I’ve seen this question crop up a few times lately. Or at least different iterations of it. Do I need to pass the N1? Do I need to learn N1 grammar/kanji? How often do you use N1 level Japanese? How
Do I Really Need JLPT N1?
Sci-fi, Horror, Adventure – 裏世界ピクニック (Otherside Picnic)
裏世界ピクニック (Otherside Picnic) by 宮澤 伊織 (Iori Miyazawa) Author: 宮澤 伊織 (Iori Miyazawa) Genre: light novel, sci-fi, fantasy, adventure, horror, yuri Great for: Advanced (JLPT N1+) Length: 320 pages Amazon Japan (Kindle): 裏世界ピクニック Bookwalker Japan: 裏世界ピクニック Japanese Summary
An Advanced Taisho Era Challenge「千手學園少年探偵團」(Senju Gakuen Shonen Tanteidan)
千手學園少年探偵團 (Senju Gakuen Shonen Tanteidan) by 金子 ユミ (Yumi Kaneko) Author: 金子 ユミ (Yumi Kaneko) Genre: novel, Taisho Period, mystery, high school Great for: Advanced (JLPT N1+) Length: 306 pages Amazon Japan (Kindle): 千手學園少年探偵團 Bookwalker Japan: 千手學園少年探偵團 あらすじ ・
Should I Read for Fun or Read for Study?
Read for fun or read for study? AKA extensive or intensive reading? I’m specifically referring to reading books in Japanese, but this can be applied to any subject or language you want to learn. Extensive reading is a fancy
How to Get from Intermediate to Advanced Japanese
Many language learners hit this point around intermediate level where they feel like they’ve plateaued. It’s the same for Japanese learners, coming in at around JLPT N3 to N2 level. This point, where you feel yourself stagnating, is the time
Hacks for Reading Japanese Novels
I recently shared on Twitter how I had just finished reading a novel and felt inspired to write something useful about it. The following are a few hacks I’ve developed/picked up while reading Japanese novels. Hope you find them
JLPT Practice Questions with JPDrills
With less than a month before the December JLPT it’s time to start doing some JLPT practice questions! Many people will go to the JLPT website and try their tiny quantity of sample questions. But these are often easier than
5 Japanese Light Novels (in Japanese) for Beginners
Japanese light novels are a fantastic way to practice your Japanese! Light novels (or 小説) are, as the name suggests, smaller, easy to get through stories. Japanese light novels often have long on-going series with 6-20+ books! So if you don’t
Advanced Japanese Reading Practice 6
Advanced Reading Practice on Memrise Articles: ソニーがＶＲゲーム機器を世界同時発売 羽生結弦に「究極」を超える進化はあるのか Tip 1: When studying the vocabulary read it out-loud – Even if you’re just moving your lips (because you’re in public, for example) reading the vocabulary and what it means out-loud will help cement
Advanced Japanese Reading Practice 5
Advanced Reading Practice on Memrise Articles: 大手企業でのキャリアと英語力を活かしSEO対策を提供 お祝いしたいけれど・・・ 悩ましい「敬老の日」事情 Tip 1: When studying the vocabulary read it out-loud – Even if you’re just moving your lips (because you’re in public, for example) reading the vocabulary and what it means out-loud will help
Advanced Japanese Reading Practice 4
Advanced Reading Practice on Memrise Articles: Pokemon Go の勢いがすごい、公開数日で米国の約750万人がダウンロード 営業マンの印象の良いビジネスメールの特徴 Tip 1: When studying the vocabulary read it out-loud – Even if you’re just moving your lips (because you’re in public, for example) reading the vocabulary and what it means out-loud will
10 Ways to Study Japanese After You’ve Stopped
Sometimes when you’ve been studying Japanese for a while you just stop. Often for seemingly no reason. A day goes by, then a week, then a month, then 6 months without learning anything. Even I’ve been guilty of this! It
More Tips for Studying for the JLPT N1
Over a year ago I wrote Tips for Studying for the JLPT N1 and Tips for When you Take the JLPT N1. The I gave general studying advice as well as what to look out for and tips for taking the exam.
