#I just need to go study so I can read more kanji lol

[hatshepsut9]

The dialogue must feel a lot less ‘other’ in Japanese. Even using two levels of formality in English makes it feel foreign in the sense that it indicates either ‘historical’ or ‘fantasy’ since no one actually uses thou anymore but it would just sound normal in any language that does regularly use multiple levels of formality. The book already struggles sometimes with making the elves and goblins feel like elves and goblins instead of humans from different ethnicities that happen to have very expressive ears, and a lot of that otherness is achieved in the English version with things like thou form, we as a formal first person singular, and different words (it looks like the Japanese version uses “your majesty” but in the English version it’s pretty important to the fantasy world flavor that they use “serenity” instead of “majesty”, etc. Plus there are cultural implications and a hint at some kind of history behind the idea that an emperor is supposed to be “serene” as opposed to “majestic”)

I’m super curious so I’m gonna keep asking questions lol, feel free to ignore me but: all the different prefixes that would translate to さん - there’s Min (Miss), Merrem (Mrs.), and Mer (Mr./no separate one for unmarried men which makes sense with the cultural idea that women change hands and men don’t) plus Os and Dach that stack on based on how important the person is. How did they do the prefixes like Osmer and Dach’osmin? Something like オスミン and use it as a suffix in place of さん and explain it somewhere? Or do some of the important court people get 様?

@hatshepsut9 I hope you don't mind me answering your question in a new post! You asked if in the Japanese translation of the Goblin Emperor, if it used typical language conventions for formality registers or if it used an invented formal like in the original English.

I haven't read past chapter 1 in Japanese yet as I got extremely distracted reading other books this month, but here's what the formality registers in that chapter are:

Maia and Setheris begin the chapter using informal (する・だ) language with each other. When Csevet comes to Edonomee bearing news, he uses keigo/respectful, deferential language (いらっしゃいます), and Maia responds using regular polite language (です). Setheris uses informal language throughout the chapter regardless of who he is talking to, which comes across as quite rude when Maia is announced as the new emperor.

When Maia makes the switch from "I" to "We" for his first person pronoun in English, the Japanese TL switches from 僕 to 余, which is a rare and extremely formal first person pronoun used by very high ranking people like kings. He also drops down a register and begins to speak in informal language with Csevet even as Csevet continues to use deferential language. This befits Maia's station as the high-ranking social superior and Csevet's as the social inferior.

「その＜チョハロの叡智＞号が墜落した」マヤが気をつけて、ゆっくり口にした。 「はい、聖上陛下」使者が言った。「生存者はおられませんでした」 "And the Wisdom of Choharo crashed," Maia said slowly, carefully. "Yes, Serenity," said the messenger. "There were no survivors."

When Maia and Setheris have their private conversation at the end of the chapter, they both use informal language like they did before Csevet arrived.

In short, the use of formality registers is typical of regular Japanese, excepting Maia's use of a pronoun not often found outside of fiction these days, although it makes sense that he uses it here. Once I've gotten farther in the Japanese translation, I hope to post more about it as I read!

[noctuadora]

About the Japanese relationship charts circulating around RE Twitter…

I've been seeing these images used to spark discussion... and arguments. Shipping wars aside, I was more intrigued by this Japanese term used to describe Leon and Ada’s relationship.

I want to explain these words in more detail, so this post will be about that + answering questions that some might ask. I'm also including Leon and Claire's chart as well.

Note: I am currently studying Japanese. I made this post partly because I like to understand advanced terms that are unique to a specific language. Despite this, my explanation is not immune to errors.

Leon and Claire’s relationship chart in Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness (2021).

Explaining this first because this is fairly easy to understand.

信頼関係 (しんらいかんけい・shinraikankei) - A relationship of mutual trust.

Kanji breakdown:

信頼 > reliance, trust, faith, confidence // 関係 > relationship

It should come as no surprise to anyone that Leon and Claire trust and rely on each other.

Q. ‘Is the term exclusively used for them only?’

No. 信頼関係 was also used to describe Leon's relationship with President Graham (and Jason or Patrick).

Leon and Ada’s relationship chart in Resident Evil: 6 (2012).

This is the term that others can't seem to grasp well (I mean they kinda do, but they also misinterpret it weirdly). In the English version, their relationship is described as ‘fatal ties’, but I don't care about that - I'm focusing on the Japanese version.

腐れ縁 (くされえん・kusareen) - an undesirable but inseparable relationship.

Kanji breakdown:

腐れ > to rot // 縁 > relations

The highlight of this word is the kanji 腐る, which is a negative verb used to describe something rotting/decaying.

The "inseparable relationship" part may be interpreted as romantic to some; as some shippers say, 'they are fated' (more on that later). But first, we need to understand what 腐れ縁 means in more context. Here are some excerpts I've taken from multiple sources.

離れようとしても離れられない関係 - A relationship that you know you should let go of, but can't. (This is consistent with OG RE4 Leon's line of 'she's a part of me I can't let go'.)

Note: 離れ (はなれ・hanare) mostly means 'to let go (of something/someone)' and 'to separate/to give up/to part ways'.

離れよう、縁を切ろうとしても断ち切れない好ましくない関係 - An unfavorable relationship that you can't cut off no matter how much you try to.

Note: 好ましい (このましい・konomashii) means desirable. 好ましくない (このましくない・konomashikunai) is the negative conjugation of it. 好ましくない関係 - undesirable relationship.

Just from this alone, you can see that their dynamic is difficult to understand. And that's what 腐れ縁 is.

Q. ‘Is the word 'rotten relationship' an accurate translation of the term?’

Google Translate translates this word LITERALLY. I think there is no true English equivalent of 腐れ縁, but yeah, 'fatal ties' is the term closest to it.

Q. ‘Can Leon and Ada be described as 'fated'?’

The answer is yes... and no. Here is another excerpt I find to be interesting:

「運命の相手」 を思わせるようなニュアンス ですが、 実際には好ましくない関係に使われることが 多い言葉です。- The term 腐れ縁 does have a nuance that is reminiscent of "destined/fated partner (or in other words, 'the one')", but in reality, it is often used to refer to undesirable relationships.

Q. ‘So... Is their relationship that bad?'

The answer to this question will depend on your own interpretation of Leon and Ada's dynamic - and that's why people are quite divided when it comes to them. It is said that 腐れ縁 can be positive... in the sense that if you experienced it before, you can now have a better judgment of people (lol). But in some cases, a long-lasting rotting relationship (like theirs) could mean that they at least have some level of mutual trust only they understand. It can work... but even the article I've read wasn't so clear on how it can work, so.

If you made it this far, I hope you found this interesting. :)

[onigiriforears]

After approx. 2-3 months of studying Japanese I started to read free graded readers online and then graduated to a collection of short stories that I purchased off of Amazon. I thought that the reason I was starting to have trouble understanding sentences was because I didn't know enough vocabulary but it was because I neglected grammar completely. It was sorta drilled into my head off of Youtube creators to just study kanji, vocab and simple sentences as much as possible before even touching grammar. I feel absolutely lost, dude. I am at the 5 month mark now. I can "breeze through" kanji for the most part. (as in, I can actually retain it in a decent amount of time) I decided to study grammar about a week ago. It is SO FREAKING HARD. I don't know if there's something wrong with me or what. I don't know if it's supposed to feel like what I thought I knew is being ripped apart at the seams, stapled together, and then torn apart again....but it does.

Do you have any tips for learning grammar? Is this feeling normal? Can you tell me when the pressure in my skull will subside? I am using Bunpro's free trial but I'm unsure if this tool will actually help me. I write tons of notes to flip through but I still fail to give them the nuanced answer they're looking for. I really enjoy the setup of Bunpro and I want to like it since it's similar to WK but I'm not sure if I'm going too fast or there's a better way to learn. I stopped learning 5 new grammar points a day and started doing only 2. (I also have Genki I and watch GameGengo. He explains things in a way that's easy for my brain to understand.) Sorry for the long post but any insight would be appreciated. I'm a bit nervous asking people in the language learning community for help or insight because a lot of them treat it as a way to show how fast they learned/1-up others. Tumblr's langlearn community is a lot different with what I've seen (or maybe I'm just following the right ppl lol)

Hi! Thank you so much for waiting for this response--I'm sorry it took so long. Your message was one of the ones that popped up when they locked my ask box (they actually still haven't answered me on why it was locked so 🤷‍♀️). To make up for that, I'm gonna be longwinded because I think that this is a super valid and important question that others may also want to know the answer to!!

Pls pls PLEASE DM me if none of this is helpful or if you'd like to talk more about what you think you need help with!!

I think that sometimes when we're learning a new language that we know is so overwhelmingly different from our own language, we focus on the things that we think will be the main hinderance and sometimes we forget the key points. You might be thinking "how did I forget grammar?" but I would say don't beat yourself up about it! Many of us focus on the things that we think are our problems(--the last time I studied for the JLPT, I focused on my weak point too much and then was frustrated with myself during the exam bc I neglected the other areas.)

I don't want to lie to you and say that learning grammar will is going to get easier because that's not the case for everyone. Think of learning grammar vs everything else as learning different types of math or science--have you ever had a friend that was absolutely phenomenal at algebra or calculus but couldn't do geometry? Or a friend that was wonderful lab partner in chemistry but struggled in biology? They're struggling in biology because it requires a ton of rote memorization in comparison to practical application and math that's present in chemistry and rote memorization may not necessarily be their strong point. Personally, I think that's also why a lot of us struggle with certain grammar points. There are some that just click with us immediately and then there are others that we have to see over and over and over and over and over--you get the point--just for us to find a single sentence with it that we understand. If you're math oriented, we need to figure out a way to no longer make grammar points rote memorization for you, but to turn it into a formula of some sort. I actually write my notes out in ways that are like that--I use plus signs (+) in my notes not because the textbooks use them but because my brain genuinely reads it as "noun + particle + grammar point = a sentence that makes sense" because, for me, formulas don't fail. Your weak point doesn't have to be your weakness--you can turn the weakness into a strength that works just for you.

I've been going at this for years and every single professor or Japanese friend (or even people from the discord server) I have can tell you that I've struggled with pretty much any grammar point that included ~ように--and it wasn't because I wasn't trying, but because I couldn't find myself using any sentences that with those grammar points because I found the alternatives/similar ones to make more sense. Surprisingly, it wasn't until I was reading 夜カフェ for our book club that I was actually able to start grasping the meaning (ngl, I still haven't used it myself--I'm notorious for using alternatives); I was finally witnessing it being used in a way that made sense in my brain.

The frustration you're feeling when you encounter a new grammar point or overload yourself with too many things in one go is completely normal and I promise that a ton of us in the Japanese langblr community have definitely experienced it too! It probably feels like everything you know is being ripped apart because your native language may have a SVO (subject-verb-object) format while Japanese has a SOV (subject-object-verb) format--your 1-to-1 translations for your notes may not be helpful in the beginning because you're still trying to wrap your brain around the fact that your words still need to go in another order than you're used to. And then you add the new grammar points and concepts on top of that (like particles and other things) and it can become overwhelming and frustrating. Sometimes, you're going to find some grammar points just downright annoying--especially when you find that there's no equivalency to it in your own language. But don't give up!

I know this is a super cliché thing to say, but practicing them will help. If you can, I would make note of the grammar points that you're struggling with, try to make sentences with them, and ask somebody to check them and explain exactly why (or why not) they're working and then ask them for examples because they may have an even better way of explaining it to you than what you've come up with for yourself!

I can look back at old notes and see when I wrote a sentence as an example just because a textbook/professor used it but I didn't actually understand why it worked at the time and then I can also find notes where the sentences written as examples were added once I finally found something that clicked for me.

You've already done yourself a favor by learning a lot of vocab, kana, and kanji because now you'll be able to try out an array of ways to pick up grammar instead of just a textbook. (I will make a note that if you're looking to take the JLPT, I would recommend having a list of grammar points that you would need to know for the level that you're planning on sitting for because there's no guarantee of what will or won't pop up on the test.)

Another important thing while you're practicing: be comfortable with making mistakes. We all make them, but when you're learning a new language it's important to be ready to make mistakes and to welcome them with open arms because it gives you a chance to experience and learn in real time.

ALSO: for you specifically--because you're interested in reading, you might enjoy learning grammar through tracking the different grammar points through what you're reading and using the sentences as your examples because they're all going to be cohesive. And if reading books or other things totally turn you off right now, maybe games? Animal Crossing and Pokemon are very nice games to play in Japanese for people that are just starting out! You may also enjoy using Lingo Legend--it's an JRPG language learning app that I beta tested and I think that it's a nice way to review (it has some fun incentives). I'm not a big gamer, so I struggle with learning through games, but I've been picking up a lot of grammar through reading because I focus on finding things that I'm interested in, rather than things that are "at my level." When I start a manga, I will scour a ton of websites and forums and bug a ton of people when I come across a grammar point that I can't wrap my brain around because I want to be able to understand what's going on.

We have book clubs and gamers in my discord server, as well as places for people to post what they're practicing or to ask for help. We have people of all varying levels and different skillsets that love to share their wisdom with others.

I haven't used Bunpro, but I know that @sammilearns has, so she may be able to weigh in on that! And @tokidokitokyo @nihongoseito @chouhatsumimi @kanpeki-bekki @burgeoning-ambition probably also have even more tips that me--I'm trying to tag people that I know we all learn in different ways, so their tips and tricks might be just what you need!

Please weigh in, fellow langblr members! How have you been learning grammar? Are you game-ifying it? Have you turned it into math equations? Have you managed to tie it in with your special interest? I can't wait to see what people add to this post!

[therentyoupay]

How many languages do you know?

