Teaching English In Japan – What Every Newbie Should Know

Photo by gwaar on Flickr

If you’re considering moving to Japan to teach English, you’re about to embark on a huge adventure. You’ll experience a culture that’s unlike anything you’ve ever experienced and also make good money in the process. It may be a little scary because you don’t know what to expect, but this is a path that’s been trodden by many before you, so don’t worry. There are just a few things to keep in mind.

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Japanese Phrase Book Review

Photo by JoeBenjamin on Flickr

A well put together phrase book can be a life saver for any traveller. While getting to know a few key words and expressions in Japanese is always recommended, before long you’ll find yourself venturing far outside your comfort zone, and that’s where a good Japanese phrasebook is worth its weight in gold.

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Japanese Idiom: To drop thunder

Photo by Richard Elzey on Flickr

Our Japanese idiom this week is a fun one. If you’re looking to blow off some steam in Japanese try dropping some thunder! Read on for all the detail about this Japanese idiom.

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Japanese Idiom: As small as a cat’s forehead

Photo by Tomi Tapio on Flickr

As part of our new updating schedule we’re going to try to do major posts on Tuesdays and a minor post on Fridays. Fridays will be dedicated to news and interesting facts about Japan and the Japanese language. Today we’re going to look a fun Japanese idiom to describe a very small area.

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Learning Japanese with iKnow

I take a very casual approach to my learning Japanese. Previously I would study like mad and then go into a language learning depression when I began to feel like I wasn’t making any progress. Now I take a much more relaxed pace.

One service than I’ve been really enjoying is iKnow. Let’s take a look at it.

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How to Talk like a Samurai

I found this post over at Tofugu on how to talk like a samurai. I got a kick out of it and decided to try it out with our Japanese friend who was visiting.

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Learn Japanese Over Skype

While we were in Japan I came to the realization that my Japanese comprehension really sucked. So after getting back the search was on for some local Japanese conversation lessons. As it turned out, there was absolutely nothing within a 2 hour radius of where I live. So it was off to the Internet to save the day.

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Saying How Old You Are in Japanese

Age can be a touchy subject no matter where you live. In Japan it was once considered quite rude to ask someone their age. Of course, before our last trip, I told my wife about this, but she proceeded to ask people anyway :)

The Japanese don’t seem to have as big a hang up of asking foreigners there age, however. So how do you reply in Japanese when someone asks how old you are?

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Point-And-Speak Japanese Phrasebook

During our recent road trip we were able to meet with a wonderful Japanese girl from Shizuoka (near Tokyo). I even had a chance to try out my limited Japanese words. She said I came across very polite, so I guess that’s good :)

While we we’re visiting she brought out a Japanese point-and-speak phrasebook and gave it to us a gift. The book is a great reference and it covers a lot of situations a first time traveler may run into.

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How to say “Sorry” in Japanese

There is an old joke that if you want a Canadian to say he’s sorry you just have to step on his foot. Now while that may be surprisingly accurate, you’ll probably find yourself saying sorry as much as a Canadian when you visit Japan.

From stepping on feet to bumping around in the subway, saying “excuse me” or “sorry” will be probably one of your most used words other than “thank you”. So let’s learn how to say it!

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