iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Japanese Talk @japanesetalk.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Japanese Talk Online is 13 years old today!!!! I started this blog as casual Japanese language classes for my university anime society and wanted to keep it going after I graduated. Just like my Japanese studies, I haven't been consistent but I have been persistent 😂

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sibaku @sibaku1.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Interesting service for Japanese learners I want to share! ohanasikagawa.com A ~weekly free event, where Japanese and English learners can have two 1-1 sessions (15 min per language each) + free sessions befere and after. I think it's well organized and a great opportunity to speak to various people

ohanasikagawa.com

Ohanasi Kagawa | Free Online Language Exchange Community

Ohanasi Kagawa is a free online language exchange community where Japanese and international learners connect safely through one-on-one conversation.

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Japanese Talk @japanesetalk.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

If you like Hololive and are learning Japanese, this is a great channel for breaking down Japanese sentences and picking up useful vocabulary! youtu.be/5MFaav7dHgA?...

youtu.be

Okayu Asks How Ina Got So Good at Japanese | Learn Japanese with Okayu & Ina

YouTube video by KagaJP | Learn Japanese with VTubers

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Japanese Talk @japanesetalk.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I got to see these for real in Kyoto Prefecture earlier this year! I studied them in school so it was really cool seeing them in person.

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Japanese with Manu @japanesewithmanu.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

One of the biggest problems people have when studying Japanese is to retain vocabulary and kanji. Heads up - forgetting vocabulary and kanji is an everyday occurence - it happens to the best of us (even to me). But that's not only a bad thing. It encourages you to take a closer look at what you

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Japanese Talk @japanesetalk.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Finished my twelfth Japanese book of this year! 大人になったら is about 35-year-old Mei who's trying to work out what she wants in life. Most of her friends are married with kids while she hasn't had a relationship in eight years, and she's in the same job she got when she graduated. ★★★☆☆ JP level: N2

Japanese novel "Otona ni Nattara" (When I Grow Up) by Tomomi Hatano

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🏳️‍⚧️ Bog Witch Girl 🏳️‍⚧️ @bogwitch-girl.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

WaniKani literally yesterday when I hit level 20: “drilling is no longer sufficient; get your ass in front of some Japanese text and fucking read. it’ll be ugly and you’ll probably be figuring out the grammar on the fly, but it is important to put this knowledge you crammed into your brain into use”

Welcome to Level 20. Kind of a milestone, if I say so myself. It's also the last level in the "苦 painful" category too. I wonder what's next 🤔

When you finish up Level 20, you'll know quite a bit.

98.8% of the JLPT N4 kanji (as well as 100% of the JLPT N5 kanji).
65.94% of the JLPT N3 kanji.
The amount of kanji a Japanese 3rd grader should know (and 70% of what a 4th grader should know).
87.03% of the kanji on NHK Web Easy.
76.92% of the kanji on the average Japanese Wikipedia articles.
Many people don't realize this, but there's a step after "burned" when it comes to your kanji/vocabulary, and that step is reading. At Level 20, you should be able to do that. It may not be pretty (yet), and it may still be difficult (depending on your grammar levels), but reading is what will get you to that next step. Even though it won't be easy, it'll take your Japanese to the next level.

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Tim Gaedke @timgaedke.com · 26/09/2026

talent is a lie

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Dr. Wes Robertson @scriptingjapan.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Hey brat, come get your dopamine: youtu.be/0PfY6mmS2mQ

youtu.be

ドパガキ

YouTube video by Scripting Japan

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Japanese Talk @japanesetalk.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I forgot what it's like to be a beginner at a language and freeze when talking to natives, even if you practiced loads. It's very frustrating. If you find yourself in that situation, don't give up! Keep challenging yourself and try to speak as much as you can, even if you freeze a few times.

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Sam/サム 📚 @samtobenkyou.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Pspsps if you are learning languages & DON'T have a Natively account, what are you doing??? It's a fantastic, free resource for finding books & media at your level for Japanese, Korean, German, Spanish, English, & French! learnnatively.com A "recommendations" feature is in beta now too! 👀 #langsky

learnnatively.com

Natively | Find native books, movies and tv shows at your level

We'll help you find books, movies and TV shows at your level!

