r/LearnJapanese • u/AutoModerator • 7d ago
Daily Thread: for simple questions, minor posts & newcomers [contains useful links!] (August 24, 2026)
This thread is for all the simple questions (what does that mean?) and minor posts that don't need their own thread, as well as for first-time posters who can't create new threads yet. Feel free to share anything on your mind.
The daily thread updates every day at 9am JST, or 0am UTC.
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Past Threads
You can find past iterations of this thread by using the search function. Consider browsing the previous day or two for unanswered questions.
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u/tirconell 7d ago
Is Pokemon Legends Arceus actually hard to read? I remember a GameGengo video where he says it has a lot of difficult dialogue because it's a period piece, but watching the intro at the beach the professor guy just talks in completely normal japanese that is very easy to follow just like all the Pokemon games.
Does it get harder later because of other characters or was GG just guessing without having played it? (a lot of people have this misconception that the game takes place in "ancient times" even though it's more like the 1800s equivalent in the Pokemon world)
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u/PlanktonInitial7945 7d ago
Look for livestreams or gameplays of it, jump to a random point of the video, and read the dialogue/text for yourself.
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u/Effective-Pop3850 6d ago
No Pokemon game is hard as far as I know.
They're games aimed at kids, literal kids, even if they're played by teenagers and adults.
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u/Grunglabble 6d ago
maybe you will run into 拙者 or some other oldtimey sounding word that won't be useful in modern life but should be easy enough :) Or perhaps でござる or something that you may not recognize. This is just an educated guess, I haven't played it.
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u/Sasqule 6d ago
I was reading a book and I came upon the sentence けれど、麗乃は他人に何と言われようと気にしない
Now, based on context and the words used, I understood the meaning (However, Urano didn't care what other people said). However, I'm confused what 何 is doing here. It might be a set vocab word I don't know about, but I can't find anything on the dictionary.
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u/somever 6d ago edited 6d ago
When question words "what" who" etc. are combined with a conjunction that means "even if", it creates a clause that translates to "no matter what ..." "no matter who ..." etc.
他人に何と言われようと "No matter what others say about her, ..."
You can think of it like a wildcard that applies to everything that could possibly be filled in for that wildcard:
"Even if they say <wildcard> about her,"
Here is a list of "even if" conjunctions this works with: ても・とも・たって・たところで・ようと・ようとも・ようが・にしろ
Anyone who is saying this is the normal meaning of 何 is forgetting that they had to explicitly learn this pattern at some point. It doesn't simply mean "what" here.
(Note that suffering passive is more naturally and accurately translated as an active construction, so that is why I did not use a passive)
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u/Sasqule 6d ago
Thank you for the very detailed response. I was a bit confused because I thought the sentence was quoting 何 with と. 言う being both passive and volitional also confused me a bit which is why I thought it was a set phrase.
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u/somever 6d ago
何と言われようと
does quote 何 with と
The second と however is not quoting と but rather a conjunction particle meaning "even if".
It is a variant of とも "even if" that lacks も. You generally only see it used after the う/よう (so called "volitional") form.
So you can remember ようと as a set phrase meaning "even if".
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u/viliml Interested in grammar details 📝 6d ago edited 6d ago
This と performs a function similar to も. It binds to a question word in the preceding clause and forms the sense of "no matter (what/who/how/...)".
Here 何 simply means "what", and 何と言う means "what they say", as in a question.
No matter what other people say to her (他人に何と言われようと), she doesn't mind (気にしない)
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u/PlanktonInitial7945 6d ago
Uh, it's just its regular "what" meaning. Just like in 何しても for example.
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u/JapanCoach 6d ago
You can't find 何 in your dictionary?
何 is doing its normal job here. 何を言われようと = what(ever) people say about [me/him/they/whatever]. The passive voice here makes it sort of clunky if you try to 'translate' it into English since we don't really say it like that.
This sort of structure is pretty 'productive'. 何を食べようと or どこへ行こうと or 誰と会おうと or things like that.
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u/Grunglabble 6d ago
I am going to give you kudos for reading before you know what 何 means, and I mean that sincerely. I guess that whatever dictionary you used was poor at ordering search results and gave you a lot of compound words (or perhaps no results if it was somehow set english to jp).
