In October of last year, I started a bullet journal for the first time. It was dedicated to studying Japanese. I promised that I would come back some months after to see if this method worked for me or not. Though I am not strictly bullet journalling anymore, it did immensely improve the way I..
Japanese News: an overview of the week (an attempt)
Today, instead of studying one article, I would like to have an overview of the topical issues of the week. I think that it would be more interesting to look at a wide range of topics and vocabulary, instead of going deeply into one subject. The problem is that I don't have a paying subscription..
I finished reading「彼女がその名を知らない鳥たち」by 沼田まほかる
I have finished reading 沼田まほかる's novel 「彼女がその名を知らない鳥たち」. Reading this book took me a long time, but even though I struggled to go through some parts of it, I enjoyed reading it. I know that some passages were above my level, and even if I could follow the story and most of the dialogues without problems, I..
Trying to remember Japanese Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is probably one of the fun and recreative aspects of the Japanese language, and I have always been assuming that most Japanese learners remember and use these cute words effortlessly. The problem Now, I don't think that I have a childhood trauma relative to onomatopoeia (but who knows?), but the truth is that I..
Japanese News: Moritomo Gakuen scandal
Although it was one of the major political issues of last year, I have not read much in Japanese about the Moritomo Gakuen scandal. It is a complex story with difficult vocabulary, and the titles of the related articles have always discouraged me. I wanted to believe that this scandal was a last-year-thing and that..
Reading Notes on the novel「彼女がその名を知らない鳥たち」by 沼田まほかる
I am reading the novel 「彼女がその名を知らない鳥たち」by 沼田まほかるand the two main characters of the story use the Kansai dialect when they talk to each other. This particularity certainly confers a touch of authenticity to the novel, but it also adds difficulty for non-native readers. I will go through some of the features of the Kansai dialect,..
Some thoughts on language learning and emotions
Emotions can influence the way we learn a language. Positive emotions and motivation go together, but it took me a long time to realise it. Being aware of how we attach particular emotions to our target language is the first step to building a better long-term motivation. I consider that learning a language is an activity closely..
Japanese News: the discretionary labour system
The last two articles I have studied were about sports, so I thought that it was time to return to more political subjects. As a consequence, even if I was tempted to study an article about the Tokyo Olympic mascots that have just been unveiled, I focused myself on another topical issue: the discretionary labour..
Currently reading: 「世界は終わらない」 by 益田ミリ
I am still reading the novel 「彼女がその名を知らない鳥たち」but I allow myself some breaks with Miri MASUDA's manga 「世界は終わらない」. I already knew Miri MASUDA through her yonkoma manga series 「すーちゃん」, a total of 4 books that follow the daily life of a 30-year-old woman, working in a café and reflecting on her future while dealing with everyday's..
Motivation: clean your desk!
I have always had a romantic vision of the perfect workspace: piled up on a dick wooden table, dozens of books bought in used secondhand bookshops, a notebook lighted up by the dim and dusty glow of an old-fashioned lamp that isolates you from the rest of the world and let the rest of the room..
Japanese News: About this amazing women’s speed skating team pursuit!
Context: On Wednesday, Japan won Olympic gold in women's speed skating team pursuit. The trio Miho Takagi, Ayano Sato and Nana Takagi claimed Japan's third gold medal and set a new world and Olympic record. They defeated the Dutch, who had won gold at Sochi and who themselves set their own new record during this race...
Book review: Asahi Keywords 2019
At the beginning of every year, Asahi publishes「Asahi Keywords 朝日キーワード」, a book that introduces key notions that help to understand the news in all usual domains, from politics to social matters, economics or culture. Published in January 2018, this year's edition is entitled 「朝日キーワード2019」and summarizes the year 2017 (this is a little confusing...). This book aims..