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Sarah (BUY MY BOOK!) Moon @prettytranslator.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Or, buy my Intermediate Japanese study guide, if you're more advanced. Over 100 pages of intermediate Japanese grammar with sample sentences, modeled after the Genki textbooks.

ko-fi.com

Intermediate Japanese Study Guide (JLPT N4) - Sarah Moon's Ko-fi Shop

I've made a 102-page study guide that outlines most of the lessons in the Genki 2 textbook. I use my own example sentences to illustrate grammar, and ...

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Japanese with Manu @japanesewithmanu.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

This flower is called 彼岸花(ひがんばな) higan-bana, red spider lily It's blooming just around お彼岸 o-higan, a Buddhist custom to show appreciation for your ancestors. You might have seen it in anime, for example, Kimetsu No Yaiba, Demonslayer. Ohigan is one of the topics of my latest podcast episodes⬇️

Several bright red spider lilies with their spindly stamens

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Japanese Talk @japanesetalk.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I think this article from the Japan Times on how to get into reading gives bad advice. It mostly says "if you're a beginner read baby books then move onto children's books, manga, and YA books" but that's not actually good for Japanese learners. 🧵 www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2026/09...

japantimes.co.jp

How to get a start in reading books in Japanese

From picture books to manga and young adult fiction, here’s how to find Japanese books that match your language level.

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Ash @fishyash.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Friendly reminder that Duolingo was initially concieved to trick people into translating articles for free, which they later used as training data for MTL algorithms. Duolingo's primary purpose has NEVER been about teaching you a language, even from the start! slate.com/technology/2...

If it doesn’t charge users and, so far, doesn’t serve them any ads, how does Duolingo make money? It tricks you into working as an unpaid translation service. At the end of some lessons, Duolingo will ask you if you want to practice by translating a real-world document. Which will turn out to be, say, a BuzzFeed article. By melding together enough stabs at this task from high-level Duolingo users, the app can render a surprisingly accurate translation. Which is worth good money. So far, Duolingo has contracts with BuzzFeed and CNN to translate stories from English into languages such as Spanish, French, and Portuguese. This service is already earning Duolingo hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, but von Ahn predicts he will be adding a raft of new clients soon. “The language translations market is huge,” he says. “It’s a $30 billion per year market.”

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_myooooon @birdbrain.dev · 21/09/2026

Now that I've read the book again, I have some ~updated opinions~. In my original post I said it was a dry read but that is false! Either I was too young to really appreciate the themes covered (I read it 10 years ago), or too frustrated trying to understand it, or a combination of the two.

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moonbeam @mnbm.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

i cant stop thinking about this article because i genuinely despise duolingo so much. my feelings go beyond "i dont think its very good" to "its literally a waste of your time that tricks you into THINKING you're doing something productive" which i find repulsively evil. very good article

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Lia Liar 🌸 Artist & JP teacher @lialiar.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

TRUE! 👏🏼 Imo if you want a more effective way of learning japanese on your phone/pc you have: - Anki: free, customisable srs app. Great for vocab & kanji - Youtube: loads of vids in/about jp. For learning and entertainment! - Bunpro: grammar explanations + sentences Escape the owl, learn jp fr 🫡

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Japanese Talk @japanesetalk.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

It really irks me when people share their 300, 600, 1000 day Duolingo streaks but still don't know how to use Japanese. Here's an explanation for why apps like Duolingo don't work for learning to any fluency. jtalkonline.com/why-apps-lik...

jtalkonline.com

Why Apps Like Duolingo Don’t Work for Japanese - Japanese Talk

I’ve been learning Japanese for twenty years, but it hasn’t been consistent. I’ve stopped and started, bounced around multiple different study methods, and overall had a very slapdash approach to the ...

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Good Haro @goodharo.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I can’t speak for anyone else ofc, but I sincerely believe anyone can learn enough Japanese to enjoy popular media and if you really care that much about the nuances of the language I can’t imagine what would be more rewarding than that

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Japanese Talk @japanesetalk.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

If anyone decides to work in Japan, remember, the days can get REALLY long. So glad it's a 5 day weekend.