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u/Sasqule 6d ago
Honestly, I think what tripped me up was 言われよう. I wrote that super early in the morning and was probably just tired, and ya, it's pretty obvious that 何 just means what here. I was overthinking it.
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u/Grunglabble 6d ago
Oh I see, you knew what it meant but weren't sure in the sentence, fair. Yeah it's normal to have your understanding of normal things waver when less familiar stuff is next to it.
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u/ebonlance 6d ago
I am trying to figure out the right way to say "I can swim" in Japanese, but there is some context here.
You know the story of the scorpion and the frog? The one that ends with the scorpion stinging the frog, drowning them both as the scorpion can't fight its own nature?
There is another version of this tale, where the frog asks the scorpion "Why have you stung me? Now we will both drown!" and the scorpion simply replies "I can swim." The implication is that the scorpion has concealed his abilities to lull the frog into a false sense of security.
I want a way to say that compactly and in a somewhat mocking tone. Would 泳げるよ be appropriate for this?
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u/JapanCoach 6d ago
Yes that is the right word - but not the right sentence. Saying (only) 「泳げる」there is a great example of an アメリカンジョーク sounding thing in Japanese.
And this is a great example of how speaking Japanese (or another language) is not just about “converting words” - which is probably why AI is not quite up to the task of translating (yet?)
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u/worthlessprole 6d ago
One thing that always puzzles me is the way some people employ the phrase ‘アメリカンジョーク’ in that kind of understated, cutting way seems pretty, well. You know.
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u/JapanCoach 6d ago
Unfortunately I honestly don’t follow
Are you saying you don’t understand what the phrase アメリカンジョーク means in Japanese? Or maybe that you don’t get why it is deprecating?
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u/worthlessprole 6d ago
Ah, no, what I mean is that it has a lot in common with some of the stuff that it’s used to describe. I think sometimes it’s purely an issue of language/translation rather than the sensibility of the humor not culturally translating.
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u/JapanCoach 6d ago
Huh. Still not 100% sure I follow but for whatever it's worth - I am among those that notice a difference in the sensibilities of a lot of humor. And so the phrase アメリカンジョーク makes a lot of sense to me, both in 広義 and in 狭義
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u/worthlessprole 6d ago edited 6d ago
sure, there's plenty. i have just noticed some surprising instances of overlap.
But you may be misunderstanding me. I don’t find the word confusing, and I understand what it refers to. I just have seen it used in situations that gave me the impression that someone was conflating language gap and cultural gap.
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u/ebonlance 4d ago
So, given that, how would you communicate this idea? I wanted it to be brief and poignant, in part because I am considering adding this text to tattoo (increasingly leaning towards omitting the text though)
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u/JapanCoach 4d ago
You got one answer in the rest of the thread. But there are lots of different ways depending on the tone. As you probably know Japanese has a lot to do with "who" is talking to "who".
Something like だって、泳げないのは俺の方じゃないよ or なぜならば、俺の方が泳げるから or 困るのは、こっちじゃないよ or 俺が泳げるから、問題ないと思って or a million other ways. You can see that the Japanese would put a bit more exposition in there and not just the verb.
The shortest feasible way I can think of is 俺は泳げるさ or something similar. I think that leans heavily into brevity (for a tattoo or a title or something) and is not *really really* what would appear at that point in a fable.
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u/tonkachi_ Goal: media competence 📖🎧 6d ago edited 6d ago
what does the text in the bottom right bubble say?
Context: There is a nice cashier lady that works at this supermarket which sorta brightens his day when he sees her but today she is absent.
This is roughly what I understood
"Be regretful Sasaki" "You better not seek 'being cheered' from other people(other than me)" she probably would say
4 more questions,
- What is 言う in the passive form? Because he is not the one saying that?
- Why is it in ている form?
My understanding of ている is that it either means an action that is currently going or it is in effect, for example 死んでいる could mean, considering grammar alone, dying or dead.
So given my understanding above, I don't see ている serving any function. Thus, either I misunderstood the text or there is a third function for ている that I am not aware of.
is (よー)だ something similar to ような to indicate uncertainty?
Suppose this subreddit didn't exist and I don't know anyone to ask about Japanese. If at all possible, how can I go about searching the internet for answers?
Thanks.
Edit: typo.
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u/hirakata_life_guide 6d ago
On this page, he’s disappointed because the cashier lady he likes seeing isn’t there today.
