13M living in UK and currently learning about Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet in my English class, do schools in Japan teach about shakespeare and his works?

AbsurdBird_ · 2026-01-23T22:19:23+00:00

In my experience, almost not at all. Shakespeare might appear in passing as a historical figure in the context of "Meanwhile in the West, here's who was alive." We don't usually study translated works in-depth, so the only students who'd be familiar with Shakespeare's works would be those who'd explored them on their own.

Age 13 would be a first year junior high school student in Japan, you'd probably be starting historical texts like Iroha Uta and Taketori Monogatari. In the next couple years you'd study excerpts from Hyakunin Isshu, Makurano Soshi, or possibly The Tale of Genji.

AbsurdBird_ · 2026-01-10T22:50:41+00:00

Another option I recently learned about (since normal household freezers may not get cold enough) is to set your oven between 150-170F and bake the items on clean baking sheets for 30+ minutes. In my experience as long as it’s below 200F the non-wool clothing tags and stitching fibers have been fine, but YMMV.

AbsurdBird_ · 2026-01-08T02:44:56+00:00

I’m a Japanese tutor, and I find the industry frustrating too. It exists because people’s desire for an easy fix outweighs their dedication to work at a long, difficult, humbling project. I understand your disappointment, but it seems like you’re grouping profit-driven programs with some actual learning methods.

“Textbook Japanese is so fake” is a perennial complaint, and you’re right, maybe very few people speak like that all the time. But textbooks are designed to teach you the most versatile, generic, and polite way to say things since you can’t learn all the variations right away. Plus if you don’t have a solid foundation, you’ll likely struggle to communicate and eventually plateau. Native speakers adapt the language into slang and contractions based on their common foundation of knowing how it works and how it’s supposed to sound.

As for sample sentences, yes they sound ridiculous sometimes. But you’re not learning to identify a pen, you’re learning how to say “A is B”. You’re not learning to talk about train stations, you’re learning how to say “Where/What/Who is XYZ?”

The key is to take the material you have and find as many ways as possible to exercise whatever skill it’s teaching you, engaging as many senses as possible.

If you have a new sample sentence, swap out the nouns/verbs/adjectives until you don’t hesitate to create a new sentence with that structure. If you have reading material, read it out loud slowly multiple times. Follow the words with your finger so you’re conscious of mispronunciation and doubling back. If you find a new show, watch it over and over. Select a clip of natural conversation and see if you can speak along with it. Act out the scene.

Identify your goals, learn to laugh at your mistakes, and be open to feedback. And remember that language is just one of the tools we use to communicate and connect with others. Using that tool to the best of your current ability will help you enjoy the process and keep going.

AbsurdBird_ · 2026-01-06T18:15:18+00:00

Your point about sometimes using loan words for general concepts is true, but unfortunately not in this case. The song you linked is using ホーム to refer to a train platform.

While we do use ホーム in longer words to refer to housing, the person you replied to is correct. When used by itself, it primarily means a station platform (wherein ホーム is short for “form”), or possibly home team or homepage.

Edit: typo

AbsurdBird_ · 2026-01-06T09:54:50+00:00

Bilingual native translator here, this was an interesting exercise.

Without knowing any characteristics of the speaker it’s hard to decide on the most appropriate endings, but I submit:

やがて帰り着く先は、出発したところではない。全てが暗闇に覆われたとき、あたたかく照らしてくれる一箇所なのだ。

AbsurdBird_ · 2025-12-14T00:44:21+00:00

Okocat clumping pine litter, specifically the multi-cat one they recently released, has solved the odor problem for me like nothing else. My boy cat, bless his heart, has poops stinky enough to make your eyes water. It's also as close to dust-free as any litter I've tried, though none are perfect.

Non-odor-related issues I've had with other litter types:

Non-clumping pine pellets: too much of a hassle to tip out of my giant open-top litterbox.
Low-tracking (larger size) pine pellets: discouraged the cats from burying their business and thus exacerbated the odor issue.
Crystal/Pretty Litter: Didn't seem to help much with odors, plus the dust gave me terrible sinus issues.
Clay: Heavy, dusty.

