Introducing Nihongopedia, Nihonshock’s first iOS app. Nihongopedia is a powerful, expandable study companion for Japanese learners. The app’s content will grow over time through both official releases and (hopefully) users sharing their own creations. The app has two primary functions…

STUDY DESK

A robust personal library of information on grammar, verb forms and conjugations, particles and whatever else the user wants to add.

FLASHCARDS

A straightforward, intuitive and powerful tool for mastering Japanese vocabulary. (or any other language, for that matter!)

The app comes preloaded with information suited to Japanese learners at the JLPT N5 test level (beginners), but users can easily add their own topics and flash cards, or import data that others have shared.

Nihongopedia will periodically release new content for the app, which users can access via the “Discover” tab.

FEATURES

• Well-organized and detailed information on a variety of topics.
• Plenty of clear, helpful examples complete with pronunciation guides and useful tips.
• Flashcard functionality. (the app is preloaded with Hiragana, Katakana, and JLPT N5 Kanji decks)
• Full user freedom to add and remove content.
• A variety of settings designed to tailor the app to the level and personality of the user.
• Import and export data.
• Automatic and manual data backups.
• A sleek, minimal design that’s easy to grasp. (and not embarrassing to use in public)
• A dark color theme. (so you can enjoy your flashcards at night without squinting)

Check it out!

See it on the App Store – Nihongopedia official site – Nihongopedia official Twitter account

Interested in things like counters, time expressions and grammar, and time-related vocabulary? Head on over to the Cheat Sheet Pack site and check it out. The digital version of this cheat sheet is only $2.50 USD by Paypal, and you get instant delivery. Enjoy!

Regarding future digital releases

I may eventually release two or three more sheets from the full pack, depending on how successful this first PDF release is. How ever, I will not be releasing the full set digitally.

I do plan to release at least one more completely new digital cheat sheet, sometime in November. The tentative title is “Cool Japanese” so stay tuned!

Fortunately, whether or not a person will become an advanced-level bilingual doesn’t seem to have any relation to their IQ or age (although those factors probably do speed things up). The traits that I have noticed over the years which advanced-level learners have in common are entirely subjective and with some effort are controllable.

I’ve made this list of successful traits based on my personal experience and my observations of other learners at various levels. I believe that a person’s state of mind is both their greatest asset and their greatest liability when learning a language. So, I hope this article will offer some insight for those of you just getting started with Japanese, or anyone struggling to make progress.

You might be a promising Japanese learner if…

1. You carry around a vocabulary notepad

Ok, so it doesn’t have to be a notepad; it could be a notebook or a sheet of paper or even a memo on your smartphone. The point is to have some kind of portable, easily accessible storage tool for language data. Of course you have to actually use it too.

But the functional aspect is only half of the story. The other half is the state of mind behind the notepad. It shows a constant determination to acquire new language information and review old information, whenever and wherever you happen to be. In other words, you are always in study mode.

2. Your hobbies and your study overlap

A lot of people learning Japanese enjoy anime, manga, Japanese literature, Japanese video games or other (even non-linguistic) things that have to do with Japan like martial arts or food. It can be anything, really.

It seems obvious that advanced Japanese learners would have an interest in Japanese stuff, but I’m including it in the list because I want to make a more philosophical point. That is, if our brain thinks “Japan = Japanese = fun”, then it learns better and you don’t tire as quickly.

It’s kind of like how whatever Republicans say invariably makes no sense to Democrats, and vice versa. Your brain is very talented at deciphering new information if it wants to. But if your brain sees learning Japanese as a chore, it’s going to fight you the whole way.

3. You’re not afraid of Kanji

I think just heard screams in the distance. Yes, I know even a whisper of the word “kanji” strikes fear into the hearts of many of you, but trust me: the sooner you embrace kanji, the better off you will be.

Kanji are not only a great way to identify and learn new words, they’re the self-reinforcing backbone of the language. They’re like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The more you learn, the easier they get and the more everything else starts to come together.

And I probably don’t need to remind you that not knowing kanji precludes access to 99% of real-world Japanese, so avoiding kanji is basically like saying you don’t want to be able to read Japanese. It’s like someone trying to major in computer programming without learning how to type.

Unfortunately, kanji just take effort. I had to learn about 500 kanji before I stopped hating them. After that, I actually enjoyed the next 1000 kanji, but then got kind of tired and indifferent for the last 500.

4. You’re stubborn and hate to lose

I think people see TV commercials or Google ads telling them they can learn Japanese in 5 minutes a day or whatever, and they get this expectation that learning a language is like making a pot of coffee. Of course, sooner or later they realize it’s unfathomably bigger and more difficult than that.

