Hey there

Long time no see, huh... wow, it's been over a month now. >///<

I'm sorry that I haven't kept up with the Word of the Day posts... I really enjoyed doing them, and it was practical for my studying over the summer break, but now that school has started for the fall (I'm in my Junior year at University now), I don't know how to keep up with the posts every day.

I'm so grateful, though. This past month, even though I haven't had time to post anything, so many people have viewed my blog. I'm really grateful!!! ありがとうございました！Thank you so much!

I would love to start posting again, and really to start studying seriously again! So please be patient as I work out all the big stuff like school and work... I hope I'll be posting again soon!

Once again, thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog! See you soon! じゃね！

Update

ごめんなさい！
I'm really sorry I haven't posted anything for the past few days! I do want to continue Word of the Day, but things have been a little bit crazy for me. I'll be posting again soon!

Word of the Day 31 - たいてい

たいてい (taitei) means "almost."

今はたいてい明日ですね。
(ima wa taitei asita desu ne.)
It's almost tomorrow now.

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Everywhere I look, this word means something different, so If you know better than I do, please let me know! ^^

Thanks for reading! We've made it through 31 days! Wow! すごいね！みんなさん、本当にありがとうございます！

まったね！

Word of the Day 30 - 時

時（とき/toki）means "time" or "hour."

時何？
(toki nan?)
What time?

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I'm totally not sure if that is grammatically correct... Let me know if it is or not! ^^

Word of the Day 29 - 怖い

怖い（こわい/kowai）means "scary," or "frightening."

このサイトは怖いですよね。
(kono saito wa kowai desu yo ne.)
This site is frightening, isn't it?

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I was researching something and looked at a site that was all rainbow colors and really cutesy. It was targeted towards kids, but it was really scary!!! DX

By the way, just a few more days and I'll have been posting these word of the day posts for a month. Have they helped at all? Should I continue them? Let me know, ok? ^^ Thanks!

Word of the Day 28 - 書く

書く（かく/ kaku）means to write.

私は、このブログが書きます。
(watashi wa, kono burogu ga kakimasu.)
I write this blog.

すごい歌

この歌がすごいです！きゃあ！大好き！

Word of the Day 27 - 見応え

見応え（みごたえ/migotae）means "worth seeing; impressive."

あの油絵が本当見応えです！
(ano aburae ga hontou migotae desu!)
That oil painting is really worth seeing!

Word of the Day 26 -どうかな

どうかな (doukana) from what I understand means something along the lines of "How about...?"

A: 我々はどこに行くべきでしょうか？
B: どうかな東京？
(A: wareware wa doko ni ikubeki deshou ka?
B: doukana Toukyou?)
A: Where should we go?
B: How about Tokyo?

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It's getting harder to remember to post here every day now that I'm taking painting lessons and starting to make videos as practice... I feel like I have a lot more to do and less time to do it. :/ Well, I'll continue to try my best. ^^ がんばります！じゃ！

Word of the Day 25 - 国際

国際（こくさい/kokusai）means international.

私は本当に国際地区に行きたい。
(watashi wa hontou ni kokusai chiku ni ikitai.)
I really want to go to the international district.

Word of the Day 24 - 箸

箸（はし/hashi）means chopsticks.

「はし」can mean different things, but with the kanji 箸 it means chopsticks.

箸をどこ？
(hashi wo doko?)
Where are the chopsticks?

Word of the Day 23 - 忘れん坊

忘れん坊（わすれんぼう/wasurenbou）means a forgetful person.

私は忘れん坊です。。。
(watashi wa wasurenbou desu...)
I'm a forgetful person...

-Not really!!! ... I hope!-

Word of the Day 22 - 見る

見る（みる/miru）means "to see, to look, to watch."

この動画を見てよ！
(kono douga wo mite yo!)
Watch this video! (or Look at this video!)

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Hi! Thank you for reading! I'm really enjoying posting a word in Japanese every day, I hope that these are helping in your studies!

I would like to have more posts too though. I think that variety is good to have in everything you do, so if you have any suggestions for things I should talk about please feel free to let me know! I'd really appreciate it, and if I chose to do one of the suggestions I'm sure other readers will enjoy it as well!

Thank you once again, ありがとうございます！ I'll see you tomorrow! あの、明日を見て！じゃね！

Word of the Day 21 - 読む

読む（よむ/yomu）means "to read."

私はひらがなとカタカナが読みます。
(watashi wi hiragana to katakana ga yomimasu.)
I read hiragana and katakana.

Word of the Day 20 - 尖り声

尖り声（とがりごえ/ togarigoe）means a "sharp or angry voice."

尖り声をなぜ？
(togarigoe wo naze?)
Why the angry voice?

