Japanese is easier than you think!!

Have you tried Lang-8? It's a language learning platform where native speakers correct what you write. if you're learning Japanese and have already studied Japanese characters, I recommend you to try writing some in this website!

Even if you don't use Japanese software, don't worry. You can also input Japanese characters without a Japanese keyboard. Here is the website which explains how to type in Japanese on your laptop;

How to type Japanese
http://www.coscom.co.jp/learnjapanese801/
by. CosCom

And here's some useful tips to switch between ひらがな and カタカナ.
Alt + Caps Lock is Hiragana -> Katakana (Full width)
Ctrl + Caps Lock is Katakana (Full width) -> Hiragana
Left alt + backtick (`) is used to switch between hiragana mode and direct input
*Thank you for telling me these tips, Adgemon!  ：）



And, today I'm gonna share a great blog post!!
Is Japanese Hard? Why Japanese is easier than you think!
by. FLUENT IN 3 MONTHS

I am a big fan of that blog!! X) The owner of the blog is Benny Lewis, who is a polyglot and has mastered several languages. You can find a lot of ideas for leaning languages in his blog. In this article, as the title says, it shows some reasons why Japanese isn't as hard as you might think.

*There are heaps of English loan words in Japanese
*There are no pesky noun genders in Japanese
*Japanese verbs don't have to "agree" with the subject
*You can leave out the subjects & objects if they are clear from the context
*Each Japanese syllable can be pronounced only one way
*Japanese harbors few new sounds for English speakers
*Japanese is not a "tonal" language
*Kanji can be learned extremely quickly if you use an adult-friendly method
*Knowing Kanji allows you to guess the meaning of new words

Please check out these great advice by clicking the link above!! ；)



*Japanese Word of the Day*
なんだ、思（おも）ってたより簡単（かんたん）じゃん。
/nanda. omotteta-yori kantan jan/
Oh it's no big deal, it's easier than I thought.

*なんだ /nanda/ You say it when you don't satisfied with the result, or it's not good enough as you expected. It is also pronounced like なーんだ/naanda/ with a disappointed tone.

*思ってたより /omotteta yori/ than you expected
If you want to say as negative form, you have to say 思ってたほど.

思(おも)ってたほど可愛(かわい)くなかった。
(She was) not as cute as I expected.

思（おも）ってたほど楽（たの）しくなかった。
It wasn't as fun as I expected.

*簡単 /kantan/ easy ⇔ 難（むずか）しい /muzukashii/ hard, difficult

*じゃん /jan/ We put it at the end of the sentence to emphasize it. Or it's used to confirm the positive. Well, people in the west part of Japan (especially in Kansai area) usually say やん /yan/ instead of じゃん.



Learning a foreign language isn't easy, but it's interesting. Right?：）