How I learn Korean with Anki

I touched upon this on this previous post but i wanted to break it down. I’m pleased with the streamlined process. There’s some info I have to share beforehand which is that I usually don’t take more than 3 seconds with each card and only one format works for me and I know this from my experience with learning Japanese (It’s just my personality and I can’t get myself to read each card thoroughly and slowly… as soon as the answer pops in my head I press the space bar and give my answer). If you take more than 5 seconds with each anki card you should really reevaluate what you’re doing. As amazing as Anki is with the spaced repetition, if you use it wrong you are wasting your time and in the worse case scenario you’re deluded into thinking that you’re kicking ass in x language when you are wasting time.

(yes it says 3.9 secs but I’m still converting the format over for old cards that are still the traditional format of word in front and definition in front. I think that’s why my answering time is longer than it is because like I said it’s in my personality to press that space bar ASAP)

Another thing I have to mention is that I am only able to do this mcd format because of my current level of familiarity of Korean and my current korean vocabulary. I had mentioned in that previous post that I recently started this format because I finally reached a point where I passed this vocab level/korean familarity threshold where I am actually able to engage with the MCD card format and doing those cards are virtually effortless. Well more like really easy. AND another thing I HATE IT when people write stuff off without thinking about the possibilities!! in a previous post I mentioned how people think TV is a waste of time blahblah blh but that i disagreed because ultimately it came down to the TV show because there are really well-written, well-produced shows with words I gotta look up words in the dictionary if I want to understand them in their entirety. Anki gets a bad rep too because people don’t realize the possibilities like the different formats of cards you could set up in anki. for me this format has been soooo good for my Japanese and now my Korean. Of course I am using anki properly as in supplementing my learning from Native Media as opposed to putting all my time and energy into anki. There is an ideal ratio of how much time you spend with anki vs your language and my personal belief is that in the beginning you should especially spend more time with the language and native media etc rather than anki. For Korean, in the beginning when I added cards in the traditional format of word or sentence in front and definition in back I could tell from doing the reviews that this shit wasn’t happening because anki does not replace actually spending time with the language. also I think in the beginning certain words are just easier to remember than others just because certain words are that much more common and useful and it’s overwhelming in the beginning with all the Kango. So even though I was adding these cards and knew I wasn’t actually retaining most of it I still did the anki reviews but I didn’t take it seriously. I would half-ass it and put as little effort into it as possible and I would mark GOOD instead of AGAIN when I had no f’in idea what the answer was because I knew there was no point drilling this in anki till i “know” it because that shit will not happen. ANd now in 2016 I get to convert those cards into mcd format and actually learn them and actually engage with anki.

I was going to leave the deck I originally shared on anki and then share my mcd format deck but anki just ended up over-writing the original deck so… that’s unfortunate.

SO WITHOUT FURTHER ADO here is an example of the streamlined anki process!!

step 1) Watch a korean tv show that I will actually enjoy and gain something from. It’s truly amazing all the different information and stories I hear from watching korean tv and japanese tv that i would never get from american tv and vice versa. it’s enriching and I love it.

SO I found out about this episode of As I say from googline unprertty rapstar in google news because i LOVE unpretty rapstar season 1

http://www.ondemandkorea.com/as-i-say-e7.html

(this site actually has english subs but i don’t use them because that’s just counterintuitive for me at my level)

this episode features CHEETAH who was a fierce and talented rapper from unpretty rapstar season 1 . sometimes I torrent the episode of the tv show but for this particular show there’s no torrent for it. I enjoyed listening to alllll the guests in the episode in the end ! Another show i REcently did was 이몽사몽 episode where the girl was saying that her mom was a video game addict. I wanted to watch this episode because it sounded mad interesting.

step 2) I use my iphone and search for unknown words in my korean-japansee dictinoary while watching the show. I IGNORE any words that plop on the screen that are not words that came out people’s mouths like sound effects or describing crap. Sometimes I do get tempted to look up and add background korean text IF it looks like it’ll be really easy to remember like no bacchim. Usually they “sub” the dialogue so I can usually look up the word. If I find the correct definition i copy it and paste it into my notepad in my iphone. so while I do this I usually rewind the show 15 seconds using the left arrow (whether it’s the .mp4 playing or this website) or I just let the show play and rewind back to the spot after I’m doing looking up the word.