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I'm not entirely sure about this definition, or the sentence. If it's wrong please let me know!

Thanks for reading as always! ^^ じゃね！

Word of the Day 19 - 誤って

誤って（あやまって/ayamatte）means "in error; by mistake; by accident."

A: ジョイちゃん！これは何！
B: 誤ってでした。。。
(A: Joi chan! kore wa nani!
B: ayamatte deshita...)
A: Joy! What is this!
B: It was an accident...

Word of the Day 18 - 違う

違う（ちがう/chigau）means to be different, or to vary. It can also mean to not match the correct answer, or to be different from promised.

I've heard this word as an exclamation of "You're wrong!" as well.

A: この鳥がロビンですね？
B: 違うよ！あの鳥がアオカケスです。
(A: kono tori ga robin desu ne?
B: chigau yo! ano tori ga aokakesu desu.)
A: This bird is a robin, right?
B: You're wrong! That bird is a Blue Jay.

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Interesting story, my book "501 Japanese Verbs" romanized 違う as "tigau." I think that it's a fairly old book so they may have been using the Ministry of Education's (MOE) style of romanizing Japanese. It's a style that doesn't actually represent the spoken sounds. According to the book I'm reading currently, "Japanese Step by Step: An Innovative Approach to Speaking and Reading Japanese" by Gene Nishi, the style of romanization that we mainly use now is the Hepburn style which represents how the syllables actually sound.

I thought it was interesting. ^^ Anyways, thanks so much for reading!!! ありがとうございます！じゃね！

Word of the Day 17 - 起きる

起きる（おきる/okiru）means to get up, rise, or to wake up. It can also mean to occur (usually not so great incidents.)

ジョイ！起きなさい！
(Joi! okinasai!)
Joy! Get up!

でもでも。。。つかれたー。。。
(demo demo... tsukareta.../but but... I'm so tired...)

Word of the Day Postponed

みんなさん、こんにちは。

Hello everyone. There wasn't a word of the day yesterday. I'm really sorry about that.

Unfortunately I won't be doing a word of the day today as well. I haven't been sleeping well, so I haven't been able to focus on studying much.

Hopefully I will be able to continue the word of the day series of posts tomorrow. That's what I'm hoping for, so until then, じゃね！

Word of the Day 16 - 踊り

踊り（おどり/odori）means "dance."

私は踊りが好きです。
(watashi wa odori ga suki desu.)
I like dancing.

Word of the Day 15 - 雨勝ち

雨勝ち（あめがち/amegachi）means "rainy."

今日は雨勝ちでした。
(kyou wa amegachi deshita.)
Today was rainy.

でもでも、今日は雨勝ちじゃない。
(demo demo, kyou wa amegachi jyanai. But but, today it wasn't rainy. (rough translation))

はいはい。はんれいです。
(hai hai. hanrei desu. yes yes. it's an example. (also rough translation))

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I need to practice a lot more, but that's our word for today! ^^

I hope it helps! As always, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!

バイバイ！

Word of the Day 14 - あそく

あそく (asoku) means "late."

このポストがあそくでした。
(kono posuto ga asoku deshita.)
This post was late.

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It's after midnight, but I don't feel tired yet...
Sorry for the late post. ^^

Thanks for reading! <3

Word of the Day 13 - 音楽家

An 音楽家（おんがくか/ongakuka） is a musician.

Laura Shigihara が音楽家です。私は彼女の音楽が好きです！
(Laura Shigihara ga ongakuka desu. watashi wa kanojo no ongaku ga suki desu!)
Laura Shigihara is a musician. I like her music!

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Thanks for reading! じゃね！

Word of the Day 12 - 疲れきる

疲れきる（つかれきる/tsukarekiru）means to be exhausted, or to be tired out.

I'm more familiar with this word in the expression 疲れた。。。(tsukareta...) "I'm so tired..."

みんなさんの勉強がんばってをください！じゃ！

Word of the Day 11 - 暑い

暑い（あつい/ atsui）is the word for hot weather or a warm temperature.

この夏が暑いですね。
(kono natsu ga atsui desu ne.)
This summer is hot isn't it.

It's so hot I don't want to do anything....................... ^^;
じゃね

Word of the Day 10 - 夏

夏（なつ/natsu）is the Japanese word for the season of summer.

Where I am, it's been warmer than normal, a sure sign of summer.

Thinking about summer though, It reminded me that in June two years ago I started this blog. I started it because I wanted to practice Japanese and help people learn like the people I followed at the time. It was a time of ambition on my part, even though I didn't really know enough to try to help others learn. I hope that I've come farther on my journey of language learning, and I hope that I have been able to help others as I have been helped by others.

