Japan here I come!!!!!!

About to get on the plane to Tokyo!!!

Watch this space, I have like a 3 million year flight ahead of me :-)

Peace!
Seb

Manners On Japanese Trains

When in Japan whether you're a tourist, a student or a long term resident, you should be aware that you will stand out like a sore thumb if you act inappropriately while riding the many trains that zip in and out of Japan's busy cities. I'm not talking about getting naked or attacking people! Some of the stuff in this post you won't find in travel guides for Japan or the cultural sections of Japanese textbooks so read carefully and take note!

What's the secret to learning Japanese?

In the age of 30-day, quick-fix, sexy abs flashy programmes that promise you the world for a small fee of all your money per month, a lot of people want to know about the next big thing in terms of being able to do this or do that. 

A lot of people see someone with decent Japanese and ask, 

"Woah... How can I become that good at Japanese? What's their secret?"

Get Anki (and burn your flashcards)

Do you use flashcards to learn and memorise things like vocabulary and individual kanji? Isn't it annoying how you can never keep track of what you know well and what you need more practice on? Don't you find it irritating how, as you add more cards to your pile, it just becomes an unmanageable mess? And then your mum spills her coffee all over them and you have to start from square one?!

Well.. if you're sitting there thinking, "Hmm.. Yep, that sounds like me!", I'd like to introduce you to a revolutionary piece of software called Anki. 

iOS for Japanese - The Romaji Keyboard

In this post, I'll be showing you the ins and outs of the Japanese Romaji Keyboard on your iOS device. Using the Romaji Keyboard is great because it can be used by beginners from a very early point as long as you are at least familiar with all of the hiragana and katakana characters. 

I'll show you how to type your first Japanese word, and I'll also show you how to avoid one of the most common problems encountered when typing in Japanese. 

How to install Japanese onto your iOS device

Your iOS device, whether it's an iPhone, an iPod Touch or an iPad, can be transformed into a tool to help you learn Japanese in just a few easy steps! 

Here's how to install Japanese keyboards onto your iOS device!

Goals, Goals, Goals!

If you're just beginning to learn Japanese, having fluency in your mind at the start is a dangerous game to play unless:

1) You are moving / have moved to Japan and are immersed in the culture and the language. 

2) You are one of those very rare but lucky people who have a real gift for learning languages and can make huge gains in a very short space of time (i.e. not me)

If you find yourself outside of the two groups mentioned above, it's much better to trust the tortoise - "Slow and steady wins the race!"