Like Valentine’s day and Christmas, Halloween has recently started gaining popularity in Japan, something which could be completely expected if thinking about some of monster folklore that’s popular in Japanese culture. 日本の古来の文化を紐解いていくと、日本にハロウィンが定着したのは当然だ。 When you take …
Skritter 2.0: Building a better character teaching tool
Since its inception Skitter has been a fantastic tool for character review and retention. The blank canvas of each writing prompt is a wonderful execution of the active recall principle–stimulating memory recall during the character …
すげぇ！ Slang in Japanese
To master a language, slang eventually becomes part of the equation. It’s important to be familiar with what’s used, even if you don’t plan on using it– that way you aren’t left in the dark …
Hacking the most difficult Chinese characters (7-9)
We all have some characters that just refuse to stick and that we keep forgetting over and over. The best way of learning tricky characters in Chinese is to deal with them decisively. For more …
Which stroke order is correct? Does it matter?
In my previous article about stroke order, we looked at why learning correct stroke order is a good idea. In this follow-up article, we’re going to discuss what “correct” stroke order means anyway. Remember that …
Kanji Amnesia: The fall of handwriting in Japan
With the prevalent use of computers in Japan, especially cellphones, the “evolutionary need” to write kanji by hand is steadily declining. It’s not uncommon for a Japanese person to whip out their cellphone when they …
Why it’s important to learn correct stroke order for Chinese characters
I still remember what it was like learning my first few Chinese characters. One of the things I kept asking myself was if it really mattered which order I wrote all those strokes! The end …
Mandarin tone changes in Skritter
As you probably know already, the tones in Mandarin sometimes change their pronunciation depending on the tone of the following syllable. This is called tone sandhi. The basic rules are simple, but it’s very important …
Easily confused Japanese characters
Many kanji have subtle differences that may be confused or not noticed, especially if they are printed or written small, and even more so if you happen to have studied reading kanji but not writing …
Hacking the Most Difficult Chinese Characters (4-6)
What are some of the most difficult Chinese characters? We all have some characters that just refuse to stick and that we keep forgetting over and over. The best way of learning tricky characters in …