JapanesePod101.com Blog

Yuri sent us an e-mail last week about why she's studying Japanese.  Being half-Japanese and growing up outside of Japan, she told us she really wants to improve, but has trouble picking up the language. "I am half-Japanese on my mother's side. Although she wasn't taught Japanese growing up she encouraged me to learn, and as I got older I began to want to learn the language myself. I have used many resources over the years but never have I found as great a listening comprehension resource as Japanesepod. When I found Japanesepod I had already studied for several years, and so was able to jump right in at the intermediate/upper intermediate levels. I also greatly enjoyed Miki's Blog because it was at just the right level for me, with... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary Here's a Seinfeldian type of question: Have you ever wondered why we call odd numbers odd? After all, every other number is odd. What's so strange about that? They're hardly scarce. (By contrast, much scarcer numbers are called prime, as if they're of great value, like prime rib or prime real estate.) I'd never considered the matter of numerical oddness until I came upon this compound: 奇数 (kisū: odd number)     odd number + number In 奇数, says Halpern, 奇 means "odd number." But the original and most common meaning of 奇 (KI, ku(shiki)) is "unusual, strange, odd," and the meaning "odd number" clearly spun off from that. In both English and... Show more

Do any of these scenarios sound familiar? * My computer crashed, and my JapanesePod101.com files are gone! * I lost my iPod! All my JapanesePod101.com lessons...gone. * I got a virus, and my computer is toast. * I reformatted my computer, and I didn't back up my JapanesePod101.com lessons. * I accidentally deleted JapanesePod101.com files, help! * My computer died. * My iPhone got wet, and.... Over the years, we've seen almost every possible scenario on how our Japanese lessons go missing. We weren't sure how to solve the issue. After all subscription do run out, but people want to use our lessons forever. This simple solution was proposed by one of users who lost his audio files when he lost his... Show more

Have pen pals?  Lars wrote in to tell us since using JapanesePod101 his pen pals have been quite surprised with his Japanese.  He also told us about how he first decided to learn the language and why. "I'm Lars (38) from Germany and I have a relationship to Japan for many years. I like Japanese sports and culture. And finally I have decided to start to learn this beautiful language Japanese. I went to at a local public high school and noticed soon that the style of the textbook does not really cover current daily Japanese language. Additionally there are not many chances to practice conversations in a big class. So I went on looking for other options. My search ended with japanesepod101.com. I like browsing through the... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary Today's blog features two parts: a contest and a palindrome puzzle. They're both challenging in their own ways, so 頑張ってください (Ganbatte kudasai: Good luck)! Back next week with a more typical blog!   Contest! Do you want to win a copy of Crazy for Kanji: A Student's Guide to the Wonderful World of Japanese Characters? I'm hoping that my new book will make you fall in love with kanji. I'm also hoping it will serve as a map that orients you in the vast and often confusing world of kanji characters. For a free copy, try your hand at the eight questions in the contest at the first link. Whether you're a kanji newbie or an expert, you'll find a fairly level playing... Show more

Today we'd like to share another story from the Mail Bag Contest we did recently from Nathan Mittelman of Sydney, Australia.  What do you do while listening to the podcast? Nathan walks his dogs and has even taught them commands in Japanese! Here's his full story: "On my first trip to Japan I was sure I would pick up Japanese easily.  I had the wonderful opportunity to work at Tokai University Hospital for a working holiday.  Although I had no previous experience with the Japanese language, I had been able to pick up European languages quickly and easily, and so smugly I thought Japanese would be a pushover.  I bought a phrase book at the airport in Sydney and spent a few hours reviewing it on the plane. The problems started... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary When an actor wins an award for a film, one rarely hears a profound acceptance speech. But that's what happened in January. At the Golden Globes, Colin Farrell won "Best Actor in a Motion Picture—Musical Or Comedy" for In Bruges, a movie I adored. And when he accepted the honor, he equated curiosity to love. "Aha!" I thought. "That's exactly right!" When you're passionately in love with someone or something, you want to know everything you can about that love object. Which is how I feel about kanji. Which is why "Kanji Curiosity" could just as easily be called "Kanji Love" (though the alliteration would disappear). And as it turns out, you can use the kanji for... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary If you've got a good head, you're smart. That works in both English and Japanese: 頭がいい (atama ga ii: smart)     head + good And if you have a bad head? Well, that doesn't make a lot of sense in English (possibly suggesting a headache), but in Japanese the logic continues: 頭が悪い (atama ga warui: dumb, slow)     head + bad OK, then, what if your head is strange or funny? For English speakers, that might conjure up images of Jay Leno (long-chinned), Abe Lincoln (long everything), or Barry Bonds post-"steroids" (plumped-up head). But in Japanese, here's what a funny head gets you: 頭がおかしい (atama ga okashii: insane)     head + funny When it comes to heads, "funny" and... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary Not long ago, one of my Japanese-language partners told me this: むちゃがしたくなる。 I had no idea what he was saying, so he wrote it down (thank goodness for Skype's chatting features!) as follows: 無茶がしたくなる。 That didn't help at all. Among other problems, I couldn't figure out where to divide the hiragana, so the romanized rendering seemed like this: Mucha ga shitakunaru. Huh? ¡Mucha confusión! Kensuke explained that したくなる was したい (shitai: I want to do) + なる (naru: to become). The final い of したい had turned into く to accommodate なる. So we had "I want to do" or "I want to become" or some combination of the two. I want to do what? Become what? The first word stumped me.... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary Am I crazy? Who's to say? By Einstein's definition, I may well be. He said insanity was repeatedly doing the same thing while hoping for a different outcome. As I write this, I'm drinking caffeinated tea at 7 p.m. All the while, I'm telling myself that it won't affect my sleep. At some deeper level, I also know that if tea has kept me awake on a thousand other occasions, I can probably expect some misery tonight. Crazy, right? Yes, but I can't help it, because I'm crazy about black and green tea. (I mean, black tea and green tea. Not tea that's simultaneously black and green.) Crazy—there's that word again. When you speak of being "crazy about something," it has nothing... Show more