49 comments

• 

  JohtoKen

  1 year ago

  （ときどき可愛いボイスで）
  あ。い。う。え。お。
  か。き。く。け。こ。
  さ。し。す。せ。そ。
  た。ち。つ。て。と。
  な。に。ぬ。ね。の。
  
  マーサー・ストゥーワートみたいですよねｗｗ
  
  I usually do my daily doses of Kanji with Tadashii Kanji Kakitori-kun on my DS. Though now that I see it, maybe I SHOULD incorporate a little bit of Jim Breen with that as well.
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• 

  kevinnwhat

  1 year ago

  i think im gonna start a blog this year...i really should :|
  Can i just get one thing straight to, i watch alot of japanese movies..but what exactly are "dramas" is that referreing to like japanese series? with episodes? like soap operas but japanese?
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• 

  Irene

  1 year ago

  j-doramas are japanese drama series like... ehh... friends? so not like the bold and the beautiful (dear lord!). only they usually only have around 11 episodes so prepare for no sleep until all those 11 are seen!
  I personally download them at: http://www.d-addicts.com/forum/torrents.php (with english subs)
  for more info and help about which ones are good, try reading the j-dorama article! ;)
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  kevinnwhat

  1 year ago

  @irene
  thank you very much for clearing that up ^^ They worth watching? i usually watch some movies from www.crunchyroll.com...shit quality but its better then nothing, and i normally just skip over the dramas because i look and see (like you said) 11 or so episodes and im always like boo forget it lol. But it seems there quite popular, im gonna check some out ^^ thanks
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  John B

  1 year ago

  Passing the JPLT 2級 is one of my resolutions for the year, and I've been trying to find good dramas that include the original subtitles (I live in Shanghai, so half the time when you buy a DVD boxset the original Japanese subs have been burned off and replaced with Chinese). I finally got my hands on 結婚できない男, which so far seems pretty amusing. We'll see how it goes.
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  kevinnwhat

  1 year ago

  @John B
  wow...that article is pretty inspiring, makes you really want to work hard
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• 

  JohtoKen

  1 year ago

  I'm not sure if this is the correct way of doing it, but on my link is my Kanji (or 2 or more) a day attempt on my blog.
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  kevinnwhat

  1 year ago

  sry for double post, in last post i was referring to "Khatzumoto" post, with the girl didi lol
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• 

  Irene

  1 year ago

  I can agree about that accent. I think in Dutch we just have to say a few sounds differently but most is easy to pronounce for us. But when I hear some Americans speak Japanese it just sounds kinda silly (no offense!).
  anyway, here's a good example how not to speak: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3won-7W3Js . specially ichi and roku are so funny.
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• 

  Cherry

  1 year ago

  Something you should add to your list.
  
  GET RID OF ROMAJI
  
  It's just a short cut that cheats you in the end. It took me quite a while to read Hiragana and Katakana at a normal speed because of romaji....
  
  Other then that, most of the stuff you listed I've been doing for a while and have suggested to others. I'll point this blog out to them, then maybe they'll listen to you because they don't listen to me.
  
  Happy New Year
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• 

  nanci

  1 year ago

  I still have to practice my hiragana and katakana quite a bit, but I also am learning some kanji. Thankfully, I got into jdrama so that's where I kind of learn some japanese words, actually jdrama is the reason why I fell in love with the Japanese language. Omg, you totally mentioned Gokusen! (the lure that is Johnnys, very very bad fandom). I've unfortunately fallen into the whole one japanese word thing...I blame my other bad habit that is 'spanglish', but I'll work on it.
  
  Uwaa, but going to Japan is so expensive...or at least the plane tickets are, from there, I don't know how I would survive, maybe you should do an article on some suggestions...or if you have, sorry, but I haven't encountered it yet.
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• 

  nanci

  1 year ago

  @cherry
  
  I want to agree with the whole romaji thing, I also think that we end up associating those sounds with english too much, when it's not like that. But the only reason why I'm not all against it is because it gets difficult with the computer, the whole having to change it to japanese letters then back to english...but this is only for the computer, so it shouldn't be that big of a deal.
  
