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    Thread: N1Grammar- studying differences between similar expressions
Post: RE: N1Grammar- studying differences between simila...

I have not sat any of the JLPT tests so my experience may not be the most relevant, but my speaking and listening are JLPT1ish and I know all the words from the JLPT1 vocab decks. I have never sat do...
afterglowefx Learning resources 87 8,930 2016-02-18, 6:50 pm
    Thread: Japanese "politeness levels"
Post: RE: Japanese "politeness levels"

Just wouldn't want any young learners of Japanese to get caught up in thinking that mastering polite / honorific language is going to make any real difference on the ground  :heart: Of course once yo...
afterglowefx General discussion 52 4,355 2016-02-08, 7:14 pm
    Thread: Japanese "politeness levels"
Post: RE: Japanese "politeness levels"

(2016-02-08, 5:32 pm)RawrPk Wrote: You might find this useful: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honorific_...nese#Usage wiki Wrote:Mastery of politeness and honorifics is important for functioning in ...
afterglowefx General discussion 52 4,355 2016-02-08, 6:18 pm
    Thread: Japanese "politeness levels"
Post: RE: Japanese "politeness levels"

I think you're trying to ask if 1) people use polite forms of language because it's the rule and all people have to or 2) people use polite forms of language because they want to in order to express t...
afterglowefx General discussion 52 4,355 2016-02-08, 12:50 am
    Thread: Honkin' thru RTK, 3rd time -- 200 a Day God-Challenge
Post: RE: Honkin' thru RTK, 3rd time -- 200 a Day God-Ch...

(2016-01-19, 7:40 pm)yogert909 Wrote: I hate to point out the obvious, but adding cards is the easy part.  Reviewing for a few months afterwards is the hard part.  I'm guessing you'll be spending a ...
afterglowefx Remembering the Kanji 18 2,339 2016-01-19, 10:06 pm
    Thread: Life in Japan and bubbles
Post: RE: Life in Japan and bubbles

(2016-01-15, 8:27 am)Robik Wrote: What about children from mixed marriages, are they considered Japanese? Yes and no. But depending on what half you are, your experience will vary quite a bit. To p...
afterglowefx General discussion 47 5,890 2016-01-18, 12:22 am
    Thread: Life in Japan and bubbles
Post: RE: Life in Japan and bubbles

(2016-01-14, 8:29 pm)cophnia61 Wrote: What about japanese people who live in the USA? Are they more "open-minded"? Is it easier to make japanese friends among those who live outside of Japan (see Ya...
afterglowefx General discussion 47 5,890 2016-01-15, 2:02 am
    Thread: Life in Japan and bubbles
Post: RE: Life in Japan and bubbles

(2016-01-13, 11:13 pm)vix86 Wrote: Most people that speak the language, I find, tend to not hate their life and the country nearly as much. At worst, most are strongly apathetic about everything whi...
afterglowefx General discussion 47 5,890 2016-01-14, 6:51 pm
    Thread: Life in Japan and bubbles
Post: RE: Life in Japan and bubbles

What I'm about to get into may be unpopular. This is me. Except it's 10am and I have a can of beer in my hand. Probably my third. Also, instead of "months after coming to Japan" go ahead and put in "...
afterglowefx General discussion 47 5,890 2016-01-13, 9:22 pm
    Thread: Restarting from Zero
Post: RE: Restarting from Zero

Sometimes I think about reviewing RTK again. But then I look at the 2200 due cards and my deck stats and just think ....nah. Who needs writing anyway. [Image: http://i67.tinypic.com/1zfszz5.jpg]
afterglowefx Remembering the Kanji 12 2,140 2016-01-07, 8:22 pm
    Thread: Success stories
Post: RE: Success stories

(2016-01-05, 4:15 am)tetsueda Wrote: Imo, the worst aspect of the word is not that has no definite definition, it is that it focuses on your spoken output. More so, it focuses on the lack of pauses ...
afterglowefx General discussion 21 2,896 2016-01-07, 8:15 pm
    Thread: Success stories
Post: RE: Success stories

(2016-01-05, 2:29 am)Zgarbas Wrote: I don't really hang out outside campus, but every now and then I find myself interacting with expat bubbles and it's always interesting for me to see their idea o...
afterglowefx General discussion 21 2,896 2016-01-07, 8:07 pm
    Thread: Success stories
Post: RE: Success stories

Like we've seen from the start of this thread a lot is going to depend on your definition of fluency. Yours seems to be "indistinguishable from a native speaker" which is as strict as the definition g...
afterglowefx General discussion 21 2,896 2016-01-05, 1:41 am
    Thread: Kanji vs Hiragana (How to check how common some words are written in hiragana?)
Post: RE: Kanji vs Hiragana (How to check how common som...