To overcome the inevitable frustration that comes with learning a language, it helps to be a downright stubborn son-of-a-b@#$%. Like a compulsive gambler, you need to keep doubling-down instead of admitting defeat. When I was frustrated and tired, it helped me to think of all the time I spent so far that would be wasted if I decided to give up.

Some might call this not knowing when to quit, but instead it’s the opposite. You know exactly when to quit: never.

A short personal aside: when I started university, I tried to skip first year Japanese and test into the 2nd year classes (I had studied a good deal on my own already). Well, my writing skill was a little rough on the edges, so the teacher wouldn’t allow it. I was devastated, humiliated and intensely furious. But that defeat was a huge turning point for me, it was the moment when I went super-saiyan with my studies. By the time I graduated I was so far ahead of the class that studying for the tests would have been a waste of time. Yes, it’s emotionally stressful to be a stubborn learner, but the tradeoff is that you can actually turn your hardships to your benefit.

5. You’re never satisfied

Perhaps this last trait is more for moving even beyond the advanced level, but it’s still great for speeding up progress through beginner and intermediate.

When it comes to learning a language, satisfaction is a bad thing. If you’re satisfied with your Japanese, you’re not setting your sights high enough. It’s like settling for a McDonalds burger when you could have an 8-ounce-Kobe-beef-bacon-double-cheddar-cheese-deluxe.

In addition, satisfaction can be a death blow to your will to practice and review. Not forgetting what you’ve learned is half the battle, so you can never let your guard down.

Always demanding more from yourself keeps you receptive to new information, and helps you pay more attention to details. Not to mention it keeps you humble too. (If you think your Japanese is good, chances are you’re probably just not aware of most of your mistakes)

Final word

I’d say that most advanced learners I’ve met have 3 or 4 of the traits/habits I listed above. Remember though, on Nihonshock I promote a notion of learning where the assumed goal is enough proficiency to read a novel, survive a job interview or keep up with native speakers’ izakaya conversations, but not everyone needs to or even wants to take it that far. So no offense to more casual learners, but when I say “advanced” or “successful” I’m talking about JLPT N1 and above.

Shameless plug

You know what else is really great for becoming a successful Japanese learner? Nihonshock.com’s Japanese Cheat Sheet Pack, of course! Do you have yours yet? If not, check it out.

What is this?

This is a “cheat sheet” for the Japanese language. It is an attempt to condense and organize as many of the basic elements of the language onto one sheet of paper as possible.

How do I use it?

The intended use of this document is for you to download it, print it on two sides of one sheet of paper and keep it wherever you need it (in your Japanese textbook, on your desk, in your pocket, etc).

It’s possible to keep the cheat sheet on your computer, but it won’t be anywhere near as handy or portable as a printed version, and you’ll need to do quite a bit of scrolling and zooming because of the small font size.

What information is inside?

Page 1

• Formal (polite) verb forms
• Informal verb forms
• Neutral verb forms
• Verb conjugation guide for U-Verbs, RU-Verbs and the irregulars (suru, kuru)
• Hiragana chart
• Katakana chart
• Kanji chart listing all JLPT N5 (previously: Level 4) kanji.
• Chart of the forms of de aru (desu)
• Adjective/Adverbs usage chart

Page 2

• Core particles: は, が, を, に, と, で, も, か, へ, の, や (wa, ga, o, ni, to, de, mo, ka, e, no, ya)
  • Usage points
  • Example sentences color coded for easy vocabulary tracking
• Assisting particles: だけ, しか, ほど, より, でも, くらい, ばかり, から, まで (dake, shika, hodo, yori, demo, kurai, bakari, kara, made)
  • Example sentences color coded for easy vocabulary tracking
• Common grammatical words and patterns
  • Example sentences color coded for easy vocabulary tracking
• Verbs for giving and receiving
• A small space to add a couple small written notes of your own

Who is this for?

This document will be most useful for beginner to intermediate Japanese learners. A beginner will find the document to be more of a roadmap to what information they should study next and how it fits into the “bigger picture,” and an intermediate Japanese learner get more use with this document as a reference for review.

Why are there four versions?

There are four versions of the file in order to accommodate for users in different parts of the world (North America uses different paper sizes from the rest of the world), and to provide users with a choice regarding how Japanese text is written: using the Japanese hiragana script, or using romaji (phonetic representation in the western alphabet).

What this document is NOT

This document is in no way intended to be a substitute for serious study and learning. Acquiring a human language with 2000+ years of history is a massive undertaking, and this cheat sheet provides only the bare minimum explanation for topics that have great depth.

Nor is this document a comprehensive overview of Japanese language. I’ve tried my best to include as much of the most useful and basic elements as possible, but to get this onto 1 sheet of paper, many things were omitted.