I apologize for my grammar in advance. ^^

みんなさん、この夏がすごいをしてみましょう！
(minna san, kono natsu ga sugoi wo shite mimashou!)
Everyone, let's make this summer great!

Word of the Day 9 - 煮える

煮える（にえる/nieru）means "to boil; to cook; to be cooked."

私は晩ご飯にチーリーを煮る。
(watashi wa bangohan ni chiri wo niru.)
I cook Chili for dinner.

(I really am cooking Chili for dinner too, and I'm so hungryyyyyyyy... >.<)

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Soso, what are you having for dinner? Are you cooking?
I want to learn to cook Japanese food too. Unfortunately, I'm bad at cooking, so I have a long ways to go still. ^^

Anyways, I hope that today's word helped!

Please correct me if I've made mistakes!

Thanks for reading! :)

じゃね！

Word of the Day 8 - 山

山（やま/yama）is the word for "mountain."

The sentence for today is a Japanese proverb.

塵も積もれば、山となる。
(chiri mo tsumoreba, yama to naru.)

Even dust, when piled up, will become a mountain.

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Thank you for reading!!!

ありがとうございます！じゃね！

Word of the Day 7 - 真のとも

真のとも  （しんのとも / shinnotomo）means "true friend."

(where I saw it, it used the kanji for とも which is 友 as in 友だち (tomodachi, "friend"))

真のともが本当にかっこいいです！
(sinnotomo ga hontouni kakkoii desu!)
True friends are really cool!

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Hope you liked today's word! If I made mistakes let me know! ^^

Thanks so much for reading!
A lot of people have been viewing my blog lately, I'm so happy!!!
どもありがとうございます！！！
I'll try and make this blog helpful! がんばります！
じゃね！<3

Word of the Day 6 - 教えてくん

教えてくん　（おしえてくん / oshietekun）

教えてくん means "someone who asks for answers without looking them up for himself/herself first."

たまには私が教えてくんです。
(tamani wa watashi ga oshietekun desu.)
Sometimes, I am an Oshietekun.
(Sometimes, I am a person who asks for answers without looking them up for myself.)

It's true. :p

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As always, please let me know if I made mistakes! I'm just learning!

I hope that these words help! XD I have fun with them! ^^

Thanks for reading! ありがとう！じゃね！

Word of the Day 5

I'm doing this one a bit differently than the last few ones. The word I wanted to do today is "hungry."

So, I went on Denshi Jisho like I always do to look up words I'm not familiar with (which, by the way, is where the definitions I'm using come from because it's an awesome resource) and there are a lot of words to do with hunger. So today I'm going to include some of the extra words and phrases that I think are useful to know. Here we go!

腹をすかす　（はらをすかす / harawosukasu ）means "to be hungry."

"To become hungry" is 腹が減る　（はらがへる / haragaheru）

And finally, to say "I'm hungry" is 腹減った　（はらへった / harahetta）

The kanji 腹（はら）has to do with the stomach or abdomen, that's why it's in each of these words/phrases.

Well, I hope that you thought this was as interesting as I did! Thanks for reading! じゃね！

(Last thing! たべもの (tabemono) is the word for food! ^^)

Word of the Day 4

辛抱　（しんぼう / shinbou）

辛抱 means "patience; endurance."

(Once again, I'm not familiar with these kanji, so I will be using the hiragana in the sentence.)

しんぼうもってください。
(shinbou motte kudasai.)
Please have patience.

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I hope this helps in your studies! ^^
If I made mistakes in my grammar or translation, please let me know!

Thank you for reading my blog! ありがとうございます！じゃね！

Word of the Day 3

楽観的（らっかんてき / rakkanteki）

楽観的 means "optimistic; hopeful."

(Because I can't read the kanji very well yet, I'm going to be using the hiragana in the sentence.)

あなたのおいさきがらっかんてきです。
(anata no oisaki ga rakkanteki desu.)
Your future is hopeful.

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Well, I'm pretty sure this sentence has atrocious grammar; like, worse than my other sentences. ^^;
Any advice is greatly appreciated!
I hope that these words help in your studies, and I'll write again really soon!
じゃね！

Word of the Day 2

きがかつ (kigakatsu)

きがかつ means "to be determined or strong-willed."

私は、なるようにしようきがかつ。
(watashi wa, naru you ni shiyou kigakatsu.)
I will try to be determined/strong-willed. (general translation)

Once again, if I've made a mistake, please point it out to me! I appreciate it! :)

^^ Thank you for reading! ありがとうございます！
I'll see you again soon I hope! じゃね！

Word of the Day 1

おおせる (ooseru)

おおせる means "to succeed in doing."

