How well do you know your Kana?I’d like to take this opportunity to attempt a “kick in the pants motivational post.” I don’t do these often, but reading some Japanese-learning related forums recommending a textbook that spent most of the time...
Topics: featured, Language

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I quickly threw together this post to answer the question, “What do you find most unusual, crazy or strange about Japan?” for the July Japansoc Blog Matsuri. One thing that comes to mind is the attention given to Japanese dialects.The...
Topics: Language, Travel

{"title":"Much Ado About Dialects in Japan","post_url":"http:\/\/www.japannewbie.com\/2009\/07\/26\/much-ado-about-dialects-in-japan\/","feed_url":"http:\/\/www.japannewbie.com\/?feed=rss2","author":"Harvey","date":"2009-07-26 11:34:36","summary":"I quickly threw together this post to answer the question, “What do you find most unusual, crazy or strange about Japan?” for the July Japansoc Blog Matsuri. One thing that comes to mind is the attention given to Japanese dialects.The..."}

Just a quick note. I finally got my first app update through the Apple review process. That took forever!The update is super minor, but it’s free of course, so if you have the Kansai-ben App already see if it updates on your iPhone or iPod Touch....
Topics: About, Gadgets, Language

{"title":"Japanese 101: Kansai-ben App Updated","post_url":"http:\/\/www.japannewbie.com\/2009\/07\/18\/japanese-101-kansai-ben-app-updated\/","feed_url":"http:\/\/www.japannewbie.com\/?feed=rss2","author":"Harvey","date":"2009-07-17 23:28:40","summary":"Just a quick note. I finally got my first app update through the Apple review process. That took forever!The update is super minor, but it’s free of course, so if you have the Kansai-ben App already see if it updates on your iPhone or iPod Touch...."}

As you may or may not know, I’m actually now in Tanzania doing an internship. I’ll be here until August. I’ve picked up a few words and phrases in Swahili (really, just a few) and recently came across something pretty interesting.The word for..
Topics: Culture, History, japanese, Language, swahili

{"title":"Japan and Tanzania joined by Peppers","post_url":"http:\/\/www.japannewbie.com\/2009\/06\/15\/japan-and-tanzania-joined-by-peppers\/","feed_url":"http:\/\/www.japannewbie.com\/?feed=rss2","author":"Harvey","date":"2009-06-15 13:07:38","summary":"As you may or may not know, I\u2019m actually now in Tanzania doing an internship. I’ll be here until August. I\u2019ve picked up a few words and phrases in Swahili (really, just a few) and recently came across something pretty interesting.The word for.."}

Here is a kooky video of a vending machine in Japan that speaks to its customers in Kansai-ben.It says “maido!” (まいど！) When a customer inserts their money, which is the Kansai greeting used like “irasshai!”...
Topics: Crazy Consumers, Language, Osaka

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