Today I met another conversation partner from Japan, Koji, at a local café. He is in his twenties and works for a Japanese financial firm with offices in New York City. I found him to be quite a good teacher.…
This morning I took my portable Japanese Pimsleur lessons and headed east, first to a store called Katagiri and then to Japan Society. Japanese Beer Truck, Upper West Side Today For February it was a freakishly warm day, so all…
This week much of the snow around New York City has melted. I don’t remember ever seeing such persistent piles. The Snow Is Conceding Defeat Today was 63 degrees. I went running in shorts! In February! I know this, uh,…
I have a new Japanese conversation partner. Her name is Akiko, and I found her through one of various sites where you can search for someone who will teach you his/her language in exchange for your teaching your…
Things I am learning to say through my Pimsleur lessons today: “Can I buy stamps at the station kiosk?” “No, but you can buy them at the post office.” I am also practicing writing American names in Japanese. I find…
To improve my conversational skills, I am on a tear to try to finish all available Pimsleur Japanese lessons as quickly as possible, as these are by far the most valuable self-help resource I have encountered to aid my speaking…
When I was a kid, I loved eating breakfast cereal (especially Corn Chex, Rice Chex, and Rice Krispies), and I loved reading the cereal boxes while I was doing it. I would read every item on a box, even though…
A reference to this language project will appear in the book review section of this weekend’s New York Times, in an essay called “Dreaming in English” by Michael Erard. Mr. Erard writes a great deal about language and…
The past 24 hours have been really good ones for Japanese. I confess that over the past two months, I have been struggling with spoken Japanese, finding the Pimsleur lessons hard to conquer, redoing them often, sometimes preferring to skip the…
I just got back from an expedition to 1073 Avenue of the Americas, home of Kinokuniya, an enormous three-level Japanese bookstore. Kinokuniya, As Seen From the Street Although it is in a very central location in the middle of town (“…
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