December 10, 2015
Read the following sentences and observe the differences:
1)「バスで友達とAng Mo Kio に行きます」(By bus with my friend I go to Ang Mo Kio)
2)「友達とバスでAng Mo Kio に行きます」(With my friend by bus I go to Ang Mo Kio)
3)「Ang Mo Kioに友達とバスで行きます」(To Ang Mo Kio with my friend by bus I go)
Which sentence is corre...
December 1, 2015
When you learned hiragana, did you think about the difference between 「じ」 and 「ぢ」, and between 「ず」 and 「づ」, as each pair of hiragana has the same pronunciation?
The pronunciation of 「じ」 and 「ぢ」 is ’zi’ in modern Japanese ("gee" in English pronunciation). But in the past「ぢ」was pr...
November 26, 2015
Read the following sentences
◯ 1)これは先生が飲んだヤクルトです。
◯ 2)これは先生の飲んだヤクルトです。
☓ 3)これは先生の朝 飲んだヤクルトです。
In intermediate level, you learn how a sentence modifies a noun. When a sentence modifies a noun, plain form is used. Point b below shows the sentence that is modifying the noun. To modify ヤク...
November 9, 2015
Please read and consider the difference between the two sentences below.
1) Rapunzel さんはかみが長いです。
2) Rapunzelさんのかみは長いです。
When you learned sentence 1 (～は～がadjectiveです）in basic level, you might have wondered the difference between sentence 1 and 2.
In sentence 1, the topic is ‘Rapunzel さ...
July 26, 2015
When you were learning hiragana , did you think that why「を」is pronounced as 'o' (same as 「お」) instead of 'wo'?
Actually, the old pronounciation of 「を 」was 'wo', but in modern Japanese, it's pronounced as 'o' (without the sound of 'w' infront).
「を」is widely used to mar...
June 28, 2015
Today I recieved a question from my student in the Beginner Course.
She asked me why, in my email, did I write "konnichiwa' (hello) as「こんにちは」instead of 「こんにちわ」.
This is a good question.
I taught my students in my first lesson that to say 'A=B ' in Japanese, it's 'A wa B desu...
June 27, 2015
Q: In what kind of situation can I use 「~んです」?
A: You have learned 「~んです」, but you still might not have a deep understanding of the expression. Please consider the differences between the 2 sentences below.
1) 寒いです。
2) 寒いんです。
1) is used when you are just describing the...
June 11, 2015
Advanced level の学生にこの違いを聞かれました。とてもいい質問です。
「あなたが好きです」はとても直接的な言い方です。英語の’ I like you ‘と同じです。
しかし「あなたのことが好きです」は、あなたの「性格、仕事、様子、考え方など全部」が好きという意味です。
だから「あなたのことが好き」とあなたに言ってくれる人は、あなたのことをよく分かってくれるいい人だと思いますよ：）
難しい？そうですね。愛は難しいですね。
June 9, 2015
What’s most unique practice way of my lesson is 'Speech shadowing’.
Shadowing is an advanced learning technique where you listen to a speech recording in Japanese, and then speak it aloud at the same time as the native speaker. I adopted the method one year ago and I have seen great...
June 5, 2015
In Japanese , there are countless words to mean 'I'. Each word has a different nuance. Normally we use 「わたし」. But in very informal or casual situation, we use different words. And there are many words used just by women, men, king, ninja etc...
By your textbook, you le...