kanji (left side), hiragana (top right) and katakana (bottom right) When you begin learning Japanese, chances are you’ll find yourself coming up against not only one writing system, but multiple. Each of these writing systems has its own purpose and place within the written Japanese language. In this article I give a very brief overviewContinueContinue reading “How many writing systems does the Japanese language use?”
Tag Archives: language
An Introduction to Japanese Calligraphy (by my teacher)
I spent a long time thinking about what to write for my first article about Japanese calligraphy. There is so much to say, it’s difficult to know where to start. Then I remembered that my teacher had once written a short introduction to Japanese calligraphy, which I had translated into English. What better way toContinueContinue reading “An Introduction to Japanese Calligraphy (by my teacher)”
影 (ka-ge) “shadow”
Japanese kanji characters are made up of smaller parts. The left hand side of a kanji is called then “hen”. In the case of 影, the “hen” is 景, which means “scenery” and can be a complete kanji by itself. The right hand side of a kanji is called the “tsukuri”. In this case theContinueContinue reading “影 (ka-ge) “shadow””
Three Mindset Shifts that will Fast-Track your Japanese Language Learning
image by andsproject from pixabay Article originally published on Medium in Japonica publication Mindset Shift Level 1: Learning Japanese > Practicing Japanese. A lot. “Learning” is a misnomer. You don’t so much learn a language as practice it. Becoming fluent in a foreign language has less in common with academic study and more with learning a sport, a dance, or a martial art:ContinueContinue reading “Three Mindset Shifts that will Fast-Track your Japanese Language Learning”
Translating Culture: 5 Intriguing Japanese Words We Need in English
image by Mohamed Hassan, from Pixabay The Internet is full of articles with titles such as “5 untranslatable words in the X language”. This is not one of those articles. I’m not going to claim that any of the words below are “untranslatable”. What I am going to do is introduce five Japanese words thatContinueContinue reading “Translating Culture: 5 Intriguing Japanese Words We Need in English”
Calligraphy by Vicky 