Changes from the old version

Aside from a complete, from-scratch graphical overhaul in Adobe Ilustrator (the old version was made in Microsoft Word), this new version contains updated and expanded information. Here is a pretty complete list of changes:

• “Polite” verbs forms is now more accurately called “Formal” forms, and the command form ～nasai has been moved into this category accordingly.
• Instead of marking forms that cannot be made into a verb with koto/no, noun-able forms are now marked.
• Added abrupt command forms in the informal category.
• In both the formal and informal categories, the causative form of kuru has been corrected to kosaseru, not koraseru
• Added to the neutral verb forms category: Even (if)…, To do too much…, To do… and so on, To seem to want to…
• The note about using verbs as nouns with koto or no is now in the footer.
• Added a note about potential rudeness with the word darou.
• Added a note about how desu/da changes when noun-ified.
• Changed the na-adjective noun form to the form without sa, since this is the more common method (note added)
• Added the continuous/combining form for na-adjectives.
• Changed the old explanation about easily confused i-adjectives to the true difference (the ~ei thing is just a shortcut, no i-adjectives end in ~ei but there are a few na-adjectives that end in い and are not preceeded by an e-line sound.). Added a couple commonly confused na-adjectives also.
• Added a note about the adjective ii, because it always conjugates as yoi.
• Made numerous changes to explanations and example sentences for the particles.
• Added the particle no.
• To the common grammatical words/structures section, added: ka mo shirenai and no you na/ni
• Removed tame from grammatical words section, to make room and because it was already mentioned in the informal verbs section on page 1.
• Added a note that kudasaru is typically used as kudasai.
• Added a small space for the learner to write a few notes of their own.

Final word

Please comment and let me know what you think of the cheat sheet, if you notice any mistakes or if you have any suggestions for improvement. I’ll release minor updates to the cheat sheet whenever I get a new round of prints, but the next major update probably won’t be until next year.

It’s been two and a half years since I originally wrote this post, and thanks to the many helpful comments I was able to go back and polish things a bit. The content of the article has not really changed, but I think the wording is a little clearer now. Please keep the feedback coming

Japanese particles are both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand they make Japanese grammar simple and direct, almost like a computer language. They always follow the rules because they are the rules. Particles tell us “this word does this” and “this other word does that.” However, these little suffixes can cause tremendous headaches for us English-speaking learners because they group meanings together quite differently than our English equivalents (prepositions), or in some cases have no equivalent at all.

Of the lot, wa (は) and ga (が) are almost certainly the most annoying pair of particles to keep straight, no doubt because neither of them has a true English equivalent. They’re probably the most frequently used particles in the language, so you need to learn them early (note: you won’t master them early), but it’s very difficult to find a decent explanation for them even in big bulky text books. And if you ever want to make your Japanese teacher sweat, just ask them to explain the difference.

I’ve devoted a lot of introspective soul-searching time to thinking about these two little guys, and in this article, I’m going to do my best to shed some new, meaningful light on the difference between は and が.

Traditional wa and ga “explanations”

First, lets do a quick wrap up of the 3 big bread-and-butter responses you’re most likely to get when asking someone about the difference between は and が.

Stock response #1: は is the topic marker and が is the subject marker.
Learner reaction: Well gee, thanks, that clears up everything for me (sarcasm). Aren’t “subject” and “topic” synonyms??

Stock response #2: You just have to get used to it. You’ll figure it out eventually. Don’t worry about it.
Learner reaction: I don’t want to figure it out “eventually,” dammit, I want to know right now!!

Stock response #3: Look at this example and see how は and が changes the meaning!
Learner reaction: Well okay, I get the example, at least, but what happens in this different sentence? You’ve given me a fish without teaching me how to do it myself.

While none of these explanations is inherently wrong or useless (except maybe #2), each fails in its own unique way to really get at the root of our problem: there has to be a better way to explain it. So… you ask, what is the real difference between は and が…?

The real difference

は is the topic marker and が is the subject marker. Wait! Cursors off the back button, please. Hear me out.

There’s a reason you’ve heard this explanation so many times. The problem is just that no one bothers to explain what they mean by topic and what they mean by subject. To learn our Japanese, we first have to have our English on right. Here’s a diagram to illustrate:

• Topic: a non-grammatical context for the whole sentence.
• Subject: a grammatical relationship only to the verb.

See, that’s not so hard, right? By the way, I’ve worded these two definitions very carefully so if you just glanced over them, go back and read them closely, please, because this is very important. Okay? done? Let’s move on, then…

The number one difference is that while a subject has a explicit grammatical role (the thing which does the verb), a topic is just like a big cloud, with no set relationship to what’s actually going on in the sentence; it’s just there, floating around the sentence.

Okay, so that’s all well and good: subject versus topic.

Easy.

Piece of cake.

朝飯前.