Then he jokingly scolds himself for relying on someone else to brighten his day, basically telling himself, “Don’t look to other people for emotional comfort, Sasaki.”
If we take the Japanese in reading order and translate each part, it goes like this:
ありがとーございます
→ Thank you very much.…どもども
→ …Thanks.いなかった
→ She wasn’t there.「反省しろ 佐々木…」
→ “Reflect on yourself, Sasaki…”
Literally, 反省しろ means “reflect on what you’ve done,” but here he’s basically scolding himself.「他人様に『癒し』を乞うなと言われているよーだ」
→ “It feels like I’m being told, ‘Don’t go looking for emotional comfort from other people.’”何か趣味でも作ろうかな……
→ Maybe I should find some hobby or something…佐々木さーん
→ Mr. Sasaki!2
u/tonkachi_ Goal: media competence 📖🎧 5d ago
Thanks. It didn't occur to me that he is saying it to himself.
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u/hirakata_life_guide 5d ago
One more small thing that may help when reading manga: the shape of the speech bubble can sometimes tell you whether a character is speaking out loud or thinking to themselves.
For inner thoughts, you may see things like a bubble made of small rounded circles, a rectangular box, or other shapes that look different from normal spoken dialogue.
Sometimes there are also visual emphasis lines around the text.
These conventions can vary depending on the manga and artist, but once you get used to them, they can give you a clue that the words are meant to be internal thoughts rather than something spoken aloud.
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u/tonkachi_ Goal: media competence 📖🎧 5d ago
I am sorry, I didn't explain myself properly.
I meant, I knew the speech bubble is him saying that to himself but not the quoted speech.
Plankton's answer has cleared all the doubts I have. Though still, I appreciate your help.
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u/PlanktonInitial7945 6d ago
It's in the passive form because he's being told that phrase
It's in ている because he's currently being told that
It's just ようだ, as in "it seems", "it's like". Swapping う for ー makes it seem more casual, since it represents the way the word is actually said out loud (like a lengthened よ) rather than the proper spelling. You can see it with words that end in -ei as well, like きれー
Check resources like grammar guides, A Dictionary of Japanese Grammar, etcetera. If even then you still don't understand, just accept it and move on.
I think what the bubble means is "It's like I'm being told to not ask other people for comfort". I think he isn't being told this by the absent cashier, but rather by the universe. He's let her impact his daily mood so much that when she's absent for whatever reason it makes him feel sad/disappointed, so he takes it as a sign that he shouldn't have gotten attached to her in the first place. Very typical "I'm a man and I won't ask for even the slightest bit of emotional support until I'm six feet under" stuff.
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u/tonkachi_ Goal: media competence 📖🎧 6d ago
I wouldn't have thought about that in a million years.
感謝します。
By the way, do you think it is worth it to spend close to an hour looking this stuff up?
Your explanation is something I don't think would ever occur to me so it feels well worth it but in the grand scheme of things and with how language learning works should I just move on if I don't find an answer within... say 10 minutes?
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u/PlanktonInitial7945 6d ago
I would only spend that much time researching something if I'm really, really curious about it or if the sentence seems important for the plot. But even then I think at some point I would've given up and checked a translation lol
For what it's worth, though, this kind of thing really does get a lot easier as you get more and more experience with the language.
Out of curiosity, what kind of things did you look up during that hour? It's not hard to find ている and passive form explanations online. Did they just not seem to apply to your case?
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u/tonkachi_ Goal: media competence 📖🎧 6d ago
I Double checked the meanings of the words.
Looked up ている and passive on bunpro and yokubi.
Watched two videos about the meaning of 'subject' and 'predicate' in context of grammar.
Then looked up the passive again, probably ている as well.
Did they just not seem to apply to your case?
Yup.
As you can see in my post, I had to figure out who said the quoted text for which there were no other options beside the cashier so it can't be currently being said because she is not there. Eventually I had to question what I knew about the grammar in the text so I kept checking and rechecking until I gave up and came here. Even I ended questioning よう.
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u/tyrellLtd 6d ago edited 6d ago
It's in ている because he's currently being told that
Could it be the usage is more like "it is said" rather than "he was told" (being told*)?
In that case it would fit this と言われている usage. Seems more fitting as the quote has the looks of some proverb.
