Spanish Vocab List - El Bosque De La Bruja / The Witch’s Forest

saturday, march 6 • a february recap & march setup

my march bullet journal spread was inspired by my recent feb-cover-up situation 👀 because i’m actually quite liking the additional pOP! of color that i can add into my bujo with the random construction paper i have lying around uwu but ya dis an overview of my spreads that i made in a 10pm-dimly-lit-tired-trance last weekend hAHaha

also im not sure of where to take photos now in my new apt (i miss my old room’s lighting during golden hour ft. the nice flowy curtains), but i’ll figure it out this is small potatoes u know what i’m sayin’

Korean Webtoon Recommendations

Hey guys, I wanted to make another recommendation post for those looking for more Korean language resources. Some of these may be good for beginners but I think many intermediate learners will find these more useful. Anyways, here are some webtoons you can find on Naver Webtoon:

독립일기 This webtoon is about the trials and tribulations of the narrator trying to live on their own for the first time since graduating from college. A humorous commentary on trying to be a functioning adult– I think many of us can relate. It’s also useful to learn everyday vocabulary required to live on one’s own

드로잉 레시피 A quiet commentary on life and loss, Eunsoo travels to her late mother’s hideaway in the countryside and begins to reflect on her and her mother’s lives. Sketch-like drawings of gardens and flowers make reading pleasant and entertaining and dialogue is uncomplicated.

판타지 여동생! High schooler Eungjung begins to feel left out by her peers who all are crazy for video games. Her older brother gives her the latest MMORPG for her birthday, and on a bet, she sets out to master the game. Fun fantasy characters and video game vocab keep reading exciting.

범이올시다! One day, young Bangshil brings home a baby tiger. His grandmother forbids him from keeping it but somehow, the tiger keeps managing to find his way back into their home. While the dialogue is fairly basic, this webtoon is set in the Joseon era, so readers should be aware that some vocab and grammar is not current, but fun to learn.

정년이 Another period piece, this webtoon is set in 1956. This story is about Jeongnyeon, a young woman with nothing to her name but a singing voice. She dreams of making it big as a theater actor in Seoul. It begins in Mokpo, so those interested in Jeollanam satoori will enjoy, but for those not used to it, it can make understanding a bit more confusing. I also personally really love the artwork of this webtoon.

유미의 세포들 I have recommended this webtoon before, and I do so again, because it remains a great one. As Yumi navigates life, the audience gets a special look inside her brain at the hardworking cells that control her emotions and decisions. Dialogue is fairly uncomplicated so beginners may also find enjoyment here.

백수세끼 Lastly, 백수세끼, a fun play on words (can you guess what it is?) recalls the story of one couple’s relationship, as it starts and ends, through food. Where did it go wrong, what changed? Accompanied by delicious illustrations of food, natural conversations of young adults unfold.

I hope this was helpful! What are your favorite webtoons? Let me know!

15|07|2020

Day 3 of My Summer Studying Challenge!

✨ 15th July ✨ Do you have a specific goal for this summer?

i think a lot of it is just to get my work done and get in a really good place for my uni application because it is coming up very soon and i have quite high aspirations for university!!!! 

managed to grab a nice spot in my school’s library before i went for training!

today's adhd sidequest: spent way too much time making a minecraft experience/hotbar template for study purposes (hey at least i kept it relevant)

the armor/health/hunger doesn't really correspond to anything (i only filled them in because my printer ran out of color ink) so it's mostly just for aesthetics

i didn't know what to do for level number (also purely aesthetic) so i just went with my age, 23

the hotbar has blank spaces for me to draw what i'm using to study that day! so here i have my laptop, my visual timer, my notebook, my pen(s), my snack (goldfish crackers), and a bottle of water

the experience bar has 17 segments so i broke my assigned reading into 17 goals by page number (listed below). as i reach each specified page i'll fill in one segment of the experience bar. when it's full i'll have finished!

right now i'm just using this for my reading assignments since they tend to drag on for a while and get boring. but i'm going to try to use it for other types of assignments too!

i'm not sure if anyone will see this post since this is a pretty new blog and i don't have any followers yet but if anyone would like me to post the blank template or if you have any ideas about improving it please let me know!