💕 english is my first language but i speak both spanish and english at home! i've been studying spanish for 20+ years, i speak spanish exclusively with my husbands' family (they only speak spanish!), and am comfortable getting my point across on most everyday-life things. i read in spanish for fun/to study (i forced my husband to read la sociedad de la nieve with me when we both got obsessed with the movie on netflix, even though he's not a reader at all haha), and we have a house rule about always watching movies in the language in which they were created EXCEPT FOR SHREK, which we both agree is extremely well done and just as funny (if not even funnier) in spanish. we do a lot of code-switching for the most part, and whenever we have kids, we'll follow the One Parent One Language plan, except for when we're out at restaurants, because we always ONLY speak spanish while going out to eat, it's just habit at this point. 😂 i once tried to write fic in spanish back in the early 2010s while living in spain but i felt that i didn't have all the vocab that i needed to give my writing the same vibe as in my first language, so i haven't tried writing fic in spanish since... (maybe i should??) for now i content myself with reading larivera's (@laurakrivera) spanish fic!! however, my academic!professional!spanish is much more developed than my fic!spanish writing style, lol, so when i publish my non-fiction book in english, i will work on writing the spanish translations myself (and force my husband to help me lmao)

i learned japanese fundamentals (e.g., basic vocab/phrases, word order, hiragana, katakana, some core kanji) when i was 12 (like most inuyasha-obsessed kids, maybe?? 🤣) and i learned a LOT when i lived there for a year and a half as an adult! but i never took any formal classes, it was all self-taught and in the streets (LITERALLY lmao, shoutout to the people of tokyo). i wasn't allowed to speak japanese at all in my job, so i turned to apps like hellotalk to practice and make friends who really wanted to engage in language exchange. (duolingo didn't add japanese as a language option until after i came back! 🤣😭) so i was just out there in the wild, picking it all up as i went along. i understand a lot more than i can speak, but i could probably hold a pretty convincing conversation with someone for 2 minutes before it became clear that i'd exhausted my limited repertoire. 🤣 i'd get by with a lot of discourse markers and reaction expressions and いいね! and 本当に!? and そうですね 😊 before i fell off the track completely lol.

i did 3 months of german on duolingo to prepare for a conference i presented at in austria a few years ago! helped with everyday basics, but i'm not currently investing in this language right now since i don't have many opportunities to use it in daily life like i do my other languages.

also just started learning korean literally five days ago. still working on the vowels. 🤣 i'm learning for friends, for potential work opportunities, for K-POP joking joking or am i, and also i'm a big believer in the philosophy of keeping the mind fresh and getting excited about Being "Bad" at Something every once in a while, as i purposefully Try New Things to ward off complacency, keep my brain happy and sharp, and remind myself that i can Do Hard Things. (of course, once you start to learn so many languages, your metalinguistic and metacognitive pattern-seeking skills really kick in, so approaching korean is a lot different than how it was in my other language learning experiences, so far 🤣) stay tuned, i guess haha!!

i guess you can see why i'm so obsessed with the idea of elsa being a serial polyglot/multilingual queen in basically every universe i write her in, not only because it fits with her upbringing/education/oryal duties but also i feel like elsa would appreciate all instances in life in which she could exert control over her surroundings by finding patterns and "rules" in languages and finding beauty in expressing so many meanings through so many different avenues when she herself had so much trouble expressing herself at all for so long should i write a one-shot about elsa's multilingualism as it pertains to NO KRIS NO STOP YOU HAVE WORK NOW KRIS NO

[ionlycareaboutyou]

Hiii! Can I ask you how did you study Japanese to become an intermediate level? Do you have any tips? 🥰

i'm sorry i'm just getting around to answering this now, i hope you'll still see it.

i've lived in one of the most rural prefectures of japan for almost three years now, so i need to be continually improving my japanese in order to make my life easier. i've always had an interest in the language and taught myself hiragana and katakana in high school, then took two years of japanese in college. my college used the genki textbooks. they're sort of the standard beginner textbooks. i think they're pretty good, they teach grammar and vocab in a very accessible way. i think you could use them for self study, but there are some parts where you'll be instructed to roleplay or do pair work, so you might have to modify things to your liking.

i'm currently self-studying through a variety of resources, the #1 being wanikani, which is an online kanji resource. it uses a spaced-repetition-system in order to teach you kanji, and i've seen my reading level improve so much since i started using it. the first three levels are free and then you have to pay. if you're serious about learning japanese and you find that the system works for you, i think it's worth the price. i also use bunpro which teaches japanese grammar points and vocab through the same SRS system as wanikani. i've been slacking a little on bunpro lately because the reviews really pile up and get overwhelming at times, but that's my fault LOL. i'm also using the quartet textbook (by the same people who made genki) irregularly.

a lot of people on r/learnjapanese advocate for immersion; changing your phone language to japanese, changing most of the media you watch to be japanese, etc. to be honest, i don't really watch a lot of japanese media despite living here. i'm not a huge fan of most anime and j-drama, but i'm currently looking for a good drama to watch for listening practice. that being said, i love a lot of japanese films and music, and i often go to karaoke to practice reading. i also consume a lot of takarazuka revue content; when i first went to a takarazuka show, i didn't speak japanese that well, so i had to piece together the story with my limited vocab and grammar understanding. there are no subtitles at the theatre, so just being thrown into a story and picking up vocab, etc while watching has been helpful for me (though my brain is often quite tired after a show, and disclaimer that takarazuka has a very specific style of acting and the way that the actresses speak is often not similar to irl interactions!). also, i live here (LOL) so i have to talk to people every day, which i guess is the biggest immersion of all.

that's all the advice that i have right now, but please don't hesitate to ask any more questions if you have them. i'm not fluent in japanese and i make silly mistakes all the time, but i am committed to learning!

[rigelmejo]

2/1/2023 Update on progress using Glossika Japanese. Lessons listened to: 37

This update is mostly for my personal tracking later. 

Downsides: I am struggling to get myself to listen to lessons. Based on time I have per day to listen to audio in the background, I should have gone through at least 100 lessons by now, and easily could’ve gone through 300. So 37 is... disappointing. I do relisten to the audios sometimes, so even though I’ve only gotten through 37 lessons I have probably listened to lessons 100 times. I suppose the upside is relistening to lessons before moving on is the actual way glossika recommends to study - listen to the prior day��s lesson before listening to the current day’s lesson. However, I was not trying to study how glossika recommended. I was trying to cram through as many audio lessons as possible so I could review if simply doing that and only that, was enough to learn a decent amount and see improvement. 

I desperately would like to get through all 312 lessons in a month. Just so I could finish and prove to myself if it helps or not! 

Since for me, a decent portion of these lessons are a form of audio review for me, so I do not need to be spending as much time on them as I am. I wanted to use these to review my knowledge and reinforce it, and strengthen my listening skills (and pronunciation knowledge) since I currently recognize more words by kanji meaning than by actually knowing their pronunciation (meaning I can’t recognize in listening words that I’d know if I was reading). So I feel I am... wasting a lot of my own time here, drilling beginner things I already know and working through the glossika lessons too slowly. Which is a bad perfectionist habit of mine that I often fall into when doing japanese study. oops.

I unfortunately have no solution to this tendency I have to avoid going through the lessons. I clearly am not super interested in the glossika lessons lol, they must bore me. For anyone else considering using glossika let this be useful to you: if you find it so plain its hard to listen to, it might be hard for you to push yourself to go through the lessons. The lessons are GOOD, don’t get me wrong. I just find it much ‘easier’ to make myself listen to a condensed audio of a video game (even though I know less words), or to play a japanese video game and look up words, than I find it to get myself to listen to simple boring daily life sentences in japanese/english. Just my personal focus issue. My brain loves to be challenged I think, even though I think in some cases like this it can make things less efficient.

Side studying I’ve been doing in japanese: I’ve played about 10 hours FFX and Persona 3 in japanese now. I went through about 300 memrise words in Nukemarine’s LLJ memrise courses before I got burned out with memrise again. I also have been playing like 50+ hours in the Yakuza games with english subs lately. While this doesn’t actually count as studying since I’m using english subs, I do hear the japanese audio frequently and I do think it helps me remember new words I’ve learned recently since I’m hearing them regularly and when I listen sometimes I try to compare the japanese I hear to the english subs and see if the translation changed anything. So all in all lets call the 50+ Yakuza games with english subs ‘mild review’ and count it as 10 study ‘review’ hours. 

So total study time these past 3 months has been: 10 hours video games in japanese, 10 hours japanese audio with english subs (so review but not real study), 50 hours of glossika audio (each audio is about a half hour and I relistened to most lessons 2-3 times so I’m guessing around 50 hours total), maybe 5 hours memrise and trying out the Listlang app, maybe 4 hours on Satori Reader (which later on in my journey I think will be an excellent study tool to prepare for reading but I don’t have the money for a subscription right now). 10+10+50+5+4= 79 study hours. ToT

79 study hours over 3 months. Yikes. I sure am lazy. so in ~90 days I did on average ~50 minutes of study a day. Okay... not entirely awful I guess. I usually make good progress with chinese at 1-2 hours study a day on average, so 50 minutes isn’t way below that amount... it could be way worse. I’m frankly amazed I made noticeable progress in the last few months then, damn, considering it wasn’t like a few hundred hours...

Upsides: Despite my apparently not very high study hours... I actually have noticed significant improvement. 

With Persona 3 - I played it 1 year ago and it took 1 hour to get to the save point. This month, it took about 20 minutes to get to the save point and I was able to get to the save point 3 times. So I was able to play the game 3 times faster, therefore I was able to read 3x faster. That’s a pretty huge improvement. I also was able to look up less words. When I played it a year ago I had to look up words frequently (about once every 2-3 minutes or more) and gave up even trying to read once I got to the school I just skipped text and tried to get to the save point as quick as possible and it still took an hour. This month when I played it I was able to only look up a word around once every 5 minutes, I could read the text fast enough that I did not need to skip text sessions to ‘speed up’ my playtime. I was able to spend some time actually exploring the character’s bedroom and school since reading was faster and therefore much more bearable. A 3 times faster reading speed is a REALLY noticeable improvement, I can’t express just how much easier everything feels when I can read faster. It makes the experience much easier and more bearable. Hiragana words and slang still made me feel very drained trying to understand wtf they meant by guessing, but it still felt 3 times easier than last year lol. 

With Final Fantasy X - I’m noticing improvement AS I play. When I started, the menu was challenging, now I find navigating the menu quite easy and honestly a game menu is a great way to repeatedly practice recognizing words until you learn them. So is the combat menu. It’s like how in english we never knew the word ‘ultima’ or ‘aeon’ as far as the actual attack or creature they mean in a game, but we learn because a game teaches us. This is comforting, we have to learn these kinds of words even when playing games in english... so learning them in japanese is not really much different. So yeah, the pause menu and combat menu are already notably easier 10 hours in then when I started. Common words specific to this game were also picked up fast - I know know summoner, summon, defeat, cheer, pray, temple, monster, magic, boat, port, waruiwa - (used as ‘im sorry this is a bad time’ sort of like sumimasen but casual to end a conversation), a lot of more casual word endings or word forms (Tidus and Wakka...). This is comforting, as now I expect if I played something like say Nier Automata I would pick up the technology words eventually simply because they’re used a lot. Or in Kingdom Hearts I sure would pick up hearts, darkness, light, friends, friendship, worlds, keyblade, fast lol. I am also noticing it’s much easier to follow what’s being said in scenes then when I started. When I started I’d usually understand 1 part of a sentence but not all of it, or 1 sentence but then not 2 more then understand on again. Whereas now 10 hours in I watched the scene on Mihen High Road where Yuna and Tidus talk in front of the sunset. I understood every word of every single line, except 1 single line I didn’t know one clause within it. So I understood the scene Really Well, well enough to compare the japanese translation to the english translation I remember. There’s still lines where I only understand part of them (like when Seymour says ‘Then pretend I didn’t say it’ I understood that line but not the one right before it, or when Gatta says Chappu says spending time with your girl is nice but... I did not catch the part where I know in english he says ‘protecting your girl from’ sin is better. I only caught the ‘your girl’ part beforehand and ‘sin’ part toward the end). But I AM understanding a great deal of full lines, which is fun as I’ve been comparing it to the english translation I remember to see what was changed in english or kept the same. Lulu is... really direct in japanese just like she is in english, which I was surprised by. There’s also a part where Seymour asks Auron “It’s been 10 years, how have you been” or whatever, and Auron literally says “I’m Yuna’s guardian, I’m busy” then walks away. It was just really funny to me how directly he shuts Seymour down. Or when Gatta says when he told Lulu about Chappu, she hit him too. 

When I started playing FFX this month I did not expect that I was going to eventually be able to understand the lines to this degree of detail. I thought at best I was going only be able to follow the main idea. Now to be fair: I’ve played this game before in english so I have that remembered english script in my memory to help me guess unknown words or lines. I expect a game I’ve NEVER played before would be considerably harder. However, this speed of progress bodes well for if I wanted to play Nier Replicant or Nier Automata. Apparently the navigation menus will not take more then a few hours to get comfortable with in japanese, and after enough hours I will be able to enjoy understanding the detail of a lot of the japanese lines. Which is definitely a good motivation to want to play more games in japanese - I am very interested in comparing the japanese script and choices with the english translation, and knowing it will be possible to do that is exciting. 

With manga - an unexpected improvement. I’ve been opening up manga from time to time. I am finding some easier to read now. I think the improvement is mainly due to reviewing information I knew already because I’m using japanese more. I still find heavy adverb use and hiragana word usage hard and that’s where a majority of the unknown words I don’t understand but that are important are. 

Basically - I’m seeing a significant reading improvement in both skill and especially speed at 3x faster than last year, ability to follow the speed up japanese in of cutscenes/follow the speed of japanese in audio much better than before, significant improvement in recognizing stuff I’ve studied before faster/easier, and some small but solid improvement in vocabulary. I did not expect any noticeable improvement until I’d studied a few hundred more hours, so honestly this is really great and a lot more than I expected.