Right? Not quite…

Subject and topic are very distinct roles and it’s not difficult to understand their theoretical difference. But what is a poor gaijin to do in real-life situations? Since we only ever have subjects in English (never topics) it still takes some getting used to before you can accurately distinguish where we should use one or the other. This is where the 2nd stock response (don’t worry, you’ll get it eventually) holds some truth.

To help start you down the (long) path to mastery of these two terrible particles, here is a deeper look.

The feeling of wa and ga

Consider the sentence: A は B. If we were to turn this sentence to an image, here is what it would look like:

Because は marks a topic–something non-grammatically related to the sentence–you can think of it like a picture frame. The thing は marks surrounds and labels the sentence, but is largely independent of what goes on inside. は is a good describer and observer.

Then we have the sentence: A が B.

が–in contrast to は–is much more involved in the sentence. It’s almost like a conqueror. Words marked with が stake their claim on the sentence (and the verb in particular), making a definite claim of ownership.

This difference is why when looking at a picture of several cute girls, a young man might point his finger at one and say:

watashi wa kanojo da ne.

…and mean, “I like her.” But he could not say watashi ga kanojo da, which would have to mean “I am her“, because が would specifically link him to the being verb だ.

Different situations, different particles

You may have heard the explanation that は gives emphasis to what comes after it, and が to what comes before it. This explanation isn’t correct in and of itself, but it does bring attention to the fact that when we do want to bring attention to the subject (ie. who or what did something), が is the usually the most logical choice.

Another example I’ve come across that for some reason stuck with me is one that likened は to the and が to a/an, apparently because we would use が to introduce new information to a discussion and は when it is repeated. Again, this misses the point (and is unreliable as a guideline, by the way), but it highlights a tendency that arises from the difference between subject and topic: topics are better suited for description, extrapolation and scene setting, subjects are better for declarations and statements.

One clever example sentence for は and が that I’ve come across is: watashi wa [my name] desu. vs. watashi ga [my name] desu. While these sentences in English both come out as “I am Lloyd.” In Japanese, they answer different questions:

Q: Who are you?
A: watashi wa Lloyd desu.

Q: Who is Lloyd?
A: watashi ga Lloyd desu.

Here’s a similar example I came up with, showing how the question changes when we use an adjective.

Q: What do you think of Japan?
A: nihon wa omoshiroi desu.

Q: Which country is interesting?
A: nihon ga omoshiroi desu.

This example leads me to a very important point, one which is somewhat difficult to deduce from our concept of subject vs. topic: in Japanese, topics (は) are often used to illustrate contrast.

Consider the sentence “watashi wa chikoku shita” (I was late). There are two situations where we could use this sentence:

• Topic (Normal): watashi wa chikoku shita : I was late. (used in a discussion centered around the speaker)
• Topic (Contrast): watashi wa chikoku shita : I was late. (used when some other relevant person was not late, or it is not known if they were late)

I know you’re probably scratching your head and yes, this gets confusing even for native speakers. In fact it’s one of the reasons that normal topics are so commonly omitted in Japanese. If the contrast is intentional, however, は cannot be omitted (the sentence would become quite confusing if you did).

The big thing for learners to take away from all this is that は has the potential to imply a contrast. So the next time you talk to a pretty Japanese girl, be careful not to say “me wa kirei desu ne” (your eyes are beautiful), which could easily imply “but your other features are mediocre”. “Me ga kirei desu ne” is a matter-of-fact statement with no strings attached, much better in this situation.

…which brings me to the next important point…

“Contrasting” versus “Comparing”

Here we have yet another situation in which confusion in Japanese stems from overlooking some of the fine points of English.

I stated above that  は is used for contrasting things, that’s something which is commonly said of は. I did not state that it compares things. It’s very important to make this distinction.

“Contrast (は)” juxtaposes the nature of things. Think of it like this: if A は B, then C は D and E は F. Everything has a certain property which is either true or false. When we make a “contrast” statement about something with は, the implication is that other things either lack that quality, or have a completely different quality.

“Comparison” juxtaposes the degree of things. If A is B, then C might be B too, but not as much so as A. As the subject marker, it’s が’s job to call out one specific thing from a group of similar things and showing it off: it distinguishes one particular thing.

Note that が is used in the common (comparison) grammatical form: ～ yori ～ no hou ga … (“～ is more … than ～”)

Now might be a good time to scroll back up to the example sentences and have another look. See if you can really pin down the difference in nuance between contrast and comparison, and see how that is related to topic versus subject. If you can, then you’re well on your way to knowing how to use these particles.

The removal test and the comma test

Okay, now for my final trick, I’m going to tell you how to actually test whether you should use はor が.

This is tricky; in Japanese, there is rarely ever a sentence that becomes grammatically incorrect if you chose は when you should have said が or vice versa. The error that arises from misusing these particles is that you convey the wrong meaning.

