship, it has helped me to understand myself, my way of thinking, and how the world, in general, comes together.

So, no you don’t need to learn Japanese. As the saying goes, all you need to do in life is die and pay taxes (and you can cheat on both of those). But, taking the extra time and effort it takes to become fluent will really enrich your life, keep your brain working longer, and help you make new friends.

If you don’t need it, why do YOU study?

Why do you study Japanese? Do you want to work in Japan? Do you want to watch jDramas? Learn about the culture? Let me know in the comments.

 A month ago, I published the first half of this top 10 list of things I wish I had known before coming to Japan. And a few of you commented on some other things that you wish you had known as well. But, as promised here’s the rest of the things I wish I had known before I came to Japan.

How to cook and keep rice

Taking care of rice seems like a pretty simple task, just wash it, throw it in your rice cooker, and it eat it when the machine dings. Of course, you’ll have to wait a good 20 to 30 minutes to get fresh rice but that’s how I used to think that’s all you needed.

Until one day I noticed I had some strange colored rice mixed in with my other rice, and there was a small moth flying around near my bag of rice. Stupid me, I thought you could just leave your bag of rice in the cabinet and everything would be okay.

But, it turns out moths like to lay eggs in rice and although they probably add some extra fiber and protein, you probably don’t want to eat them. So, be sure to seal up your giant bag of rice so they can’t get inside.

Another inconvenience is the time it takes to cook rice. If You want something quick and easy in the morning or with your curry at night you are out of luck because you’ll have to wait a pretty long time for your rice. I used to just use this time to check email or veg out. But, you can actually cut down your cooking time by freezing your rice.

What I typically do these days is cook up a big batch of rice and then freeze up smaller fist-sized portions of rice wrapped in plastic wrap. Then later when I want some rice, I just need to throw it in the microwave and three minutes later I have fresh, yummy rice.

Pack Light

If you’re moving to Japan for an extended period of time, your first inclination might be to pack everything you “can’t live without”. Then you lug around a heavy suitcase on your way to your new place. Start unpacking and you can feel at home. Or at least that’s how the idea goes.

But, I would recommend trying to keep your packing to a minimum. Just pack clothes, maybe a critical electronic device (tablet, laptop, iPhone) and that’s about it. There’s a couple of reasons for this.

First, you can, in general, buy most things you really really need when you get here. Recycle shops, stores that sell secondhand electronics and books, are pretty common and sell a lot of the little things you need for pretty cheap.

And it might sound strange but you don’t want your house to be too comfortable. You want to have a reason to get out and explore. Even the small, seemingly boring exploring of walking up and down regular city streets can be an adventure in a foreign country.

Seishun 18 Kippu

Last month, I talked about getting around on buses, but you could also travel on the cheap by train with seishun 18 kippu. It is a five day pass for local trains on JR the biggest train network that links up most of Japan. This is a pretty versatile tickets because you can actually share it with your friends.

For example, two of you can travel all day on local trains. Doing this will use up two days on the ticket (of the five). You also don’t have to use the days consecutively, so you can travel on Monday to a place, stay there a few days and then move on and not lose days on your pass.

The downside is that it is only available during certain time periods, so check to see if it is available and how long it is valid before you buy one.  You can pick them up at any JR station or they are available for a slight discount (-Y200) at the ticket places you’ll typically see in the city.

Hyperdia

This is an amazing website that can calculate all the possible ways you can get from point A to B, including planes and the shinkansen.  There are plenty of options that you can tweak about the search as well.  For example, you can search only local trains if you want to use your seishun 18 kippu or calculate how much a commuter pass (定期券, teikiken) would be.

The best part is that you can change the interface to English. This sometimes makes finding a particular station a little tricky, but is an overall plus.  If you are doing any traveling on trains this should be your first stop.

Tokyo is just a big city

Okay, I know I will most likely get a lot of tomatoes thrown at me for this because it is pretty debatable and also depends on your personal taste, but I feel that Tokyo is just a big city. In other words, it has a lot of nice restaurants, nice hotels, and nice people, but nothing special.

You could easily experience all Tokyo has to offer in about two days. I think if you live there it could be pretty interesting because there are plenty of people to meet and things to do, but nothing incredibly special about the place.