In regard to the Glossika lessons: I DO think they’ve been helping, I Do think they’ve been reinforcing my knowledge I already knew and giving me good review, and while I struggle to listen to them often I do think they work similarly well for me as anki/memrise do except without requiring 100% of my focus when I do them. So the glossika lessons (audio flashcards) are easier for me to actually study. While I wish I was doing them more, I’m happy to say I do think they’re helping me improve like I hoped they would.

[russenoire]

i love that you’re doing this, @exilepurify / @luciferstit. i’m using this series for reading immersion and only do fully naturalized translations when they clarify meaning of lines for me – after over a year of self-study, i’m more likely to encounter lines that i understand in japanese but have a hard time expressing in my native tongue.

- なんの力も無いんだ! — I dont have any powers!

Reigen uses a widely-unused kanji here, 「無い」 or “nai”. A.K.A, Japanese negation. It’s almost always written with kana (興味がない、続けない、etc). I imagine the kanji was included here for greater emphasis. Reigen does actually use another unused kanji later in this conversation though (事 instead of こと) so I also think there’s a case to be made for it being an intentional decision made to make Reigen’s speech patterns seem eccentric, but I would need to look at much more of his manga dialogue to confirm that.

to comment on your notes about kanji use: this isn’t just reigen’s dialogue… it even shows up in mob’s on occasion.

ONE deliberately uses kanji for words typically spelled in kana throughout the series. MP100’s language is quite kanji-dense in general, and his use of furigana is rare. my hypothesis is that it’s a clever nod to the chuunibyou (中二病) mindset he’s skewering in the story.

one of the most common symptoms of 中二病 – besides pretending one has superpowers, or wearing eyepatches meant to conceal a magic eye – is kanji abuse, LOL. japanese schoolchildren learn the most common kanji from grades 1-6: the kyouiku kanji (教育漢字). middle schoolers, however, learn a shit ton of kanji that they won’t use that often in writing, and sometimes they go overboard. kanji are great fun, after all!

the japanese consider it kinda cringe or gauche to do this. no one spells もちろん like 勿論、or uses kanji in auxiliary verbs, unless they’re being pretentious or having way too much fun with newly-learned ideographs. subtitles seem to be the only exception to that rule of thumb, as kanji spellings can often save valuable character space on-screen.

also!

「無」 is not that uncommon (and taught in grade 4), but that 「無い」 spelling for ない is. outside this work, i only ever see it in transcribed song lyrics.

Reigen’s confession scene: original Japanese manga text analysis and translation

I had a ton of fun translating the Japanese text from the “no one will save me” Mob headspace scene and it’s fantastic practice, so I decided to personally translate the raws from Reigen’s confession scene and analyze that a bit.

More under the cut! (Very long :0)

Reigen: なんの力も無いんだ！— I dont have any powers!

持ってないんだよ！— None at all!

Reigen: 嘘… — A lie…

最初から嘘だったんだ… — From the start, it was a lie.

Reigen: ちょっと失礼。— Excuse me for a moment.

花粉症かな? — Hay fever, right?

俺はよく嘘をつく。— I lie all the time.

客にも… — To my clients…

Reigen: お前にもな… — and to you…

初めてお前が事務所に来た日… — That day, when you came to my office for the first time…

俺は嘘をついた。— I lied to you.

お前の悩みを知った気で相談に乗った。— I advised you as if I understood your struggles.

お前は俺を簡単に信じた。だから… — And you believed me easily. So…

お前を騙して仕事をやらせた。— I tricked you into working for me.

あの日から今日まで… — From that day, up until now…

Reigen: ずっと… — The entire time…

ずっと利用し続けてたんだ... — I continued to use you the entire time…

俺… — I…

本当は何も知らねぇんだ。— I honestly don’t know shit

Reigen: 超能力のこと… — about psychic powers…

Reigen: これが俺の正体だ… — This is my true self.

今まで師匠面してすまなかったな… — I’m sorry for acting like your master up until now.

だけど最後なんだ。もう少し言わせてくれ。— But this is the last time. So hear me out just a little longer.

Reigen: お前だけが特別な訳じゃない��— You’re not the only one who’s special.

ニ面性なんて誰にでもある。— Everyone has a second side to them.

これは今でも本当に思うことだ。— This is what I truly believe, even now.

皆お前と同じだ。俺も… — You are the same are everyone else. The same as me, too…

だからそんなに悩むな。— So you don’t have to worry so much.

いや… 悩むんでもいいか… — No… worrying is fine, too.

それもまた当たり前のことだ。— That is also a natural thing to do.

ここだけの話… 俺は隠してる自分の本当の姿が大嫌いなんだが… — Just between you and me… I absolutely despise the true nature of my secret self.

それとは別として相談所での日々は嫌いじゃなかった。— Despite this, I didn’t hate those days we spent at the consultation office.

俺には「嘘」があったからお前と知り合えた訳だし… — Because I had “lies”, I got to get to know you…

モブにもその「力」があったから… 今のお前があるんじゃないか。— Because you have your “powers”… you are the person you are today, right?

Reigen: えーと… Um…

要するにだ… — In short…

お前は… — You…

そのままでいい。— are fine the way you are.

もう俺がいなくても大丈夫だ。— You will be okay even if I’m not here anymore.

大丈夫。— You will be okay.

そろそろ受け入れてやれ。自分を！— Accept it a little at a time. Accept yourself!

お前なら… モブならそれができるって事を…俺は知ってる��！— Because it’s you…. Because you’re you, Mob, you can do it. I know you can!!

—————————

Notes:

- なんの力も無いんだ! — I dont have any powers!

Reigen uses a widely-unused kanji here, 「無い」 or “nai”. A.K.A, Japanese negation. It’s almost always written with kana (興味がない、続けない、etc). I imagine the kanji was included here for greater emphasis. Reigen does actually use another unused kanji later in this conversation though (事 instead of こと) so I also think there’s a case to be made for it being an intentional decision made to make Reigen’s speech patterns seem eccentric, but I would need to look at much more of his manga dialogue to confirm that.

- 本当は何も知らねぇんだ。— I honestly don’t know shit

Okay. He doesn’t actually use the shit word here, but cursing is a bit strange in Japanese because of how tone can be subtly indicated by verb form, something we can’t really do in English. Reigen uses a very casual, rude form of 「知らない」 that I think is most faithfully represented by a curse word. He’s obviously trying to put negative emphasis. The Crunchyroll sub put it as “I don’t know a damn thing”. I chose “I honestly don’t know shit” because it’s a bit less of a deviation from the raw dialogue.

- 今まで師匠面してすまなかったな… — I’m sorry for acting like your master up until now.

I thought the use of 「師匠面して」 was interesting. 「師匠」 is “Shishou/Master”, which is straightforward, but 「面」 is a kanji that means “mask, face, surface” and it’s basic readings are “メン/men”, “おもて/omote” and “つら/tsura”. Reigen uses a lesser-known reading and meaning of this kanji, so much so that ONE included furigana over the kanji to clarify the reading. 「面」 here is read as 「づら」and is used as a suffix to mean “looking like a…, acting as if a….”.

お前だけが特別な訳じゃない。— You’re not the only one who’s special.

「訳」 (wake) is my mortal enemy, because it’s a word in Japanese that’s so close to being a particle but isn’t a particle. It’s a word indicating a conclusion reached from personal reasoning or evidence, or circumstance, or meaning related to a situation. It’s abstract, so it can be a bit tricky deciding how best to translate a sentence it’s used in. Sometimes it is not directly translated at all, which is what I did here, taking it more as a subtextual indicator of context than as a word in the text itself. However, this is out of personal preference, and I would totally accept it being translated more overtly as “You’re not the only one with special circumstances.”

- ここだけの話… 俺は隠してる自分の本当の姿が大嫌いなんだが… — Just between you and me… I absolutely despise the true nature of my secret self.

Two notes about this one:

「ここだけの話」 is a phrase that directly translates to “this is a discussion for only right here”, but that would sound kind of weird to say in English, and it means the exact same thing as “just between you and me”.

「隠してる自分の本当の姿」 is a DOOZY. It’s a little clunky, but I think it fits for Reigen to be a bit dramatic with it. I sort of played around with it a little bit, but strictly translated, it means “my hidden self’s true form”.

- 大丈夫だよ。行こう。— I will be okay. Let’s go.

This happens in the scene where Mob and Shigeo accept each other (not a part of Reigen’s confession), but I included it for a good reason. This isn’t so much a translation note as it is a commentary on the manga, but I think I like the manga version of the scene just a little better than the anime, just for the “大丈夫” thing between Reigen and Mob. Mob’s referencing Reigen’s previous words, 「もう俺がいなくても大丈夫だ。大丈夫。」 — “You will be okay even if I’m not here anymore. You will be okay”, which are beautifully enhanced by the sudden panel of Reigen watching Mob in that moment with a small smile, silently reassuring him that it’s true. It’s such a small detail but it means so much to me, and I’m a little sad it wasn’t fully preserved in the anime. But, yknow how it is. Not everything can make it in.

[meimae]

Language Learning Through Immersion: One Year Japanese Update

11/03/2021

I did it, you guys! I’ve successfully reached my very first year of Japanese language immersion! I honestly thought that I would have given up by now, but this really has been a fun and ultimately rewarding endeavor.

Studying the language has been at the back of my mind for years since elementary school, I just never really knew how to go about it before, and I always thought that I could learn it in a classroom setting someday. That someday for me was in two elective courses in university, and while those were fun as well, it did not give me the same gains that I have achieved in this past year.

It’s probably easier to quantify learning a language in a classroom setting, especially when going through a program to earn a language degree. Learning through immersion, however, I had to really consider what my goals should be on my own. Eventually, I stumbled upon an article saying that for an English speaker, Japanese was exceptionally difficult to learn and that at least 2,200 hours must be spent with the language to reach a certain level of proficiency. So I said to myself, “well okay internet, if you say so!”, and set that as my long term goal going forward.

Spoiler Alert: I did not hit that goal in my first year. I am not crazy and will never listen to Japanese in my sleep regardless of what Khatzumoto (the creator of All Japanese All the Time) says. 

I did, however, hit a total 1,226.65 active immersion hours in my first year, so I guess I’m still a bit nuts. That is 874.96 hours of active listening and 351.69 reading hours. I also did 270.59 hours of passive listening, also known as the time in the very beginning of my immersion where I was using Japanese subtitles (therefore not really concentrating on listening alone). That’s a cumulative 1,497.24 hours spent with Japanese. That’s more than halfway towards my goal! 

To further break that down for curious animanga fans out there, that’s 973 episodes from 109 anime, 765 episodes from 33 dramas, 7 movies, and 967 chapters from 107 volumes of manga (21 series). Here’s my anilist and mydramalist to see what I’ve read/watched.

During all this, I was also doing my daily Anki reps and now I have a 530 day SRS streak (includes the time prior starting immersion and only doing RTK and some vocabulary cards) and a total 8,857 sentence cards. I’ve been averaging 406 cards daily (because I’m trying to cure my leeches) and I spend about an hour per day doing reps and learning new cards. I don’t really track my time on Anki, but I do have a set timer that goes off after 1-1:30 hours.

What I haven’t touched upon at all is output. I have not gone out of my way to find a tutor or a language partner. There’s still plenty of input out there to immerse in before I even consider outputting.

Graphs, stats, and more thoughts:

Here's my current card count in my main deck (minus the cards in my new/learning queue and leeches I've been relearning which are in separate decks):

That one day in 2019 where I did not do my cards because I was seriously doubting whether I can actually stick with language learning this time around will forever haunt and inspire me to keep going everyday.

Workflow and Tips

You might be wondering, how do I have a lot of time? I started this whole endeavor in the middle of a pandemic, which eliminated the option of me going to a language school, and a slew of other things I were considering doing last year became impossible (and if anything, very scary to do in a pandemic). All I can say is that, things work out eventually if it is His will, and if I can learn a skill before everything properly settles back down again, then why not? 

I wake up at 5 in the morning everyday to either do my Anki reps or read until the time when I need to get up and I listen to compressed audio throughout the day. The biggest tip is to switch the time you spend watching/reading in your native language to your target language instead. Listen to a podcast during your commute, watch an episode during lunch break, read before going to bed, do your Anki reps in the bathroom if you have to. 

But, if you’re feeling burnt out, there is no reason for you to not take a break! I have been watching a lot of Among Us streams before bed, and I chat with my friends from time to time. Language learning is not a race.

More Stats

Here are a couple of grids of the kanji characters that I have encountered at least once in my immersion and how well I have answered them in my vocabulary/sentence cards.

It's interesting that after almost 9000 words, I have yet to encounter every single character from the Remembering the Kanji 1 (RTK 1) book by James Heisig, which teaches you the most common use characters that are part of the 常用漢字. Which brings me to the question, was writing down every single character being taught in RTK worth it every time it came up in my reviews for the first 3-ish months I was reviewing them? Maybe, maybe not. It certainly removed my anxiety whenever looking at blocks of text in Japanese, but the longer I think about it, the more I feel I should have switched to Recognition RTK earlier. Still, being able to write in proper stroke order is cool I guess, and it also helps me when looking things up in the dictionary.

Here’s the same grid but in JLPT order:

I clearly need to grind those N2 and N1 level cards! Speaking of which, I have apparently almost covered every single character that could possibly appear in the JLPT (except for the N1 which I have only covered half of) in just a year's time. If the JLPT word frequency lists I’m using are accurate, I have about 2,000 words more to go to to cover most vocabulary that could appear in the test. This makes the "10,000 sentences/words to fluency" argument a reasonable milestone to aim for for Japanese learners if said aim is only to pass the test. That said, 10,000 words is just that, a milestone. It's more akin to a comfortable level of comprehension, but not my own concept of fluency which is being able to read with ease, speak articulately, and write comfortably.

READING IMMERSION GRAPHS

My biggest motivation for tracking my stats is for the purpose of seeing whether my reading speed is improving over time. Reading speed is also easier to measure than listening comprehension which is kind of subjective, so I had a lot of fun making these. What I found is that for the first volume or chapter of whatever it is I’m reading, I always take the time to get used to the writing style of the author. My speed really improves whenever I keep reading the same topic over and over again. On the other hand and quite obviously, looking up many new words in a row and trying to parse sentences slows me down.