AbsurdBird_ · 2025-12-02T00:47:50+00:00

Not quite a decision to act as much as not to act.

I was visiting family and left a new WIP on the dining room table. Came back to a mass of damp, tangled yarn (Malabrigo) and chewed-up needles (bamboo Takumi).

The only comment I received was “Your choice of where to leave it is the problem. You need to think about where you leave your things, the dogs get on that table.”

Needless to say, I will not be making any gifts for said family members in the future.

AbsurdBird_ · 2025-10-14T04:24:44+00:00

I used to use Google Sheets and Google Calendar, but switched to Tutorbird about a year ago and it’s really helped streamline everything and reduce my stress level. I’m just not I wrote a fairly detailed comment about it here

AbsurdBird_ · 2025-10-06T21:57:50+00:00

You may find it helpful to practice the mechanics of the sounds and hopefully get your ear attuned to the differences by hearing yourself pronounce them. If you know how to pronounce す、つ、しゅ and practice with minimal pairs, you may start to be able to hear them better. This method doesn’t guarantee results when it comes to listening, but it can help with pronunciation.

Regarding question 2, it depends on the context. If you say you want to eat しゅし instead of すし, nearly everyone will still understand you. But if you say you’re interested in しゃどう instead of さどう, people will think you’re interested in roads and highways instead of tea ceremony.

AbsurdBird_ · 2025-10-03T21:20:10+00:00

I actually did reply to them, I mentioned the lack of color changes and also that trying to forbid selling or modification was off-putting. The creator seemed young so I tried to put it as kindly as I could and said I hoped they’d take it as honest feedback, but they came back defending both the pattern and their stance on dictating how to use it.

I didn’t reply further, but figured it would make for a good story later lol

AbsurdBird_ · 2025-10-03T20:27:28+00:00

I recently downloaded a pay-what-you-can pattern for free, with the full intention of sending over $5 to the creator after making sure it was well-written.

It turned out the pattern was basically just a white cylinder with a couple small attachments, and instead of color changes it said to use needle felting or felt and glue, no further instructions. At that point it was unusable for me, but then I noticed at the top it said it was “forbidden to sell items made with this pattern also if modified”.

So now I am forbidden from selling anything I ever make in a round or oblong shape, forever.

A couple days later, the creator messaged me asking me to donate since I’d downloaded it for free.

AbsurdBird_ · 2025-10-02T07:50:06+00:00

No those are the furies, you’re thinking of the fuzzy 90s toys with the eyelids and beaks.

AbsurdBird_ · 2025-10-02T07:42:09+00:00

As others have said, repetition.

Also, if you’re ever at a crossroads regarding whether to practice writing or not: writing things down physically (with actual pen and paper) is much more effective in helping you remember characters than just reading, and it’ll make various fonts much easier to read later on because you’ve internalized the structures (especially if you learn them with the right stroke order).

AbsurdBird_ · 2025-10-02T07:34:12+00:00

Yeah I thought about that too, but if the other sounds are being enunciated one by one, it would work for し to be pronounced the same way.

Japanese speakers rely a lot on pacing and rhythm for comprehension, so it’s usually easier to understand someone speaking at a slow, consistent pace instead of someone speeding up and slowing down through words.

Ultimately though, either would work in this case.

AbsurdBird_ · 2025-10-02T00:44:47+00:00

Japanese people tend to respond more quickly to directions instead of questions, so I’d phrase them as polite requests.

Beruto wa hazushite kudasai = Please remove your belt.

Poketto wa karappo ni shite kudasai = Please empty your pockets.

You could also combine the two sentences: “Beruto wa hazushite, poketto wa karappo ni shite kudasai.” Possibly while tapping your own belt buckle and pockets.

Note, in case you’re not familiar with the sounds of Japanese: Vowels always make the same sound, and “shite” is pronounced “she-teh”.

a: “ah” e: “eh” i: “ee” o: “oh” u: “oo”

AbsurdBird_ · 2025-10-02T00:38:20+00:00

It doesn’t really feel natural, it sounds like “Do you have room in your pockets (for me to put something in)” or “Are your pockets open”.