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ルル | Ruru | Team Daydream Lyricist @rhubarbpiart.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

If you’re learning #Japanese, something you may have heard is “don’t translate in your head” but realistically you’d ask "how do I move away from translating in my head?" So I've been trying a method that mimics organic learning using example sentences, but not just generic sentences…

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Cal C @cdcubed.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

they know. they know! no sugarcoating, even! so fucking tell them!!

one question of the survey, with 9 checkbox options:

What concerns, if any, do you have about AI-assisted manga translations? (Select all that apply.)
*
1. Lower overall quality
2. Loss of respect for readers
3. Loss of respect for creators
4. Character personalities changing
5. Cultural references being mistranslated
6. Less work for human translators
7. Ethical concerns
8. Legal concerns
Other: (I typed in: environmental concerns, worse than a fresh human translation)

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_myooooon @birdbrain.dev · 13/09/2026

My long-form Japanese reading journey started with this book. I've been meaning to toss it out, but not before reading it again, so I'm going to do that this week. It's a really, really dry read though. I've filled it with (now) embarrassing annotations all over. It's nice to see progress like this

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Dawnlight🌞Neni / ART COMMISSIONS OPEN!! @nenilein.com · 09/09/2026

Fun fact: "Reviewing an AI made translation" is more work for translators than just translating it themselves, because AI translations do not pass the sniff test beyond the most superficial. It's a loophole companies use as an excuse to underpay translators, and nothing else.

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Japanese Talk @japanesetalk.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Just going to say I bounced off immersion learning and Anki so hard when I started learning Japanese. I think they're not very effective unless you already have a strong understanding of the basics (at least up to N3). But I understand that some beginners love them and that's how they learn best.

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J-E Media Translation Course@JVTA（日本映像翻訳アカデミー） @jemediatranslation.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Coming up next week!📚 Join us on September 12th (JST) for a special look into the world of Japanese-to-English manga localization and editing with Sarah Tangney (@sarasaraht.bsky.social) from Square Enix Manga & Books!🤩 Don't miss it! Sign up here: t.co/CDMRlYcsU8

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sibaku @sibaku1.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Japanese street interview channel I think might be good for beginners: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA6V... Usually, these types of video aren't good. Lots of bad/creepy questions/hosts. But I think this guy seems very pleasant and talks to a range of different people

youtube.com

What Did Japanese People Do Today? | Easy Japanese Street Interviews (N5–N4)

YouTube video by Japanese with Shun

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Japanese Talk @japanesetalk.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

I've met a few people now who are in Japan studying Japanese but unable to get beyond beginner level speaking and listening, and I've noticed it's because they don't listen. They're the type of people who talk AT you, not with you. Japanese is very hard if you're not capable of listening to others.

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MarionetteCreep @marionettecreep.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Intermediate Japanese trap: It's all too easy to fall into the trap of looking at the far-end of your goals and to feel overwhelmed and intimidated by the level of Japanese required. Be kind to yourself, and focus on your growth so far and the fun of the journey.

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Dr. Wes Robertson @scriptingjapan.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

It's time for the August #Japanese slang review! Click below to learn about: おま国喪男デブラーフレネミー即堕ちパイスラパワギラ・酒ギラ・マネギラ DUOる MM ガンブ wesleycrobertson.wordpress.com/2026/08/31/j...

wesleycrobertson.wordpress.com

Japanese Slang Review – August 2026

And it’s time for the eight Japanese slang review of 2026 (see all prior posts here)! In these posts I deep dive into the world of Japanese terms you probably won’t see in a textbook, l…

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Japanese Talk @japanesetalk.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

I studied French and Spanish for GCSE and I was SO bad at them. I only just managed to pass on both because I got a BBC teach yourself program and worked really hard to pass the test. Then I forgot everything. But Japanese made a lot more sense. It clicked on a way European languages never did.

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Japanese Talk @japanesetalk.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Congratulations to everyone that passed the JLPT!!!

