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    Thread: Kanzen Master 2kyuu 文法
Post: Kanzen Master 2kyuu 文法

I finished typing in the remaining readings, so it looks like the spreadsheet is complete. Of course, I can't guarantee it's error-free ("readings" column hasn't been checked). If anyone spots any mi...
snallygaster Group study 253 93,880 2009-08-03, 12:07 am
    Thread: Google Translate has a weird error
Post: Google Translate has a weird error

Google translate gives a probability-based translation using database analysis and user correction/retranslation. Thus, you'll probably find that if you translate the same document again, you'll get ...
snallygaster Off topic 6 2,565 2009-07-27, 11:03 am
    Thread: JLPT 2009-1 (July) 2級 thoughts
Post: JLPT 2009-1 (July) 2級 thoughts

I took it too (squeeked out a pass on the December 2008 round, just took it for practice). I'm also not sure how I did... It will be pretty embarassing if I failed this time despite passing 6 months ...
snallygaster JLPT, Jobs & College in Japan 5 2,411 2009-07-06, 12:36 pm
    Thread: The Realistic Thread: How long does it take to pass JLPT1, 2, or 3?
Post: The Realistic Thread: How long does it take to pas...

I guess there will never be a really satisfying answer to this question. We know that beyond time, effort/dedication, study technique, and personal ability all make a difference. One thing to bear i...
snallygaster General discussion 28 7,782 2009-07-06, 12:07 pm
    Thread: JLPT 1 in 3 months?
Post: JLPT 1 in 3 months?

TOEIC 800+ in 3 months? People say it's impossible, but I bet it can be done. After all, at a party I can remember up to 10 English people's names in an hour, and there are only 200 questions on the ...
snallygaster General discussion 395 64,339 2009-07-03, 11:20 pm
    Thread: Frequency differences between English and Japanese?
Post: Frequency differences between English and Japanese...

I think anyone with basic knowledge of acoustics will immediately understand this is BS. To give an indication, telephones typically only transmit frequencies under 3000 Hz, which is pretty lo-fi, but...
snallygaster The Japanese language 9 4,816 2009-05-14, 11:52 pm
    Thread: Brilliant idea to speed reading KATAKANA!
Post: Brilliant idea to speed reading KATAKANA!

What would be useful (perhaps) is a big list of katakana proper nouns. Mainly for memorizing E->J transliterations. Seriously, 90% of my E-J dictionary use is to check this. I can tell you the b...
snallygaster Learning resources 36 13,577 2009-05-13, 10:26 am
    Thread: Kanzen Master 2kyuu 文法
Post: Kanzen Master 2kyuu 文法

Ah, sorry about the embedded CRs in the syntax column; I've been typing the entries in in Excel & then copy/pasting them into the google spreadsheet. I guess the pasting automatically adds a CR (...
snallygaster Group study 253 93,880 2009-05-13, 9:58 am
    Thread: Kanzen Master 2kyuu 文法
Post: Kanzen Master 2kyuu 文法

kerosan41 Wrote:When I cut and paste info from the spreadsheet into my text document to import into anki, the formatting doesn't come out right. Anki won't accept the text document because its not se...
snallygaster Group study 253 93,880 2009-05-12, 9:19 am
    Thread: Surprised at some of the content at 2ch
Post: Surprised at some of the content at 2ch

Seems quite similar to most foreigners' forums about Japan (not RtK, fortunately). For me, recalling threads like those is a good way to keep a sense of perspective & objectivity when I feel the ...
snallygaster General discussion 17 2,921 2009-05-10, 2:52 am
    Thread: Kanzen Master 2kyuu 文法
Post: Kanzen Master 2kyuu 文法

OK, well I entered the syntax information for part 1 (#1-35). I'll do more a little later, but in the meantime if anyone wants to help the effort and type in a few more, by all means go ahead. It's ...
snallygaster Group study 253 93,880 2009-05-09, 9:04 am
    Thread: The grass is always bluer on the other side...
Post: The grass is always bluer on the other side...

Teskal is basically right that the English green/black designations are based on the colours of the leaves, while the Japanese 紅茶 and 紅茶 are based on the prepared drink. And of course JimmySeal is ri...
snallygaster General discussion 26 4,541 2009-05-09, 9:01 am
    Thread: Kanzen Master 2kyuu 文法
Post: Kanzen Master 2kyuu 文法

Thanks again to everyone for the entry & proofing. Actually, for my own personal use, I think I'm going to be adding a "syntax" (接続 in the book) column to my copy of this spreadsheet. If nobody o...
snallygaster Group study 253 93,880 2009-05-08, 7:43 am
    Thread: Kanzen Master 2kyuu 文法
Post: Kanzen Master 2kyuu 文法

argh, sorry I didn't help with the proofing (went away for GW)! I'll look through the forums for another project I can help with.
snallygaster Group study 253 93,880 2009-05-07, 11:29 pm
    Thread: Teaching English to a Japanese native
Post: Teaching English to a Japanese native