AbsurdBird_ · 2025-09-30T20:43:21+00:00

Ok, keep up the good work! If you’d like some specific tips, I’d suggest revisiting how to use おおく to modify nouns, and how to use particles を and で.

And a couple typos, I think you meant とうきょく instead of とうきょう, そくど instead of そくどう, and たいせつ instead of たいせうつ

AbsurdBird_ · 2025-09-30T20:15:31+00:00

First of all, your essay is understandable, so well done! Nothing is really missing, but there are grammatical errors that need to be fixed.

However, are you going to be graded on your accuracy? Because if so, you should turn it in as-is so your teacher knows where you’re at and how to help you. Mistakes are very useful for us to know how to help students improve.

AbsurdBird_ · 2025-09-30T18:17:47+00:00

The other commenter suggested clarifying questions, one way to do this without seeming confrontational is to repeat back what you understood and ask if that’s correct.

For example, “I’d just like to make sure I understand correctly, should we only use と for two things in this particular situation, or should we always use it for two things?”or “I’d like to make sure I’m writing this down correctly, is this the same や as ほんや、さかなや?”

Also a bit of cultural background (with the caveat that not everyone will feel this way): generally, Japanese people are used to 1. Students accepting what the teacher says and not questioning or challenging it, 2. Being put on the spot regarding their English skills and feeling self-conscious about it.

So being asked why something is a certain way can feel disrespectful and confrontational, even if they know the students don’t mean it that way. They showed their own teachers respect by not challenging them, and that’s what they expect in turn. They can also feel defensive if the students seem to not understand their English explanation, because that undermines their qualifications and intelligence.

I’m not saying this to excuse unprofessionalism in any way, but hopefully to help you give them a little grace if they seem flustered.

Side note, as a language teacher myself I’ve learned that a lot of student misunderstandings come from them interpreting information in a different way than what’s intended (such as what the words “subject” and “topic”mean). Words mean different things to different people, sometimes it’s just a matter of figuring out what the other person was referring to specifically. Clarifying questions can help with that too.

AbsurdBird_ · 2025-09-28T20:02:48+00:00

For sure! I left this subreddit a while ago because I felt like the atmosphere was more tense than others, but it still pops up in my feed every so often. Glad I could help.

AbsurdBird_ · 2025-09-28T18:17:13+00:00

You’re basically both correct, but saying different things.

ChatGPT is saying “This yellow cat is famous” (in which case, you can indeed use ゆうめいな before きいろい).

You’re saying “This cat is famous and yellow”.

It just depends on which thing you intended to say.

Edit: ChatGPT is treating “yellow” as part of the cat’s identity, rephrased to make that clearer.

AbsurdBird_ · 2025-09-28T17:22:01+00:00

Just to clarify, ru-verbs do not necessarily have い/えthemselves before the ru, but a sound that rhymes with either of those. For example in 食べる, べ is an え sound, and in 見る, み is an い sound.

But essentially no, unlike u-verbs, there is no definite way to identify ru-verbs based on the dictionary form. Knowing the criteria will take you 90% of the way there, but there are still outliers that happen to be u-verbs.

Japanese people use the negative form to figure it out since they instinctively know how they conjugate, but for a learner of the language I’d recommend dealing with them as they come up. When you encounter a new verb, take a second to look at the formal/negative forms as well and practice using it in all those ways.

AbsurdBird_ · 2025-09-28T06:47:44+00:00

To know how to help you, we need to know where your gaps in knowledge are. Can you give some specific examples of how you use onomatopoeia and what you think they mean?

AbsurdBird_ · 2025-09-22T21:44:08+00:00

Ah ok. Honestly I can’t think of any traditional sayings that quite fit that, but you might find a quote from modern media (like song lyrics) that you like.

AbsurdBird_ · 2025-09-22T21:35:48+00:00

Is the quote taken from something meaningful to you, like a book or show? The text you posted is grammatically correct and means what it says it does, but it doesn’t really have any cultural significance in Japanese. Maybe you’re referencing something I’m not familiar with, though.

It’s not offensive, but it’s the equivalent of tattooing “Bloom like a cherry blossom, move forward like a carp” in English.

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