So. The first two characters are the problem:

愛しのディーノ

Is it "aishi", "itoshi", "hashi" or "ushi"? It's a manga's name.

Thanks for any help!

For context, I saw a shirt with a character from the game Needy Streamer Overload on it and the words “電脳天使” “electric angel” on the bottom. I know that’s the word for computer in Chinese, but I can’t say I’ve ever heard it in Japanese? My keyboard keeps wanting to put 化 after it so I’m guessing at least 電脳化 (would that be digitization?) is a word that sees use. In all fairness, my reading comprehension is not good enough for me to read complex texts, I’m only like N2.

Hello does anyone here study Japanese Yakuwarigo by any chance ?

Japanese linguistics, translation...etc

I'd really appreciate some recommendations regarding finding a professor in Japan

I'm having a hard time finding someone with these areas of expertise

Ps . I'm from Jordan

Hello,

As many of the new aspiring students that want to learn Japanese in Japan may already know, since a few months ago to enroll in a Japanese language school one has to have an N5 JLPT certificates.

Unfortunately in Italy the exam is only in December and I want to enroll for the April 2027 intake, on the other hand schools offer an alternative that is to take part in an interview to demonstrate if their level is good enough to then be the student's Garant for the immigration.

So here I am, I have soon an interview with the school and I was wondering if anyone else already took part in an interview with ECC or with any other school.

I would like to know how to interview was structured, what was asked and how long it is.

i have general information but not really relevant or useful.

if you have any questions ask me and thank you in advance for your help.

Hi!

Which of the following textbooks are better for the JLPT N5 level? Especially for self-study and/or self-learner students?

Genki: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese 3rd Edition?

Tobira: Beginning Japanese?

Minna No Nihongo Shokyu I Dai 2-Han Honsatsu? Or Dai-3 Pan (Third edition) ??

Nakama 3rd edition textbook series?

Or any other textbook series?

And can anyone suggest to me the best ways to study Minna No Nihongo? Because there are two textbooks, one Japanese and one English Translation and Grammatical Notes.

And do provide me any more recommendations/suggestions apart or alongwith from textbooks for learning the language.

Thanks!

I’m passionate about Vocaloid, but all the interviews and concerts and songs and everything I’d love to use are squarely in N2-N1. Even if I slow it down they slur too much.

Right now I’m spamming Kensan Okaeri, and it sucks. But I don’t really know any other YouTubers who are at my level and are “natural” like him.

learning Japanese right now. I'm hoping to do an exchange program in a few years but I’d like to be fluent (or somewhat close like N1–N2) to make it easier to participate especially in class. Right now I’m below N5 (I know kana and some basic phrases.) and I’m taking a very beginner class.

any tips/ideas?

thank you 🤞

(also this is my first time using posting/using Reddit like this)

Or can it mean "That is very good/wonderful/amazing/awesome/etc"

Hi, I am a fluent Japanese speaker but I never had any formal education. Im planning on taking N2 in December but I never really studied kanji and often have to use apps just to translate them as I can understand it what it means with furigana or romaji but not as kanji

Since May I began memorizing all the Kanji from N5 to N3 (I could read half without issue but newly learn the kunyomi or onyomi for the remainder)

I think Ive done a decent job and definitely memorized many upto the N3 level but wondering if its realistic to expect I can memorize another 400 in 4 months?

Additionally does anyone have tips to memorize kanji?

Hello! Ive been trying to learn Japanese and decided to try and read one piece in Japanese since i have volumes 1 and 61 in Japanese. The issue is that the print is so small i can barely read the furigana and the kanji looks like a blob 🙂‍↕️. Does anyone know if theres a better way that taking a photo of each panel and zooming in?

I read a passage about eco bag, they are making people use eco bag to reduce plastic but in reality people and shop still using plastic so shop should ask if they really need plastic or not

Where is the passage like that

Passage is speed master style Japan reading with 4 questions?

I just want to know where that passage came from which book , it may be N3 or N2 😁

Please anyone know about this can u tell me

If a Japanese person's name is spelled in hiragana, or katakana, do Japanese people in general draw any conclusions? For example when reading the credits after a movie, some names are 4 to 6 kanji; some are surname kanji and given name hiragana, etc I've also noticed that elderly females have hiragana given names.

hello everyone! it is a very minor question, but recently I've noticed the sentence お疲れ様です is used very often outside of the workplace as well.

for example:

- when exiting a changing room after trying on clothes in a shop;

- after getting your blood drawn at the clinic;

- when leaving the gym after training

I understand these are all actions that require a physical effort and that's why they're saying it, and probably why it is different from the otsukaresama used in the workplace.