Yeah, how old is the student? If they don't know the English alphabet, they must be under 10 or over 80, which would make a big difference in textbook recommendations.
snallygaster General discussion 47 11,018 2009-05-02, 3:23 am
    Thread: my name in katakana
Post: my name in katakana

Jarvik7 Wrote:snallygaster Wrote:Actually I think you register in romaji. For those cases where you have to supply a kana reading, do a direct transliteration of whatever name is on your passport. A...
snallygaster Off topic 61 15,073 2009-03-31, 2:09 pm
    Thread: my name in katakana
Post: my name in katakana

julz6453 Wrote:When officially registering in Japan, is it better to use katakana, or could you use kanji if you had a kanji name? My Japanese friend gave me kanji for my given name, 樹利亜... but I cou...
snallygaster Off topic 61 15,073 2009-03-31, 10:41 am
    Thread: Just a little rant...
Post: Just a little rant...

I think you're reading too much into the post; "struggled with kanji for 17 years" could mean almost anything, and there's certainly a lot more to kanji than is taught by Heisig. I bet most native sp...
snallygaster General discussion 31 12,815 2009-03-31, 10:25 am
    Thread: Long vowel sound
Post: Long vowel sound

I'm not sure it's a good idea to think of it in terms of emphasis. I'm not totally sure about this, but I *think* that English speakers tend to perceive Japanese long vowels as having emphasis mainly...
snallygaster The Japanese language 12 2,625 2009-03-26, 8:58 am
    Thread: You can study 音読み and 訓読み all you like and still get these wrong...
Post: You can study 音読み and 訓読み all you like and still g...

Yeah, #1 isn't really in the same league of difficulty as the others, is it? An ateji animal kanji that I really like, but is perhaps too well-known to be on that list (despite 山羊) is 熊猫. You can lo...
snallygaster General discussion 19 5,825 2009-03-23, 9:26 am
    Thread: Pronunciation assessment anyone?
Post: Pronunciation assessment anyone?

I'm pretty darn impressed and humbled by all the readings so far. Actually mentat's reading made me laugh because although he didn't exactly radiate enthusiasm, when I worked in a Japanese high scho...
snallygaster General discussion 252 53,476 2009-03-06, 8:06 am
    Thread: Japan PM's reading blunders spark study spree
Post: Japan PM's reading blunders spark study spree

According to a 2009 snallygaster survey whose results I just made up, one-fifth of English speakers 16 or older often encounter English words they don't know how to pronounce*, while one-third have tr...
snallygaster General discussion 4 915 2009-03-05, 11:19 am
    Thread: Kanji 牙 stroke count?
Post: Kanji 牙 stroke count?

You're right; it does look horrible printed, but handwritten it's not too bad. Well, maybe I'm just mentally comparing it to my own handwritten 門s, which are generally pretty ugly themselves.
snallygaster The Japanese language 27 4,443 2009-03-04, 12:34 pm
    Thread: Kanji 牙 stroke count?
Post: Kanji 牙 stroke count?

Yeah, I guess it comes from that form. I'm thinking of this: 間 -> [Image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...ji_KAN.png] from: ja.wiktionary.org
snallygaster The Japanese language 27 4,443 2009-03-04, 12:06 pm
    Thread: Kanji 牙 stroke count?
Post: Kanji 牙 stroke count?

I think there's a danger of conflating two issues here, namely 1) Japanese people often join strokes together, or leave some out, or write them in a different order, or otherwise simplify kanji (true ...
snallygaster The Japanese language 27 4,443 2009-03-04, 11:32 am
    Thread: The weirdest clock you'll ever see
Post: The weirdest clock you'll ever see

Ji_suss Wrote:Here's another clock you might like. Check it out around 2:20. http://[Video: http://www.youtube...ed] Good stuff; unfortunately all I could think of was that narrator doing the uniqlo...
snallygaster Off topic 59 10,595 2009-02-22, 2:13 am
    Thread: when the drop points in the wrong direction
Post: when the drop points in the wrong direction

Yeah, I think a wrong-facing drop, or writing the elements in the wrong proportion to one another, (as in your "dilute" example) is just as wrong as writing the wrong kanji altogether. The only thing ...
snallygaster General discussion 14 1,715 2009-02-22, 2:08 am
    Thread: Opinions wanted.
Post: Opinions wanted.

This is mostly just intuition, but I think the "Japanese way" might be to find out from your company when they planned to tell the school, and then maybe give the principal (or whoever is above you, b...
snallygaster Off topic 13 1,889 2009-02-20, 3:12 pm
    Thread: Does anybody else end up making up REALLY vulgar stories for RTK
Post: Does anybody else end up making up REALLY vulgar s...

Good thing thing there's no aristocrats keyword. I don't think the software could handle it.
snallygaster Off topic 23 3,983 2009-02-17, 12:52 pm
    Thread: How long do you think it takes to be fluent in Japanese?
Post: How long do you think it takes to be fluent in Jap...

I like musigny's definition, too. I think it's the most reasonable one I've seen.
snallygaster Off topic 132 22,581 2009-02-15, 6:17 am