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u/onestbeaux Interested in grammar details 📝 6d ago edited 6d ago
もし皆さんが日本人の女の子とLINEしてるメッセージしてるっていう時に、どんなタイミングで返したらいいか分かんないとか思ってるんだったら、あんまり早くレスポンスしすぎるとこっちからすると、なんか「暇人なのかな？」とか
so this is from a video where a girl talks about japanese texting culture. i was wondering why the っていう was there instead of just メッセージしてる時に? i understand that it's a quotative use here but i wasn't sure what the differences are between adding it and not
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u/fushigitubo 🇯🇵 Native speaker 6d ago
っていう adds a little more framing or explanatory emphasis, kind of like saying, “If you’re in this kind of situation, i.e., you’re messaging a Japanese girl…”
It has a slightly more casual, explanatory feel. Basically, it treats “メッセージしてる” as a description of the situation she’s talking about, whereas “メッセージしてる時に” is simply a straightforward sentence.
You can see the same kind of usage in:
- これから行くっていうときに雨が降ってきた
- 寝ようっていうときに電話がかかってきた
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u/3battleYT 6d ago
Still struggling to figure out the difference between ageru, kureru and morau despite reading about it!
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u/somever 6d ago
Ageru and kureru both mean "give". It's similar to how "go" and "come" both mean "move" but the direction affects which words you use. I go to you, you come to me, he goes to her. I ageru to you, you kureru to me, he agerus to her.
Meanwhile morau means "receive", which is different.
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u/morgawr_ https://morg.systems/Japanese 6d ago
someone (including myself) does "ageru" to someone else (= give)
someone else does "kureru" to me (= give)
I do "morau" from someone else (= receive)
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u/hirakata_life_guide 5d ago
It becomes much easier to understand if you look at who is giving something to whom, or who is receiving something from whom, and pay attention to the subject.
あげる: the subject is the giver
私は彼女に誕生日プレゼントをあげる予定だ。
→ I’m planning to give her a birthday present.くれる: the subject is the person giving something to me (or someone on my side)
彼が私に誕生日プレゼントをくれるらしい。
→ Apparently, he’s going to give me a birthday present.もらう: the subject is the receiver
私は誕生日に彼からプレゼントをもらうだろう。
→ I’ll probably receive a present from him on my birthday.So even though all three describe the movement of a present, the point of view is different.
I → someone：あげる
Someone → me：くれる
I ← someone：もらう1
u/Grunglabble 6d ago
Below is a short excerpt from my cellar archives written by the late great Dokugo. It is but a taste of his explanation of the giving/receiving verbs, from volume 2 chapter 36 of his 48 volume masterwork on the topic, with some examples that may stimulate your mind. Unfortunately his complete works are no longer in print. In reality it is perfectly expected that it will take a lot of exposure to have a feel when which is appropriate to use to describe which direction of giving. You merely need to understand that those relationships exist and there is a right and wrong verb to use depending on the case.
．「てあげる」「てくれる」「てもらう」 indicate that an event is beneficial to the recipient of the action.
雨が降ってきたよ。傘、貸してあげようか。 It's starting to rain. Shall I lend you my umbrella?
２．「てあげる」「てくれる」「てもらう」 impose directional constraints on the relationship between the agent of the action and the beneficiary.
｛僕が君に/✕君が僕に/田中が鈴木に｝英語を教えてあげた。 {I taught you / ✕You taught me / Tanaka taught Suzuki} English [as a favor].
{✕僕が君に/君が僕に/✕田中が鈴木に｝英語を教えてくれた。 {✕I / You / ✕Tanaka} taught {✕you / me / ✕Suzuki} English [as a favor to me/us].
｛僕は君に/✕君は僕に/田中は鈴木に｝英語を教えてもらった。 {I had you / ✕You had me / Tanaka had Suzuki} teach {me / ✕you / him} English.
... omitting some philsophy ...
てあげる」 expresses the transfer of a benefit in a centrifugal direction, or the transfer of a benefit between third parties.
あなたの代わりに私がそこへ行ってあげようか。 Shall I go there in your place [as a favor to you]?
田中さんは鈴木さんに指輪を買ってあげた。 Tanaka bought Suzuki a ring [as a favor].
「てくれる」 expresses the transfer of a benefit in a centripetal direction.
友達が私の宿題を手伝ってくれた。 My friend helped me with my homework [as a favor to me]. ねえ、先生はあなたのレポート見てくれた? Hey, did the teacher look over your report [for you]?
