Welcome to Forum Spotlight! Here we’ll be introducing interesting and useful posts made by members at our very own JapanesePod101.com Forum. Our first forum spotlight post explaining particles for beginners of Japanese comes from Bueller_007さん. This was posted in response to a listener who said that they were having trouble keeping all of the particles […] Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary When an actor wins an award for a film, one rarely hears a profound acceptance speech. But that’s what happened in January. At the Golden Globes, Colin Farrell won “Best Actor in a Motion Picture—Musical Or Comedy” for In Bruges, a movie I adored. […] Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary In my first blog for JapanesePod101.com, I sought compounds with a neat repetition of shapes, such as 宝玉 (hōgyoku: jewel, gem, treasure + jewel). Soon afterward, I found repeating shapes inside 読売 (to read + to sell), which says Yomiuri, as in the prominent […] Halpern says that 呂 supplies the RO sound to words in an ateji-like way. In fact, just as English kids learn their ABCs, Japanese kids learn iroha, usually written as いろは but also rendered as 伊呂波. (The first kanji means “that one,” and the last means “wave,” but ignore those meanings here.) The word 伊呂波 […] Matching Match the compounds and their breakdowns with the correct definitions. Multiple answers are possible. 1. 寝込む (nekomu) to sleep + to be intensely involved in an activity, to be crowded a. to oversleep b. to fall asleep c. to have too many people in one’s bed d. to be sick in bed 2. 寝坊 […] The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Japanese and Japanese culture. Start speaking Japanese in minutes with audio and video lessons, audio dictionary, and learning community! Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary In an email I recently received from Japan, the first sentence contained an intriguing compound: お元気に活躍されている様子嬉しく存じます。 O-genki ni katsuyaku sarete iru yōsu ureshiku zonjimasu. I’m happy to know you appear to be healthy and doing well. What the Words Mean … Actually, before 活躍する 好い気味 (iikimi: serves one right; what one deserves) to like + sensation (last 2 chars.) 私が失敗したとき、彼は「好い気味だ」と言った。 Watashi ga shippai shita toki, kare wa “iikimi da” to itta. When I failed, he said, “It serves you right.” 私 (watashi: I) 失敗 (shippai: failure) to lose + failure 言 (i(u): to say) Back to the Blog … Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary In Part 3 of the unagi road trip series (a recent beginner’s lesson in the main part of JapanesePod101.com), the PDF contains this great sentence: 君の秘密を皆に話してしまったよ。 Kimi no himitsu o mina ni hanashite shimatta yo. I have revealed your secret to everyone. Breakdown of […] 健気 (kenage: brave, admirable) health + spirit Hmm, an odd yomi. I know 健 is KEN, as we saw just two weeks ago. But age for 気, which is usually KI? I figured this was an example of ateji, but when I asked a native speaker, he said 健り(kenari) means “health,” and 健り気 (kenarige) has been […].