step 3) email that sucker to myself

부종 (浮腫)

[명사][한의학] 浮腫ふしゅ; むくみ

単語 (1件)
팽그르르

[부사]
0. 滑すべるようにまわるさま: くるくる.
기로 (岐路)

[명사]岐路きろ; 分わかれ道みち; 境

さかい
노발대발 (怒發大發)

[명사]かんかんになって怒おこること

自分じぶんのことをうまく処理しょりしていくこと; よくめんどうをみて世話せわすること.
집안일을 잘 건사하다
家事かじをうまく切きり回まわす

연민 (憐憫·憐愍)

[명사]憐憫[憐愍](れんびん).

아우성(―聲)

フリガナ T T
명사
• 大おおぜいがどっと上あげる叫さけび; 大おおぜいのわめき.

노동 (勞動)

[명사]労働

질척하다

[형용사]どろどろである; べとべとし
ろう
최서윤

돈독이 오르다
金かねに夢中むちゅうになる; 金かねにがりがりとする

거스르다

[타동사]
0. (거역) 逆さからう
이 정도 고통까지 느껴보면 여자는 자연의 섭리를 거스르고 있는 것이 아닌가 싶으며 털에게 항복하고 싶어져요

と聞こえます。

ㅉㅉ / 쯧쯧 :

カテゴリー：

ホーム ＞ ネット ＞ チャット用語、絵文字 ＞ ツツ
—————————- 単語 ————————————
読み方

：
ツツ
—————————- 類義語 ———————————— —————————- 対義語———————————— —————————- 俗語———————————— —————————- 雅語———————————— —————————- 類義語 ———————————— —————————- 反意語 ————————————
意味
：
ツツとは、相手にあきれた時の舌を鳴らす音

説明

——————————— 写真の配置 なし ——————————-
ㅉㅉ = 쯧쯧 / 쯔쯔 = 相手がかわいそうだと感じた時、
または相手にあきれた時の舌を鳴らす音の韓国語絵文字。
※日本の舌打ちとは違う。

복지 (福祉)

[명사]福祉ふくし

잇속 (利―)

[명사]実利じつり; 打算ださん.
잇속

[명사]歯並はならび.

新しい

따지다

[타동사]
0. (셈을) 計算する; 勘定する.
0. (시비·까닭) 詰る; 問い詰める; (問い)ただす

単語 (1件)
우르르

[부사]
0. 図体の大きいものが大ぜいで, 一時に
図体の大きいものが大ぜいで, 一時に急ぎ走りだすか追いかけてくるさま: わあっと; どかどかと; わんさと; どやどやと.

무속 (巫俗)

[명사]巫俗; 巫女の風俗.

新しい

응가

フリガナ T T
명사, 감탄사
• [유아어] 幼児に便をさせる時に使う言葉: うんこ
•
골방 (―房)

[명사](居間などについている)小部屋.

新しい
• 
추상화

[명사][미술] 抽象画.

新しい
•
눈여기다

フリガナ T T
타동사
• (主に‘눈여겨’の形で) 注意深く見る.
눈여겨 살피다
注意深くうかがう 재생

step 4) format the shit out of that in notepad using html and also adding the tag and using control + h to mass delete crap. and of course I delete any words that I don’t think are worth adding whether it’s too easy or useless etc.