  @kevinnwhat
  
  Usually if they are good, you don't have to skip, a good place to check them out would also be www.mysoju.net, they have korean, japanese and taiwanese ones. Depending on which ones you watch, you might find that the more popular ones seem to be more teenager-ish, not like The O.C. or anything. Thankfully Japanese dramas are usually have 8-12 eps, which is actually not a lot. Okay, done trying to shove this down your throat ^_^
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• 

  Erin

  1 year ago

  Nanci:
  
  If you use the shortcut (for Windows alt + shift), switching languages isn't too inconvenient. It's a little trickier (more keys) on a Mac, but Koichi knows how to do it :3
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• 

  Mikawika

  1 year ago

  Thank you for this post. It has inspired me to study harder as well. I've been admittedly slack this year and I want to be better. Also, I would've written all this in Japanese, but my friend's computer doesn't have the fonts. I promise next time I'll try in Japanese! Fight!
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• 

  Chris

  1 year ago

  Sounds like my resolutions for the new year too. I picked up alot of slang from Anime, but have yet to watch any Drama. I would like to blog in Japanese (and have done a bit) but its hard writing something when you know its going to be full of mistakes.
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• 

  Erin

  1 year ago

  Habit #2 is my biggest pet peeve (especially "kawaii"). Koichi and I are of the same opinion; if you have to use a Japanese word in a sentence (for whatever reason) at least make your whole sentence in Japanese. It's just silly not to.
  
  On a side note, yeah, I might start taking the romanji out of my articles... unless people who are still learning hiragana/katakana/kanji promise to look at the actual Japanese translation as well?
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• 

  khursten

  1 year ago

  nice habits for the year. I too hate the "That's so kawaii~~" talk. ><;; awful awful.
  
  As for anime... ;_; Well don't undermine the power of anime. :3 It has a great learning curve too... AS LONG AS YOU WATCH IT RAW (unsubbed). I tend to watch most animes that I like raw and try my best not to depend on subbed ones. You just have to be mindful of what anime to watch so that you know proper language. Don't watch Gintama because that series is batshit rude (but hell funny! XDD). You can watch shoujo stories or seinen animes. :3 That could do the trick. Just saying that if dramas aren't your drift, raw animes are the way to go. Skip Naruto and Bleach for chrissakes. Watch something you know little about so that you can learn more. :3
  
  Same for raw manga. Buy more japanese mangas and they'll help you with kanji! Buy technical seinen/josei ones so that you'll learn more ２級 words. Recommendables? もやしもん and 神の雫.
  
  Just some other recommendables
  
  NHK A DAY - watch NHK a day and try to understand what they are saying. There are lots of nice shows about food and farming, so keep watch of those and you'll learn a lot.
  
  Open a MIXI blog - If you know someone with a mixi, ask them to help you open an account in mixi. If you join the Japanese learning communities, you'll have the opportunity to talk to more japanese people and also ask them to aide you in your study of the language. :3
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• 

  Viet

  1 year ago

  Resolutions?
  
  Hmm maybe start learning the language again.
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  Salem

  1 year ago

  Your article great the only thing that it lack are resources not all of us are savvy on finding where maybe we can watch jdrama or maybe who do we call to a get a service that offers jdrama....:|
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• 

  Fiti

  1 year ago

  great article ^-^!
  i liked the resolutions.
  it's been a few months since i started my "j-doramaholic-life", and i have to admit that it's even more addicting than anime! i totally recommend people to watch some jdoramas. i told 2 of my friends to watch hana yori dango... and the next day they told me: "i watched the whole season!". really amazing :o
  
  i also have the resolution to travel to japan... well, now it's like a dream haha ^^u, since i'm 15 years old. but anyways, i worked on december to earn some money; i'll be saving it for my future trip to japan! that's like... my eternal, but not impossible, wish!
  