September 21 2017

Some of the MUJI notebooks I painted this summer; it’s bittersweet that I have to go back to UCLA soon and can’t paint any more until winter break :c

Beginner Japanese Resources

I’ve seen quite a lot of these going around, and have definitely taken quite a few pages out of their books, but I thought I had some bookmarks I’d like everyone to know more about, even if they already did. ^^ If you think something is wrong, or know something is wrong, then please tell me!

g r a m m a r 

Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese Grammar (easy acquaintance with grammar, but not much in-depth)

IMABI (best free grammar resource but too much information for beginners, or so it’s said. still very helpful.)

Tim’s Takamatsu/ Tim Sensei’s Corner (also good. i heard of someone who printed out the older website and got fluent in Japanese with this, so it’s probably worth checking out)

Dictionaries of Japanese Grammar (hands down the best grammar resource, bit pricey or you could just download these PDFs).

Bunpro (good for interactive grammar studies, free until may 10 and there’s a one month free trial for subscription after that)

g r a m m a r / b l o g s

Japanese Ammo (native speaker and tutor’s blog, she also has a Youtube channel here)

Maggie-Sensei (grammar articles are a bit mismatched but good for little references)

Tofugu (probably the best culture and resources blog I’ve come across. a must.)

Romy-sensei (Japanese teacher, blog is VERY helpful)

DJT Guide (for a beginner outlook on how to start and where, named because of the daily japanese thread that I don’t have too much information on but it’s a daily thread where people learning japanese shared resources/ progress/ motivational whatevers)

i n t e r a c t i v e  l e a r n i n g

Delvin Language (shows clips and asks you to identify what’s spoken. Very good for listening and you can slow them down, though use that sparingly. kinda spammy tho.)

Japanese Class (found this a few years ago, but it’s a gamified site that helps you learn vocabulary with regular exposure. recommended.)

Japanese in Anime and Manga (for fellow otakus. a bit hard for me to navigate, but it’s along a similar vein as the above site. offered in spanish, chinese, korean and french, besides english.)

Erin’s Challenge (recommended for upper beginners, or lower intermediates, but there’s a lot to do now as well! very good for listening and reading- with transcripts and subtitles- in the form of a school life role-play. offered in quite a few other languages.)

Duolingo (not a lot of information, nor is it very in-depth. good for dabbling in, maybe. try the website, not the app, if you really want to use it.)

LingoDeer (BEST app for learning the language. You could do a lot on it alone, and it can probably take you up to a little above N5, but don’t keep using it standalone for long! also offers chinese, korean and now vietnamese!)

t e x t b o o k s

TextFugu (tofugu’s online textbook, made specifically for self-study, though it works good in conjunction with classes and tuition)

Genki (widely used, most recommended by people)

Minna no Nihongo (also very popular. some consider it better than genki.)

Japanese for Busy People (especially if you’re a little short on time)

Japanese for Everyone (generally good reviews, with a lot of vocabulary - an estimated 2500 maybe? convert djvu to pdf to use.)

k a n j i (course books)

Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Course aka KKLC (a kanji learning course with vocabulary in it.)

Remembering the Kanji (aka the acclaimed ‘Japanese learner’s beginning holy grail’. but it totally depends upon what you’d prefer tbh. can make you recognise kanji and what they could stand for, but that’s about it.)

Kanji Damage (aka remember 1700 Kanji with offensive yo mama jokes. ridiculous? hilariously, it does work for some.)

WaniKani (people swear by this. you can try out the first three levels to see the magic, even if you don’t think it’s your style.)

l i s t e n i n g

mykikitori (for Genki 1 apparently)

Japanese Pod 101 (a good online course in itself, but the podcasts are the most helpful of the lot. @lovelybluepanda has made them available here.)

o t h e r s

DJT Resources (sub-link of DJT Guide but probably has all the Japanese resources you could ever want!)

Nihongo e Na (more resources, probably worth checking out)

Nihongo Resources (along a similar vein with the purpose in its name)

Jakka (the site is entirely in Japanese, but it has kanji for grade school, broken up appropriately)

Happy Lilac (kind of the same as above with kanji stroke order practice material, meant for Japanese children)

This may be repeated, because similar, if not the exact same, resources in DJT are categorised neatly here. @lovelybluepanda again.

check more masterposts, some of which have been compiled here by @languagesandshootingstars

日本語の森 (Nihongo no Mori) (Good Youtube videos for beginners and advanced learners alike! They even have their lessons separated by JLPT levels!)