Manga: Reading Speed Progression per Volume

I clearly love ちはやふる and I am not ashamed to admit it.

I need to start reading longer manga. When I do, I’ll probably split this graph into less than and greater than 20 volumes. Imagine if I start reading something ridiculously long as 名探偵コナン or ワンピース, these graphs will start breaching the bounds of time and space.

Novels: Time Spent Reading per Chapter

#neverforget the time I read chapter six of Norwegian Wood for 9 hours when it took me less than half that time in English RIP. Also, my interest in Kitchen plummeted LOL. Still planning to finish it don’t worry. 

I also need to start branching away from manga and start reading more novels and light novels, too just so I can make more pretty graphs.

Visual Novels: Time Spent Reading and Daily Word Count

Also known as images that clearly show that I’ve already spent several days only reading the prologue of Island. I’m not sweating. 切那 needs to stop using words I don’t know in succession. More thoughts on this VN far into the future.

Thoughts on Immersion

I can’t really say anything else other that that it works for me, and needless to say if you’re considering this method, remember that the SRS is your friend but immersion should be your one true love.

Prior to all this, I couldn’t even read a sample paragraph from Genki without being confused to my very soul. Yes, I know, it’s embarrassing, but that’s the truth. I was way more scared of failing my Japanese classes than my actual thesis for my bachelors degree, I kid you not. I would quite literally spend all my free time in university trying to understand grammar, memorize vocabulary, and answer my workbook exercises with little to no success. 

I tried so hard to get all the grammar “formulas” into my head for 1.5 years and it only brought me more confusion. I’m never going back to traditional classroom study for language learning, but I will still refer to grammar books when I need to, and not because I feel like I need to answer 4783342 different workbook exercises like my life depended on it.

I still can’t believe it, but with immersion this statement is actually true to a point, don’t try shadowing anime/or calling your boss anime language slurs, use your common sense:

study anime to understand Japanese > study Japanese to understand anime 

Future Goals/Plans

2,200 immersion hours was my initial goal, but honestly I feel like that number could be much higher. There’s still a lot of stuff I don’t understand (news, politics, sciences, etc.), so I’ll make attempts to cover more of those things in my immersion. 

I’ll continue reading more, because that’s a natural SRS in itself. Try to read longer manga, more novels, visual novels, and light novels, and maybe news articles. 

I’ll try to mine as much “JLPT vocab” as I can before making any attempts at taking the JLPT. I noticed that a lot of the words I know don’t appear in the JLPT word lists as much, even though they appear a lot in media/daily conversation. 

Continue mining all words I don’t know because all words are useful anyway. There is no such thing as useless words. I never really understood mining only “interesting words” or words that “pop up” in your immersion. As I said in my previous blog post, 美人局 is an interesting word and I certainly caught it being said in my immersion, but in the three languages I know, I wouldn’t know when I would be able to use such a word, as compared to something like ジャガイモ which is a significantly less interesting word, but is certainly useful to know. 

_

I have managed to talk up a storm, but if you have any questions regarding my process or recommendations for new immersion material, please feel free to send an ask/reply to this post. I love hearing about other people’s language learning/immersion journeys. 

See you on my next post!

[seeingteacupsindragons]

(Answering publicly as an ask with permission)

For screenreaders, the text reads:

Hello! Sorry to bother you again... You've mentioned quite a lot of times that you're learning japanese and I see you're even able to read manga in the original text(kudos to you for that!) I'm an aspiring japanese learner myself-I've recently mastered all the hiragana and katakana, but I'm kind of clueless how to continue from there, since I'm studying on my own. Do you maybe have any tips on what I could tackle next? Sorry that I couldn't send this as an ask. Unfortunately tumblr isn't really cooperating with me today. Thanks a lot in advance!

This is going to be a long story, because: this is actually the third time I’ve tried learning Japanese.

The first time, my parents bought me a (I’m told very expensive) program for Christmas when I was twelve to learn Japanese at home--it came with a bunch of CDs and books and things. It was a lot like all of the materials for a foreign language course, at home.

But I was twelve and didn’t know what I was doing, and had no support or encouragement from anyone else, just a desire to learn, so it didn’t end up really working out. I remember some of the info from the books, but honestly, it just didn’t work for me. I didn’t really even know how to use any of the stuff.

In college, I made it through three semesters of Japanese. I learned a lot there, but it, again, didn’t quite work. I had my classmates and a couple friends, a teacher, but I have never been motivated by grades, and there just wasn’t much of a reason to keep on.

Anyway, years later, JR happened, and I desperately wanted to read them, but I was nowhere near close to being able to tackle that. At all. So I picked up Duolingo and found that my Japanese from college was coming back to me, and that was pretty cool, but it’s not like I was getting anywhere. JR is much too high a level for me to really take a crack at.

And then I ran out of YuuMori scans.

This was back in...November? The end of October? When only up to chapter 27 had been translated, and a new chapter was getting uploaded in English every month or two. And I was dying, because I’d been reading like a volume a night and other people were definitely going to accidentally spoil things for me and I hate spoilers.

But a couple of my friends who are fluent in Japanese were reading it that way, and after I saw a couple screenshots, I noticed that everything had furigana in it, and after some puzzling with a dictionary, I could figure out some of the speech bubbles, because I still remembered my kana from college! Cool! I asked one if they thought I could manage is, and she was encouraging, so after a week of debating, I went and bought volume seven so I could keep reading.

This has been going much better, and I’ve been learning far more Japanese than I have before.

Why this time?

I have a really good reason to keep reading (YuuMori, yay! Fan comics! Random stuff from Japanese people on twitter!) that I can actually hope to mostly manage because it’s not too high a level for me to make it through (although...the politics in YuuMori is...rough.)

I have friends who are fluent in Japanese this time (did not have that before--I could ask the Japanese TAs in college, but we weren’t friends, so it always felt awkward). I can ask them for help, they correct me when I get things wrong, and sometimes I pop into their DMs like “Hey, I keep finding this weird grammar bit that I don’t understand and isn’t in the dictionary, what does it mean?” And since I’m livetweeting, if they see I got something very off, they’ll comment and go, “Hey, actually....” or will help if I’m totally confused.

One of them is a Japanese to English translator, so she gave me the recommendation for the Japanese to English dictionary I’m using (which is super useful, omg), and a browser extension, which is also really helpful.

Plus, having multilingual friends is really nice when I’m like “Hey, this part of learning a language is like...normal, right? It’s a good sign, not a sign I’m a total disaster?” and they can reassure me because I’m anxious.

Another friend also recommended this book called All About Particles, which has been useful for that part of Japanese that I reference a lot. Another recommended I pick up Learning the Kanji but I haven’t gotten around to that just yet.

I have a couple friends who are also not quite fluent who I DM back and forth in Japanese from time to time, which helps up both practice, too. Having a reason to really use the language is incredibly necessary for me. After all, language is a communication tool, right?

There’s also this cool website I found a few weeks ago that I haven’t had a chance to use yet called https://learnnatively.com/. It ranks Japanese books and manga on their difficulty, so you can buy and try to read them (after all, that’s how little kids in Japan learn Japanese--isn’t it?).

Another thing I was doing all fall and winter, but have mostly stopped now, was taking out a notebook (my old Japanese notebook, lol), and diagramming out the sentences. Okay, sure, I could look up words in the dictionary, but I needed to figure out how they fit together. So I would write them out in order with the particles, look up the conjugations and particles on google, and then note that, and then piece together how all the words fit together.

I don’t need to do that so much anymore (although it would probably be helpful, lol). But then, I’m very gifted with grammar and always have been. A couple of my friends who are fluent have commented they’re very impressed by how fast I’ve picked up the Japanese grammar, and even my mother was like, “Yeah, you’ve always been good at that since you were little...” And discussing some linguistic things with my friend who has a Master’s in translation led to her asking me if I’d studied it because I said things that she’d heard there, which..well, no, it just made sense to me.

So. I have that going for me, too.

There’s also tons of podcasts and YouTube series and things like that designed to help learning Japanese...that’s not really how I learn, so I haven’t been using them and can’t give any recs. But they’re certainly out there!

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been doing, and it’s been going pretty well, all things considered.

I hope this helped, and if not, was at least sort of interesting to read.

[washymylifeaway]

SunaOsa fanfic recs: valentines edition~~

SunaOsa is one of my all time favorite ships and this past month, there has been/was an exchange going on between writers (here is the link) and artists (separately) and because I don’t have a life (or maybe it’s just that SunaOsa is my life LOL), I’m here to tell you some of my favorite fics from the pile :D However, as much as I love a ship, sometimes fluff is too asajndajnd so mind you there will probably be a lot of good fics missing just cause I couldn’t get myself to read more fluff (or angst) LOL (IM SORRY but sometimes I also just can’t motivate myself to read a fic no matter how good it looks OOPS).

As always, please check warning and tags before reading any of these fics, and take care of yourselves!!!!

In no particular order (jk the order is last updated haha) tho my favorites will have *** next to them :)

***glass stained black by unrequitedangst (E) 31k // Mafia AU’s are some of my favorite kinds of fics, and this one did not disappoint! The character development of Osamu is really legit and despite being mafia, it’s not that heavy or angst of a fic (but you should still definitely read tags and warnings first). It’s an Osamu heavy fic, and if you’re into reading him being stupid, go right ahead LOL.

redux by catalysis (T) 2.3k // ngl I hate break-up fics with a passion truely (when you can’t handle fluff or angst what to do) but I liked the concept for this one hehe (so I made myself suffer LOL). It was short, but cute !!! and the unspoken words really hit me in the FEELS (so what I’m dramatic fight me LOL).

Impropriety by DeathBelle (T) 5.7k // royalty~ I love the banter between them in this fic and we DO stan respectful Osamu yes we do <33333 The relationships between not only SunaOsa but SunaAtsu (because even though it isn’t really SunaAtsu best friend agenda, I can delude myself into think it is okay :/) are done so well and so nice he’s mean Osamu is best Osamu.

***what are you waiting for? by Slumber (T) 3.7k // MIGHT BE MY FAV FIC FROM THIS EXCHANGE!!! It made me cackle and I love how they learn new things about each other!!!! Like the development is so good and Suna is really doing the MOST!! Also, I love recursive endings AHHHHHH!

agape by sketchedsmiles (T) 11.7k // soulmates, then they were SOULMATES! (ik that’s not how it goes but pls just humor me LOL) This fic really depicted Osamu’s insecurities/internal turmoil/overthinking really well and the realization he has vs Suna’s AHJAFKASFJ. I love confident Suna.

fireside by tartaglia (starkartifices) (T) 3.6k // we do love the subtle flirt flirt don’t we hehe ;) It’s short, it’s fluff, and it’s funny - what more could you ask for? Also whats a vigilante fic if there isn’t at least one pun about being a vigilante LOL.

Over and Over Again by tookumade (G) 6.4k // I would like to order one reassuring, reliable Miya Osamu for myself please and thank you :((( The way the relationship is so GOOD like both Suna and Osamu pick each other up and they know the other has their back ajfhkajdfl. I would purchase all the onigiri with the deal Suna was proposing ;) Onigirintarou.

from here to eternity by TheGlovedArtist (T) 6.6k // I for one am a big fan of mythology and stuff (heroes of olympus but like IDR any of the plot LOL) so of course I read this fic. The snark appearances of Sakusa and Komori gave me LIFE and the difference in descriptions from Astumu and Kita cracked me up. This is another respectful Osamu fic (yes I love these) and in this one it was a ‘I save you as much as you save me’ type beat LOL. Gotta love rings.

***Subtle Inarizaki Dating by sifuhotman (T) 15.2k // THIS ONE. Even if you don’t read the whole thing, I beg of you, please, I AM ON MY KNEES, read the SID for Astumu. It is worth the loss of all your brain calls I guarantee it. It made me giggle so freakin much. Suna might be an A-Hole but he’s OUR A-Hole <3

Forever Begins with 8 Seconds by subtlehues (T) 3.9k // FLUFF hehe, I love their dynamic in this one it’s very good and cute and everything great! Also, I am all for the head cannon that Suna cannot cook, yes pls. Also SUPERPOWERS whooooooooh.

***try again, and again, and again by rosegoldwriting (T) 2.6k // SOULMATES! If you ever wanted a specific soulmate AU! for SunaOsa look no further, it probably comes out LOL. I love this concept of them just being like ‘WTF’ everyday, it gives me life. Also, count how many soulmate AU’s you recognized because I just thought about it and I think it’d be fun LOL. (I went back and I think 11 but I’m not sure LOL)

let us burn by SilverMoonT (G) 13.5k // I am always up for a nice vampire Osamu and witch Suna (which believe it or not, is my second one because I read the other one by this writer LOL) This one is more Suna POV and it really goes into his fears and desires, and I like the way Osamu pushes him to live more freely.

***reasons to microwave an elixir by spiritscript (T) 8.2k // THIS ONE. UGH I love, and it’s funny and cute and it EVEN HAS CRIME (kinda not really but yes)! I love the quiet moments they have and the PET AHHHHHHH! We love medic Osamu :DDDDD But also the betrayal and the sparring (and the irony at the end LOL) AJSKJNFK.

we fall between by stringendos (T) 14.7k // honestly the entire time I was just screaming at my computer, begging for them to hurry up and realize, but alas this is a ~slow burn~ for a reason and the tag ‘exes who act like theyre married’ really is the reason I read it and I do not regret LOL. Also bless Matsuda and stan her.

All the Time in the World by minie_ai (M) 8.8k // we love immortality! Denial! And Suna mentally filing away blackmail against people (namely Astumu) LOL. Running away from your problems is always the answer (I am saying this is a not sarcastic manner because I too, run away from my problems LOL) but ramen is ALWAYS a good answer. We love ourselves some emotional constipation LOL.