tags:말하는대로-TV
___종

(浮腫) 浮腫ふしゅ; むくみ :부종
팽___르르

滑すべるようにまわるさま- くるくる. :팽그르르
___로

分わかれ道みち; 境기로 (岐路) 岐路きろ:기로
노____발

(怒發大發) かんかんになって怒おこること :노발대발
___사하다

自分じぶんのことをうまく処理しょりしていくこと; よくめんどうをみて世話せわすること.: 집안일을 잘

家事かじをうまく切きり回まわす
연___

(憐憫·憐愍) 憐憫[憐愍](れんびん). :연민 최서윤
___우성

(―聲) 大おおぜいがどっと上あげる叫さけび; 大おおぜいのわめき. :아우성
___동

(勞動) : 노동 労働 최서윤
질___하다

どろどろである; べとべとし :질척하다
돈독이 ___르다

金かねに夢中むちゅうになる; 金かねにがりがりとする :돈독이 오르다
___스르다

逆さからう

자연의 섭리를 거스르고 :거스르다

이 정도 고통까지 느껴보면 여자는 자연의 섭리를 거스르고 있는 것이 아닌가 싶으며 털에게 항복하고 싶어져요
너___레를 떨다

お喋りをする : 너스레를 떨다
tzu x2

相手にあきれた時の舌を鳴らす音

相手がかわいそうだと感じた時、

または相手にあきれた時の舌を鳴らす音の韓国語絵文字。※日本の舌打ちとは違う。:쯧쯧
복__

(福祉)福祉ふくし :복지
___속

(利―)実利じつり; 打算ださん. :잇속
___속

歯並はならび :잇속
___지다

計算する; 勘定する. :따지다
우___르

図体の大きいものが大ぜいで, 一時に急ぎ走りだすか追いかけてくるさま:わあっと; どかどかと; わんさと; どやどやと. :우르르
___속

(巫俗)巫俗; 巫女の風俗. :무속
___가

幼児に便をさせる時に使う言葉:うんこ :응가
___방

(―房)(居間などについている)小部屋. :골방
c_____상화

抽象画. :추상화
눈여___다

(主に‘눈여겨’の形で) 注意深く見る.:눈여기다

actually ___스르다

逆さからう

자연의 섭리를 거스르고 :거스르다

이 정도 고통까지 느껴보면 여자는 자연의 섭리를 거스르고 있는 것이 아닌가 싶으며 털에게 항복하고 싶어져요 this is from a question onchiebukuro where i asked someone to transcribe a line from something tangu- show and so it’s tagged wrong t… point is importing cards into anki KICKS ASS.

one of the reasons this format works so well for me is that i am very familiar with Japanese so reading in Japanese is automatic as it is with english but i think it’s moreso with Japanese due to the Kanji and visual aspect of the written language.

step 5) import into anki

step 6) effortless anking 😀 🙂

as far as i know this is the most efficient way to go on about it and I got over 20 cards from this episode. I love living in 2016 with all these technology and time-saving tools.

by the way the oldest card in my korean anki deck is from 2012 01 22 which means I’ve been neglecting this anki deck for like 5 years before i truly started to engage with it~~ also I had started learning korean in 2011 summer but did manual srs because I knew the words i would learn would be common and useful and not worth anking and so my deck does not start from beginner/easy af. I loved how I had the clarity to know that that was the right way to go. it’s just not worth anking in the beginning of language learning imo except for like remembering the kanji.

btw generating anki cards for Japanese is even more effortless and efficient due to rikai-sama~~

here are more interesting talk/variety shows where people talk about interesting stuff!!! i don’t watch kdramas because  i hate the way talk…  i like the way real people talk . k-wave is super helpful to korean content consumers since they upload on youtube

omg they added k-subs to the ancient strong heart eps! there’s 12 languages including japanese. wtff i wish i had it in 2012

Japanese Counters

So I recently “learned” /relearned 2 counters for Japanese which are Ittsui  and fusa.

ittsui is for stuff that comes in pairs like shoes and ear plugs.I’ve already encountered it before years ago and it’s buried in my anki deck but i didn’t actually know it until now.  just because it’s in my anki deck and i marked easy a bunch of times don’t mean i actually know it. I’m sure I knew it for like maybe 10 minutes a couple years ago then it got wiped from my memory.

So I was talking to myself in Japanese and thought hey is earplugs also counted as ittsui?  i googled it and it is 🙂 I like “producing” then checking anything that could be wrong since most of the time it is correct! 🙂 Another thing is the verb soguu. I was like hey does soguwanai work for this case and it did 😀 sometimes a verb will have the same meaning as another verb like awanai in this case but that doesn’t mean they are interchangeable. when you produce that’s when you inadvertently use a word and you wonder hey is that correct? and then i can look it up and solidify my understanding of that word or grammar. It’s also exciting and confidence-building if you keep getting it right despite your creative ways to use the word though it may not actually be creative and it’s the case that i just don’t recall the exact instance where i heard it being used in that exact same way by a japanese person.

fusa is for counting bananas and possibly some other stuff but so far I’ve only come across the usage for bananas and that must be why it took me this long to come across this counter.

