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> jisho.org
I think that site’s “Kanji by Radicals” feature is useful, but the example sentences are unreliable.
> alc.co.jp
This one is really useful for tracking down idiomatic phrases, but sometimes you have to be a bit clever to do it. For individual words, it often returns too many pages of results, so it can be difficult to get a comprehensive idea of what a word means.
> dictionary.goo.ne.jp
I recommend using this one for looking up individual words. There are lots of different tabs, but if you want Japanese -> English, so use the 和英 tab. It gives you a nice overview of all of the meanings of a word, with little examples.
I finished reading all 70 issues of Mangajin. I bought the set on eBay a few months ago after Elenkis recommended it. Overall I would say it was a fun, relatively easy way to get more Japanese time in each day. If you have something like this around, there is never any reason you can’t do some reading. Everything you need to understand the Japanese is right there on the page. It’s too bad it’s out of print.
Next up: more Bakuman. Bakuman has full furigana coverage, and it is available in English. So you can put together an experience similar to Mangajin by putting the Japanese version on top of the English version and sliding it a bit when you get stuck on something.
> I feel like I’m not making much progress but at least I’m maintaining the progress I’ve already made
To work through a large backlog, you might want to consider using settings like this:
* 2 new cards per day
* new cards before reviews
* review cards with shortest interval first
* 20 minute timeboxThat way you will spend the first part of your study session working on new/young cards, and whatever time you have left will go toward the backlog. Cards that already have large intervals are a low priority, because you probably already know them.
There is a whole article in Mangajin no. 55 about 偉い. I’ll try to summarize the examples it gives.
1. えらい わねー — Good for you! (when praising someone)
2. タクミ君、えらいねーっ。 — That’s really nice of you, Takumi (when praising someone for being thoughtful)
3. コレ毎日 乗ってるんだもん。えらいな。 — I can’t believe you do this every day (when being crowded while riding a train)
4. 帽子が長い ほどえらい — The taller the hat, the more important the chef
5. 偉く なったら おしまい ス！！ — When you’re the boss, the easy life is over (when discussing the responsibilities associated with accepting a promotion)
6. えら そーに… — Who do you think you are? (rude)
7. えらい えらい – Good one (when complimenting someone on a good joke)
8. はい、えらい すんまへん – I’m terribly sorry (when apologizing for something, Kansai dialect)
9. ほう そらあ えらい 早かったやないか。 — Wow, that sure was fast
10. すみません えらいこと してしもて — I’m so sorry, I have made a terrible mistake
11. 本格的に えらい こっちゃ！！ — This is a real mess!
I should have clarified that I found it in chapter 16 of the manga version. I don’t know anything about the anime version. Based on the episode descriptions over on Wikipedia, maybe episode 10 would be a good place to start looking.
I finally found it. It’s from Genshiken 16.
The story is about an otaku group called Genshiken. The context is important to understanding what is going on in the 5 lines we have here. It’s a conversation between two girls, Keiko and Saki. Saki is a member of the group, although she isn’t an otaku herself. Keiko isn’t an otaku either, and she is having trouble fitting in. They both like the same guy, who is an otaku.
Given the context, I think ウチ refers to the otaku group Saki is in. So “ウチの誰か” really means “one of the Genshiken members.”
Now also I think it’s fairly clear that in the second line, オタクって sets up the topic for what follows, so there isn’t any good reason to put “I” in there like I did. It would be better to do something like:
An otaku isn’t something you plan on becoming.
The next problem is what is going on with 気付いたら. I think it’s a type of usage involving something happening accidentally or unexpectedly. The best reference I can track down is this page here:
http://kimallen.sheepdogdesign.net/Japanese/ifwhen.html
So the idea is sort of like “You happen to notice,” making the next two lines something like:
One day you happen to notice you are one,
and there isn’t anything you can do about it.The last tricky part is 私らにとって. Originally I thought it was referring to the same thing ウチ is, namely, the Genshiken members. But now given the context, I think Saki is referring to herself and Keiko. So it means:
It is sort of funny, but for girls like us it’s a tragedy.
I think the point she is trying to make is that it’s difficult for girls who like otaku guys, because the guys are never going to change, and frequently their attention is occupied by video games, pornography, etc.
I just finished reading Bakuman 1. It’s a story about some school kids who want to write their own comics. I bought both English and Japanese versions and just looked at the translation when I didn’t understand something. The Japanese version has furigana on all kanji, which is nice.
I think there are some situations where you could use either, and there are some situations where only one is right. The below examples are taken from the Core 6000 set.