***none but you by broikawa (T) 7.2k // everything is a competition always LOL, not that I’m complainin but still LOL EVERYTHING. I really love this one because I love the progression and cock-block SakuAtsu hehe. I love them being synchronized idiots <3

it all comes back to you, (my home) by iritaescents (T) 4.5k // FOREVER, WE STAN FOREVER. Anyway, LOL this was is very very cute and fluff and not slow burn, it fast burn LOL. It’s a cute fic to read and it even has our favorite, now say it with me SOULMATES LOL.

Can't help falling in bed with you by tirralirra (T) 6.7k // here we see a 5 + 1 with points for the title (I think it’s very funny LOL my humor is bad ;)) Not that it really needs extra points because it’s a great fic in itself LOL but I really liked the title so I felt the need to share this with you all (OOPS). This was so cute, and the + 1 is HILARIOUS.

It’s no longer up :(((((( -> love's consequences by xginpuff (T) 6.5k // WARNINGS AND TAGS been a while since we had an angsty fic in this list (LOL the way I just tried to avoid all of them hehe). I read the tags but ngl I was still surprised later LOL maybe I’m just dumb, but anyway IK it starts out a bit confusing, but after you read more, you’ll get into it!

***sunagashi by bastigod (T) 9.8k // if there’s anything I like more than mythology, it’s folklore LOL. I love this fic and the plot is written so artfully AHDSAJN. Also the scene with the Ume-chan and her comment (so snarky I love). Also they way I went through so much trouble trying to figure out the kanji LOL (SPOILER it’s miyarin hehe)

catch me (while i'm still runnin') by lunarins (T) 4.3k // first and foremost, may we have a moment of silence for Komori and his eyebrows..... Continuing, this fic was so good because I love a good heist hehe. Their slight of hand abilities really doing the most LOL, and the ending OMG. I love the way the writer added in how they appeared to others during the heist, it really made it so good! Ugh to have a painting class and almost die LOL.

***if we get this right by Slumber (G) 5k // OLD FRIEND plsplspls I love this fic and I love how Osamu slowly relearns who he knew Suna as AHHH. The ending, again UGH, I really loved it and their banter with one another.

The Study of Suna Rintarou by DeathBelle (T) 6.1k // PLEASE the way Osamu kept getting offended omg. But also the effort Suna puts into getting to know Osamu, I was in ~love~. Read to me Osamu, READ TO ME. But also the Osamu is an oblivious MF agenda is alive and well within this fic hehe.

Take a Hint by pancake_surprise (G) 2.3k // ok so I had just read a tumbr post about the one bed thing and then I saw this fic. It was like the stars aligned okay? I was like, ig I HAVE to read it now hehe. But seriously read it, it’s cute and like everything else, of course there’s a challenge to be made LOL.

Heatwave by pancake_surprise (G) 2.1k // the way they were dating without knowing they were dating man. The tag ‘Didn't Know They Were Dating‘ more accurate than the ‘first dates’ one LOL jk but actually tho am I kidding? It’s the first official one IG. LOL anyway, we do love the doin of the defining of relationships. Yup.

If you made it all the way down here, CONGRATS LOL. Like I said, I didn’t read all of them (sadly) and these were the ones i did read LOL. I might add more depending on whether I can motivate myself into reading fics I know will be good LOL so we’ll see heh. Honestly, I thought I was gonna get word counted, but YAY we finished (for now hehe). Also sorry for any possible typos (is this no beta we die like men?) I’m running on 90 min of sleep so my engrish be strugglin LOL. Be safe and wear masks :)

[nordic-language-love]

Norwegian

Watched 2x Kveldsnytt broadcasts

Watched 1x Mummidalen episode

Watched 1x Ragnarok episode

Wrote 1x journal entry

Read 4x articles

60 minute italki lesson

Japanese

Duolingo: Food 2 and Food 3

Wrote 2x journal entries (1x handwritten, 1x typed)

JFZ: took grammar notes from chapter 7

Watched 1x Japanese Ammo with Misa + made relevant notes

Wrote sample sentences

Summary

All in all, I’ve not done a lot this week. I think I’m gonna take a short break from languages this coming week, just because I’ve been feeling a bit uninspired to study lately. I think I’ve got into a bit of a rut of doing the same things, so I’ll brainstorm some ideas of other ways I can study, other things I could be doing etc. Then hopefully I’ll come back refreshed next week and ready to study again :)

Norwegian

I’m back to feeling like I’m not really studying Norwegian at the moment, which I’d like to change. With Japanese it’s a lot easier because there’s so much to learn and so much to practise it’s overwhelming, but with Norwegian I feel like I just need to keep getting as much input as possible and doing my best to use the language. I’m writing in my journal a lot, but that doesn’t really push me to use new vocabulary. When I read articles I read about topics I’m interested in, and I already know 99% of the vocabulary in those articles. So I think I need to push myself to find things that are challenging for me if I want to improve.

Japanese

I watched a grammar video on linking adjectives with くて and で. There was a lot of vocabulary I didn’t know, so I noted some down as well as sample sentences. The grammar itself wasn’t too hard but I definitely need to work on my vocabulary more! I also did some N5 practice questions but I understood basically nothing. So I put it into google translate and realised I had previously learned most of the words, but I hadn’t committed them to memory, or they’d been written in hiragana when I’d learned the kanji and it didn’t click right away (weird how I can know the kanji and know how it’s pronounced, but I see that same word written in hiragana and I just blank lol). So I’ll brainstorm some ideas for learning vocabulary this week.

Other

I decided I wanted to start writing daily again and I’ve been doing just that and it feels amazing. It’s been a bit of a struggle but I’m so determined to keep it up. I’ve always defined myself as a writer but for the past few years I’ve barely written anything and it’s made me feel a bit lost and like I don’t know who I am or where I’m going. I still doubt I’ll publish a book anytime soon (so much for my plan to definitely publish a novel before I’m 30, but hey, it wasn’t the right time, and it’s not like I don’t have another 50+ years to published a novel if I want).

I managed to do some stretching a couple of times this week too. I didn’t do any other exercise because I felt so unmotivated, so I let myself just do the bare minimum. Sometimes the thought of having to do an extra 30 minutes strength training on top of stretching is just too much and then I end up doing neither. I figured it’s better to at least do one thing than nothing at all.

[omoi-no-hoka]

Hello! I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but how do you become proficient at handling conversations in Japanese/handling grammar very well? I read your post on the JLPT, and it addressed issues I have been tip toe-ing around--indeed, passive actions such as listening or reading are easier than the active ones. How did you go about that? Did you write a bunch of sentences daily? Did you have a conversation partner? What would you rec. to someone who lives outside Japan? Thank you!

This is an excellent question, and one that I get asked a lot irl by Japanese people in particular. Let’s talk about gaining fluency and the ways we can go about it!

How to Gain Fluency in Japanese (and Other Languages)

Speaking Fluency versus Accuracy

Language proficiency is divided into two separate categories:

Fluency: Although there are no widely agreed-upon definitions or measures of language fluency, someone is typically said to be fluent if their use of the language appears fluid, or natural, coherent, and easy as opposed to slow, halting use. In other words, fluency is often described as the ability to produce language on demand and be understood.

Accuracy: Correctness of language use, especially grammatical correctness and word choice.

By the above definitions, a “fluent” speaker may make grammatical mistakes, but they can speak without having to stop and think too much about conjugations, word choice, etc.

An “accurate” speaker can speak with nearly zero grammatical/word choice mistakes. However, the speed of their utterances isn’t generally taken into account, so it could take an “accurate” person twice as long to articulate the same idea as a “fluent” person. 

Ideally, you need to strike a good balance between these two qualities when speaking. I have a boss, God bless him, who is 100% fluency and 0% accuracy and…man is it hard to understand what he’s saying sometimes, but he can generally get his point across just barely. I have another coworker who is 100% accuracy and takes about 3 minutes to form a sentence because he wants it to be perfect. 

How to Increase Speaking/Writing Accuracy

First, let’s talk about the easiest thing to improve, which is accuracy. It’s also (in my opinion) the least fun thing to improve, because it means grammar books and vocabulary memorization. 

You can only use a language accurately if you know what is correct and what is incorrect, and you can only learn that by studying grammar and vocabulary (or if you’re a native speaker and picked it up innately, you lucky bastard).

So here’s some things you can do to increase your accuracy:

For example, if you’re having a hard time using the passive, you need to review that part of your textbook and find some exercises to drill it into your head. 

Say the correct thing aloud. Lots. Sometimes I just walk around my apartment and narrate everything I see/do like a crazy person, but that’s good practice. 

Write example sentences using the grammar you’re struggling with and say them aloud too. 

There’s a bunch of cool apps that connect you with native speakers that can help correct you too! I used to use HelloTalk, I think. 

If you’re a creative soul, when I was studying for the JLPT, I took 1 grammar point and 5 vocabulary words from my JLPT study books and used them to write a 2-page short story about the adventures of ネギ, a stray black cat that smelled like green onions because she napped in an onion field. Then I had a Japanese friend check it over for me and mark mistakes. I hand-wrote them to improve my abysmal handwriting at the same time. It was really fun! I sometimes think about doing it again just for funsies.

When someone corrects you, don’t feel like your entire life is over and you’re a failure and you’ll never get it right haha. I’ve seen people fall into that hopeless mindset, and that’s just nonsense. It’s a good opportunity for learning and nothing more! Say the correct thing you’ve just been taught out loud, then write it down if you can. And, if possible, find a chance to use it in conversation asap.

How to Increase Speaking/Writing Fluency

Now this is the hard one. Especially for those learners who do not have native speakers nearby. 

I’m going to be dead honest with you. I started formally studying Japanese at uni, and I had a Japanese roommate/best friend since year one. I had a 4.0 GPA in my Japanese classes (and only my Japanese classes lol) because I was and still am a MEGA NERD about it. 

...But it wasn’t until I studied abroad in Japan my 4th year of uni that I gained fluency. 

There are a lot of things that can hold us back from fluency. An interesting thing I’ve noted is that Foreign Language is perhaps the only subject in which a student’s personality can directly affect their progress. To gain fluency, you have to go forth and speak, but if you are naturally a shy person, that is going to hinder you. If you are the kind of person who takes mistakes/failures poorly, you will be less likely to take risks and try to say harder sentences. In contrast, you can get full marks in math regardless of the above personality traits. 

I’m not saying that you have to be an outgoing explosion of a human being in order to gain fluency. But what I am saying is that you have to be willing to seek out conversations, and you have to be willing to take chances. Get out of your comfort zone. Use that new word you picked up the other day. Try to explain something that is difficult for you. 

My problem was that, while I lived with a native speaker who would have happily taught me anything I asked, her English proficiency was much higher than my Japanese proficiency. And when I struggled to say something in Japanese, I’d fall back onto English. And when she told me something I didn’t understand in Japanese, she’d repeat it in English instead of Japanese, because that was easier for us both. The same thing happened when I was in Japanese class as well. I always had the assurance that I could fall back on English.

But when I elected to study abroad in Japan for 3 months, I knew that this was my big chance. So on the host family form in the “other requests” area, I wrote that I specifically wanted a host family that could not speak English. I was setting fire to my crutches, and I was scared but excited to see them burn. 

By the end of my three months in Japan, I had gone from “Chotto matte kudasai” and needing a minute to form my reply, to “Okay, yeah I see that movie too and I liked the action scenes, but I didn’t care for the story little.” (I’ve underlined mistakes that I would have made in Japanese, to show you that I sacrificed some accuracy to obtain higher fluency.)

So, in short, the easiest and quickest way to increase your spoken fluency is to throw away all the crutches you can and use the language as much as possible. Every single day. Even if you’re just having an imaginary conversation with yourself! And like I said, there are a bunch of cool apps that connect you with Japanese people who want to learn English and you can do language exchanges with them. I had a lot of fun with those in the past. 

As for increasing writing fluency...well. That’s a tough question with Japanese, because I can type Japanese at like 100 wpm, but my Japanese handwriting fluency is at a 10/100. I can read and type at the level of a native Japanese high school student, but I can only write the kanji that 7 year old can write. That’s no exaggeration.

The big reason for that dichotomy is that my work is paper-free. 100% of my work is done on screen, so about the only time I have to write out something is when I’m filling out a form, which includes my name (katakana), address, and maybe occupation. 

If you want to increase your Japanese handwriting speed, just keep on writing. Write those little short stories about ネギ like I did, or find some writing prompts (I just started a side-blog with writing prompts yesterday btw) or keep a little diary. Make opportunities to write. 

How to Have Nice Handwriting in Japanese

Okay, full disclaimer: I am the absolute LAST person qualified to talk about this, because I have awful handwriting in Japanese. 

Unless you have prior experience with a different language that uses kanji, or you lack the keen eye of an artist, you will likely struggle to develop neat handwriting. 

Personally, I really like using this app called Japanese Kanji Sensei. It’s on Android (not sure about iOS), and if you pay just a few bucks you can make your own kanji sets and stuff. Anyways, it will show you how to write the characters prettily. It gives you a good frame of reference for what nice, pencil/pen-written characters (versus calligraphy characters). It has hiragana and katakana on it too!

I get a stylus and write out the characters on this app for the muscle memory, so my hands remember the sensation of writing a certain character. (The muscle memory is different if you only use your fingertip.) This muscle memory and repetition is how Japanese people learn how to internalize kanji as well. I really enjoy and recommend this app. I’m sure that there are others out there like it too.

Summary

TL;DR: Review your textbooks, take risks, use every resource available or make your own, and just have fun with it! 💗

[amiiaak]

Haikyuu fic recs

i need to sleep, but im not going to. SO IM JUST GONNA POST LINKS OF FICS THAT ARE BANGERS (to me ig) (expect a lot of sunaosa if not that, sakuatsu k?)