So how can we possibly make a test that will hold true across different situations? Well, since は marks a topic, information that while important does not have a definite grammatical role, it is much less central to the message of a sentence than a が marked subject. So try this: take it out altogether.

watashi wa?/ga? kuruma o unten shimashita. (I drove the car.)

What happens to the sentence? Does it:

a) become vague, but still have the core information that we need to convey. (ie. in answer to the question “What did you do?“)
b) completely lose its ability to communicate the information we want. (ie. in answer to the question “Who drove the car?“)

If you answered a, は is probably the particle you’re looking for. On the other hand, if your sentence just became a steaming pile of useless words without it (as in situation b), が is probably your best bet. I won’t guarantee that this works in all situations, but give it a try next time you are scratching your head over which particle you should use.

A similar test that works on the same principle is to try replacing the particle with a comma or imagining a pause in the sentence.

watashi, kuruma o unten shimashita. (I, drove the car.)

What happens to the sentence?

a) It doesn’t really seem strange at all.
b) The added pause seems really awkward.

If you answered a, chances are high that you need a は. But if you feel there’s something just not right about the sentence and chose b, I would advise が.

In fact, in written Japanese, the particle は is often followed by a comma, but が almost never is (note: I’m only talking about が as a subject marker here, not as a conjunction).

Common uses

I won’t go into too much detail on these, and you should think of them as tendencies rather than fixed rules. Everything depends on the context of the situation and what information you are trying to communicate to your listener, but subjects are better at some things and topics are better at others, and its good for learners to have a general idea which goes with which.

は (Topic)

• Good for contrasting one thing from another, talking about difference in nature or substance.
• Good for relaying factual information, as though you were reading from a text book, encyclopedia or dictionary.
• Good for talking about people’s (including your own) personalities and preferences.
• Good for discussing abstract concepts and philosophical debates.

が (Subject)

• Good for neutral, matter-of-fact statements that are meant to relay a specific piece of information.
• Good for physical descriptions, describing things that you can feel and touch.
• Good for “pointing” to one object, pulling it out from a group, or distinguishing it from others.
• Good for jumping from one thing to another making a series of not-closely-related statements.

Summary

To wind up the post, here is an image that I’ve prepared that wraps up the major usage points for は and が as cleanly and snugly as I could manage. These summary boxes can also be found on the Basic Japanese cheat sheet sheet (part of Nihonshock’s Japanese Cheat Sheet Pack! The Basic Japanese cheat sheet can be downloaded for free in PDF format from the cheat sheet site, so check it out if you haven’t already!

As always, comments are welcome.

For this article, I’m going to introduce to you my personal collection of “I” words that I’ve encountered here in Japan (even if I’ve only seen them once or twice in obscure contexts). Hopefully, this list will help to prepare you for your own Japanese adventures.

Common forms

Of the many ways to say “I” in Japanese, these are the ones that are actually used by real, living people who are being serious.

Watashi

Watashi (私) is the standard, gender-free way to say “I” and is the first one learners are introduced to. If you don’t know which I-word to use, this is your best bet.

The only trap I know of is that in Japanese saying “watashi mo” (meaning: “me too”) can come off as very effeminate if you use it in an informal situation. Men should take care to say “boku mo” or use some other I-word instead.

Watakushi

Yes, the kanji is the same as for watashi (私) (watashi is actually just a shortened form of watakushi).

This word is a highly formal “I.” You might hear politicians, CEOs, or other public-relations figures use it when making official announcements, but generally you should avoid this word as it can come across as arrogant or condescending.

If you watch anime or read manga, you’ll notice that this is the I-word of choice for rich characters.

Boku

Boku (僕) is what you could think of as the “soft-masculine” I-word. It literally means “manservant” so when you use it there is a sense that you are humbling yourself before the speaker.

It has a more informal feeling than watashi, however, so you may want to be careful when using it with strangers, authority figures and colleagues.

Boku is used primarily by men, but very young and/or boyish girls sometimes use it too. I’ve also heard women use boku in song lyrics.

Light says boku (friendly/humble). L says watashi (polite/formal).

Ore

If boku is the “soft-masculine” I-word then ore (俺) is the “hard-masculine.” This is the word tough guys use, and as such you would almost never hear it used with a polite verb form.

It’s not polite by any stretch of the imagination, but to say it’s a “rude” word would be a mistake as well. Ore can actually convey a sense of intimacy (we’re close friends, so I don’t need to worry about being polite with you). This is probably the most common I-word among groups of men (except in business or other formal settings).

Eikichi Onizuka, a character perfectly suited to saying ore.

Atashi

This is an informal effeminate form of watashi. It has a kind of “cute” nuance to it. Because kanji are generally seen as masculine, this word has no kanji form. It is written in either hiragana or katakana. (Well, the word does come from watashi so you might see it listed with 私 in a dictionary)

Uchi

Uchi (内) is one word for “I” that I didn’t learn until well after I came to Japan, but once I did I was surprised at how commonly used it was. It literally means “inside.”