  now that i'm in summer holidays, i think i'll get back to study japanese language again. but it's a bit difficult, since here in Chile there are not many japanese lessons, or at least they are a bit expensive >_>. i haven't seen any books neither. but all those tips you gave before are really of big help ^-^! i must admit that watching j-dorama has helped me a bit with japanese language. not only for vocabulary (just few words ^^u), but pronunciation as well.
  
  oh, i must congratulate you all for being named the best humorous blog in japan 2007!!
  i really like the blog, so keep up the good work ^-^
  happy new year!
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• 

  Brigitte

  1 year ago

  Hi Koichi!
  Well I have to tell you that I found you only 15 minutes ago because I saw your videos on youtube.com, and in only 15 minutes I noiced that: a) you're great and funny and your blog is too b) I have to start practicing my Japanese very hard!
  I'm a beginner (I started two days ago) and I only have a big confusion in my had... to many alphabets!!! But if there'sone thing I'm really happy of is that I noticed that is possible learning a language like Japanese through the Internet and there's a lot of people who took the same decision I took 2 days ago, so I'm not alone!
  Well, the point is that you're doing a great job, and I'll show you videos and blog to all my friends!
  So, my first promise for 2008 is learning Japanese and I'll try to practice everyday!
  
  Good job Koichi!!!
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• 

  koichi

  1 year ago

  @Salem
  
  I would normally love to share how drama is to be gotten, but since I want to keep this site reputable, I thought I wouldn't go into full detail. Of course, we encourage you to go buy it (off the internet?), but I think other people who are commenting have give out other ways to do it :)
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• 

  Ken

  1 year ago

  Regarding #1, I totally agree with your comment about the kana and the CD.
  
  The kana: I think a few people in my class either skipped the first class or weren't paying attention, because they'll pronounce ほん　as hAn. I think they rely too much on romaji and pronounce it like English.
  
  The CD: VERY VERY IMPORTANT. You not only improve your listening comprehension, especially if the dialogues are done at a near-native speed, but like you said, if you listen to them repeatedly until you've memorized them and can mimic them exactly, your pronunciation becomes A LOT better.
  
  I've told my classmates that I listen to the CD everyday and they're like "HUH? Really? I didn't buy the CD." O_O (<--- my facial expression after I hear that)
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• 

  Tyler

  1 year ago

  I've been wondering: what is j-dorama?
  and do they show Japanese dramas on youtube (or even American TV?!)
  and why is everything all 'j'-ish?
  like J-dorama, and j-pop? i don't get that. why don't they just write japanese pop music
  I thiink the Japanese accent of accenting and stretching things and sounds is cool(if that's how it's supposed to be); it's very...japanese(or AWESOME!)
  (how do you write japanese on this web site?)
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• 

  Erin

  1 year ago

  Tyler:
  
  J-dorama are just Japanese tv shows (not news, or anime, but just... series). If you want to know more about it or see some recommendations, check out our past posts; Koichi did an article a while ago on it.
  
  I feel like abbreviating Japanese to J is just easier to type :D
  
  You write in Japanese on this website by changing the font on your computer to a Japanese font (hiragana, katakana, etc) and typing like you would in English.
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• 

  kaidel

  1 year ago

  I so definitely agree with the drama. I stopped watching anime SO long ago, I hardly find it appealing anymore. Dramas are much much much much much more interesting.
  <3
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  kevinnwhat

  1 year ago

  for anyone wanting to know how to watch j-drama (and thousands of other asian movies)
  
  >>>>>>>> WWW.CRUNCHYROLL.COM <<<<<<<
  
  the quality is ok...but if you dont have another source this one should suit you. Most movies are subbed in english. It doesnt have every movie obviously, but it has quite a lot. You dont download the videos you just like steam them, pretty much like a big screen youtube for movies lol
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  Nicholas

  1 year ago

  About the whole One Japanese word in a English sentence..it always annoyed me they way it sounded so a stopped doing that the first month after i started learning Japanese. So now its "English sentence" "English sentence" "Japanese sentence" "English sentence"
  
  yeah...
  
