Japanese Lessons Peebles

I’ve found that for many beginners, learning Hiragana and Katakana can be a big hurdle, and it takes time before you can comfortably read full sentences in them. So, I looked for resources that allow you to pick up key phrases and basic grammar without needing to master Hiragana or Katakana first.

I found this site really useful for studying Japanese without needing to read Hiragana or Katakana yet. All the lesson scripts include romanized English (romaji), so you don't need to read Japanese characters. You can choose the English translation, but there are also 20 other languages available to pick from! While you'll still need some guidance to fully understand each topic, this material is about as good as it gets for self-study.

NHK is Japan's public broadcaster, and they make excellent educational materials. These 48 short lessons includes videos, MP3 audio files, and PDF skit scripts. You can also review all the vocabulary. If you're looking for good self-study material, I recommend this:-)

Easy Japanese Learn Japanese | NHK WORLD-JAPAN Japan's public broadcaster, NHK, offers this fun and reliable Japanese language course to beginners. Download MP3 audio and PDF text lessons for free, and learn phrases you'll use right away.

This drama is wonderful.
The story is set in Tokyo in the late 70s. It makes me feel nostalgic because of some of the details of the time. But even without knowing those details, it very delicately describes the emotions of the four sisters and the other protagonists. It has a really good, subtle balance of tragedy and comedy.

The original was written by Kuniko Mukoda. I love her essays and novels. She was a well loved scriptwriter and essayist who died at a young age in an aeroplane accident in Japan.
Koreeda, The director is probably best Japanese director in this generation.

If you want to watch something more nuanced, rather than an overacted, one-emotion-at-a-time story, I recommend watching this series:-)

‘Asura is the best Netflix drama in years’: this strikingly beautiful show will leave you salivating Palme d’Or-winning Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s tale of four sisters is a stunningly shot, laugh-out-loud tale that’s hugely touching. How has it gone almost unnoticed?

If you’re looking for a good Japanese book to read, one of my recommendations is Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi.

Tetsuko Kuroyanagi is one of Japan’s most beloved TV personalities, and this book is a memoir of her childhood at a very unusual primary school in Tokyo during the Second World War.

At a time when Japan was becoming increasingly strict and controlled by the government, this school offered a wonderfully creative education, treating every child as an individual with different strengths and needs.

I first read this book when I was eight years old and loved it. I’ve read it several times since, and it never feels dated.

The original Japanese is written in a fairly simple style and divided into short chapters. It may still be very challenging for learners. Fortunately, there are translations available, as well as editions adapted for people learning Japanese.

If you’re thinking of reading a book by a Japanese author, this would be my first recommendation.

Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window - Wikipedia Totto-chan, the Little Girl at the Window (Japanese: 窓ぎわのトットちゃん, Hepburn: Madogiwa no Totto-chan) is an autobiographical memoir written by Japanese television personality and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Tetsuko Kuroyanagi. The book was published in 1981, and became an "instant bes...

In English, "I" is always "I" and "you" is always "you"—but not in Japanese!

It changes its form depending on your position in the situation and how you want to show the relationship between you and the other person. The examples above are just some of them.
"Watashi" and "Anata" are the most neutral. But if you really want to start a fight with someone, you can call the person "kisama". And if you want to sound like a gruff old man, you can call yourself "washi"!

Teaching Japanese to people from different language backgrounds has made me notice that there are certain sounds you simply can’t hear if you didn't grow up with them.
Today, I noticed that a student from Austria found it really difficult to tell the difference between せ (se) and ぜ (ze). For her, 'Senせん' (1,000) and 'Zenぜん' (🧘) sound exactly the same!
It’s fascinating how every language trains our ears and brains in its own unique way!

I’ve registered on this online tutoring platform to reach students from other part of the world. In my first month, I was awarded a “Super Tutor” badge👍
It reflects, good reviews from students, a high conversion rate from trial lessons to regular students, good time keeping, and quick responses to messages. It’s a boost to my confidence as a new tutor😀

https://preply.in/SUPERTUTOR1EN1MJKZNDQ5ODA=?ts=17829065.

I’ve found that the many people who learn Japanese love One Piece and can pronounce this phrase very fluently in Japanese. It might be the most well-known Japanese phrase in the world😅

The sound of Japanese characters ら、り、る、れ、ろ(ra, ri, ru, re, ro) is difficult to represent accurately using the Roman alphabet.

The Japanese らsound is neither an English Ra nor an La. We use ra in Roman letters simply for convenience.

The actual sound is somewhere between the two. One of the closest approximations in English is the sound many Americans make when pronouncing the t in water. The tongue briefly taps the roof of the mouth, producing a sound similar to the Japanese ら😅