Have fun judging my tastes in fanfiction lol

read the tags pls (more on the fics, imma just write the main ones)

Sunaosa

come on with the rain | rosegoldwriting | sunaosa | T | 6,5k

Tags:  Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Light Angst, Mutual Pining, Friends to Lovers.

Summary:

It’s there. Right above his heart, in neat kanji.

Miya.

Fuck.

a study in names, soulmates, and kissing in the rain

through the heart | soumaki | sunaosa | T | 9.5k 

Tags: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Enemies to Lovers, Heist, Suna-centric, Implied Sexual Content, minor description of violence

Summary:

“Rin?” Osamu breathed out.

“Yeah?”

“I’m going to kiss you now.”

“Okay.”

Osamu leaned up and Suna met him halfway as their lips met just as the first firework boomed above them.

i’ll face down the world with you | bastigod | sunaosa |  T | 14,1k

Tags: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Assassination, Minor Violence, Mutual Pining, Implied/Referenced Sexual Content

Summary:

“Who in this world can I trust, if not you?”

After overhearing rumors of an assassination plot on the lives of him and his father, Crown Prince Rintarou of Inarizaki hires Sir Osamu to investigate and stop the plot before it's too late.

Cupid Plays Suna | teafortears | sunaosa | T | 30,6k

Tags: Roman Mythology, Post-Time Skip, Canon Divergent, Canon Complaint, Suna-Centric, Character Study, Falling In Love, Idiots in Love, Friends to Lovers

Summary:

Cupid, the Roman god of love, is bored as he sits around his palace until he gets a prayer one day from a woman, regarding her son. He waits until Miya Osamu is of age before sending people his way, but Osamu doesn't take to any of them.

After too many failed attempts, he decides to descend upon Earth as a human named Suna Rintarou to investigate why Osamu won't fall for anyone. (And ends up falling in love with him during the process.)

The Tale of the Flowers in a Heart | dai_naning | sunaosa | T | 13,3k

Warning!!! Major Character Death

Tags: Folk Tale, Angst With a Happy Ending (srsly don’t question it, it’ll make sense once you read it), Hanahaki with a twist

Summary:

This is a tale of a man named Suna Rintarou with flowers growing in his heart and his wager with a kitsune named Osamu.

limbo | agapetsumu | sunaosa | T | 6,4k

Tags: Idiots in Love, Pining, Post-Time Skip, Drunken Confessions, (there’s like a small scene where they bang but it’s not graphic, so---) Non-Explicit Sex

Summary:

“Suna Rintaro, fuck, you’re so fucking pretty. How are you even real?” Atsumu was full-on laughing now, and Sakusa was recording everything — that little shit.

Rintaro stayed frozen in place because what the fuck?

“Uh–” he started saying

“No no no no no, listen Rin. You are the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen, have you seen yourself?” Rintaro was overheating at this point, his face was redder than it had ever been. He snuck a glance at Atsumu, trying to ask for help, but Atsumu just ignored him and kept laughing at his brother.

Or: drunk words are sober thoughts.

paper trail | spiritscript | sunaosa | G | 8,6k

Tags: Childhood Friends, Getting Together, Pining, Friends to Lovers

Summary:

When he is ten, Osamu meets a boy in an arcade.

When he is eleven he becomes his friend, only to find he is never to see him again.

When he is sixteen, that becomes a lie.

And Suna falls more than a little bit in love.

champagne problems | yoonsvt | sunaosa | T | 10,3k

Tags: Angst, Established Relationship, Marriage Proposal, Exes, Rejection, Break Up, Moving On, Based On a Taylor Swift Song

Summary:

"Mr. Rintarou, is that clear?" Suna finally said his last yes of the night. He found it ironic how out of all the yeses he uttered that day, the only request he refused was the one proposal that mattered the most.

Suna Rintarou and Miya Osamu have been together for six years now, and will stay together until the end of eternity.

Or so they thought. Because when the latter went down on one knee to propose, the former gave an answer that would continue to haunt him for years to come.

or

Suna Rintarou's journey of loving someone, learning to let go, and all the pain in between.

toi, ma jolie fleur | Skyevaheri | sunaosa | Not Rated | 22,1k

Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergent, Age Difference, 5+1 Things, FLOWERS

Summary:

Suna discovers Onigiri Miya and falls for the cute shop owner. So he starts bringing flowers to win him over.

or

5 times Suna gifts Osamu flowers and 1 time Osamu shoves one into Sunas face.

Osaaka

sleeping with the enemy |  billionairevolleyboysclub | osaaka | T | 6.5k

Tags: Fake/Pretend Relationship

Summary:

“You know,” Suna continues. “If you did date Akaashi-san you could give us information on Fukurodani. We might have to play them for Spring Nationals.”

“M’not dating someone just to give ya idiots volleyball tips,” Osamu grumbles, snatching the last of Atsumu’s energy bar out of his hand for good measure.

“What if we dare ya to?” Atsumu says, stretching out to try to pull the wrapper back out of Osamu’s hand.

“No.”

how you define it | marssram | osaaka | T | 16,1k

Tags: Alternate Universe - College/University, Meet-Cute, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Humor, Mutual Pining, Getting Together, Fluff

Summary:

“I’m, uh, applying to the Literature Society.”

Osamu would be able to hear a pin drop on their kitchen tile.

“Ya fuckin’ read now?” Atsumu looks wildly confused and slightly exhausted, his eyebrows drawn down in one of his more disapproving looks.

“I read enough,” Osamu shoots back defensively.

“I’m really not tryin’ to be a dick, but I’ve never seen ya read a book, like, in my life.”

He really isn’t wrong there.

or, Miya Osamu joins the Literature Honor Society for a cute boy with blue eyes and glasses.

Bokuaka

so let's start right now | anyadisee | bokuaka | T | 7,4k

Tags: Alternate Universe - College/University, Accidental Relationship

Summary:

Bokuto is still undecided as to whether he wants to thank Kuroo, or to not speak to him for at least ten months. The reason for this is because he still can’t figure out whether his situation is a good one or a bad one.

After all, how does one react to suddenly getting a stranger for a boyfriend, and one as stunningly pretty as Akaashi Keiji at that? Bokuto sure doesn't know.

And, honestly. It was all supposed to be just a harmless prank.

the first time that |  cielelyse | bokuaka | M | 7,7k

Tags: Mafia AU, Mutual Pining, Fluff and Angst, Minor Violence, Alternate Universe - Yakuza

Summary:

The first time he meets Akaashi, Akaashi is on his knees.

“Oya?” Bokuto says.

(In which Bokuto is a yakuza boss and Akaashi is the new recruit.)

birds of a flower |  afancyghost | bokuaka | T | 23,7k

Tags: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Slow Burn, Fluff, Mutual Pining

Summary:

“So. You sure do know a lot about plants, huh?”

It’s quite possibly the stupidest thing to come out of his mouth, and he doesn’t need Akaashi’s little huffed laugh to tell him that. His cheeks are flushing red before Akaashi even gets done saying, “I should hope so, considering I own a flower shop.”

“I — well, yeah. I meant that you know a lot about their meanings and stuff,” Bokuto amends. “I knew that roses were for love, but I didn’t really think about other flowers having deep meanings.”

“You’d be surprised how much you can communicate with flowers alone,” Akaashi says. “It’s helpful for when you can’t find the right words yourself. Might as well let nature take a stab at it.”

(or, Akaashi owns a flower shop and Bokuto is his most loyal customer)

Sakuatsu

Clipped To You | littleboat | sakuatsu | T | 8,1k

Tags: Fluff, Pining Miya Atsumu, Jealous Miya Atsumu, Hair Clips

Summary:

It starts with Hinata Natsu, of all people.

Well, if Atsumu’s being honest with himself, it started way before that, but he’s not, so that’s besides the point. And thankfully, he’s just petty enough to blame all of his problems on a thirteen year old girl.

or Sakusa starts wearing hair clips and Atsumu is more than a little obsessed

The West of Your Spine |  mcbeefy | sakuatsu | T | 8,7k

Tags: Angst with a Happy Ending, Friends to Lovers, Unreliable Narrator, Canon Universe, Not Actually Unrequited Love

Summary:

"I'm sorry," Kiyoomi says, meeting his eyes in the mirror.

"Don't," Atsumu replies, because there's nothing he should be sorry for.

Atsumu's feelings are his and only his burden to bear.

jackpot | orphan_account (sadly) | sakuatsu | T | 8,1k

Tags: Unrequited Crush, Crushes, Love Letters, Misunderstandings, Fluff and Angst, Angst With a Happy Ending

Summary:

atsumu has a crush on hinata and slips a confession letter into his locker. except that locker isn't hinata's; it's kiyoomi's. the wing spiker thinks that the letter is indeed for him and atsumu never would've thought that he would accept these feelings. now, atsumu faces a midlife crisis on how he would break the news to kiyoomi.

spoiler: atsumu falls in love along the way

Always, Forever | SaltyServal | sakuatsu | G | 4,1k

Tags: Angst With a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort

Summary:

“I need you to lie to me, and tell me that I’m a good person.” Atsumu begged suddenly, cutting off Kiyoomi. He clutched Kiyoomi’s arm tightly, his trembling increasing by tenfold. “That I’m not a failure. That I’m worth something, that I’m valuable. That people like me, that I’m okay—“

“Atsumu.” Kiyoomi cut him off, horror bleeding into his voice. “What— where is this all coming from?” Atsumu blinked at him, his mouth dry.

OR

Atsumu struggles to accept that he doesn’t have to be the best all the time.

'Tis the Season | lettersinpetals | sakuatsu | T | 15,5k

Tags: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, (Canon Complaint, kinda), Shifters and Hybrids, Getting Together, Found Family

Summary:

Miya Atsumu stumbles into an abandoned cat hybrid on Christmas morning, and he doesn’t know it yet, but it’s probably the best gift he’ll ever receive.

every lover in the form of stars | starstrikes | sakuatsu | T | 51k

Tags: Alternate Universe - Idols, Alternate Universe - Reality Show, Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Developing Relationship, Brief Mention of an Eating Disorder

Summary:

When two stars meet out in space, they either merge together to form something bigger, something new, or shatter into an infinity worth of shiny stardust.

Atsumu figures out early on that he and Sakusa were just like that, two stars colliding headfirst into each other in an ever-expanding universe. He’s still waiting to see if they’re about to become better—or burn out in supernova together.

Iwaoi

not even half as pretty | shrimpheavnnow | iwaoi | M | 11k

Tags: Unrequited Love, Hurt No Comfort

Summary:

Iwa shakes his head, huffing out a soft chuckle. Tooru moves in to fix his tie, and Iwa tilts his head up, letting Tooru do so. "Is it stupid that I'm feeling a little nervous?"

Tooru allows himself to take longer than necessary in adjusting Iwa's tie. Allows himself to brush his fingers against Iwa's neck, allows himself to feel the warmth of Iwa's presence; allows himself to pretend he can do this everyday.

***

Tooru never thought he'd be the best man at Iwa's wedding, but, well -- here they are.

Listen, this one hurt like hell, but my friends do call me a masochist so why wouldn’t I recommend this. I’m serious btw, this fic hurt, no shit.

Miya Twins Gen Fics (not---y’know)

coming back (coming home) | xylang | Miya Twins Gen | Not Rated | 5,2k

Tags: Miya Twins Dynamic, Miscommunication, Light Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Osamu is a five year old

Summary:

As for any relationship, it takes work.

or: Osamu turns into his five year old self and makes twenty five year-old Atsumu realize some things.

Multiple Ships

Subtle Inarizaki Things (series) | sifuhotman | sunaosa, sakuatsu, akagin, arankita | T (All (6) fics) | 101,9k

Tags: Alternate Universe - College/University, Enemies to Lovers, Friends to Lovers, Established Relationship, Friends With Benefits, Implied Sexual Content, Hurt/Comfort

Summary:

The subtleties and shenanigans that come with college dating.

[ Each fic can be read as a standalone; takes place in same universe. ]

If You Love Me For Me | TwilaFrost | sakuatsu & sunaosa | T | 22,9k

Tags: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Identity Swap, Arranged Marriage, Miya Osamu and Miya Atsumu Are Not Related

Summary:

The Kingdom of Inarizaki has fallen on hard times and the Royal Treasury is out of funds. This causes an arranged marriage between Prince Osamu and the king of the wealthy Kingdom of Itachiyama. Unsatisfied with never being able to choose for himself, he sneaks out of the palace. In town, he runs into a young man who looks just like him.

Miya Atsumu is a poor baker's son. He does everything he can to support his family. However, he longs to be able to play music and travel to far off places. The best he can do for now is listen to his friend's stories. However, when he meets a stranger, an idea forms.

--- Or The Prince and the Pauper AU

This is one of the best things i’ve read, and I’m not even mad.

of threads & ribbons (series) | aalphard | sakuatsu, sunaosa | T (All (2) Fics) | 35k

Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence,  Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Red String of Fate, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Alternate Universe - College/University, Friends to Lovers, Platonic Soulmates, Romantic Soulmates

[fantranslatorbychoice]

Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi Volume 6 Intermission 3 - Kasuga and O-ryo

T/N: Yep, it’s a double premiere guys, I hope you all enjoy. =)

As always, if you like this translation, you can heart it, share the link, reblog, I just respectfully ask that DO NOT REPOST ELSEWHERE. This is my contribution to the scant English content of this fandom, and I worked really hard to finish this thing, it’s not like I just copy-pasted everything. I even had to build the kanji in Jisho one by one. Try it and you’ll see what I mean.You can rave about this, rant about this, reply, etc. but if possible please link back to this page. If you’re unsure how to do that, just copy the web address of this page. If you’re on a blogsite just insert the web address as a hyperlink as a link back to here. Honestly if this light novel was officially-published in English, I wouldn’t even be doing this right now... And if it did, I’d take this offline to support the publishers and Yuuma-sensei. Creators support creators, is what I believe in. I’ll prolly do 1-5 once 6-10 has been done, or however long I can manage to translate the raw texts, it can take a toll at times.  As previously-mentioned in earlier chapters, if you stumbled upon this one, the two seasons of the anime covered volumes 1-5, so other than the extra details, you didn’t miss much stuff.