みんなが日本語を勉強します。私たちがおおせるでしょう！
minna ga nihongo wo benkyou shimasu. watashitachi ga ooseru deshiyou!
Everyone is studying Japanese. We will succeed!

I really hope that this helps you in your studies! ^^
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As always, please feel free to correct my mistakes, I'm just learning as well and I appreciate the help!

Thank you for reading my blog, it's been so long since I've posted anything, things have been busy for me in a way.

Also, thank you Rosa, your comment recently reminded me of my blog and how I've neglected it for a while. どおもありがとうございます！

みんあさん、ありがとうございます！じゃね！^^

こんばんは (konbanwa)

みんなさん、こんばんは！
お元気ですか？あたし？あたしは元気です。
あたしはジョイです。これはあたしのブログ。いらっしゃい！

minna san, konbanwa!
ogenki desu ka? atashi? atashi wa genki desu.
atashi wa joi desu. kore wa atashi no burogu. irasshai!

Everyone, good evening!
How are you? (Are you well?) Me? I'm well.
I'm Joy. This is my blog. Welcome!

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So, I thought I'd try to introduce myself in 日本語(Japanese) today... I wonder how it is. Did I mess up? If you know, please tell me!

I'm going to try to start doing a "word of the day" tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes! ^-^

みんなさん、読んでくれてありがとう！(minna san, yonde kurete arigatou)
Thanks for reading!

Word of the day

For my own sake, I've been thinking of increasing my Japanese vocabulary by learning a few words a day, and then I thought that it might be good to post on my blog here as a way of keeping myself accountable.

Would a word a day help? Would you learn a word or two a day with me? Let me know! ^-^

Even if no one really cares for the idea, I may just do it for myself. But if other people could benefit from it as well, that would be great!

Listen

みんなさん、こんにちは。(minna san, konnichiwa)
Hello!

One of the things that I have heard everywhere I have looked for tips on how to learn a language is this:
Listen to real people speaking the language.

I've been trying to listen to spoken Japanese a lot more lately, so I'd like to share some of the things that I try to watch and listen to. (note, pretty much all of these are from Youtube. I was going to add another site that's not Youtube, but it had been I while since I went there and so I wasn't sure if they still had as much Japanese as I remembered them having.)

First is Twin Planet Channel. I found this because of DANCEROID's leader (Ikura-san) as well as their former member Kozue-san. The talking in the videos is really fast, and I can't understand a lot of what they say, but listening to how words are said and the pace of the language has helped me a lot and I can understand more now that I could when I first started watching.

Second, ジェット☆ダイスケ (jetdaisuke). I found his channel on Youtube a long time ago thanks to another Youtuber that I follow, Ciaela. When I started watching his videos, he talked about a lot of techie stuff (computers and such which I'm interested in) and also food. I haven't had a lot of time to watch many videos on Youtube lately because of school and homework, but I think he still does a lot of that.
Since he's a guy, I like to hear how he speaks because guys and girls have differences in some of the words they use and such. I don't want to be able to only understand what girls say, I want to understand what guys say as well.

You know, Jetdaisuke and Ciaela have a whole group of friends on Youtube that I follow, so if you look at the people they make videos with or who they subscribe to (in some cases) you'd be pretty well off for listening to Japanese for a while. Just in case you don't want to go looking through their videos though, I'll put a couple of them here:
Afternoon no Hirusagari, JyuusanKaidan, mimei, PDSKabushikiGaisha.

Outside of the circle of Youtubers in Japan that I follow, there's Grace and Hannah in England who speak in Japanese quite a bit. They really inspire me to study Japanese more because they're both younger than me and already they speak Japanese so much better than I do.

This post is a lot longer than I had intended, I'm sorry it's so long! And I know that there's a lot more good online sources out there for listening materials, these are just the places I go to listen to Japanese when I have time between going to classes and homework/studying and spending time with friends.

Thanks so much for reading this! I'll write again soon!

Say it out loud!

In learning a language, I've found that it's all well and good to be able to read the characters and understand what's written, but you'll never be able to communicate if you don't say the words.

Say the words out loud to a mirror or a stuffed animal (or if you're bolder than me to a friend or family member).

You'll never get any better if you don't use the words you are learning and say them out loud.

Failed Ambitions? Or a lesson learned.

One of my goals last year was to study Japanese as much as I could and become as fluent in the language as I could become in a year.

Unfortunately, I must admit that I did not study Japanese much at all last year. And I must admit that I feel like I'm still where I started at the beginning of last year.

Instead of deciding that I should rush in and study until my mind is numb, why is it that I do not simply enjoy the process of learning and discovery and take slower steps on my path to fluency. I think that the better goal in language learning is to go at the pace you are comfortable with and enjoy the journey as much as possible.