JapanesePod101.com Blog

「隣の花は赤い」ということわざを知っていますか？　これは、「他人のものは何でも素晴らしく見えて、羨ましく思うこと」です。同じ意味で「隣の芝は青い」ということわざもありますね。 さて、なぜ隣の家に咲いている花は「赤い」のでしょうか？　白や黄色の花だってあるのに、わざわざ「赤」という色を選んでことわざに用いているのには、何か理由があるのでしょうか。 「赤」という色は、日本人にとって「素晴らしい色」「めでたい色」なのです。ですから、結婚式などのお祝い事には赤と白が用いられます。祝賀の記念品として「紅白まんじゅう」が配られることもあります。大晦日の歌番組「紅白歌合戦」を知っている人もいることでしょう。 「紅白」の「紅（くれない）」は「鮮やかな赤色」を表わしています。これ以外にも赤い色を表わす漢字は「朱（しゅ）」（黄色を帯びた赤色）、「丹（に）」（茶色を帯びた赤色）、「緋（ひ）」（濃い赤色）があります。 ところで、あなたの国の子どもたちは太陽を絵に表わすとき、何色を使いますか？　日本の子どもたちはほぼ全員が赤色を用います。日本の国旗も、白地に赤い丸の「日の丸」ですね。このように、「赤」という色は日本では特別な色なのです。 ===== Have any of you ever heard the old saying "the flowers next door are red"? This means, "the things that others have always look better and make people envious." There's also the saying "the grass is always... Show more

The Kanji for this week are as follows: (Remember, each compound must use the Kanji in the brackets .) Kanji Scrabble #10 目、日、見、読、手、口、生、一、車、足 (Learn How to Play Here) To start, all you need is a Twitter account and to follow our Twitter account @japanesepod101 (What’s Twitter you ask? Read our guide here.) Answers: Kanji Kana English 後 あと (n,adj-no) (1) behind/rear/(2) after/later/(3) after one's death/(4) remainder/the rest/(5) descendant/successor/heir/(6) (arch) past/previous/(n-adv) (7) more (i.e. five more minutes)/(P)/ 後口 あとくち (n) (1) aftertaste/(2) later (in line or in turn, etc.)/ 後後 あとあと (n-adv,n-t) distant future/ 後手 ごて (n) (1) losing the initiative (in Go)/(2) rear guard/(3)... Show more

Welcome to Forum Spotlight! Here we’ll be introducing interesting and useful posts made by members at our very own JapanesePod101.com Forum. This week's forum spotlight post is a question asked by debondtjan about the best way to write out kanji and kana that was answered by Belton. ======= Question： ======= "For writing the kana/kanji, what would you suggest: a thick pen or a normal pen to practice? The bigger, calligraphic versions of kana & kanji (where they use a thick pen) always look so much better and easier to the eye than the smaller ones. One problem I currently see in my learning process, is that sometimes small hiragana (on screen) miss some pixels (that you clearly see on bigger hiragana) that aided me in... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary I wonder if you know how to say the following things in Japanese: He's free with his money. She has a rough way of talking. My boss is a slave driver. No? How have you been getting by so far? Don't you need the third sentence, in particular? Two More Terms You Can't Live Without ... Even though these English sentences seem to have nothing in common, their Japanese translations share some useful vocabulary. All three feature the kanji we've been examining for the past two weeks: 荒 (KŌ, ara(i), ara-, a(reru), a(rasu), -a(rashi): rough, crude, natural, wild) In fact, in every sentence, 荒 shows up in the following word: 荒い (arai: rough, rude,... Show more

 The Kanji for this week are as follows: (Remember, each compound must use the Kanji in the brackets .) Kanji Scrabble #09   学、語、小、多、金、二、古、名、三、上 (Learn How to Play Here) To start, all you need is a Twitter account and to follow our Twitter account @japanesepod101 (What’s Twitter you ask? Read our guide here.) Answers: Kanji Kana English 三言 みこと (n) three words/ 二言 にごん (n) (1) double-dealing/double tongue/going back on what one has said/(2) repeating oneself/ 二言三言 ふたことみこと (n) a few words/ 古言 こげん (n) obsolete word/old proverb/ 名言 めいげん (n) wise saying/ 多言 たげん (n,vs) talkativeness/verbosity/garrulity/ 多言語 たげんご (adj-no) multilingual/ 小言 こごと (n)... Show more

