As you know, there are many kind of vending machines in Japan. This site introduces some of them. It is very interesting....
I just want to let you know that I have updated my main blog site. If you are a WSU student taking JAPN102, check out the photo we took in the last class. You can download the picture from there. Sorry it's written in Japanese.
Are you ready to twist your tongue? If you are really hungry, you should eat something now. Your tongue will go to sleep and can't taste anything after this exercise. Just kidding.
Here is the list of bunch of Japanese tongue twisters. Why don't you remember and try it to your Japanese friends? Your friends will surprise and hold you in great esteem.
I think なまむぎ なまごめ なまたまご (nama mugi nama gome nama tamago)
is the most common tongue twisters. The meaning is "raw wheat raw rice raw egg." I always wonder who first came up with this kind of tongue twisters....
Learning Slang is always fun. In my case, I tried to get as many English slang as possible when I started studying English first time. By using "good" slang, I could make my American friends laugh, and we could enjoy our conversation.
Laughing is the universal language, and that is why I think slang can be really cool tools to become confidential with your friend who speak different language. You don't need to remember many but some, and you can make your Japanese friends laugh, It makes you happy too right?
I found some nice pages introducing good slang, so check these out.
Japanese Slang
Japan Culture Club
Japanese Slang Links
There are a lot of Onomatopoeia in Japanese, such as beron-beron (very drunk), kuta-kuta (dead tired). Those words consist of two syllables and imitate sounds. Japanese often use those words, and I think you guys want to remenber some of those. Those are very easy to remember and practical, so...
If you are interested in Onomatopoeia, check out this web page.
Some Japanese believe that a person's blood-type determines character. That is why some Japanese use the blood-type to determine compatibility for marriage and romance.... I don't believe that, but can't ignore that....umm
If you go to Japan, you can find a lot of English mistakes that appear in Japanese product design, advertising, and so on. Go to the Engrish.com. You can find bunch of them.
Japanese often use English as a design element when they make products or advertising. Why? I don't know... but think English words bring a modern taste and impression. For example, most of the names for Japanese cars are English (or sometimes French). Accord (Honda), Legacy (Subaru), Land Cruiser(Toyoda)...
I guess it doesn't matter for Japanese whether they can understand those English or not. They just want to use Engrish! oh no English!!
If you guys know other fun websites, let me know.