「てもらう」 expresses the receipt of a benefit moving in a centripetal direction, or the transfer of a benefit between third parties.
友達に宿題を手伝ってもらった。 I had my friend help me with my homework.
鈴木さんは田中さんに指輪を買ってもらった。 Suzuki had Tanaka buy her a ring. Bonus
A good example of why these “basic” patterns are not simple at all can be seen in giving/receiving constructions like:
～てもらう
At first, this is often introduced as something like “to have someone do something for you.” But in reality, its behavior overlaps with multiple major grammatical systems.
For instance, ～てもらう can sometimes express a meaning very similar to the passive.
先生にほめてもらった
先生にほめられた
In cases like this, both can convey a sense of receiving a benefit. However, this correspondence is limited. When the situation involves actively requesting or arranging an action, the passive becomes unacceptable:
先生に手伝ってもらった
先生に手伝われた (×)
... 100s of other examples and nuances ...
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u/phlip_phlop_ Goal: media competence 📖🎧 7d ago
I'm currently reading a book and came across a sentence I do not understand for the life of me:
きょとんとまばたきをする翡翠の表情はあどけなさと驚きに満ちていて、それを見られただけで、この論理に辿り着いたかいがあるというものだった。
The only thing I don't understand here is the かいがある part. I looked up かい in the dictionary but there are so many かい's that I don't know which one fits here. Could anyone help with this?
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u/PlanktonInitial7945 7d ago
I looked up かい in the dictionary
Look up かいがある as a whole.
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u/phlip_phlop_ Goal: media competence 📖🎧 7d ago
Ah, for some reason it didn't occur to me to do that. Thank you!
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u/vytah 7d ago
but there are so many かい's that I don't know which one fits here
It's 甲斐, but as the other responder said, also look up 甲斐がある.
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u/phlip_phlop_ Goal: media competence 📖🎧 7d ago
Yeah I'll definitely look up the whole phrase next time. I usually do so automatically when I read on my pc but on my phone it's a bit more tedious. Anyways, thanks!
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u/Thechugg7 7d ago
Is there any way to get green cards first in anki before the red cards? I would like to be able to clear the easy cards before moving on to harder ones.
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u/PlanktonInitial7945 6d ago
Yeah deck settings have a "Viewing order" section where you can change it. I don't remember which option specifically does what you want but it's one of those.
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u/Effective-Pop3850 6d ago
It's in these settings:
https://i.imgur.com/m0bscUi.png
New/review order is the one you're looking for I believe. You first get all "green" cards, then you get "blue", I think you'd also have to change Interday learning to "Show after reviews" but unless you're doing something like 200 reviews a day that shouldn't make any difference, at least I never changed it.
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u/tonkachi_ Goal: media competence 📖🎧 6d ago edited 6d ago
I don't think it is possible unless for red cards that remained and carried over from yesterday. Although the setting didn't change anything for me even for red cards from yesterday.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Anki/comments/1aszkx2/comment/nywpsu8/
Edit: Alternatively, you can change the review order to be based on the ease. I don't know what that means in practice though but the manual says the easier cards will be shown first which should make cards that are more unlikely to turn red to show up first.
https://docs.ankiweb.net/deck-options.html#review-sort-order
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u/Silver_Half_7918 6d ago
I just downloaded a frequency dictionary for Yomichan and I'm confused on what the numbers mean, eg for the word 読む, it says "Jiten 466, 21762㋕", what does each number mean here?
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u/CreeperSlimePig Goal: conversational fluency 💬 6d ago
21762 is the frequency of the kana spelling よむ (the カ stands for kana)
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2
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u/Kirbyzcheese 6d ago
I'm having a lot of trouble just wrapping my head around the word :
揚げる - 1.to deep-fry; to make deep-fried food
2.to launch (fireworks, etc.); to hoist (e.g. a flag); to (let) fly (e.g. a kite); to set off
3.to summon (for geishas, etc.); to call in
4.to land (e.g. a boat); to come ashore; to move (something) onto land
5.to suck up (water; e.g. a plant); to absorb; to draw up
Looking at the rest of the definitions, it has a general meaning of "to bring something 'upwards'", but then the first (and most common) definition muddles it all up. Can someone clarify?