My recommendation for places to live if it is your first time to live here is the countryside. You’ll meet more of the natives and be less tempted to just hang out with ex-pats. There is also a good chance you’ll be invited over to people’s houses as well and you can experience Japanese hospitality.

What do you think?

I’ll be back with another bonus lesson with five more things I wish I had known next month. But, what do you think of these suggestions so far? Is there something I’ve missed? If you live in Tokyo, what is there to see and do in Tokyo?

]]> http://jlptbootcamp.com/2013/05/jlpt-bc-113-the-top-things-i-wish-i-had-known-part-2/feed/ 2 hyperdia,Japanese living,Japanese tips,seishun 18 kippu,Tokyo  A month ago, I published the first half of this top 10 list of things I wish I had known before coming to Japan. And a few of you commented on some other things that you wish you had known as well. But, as promised here's the rest of the things I wish...  A month ago, I published the first half of this top 10 list of things I wish I had known before coming to Japan. And a few of you commented on some other things that you wish you had known as well. But, as promised here's the rest of the things I wish I had known before I came to Japan. How to cook and keep rice Taking care of rice seems like a pretty simple task, just wash it, throw it in your rice cooker, and it eat it when the machine dings. Of course, you'll have to wait a good 20 to 30 minutes to get fresh rice but that's how I used to think that's all you needed. Until one day I noticed I had some strange colored rice mixed in with my other rice, and there was a small moth flying around near my bag of rice. Stupid me, I thought you could just leave your bag of rice in the cabinet and everything would be okay. But, it turns out moths like to lay eggs in rice and although they probably add some extra fiber and protein, you probably don't want to eat them. So, be sure to seal up your giant bag of rice so they can't get inside. Another inconvenience is the time it takes to cook rice. If You want something quick and easy in the morning or with your curry at night you are out of luck because you'll have to wait a pretty long time for your rice. I used to just use this time to check email or veg out. But, you can actually cut down your cooking time by freezing your rice. What I typically do these days is cook up a big batch of rice and then freeze up smaller fist-sized portions of rice wrapped in plastic wrap. Then later when I want some rice, I just need to throw it in the microwave and three minutes later I have fresh, yummy rice. Pack Light If you're moving to Japan for an extended period of time, your first inclination might be to pack everything you "can't live without". Then you lug around a heavy suitcase on your way to your new place. Start unpacking and you can feel at home. Or at least that's how the idea goes. But, I would recommend trying to keep your packing to a minimum. Just pack clothes, maybe a critical electronic device (tablet, laptop, iPhone) and that's about it. There's a couple of reasons for this. First, you can, in general, buy most things you really really need when you get here. Recycle shops, stores that sell secondhand electronics and books, are pretty common and sell a lot of the little things you need for pretty cheap. And it might sound strange but you don't want your house to be too comfortable. You want to have a reason to get out and explore. Even the small, seemingly boring exploring of walking up and down regular city streets can be an adventure in a foreign country. Seishun 18 Kippu Last month, I talked about getting around on buses, but you could also travel on the cheap by train with seishun 18 kippu. It is a five day pass for local trains on JR the biggest train network that links up most of Japan. This is a pretty versatile tickets because you can actually share it with your friends. For example, two of you can travel all day on local trains. Doing this will use up two days on the ticket (of the five). You also don't have to use the days consecutively, so you can travel on Monday to a place, stay there a few days and then move on and not lose days on your pass. The downside is that it is only available during certain time periods, so check to see if it is available and how long it is valid before you buy one.  You can pick them up at any JR station or they are available for a slight discount (-Y200) at the ticket places you'll typically see in the city. Hyperdia This is an amazing website that can calculate all the possible ways you can get from point A to B, including planes and the shinkansen.  There are plenty of options that you can tweak about the search as well.  For example, you can search only local trains if you want to use your seishun 18 kippu or calculate how much a commuter pass (定期券, teikiken) would be. Clayton MacKnight no 25:09 http://jlptbootcamp.com/2013/05/jlpt-bc-113-the-top-things-i-wish-i-had-known-part-2/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JlptBootCamp/~3/XOqYDd9OT-M/ http://jlptbootcamp.com/2013/05/what-would-a-japanese-speaking-test-look-like/#comments Sat, 11 May 2013 15:01:30 +0000 Clayton MacKnight http://jlptbootcamp.com/?p=2361

I will chop any speaking test in half!