Saying uchi for “I” is informal and has no gender connotation. This is a good word for women to use if they want to be informal, but avoid the cuteness of atashi.

Kochira/Kocchi

This is another popular and versatile way to say “I.” It literally means “this way.”

While kochira and kocchi are the same word (kocchi is an abbreviated version), they differ pretty dramatically in how formal they are. Kochira is highly polite and is often used in business situations, especially one the phone. Because of it’s root meaning of “this way” it is ambiguous in number, it can be used to mean “we” without any changes to the word.

Kocchi is much more informal and frequently used among friends. It’s also handy for its neutrality, meaning that when you use it you’re not making a statement about your social position relative to the listener (you are–however–still making a statement about social distance).

Note: similarly, you can use sochira/socchi to mean “you.”

Ware

Used more commonly in it’s “we” form (我々/wareware), ware (我) by itself and meaning just “I” is pretty uncommon, but not unheard of.

It’s also probably the the most difficult I-word in this post because depending on how you use it it can come out not only as “I” but either as “one’s self” (not necessarily the speaker),  or even “you” (although usage as “you” is very dated).

My impression of this word is it has a kind of wise, sage-like feeling to it. It’s almost always used in a short, declarative statement of some kind.

Washi

This is yet a further shortening of the word watashi. It is reserved for use by old men or men who for some reason have acquired a very slurred speech style. Perhaps they dropped the ta to keep themselves from spitting on people when they talked.

In the Kansai region, this I-word can be further shortened to just wai.

Personal name

While we don’t do this in English, in Japanese it’s possible to use your own personal name when saying “I.” Basically, you can speak in third person perspective. This manner of speaking is somewhat frowned upon as being childish, however, so be careful should you decide to use it. (it’s probably best if you simply don’t use this method altogether, just know that you might hear somebody else talking like this someday)

Special forms

Be careful, because this second group of I-words are no longer used in modern Japanese (though Japanese know them through media and literature), and as such they will definitely alert your listener that you are consciously selecting your I word, usually either as a joke or to imitate some character. While they’re fun to know, don’t use these under regular circumstances.

Wagahai

Bowser (or as he is known in Japanese, クッパ/kuppa) says wagahai.

Wagahai (吾輩) is a classical way to say “I” that was used by older men of high social stature. You will find this in the title of Natsume Soseki’s famous work, 吾輩は猫である (wagahai wa neko de aru / I am a cat).

Oira

Oira (おいら) is an alternate form of ore which was more widely used back in the Edo period. It was apparently used even by some women in the late-Edo period.

Today, this word has a youthful and male feeling to it (because of it’s youthful nature, it is rarely written in it’s kanji form: 己等), and is the I-word of choice for… housepets! (as spoken through their owners, of course…) Try a quick google image search for this word, it will bring up many pictures of Japanese peoples’ pets.

Sessha

Sessha (拙者) is another classical way to a say “I” which literally means “clumsy person.” Samurai used this word, because being humble about their abilities was the samurai thing to do.

Atai

The word atai is a girls-only “I” word that is a shortened version of atashi. It originated with the courtesans, prostitutes and young girls from Tokyo’s pleasure quarters, but it seems that most people are unfamiliar with this history.

I believe there are some dialects and regions in Japan where this word can still be heard but I’m not sure exactly where… One of my Japanese friends that I asked said it sounded like a Kyuushuu dialect.

Yo

Yo (余) is yet another rarely used classical way to say “I.” It was used by men of extremely high stature. I’ve really only come across it being employed by “heartless-overlord”-type characters in some anime and manga.

Warawa

Warawa (妾) is how a samurai’s wife would say “I.” It’s a classical female form, used by women to humble themselves before others. The kanji itself refers to a man’s non-primary wife or his mistress.

Conclusion

It’s both an intriguing and challenging aspect of Japanese to have so many options where in English we have only one. By learning to pay close attention to these words, we can pick up on valuable clues about a person’s social status and personality. And by learning to use the right I-words for each situation and partner, we can communicate with people and manage relationships more effectively.

(Unlike video game and anime characters) most people switch between a few different words as their situation demands. Personally, most of the time I stick to boku and watashi (I’ve been trying to use ore more with my guy friends lately, but old habits die hard). Sometimes I mix things up with a little uchi and kocchi, too.

This list is complete to the best of my knowledge (assuming I haven’t forgotten anything…), but I’m sure there’s probably a few more I-words floating around out there that I haven’t come across yet. I’ll be sure to update this list if I find any new ones.