ex:  banana  WO Hitofusa

i only came across this because i read a book and no the banana did not play a central role in the story.  imagine if i read another book instead perhaps i would’v not come across this counter until next year. but if i had gone to japanese grocery store like if i lived in japan i would’ve known about it sooner…

I am adamantly opposed to rote memorization especially when it comes to counters. I recommend reading through it ON TAE KIM without trying to remember anything and be aware that japanese uses counters and then learn them as you encounter them. i see no point of drilling/ rote memorizing something you will forget. if you’re obsessed with production then just use ko for everything that requires encounters lol. when it comes down to it people will still understand you.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE: i used the word ochiiru as opposed to ochiru when i was talking to myself and i knew in that instance ochiru would not work and when i looked it up, lo and be hold it is correct.

another example: i ‘ll do some grammar construction which may seem incorrect or at least i’m not 100% it is and it ends up being correct 😀

Worries about learning Japanese in the beginning stages

I was going to write about some worries I had about Japanese during my initial learning just in case this gets wiped from my memory.

most of my issues I was worried about with Japanese was stuff that’s not also present in Korean such as long-short vowels and intonation.  Well yes Korean has intonation too but it’s not as big a deal in Korean because Japanese is more reliant on it with the lack of consonant sounds etc.

I honestly pondered in the beginning how do the Japanese people not trip up when they talk fast and uninhibited with all damn long-short vowels　そう　じゅう　しゅう だいいち　おねがいいたします

徒労　灯籠　とろう　とうろう

粗相　そそう= this means to crap your pants　etc

 which do not exist in Korean. The stressed syllables was one thing but having to hold a vowel for 2x longer etc was MIND-BOGGLING.  I remember when I was reading Japanese or trying to output Japanese when I was talking with myself I was very deliberate in my pronunciation of the long/short vowels and also with particles with wo which was unnatural but couldn’t be helped. I’m like I spent 0.3 seconds saying this so if the long vowel means you hold it out longer then I should hold this for 0.6 seconds lol… so there would be all this unnecessary stressing in the talking/reading because this was a challenge.  of course I would be SUPER LIVID when I watched a Japanese talk/variety show and somebody said something I didn’t understand and I wanted to look it up and there was a possibility that it was a long or short vowel or there was a possibly there’s a stress with the small tsu and sometimes i’d have to type out various possibilities and figured out what was said ( of course there’s homophones so typing out the variations is half the battle).  ALSO there’s words like DAIICHI or KEII where it’s the LONG-VOWEL for i which at the time i would’ve never been able to catch and loook up. oF COURSE if i could go back in time i would say bug the crap out of lang-8 japaese poeple.

The reason why the long vowels aren’t a big deal is because Japanese has intonation so like a 2 syllable word of long – short will always have the same intonation and the opposite of 2 syllable word of short-long always has a  certain intonation. and 2 syllable word of long long will have a specific intonation etc etc. I’m sure there’s exceptions but for the most part the intonation is a dead giveaway. I went from not even knowing there is intonation to noticing it then being able to copy it from hearing Japanese so much. 　my advice to japanese beginners is to listen to alot of japanese because what will happen is you will remember the word pronunciation with the intonation which becomes effortless after a certain point and i don’t go oh shit is it short vowel or long vowel. it’ s really obvious from the intonation whether that word is short and long or short short etc etc. In fact I think it’s incredibly DIFFICULT to speak Japanese and pronounce the short/long vowels with the opposite intonation while dragging the sound for the correct duration because it just goes against all the japanese input.  Kpop stars usually suck at japanese so their intonation is always wrong so it’s grating and sometimes they speak japanese with the polite korean intonation which sounds REALLY ARROGANT and unpleasant in Japanese. Also they suck at the long/short vowels so shoujojidai usually call themselves shojo jidai which means virgin generation…. probably everyone except sooyoung!

from all my previous entries about learning japaese and getting used to it this is also something you will get used to and not worth worrying about. nowadays when i read or speak japanese with myself I don’t think twice about whether it’s a long or short vowel… it just comes out correct with the correct intonation. it’s effortless and automatic.

as far as intonation is concerned i wasn’t aware of its existence and ignored it. when somebody brought up the diff in intonation between hashi and hashi i honestly can’t hear nor mimic the difference lol. I still cannot do it now actually lol. I probably pronoumce hashi with the wrong intonation. I”m fine with pronouncing japanese with correct intonation for the most part but isolated words like hashi is just like… goes over my head. But obviously context will fill in the gap and HONESTLY not everyone in japanese uses the same intonation for hashi since there’s kansai-ben etc

Knowing korean provides advantages for learning Japanese but they are still different languages. Think of SPanish and english yes they’re similar and whatnot but they’re STILL different languages and you gotta put the time in and get used to the spanish or the english.