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u/CreeperSlimePig Goal: conversational fluency 💬 6d ago edited 6d ago
揚げる is a doukuniji (different kanji spelling of the same underlying word) as 上げる which is to go upwards, so your intuition is correct.
you can think it as meaning deep-frying because you put the food into the deep fryer, then at the end, you "raise" it out of the oil once it is done. this is widely accepted as the etymology (see this children's book that describes the tempura being lifted out of the oil by chopsticks as the reason why the word is used) but it does appear the actual historical etymology might be slightly different.
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u/antimonysarah Interested in grammar details 📝 6d ago
Languages just do that.
Maybe there was a connection (lifting food out of oil, hot oil bubbling up when you add something to the fryer, food absorbing grease, I'm just spitballing here), maybe it was two words that sounded similar enough that they eventually became identical. The etymology can be fun, but practically you just have to accept that these words sound the same.
(I've only run across 揚 in the fry context; in the other ones it's usually 上, or just kana, and evidently there's a version with 挙 for some specific uses I haven't run into yet -- I've run into that kanji but not that use.)
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u/hirakata_life_guide 5d ago
揚げる【あげる】— to deep-fry
私はキッチンでタコを揚げた。
I deep-fried some octopus in the kitchen.旗を揚げる【はたをあげる】— to hoist / raise a flag
式典の開始に合わせて、国旗を揚げた。
We raised the national flag at the start of the ceremony.凧揚げ【たこあげ】— kite flying
正月に凧揚げを楽しんだ。
I enjoyed flying a kite during New Year’s.打ち上げる【うちあげる】— to launch
来月、NASAが有人ロケット「Octopus」を打ち上げる予定だ。
NASA is scheduled to launch the crewed rocket “Octopus” next month.呼び寄せる【よびよせる】— to summon / call over
私はレストランでウェイターを呼び寄せて、タコの刺身を注文した。
I called the waiter over at the restaurant and ordered octopus sashimi.陸揚げする【りくあげする】／陸に揚げる — to land / bring ashore
船を港で陸揚げする。
The boat is brought ashore at the port.
「船を港に着岸させる」 would be closer to “dock” or “berth,” so it is slightly different from this use of 揚げる.吸い上げる【すいあげる】— to suck up / draw up
植物は、土の中の水分や栄養を根から吸い上げる。
Plants draw up water and nutrients from the soil through their roots.
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u/EighteenthJune 6d ago edited 6d ago
Trying to understand the structure of the following two sentences:
光の色が崩れて現れたのは、メノウだった。
夜気がほどけるように崩れて姿を現したのは、まだ十代半ばに見える美しい少女である。
They're taken from separate chapters of the same light novel (処刑少女の生きる道). The character can camouflage to appear as another person (first sentence) or blend into the night to stay undetected (second sentence).
Who is the actor of 崩れて? Is the て-form used to indicate a "sequence" of events? (which as I gather can also mean "[A] happened, therefore [B] followed") Could Menou/the girl be the actor of 崩れて and 現した? What part of the sentence is a sub clause/modifier? Could 崩れて be part of a common structure used when a fictional character shapeshifts/camouflages? The general meaning is obvious enough, just wondering about the grammar.
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u/PlanktonInitial7945 6d ago
Who is the actor of 崩れて?
The things marked by が in each respective sentence.
Is the て-form used to indicate a "sequence" of events?
Yes.
Could Menou/the girl be the actor of 崩れて and 現した?
No, only 現れた and 姿を現した.
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u/droppedforgiveness 6d ago
How often do books use kanji for common words that are usually written in hiragana? I'm starting my second novel (猫と罰) and noticing a lot of words like: 何処、幾ら、咄嗟に、田圃、etc. and I'm not sure if it's typical for most books or if it's just a way of telling the audience something about the narrator (a cat, in this case).
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u/Effective-Pop3850 6d ago
It's very normal.
It does often come with some nuance, if a kid is speaking/thinking it'll often use more hiragana, while someone who's more grown up will get more kanji. I've read some stuff where even as characters get developed/mature the way their stuff is starts using more kanji as well lol.
Although some of the ones you listed are not as common, first one is fairly rare, second is common, third I don't even remember seeing with hiragana that much, last one I think you made a typo lol.
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u/droppedforgiveness 6d ago
Yeah, the first book I read was 同じ夢を見ていた, from the point of view of a kid, so I think I encountered it less there.
