Instead of a regular post today, I wanted to post up a few things. To be fair, one of the sections of this post is about a ginormous guide that was originally going to be this post (but was too guide-y), so if you’re looking for your regular dose of Japanese content, just jump to the link in section one and have yourself a fine ol’ time.
How To Count Anything In Japanese (The Guide)
I wanted to write a guide on Japanese counters that was a little different than most guides out there. We already have a very basic Japanese counters guide up in the Guides Section, so obviously I didn’t want to just do that again. I think one of the problems with Japanese counters guides is that they don’t really contextualize things very well. Sure, 一匹 means “one small animal,” but… what is a “small animal?” What isn’t a “small animal”? What is sometimes a “small animal” but sometimes not a “small animal?”
The only way to figure that sort of things out is by experience, so I wanted to create a guide that would give you some of that experience by listing things that can be counted by various counters. In my Japanese counters guide, I list the counter, its reading, and its meaning. Then, below it, I wrote out a list of things that can be counted in that way. Read that list to understand and contextualize how the counter works. It’s not just a “small animal,” it’s a dog, a cat, a mosquito, a frog, a tortoise, etc.
Go To: How To Count Anything In Japanese
I hope you enjoy this guide and I hope it is helpful to you over the next couple of months / years of Japanese study. Don’t try to learn it all at once, but definitely use it as a reference to understand counters you’ve learned but don’t completely understand yet.
“Project Kuma”
Like I mentioned before, “Kuma” (it won’t be called Kuma, but this is like a super-secret code name) is a site that will have Japanese materials that intermediate / advanced level students of Japanese can use to use to study and bridge that gap between advanced and fluency. It will be flexible, allowing someone to use the materials to focus on things that they need the most help with. Most important of all, the materials will be more interesting than the standard Japanese language resources, hopefully making it more fun to learn.
My “minimum viable product” version of “Kuma” is nearly complete, which means I’m going to be sending out emails to Forever members on TextFugu soon. If there are enough unicorns in the air and if you collect and send to me all your tears, maybe the first invite will go out later this week. If there’s not enough magic, then the first part of next week is looking pretty good. It won’t be everything at once (because things will surely break), so if you are a Forever member on TextFugu and don’t get one right away, don’t fret too much. They’ll be rolling out to you soon. And yes, just like I said last time, TextFugu Forever members get “Kuma” Forever subscriptions on the house. So a big grizzly thumbs up to you.
After that I’ll open things up and have some kind of special Alpha pricing. Anyways, that’s the update on that.
Tofugu Summer Internship 2013
Recently we got all fancy and got ourselves an office. That means we can have real, live interns (not that they’re usually dead, I just mean in-person). This year we’ll be doing just that. We’ve mainly contacted Pacific Northwest area schools, but I know that there are a decent number of Washington and Oregon State Tofugu reader students out there who may or may not be interested in this position. If you are indeed one of those people, please pop on over to http://jobs.tofugu.com to learn more about the summer internship program that we’re offering.
Bonus Wallpapers!
