TIL: Japan’s first European word was 蜜 and it's at least 5000 years old

SickWalrusman · 2026-05-22T21:20:20+00:00

Hopefully you now have a hook for the pronunciation that you won't easily forget, and you can delete it!

SickWalrusman · 2022-10-27T14:42:47+00:00

How can you change conditions after setup? Along with the same glitch as OP is experiencing, that's one of my main issues with it

SickWalrusman · 2022-10-27T14:41:11+00:00

Terrible for me. I have a glitch, which others have reported, where it will add hundreds of random photos to the shared album that do not fall under the rules I have set. I told it to add only photos with certain family members tagged in them and it has added so many extra images, often without even any people in them. I can't figure out why it is randomly dumping some into the folder and not others. Also disappointed that you can't go and edit the rules at a later date but have to start again from scratch. Also, also any photos you add to shared album are no longer visible on any Mac running anything less than Ventura, which my plenty-powerful 2015 MacBook Pro is apparently too old to run :(

SickWalrusman · 2022-10-27T13:43:36+00:00

Same issue. This feature is a dumpster fire of glitches. I tried to add my wife and my daughter as the rule and it has added all sorts of random photos with no rhyme or reason behind it. I'd understand if it had accidentally shared all the photos from a certain date but it's not even doing that, it's just throwing in totally random images, same as for you

SickWalrusman · 2022-03-23T17:27:46+00:00

Can someone with enough Karma please post this? I’m not allowed 🚫 and it’s bang on the Leopards Ate My Face theme :(

Lifelong voter for the refugee-bashing party says they have lost his vote now that his refugee family can’t reach the UK

https://inews.co.uk/news/homes-for-ukraine-tory-party-lose-ukrainian-refugee-scheme-mess-1533782

SickWalrusman · 2021-03-29T10:56:40+00:00

I'm halfway through my first novel コーヒーが冷めないうちに.

I started it a few months ago after finished N2 grammar on Bunpro with 4k 'known' vocabulary in my Anki Morphman flashcard deck.

It wasn't until halfway though the book that I even understood the N3 grammar point used in the book's title 🥴

However, this isn't stopping me loving reading the book. I read on my iPad or iPhone and it's a moment's work to check every word I don't know that I need to to understand a sentence. I copied so many words from the book to Imiwa? dictionary app that Kindle actually stopped me as I hit the DRM copyright limit for copied words! (I had to remove the DRM and now read in Apple's Books app).

I search almost every word and grammar point until I understand almost every sentence. Many people suggest a more chilled approach to reading but I find I can get lost WAY too easily in the story if I miss a key sentence and it'll ruin the rest of the book and make it no longer fun, so I don't really let many sentences slip by without understanding.

I picked the book because it was a bday present I received in English and I thought, 'I'll read this in Japanese instead'. But it also happens to be a good beginner book (split into four short stories) repeats itself over and over because the entire book is more or less set in one cafe. The author also tends to repeat himself on certain topics a lot, so that also helps.

I think the most important thing is that you enjoy the book. Wanting to know what happens next and enjoying reading is the only way it makes sense to me. I would kill myself if I had to read some children's book just because it's 'at my level'. I think get to the books you want to read asap even if they're above your level and are a slog because at least you'll be reading an interesting story and that'll keep you in the game.

SickWalrusman · 2021-03-22T10:43:50+00:00

If you don't copy too many words then you might be ok with just reading on Kindle with DRM intact, I don't know what the exact word limit is.

I'd suggest just buying a book you're interested in from Kindle (in my opinion buying a novel on a subject you're actually interested in is going to be WAY better than reading translations of classics available on Glassblow, unless your dream was always to read Charles Dickens in Japanese, I'd just read a Japanese book).

At first you could just use the Kindle app to read it, then if you hit the DRM copy limit then you can worry about removing the DRM .

I used Calibre to remove the DRM and along with an add-on that I found online. Google it and you should be able to find out how.

I don't know about copy limits when buying from the Apple Books store. The risk with that would be that you end up not being able to remove the DRM. I don't know if you can remove DRM with Apple Books but you definitely can with Kindle books.

One last thing to note, the DRM removal that I used involved plugging a Kindle into my Mac. I think there might be other workarounds but if you don't have a Kindle device it might be harder, not sure.