How can you measure your level of speaking? The Japanese Language Proficiency Test will grill you on your reading and listening, but what about speaking? I’ve met a few people that passed N2 and N1, but don’t quite speak tat that level. I can easily include myself in that group as well. I have a hard time explaining complex situations.

So, having a Japanese speaking test would come in handy. Something that would allow for critical feedback to help you improve your speaking. A general rule of thumb is that you should be able to produce language at one level below what you can understand. In other words, if you just passed N4, you should be able to produce the language at an N5 level.

Now, the logistics of having such a test could be a bit of a hurdle. You would need to have short interviews with several applicants privately. There would also need to be different tests for different levels. For example, you wouldn’t ask an N1 test-taker about their hobbies, but instead tell them to discuss a particular hot topic like nuclear power.

You would also need to train a staff of test administrators and create some kind of framework, or rubric, to work off of. This rubric would help make everything fairly standard and keep a judge from, say, passing the cute guy for having a nice smile, but instead passing him for saying the correct responses.

It’s all quite a mess if you think about it, but is there a simpler way? Let’s look at some options.

The Eiken Model

The Eiken is a test put on in Japan that is aimed at a students mostly. Generally speaking, only elementary school and high school students take it. Although, adults will sometimes go for the higher levels 準一級 (pre-1st) and 一級 (1st). It is a tiered test like the JLPT, but has writing and speaking tests for the higher levels.

Different levels of the test have different focuses for the speaking test. For example, for the beginner levels, they are just looking for basic greetings and to talk about what someone is doing. Some of the lower levels involve picture cards that the test-taker has to describe. The higher levels involve answering questions like ‘Do the rich have a responsibility to help the poor in society?’.

Something very similar to this would be handy I think as long as it is focused on something rather practical like giving directions or making small talk. Any kind of speaking test will have to have levels. There is a huge difference between the kinds of conversations that lower level students can have those at the very top.

Some Improvements?

I’m not an expert test-maker, but I think the Eiken model could be tweaked a little to be more useful for someone looking to test their Japanese speaking skills. I think a test like that would be a little difficult to administer and the demand wouldn’t be enough to pay for all the mess you would need to go through to make it happen.

First and foremost, who wants to go somewhere to take a test? One of the biggest issues that plagues the JLPT is that people have to sometimes travel long distances to take it. If you live outside of Japan and are not in a major metropolitan area, chances are you will have to take a ride somewhere to take the test. I’ve heard of a few people having to travel 5 or more hours!

So, how about making the speaking test online? This would be extremely handy to have. The technology for this is available. There are some limitations, but I think it would be possible. For example, it would be hard to administer such a test over Skype, since it can sometimes stutter or even cut out completely in the middle. That could cause delays and just be a pain in the neck.

But, what about recording messages and sending them off that way? That technology is easily available, and of course you could always make proprietary software that handles all this for you if you have the money.

I think it would also be helpful to focus on a specific task like ‘giving directions’ or ‘ordering in a restaurant’. Each test would be a separate achievement of sorts. I think this could be really valuable as a measurable way to study a language.

What do you think of a Japanese speaking test?

Would you take one? What would it cover? Let me know in the comments.

This month I’m taking a break from going over particles to shed some light on the present tense of verbs. The most difficult part of these is remembering how to conjugate them in my opinion. I hope you like this latest video, and let me know in the comments what you think of it:

For more videos like this one, be sure to subscribe to the JLPT N5 Grammar YouTube Channel

Or check out some of the other N5 grammar videos:
Japanese particle wa
Japanese particle ga
Japanese particle de
Japanese particle ni
Japanese particles mo, to and ya
Japanese particles wo, kara, made, and he
Japanese particles amari, shika, dake
Japanese Particles ka, yo, wa, and ne

Do you have friends? I bet you do. How about friends that are just starting to learn Japanese? They will probably find this video helpful, so send it along and help them out.

Of course for more information about each grammar point as well as access to the JLPT Study Kit, check out the premium site.

Did I miss something? Do you have a question? Let me know in the comments.

Now available online!

Who has time anymore to download stuff and print it out? And then you have to look up answers on the separate answer sheet. The whole thing is a bit of a pain. So, to make things easier I have put the whole N5 practice test online.

If you are not familiar, the JEES has free practice tests for every level of the test, which I’ve covered before in separate posts. These tests are not full-sized exams. For some of the sections there are only 2 questions, and each of the listening sections have just one question each. But, it is still good practice and will give you an idea of what the test is like.