  P.S. There would be more "Japanese sentences" but no one I'm ever around ever understands me so i have to stick with one every so often... :(
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  kevinnwhat

  1 year ago

  whenever i see someone say/comment "Thats super kawaii!!! or Sugoi!!!" I just get the impression of the biggest otaku ever....lol is that just me? :p (didnt mean to offend anyone...if you consider yourself an otaku or something lol)
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  Jamaipanese

  1 year ago

  super tips, I will definitively be looking through a couple of them
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  +++

  1 year ago

  J dorama are pretty expensive. I don't like fansubs so I'm screwed.
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  Chimiko

  1 year ago

  Kanji-a-Day is a really good idea, I'll see into it.
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  Chimiko

  1 year ago

  For J-drama and any Asian shows, I recommend going to www.crunchyroll.com and www.mysoju.com.
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  Brian

  1 year ago

  good suggestions. I'm definatly gonna try the 'kanji a day' and 'read an article', but I better find some lower level, not so complex writings because I'm not that far along yet.
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  Negi

  1 year ago

  Thanks Koichi! ^^ I never really thought about doing some of those tasks to learn Japanese. :] I'll most definitely be attempting some of those stuff.
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  zqube

  1 year ago

  Jeese... I really need to pick up my studies. I have been really lazy lately and it frustrates me because Japanese is one foreign language that actually sticks with me. Reading this gives me new hope. Back to the books I go.
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  kdipko

  1 year ago

  The goal this year is to master what I just learned in Japanese 1, and to be well on my way to mastering material from my Japanese 2 class. I've been suuuper lazy and haven't studied since last quarter...oops!
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  Rin

  1 year ago

  Oh joy. Now I have an excuse for watching so many J-doramas, haha. I need to work harder this year on all my studies, including Japanese! I can do it [hopefully]!!
  
  Thanks for this inspiring article! I'm all fired up now!
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  Supervixen

  1 year ago

  This article offers *so* much good advice! I'm impressed.
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  TheBlip

  1 year ago

  Yes, J-dorama can be addictive! :)
  "Iryu" was the last one I watched which had me hooked... Luckily it was only 11 episodes :) It's a medical drama but very different to western ones :P
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  quaisi

  1 year ago

  For a good Japanese drama I can recommend Daisakusen Proposal. Look it up if you can.
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  Jesse

  1 year ago

  Okay so I have no clue where I should of posted this question. Does anyone on this website via staff or viewer know whether or not you call stuents by their first name or by their family name? I am curious because I'm going to school for Japanese Studies and when I am finished I am moving to Japan to become a ESL instructor. Thanks.
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  heartlessangel

  1 year ago

  how do you not know wat j-dramas are lol jk they are very addicting though most of them follow the same story line i have to say in terms of censorship well not really censorship but there's not as much suggestiveness as compared to wat they show in America but they have lots of x rated stuff over there at one point i heard it was really bad but i want to say thanks for this post b/c it shows me wat i need to work on and since im going the lone route i need all the help i can get lol.
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  heartlessangel

  1 year ago

  oh and its also my goal go to japan which gives me more motivation to learn so ur right on the money.
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  heartlessangel

  1 year ago

  i like your use of the word wonky way to bring that one back ! lol
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  Ying

  1 year ago

  There's also rikai.com, and the firefox add-on. It's the most useful thing I have for reading stuff in Japanese online. If you activate it, you hover the mouse over a kanji (and even hiragana and katakana too) and the reading(s) of the word pops up, along with the translations and kanji breakdown. It's awesome!
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  Ryuk

  1 year ago

  how do u get a blog on here?
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  Lauren

  1 year ago

  Blogging really, really helps a lot.
  As far as anime and dramas go, most of them are based on manga so they're pretty much the same thing in my opinion.
  Anime can be just as useful depending on what it is. Josei anime (Honey and Clover, Nana, etc.) are pretty good about using realistic Japanese that you hear most people using.
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  João Vitor

  5 months ago

  I only watched Densha Otoko and GTO Live action. The first one is about an otaku romance and the second is based on the GTO anime.
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