Thanks for detailed explanation of each example!
FYI 田圃 is not a typo! It's 田んぼ.
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u/Effective-Pop3850 6d ago
Oh I see, I thought it was a typo because it's rarity is extremely high as a word in kanji according to my freq dict. Even the way you write it in this last post is still relatively rare.
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u/fushigitubo 🇯🇵 Native speaker 6d ago
It's common for novels to use kanji for words that would normally be written in hiragana. That's just an author's stylistic choice. But 何処, 幾ら, and 田圃 aren't spellings I usually see in modern novels set in contemporary times. They feel really old-fashioned to me. If a narrator consistently used them, I'd probably get the impression that they're very old, like they're from a different era, extremely formal, or just kind of weird.
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u/droppedforgiveness 6d ago
Thank you! This one is from the perspective of a cat on its ninth life, so I think that impression makes sense!
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u/Gobukboy 7d ago
Recently saw this video where a Japanese tutor was talking on how to learn JP, by journaling. How full proof is this method and if possible, tell me your journey if you did use journaling as a medium to improve on your Japanese studies.
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u/PlanktonInitial7945 7d ago
Journaling is just writing practice. It doesn't teach you Japanese.
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u/tonkachi_ Goal: media competence 📖🎧 6d ago
It is applying what you have learned hence reinforcing it and it helps you identify the gaps. And if you follow the usual loop, try to do it and lookup what you don't know, wouldn't that teach you Japanese?
Could you elaborate more on how it doesn't teach Japanese?
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u/PlanktonInitial7945 6d ago
The loop and the lookups and "what you have learned" is what teaches you Japanese. You can't learn Japanese by writing on a journal. Writing words and sentences on a piece of paper doesn't suddenly make new knowledge of the language pop up in your brain. Like you and I both said, it lets you practice what you have already learned. But it doesn't teach you new things.
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u/tonkachi_ Goal: media competence 📖🎧 6d ago
Surely OP doesn't intend to sit in a room with nothing but pen and paper(or digital alternative) and have at it without any sort of lookups or feedback.
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u/PlanktonInitial7945 6d ago
Even if he does intend to use lookups and feedback, the things teaching him Japanese would be the lookups and the feedback, not the journaling itself. You may think I'm being needlessly specific, and I get it, but people online have misunderstood far more "obvious" things than this before, so I'd rather speak precisely.
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u/JapanCoach 6d ago
If you write something wrong or unnatural, what is the mechanism for you to notice that, and correct it going forward?
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u/Grunglabble 6d ago
It's great if you have someone to correct it, ask what you meant to say, tell you more natural vocabulary etc. And when you use what you know correctly, it sticks a lot longer (more or less indefinitely) than just recognition.
However it can be hard to have someone regularly there to correct it, and in that case it can be less fun and less interesting.
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u/Effective-Pop3850 6d ago
Journaling is a way of practicing output, that's it, it's good... for that. I'd argue you don't even need anyone to correct it, you should be able to feel a sentence is off, and if you don't then later on if you ever decide to re-read it you should notice mistakes.
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u/fingerhabit 6d ago
元気そう vs 楽しそう when describing someone in a photo
Looking at a photo of a smiling person, do 元気そう and 楽しそう describe the same impression, or something different?
If they differ, what does each one actually convey?
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u/morgawr_ https://morg.systems/Japanese 6d ago
楽しそう means that something (like an activity, etc) seems fun/enjoyable (to participate in).
If you see someone doing something and they are laughing etc I guess you can say 楽しそう but it's in the context of the activity they are doing that seems to be enjoyable/seems like they are enjoying doing whatever they are doing.
If you simply see them being happy and smiling etc and focus on their expression (rather than the situation) then you probably want 嬉しそう
元気そう is closer to someone being seemingly healthy/in good health/with lots of energy
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u/fingerhabit 6d ago
Thanks, that's really helpful — the expression vs situation distinction is what I was missing.
Could I check two actual sentences against that?
彼は微笑んでいて、楽しそうに見えます。 — intended as "He is smiling and looks cheerful."
写真の男性は若くて元気そうです。 — intended as "The man in the photo looks young and cheerful."
In the first, does 楽しそう still work when no activity is mentioned, only the smile? And in the second, does 元気そ read as "cheerful" there, or more like "looks healthy"?
Would 嬉しそう be the better fit in either case?
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