In a way, the fact that they are shorter than the real test is a bit of an advantage because you only have to spend a few minutes with them instead of dealing with something more full-sized like the official N5 Workbook. I’ve further broken down each section into its own separate quiz so that you can take it at your own pace.

You can also leave comments for each quiz if you happen to have any problems with the questions. There is also a handy stopwatch you can use to time yourself so you can get a feel for how short of a time you need to answer the questions in.

If you’re ready to get started, head over to the premium site where you can take the JLPT N5 Online Practice Test. Free registration is required so that you can keep track of your progress.

The system is currently a little rough around the edges. If anything doesn’t seem to be working right, be sure to contact me and let me know.

Other Versions

Keep in mind you can still download the JLPT N5 Practice Test if you’d like to print it out. The entire practice test is also freely available at JLPT.jp website, where you can pick up other materials as well.

If you are looking for a level other than N5, I unfortunately don’t have those available as an online quiz yet. However, you can get the PDFs and MP3s for them below:

JLPT N4 Practice Test

JLPT N3 Practice Test

JLPT N2 Practice Test

JLPT N1 Practice Test

Or of course on the main JLPT.jp site.

There are also freely available official workbooks too:

JLPT N5 Official Workbook

JLPT N4 Official Workbook

JLPT N3 Official Workbook

JLPT N2 and N1 are available on JLPT.jp

These are roughly the same size as the real test and are made up of questions from previous tests, so they should be the right level.

My recommendation is that you try out the practice test first to get an idea of what the test is like. Then, move on to the official workbooks that have more questions.

Go Forth and Test

Try these out and let me know what you think in the comments.

Putting down the Drill

We are just a couple of months away from the July test here in Japan and I’m starting to look forward to it actually. I’ve started a slow change to the way I study and I’m interested in seeing if it makes a difference for better or worse.

One dramatic change I’ve been working on is to cut down on my drilling time. I was doing 1 to 2 hours of drills a day with kanji and vocabulary. I never really intended it to get that out of hand, so I’m now trying my best to cut it back.

I’m moving towards just doing a lot of reading and listening to build up my vocabulary. I try to read for at least an hour every day in Japanese. I feel like I have at least seen most of the vocabulary before, and I have a pretty good idea of what 90% of what the vocabulary means. Now, I just need to practice quickly understanding how all those words come together.

I have been trying out some new blogs, my new favorite is LifeHacker.jp. Lifehacker is a very popular site in the States that basically details how to make your life better in every aspect, jobs, money, motivation, web tools, apps, etc…

The cool part of LifeHacker.jp is that a lot of the articles are just translations of English articles. So you can read an article and then check your understanding of it by reading the English it was translated from. Of course, the articles don’t match up word for word, but they do come pretty close sometimes.

More Focus on Overall Language Ability

I’ve been making N5 grammar videos and have started work on an interactive N5 grammar course. I wanted to make videos and cheat sheets that just go beyond giving you a simple English definition, but actually give you a real feel for the grammar point. So I set about doing some through research on the grammar points.

And, when I look through some of the Japanese teaching books, and the Japan Times Grammar Dictionaries, it is really interesting. When I first learned these grammar points (about 7 or so years ago) I remembered just the simple meaning of them. But, of course, Japanese particles are a bit complex, and so it is interesting to go back now and read in detail about some of the nuances.

I think being at a higher level is pretty exciting with a language because you can see the whole picture. There are some parts of the picture still missing, and a few parts are a little fuzzy, but you at least have a general idea of the overall mechanics, which is pretty cool. Cool because, now it is simply just a matter of filling in holes and cleaning up the fuzzy parts.

July JLPT here I come!

I have signed up for the Summer JLPT test (July 7th) again this year. I’ve been pretty busy with family things and looking around for a house but I have been making slow steady progress with my studies. For example, getting all my kanji study out of the way (although I’m still doing regular review).

My primary goal is still my reading score. I’d really like to see that go up. I’m not entirely sure if I’ll be able to pas the section (get 19+), but I’d like to try to get above 15. I know that these are pretty modest goals, but I’ve become a little more humble with my estimates since my December results. I will be trying a more traditional approach to doing the reading this time after my reading debacle last time.