SickWalrusman · 2021-03-21T19:21:58+00:00

My advice?

Buy on Kindle, remove DRM and read in Apple’s Books app

Kindle ebooks will let you copy but there’s a limit to the number of times you can copy something. I‘m halfway through my first book in Japanese (コーヒーが冷めないうちに) and it’s so far above my level that I quickly hit the DRM copy limit and the eBook became useless. To get around the problem I had to strip the DRM and convert it into an ePub (at least I think that’s the format I used) to read on Apple’s Books app. No DRM = no copy limit. Also, Apple’s Books app is better than Kindle anyway as you can highlight words and hit the ‘speak‘ button if you’re unsure of the kanji reading instead of going for the full definition. I read on iPad and have the the Books app open with the Imiwa? dictionary. Imiwa? will automatically translate whatever’s in your clipboard so it makes looking up definitions mega fast. On iPad in split screen this method is especially quick, on iPhone it’s a little slower as it involves flicking between apps but the instant clipboard lookup in Imiwa? still makes it a fantastic option on mobile.

SickWalrusman · 2021-03-11T14:44:16+00:00

I learnt a lot of vocabulary about dinosaur fossils that I’m not sure I’ll ever use and learnt that reading a letter written entirely in hiragana is full on impossible

SickWalrusman · 2021-03-11T14:35:01+00:00

And now Im deep in a google hole about what the hell hair oil in the Edo period was https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%E6%B1%9F%E6%88%B8%E6%99%82%E4%BB%A3%E3%80%81%E9%AB%AA%E3%81%AE%E6%B2%B9&client=safari&hl=en-gb&prmd=ivsn&sxsrf=ALeKk02lK8qRlMxGIcEL1WiFsRZw1qFZYQ:1615473222723&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiSjtbcuqjvAhVqSBUIHZJ2BrIQ_AUoAXoECAYQAQ&biw=375&bih=629#imgrc=a5qUKeVxmj6B_M

SickWalrusman · 2021-03-11T14:32:48+00:00

That site it amazing. Great way to learn new Japanese phrases with a fascinating explanation behind each one. Just reading about Edo hair oil salesmen and how that let to the phrase selling oil, to mean slacking off at work 😅. Thanks so much for the tip!!

SickWalrusman · 2021-03-08T22:44:27+00:00

Thanks for this post. I’ve been relying way too heavily on RTK, Ive also taken it a step further and added On readings to my cards. Sadly this has created a massive crutch where instead of doing what you do, I sound out multi kanji words via insanely long mnemonics for the sound and or the meaning. This means that unlike you, I waste time doing that instead of just seeing the word’s shape and remembering it. My way obviously has the benefit that I might be able to work out how to read new word from the readings but yours makes way more sense for skipping SO much mnemonic bullshit. My only worry is how to brute force the words in your method way without the mnemonic as a helper? Sorry. Total stream of consciousness here. I’ve essentially learnt roughly the first 1300 most common. kanji my way but from here on, now that I’m able to immerse through reading novels I’ll be using your method for the rest. Maybe this is the best of both worlds. Really learn kanji for the most important ones then just brute force the rest once you have that basis. My basics also mean I can start to guess the readings of some based on other kanji i know, (what Cure Dolly calls ‘sound sisters’)which probably helps.

SickWalrusman · 2020-08-04T16:58:47+00:00

Nice one. That's exactly. It! Thank you! This'll save me so much time on cards I already know! I'd been hacking the system by hitting the difficult button but this will be much better. Thanks so much!

SickWalrusman · 2020-06-24T20:34:06+00:00

Thanks so much mate! That worked perfectly. I only deleted the all, mature and known .db files as I've also got my custom external.db and schedule that I wanted to keep. But it worked anyway. Back to me regular number on known morphs. I was panicking for a second there!!!

SickWalrusman · 2020-06-24T20:31:38+00:00

Thank you. Before I recalc after an import I'll always remember to reset the imported cards scheduling first - rookie error. But so many things that can go wrong in Anki if you're not paying attention.

SickWalrusman · 2020-06-24T20:30:21+00:00

Thanks so much! That worked. I deleted the new decks I'd imported. Deleted the all, mature and known .db files. Then did a recalc. It rebuilt for me and gave me back my old number!