Korean 101: Deuska no ka

All right here is another korean 101 thing that I still didn’t master even though I started learning Korean in 2011??  Well my history with korean is  mad complicated so for that read the about me section. even that is not detailed enough to make things crystal clear but hey it’s the internet i have no obligation to spill my guts.

SO recently I learned about the korean equivalent to ka IN JAPANESE.  as in honyarara or chome chome desuka

this was from IU’s song 23. btw i cannot taylor swift’s songs. I wish she would do something about her camel toe. no one needs to see that.

난 수수께끼
뭐게요 맞혀봐요

｢뭐게요?｣は｢뭐게?｣の敬語です。

例文もう少しあげますと

이 상자 안에 있는 건 뭐게?
この箱の中にあるのは何だと思う？

엄마한테 받은 선물이 뭐게?
母からもらったプレゼントが何だと思う？

뭐게요 맞혀봐요
なんと思います？当ててみてよ

뭐게요は文法的に, 무엇이게요（なんだと思います？）と意味は同じですが

前の言葉が받침(終声になる子音)がある言葉なら後ろに무엇이게요

받침(終声になる子音)がないか’ㄹ’の言葉なら後ろに뭐게요を使用。

I feel like I’ve never heard of this construction. I probably did but just didn’t notice but considering how long i’ve been at this it’s strange.  i’m sure the other Korean learners also feel that other grammar constructs that delivers the same meaning are used more frequently.  Is this common? it seems like it would be common or useful. It really is strange to me because I’ll watch episodes talk/variety shows and  I swear no one ever said muh-ge. I literally feel like I’ve heard every other construct but this for muh. Now that I’m aware of this now I can NOTICE if truly is useful and used. as of now i’ve never heard anyone use 뭐게요は文法的に or  무엇이게요 outside  of iu’s song

just to give a reference to make this whole situation clear I’ll watch a talk/varietyi show usually a talk show actually and i’ll understand 95-100% and i usually look up words that are unknown as i watch the show becasue the words are not that frequent to the point where i’m pausing the show every 4 seconds . usually i look up the word and rewind the show 20 seconds while i read the definition then rewatch the scene and keep watching and then add thatword to anki in mcd format later on that week etc. As you can tell that’s a lot of korean i’m hearing and comprehending in the span of the 50 minute show and it’s multiple episodes and also different shows so i feel like i have pretty good handle on common/useful/ daily conversation korean. so it’s like mind-blowing to come across something that seems so basic and useful and common yet i’ve never encountered it. and of course i’m not trying to be arrogant. we all need to free ourselves of hubris. humbleness is at the core of korean and japanese culture too!  I’m just mind-blown. that is all. that applies to this and the grammar thing from uprs 3

by the way I DO NOT INCLUDE GUHARA AND THAT OTHER KOREAN mc korea that talk like barbaric slobs in my comprehension percentage. it is irritating enough listening to their voices. if they say something and i don’t understand it or don’t catch it i do not bother rewinding though i do rewind almost always for japanese or for other korean people. when it comes to it it’s THEIR FAULT i didn’t catch it or understand it. also i only care to understand what i want to understand. I have the same policy towards beat takeshi and udo-chan because it’s THEIR DAMN FAULT i don’t understand them and they usually don’t say anything interesting.  i don’t avoid shows that star guhara and that other ugly annoying korean mc because that would just limit viable korean shows that much more. it’s hard enough as it is. and i have a feeling that part of the reason that they’re so hard to understand is because they’re lazy with moving their mouthes and pronouncing and enunciating shit clearly. i have a strong feeling. I am so certain. so it pisses me off that more. if some fluent korean speakers would like to confirm this that would be lovely!

btw i love chiebukuro. i get quick awesome answers in a language that is effortless to read.

