These are some of the things I want to do/keep doing in 2020!
About
I’m learning Japanese, Korean and Chinese to read mystery novels and play video games in these languages.
Learning languages has always been one of my favourite hobbies, but I’m not a social person, I don’t like to meet new people and make friends, this is just not me. I keep hearing that languages are meant for communication, that we have to actively use them, talk to people, etc. and for a long time, I thought I was weird to learn languages just for me, just to enjoy media, culture and entertainment in a foreign language, with absolutely zero interest in communicating with natives.
Now I don’t really care what people think, and this blog helped me a lot to stop doubting myself and just do what I enjoy doing.
Hi Inhae,
What jp-jp dictionary you recommend or use in ur electronic dict?
Also abt studying for jlpt n2,
I keep practising writing kanji and not progressing much. But just recognising kanji doesnt make me feel complete. Can you pls suggest some ideas, or how you have managed?
Thanks
Hello,
I’m mainly using the 広辞苑 (こうじえん) because the definitions are often short and not too difficult. But the main reason is that there is a shortcut to access this dictionary on my electronic dictionary, so it makes it easy to switch between the 広辞苑 and the Jap-Eng dictionary without having to re-enter the word. I hope it makes sense…
As for the kanji, I must admit that I have more or less given up writing them. I can write by memory the most basic ones, but I could not write a whole text in Japanese by hand without checking up how to write most of the kanji. It is frustrating, but I have decided to focus my energy on recognising as many words as possible (to improve my reading) instead of practicing my writing…
I’m sorry that I don’t have concrete ideas… but don’t give up, I’m sure that practice is key, even if we feel like we are not progressing.
Good luck!
I would also check out the 大辞林 (だいじりん）. There are several electronic versions available.
The 広辞苑 is a little special in that it gives definitions in historical order, oldest meaning first, like the Oxford English Dictionary.
I think the 新明解国語辞典 and 三省堂国語辞典 are also quite good.
I am doing the same thing. I’d like to be able to write more, but my goal is to improve my reading of novels, short stories, essays and so on.
I actually have the 新明解国語辞典 in my electronic dictionary, but I never used it before. I have just looked up a few words and compared the result to the ones I use (広辞苑 and 日本国国語大辞典). I find the definitions in the 新明解国語辞典 easier to understand!
Thank you for the suggestion, I think that I will use the 新明解国語辞典 as main Jp-Jp dictionary now.