ang.diwata

Haruki Murakami is one of my favorite authors too. You should try checking Norwegian Wood and Kafka on the Shore. Those two are my favorites among his works.

Wow, that's so cool! I'm planning to visit the shrines there, since I'm curious with them. And ride the shinkansen. Then probably go to Shibuya, too, to visit Hachiko's statue. I also want to go cherry blosom viewing. That's probably one of the main reasons why I want to go to Japan. Haha. I don't have an itinerary yet, though. Can you suggest places that I could visit?

I prefer the subbed version than the dubbed ones. If you're learning Japanese, subbed versions are better for picking up new vocabulary. Also, it helps with getting the proper pronunciation and intonation.

I am studying Japanese through www.nihongomaster.com. It's a good website, complete with quizzes, that can help in memorizing the writing systems and some vocabulary.

I learned hiragana and katakana by downloading loads of practice sheets from several websites offering free downloads of japanese-related resources. I also downloaded hiragana and katakana chart from the web, and pinned it in my wall, so I could see it everyday, and be able to memorize it faster.

When I was studying Katakana and Hiragana, I find the former easier since, I think it has more of sharp edges, unlike Hiragana, which in my opinion, have a lot of curves. There are several confusing characters though, when the two systems are compared side-by-side. Like 'ka' for example.

Thanks! This cleared things up a bit! I would really like to learn when one or the other is used, since I'm planning to go to Japan later this year, and I'm thinking it would be nice if I'd be able to speak their language while I'm visiting the country.

Thanks for these! Can certainly use these for practice!

I have memorized all hiragana characters, together with the dakuten, handakuten and yoon characters. The same goes with katakana. For all these, I learned that katakana is easier to write than hiragana, although more confusing. However, I'm still fairly confused on when to use hiragana and when to use katakana. Both writing systems consists of the same syllables. Can't I just write in pure hiragana or pure katakana? [i've just started with the kanjis so, I don't have questions yet for that one]

I have read a lot of manga through the years, that I had become picky on what I read, and dropped some of the mangas on my watchlist even though I have followed them for quite a long time, since, most of the releases are just pure fan service, and sometimes the story had turned from good to mediocre. The ongoing mangas I'm following right now, for shoujo, is Skip Beat! even if the monthly releases are a pain for being such a cliffhanger, and Kimi Ni Todoke. For completed shounen mangas, I like Slam Dunk, Death Note and Sword Art Online. For ongoing series, there's Ao No Exorcist, and Beelzebub for me. And, Hajime No Ippo.

I love Haruki Murakami! He's one of the reasons I wanted to learn Japanese, aside from my love for mangas and animes. I've read Jay Rubin's translation of Norwegian Wood, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Kafka on the Shore, and I really like them. But I really would like to read them in their original form since I know there are a lot of things that can be lost in translation, and some translators are pretty liberal with their translations that nuances are lost in the process, that I may have understood the story differently than what the author had intended.

Hi everyone from around the world! I am from the Philippines. In my spare time, I study anything related to the Japanese language, history and culture. When I was in college, I studied both Mandarin and Spanish for my foreign language class. I learned Spanish well enough to understand it when it's written, but not well enough to start a conversation. However, I still find Mandarin hard. Lastly, because of my love for Korean dramas, I'm also planning to learn Korean language.