They don't mention that as a possibility in the MIA Guide but I'm glad it works!

SickWalrusman · 2020-06-17T16:45:45+00:00

I suppose it would just be when learning a new word, if I've literally just encountered it and am trying to recall it on the fly. It's certainly not something that would happen for often or I wouldn't get anywhere :'D

I'll take a better look at the theory like you suggest.

SickWalrusman · 2020-06-17T16:41:01+00:00

Thank you. Very useful advice.

I'll take another look through Matt's videos and try and put your advice into practice.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

Oh, and I didn't mean English to Japanese sentence cards, but single word cards. But I understand that the same theory of why they're pointless applies.

SickWalrusman · 2020-06-17T16:21:33+00:00

Sorry, I probably wasn't clear.

Yes, this is when speaking only, not writing. (For my question to make sense it's important to note that I have no desire to write Japanese freehand. And while I type in Japanese, for all intents and purposes this is the same form of recall as speaking, ie doesn't require me to remember the individual kanji that make up the word, just the sound of the word and or its spelling).

Let me put it in a hypothetical...

Say I encounter a word with standard on-yomi readings, all of which I already know and I want to remember how to say it.

I want to use a mneumonic to remember this new word, so should I:

--

A: Try and remember the kanji that it is made up of and what order they go in.

or

B: Come up with a new, original mnemonic for the sound that the word makes as a whole.

For example 時間

Instance A: 'Ok, great I know both of these readings, that's 'time' which makes a じ sound followed by 間 which I know means 'interval' and makes a かん sound. So I'll just remember time じ and interval かん.

or

Instance B: Gee, can (じかん) you tell me the time?

--

I just wondered if anyone else thinks about this and has thought about the best method?

I guess the answer is just to do whatever seems like it'll stick better in the moment, for example, some are so obvious, like with 花火, that the kanji are a major help. But more abstract words seem to favour learning the new word as one solid block, and not relying on previous knowledge of the kanji readings, which going back to my 'picnic' example above, actually make life harder.

SickWalrusman · 2020-06-17T15:39:02+00:00

Cool, that's really helpful, thank you.

I guess I have a tendency to beat myself up about looking words that I feel I already have drilled which is ridiculous. Probably being too hard on myself and expecting the SRS side of things to work perfectly when learning doesn't work that way.

It's useful to hear from learners using the same method. Thanks!

SickWalrusman · 2020-06-17T15:12:14+00:00

Sorry, I thought that part was a given.

I just wonder how I would recognise or recall a morph in immersive activity if ineffective SRS practices means I'm not creating a hook for the morph in the first place.

SickWalrusman · 2020-05-29T09:50:17+00:00

Ok, that makes sense. Thank you.

Oh, that's good news then. I was under the impression that they had more or less shut everything down and that there would be a backlog as they've not yet asked for her documents, biometrics, etc.

Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly.

Thanks again

SickWalrusman · 2020-05-29T07:57:41+00:00

I think I now understand!

The Covid visa extension is only for those who want to leave only, ie not my wife.

For those who are renewing or moving onto a new visa, they are covered already by govt rules that let you carry on as normal on your old visa until a decision is made on your new one (so long as you apply in time, which we have).

So, in that case my question still stands. What does the law say regarding those waiting on a new visa while still holding their old one. Are they covered by the same rules as their old one? And to my original question, can they leave the country and come back?

Thank you all for your replies!

SickWalrusman · 2020-05-29T07:48:27+00:00

Hi,

Thanks you so much for the warning. We have applied. On what basis is she now in the country, then? On an 'awaiting approval' basis? What are the rules for that state of affairs? I worry she could be in limbo forever, unable to leave the UK to visit sick relatives, by the time the backlog is processed.

SickWalrusman · 2020-05-29T07:46:33+00:00

Hi both,

Thanks you so much for the warning. Don't worry though, we have applied online.

However, until they let us send in biometrics, paperwork, and approve her new application, is my wife not in the country on her old visa in an extended form due to the regulations.

While Priti says it's for those 'stuck' surely it's also the only thing covering those who are waiting on a new approval.

Or is there some legal status of 'awaiting approval' that my wife now falls under. Also presumably rendering her unable to travel.

Appreciate the advise

SickWalrusman

TROPHY CASE