I’m actually really looking forward to taking the test this time to see if there is a difference. Last year, I put a lot of pressure on myself to finish all my drill books and be ready for the big exam. I really wanted to pass and be done with it. This July though, I feel a little less pressured to pass and just want to take the test to see how well I do. Also, I want to see how my new study methods helped or hurt my score.

How are you keeping going?

I know the July test isn’t available for some regions (e.g. most of North America) so if you can’t take the July test, what are you focusing on now? Are you just having fun? Experimenting? Let me know in the comments.

Photo by HomeSpot HQ

Which do you choose?

All languages are made of 1000s of building blocks called words, i.e. vocabulary. Most people believe that to become really fluent in a language you need to know about 20,000 words. To be conversational, you probably need around 2000. That’s a lot of words to get into your head.

So if you could save any time in that process, it would help you a lot. Even reducing the amount of time you study by 10% could mean months of saved study time. Time that you could spend doing something much more important than memorizing and building mnemonics.

Drill books that are specifically designed for certain levels of the test are great resources for this reason. The books are boiled down so that they only give you what you need to pass the test and not all that other junk. But of course you need real exposure, too. Because you want to use the language not just pass a test about it.

So what should you do? Well, there are two main options with advantages and disadvantages to both.

SRS is the Best (kind of)

Spaced Repetition Systems, or SRS, are systems designed to remind you of a piece of information right at the point you begin to forget it. They are very efficient in their ability to shove a lot of information into your head in the shortest amount of time. Anki is a very popular standalone program that does this, but there are several apps that have similar systems as well.

Since these systems are based on a scientific theory, you probably think they are the most efficient way to study. And they are, they are a great way to build up links between English and Japanese words in your head. And walking around with that giant dictionary in your head can greatly assist you when you are speaking and using the language.

On top of that, there are already pre-made lists that cover different levels and different subjects you can just grab off the shelf and start using. These can provide an excellent background to help you with some of the words that you just haven’t encountered yet, but might come up on the test or be used in a conversation you are listening to.

But SRS can be a little impersonal and disjointed. For one, the linking of one English definition to a Japanese definition is a little limiting. You could write a longer English definition but then there is more to remember about the word. Even if you practiced Japanese to Japanese, you would run into some of the same issues. Basically, you can’t be completely confident of how to use it.

For example, take a word like 知人 (chijin), which is sometimes defined as ‘friend’ or ‘acquaintance’. The second definition is a little more accurate, basically it is someone that you know but maybe don’t hang out with a lot, and it is usually used in business situations. It’s hard to get all that from one Anki card. Even memrise.com which has ‘mems’ that you can attach to words to help you with this isn’t well suited to the task.

Vocabulary Notebooks are better?

Keeping a vocabulary notebook involves writing down new words and phrases that you encounter during the day. Typically you put the Japanese word or phrase and then the English to match up with it. You can also expand a little more on the idea by adding pictures or example sentences. Basically anything you can think of that ties into that word.

Studies have shown that this can be a highly effective way of learning vocabulary. Students generally score higher on tests and are able to recall the words more easily and remember them for longer periods of time. And there is sometimes a social aspect to it where you can share ideas and debate what certain words mean.

But those exact same studies said that the students doing them wouldn’t be doing them if they didn’t have to (if it weren’t apart of a classroom grade). In other words, making a vocabulary notebook can be really useful, but nobody wants to really go through with it all unless they absolutely have to. They are a lot of work to put together and do all the research for, so I can see where this would be a problem.

How about you?

What do you use to lock in vocabulary? Would you use a vocabulary notebook? Do you use one now? Let me know in the comments.

Memrise has several ways to set up testing when you design a new course.

Flashcards of some kind are a necessary evil of language study. The question is, what do you put on the flashcards? What do you prompt yourself with and what is the answer? For example, do you start with English and the answer is Japanese (in Kanji)? Or do you prompt with kanji and answer with the English?

It comes down to how you want it encoded in your brain. What kind of paths or connections do you want to build up? What is the most useful way to ‘root’ the word in your head so it can grow and be used in the future?

And this is something to consider no matter what flashcard system you happen to be using. The two popular systems I recommend are Anki, a standalone program available for the PC, Mac and Linux, and memrise.com a web-app that helps root words with mems. Both have their advantages and disadvantages so I encourage you to give them a try to see which one you prefer.