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CSIS Japan Chair @japan.csis.org · 25/08/2026

News on Japan: The Japanese government on Tuesday adopted guiding principles on intellectual property protection for generative artificial intelligence operators, calling on such businesses to disclose an outline of data and methods used to train their AI tools. Read More: bit.ly/4gww4Yy

bit.ly

Japan Govt Urges AI Firms to Disclose Learning Data

The Japanese government on Tuesday adopted guiding principles on intellectual property protection for generative artificial intelligence operators, calling on such businesses to disclose an outline of...

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Japanese Talk @japanesetalk.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Loan words in Japanese are Japanese, and the more I live here the more I learn how useful they are, and how they have different meanings and uses from similar kanji compounds. This is a great video from @scriptingjapan.bsky.social. m.youtube.com/watch?v=j3Qk...

m.youtube.com

Dogen's Minority Problem is NOT GOOD

YouTube video by Scripting Japan

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Japanese Talk @japanesetalk.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Finally got around to writing a review for one of my favourite Japanese books. もう別れてもいいですか？ follows 58-year-old Sumiko as she realizes she wants to divorce her husband and grows the confidence and knowledge to do it. Great for every day Japanese used by adults. jtalkonline.com/can-we-break...

jtalkonline.com

Can We Break Up Now? - もう別れてもいいですか？ (Mou Wakaretemo Ii Desuka?) -

もう別れてもいいですか？ (Mou Wakaretemo Ii Desuka?) by 垣谷美雨 (Miu Kakiya) Author: 垣谷美雨 (Miu Kakiya) Japanese Level: High-Intermediate (N2) Genre: Slice-of-life, drama, middle-aged protagonist Pages: 321 Bookwalke...

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Japanese Talk @japanesetalk.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

jtalkonline.com

Can We Break Up Now? - もう別れてもいいですか？ (Mou Wakaretemo Ii Desuka?) -

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Anime News Network @animenewsnetwork.com · 21/08/2026

Award-Winning Translator, Jan Mitsuko Cash, Calls on American Manga Industry to Double Their Rates!

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Japanese Talk @japanesetalk.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Saw a new Japanese learning app that had strong slop vibes even though their site didn't clearly state it used genAI. Messaged to check and yep, they use it. Even if you 'get professionals to verify' slop, it's still slop.

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Japanese Talk @japanesetalk.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

JLPT registration is open in the US! It will be open for Japan residents in Japan from August 24th. Make sure you don't miss the application period as seats fill up really quickly.

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Teresa (Katy) Castillo @harleygin.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Anime: MediaOCD.com (also sells Discotek's titles) Sentaifilmworks.com Media-blasters.com Store.gkids.com Manga: MerryManga.com Casitamanga.com (also check individual publishers' websites - most have a store) Music: Materia.store

sentaifilmworks.com

Shop the Sentai Anime Store

Browse Sentai's anime store for official Oshi no Ko, Call of the Night, and The Eminence in Shadow merchandise! Find anime Blu-rays, Limited Editions and more.

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Japanese Talk @japanesetalk.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

パラレルワールド・ラブストーリー by Keigo Higashino has neither parallel worlds, nor is it a love story. But it was one of the most gripping novels I've read in a long time because the mystery was SO GOOD. ★★★★☆ JLPT N2 level. / CW: SA

Japanese novel "Parallel World Love Story" by Higashino Keigo. The book cover is pink with a Japanese woman in a lab coat looking at papers while science stuff floats around her.

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Japanese Talk @japanesetalk.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Racist nationalist trucks driving around Umeda today blasting their music and shouting how Japan should only be for Japanese people, all the while the government are making it harder for foreigners to get visas and permanent residence and buy houses here. *sigh* So tired.

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Natsu.Caps(simistic) @capssimistic.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

If y'all understand Japanese (or are learning) and want some entertainment on the gaming side, Hanae Natsuki's channel is pretty entertaining. I enjoy his collab and 'game of darkness/闇のゲーム' the most. www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tkr...

youtube.com

【闇のゲーム】声優が全力で『トマトマト』をやるとこうなる

YouTube video by 花江夏樹

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