Start your Japanese adventure ● This is your quest ● Make it memorable
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Everyone expects areas of ability to vary in strength depending upon your focus and the training you put in. If you don’t care about something, you let it become frail. You accept your weaknesses, and study based on the reasons you are learning Japanese and what you want to use it for. You always have the opportunity to strengthen your weaknesses later once the need or desire arises. … Continue reading
Things going smoothly? Want them to go smoothly from beginning to end? You don’t want a single battle story, and will settle just for a nice calm sea? Bring on the heavy waves. Bring on the storm. Bring on the Kraken. Why? Because it’s going to make you a much better sailor. As long as the rough sea doesn’t capsize your boat and leave you … Continue reading
Learn forever? That doesn’t sound so bad, does it? Learning a language doesn’t have an end. Not only is it so vast that it would take you a lifetime to learn everything (even if that were possible or desirable), but it is continuously evolving. Being constantly surprised and learning new things in Japanese is fun and refreshing, especially when you least expect it. You will … Continue reading
When I was in school, I lived in a apartment with an unnecessarily huge living room. It was a monstrosity, which I had no idea what to do with. I’m sure if I had more stuff, I could’ve made use of it, but I chose the apartment because it was $400/month and I couldn’t pass that up. So there I was with all of this empty … Continue reading
How much time till fluency? How many hours of listening? How many vocabulary words? How many pieces of grammar? How many sentences? How many kanji? How many Anki cards? There is no answer to these questions, but ask yourself this: would knowing exactly how much of each is required for fluency make life easier? We love specific numbers because it creates concrete goals, and how … Continue reading
Studying and headaches: two incompatible things that when combined create tension and stress where you absolutely don’t need it. Studying Japanese takes willpower and discipline. When you have a headache, that willpower and discipline float out the window. You either try to cure your headache, or focus on anything that will get your mind off of it. So what do you do when studying Japanese … Continue reading
The level guide here on Jalup was one of the first things that was created when this website came into existence, and has been at the core of the site up till today. It has been reworked over the years, with many supplements available to figure out how to pinpoint where you stand. But is all of this merely aesthetic to carry forth the video game … Continue reading
You come across a new Japanese word while watching an anime, reading a manga, etc., and you say “let’s find out what it means!” You put the word into your bilingual dictionary. You get instant gratification and a decent representation of the meaning of the word. But we all know the problems with studying Japanese this way… For a while I’ve been doing J-J sentences, yet up … Continue reading