awordfromjapan

• 語彙　goi—vocabulary 1 week ago When I was travelling to work on the subway in Japan, I often saw high school students studying on the train, on their way to school. And when I peeked over their shoulder, they always seemed to be studying the same thing: English vocabulary. Specifically, English verbs. The vocab book had about 10...
• 逆　gyaku—backwards 3 weeks ago Jay Rubin (the translator of many of the novels of Haruki Murakami into English) wrote an entertaining little book called
• 引っ越し　hikkoshi—moving house 3 weeks ago We finished packing our possessions into boxes last night, and this morning the removal company came to pick them up and take them to Ireland.
• お帰りなさい　o-kaeri nasai—welcome home (and other set phrases) 4 weeks ago The beginning learner of Japanese (or the tourist in possession of a Japanese phrasebook) encounters a lot of “set phrases” which are required by Japanese etiquette in various situations. These are often long and complicated strings of (what seem like) meaningless syllables, difficult...
• ピザ　piza—pizza 4 weeks ago In January I started weekly one-to-one Japanese conversation classes. My teacher comes to the house on Saturday or Sunday morning and we sit at the kitchen table and discuss various topics in Japanese. Sensei has a “light-touch” tutoring style, allowing me to speak mainly without...

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