No matter what system you use, these are the 3 main ways I recommend testing words:

English → Native Japanese

This is the first, very obvious connection you want to wire in right? You probably do a lot of thinking in English and so you want to naturally extend that link to the word you are learning in Japanese. You can alternatively use Japanese definitions, but I feel like this is more for higher level studies.

Note, too, that I said native Japanese, as in what the word looks like in the ‘wild’. Some Japanese words have kanji associated with them, but the kanji is rarely used like the kanji for その is 其の. I don’t think I have ever seen that in native material.

You might be tempted to include them just for the sake of completeness, but why waste your time on something you may never use when you could be learning new fun words instead?

Kanji → Kana

This connection isn’t as obvious as the first one, but definitely just as important. As you start to learn kanji, there is a tendency to just associate the kanji with the meaning. The pronunciation of the kanji is pretty abstract, so it is a bit hard to root. But often times you can encode the meaning with the image of the kanji pretty easily.

And why do you need to know the pronunciation? Well, 1^st of all, it helps to be able to produce the word later (by typing it or saying it). How can you ask the meaning of a word if you can’t even tell someone what it is?

But it will also help with your listening. One big problem of only seeing written words is that you don’t have anything to match up with when you listen to something. There is no memory of a sound that represents that word in your head. You have a visual ‘root’ but not an audio one, and so you won’t be able to retrieve that word as well later when you are listening to something.

Which is why the next way of testing is even more important.

Sound → kanji

So you know how to say the word but can you recognize the word when you hear it? This is where dictation or listening to the sound of the word than writing it down helps to root the sound of the word to your visual memory of it.

This is essential to help you recognize the small differences in pronunciation that change the meaning of the word. Things like the difference between しゅう and しゅ or だた and だった can cause you to trip up when listening. And trip ups can cost you points on the exam.

Which way do you study?

Do you use all 3? Only some of them? Let me know in the comments.

Otsutomehin is your Friend.

If you are going to be staying or living in Japan for any length of time. You want to make the most of it. The problem is there are a few things that the natives know that don’t show up in too many guidebooks. Things that I found out about the hard way more often than not.

When I first moved to Japan, it was my first time abroad. My first time really anywhere outside of the States. I really didn’t have that much of a clue of what to expect or what to do, and I was going to live here for awhile. It was pretty fun to explore and find new things here and there.

But, there are a few things I wish I had known before coming. I give you the top 10 things I wish I knew before I came:

No Trash Cans

There is a complete and utter lack of trash cans in Japan. When I went to the Aichi Expo about 5 years ago, I stopped to get something to eat in the food court. But when I went to leave, there wasn’t a trash can in sight. I eventually found some hidden in a back corner.

What gives?

Well, I’ve heard the major reason for this is for counter-terrorism. After the 1995 Tokyo sarin gas attack, there were a lot less trash cans around. Nowadays the general use of trash cans you do see in train stations are usually clear with clear bags so that you can see what is inside.

Moral of the story is you’ll have to pack around your trash or sneak into McDonald’s to throw something away.

Respect the Food

People tend to respect the eating of food here. In general, you are suppose to sit at a restaurant and eat or eat at your desk at work. You don’t see a lot of people walking and eating, which is another reason why there aren’t a whole heck of a lot of trash cans around.

There are no rules against eating in public. People have explained that it seems a little disrespectful to the food like you don’t care enough about it to sit down and enjoy it. I can say that as an American, I didn’t really respect food that much (that’s why we are all fat), but since coming to Japan, I’ve started to respect food a wee bit more.

I should say that as a foreigner you can guiltily scarf down a rice ball or a Big Mac on the run here and there and no one is going to start a fight with you or anything. However, you will most likely feel a little weird and be frustrated by the fact that you can’t throw away the wrapper anywhere.

Sitting Fees

Bars don’t seem to like people just like hanging out for no reason, so they will sometimes charge you a ‘sitting fee’. This is essentially a fee for using the seat, hence the name. They will, of course, charge you for any beer you drink or anything else as well.

The problem with these sitting fees is that they really aren’t posted anywhere. So, you can go into a place, have a few drinks, and be smacked with a higher bill at the end. And the fees can range from 300 or so yen to 1000 or more depending on the place.

Your best bet is head to an Irish bar or another similar looking place like an English pub. I know this isn’t going to allow you to dive deep into the culture, but you will be able to mingle with local expats who will most likely have plenty of stories to tell you.