No spoilers lol

P261 "Hmph. You're the newly-hired kid? Really, you're named Kasuga? Aren't you a stumpy little tanuki-girl? I am O-ryo, the future Wakaokami. I'll train you under me, and I'll be sure to drill the job of being a waitress into your head."

I remember well, the day that I first met O-ryo sama. I am Kasuga, a Bunmon Tanuki, while still a child was chased off from my home by my Hachiyo Baba-sama to experience the outside world, and along with my uncle Chiaki who also has nowhere else to go, we inquired in, and started working in Tenjin-ya. It was that first day. That person who called me stumpy, has hair and skin as white as snow, it was the conspicuously beautiful snow lady. Her personality is of someone who hates losing. She was a selfish Sempai, but has an indomitable and strong willpower to rise to the top, and I thought that surprisingly, I have come to like this person. As such, in order to gain her dream position of Wakaokami, she exerted herself no matter what it took. P262 A woman who fights her battles to win. I came to her side and I recorded her heroic battles, and I wrote about it in my diary.

"Hey.... Hey, why are you asking something while falling asleep, Kasuga-kun, HEY!" "Whaaaa~" In the middle of talking about something regarding a Hachiyo's marriage at great length, sitting on my heels I was nodding off to sleep. Since early morning I have been with Aoi-chan, and I have been going about here and there. I was feeling confident. I was dozing off in front of Byakuya-sama. Is Byakuya-sama angry or is he surprised? "Good grief. You're a reliable and shrewd girl girl, and I think that it's beyond expectations that you're going to get married to a Hachiyo... yet I am worried that they'll find faults on you. That is a position that has many enemies, do you understand? "Yeah, I get it. I have watched Aoi-chan for a long time. But Aoi-chan is awesome... Even though she's in a disadvantage, she was aware of her own strengths. Furthermore, in Tenjin-ya, when Aoi-chan gets married to Odanna-sama, isn't there anyone who grumbles about it?" "Hmmm. in that case, isn't that a problem? Because nobody's complaining, probably there's a group that's P263 thinking about rubbing her out of existence." "That point, I am fine with that. I plan to not make enemies with my demeanor, an incomptetent person making a blunder. Well, at any rate, from the very start I have been incompetent." "..." Byakuya-sama narrowed his eyes, and with a snap hit the corner of his mouth with his fan. I thought that he was going to say something but, he just scolded me and released me after saying "You can go now" . Wahh, after standing up from sitting on my feet, they fell asleep and started tingling painfully... Holding the Maneki-neko** coin bank, I planned to go back to Yugao. Along the way, the waitresses looked over here, and started gossiping and whispering to each other. Up until now the friends that were calling me in carefree voices, and the sempai that used to fiddle with and pushed me around, now they pass sideways, and bow their heads subserviently, and flees anywhere. Oh well, I could understand why they became like that but... I come in contact with the management staff that were like Shizuna-chan and they are normally composed, but I'm a normal girl, aren't I? I feel like I'm a sore thumb sicking out. "Kasuga, Kasuga" "...Chiaki" From the other side of the hallway, peeping over here looking worried, it was my uncle, the tanuki. T/N: Maneki-neko, the beckoning cat, famously known for bringing in luck. It's said that it was originally named after a cat that waved to a monk to go inside a shrine and the monk almost got struck by lightning or something, so it was a lucky omen. P264 He approached while calling for me. "What is it, from now onwards I'm helping out at Yugao." "It's not that, you were called for by Byakuya-sama, and I got worried somewhat." "It's nothing. It's just that I'm developing a souvenir product with Aoi-chan." "Why you, aren't you scowling at me?" "Why, my relative shouldn't speak about me flippantly." He isn't necessarily overprotective and he wasn't saying anything like that, but ever since the old days Chiaki has been worrying about me. He's just a nice and charming person who took care of me, and he always looks after those that are just like me. Though I'm already fine, even at this age he still worries about me... "Chiaki aren't you staying behind here in Tenjin-ya?" "Yep. I'll continue working here. Even though I was thinking of coming along with you." "It's fine, it's nothing. I've always been taken care of by uncle, I cannot function properly being a Hachiyo's wife." "...Kasuga" His eyes gloomily welling up, holding down the corner of his eyes, Chiaki went "That tiny Kasuga has grown to be praise-worthy" "Ahhh stop it already, don't be gloomy.. Get over it." Shh... Uncle you're annoying. P265 While being paid extra care, I could feel myself fading away. Our relationship, even though we are family, here we cannot become too overly-familiar. The love that tanuki give to each other are the strongest among Ayakashi, as such they aren't entrusted to to other people, which makes tanuki unaware about so many things such as getting close to and connecting with strangers. Those people, now matter how much we studied them, we couldn't find them... With regards to those, I thought I learned those in Tenjin-ya.

"Oh.." In front of the passageway that connects the door to Yugao, there is someone who is sneakily peeping in. Isn't that... "O-ryo sama, what are you doing over that place?" "Kyaaa!" O-ryo sama jumped up suprised. With a sluggish expression, she slowly looked back. Opening her mouth as if about to talk, hesitatingly, she made a weird face by sticking her lower lip out. "H-hmph." In the end, O-ryo sama took her leave without saying anything. P266 I slightly tugged on O-ryo sama's sleeves. "What now?" O-ryo sama icily stared down at me with that severe gaze. Oh well, I've been used to that gaze. "Uhm, I believe so, that O-ryo sama will likely aim to be Wakaokami again." ".... what?" "Within Tenjin-ya, there's something that only O-ryo sama can surely do." Pulling my hands immediately from the hem, I madly dashed towards the inner garden where Yugao was. The O-ryo sama who was aiming to be Wakaokami. And the one who made her dream come true, the O-ryo sama that became Wakaokami. To me, O-ryo sama is dazzling, despite the many enemies she makes, being hated by her colleagues, being gutsy and only wants to rise up into the world. The one I adored. After doing so many different things, O-ryo sama eventually became demoted from Wakaokami, and yet... When O-ryo sama becomes Wakaokami once again. Truly, I support that from the sidelines..

End of Intermission 3, Volume 6. Previous - Chapter 8 Next - Chapter 9

References:

Wonderful site for the youkai references

Other stuff I used to do this: Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Dictionary (you can buy here, I’m not sponsored btw). I was about to buy the older edition but then the newer one came out 2013 so I bought that instead. Worth buying since I was able to find nearly all of the words I needed just by stroke pattern alone.

Merriam-Webster's Japanese-English Dictionary (the red-covered 1996 version is apparently out of print right now). This is what I have been using for a very long time, I bought it when I was still a fetus (yes I am old so what lol), and after so many years, when compared to newer editions, I still prefer this one since its entirety is Japanese-English, the English to Japanese gloss are just 16 pages tops, so you get more Japanese words for your buck. But that’s just my opinion, maybe other people prefer the Jap-En x En-Jap IDEK.

Basic online dictionary, Jisho. Knowledge of verb conjugations  and other words are necessary since not all have entries.

If you can read Japanese, you can buy the whole set in Amazon Japan, they’re shipping worldwide now, I think.

[rigelmejo]

In updates:

I'm not as organized with study plans as I used to be and honestly that won't change for a while. That said, I do have 2 challenges I'm trying for myself. I don't know if I'll accomplish them, but just the fact I'm Trying to is getting me to study more. So we'll see where I am in April on these.

1. Listening through Japanese Fluency 1-3 Glossika files

I'm on file 10 out of 104 in Japanese 1. Then there's 104 files in each of the other two files. On the upside? I think even in such a small amount of files listened to so far, in some ways these files have already covered more than what i ever managed to hear in Japanese Pimsleur 1. I think I've heard at least 100 words so far, and a lot of grammar examples in sentence patterns (maybe 20? Maybe 30). I think JapaneseAudioLessons.com's 36 lessons probably cover grammar faster, but I'm not sure if they cover as much vocab as Glossika aims for (which is 3000 sentences, and 2000-3000 words). They might, but I don't know for sure. Also on the upside - the glossika files are easy to listen to, I can pick up stuff from them even when I'm working too or driving or playing games. So it should be easier to stick to using them ToT (just like it was for Chinese Spoonfed audio files).

My goal right now is to keep listening until I finish. In an effort not to give up ToT I'd like to be through the first module Japanese 1 by the end of April. But honestly if it takes longer thats fine. I just want to try to focus on progressing through it for as long as i can. I think it's an easy way right now for me to reinforce what I know, learn more words in a structured way (Clozemaster is a good backup but isn't as structured), improve my listening comprehension (which will make learning from Clozemaster audio later less intensive, learning from anything else where I need quick listening skill), get used to understanding the things I know faster (lately I've tried a bit of Japanese immersion and it's so Clear to me that 50% of my comprehension issues are a speed problem... I'm failing to comprehend a lot of stuff I've studied and just don't recognize instantly). If and when I get bored, I plan to either immerse in video games again or watch lets plays, or try listening reading method.

I've been watching a few Japanese lets plays on YouTube (and found Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts in Japanese on there). And I think with things like that, which I'm already familiar with in English, I can just enjoy and pick up some stuff. But I'd like to get my listening comprehension to a better level before making immersion my only study plan for a while lol. Because right now so much I could be reinforcing is going over my head.

I think audio focused Japanese study still is suiting me, like it was last summer. Reading is still mostly Stronger as a skill despite me not purposely trying to study it so much. I think it's because written Japanese has clearer grammar distinctions for me, and the Kanji are like "similar cognates" enough of the time they help me much more than when I'm just hearing a word. So I'm going to continue most purposeful study plans using audio. After I'm sick of glossika, like I said I want to probably use mainly lets plays with audio or listening resding method (so I can hear sound constantly with all the new words). One of my biggest problems with picking up Japanese words is the all kana words, and the Kanji pronunciations.

2. Reading through Zhenhun. With audio playing (optional).

In my dream world I finish this in 2 weeks. In A Nice situation, I finish this in a month. Realistically? I'm hoping I just get further into the novel before giving up than last time lol.

I genuinely think if I just read MORE quantity wise, my reading skill will get better - reading speed, words I learn etc. And I just really want to read it! I was reading my print version, which has extra scenes I love, and I was figuring out plenty of words from context even if I didn't get every detail.

I started reading the webnovel version in my ebook reader Moonreader (although Idiom or Pleco would also work), because it will play the audio aloud as I read. It's helping me read faster instead of dwelling on a hard portion, which is nice. It's also making me recognize what I know faster since I've got less time to recognize it before the audio moves on. I'm getting somewhat less time to figure out new words, but honestly a majority of unknown words priest uses get clarified by the context after a couple paragraphs if they're important. Like I'd forgotten a few words that I just saw enough to remember again. And then the obvious benefit - audio is making me hear all the hanzi pronunciations I forgot and the pronunciations for new ones (like I forgot 拐 was guai until I kept hearing it, I kept guessing it was ling). I think using the audio is making me read faster ultimately (and more well rounded study since I've got visual text and audio listening) even though it means I have to set myself up to do it with more effort.

Anyway! Surprisingly Moonreader app is making me more motivated to read. Why? This:

At the bottom of the page it shows me how many digital pages I've read, and the percentage I've read. I restarted reading yesterday, and today I'm at 50/901 pages, 5.3% read. Just this amount of detail is really motivating for me ToT. Honestly I think it's because it shows me how far ive come, and helps me plan how long it will realistically take. 5% took me about 2 hours. So like. 40 hours to finish this at my reading pace. Oh god. But also? Hey, on the other hand?! Now I know if I just spend 2 hours a day I could finish this in 20 days. If I had some days I got really into it, I could maybe finish faster. I very much have the Urge to see 10% down there lol. And that urge to keep progressing is helping me ignore my urge to pause and re-read the vague parts.

I read a guy's advice on improving in another language and they said to read a webnovel (300 pages) in 2 weeks. Ad one of your first novels. And try not to take longer. And while that is a brutal goal for a beginner, I do agree the more you read the easier it gets and the quicker it gets. When I read xiao wangzi it took me 2 weeks for those under 100 pages. But I did make myself finish it in a couple weeks. Now my reading level is higher, and I can probably get myself to finish at least 300 pages of this in 2 weeks. ToT my reading level is probably decent enough to manage that. That's only 1/3 of guardian tho lol (clearly that guy wasn't reading chinese webnovels).

I saw another person who really motivated me to just wanr to read MORE:

Tarvos basically did what I did for French. But way better than I did (more extensive reading and harder material). And it clearly worked. And I remember it worked for me too - read and follow the main idea, don't worry about what you can't comprehend or what is vague. Then somehow the next book is a bit easier. Then later you go back and read at a level that used to be challenging and you comprehend way more.

I know that in chinese at least (and French ToT) I know enough words that I do not need to stop and look words up to keep reading. I can follow the main plot, and so if Mt goals extensive reading then I just have to DO IT. Just read 2000 pages lol! And the more pages I get through, I know the easier it will get later on! I just need to push through the initial hurdle and READ MORE ToT.

I am going to be so overjoyed and shocked later if I push through a bunch of a novel now, and later find I understand more and read faster.

I already see results of that, from back when I made myself read like 60 chapters of a pingxie fic last summer lol! Now, going back to stuff at that level? I open up tsomd or SCI something brand new to me and realize I can also follow the main overall idea without a dictionary now. Whereas I used to usually need to look up some words in the first chapters of new stories just to pick up some key genre words and recognize names. But clearly my reading level increased from just reading more last time. Now some old stories I could understand okay generally without a dictationary I now follow almost all details (tamendegushi, dmbj, saye). And stuff I needed to do some initial prep work for, I could now just read extensively and follow the main idea, if I wanted. I'd probably get used to them if I just Kept Reading. So like... I definitely think... I just need to push through that awkward feeling of not quite full comprehension, and just read MORE. ToT

And. First: I know that advice works... I know I've just Read MORE before, then later I just Could read and comprehend more easier. Second: I know more pages is just what's needed to improve reading speed... ;-; I remember reading once an article which suggested 8k-10k words to get a native like reading speed and comprehension of vocab. More pages for some languages, but that was the basic idea. And tbh it sounds logical to me, because I'm sure I read that much in my native language before I comprehended novels like I do as an adult.