Kanji is the most common stumbling block for Japanese learners. It’s easy to see why: there are 1,945 Joyo kanji, hundreds more non-Joyo kanji that are still very commonly used, and yet hundreds more kanji that are used in people’s names. And each of these intricate little characters has a specific order in which the strokes must be written, probably has multiple readings, might have multiple meanings, and can be mixed and matched with many other kanji to create compound words (熟語 : jukugo).

Basically, there is a reason that Japanese students are still studying kanji even in high school, and that reason is that kanji are as difficult as they are many.

There are many different ways to go about it, but I decided to learn kanji the old fashioned way: relentless and unforgiving old-school rote memorization. Just pen and paper, sweat and blood, with a focus on efficient reviewing.

Why the hard way? There was just too much information to absorb any other way than to sit down and pound each character one by one into my brain. At least, not any way that was possible in the short time frame that I gave myself (two years from start to finish). Brute force was just the best tool for the job.

I believe strongly in the power and effectiveness of rote memorization for learning kanji, but I’ve taken care to write this article as an account of my own successful strategy and not as a “how to” article that tells you to do this or not do that. Everyone’s brain works a little differently, everyone has different circumstances they need to work within, and everyone has different goals and priorities for their learning, so naturally the same approach will not be best for everyone. I just hope that by sharing my own (successful) experience and method, readers will get some insight, ideas and options that they can apply to their own study. Okay, let’s get started…

The tools

The Learner’s Kanji Dictionary

I can’t emphasize enough how helpful this dictionary was in my quest to learn kanji. It has all the Joyo Kanji and name kanji, and a very good helping of non-official but still widely used kanji, including stroke order, old forms, and for each kanji it lists all common jukugo that contain it.

I used this dictionary probably several times a day for 2-3 years, as evidenced by the filth on the pages. Best $20 I ever spent.

Finger grime: evidence of a well-used book.

Check out reviews and buy this book on Amazon.com: The Learner’s Japanese Kanji Dictionary (Bilingual Edition).

A good notebook

A hard-cover notebook was really necessary since I ended up carrying these books around for literally years. A regular $1 notebook would not have survived. I also don’t think spiral-bound would have been able to do it either, the wire would have gotten all bent up eventually.

The notebooks I got were 96 sheets each, and I eventually filled 5 of them.

My notebooks

By the way, the duct tape you see on the binding was to attach a bookmark-ribbon to the spine so I could easily keep track of my page, not because the notebook was falling apart (these books are the toughest notebooks I have ever come across).

I was surprised to also find these exact same notebooks on Amazon.com: Blueline Business Notebook, Black, 192 Pages, 9-1/4 Inches x 7-1/4 Inches

The method

Now, I’m a computer guy, but learning kanji had to be done in analog. Actually writing down the kanji with a pen and paper was really helpful for learning it (and remembering the stroke order), and this way I had a notebook that I easily just toss in my bag and take with me on a bus or to Starbucks. Plus, it was highly rewarding to have an actual physical sense of how much I had learned (and of course it was great for showing off to people!). I enjoyed being able to look at my books (which eventually numbered 5 altogether) and think “Wow, all of that is in my brain!”

My objective was essentially to transfer all the information contained in the Learner’s Kanji Dictionary into my brain. To do this, I literally transcribed nearly everything from the dictionary into my notebook and reviewed each word hundreds of times over.

If that sounds tedious, difficult, boring, repetitive and perhaps even emotionally scarring to you, well, you’re right, it was. Once, I even went on an all-day study rampage where I just transcribed kanji after kanji from the dictionary to my notebook from morning until late at night… and after 14 long hours I had filled 37 pages, had an unearthly headache and throbbing, trembling fingers that could no longer hold a pen.

The reason behind transcribing was twofold. First, the act of actually writing the kanji a few times is great for retention. Second, I needed to have all of this information streamlined for maximum reviewability, which was the key to the strategy. I suppose you could think of the process of kind of like snatching up every word one by one from dictionary and putting the little buggers into your head, and then using the notebook to take roll call every once in a while to make sure everyone is still where they’re supposed to be.

The page format

Here’s a sample page from the kanji dictionary and a scan of from my notes to show you how I formatted my notebook based on the information in the dictionary… (no laughing at the bad handwriting!)

The format for each line goes something like: A – B – C _________ D

• A: The word in kanji form.
• B: The word in hiragana (pronunciation).
• C: The English translation/explanation.
• D: The kanji form again in the right margin.

Pretty simple, right? One line for each word, information on the left and just kanji in the right margin. One line left blank between different kanji groups to make the pages easy to scan.

To review, I would simply go from page to page, top to bottom focusing on each word in the right margin in turn, recalling its meaning and pronunciation before moving on. If I couldn’t remember a word or its meaning, I would quickly check the information on the left.

