As you are aware, this site is called “All Japanese All The Time”, reflecting the fact that I shoehorned Japanese into every little crack and corner of my life in an effort to get fluent at it. I don’t know the full extent of the effect that this immersion project had, but I read a…
Shopping Japanese Online Stores from Abroad
by khatzumoto
So, as you know, I make a lot of recommendations for items at Amazon.co.jp. Most of these items are books, so you can have Amazon.jp ship them for you directly. However, there are some items (like video games and dictionaries) that Amazon Japan chooses not to ship abroad. For these kinds of situations, there is…
Stop Mystifying Japanese
by khatzumoto
People, I can’t freaking take it any more. Everywhere I go, left and right. “Japanese is the hardest language in the galaxy”. “Japanese people themselves cannot read Japanese”. “Japanese uses thousands of characters, TWO syllabaries and even Arabic numerals and Roman letters from time to time”. “Even the Vulcans had trouble with Japanese”. Double u.…
How and What to Read
by khatzumoto
The Daily Telegraph, a newspaper from some random, wind-swept island in the North Sea, has this really cool article by Nick Hornby about how to read. I find it interesting because it applies directly to Japanese study in particular and language study in general. A lot of people sneer at manga readers and anime watchers; they’re not “serious”…
Showing Up
by khatzumoto
OK. Everyone knows that quote by Woody Allen or whoever about showing up. You know, “70% of winning is showing up”. Well, Woody Allen, that daughter-dating scoundrel, lied to you. The truth is that “70% of winning is showing up” is a bunch of bull… …because, in fact, 100% OF WINNING IS SHOWING UP. I…
Chinese Project Notes 4: How I Watch Movies, Or How To Make Your Own Radio Play That You’ll Actually Understand
by khatzumoto
You may not know this from all my writing about drive and discipline, but I am actually a really lazy and fun-oriented guy. And that laziness shows in how I learned Japanese and in how I am learning Chinese. Here’s how I watch a movie: Get the Chinese version of a movie that I’ve seen…