An FYI to anyone trying to learn Chinese by extensive reading: I can confirm it will work. At minimum I would recommend you either start with graded readers at your level, or else familiarize yourself with 2000 common words before starting (you don't need them memorized but you should probably know 1000 common words decently and fairly certainly know what they are if you see them, recognize and be able to guess 1000 more, and recognize at least 1200 hanzi enough to guess pinyin to look up in a dictionary on occasion). If you start with intensive reading, you can start with less vocab knowledge. If you plan on extensive reading, at least vaguely recognizing 2000 words will be enough to find some webnovels you'll be able to follow the main idea of without a dictionary (and many manhua). So about 6 months - 1.5 years into study (depending on how fast you study vocab) or earlier if you start with graded readers (theres some graded readers you could probably start within a few months of starting to study, then you can continue fairly comfortably with graded readers until you learn 1000 hanzi or more, some amount more vocab, and are up for looking for webnovels). There's a lot of nice graded readers made from 100 hanzi, to 2000 hanzi. From 100 unique words, to 3000 unique words (I think some even go up to 5000 unique words for chinese). But once you're vaguely familiar with 2000 common words? You know enough to start reading some webnovels extensively, if you're up for it.

And it will work. You will gradually pick up more from context. (As usual, yes, intensive reading and/or SRS flashcards will help you pick up vocab faster, but you'll gradually improve too just from the extensive reading). You will gradually increase your grammar understanding, vocab, reading speed, ans reading comprehension.

Only things I needed to be ready to learn from extensively reading? 1. Vaguely familiar with 1500 common words (but I'd recommend someone less eager than me prep with 2000 words so they run into less unknowns to annoy them). 2. Vague knowledge of the Chinese radicals (skills like being able to go 拐 is the hand and the 另 hanzi, and break down new hanzi you see into recognizable components, will help you guess pinyin to look up when needed based on one of the building blocks pinyins, and help you guess the meaning of new hanzi - 拐 shows up in abduct/turn/corner and thinking of it as hand-another like another's hand giving you directions to turn, another's hands grabbing to abduct, another's hand reaching around a 拐角 corner etc will help you remember the new hanzi. It is beneficial to know beforehand about radicals, how sometimes one hints pronunciation and one hints meaning). 3. Ability to follow the bare minimum main idea of what's going on in the story. If you can't even do thar, the reading material is too difficult. If you can follow the basic main idea, it's okay even if a TON of details are incomprehensible or vague, because you comprehend enough context to gradually keep picking up more. (Although the More you understand the less effort it will take you to pick up more from context). So say you're reading Alice in Wonderland - if you can grasp "there's a girl Alice, there's a rabbit she interacts somehow with, she follows it and ends up in a new place" then congrats you understand enough of chapter 1 to read it extensively. You could also understand more like "alice was bored, the rabbit is late, Alice falls down a hole, Alice is sad as she falls." But even just the bare minimum is enough. The more you understand of the basic main idea, the easier a read it will be. When I started reading in French a ton of stuff I only followed the basic main idea, and I just kept reading extensively and things got easier lol. (And if you're impatient or want to read intensively, feel free to read these less comprehensive things with some word look up to speed up how fast you learn new vocab, until you're sick of looking up vocab and just want to read extensively again - I kept reading intensively until I got to about 2000 known words, and from 1000-2000 words in chinese I kept switching between extensive and then intensive to pick up a few hundred words faster).

4. Optional - Some prior grammar knowledge like reading a grammar guide or having some class/textbook prep etc (not necessary, but it helps seeing a sentence and having some vague guess what's a noun verb adjective past tense present future negative positive etc even if there's still complex grammar you don't get yet).

I read on the forum discussions about getting into extensive reading, the question "well thar worked with Swedish, but would a language like chinese take more prep work?" Because chinese requires hanzi recognition, word and phrase parsing without spaces, and less cognates. And how to pronounce the words you're picking up.

The person above prepped with FSI, and had the benefit of cognates. But I'd still imagine that added up to 1000-2000 words basis of knowledge and some grammar basics before they started learning from reading extensively. Which was about the same amount of prep work I had for chinese. And extensively reading in chinese worked fine for me with that much prior knowledge. So I think extensive resding is very doable at that level in chinese.

How I'd address the concerns:

1. Hanzi. If you know around 1000 and have some familiarity with radicals, picking up hanzi is not too bad when reading extensively. Pick graded readers if you want less unknown hanzi per page, and as you gradually pick up more hanzi comprehension from context you will find you stop running into as many critical unknown ones. Also hanzi pickup is tied in with vocab pick up. You'll learn 方向 as direction then 方向盘 as steering wheel (direction wheel) and realize 方 is often direction related, 盘 is often a circle shape thing then see 盘子 as plate then see 椅子 as chair and realize 子 is part of some nouns. You'll also see 椅子 and realize 椅 it's the tree wood radical and then the yi part like in 倚 for a chair (a sometimes wood thing pronounced yi). Or hug 抱, you see the the sound from 包 bao like bread 包子 and the hand radical. A word maybe with pinyin bao that has to do with hands and is someone touching someone. Once you know enough hanzi, you start to remember new hanzi easier as built of components you've seen before. Same applies to new words - you know one word with a hanzi, then see a new word with that hanzi, and either its 2 hanzi you know in a new combo or only 1 new unknown hanzi. But you have some building blocks to guess the new words. You can't rely on cognates like with English to French, but as you learn more hanzi they help you guess words like cognate similarities do. If too many unknown hanzi keep popping up and it's driving you up a wall? Move to graded readers for a while until you pick up more (so the book is made to teach you them) or read intensively for a while until the remaining unknown hanzi get easier to handle (that happened for me after knowing about 1500 hanzi and finally new unknown hanzi i couldnt fathom at all stopped popping up so much).

2. Word boundaries. Genuinely, just read Chinese more. Start with graded readers so the grammar isn't confusing you as much. Read more. It gets fairly natural to parse Chinese word/phrase boundaries after enough practice. Grammar constructions and function words and time phrases separate phrases quite clearly if you recognize 有 没有 了 以后 以前 就是 的 得 地 那个 那些 来 会 在 过了 过 一会 去. And they're all common so you'll pick them up soon. Chinese words are usually 1 character (if super common), 2 characters (most of what you'll see), 4 characters (idioms and phrases, and a lot of the 2 compound words like 路灯literally streetlight (and 3 character words like 方向盘 literally direction plate/steering wheel) are fairly understandable compounds if you know the hanzi. So you will quickly get to a point where you run into sentences where the unknowns are verbs or nouns or phrases you don't know (you may not know an adjective/descriptor but it's often followed by 的 地 so you'll know it's a part of that). A lot of the phrases will be 4 character chunks and be 2 words combined or 4 words combined. A lot of the nouns and verbs will be words acting on other words (verbs). Basically... the more you read the clearer it gets where the usual word boundaries are. I recommend more graded readers if the lack of spaces is bothering you, I think it's just a matter of getting used to it with practice (and graded readers will ensure there's less distractions and more focus on just parsing word phrase boundaries). Once you're used to word boundaries, it will not be as much of a struggle in harder materials. I'd imagine this is similarly true when applied to Japanese. Japanese grammar and conjugatjon and use of Kanji, use of particles, helps separate sentence elements. For me the tricky part is knowing when kana words are nouns and not conjugation, but I think i just haven't practiced enough.

For pronunciation of hanzi/words you're learning while extensively reading: many people solve that problem either by reading with audio for chinese (to hear the words), or doing listening study separately such as doing audio only extensive listening, or watching dramas with chinese subs so you get some reinforcement of hanzi wirh their pronunciation at some point. While you can guess the pinyin sometimes from the hanzi parts, it's not always right. So with chinese I think doing some additional listening including studying is just necessary for fully learning words. You can still learn to read plenty of words just extensively reading and figure a vague pronunciation for it (which is how I know a lot of more obscure English words I probably do not pronounce correctly). But yeah eventually if you think it's a word that would be useful to pronounce correct, you'll want to do some listening study. Either separately studying the sound of words you want to recognize in listening (with audiobooks, audio lessons, watching shows, convos, dictionary with audio lookup, srs, or reading with listening etc) or understand you may "relearn" a lot of the important words by first hearing them and later learning their spelling, or by first reading them and later finish learning them when you hear them in a podcast or show or conversation. (Even if you totally incorrectly guess a hanzi pronunciation, you'll eventually hear the word used again in some audio like an audiobook or show or convo and realize it's the hanzi word you learned, and you'll fix your pronunciation... the same way I couldn't pronounce futile or windowsill or rogue until I heard them a few times). As long as you are doing some reading and some listening activities, you will eventually pick up both aspects of words. You can speed it up by purposely studying both aspects together, but either way it will be okay. As a total beginner? Audio with graded readers, dialogue with transcripts and audio, shows with chinese subs, srs flashcards or apps with audio and text, will help you pick up both listening and reading recognition of a lot of the common words asap.

Tldr: extensive working does work for chinese too.

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Summary of study plan:

1. Going through glossika japanese 1 (by end of April hopefully we'll see)

2. Going through 300 pages (33%) of zhenhun (within a few weeks hopefully)

Future study plan:

1. If I get bored/done with glossika japanese, watching a full lets play of KH or FFX, or doing a Listening Reading Method experiment with a Japanese Duoreader story.

2. If I get done with zhenhun? Somehow? And I'm done with japanese glossika - switch to listen to Chinese Spoonfed audio files and FINISH THEM THIS TIME. If I'm not ready for audio study? Continue with zhenhun... or continue on reading another novel probably qi ye, tian ya ke, silent reading, or who knows honestly I have a lot of options. Lazy option: if my manhua I ordered come in, just read them uvu.

[takeshitakyuuto]

hi any tips on learning a new language?

Hi! I'm not sure if you mean general tips or tips for starting so I'll go through my process from the beginning and I hope this helps in your personal language learning journey! I've tried learning many languages and failed many times but after that trial and error, I feel like I've finally found my footing in self study and have come a long way in learning Japanese.

Getting started:

In my opinion, starting to learn a language is the hardest part. What I like to do is get a general feel for the language by listening to it. Listen to songs in your target language, watch a show (even with subtitles- try to see if you can pick up any words from it), etc. Spotify top 50 playlists by country are really great for this step

Another resource that I've found I like to use is (just trust me) Reddit. I use the subreddit r/LearnJapanese, which has a section for where to start and people often share their progress and study methods there, along with asking questions. Warning, I've seen some pretty stupid takes on Reddit. Try not to take everything on their as the right way or use it as your only source of interacting with other learners (even if it's just watching others on YouTube)

Textbooks/Workbooks:

Unpopular opinion, I have never found a textbook that works for me. I know they're out there (people swear by Genki) but I've found that YouTube works just as well and is free. Additionally, based on who you use, you'll probably end up getting a more in depth explanation of the grammar concepts and how it's used culturally. Japanese has a proficiency test that most people use (JLPT) and lots of videos are sorted by their difficulty relating to that, so I would suggest finding out if your target language has something similar to make sure you're not learning advanced grammar before you know how to conjugate a verb. Of course, I'm not saying that you shouldn't use textbooks (make sure you do your research or find a free pdf before dropping tons of money), this is just what's worked for me (and it's free!)

Other materials:

I've got four notebooks for Japanese learning. This in itself is kind of extreme, but I use one for grammar notes, one for studying kanji, one for vocabulary that I pick up from readings, and one for miscellaneous work such as writing practice sentences for recent grammar concepts.

For flashcards, I use Quizlet because it's easy and free, but so many people use and love Anki because of its spaced repetition algorithm. I'm not sure if it's free on PC, but it's free on android and costs like $25 on iphones, which is why I don't use it lol

For some regular practice, I use Duolingo. While I don't recommend using this solely to learn a language, it is good for getting regular practice and becoming accustomed to the language

Pimsleur is a great site/app that focuses on listening and speaking and has tons of languages, however it is a paid subscription. It does a good job of teaching grammar intuitively too

Staying motivated:

This part was always hardest for me oops but I finally figured out what works for me. A little practice consistently will help you advance more than lots of practice sporadically so I feel like staying motivated is probably one of the most important aspects to learning a language

Music is probably my number one motivator. I have so many playlists in Japanese and sometimes you just hear a song that's so beautiful you need to know the language immediately.

Shows and movies are also great motivators. Even if you're watching with subtitles for your native language, you can still focus on the spoken language as well and what's better payoff than being able to understand an episode of a TV show or an entire movie?

Books are harder for beginners but if you can find comics in your target language, those are always lots of fun. Slice of life stories are generally easier to comprehend than other stories.

There are also sites where you can talk to natives through a language exchange. Searching up "[target language] language exchange" should do the trick. There are probably plenty of people who are native speakers of your target language looking to learn your native language.

Remember that in practicing something such as reading, your personal enjoyment is a higher priority than if something is the correct "level." Reading something that's above your level that you enjoy will be easier than something that you have no interest in that might be simpler in terms of grammar and vocabulary.

Speaking:

All this is fine, but if you're self studying, it's really hard to get actual practice speaking. You could pay for a tutor from sites such as iTalki, or join a discord dedicated to your target language, or you could just,,, talk to yourself. Yell at the tv in your target language. Narrate your day, make up fake scenarios. The possibilities are endless, but don't neglect speaking altogether.

This is already super long but I hope that something I wrote helps you on your language learning journey! If you can't tell I love talking about language learning so don't hold back with any questions! I'll answer to the best of my ability and as always it's a good idea to get multiple points of view.