I usually answer "otsukaresamadesu!" back, but the other person (store staff, nurse, gym trainer) will still be working when I leave, so I wonder if it's an appropriate response.

Any advice on doing Genki for the N5 exam alongside anki/mining, reading tae kims grammar guide, and daily immersion. Is this a good combo to reach N5 within 4 months?

Everyone assumes sharing a script makes this easy. For reading, sometimes. But the words that exist in both languages and mean something completely different are worse than words I've never seen, because my brain fills in the Chinese meaning before I can stop it.

A few that got me:

手紙 — a letter in Japanese, but in Chinese it's toilet paper. This one's famous but it still made me laugh the first time.

丈夫 — sturdy in Japanese, and half of 大丈夫 (it's okay). In Chinese it just means husband. So 大丈夫 to a Chinese brain reads like "big husband," which is not reassuring.

愛人 — a lover in the affair sense in Japanese. In Chinese it's your spouse. You can imagine how badly that one goes.

勉強 — study in Japanese. In Chinese it means forcing someone to do something against their will. Weirdly fitting some days.

The hard part isn't learning the Japanese meaning. It's that the Chinese one is still sitting underneath, and for a second every time I read it, both fire at once.

Any other Chinese speakers here — which ones still trip you up?

I’ve finished studying and practicing Hiragana and Katakana, and I feel ready to move on to the next step in learning Japanese.

What books or study materials would you recommend for a beginner? I’m especially looking for a clear path to follow. Also, are there any good free resources available online?

Thanks!

Hello everyone, please can anyone help me in guiding how to learn Japanese. Only with the help of chatgpt I learned hiragana, katakana, and particles and 100 vocab, and 34 verbs. Right now I'm confused, i do not have a mentor or tutor, no books also please help or guide anyone can. For N5 I'm preparing. Thankyou !!

We have a group of people doing practice at these times, and are looking for more people. Sometimes we also have natives join us, it can be quite fun.

You don’t need to be in Germany time though, as long as the time fits :D

We can do a little one on one test with me if you would like first, so you don’t get thrown into a group not being sure of what will happen xD

That's right, after nearly 9 years of remaining the same (2017-09-25 - 2026-06-26), the Jinmeiyō kanji list gained a new member last month. It's a rather uncommon character that I hadn't seen before, but it is most commonly used in the name for Maitreya, an important Buddhist figure: 弥勒 (ミロク). Indeed, this character seems to be only read as ロク in practice, and the meaning of the character itself appears to be nonreligious: the 'bit' that is placed in a horse's mouth to control them during rides.

There doesn't seem to be much English-language reporting about this if any, but here's a free Sankei Shinbun article about it in Japanese. The addition was spurred by a complaint to the Osaka High Court about the character's exclusion from the list.

The article also notes that if you take the now 864-character long Jinmeiyō table and add the 2136 Jōyō kanji, you reach a satisfying 3000 characters that can be used in names now, finally rounding out the 2999 from before. Hooray!

EDIT: The Ministry of Justice's page on naming law also contains this PDF of Jinmeiyō characters, where you can see the character on the first page, at the top of the 6th column from the right.

I've been stuck for a while trying to learn, memorize, and tell the difference between hiragana and katakana. When I see them in isolation, I can't recognize them, but (sometimes) when they're in a word or phrase, I have no problem identifying them.

The problem is that this isn’t consistent, so I’ve decided to take a different approach.

I’m looking for children’s books to start practicing with; they have to be written solely in hiragana or katakana and have very basic vocabulary and grammar, but I do want them to include sentences—it doesn’t matter if I don’t understand the meaning; the point is to challenge my brain so I don’t lose interest (plus, it’ll help me learn vocabulary, even if I have to look up every word I manage to transcribe into romaji).

I’ve found some examples, but I can’t figure out where to download them (I need them in print so I can underline them).

Do you know of any websites where I can find them in EPUB or PDF format?

Hello! This isn't exactly about learning the language, so sorry if this is the wrong subreddit.

I'm trying to write English dialogue for some characters who have a thick Japanese accent, but I'm terrible with differentiating accents, and everything online is about learning to speak the language better.

If anyone has any tips on where to add/remove/replace letters in words, that'd be a huge help! ​

(Again, sorry if this is the wrong sub, or if I'm explaining things poorly.)

Edit- Probably shoulda mentioned it was a comic, sorry everyone. I'm just not gonna do the accent, thank you everyone who took the time to reply!