This is the information for our Waikato students. As you can see in the attached poster, a free 8 week Korean language course will be offered in January and February; this is open to Waikato students. If you are interested, act now! For further enquiries: waikatouni.korean@gmail.com
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I started talking about “West Facing Samurai” a couple of days ago. I will talk about “Samurai” today. If you do not know what I am talking here, please read this first. 一昨日「西[にし]向[む]く侍[さむらい]」の話[はなし]を始[はじ]めました。今日は「侍」について話します。一昨日のブログを読んでいない人は、ここを読んでください。 So far I have explained “West (= nishi)” and “Facing (= muku)”; you now know that “West (=nishi)” refers to February and […]
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I started talking about “West Facing Samurai” yesterday (here). 昨日[きのう]、西[にし]向[む]く侍[さむらい](= west facing samurai)、の話を始めました(ここです)。 I have already explained “West (= nishi)” and will talk about “Facing (= muku)” today. After reading yesterday’s post, you would guess “Facing (= muku)” represents June and September; yes, you are right! But this part is a bit more complicated. First, […]
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Only today and tomorrow are left this month. November does not have Day 31 and it feels time flies even quicker. 11月は今日と明日で終[お]わります。11月は31日がないので、いつもより時間がはやいように感[かん]じます(= to feel)ね。 November is not the only month without Day 31; February, April, June and September also do not have Day 31. By the way, how do you remember this list? Did you […]
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今日は、日本語を勉強[べんきょう]している人たち、特[とく]に(= in particular)初級[しょきゅう](= beginners)から中級[ちゅうきゅう](= intermediate)の人たちにアドバイスです。Here is an advice for Japanese language learners today! 日本語を勉強している人は、たくさん読[よ]んだほうがいいです。このような勉強を多読[たどく]と(= extensive reading)いいます。「多」は ‘many’、「読」は ‘reading’です。 今、インターネットがありますから、いろいろな読み物にアクセスできます。NHKの「News Web Easy」というウェブサイトはとてもいいと思[おも]います：https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/ このウェブサイトに、難[むずか]しい文法(= grammar)があまりないです。ことばは時々[ときどき]難しいかもしれません。例[たと]えば(= for example)、今、コロナウイルスのニュースがたくさんあります。コロナウイルスのニュースに、感染者[かんせんしゃ]、緊急事態宣言[きんきゅうじたいせんげん]ということばがあります。ちょっと難しいですよね。でも、漢字[かんじ]にひらがながありますから、意味[いみ](= meaning)を自分[じぶん]で調[しら]べてみてください。 NHKのNews Web Easyは、ニュースのウェブサイトですから、いろいろな新[あたら]しいニュースを知ることができます。おもしろいニュース、興味[きょうみ]深[ぶか]いニュースがたくさんありますよ。 がんばってください💪。
Continue readingI believe most of language learners would like to speak fluently. They hope one day they will speak like a native speaker. So… does a native speaker always speak fluently??? Let’s think about the definition of ‘fluency’ here. What words pop up in your mind now to define ‘fluency’? We might think that a fluent […]
Continue readingThe New Zealand government had a cabinet meeting this afternoon and announced that Hamilton and the nearby towns in the Waikato region would remain in the COVID Alert Level 3 for a few more days. In case you might not be familiar with our alert level system; Level 3 is a sort of lockdown. The […]
Continue readingIt is Super Saturday here, in New Zealand, today; yes, the whole nation gets together against COVID-19. Are you thinking of getting vaccinated in Hamilton today? – You can do it on our university campus today (16 October 2021). No booking required ☺💉! You can see the details here: https://covid19.govt.nz/covid-19-vaccines/how-to-get-a-covid-19-vaccination/super-saturday/
Continue readingMany areas in New Zealand are at the COVID Alert Level 3. This means people in those areas should stay at home and work from home if it’s possible. We, lecturers/teachers, naturally tend to spend so much time in front of a computer and… as a result, I have experienced massive KATAKORI!!! Have you heard […]
Continue readingWhen a new item/concept is brought in from another country, we need to come up with an idea – how to call it in our language. There are mainly two ways to do so in Japanese. ‘Telephone,’ for example, is called ‘denwa‘ in Japanese. ‘Den’ means electric and ‘wa’ means talk. This is a case […]
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