BUYING JAPANESE BOOKS FOR STUDYING JAPANESE

SO far I am at around 110 books? I know it’s more because i don’t register every book on dokusho meter because i don’t want to be associated with shitty books. and i’m excited to reach 200 and i certainly have a long list of shit i want to read so there’s no problem in that department. it’s just a matter of time. if 2015 and half of 2015 wasn’t so shitty i might’ve already reached 200 books and i am not exaggerating. it’s incredible what a difference changing jobs can make. BUT 2017 should be better for that reason alone.

I do not mean textbooks. and btw I don’t think Korean books can be bought on the cheap unless you go to book off in Korea, right? I have no interest in reading books in Korean anyway so it works out great for me but curious if you’re shit of luck if your target language is Korean.

I think tae Kim and RIKAI-CHAN and google is PLENTY. I never bought a Japanese grammar book and I KNOW my Japanese grammar. it is not necessary and I’m glad I never bothered! FREE FOR THE WIN. I mean books to enjoy reading whether it’s books with furigana ( I only have one book with furigana over all the kanji and that was because that was the only way that particular book was printed because the publisher wanted everyone to be able to read the story), light novel ( love slayers… not interested in loli moe gag shit that are plaguing and ruining anime nowadays), hard covers, bunko, manga, etc….

ANYWAYS 2 ways to buy books are in person and online. the option for in person is book off if you’re in south Korea or japan or NY or California… go to the site to find out more locations. There’s kurokuniya but it’s so expensive and you can find books people sold from kurokuniya (whatev it is called) kinokuni? to book-off. I went to kinikuniya and gasped and left lol. It’s only good for window shopping. for online there’s cdjapan and honto.jp?? and buying services but… I don’t want to pay for EMS shipping

here’s the list

CDJAPAN.NET

mercari – if you reside in the US. / EBAY

PHYSICAL BOOK STORES LIKE BOOK-OFF, KUROKUNIYA

HONTO.JP (EMS ONLY – EXPENSIVE)

AMAZON.CO.JP (only if the seller sends internationally. you find out by putting the stuff in your cart and checking it out but delivery is relatively fast… like a few days! )

TENSO (FORWARDING SERVICE which opens you up to all Japanese websites ie amazon)

cdjapan.net and my rationalization!

so I love book off in NYC because of the prices like the 1 dollar section. there have been books where they’ll be in both the 1 dollar section and the regular price section which ranges from 3-5 dollars or even more if it’s hard cover or immaculate condition (but honestly everything in the stores seems to be good condition for the most part) and so in that case I go for the 1 dollar one because there is no discernible difference between the 2 in quality. sometimes the 1 dollars are books are a little more busted or yellowed but usually they’re in good quality. BUT it’s far for me now like 2 hours so if take in the time it takes to travel there and the cost it costs to go there and the selection (it’s limited in that whatever’s there is there.) and blahblah cdjapan.net price isn’t that bad. CDjapan sells new books so they’re going to range from 4-6 dollars unless it’s new or hardcover etc. (then it can go up higher) and gives you options for the shipping so I go for the cheapest because there’s no rush!!! I don’t understand people’s obsession with expedited EMS shipping and all that. Like with any overseas transactions you gotta experiment and see what weight will give you the most bang for your buck with the shipping. What I love about CDJAPAN is that I can buy books that I can’t buy at bookoff there and they’re all new…. so I try my best to not buy anything I can buy at book off…. like popular stuff. Like I said in the beginning considering the circumstances the price that I pay at cdjapan isn’t that bad but you know in case I ever go to nyc I don’t want to buy something for 7 dollars if I can get it for 1 dollar or 3 dollars etc… like I said I’m not impatient. I can wait a year or years. Unfortunately cdjapn can only sell books that are print ( but even if it’s in print sometimes they don’t carry it… there’s one book I WANTD TO READ AND IT WAS SO WORTH IT but it was not on cdjapan and it is definitely not out of print because it’s not that old.. they can’t possibly carry every fikin’ book. btw that books is ZOO 2 by otsuchi … IHIGHLLY RECOMMEND zoo 1 btw. btw I found it book off 😃 curiosity satisfied but I think I liked zoo 1 more) … so I can’t buy any ZEPPAN books 😦 it’s not like I’m obsessed with obscure books. it so happens some books that I want to read are not in print anymore. I am keeping a list of those books in evernote and dokusoh meter and whatnot and hopefully once that list is long enough and I carefully assess if they’re worth reading or not based off amazing reviews etc. I may look into a buying service in japan so I can buy used versions of them. book-off is a hit or miss because you can find some treasures and other times I know what I want to buy and they don’t have it which can’t be helped because it’s a used book store. what I want is a Japanese library because I don’t like buying shit. for English I try to borrow everything from the library.