I actually do find the "usually kana" tag to be pretty accurate, even if there are some cases where people out there will use the kanji. But given that it seems to be pretty spot on the majority of th...
afterglowefx Learning resources 8 1,184 2016-01-04, 11:07 pm
    Thread: Success stories
Post: RE: Success stories

Quote:People who are quick to use the word 'fluent' are usually the ones who are not :P. Quote:There's also probably a fair amount of "imposter syndrome" when it comes to advanced learners... This ...
afterglowefx General discussion 21 2,896 2016-01-04, 6:29 pm
    Thread: Success stories
Post: RE: Success stories

I'm fluent. This is why. [Image: http://i65.tinypic.com/2hi8kmp.jpg] Also being in a 100% Japanese environment 100% of the time has given me multiple hours of speaking and listening practice a day,...
afterglowefx General discussion 21 2,896 2016-01-04, 1:09 am
    Thread: Using my commute
Post: Using my commute

I've taken a new job up in the mountains and my commute has become ridiculous. One hour each way, and if you've ever lived in Japan, you'll understand that almost all of this is spent at red lights or...
afterglowefx Learning resources 5 2,700 2015-11-12, 8:20 pm
    Thread: JLPT 3 within 1 year possible?
Post: JLPT 3 within 1 year possible?

Having never taken JLPT and having become, well, not fluent but fully operational in Japanese in 1.5 years ... Sure. But do you want to? I basically had to give up *everything* save my job and girlfri...
afterglowefx JLPT, Jobs & College in Japan 16 6,601 2015-03-10, 9:37 pm
    Thread: What do you think of this (that my Japanese teacher told me)?
Post: What do you think of this (that my Japanese teache...

Without seeing your essay, it's not really possible to comment in detail. But there are a massive amount of words for which kanji exist but are almost never used. I seriously doubt the professor would...
afterglowefx The Japanese language 52 7,825 2015-03-10, 9:32 pm
    Thread: Pissed off, How does this visa thing work
Post: Pissed off, How does this visa thing work

vix86 Wrote:If the company that you are going to work for is called "Heart," and they are claiming they'll have a visa for you; then you should seriously reconsider. Realize coming to Japan without a ...
afterglowefx JLPT, Jobs & College in Japan 22 4,917 2015-03-07, 12:50 am
    Thread: Guess iKnow pulled their Creative Common license
Post: Guess iKnow pulled their Creative Common license

Seems nearly all of the Core content has been pulled from the site. There is still one Core10k (2k + 6k + 10k) deck up with full audio so for those thinking about pursuing Core I'd grab that now while...
afterglowefx General discussion 80 18,141 2015-02-27, 11:30 pm
    Thread: what would be a good idea for a Japanese lady for her birthday
Post: what would be a good idea for a Japanese lady for ...

If you're not romantically interested in her then just get her some sort of nice snack. Cosmetics from a dude would be a bit weird.
afterglowefx General discussion 6 1,576 2015-02-25, 7:44 pm
    Thread: Anyone have experience with getting a visa for english teacher?
Post: Anyone have experience with getting a visa for eng...

The way it typically works is first you get the job, the company does your visa paperwork, and then you get the visa. This might actually be the ONLY way, I'm fairly sure you don't get a working visa ...
afterglowefx JLPT, Jobs & College in Japan 38 7,664 2015-02-21, 1:20 am
    Thread: I already started with StickyStudy, should I switch to Anki?
Post: I already started with StickyStudy, should I switc...

The deal with Anki is that it's not pretty or especially user friendly, but once you get the hang of it the amount of things you can do is pretty much unlimited. However, the getting used to it part m...
afterglowefx Learning resources 5 1,541 2015-02-19, 8:07 pm
    Thread: If you're a guy, do you tend to refer to yourself as "boku"?
Post: If you're a guy, do you tend to refer to yourself ...

yudantaiteki Wrote:But "familiar faces" doesn't mean friends. You should not use 俺 at work. You might get away with it as a foreigner, but it's not something Japanese men generally do, except maybe in...
afterglowefx The Japanese language 102 19,254 2015-01-26, 7:20 pm
    Thread: If you're a guy, do you tend to refer to yourself as "boku"?
Post: If you're a guy, do you tend to refer to yourself ...

Tzadeck Wrote:Look, it's neither true that 俺 is a curse word to be avoided at all costs, nor that you must cut 私 and 僕 from your vocab if you don't want to be a big girl. Given that 95% of one's inter...
afterglowefx The Japanese language 102 19,254 2015-01-26, 6:56 pm
    Thread: If you're a guy, do you tend to refer to yourself as "boku"?
Post: If you're a guy, do you tend to refer to yourself ...

Gunma is probably one of the rougher speaking places in Japan, for sure. We're considered to be the ヤンキー capital of the country, interestingly enough. So the way I learned to speak may be different fr...
afterglowefx The Japanese language 102 19,254 2015-01-25, 10:54 pm
    Thread: If you're a guy, do you tend to refer to yourself as "boku"?
Post: If you're a guy, do you tend to refer to yourself ...

yudantaiteki Wrote:I've heard Japanese native women use あたし in informal situations, but it might not work for everyone. 私 / あたし are the most common. Children and girls trying way too hard to be cute (...
afterglowefx The Japanese language 102 19,254 2015-01-25, 9:01 pm
    Thread: If you're a guy, do you tend to refer to yourself as "boku"?
Post: If you're a guy, do you tend to refer to yourself ...

As somebody living and working in Japan, surrounded by Japanese, with Japanese friends and girlfriends who don't speak a word of English... I can't get 僕 or 私 out of my mouth without feeling a little...
afterglowefx The Japanese language 102 19,254 2015-01-25, 8:59 pm
    Thread: How long does core2/6/10k take to finish?
Post: How long does core2/6/10k take to finish?

I am 75% of the way done with Core 6k with 439 hours studied.
afterglowefx General discussion 36 11,401 2015-01-25, 7:52 pm