While that’s it for all the Japanese resources I feel do not go around a lot now, I did compile some points Japanese beginners might be doubtful in and what I had found from my own research. 

Genki or Minna no Nihongo?

Minna no Nihongo has more vocabulary (2100-2200 for 初級 levels i.e. the beginner books) while Genki boasts a little lesser (1700 for genki 1+2). Minna no Nihongo has allegedly more grammar coverage ( 〜ように、〜ために- used in native speech). However, the book is entirely in Japanese (there is a separate book for English explanations) and there is a separate book for Kanji too. The Answer Key is at the back of the book, unlike Genki which has a separate Answer Key. 

Genki is said to be more beginner-friendly than Minna no Nihongo, but if you put your mind to it, you can do either tbh. Just choose any book and stick with it!

** If you’re planning to study in Japan anytime, remember that Japanese teachers usually use Minna no Nihongo. But better do your research as well. 

Kanji?

Everyone can put in all the work they like in Kanji, but at the end of the day, Kanji is not the only thing about Japanese. You can totally use Anki or Quizlet or Memrise to drill it in, maybe even make your own flashcards and put in extra work! But to really get fluent in the language, talking to native speakers (helpful guide by @jibunstudies) is very important. Even if you don’t fully understand what they’re saying, you acquire more vocabulary and will get the nuance of basic sentences! And you get friends too, if you’re lucky!

Just for reference and no pressure, here’s the general requirement to pass JLPT levels, if you’re ever planning to take them!

Level  Kanji Vocabulary  Listening               Hours of Study N5     ~100   ~800         Beginner                 150 (estimated) N4     ~300   ~1,500        Basic                     300 (estimated) N3     ~650   ~3,750     Lower Intermediate 450 (estimated) N2     ~1000 ~6,000     Intermediate           600 (estimated) N1     ~2000 ~10,000   Advanced               900 (estimated)

(… yeah, that looks way better on a computer ok.) Remember, estimated doesn’t mean it will take you that much time exactly. Everyone learns differently! And ‘talent’ can be overcome by enough hard work so  ファイト!

頑張れ !

my masterpost | my studygram | ask me anything

[click images for high quality]

[transcript under the cut]

Other advice posts that may be of interest:

How To Study When You Really Don’t Want To

Active Revision Techniques

How to Revise BIG Subjects

The OSCAR Revision Model

The Diffuse Mode of Thinking

Keep reading

[042118]

🎧 — lovely // billie eilish & khalid

so we didn’t all die on the eighteenth? cant say im not disappointed

Japanese Reading Resources for Absolute Beginners

A question I encounter often is "How much Japanese should I study before I can begin reading in Japanese?"

From my experience as a learner and reader myself and from managing a Japanese book club for other learners I can honestly say that you can start way earlier than you probably think!

There are many resources that only require knowing hiragana. Those texts usually teach vocabulary through pictures and only use basic grammar.

Some are even simpler than that: The Japan Foundation's Hiragana Books are great for those, who are still remembering hiragana characters. Every short book introduces only 1-2 new characters, so it's a great reading exercise for those who've just started.

The free graded reader 「どうぞ、どうも」 by the NPO Tagengo Tadoku only uses the words 「どうぞ」 and 「どうも」 to write an entire story. Again, this makes for a great exercise in reading hiragana and understanding context. Another "level 0" recommendation by the same NPO would definitely be 「しろい？くろい？」. This book uses the full range of hiragana characters but the grammar is simple and all used vocabulary is illustrated.

Another site with great resources for absolute beginners is Nihongo Tadoku Dōjō. If you have memorized both hiragana and katakana and know how the particles を and で work you will be able to read this text about stationary (ぶんぼうぐ) and understand everything by looking at the pictures!

The resources linked so far can all be accessed completely free on the linked websites. If you have the money to spare, please also have a look at the box 「スタート」 from the series reberubetsu nihongo tadoku raiburarī published by the NPO Tagengo Tadoku and ASK (affiliate link). This box includes 8 little books in very simple Japanese.

All these texts for absolute beginners will get you started reading in Japanese with very little knowledge of characters and vocabulary.

Reading in Japanese is a skill that requires practice. But once you get used to it, it can be such a valuable tool to reinforce new vocabulary and grammar. So please don't wait until you're "ready" before you start reading - start early at your own level!