here’s the other rationalization. I don’t spend money on stuff I don’t need to. I realize a lot of the times there’s an option to not buy something. you don’t need to buy coffee from Starbucks or decorations or candles or febreeze ( candles and febreeze are bad for your health) or soda or perfume (why do people pay money to SMELL LIKE SHIT) or cigarettes. one of the things I thought of as a little girl was that I never want to become that 40/50 year old woman who douses herself in perfume everyday and upset everyone with her presence or in other words emit effluvium. I think overapplying perfume is one of the most embarrassing things ever. I am anti-perfume so I wish people do not use it or make it etc. It is toxic.) or fast food or snacks (I actually prefer to starve or fast depending on how you want to construe it since it takes many days to starve to death – thank you books about north Korea- if it’s not necessary for me to buy and eat crap. according to a very INTERESTING book about notrh Korea they knew from experience how many days if takes women and men to die from starvation and it takes longer for women. it’s so scary and CREEPY that they have this knowledge from the wealth of anecdotal experience… why do that to your OWN PEOPLE over the dumbest shit). there are some shit they sell in cvs’s etc. that I do not understand why they bother producing it and why people bother buying it… stuff like frivolous Christmas decorations and whatnot especially plastic crap that’s bad for your health. and it’s always the people who make minimum wage + too many children who spend on that stuff… WHY??? (well they’re not very smart so it’s not surprising. but seriously if you’re a teen mom what do you want your daughter to become a teen mom? of course not. I think if my mom was a teen mom I would think she’s a dumb shit and hope I’m smarter than her and I only say harsh things like this because i’ve met impudent teen parents) but anyways I think a lot of the stuff that are sold and bought are so unnecessary and impart negative consequences on the environment and people around you etc. anyways it is one of my rationalization as to why I think it’s not so bad that I’m spending on money on Japanese books… I can’t borrow japanes books because I live in the usa and my only option it to buy and I go the cheapest route by choosing the slowest shipping and i’ve used my cdjapan points to save money and… reading is GOOD for your mind. It makes sense spending money on this vs other shit.

In case this puts someone’s mind at ease I am happy to report that my “haul” from cdjapan went swimmingly and all my crap was in mint condition as it should since they’re all new 😀 I think it averaged out to 6 or 7 dollars per book including the cost of shipping. I cant make myself spend 11 dollars on a book. it’s too much!! i’ll wait the few years lol (usually works for popular books… when I go to book-off). I am happy to report that cdjapan is worth it and I don’t feel like I’m spending a fortune on books. they’re new and it’s convenient because they’re sent to my door and I get to choose the shipping method and I get points for my birthday blahblahlh.

AMAZON.CO.JP

OMG I cannot believe I never looked into this. the shipping is only 10 dollars!!! well for whatever I ordered it was 10 dollars so it was totally worth it. I always assumed that the shipping cost would be obscene so I never looked into amazon.co.jp since I live in the USA. This is a route that is absolutely worth taking if you are buying a large set of books like the whole set of a manga series or a book series, etc. Otherwise you’re spending 10 dollars shipping per book. BTW not all sellers sell internationally. for the books I wanted to order only one seller would ship it to the USA so I am lucky :D. The downside to amazon.co.jp is that it’s only worth buying bulk so it’s not a good idea to order bulk of something you have NEVER read with the assumption that you’ll like it regardless of all the 5 star reviews on some site. sometimes the reason reading isn’t enjoyable in Japanese is because the book sucks rather than your shitty Japanese abilities. saying. There are some amazing books I’m compatible with that makes reading the Japanese language so PLEASANT AND FUN AND EFORTLESS AND THERE ARE SOME awful authors that are so frivolous and awful and it doesn’t take THAT many pages to figure that out. Now I haven’t read the full series so I cannot completely say my purchase was worth the money but I had read a few volumes so based on that it’s likely I’ll like the rest. EDIT: I ‘m almost done reading it was worth it.