When telling someone to do something, or promising someone you are going to do something, I think 必ず is the right thing to use.
この薬を必ず飲んでください。 — Be sure to take this medicine.
この借りは必ず返します。 — I will definitely pay it back.
On the other hand, when saying “more than usual” you use いつも.
彼女はいつもより早く眠りに着いたよ。 — She fell asleep quicker than usual.
If the meaning is just “always”, there are examples where both are used:
朝ご飯にはいつもパンを食べる。 — I always eat bread for breakfast
うちでは、朝食には必ず梅干しが出ます。 — In my family, pickled plums are always served for breakfast.
I think you have to ask yourself, based on where you are right now with the language, what is holding you back? What is preventing you from understanding Japanese?
Here is a way to test yourself:
* Put on a Japanese TV show. Can you understand it?
* Pick up a children’s book. Can you understand it?
Now consider two skills you might acquire.
Skill A:
* see English keyword
* remember mnemonic
* write kanjiSkill B:
* hear sentence
* understand meaning of sentenceNow, if you think Skill A would be more valuable, then do RTK. If you think Skill B would be more valuable, then practice listening comprehension using a sentence deck. The Textfugu sentences (over on the downloads page) will get you started, and then you can move on to the Core 6000 sentences.
I searched around, and it looks like it is from Genshiken, but I don’t know exactly where.
The best I can do with it is:
One of us was saying “I never wanted to be an otaku, but it looks like I’m becoming one anyway, because I can’t help it.” It was sort of funny, but for people like us it’s a tragedy.
My reading is that the と at the end of line 4 goes with 言って on line 1. I’m still not really sure what line 5 is getting at. I hope someone else can do better.
> and so, in that chinese poem, it might be better translated as “birds sing, flowers bloom” referencing spring time.
I’m still a little unclear about how that poem was originally written, and what its literal meaning was. Here is the entry on 咲 that gave me the information:
> 夭 and 天 are different kanji with different meanings and readings
That is exactly why etymology is helpful here. Even though in modern writing 咲 is written like 天, the etymology information above says that historically it is actually related to 夭, and hence there is a connection to 笑. Etymology allows you to see a connection that you might otherwise miss. Of course you have to remember that the modern way of writing it is different, and sometimes that makes this kind of information more trouble than it is worth.
For reference, here is the entry on 笑 which talks about the connection to 咲 a bit more:
Another case where the modern writing doesn’t agree with the historical development is 膝. That part on the left looks like 月, but that’s not where it came from. It actually a simplified form of 肉. Seeing that helps you understand where its meaning comes from. Here is the entry:
Again, I have no way of knowing whether any of the information on that site is correct, and I’m not claiming that etymology is always helpful. Sometimes I read entries on that site and can’t see any connection at all between what is supposed to be some ancient engraving or something and the modern kanji. But so far there are have been enough cases where something interesting came up that I think the site is worth a look.
I suggest merging the contents of the old and new decks in order to preserve your existing study history. But if you really don’t want to use those decks anymore, it would be better to archive them instead of deleting them.
> it literally just finished airing. Like, the day before yesterday.
It looks like you are right, and something called 原宿キラキラ学院 is going to be showing in the time slot going forward, according to the listings over on TV Tokyo’s site. Unfortunately crunchyroll.com has not been updated to reflect this fact, and it still indicates that a new episode is “coming soon.”
Today I ran into the word 五月病 in Mangajin, and there wasn’t a note about it, so I had to look it up. It’s one of those situations where you can be familiar with each individual kanji, but be unable to understand what the word means, because the meaning depends heavily on cultural context.
It is read ごがつびょう, and it literally means “May depression.” What I gather from the Japanese Wikipedia page is that the first year of college starts in April in Japan, and by May some students who can’t adjust to the new environment get depressed. Apparently there is a similar expression “freshman blues” in English.
The word also can be applied to new employees as well, who may have similar problems adjusting. The comic was making the joke that it is actually the boss who gets depressed or sick, because new employees don’t know what they are doing and make more work for him.
> Are you using MCD support plugin to create cards?
I wrote a Python script to choose a representative sentence for each kanji, trying to avoid using the same sentence twice if possible. I’ll post the script if you are interested. The most time-consuming part is creating the new “missing piece” kanji images. I have a set of images for the kanji, but I have to edit them by hand to remove the part I want to focus on for each card.
> My recommendations is that you do RTK if you want to write kanji.
It seems like everyone who did RTK recommends it. If this new “missing piece kanji” approach doesn’t work out, maybe RTK will be the thing to do after all.