Review of Nihongo Tango Speed Master
日本語単語スピードマスター (Nihongo Tango Speed Master) is a relatively unknown series of books which focus just on Japanese vocabulary. And I’m surprised it’s unknown because all the books contain a lot of vocabulary, and lots of vocabulary that doesn’t appear in
Top 10 Resources for Advanced Japanese
When you reach a certain level of Japanese it becomes more difficult to learn new things from textbooks. Many people read novels and newspapers but sometimes it’s not that easy to get hold of these items off-line unless you buy
Best Japanese YouTube Channels
I am one of those people who would rather watch YouTube than TV. The amazing thing about YouTube is the ability for people from all around the world to create content. Yet due to YouTube’s advertising algorithms you probably never
Advanced Japanese Reading Practice 3
Advanced Reading Practice on Memrise Articles: 「オゾン層に回復の兆し」 米研究グループ ネット動画で広がる被災地応援 Tip 1: When studying the vocabulary read it out-loud – Even if you’re just moving your lips (because you’re in public, for example) reading the vocabulary and what it means out-loud will help
How to Prepare for the JLPT
Another session of JLPTs are over in some countries which means the next ones are only 6 months away in December! Whether you’ve just taken an exam or are taking one for the first time it’s good to start preparing
Japanese Asadora Bite Size Drama
Drama are great ways to practice Japanese. They are made by Japanese people for Japanese people telling Japanese stories. Often it’s hard to pick a good drama to watch if you don’t know drama very well. Which is why I
Best Japanese Study Resources
There are a lot of lists like this on the internet yet quite often I find they only list the most popular resources, not the best Japanese study resources. The following list are some of the best Japanese study resources
Study Kanji Kentei, Learn Kanji, Profit
Use the Kanji Kentei to improve your Japanese What is the Kanji Kentei? The full name of the Kanji Kentei is actually the 日本漢字能力検定 (Nihon Kanji Nōryoku Kentei, shortened to Kankei by Japanese people) or the Japanese Kanji Aptitude Test, and
Learning Business Japanese as a Beginner II
More foreigners are doing business with Japan than ever before. Whether this is interaction with Japanese clients, working directly for a Japanese company, or working as an assistant language teacher in Japan, more and more people are getting involved with
What Makes a Good Manga Translation?
You might think translating manga is just turning Japanese into English, but that’s not the case. A good manga translation is a lot more than that. Many people want to translate manga but there is not much information on how
Lessons Learnt as a Beginner Translator
Happy International Translation Day! Yes, September 30th is International Translation Day, a day when people all over the world celebrate translation in all its glory. A quick look on Wikipedia reveals that this has been going on since 1953 and
Japanese Weather Reports
This post covers Japanese weather reports, providing you with a vocabulary list of weather and verbs to practice. If you watch the news in Japan then the weather report will be shown, and although you can guess what’s being said
Japanese Idioms & Proverbs
A Japanese friend visited me a few weeks ago and I as showed her around London the topic of idioms came up. I was helping her with her English and I mentioned “the grass is always greener on the other
Translation for Beginners – Japanese Translation Agencies
I previously mentioned my studies as an MA student doing translation at SOAS in London. The biggest disappointment has been the lack of vocational information, in other words, useful information for working in the real world, such as with Japanese
Tips for When You Take the JLPT N1
The JLPT N1 is said to be an incredibly difficult exam even with years of studying under your belt, and a lot of it has to do with how good you are at exams rather than Japanese. I wrote previously
Tips for Studying for the JLPT N1
For those that probably aren’t aware, I took the JLPT N1 exam a few weeks ago (July 2015). This was the first time I’ve taken the exam. I took the N2 in July 2013 in Japan and managed to scrape
Review of MA in Theory and Practice of Translation, SOAS
For the past year, from September 2014 until September 2015, I have been doing an MA in the Theory and Practice of Translation (Japanese) at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. (Updated 2016) My decision