Buses are an Acceptable Mode of Transportation

Buses in some countries are sometimes a little scary. They are generally not the first choice for transportation unless you have no money and a lot of time on your hands. At least, that was my impression I had of them before I came to Japan.

In Japan though, they are an excellent way to see a lot of the country easily. Also, overnight buses can save you time and a hotel stay if you don’t mind the whole no-shower thing. I’ve taken in a lot more sights because I saved a lot of money taking buses around.

The other advantage of buses, especially overnight buses, is they go from point A to point B, so if you are nervous about listening for your stop (like on a train) this might be a better option for you, because they will only make pit stops, and then take you directly to where you need to go.

Otsutomehin

Looking for some cheap eats at the end of the day? Head to your local supermarket then because chances are they’ll have marked down food available for the taking. Sometimes you can get things 50% off their regular prices.

This marked down food is called ‘otsutomehin’ or working (mans) food. It’s marketed as a reward for those working late, but in realty it’s a way for the supermarket to get rid of its not so fresh sushi and fried goods before they have to close up shop.

Typically, they start marking down items around 8pm, so if you are hungry later in the evening, be sure to stop into a supermarket and pick something up.

That’s the First Half

There’s the first half of the top 10. I’ll be back next month with the rest of the list. In the meantime, I would love to hear what you wish you had known about Japan before you moved here. Let me know in the comments.

Edit: This article got picked up by Searchina, where you can read their reaction (in Japanese).

The first version of Google Translate (the Rosetta Stone).

Why would the world ever need 1000s of languages? If you believe we all evolved together as a species, why did we start speaking so many strange tongues? I mean, it’s certainly easier for us to just all speak one language, so why did things evolve differently than they did?

Especially since there is no shortage of variety when it comes to languages. From languages that don’ have words for right and left (they use north, south, east and west instead) to the 800 or so languages spoken in Papua New Guinea. There are relatively simple languages like Indonesian and overly complex languages like Japanese and Arabic.

Even experts can’t really answer this question quite clearly. Noam Chomsky, famous linguist/activist, doesn’t really give us a clear answer. Mostly because we don’t really have any good evidence. The only language fossils we can study are written works, and not many of those have survived from ancient times. We only have about the last 5000 years or so to work with.

Language Evolution

It makes common sense that languages evolved along geographical lines. Different groups of people living apart from one another slowly started to speak differently until the two groups could no longer speak with each other. You can actually see a little bit of this in recent times with American and British English.

It seems like a lot of languages have slightly evolved to meet the needs of people living in a particular area. These changes are quite nuanced and are still heavily debated if they even exist, but obviously if a particular language needs a new function or word, it will evolve to accommodate that problem. Words seem to come out of nowhere to solve the linguistic problems we have.

In this way, you can think of a language as a way of looking at how a particular culture thinks. For example, Japanese really doesn’t have a clear future tense. Why is that? Maybe the difference between now and the future doesn’t need to be made clear for the Japanese culture. Over time as the culture changed so did the language.

I should add that this theory that a language’s structure affects the way people look at the world is called linguistic relativity and is still being heavily debated.

Resisting Standardization

We have a standard worldwide system for time. We also have a standard measuring system for length and temperature. So, why don’t we use a standard language? It would definitely save a lot of time and money.

Before modern times communication was generally pretty slow and not done very often between different groups. But, now we have the Internet, where people from several countries, thousands of miles apart can communicate with each other for little to no cost, instantaneously. With this lack of any borders, why are we still speaking different languages?

Of course there are some things to considered about any standardization of language. Obviously, whatever country natively speaks the standard would have the economic advantage over other countries that don’t natively speak the standard language. That is a pretty big concern for those developing countries that are already at a bit of a disadvantage.

But, I also feel that we have a deeply rooted need for diversity. In some ways, it is easier to think about certain concepts in certain languages, they’ve kind of evolved for that. That’s why reaching a higher level of fluency in a language is such a one-of-a-kind experience. Yes, you can read or listen to a translation and get the main idea of something. But, to grasp the way of thinking and the deeper connotations of something, you’ll still need to understand it in the source language.

Am I crazy?

What do you think of the diversity of languages? Do you think they evolved to match the culture? Let me know in the comments below.

 Photo by vintagedept