ANOTHER option is TENSO which is a forwarding service. what you’d do is order books from online and have it sent to an address in japan then have them send them to you. I think I want to try it one day once I have a long enough list because I believe only EMS is available and that is HELLA expensive. there are some books I am dying to read that aren’t available through the other channels.

Lastly I need to include some deodorizing tips for old books whether they’re from Book-off or amazon or whatever other reason. I’ve researched my fairshare oN THE INTERNET. here’s the info without the BS

MERCARI/ EBAY

2 options if you live in america. on mercari search any of the following to find the listings: 小説　 japanese book 日本語　にほんご  本 文庫  単行本 漫画 マンガ

you could also search the author or book title in japanese but it’s like a shot in the dark…. unless it’s popular. if the shipping is too expensive ask the seller to use usps media mail for the shipping option. you can also use the site to sell books you finished reading! very easy to do if you read konmari’s book. mercari stuff usually comes people’s houses so i recommend asking the seller if it’s a smoke pet free home. even if the house is smoke/pet free the books will probably smell so if you’re like me it’ll be months until you read them but it’s quite all right since i have huge piles of physical books and ebooks that are waiting to be read.

i recommend bundling and sending an offer on the app provided the shipping option is set correctly on the listing. you send the offer by putting in all the books you want from the one seller in your cart then sending them the offer. you can send them any offer ! i recommend lowballing as much as possible like 5 books for 10 dollars or 5 dollars. at the end of the day people just want to get rid of their shit and japanese books in japanese are not in high demand on an american app.

if the bundle option does not work or the shipping price increases really high message the seller directly to negotiate.

EBAY – to price check the mercari listing. you could also price check with amazon.co.jp. useful for stuff that comes in a series like manga.

DE-ODORIZING TIPS

BAKING SODA – get a big plastic tub, pour baking soda in it, put in some kind of mesh or grid like thing in the plastic tub so you can put the books in the tub without them touching the baking soda but still get exposed to the baking soda via the air. I’d say give it a few days or a weeeek or a month or two. REPEAT as needed.. do not throw away the baking soda. save it to clean stuff like your bathtub or to stain treat your white shirts with the nasty, unsightly yellow stains. mix HYDROGEN peroxide and dish soap to get a super useful paste to clean ANYTHING.

also there’s kitty litter and activated carbon. be careful with activated carbon. i put them on coffee filters and sometimes i tie it up and sometimes i don’t. i use all 3 lol.

NEWSPAPER- put newspapers between the pages. It’s not necessary to do every page (maybe if the book is THAT bad). I’d say every 10-20 pages. give it a few days, a week. REPEAT as needed.

FREEZER + NEWSPAPER – place book in a ziplock bag then put it in the freezer. I say employ the newspaper method on top of it for good measure in case there’s moisture so that the book is not subjected to the full brunt of the it.. Leave in for 3 days. the freezer has to do with mold I think…

NEWSPAPER – by it self.

AIR IT OUT – I’d say you’d have to it leave it for many hours to notice a difference. Of course the book has to be open with the pages exposed to the air/wind to make a difference. It’s tricky because you want air/wind but you don’t want the sun on the book. don’t forget about uva rays. they are omnipresent. so I don’t recommend leaving them out for more than a few hours in shade.

SUN – sun is good and bad… you gotta think of the pros vs cons with the sun depending on the condition of your book. Sun kills germs and helps rid any excess moisture in the book which may make a difference. if you leave your book in direct sunlight for too long you’ll damage the book. the pages will turn darker and if you leave it in the sun long enough it will smell like the sun (which smells awful in my opinion). I think it’s unnecessary unless your book has serious smells/issues. I read somewhere it takes 6 minutes for the sun to kill whatever germs it is capable of killing.

VACCUM – sometimes the smell is dust rather than the book being old. i vacuum the books carefully with the appropriate attachment. sometimes the book is old so it will smell even if you vacuum it. vacuum has 2 u’s

TIME – I’ve been shocked how i’ve gotten stinky books to smell like nothing from using the above methods which ultimately take time.

there are way too many fun books to read. do not waste time hauling textbooks. the fact that you’re hauling textbooks is very telling that you seem to be wasting money and you’ll NEVER BECOME FLUENT