Sometimes I would pretend to write the kanji on the tabletop or my leg or wherever just with my finger as I went through the list. I was pretty strict on myself, so if I forgot one word on a page I would keep going over the whole page before moving on. I made an effort to review a whole book every day, but especially once the notebook started to get past 40 pages or so I didn’t always have time.

For me (and I suspect for many others as well) 90% of learning is simply not forgetting. So the “secret” to my method (if you can call it that) was to make the act of reviewing as comprehensive, simple, easy, and quick as possible.

How did I choose which compounds to list?

This is important. I made a point to write ALL the jukugo for each kanji IF I knew the other character(s). If it was a compound with a character I hadn’t studied yet, I ignored it (the same word would come up again when I got to the unfamiliar kanji). By following this rule, I never had any duplicate words in your notebook, all the words I was learning were reinforcing previous kanji I had learned, I never confused myself by learning words with kanji that I didn’t yet know, and this way not a single jukugo gets left out.

How did I choose which kanji to learn next?

Of course it’s a good idea to focus on easier and more common kanji first, but since my ultimate goal was to learn ALL (useful) kanji, I was never picky about what kanji to study next. I’d flip to random pages in the dictionary to find kanji, scan jukugo lists, go through my textbook or some manga, look up kanji that I had seen somewhere else and wanted to know, whatever.

Very often I would be writing the jukugo for one kanji and find a word that I wanted to learn but which was using another kanji that I hadn’t studied yet, so kanji, in a way, introduced me to their friends as I was learning. (on the example notebook page above, you can see how I decided to learn 殊 after seeing it when I was going through the jukugo list for 更)

The only thing I was really picky about was filling each page, so I’d often start off with a common kanji that took up quite a few lines, and end with whatever kanji I found that could fit in the space that was left. The fish/sushi kanji, while for the most part non-Joyo, are particularly well suited to filling one or two extra lines at the bottom.

Anyway, if anyone wants to follow my example, start with any JLPT Level 4 kanji you don’t already know (check out my Japanese Cheat Sheet for a list), but after that there’s really no “wrong” order to learn kanji in, so just do whatever you want (as long as you don’t end up procrastinating all the harder and more boring kanji).

What did I do about writing?

Since my focus was on learning how to read moreso than to write, I really only added in a writing method as an afterthought. And actually my logic for including it at all was that if I could write it, then I was much more likely to never forget how to read it. Anyway, I’m glad I did include it, even if I have slacked off and forgotten how to write most of them…

I did this: after I had finished a book, I would type up a big long list of English cue words for all the kanji in the book, in the same order as the kanji in the book. I would then print the list and tape it securely to the back cover… take a look at the picture to see.

Cue words taped to the back cover

To practice writing, I would go one by one through the list of cue words and write the corresponding kanji on a piece of scrap paper. The only reason this worked, of course, was because I had already been reviewing the kanji in the same order for weeks or even months. Even with that preparation however, it was hard to recall which kanji I was supposed to write for each cue word, so I’d go column by column initially, looking back to cheat whenever I needed to. Usually it only took a day or two of practice before I could write out every kanji from the notebook in the correct order just from using the list of cue words. After that it was just a matter of keeping in practice so that I wouldn’t forget.

Unfortunately I don’t have any images of the old scrap papers that I wrote kanji on to show everyone, but when I went practicing kanji I would always come away with a half sheet of paper or so of just solid kanji. Anyone who saw me studying must have thought I was a madman!

I could have used both sides of the paper, but…

I only used the right-side pages, so theoretically I could have put two times more information in each notebook. But I didn’t do this for a few reasons…

1. It was much easier to just scan one side of the book as I flip through doing my review; no need to go back and forth. I know it seems like just a little tiny detail, but this made reviewing much easier on my eyes.
2. On the left-side page I would occasionally put random interesting sentences or other word collections that I wanted to remember (Japanese isn’t all about kanji, you know)
3. Leaving breathing room, even if it was on the opposite page from the one I was reading, really made everything feel less cramped.
4. There’s no way I could have fit twice as many cue words on a sheet of paper for the writing review.
5. I wanted each page to be nice and clean, with no ink seeping through from the other side.
6. Going through pages faster makes it feel like your studies are progressing faster! Yeah, it’s a mind trick but who cares if it can keep you motivated.

Final thoughts

Learning kanji is a truly massive undertaking that cannot be accomplished without a very strong will and long term dedication. I may not have met those requirements when I started, but I did by the time I was finished.

My study of kanji was the first and perhaps only thing in my life so far that I’ve really put my heart completely into. At times, I questioned if it would ever end and if it was really worth it, but always somehow found the strength to press on. In the end, not only was it the most challenging project I’ve ever approached, but it was the most rewarding as well.

Other study methods

I’d like to complete this article with a list of links to other kanji study method articles around the internet, so if anyone knows of any, please drop me a line!