Welcome to Forum Spotlight! Here we’ll be introducing interesting and useful posts made by members at our very own JapanesePod101.com Forum. This week's forum spotlight post is a question asked by thegsusfreek about the Japanese writing system from a beginner's point of view that was answered by QuackingShoe. If you're a beginner who is confused by how the Japanese writing system works, you'll find some answers here! ===================== Question from thegsusfreek: ===================== I've just started using this program and I've signed up for the 7 day premium trial. I'm absolutely loving it! But, I have many questions about written Japanese. I hope that someone can help answer them. 1) In the first table of the "Kanji Close-up"... Show more

How to Really Learn Japanese in Just Minutes a Day and Stick with it Get an Instant 10% OFF with coupon code FF2009 for a limited time. The Myth What if I told you mastering Japanese wasn't that hard. That actually learning the language itself is not nearly as difficult as you may have heard. And that the problem to progressing is an age old one...failure to execute. The Real Issue Said another way, "People don't progress 'cause they don't do! If you don't do the work, you won't reach your goals." It's a bold statement, but think about it. How many things have you tried, only to give up at some later point in time. Exercising daily, diets, hobbies, etc. Language learning is no exception. We tend to start out... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary If you saw the following, what would you think the word meant? 山荒 (yamaarashi)     mountain + rough The kanji 荒 (KŌ, ara(i), ara-, a(reru), a(rasu), -a(rashi): rough, crude, natural, wild) contains the "grass" radical 艹, so maybe this is a type of plant that grows on mountains. Then again, the roughness could describe the mountain itself—perhaps the condition of an eroded slope. (By the way, "erosion" is a great word: 水食, suishoku: erosion, water + to eat. Erosion is what happens when water "eats" a slope!) Mountain + rough could also refer to the unpolished manner of a country bumpkin living on an isolated mountain. But no, 山荒... Show more

六月の花といえば「あじさい」。日本では、白、ピンク、水色、紫と様々な色のあじさいが咲きそろいます。高さは一メートルくらいで、卵形の葉は光沢のある緑色。葉の縁がギザギザしているのが特徴です。 小さな花びらが集まって咲くあじさい。その名前は花の色に由来しているとか。青より少し濃い色を「藍色」と呼びますが、この「藍色が集まったもの」を表わす「あづさい」が変化して「あじさい」になったそうです。しかし、花びらのように見える色のついた部分は「がく」で、中心にある小さく目立たない部分が花であることは意外に知られていません。 ちなみに、色鮮やかな「がく」は土壌の性質や開花からの日数によって微妙に色を変えます。初めは水色だったのに、だんだんと藍色になり、続いて赤みを帯びて紫色になるのです。この変化していく様子から、「心変わり」という花言葉が生まれたのだそうです。 漢字では「紫陽花」と表現し、「紫」の文字は紫色を、「陽」の文字は太陽、ひいては日が経つこと、「花」の文字は花を表わします。つまり、「太陽を浴びて日が経つと紫色に変わる花」という意味ですね。 雨の滴がしたたるあじさいはロマンティックで、いつまで眺めていても飽きない風情があります ==== Hydrangea : When people think June, they think of "Ajisai" (Hydrangea). In Japan white, pink, light blue, purple and hydrangea in a number of other colors are in bloom. The plants grow to about a meter in... Show more

This week we'll be giving away 3 iPhone application codes for one of our newest iPhone / Touch applications, Gengo Talking Japanese Dictionary, to the first 3 people who get ALL the combinations correct!To be fair with everyone, and for those without those speedy and amazing electronic dictionaries (高いからね！）, we'll only count answers that show up on Jim Breen's WWWJDICT. The Kanji for this week are as follows: (Remember, each compound must use the Kanji in the brackets .) Kanji Scrabble #08 　大、入、父、北、中、出、母、電、語、天 (Learn How to Play Here) To start, all you need is a Twitter account and to follow our Twitter account @japanesepod101 (What’s Twitter you ask? Read our guide here.) Kanji Scrabble #07 introduced the most combinations so... Show more