After a long discussion, we have decided to sunset FMJ for the time being, but if we find a way to make it viable, we’re open to bringing it back.

We apologize to those who look forward to weekly prompts and corrections. If you are a paid sub and subbed recently, feel free to reach out to NativShark support for a refund/partial refund if you’d like do so.

NativShark support can be found here: support@nativshark.com

Last week’s corrections

You notice that your toilet is leaking. You call your landlord and they ask where exactly the water is coming from.

Phone calls are hard.

Phone calls about problems that you need to specifically explain are harder.

That said, they are quite important to be able to make when you live here, and since I’m actively dealing with a situation like this, I figured it would make a good prompt as well.

Here’s what I said when I was asked:

なんか、便器と床の間から漏れてます。
なんか、 べんき と ゆか の あいだ から もれてます。
It's uhh, kind of leaking from between the floor and the toilet itself.

Of course, this wasn’t the first thing I said but I did manage to say it after the person on the call helped me with some vocab haha.

I didn’t know 便器(べんき)[toilet bowl] which is like the porcelain part of the toilet. Great term.

Let’s get into the corrections:

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This week’s prompt

You notice that your toilet is leaking. You call your landlord and they ask where exactly the water is coming from.
家のトイレが水漏れしてることに気づいた。大家さんに電話したら、どこから水が漏れてるか教えてほしいと言われた。
いえ　の　といれ　が　みずもれ　してる　こと　に　きづいた。　おおやさん　に　でんわ　したら、　どこ　から　みず　が　もれてる　か　おしえて　ほしい　と　いわれた。

＊ You can submit a response in Japanese here. ＊

Please try to submit your response within 48 hours of receiving this email. Please only write one response per form submission.

Corrections will arrive in your inbox next week.

Last week’s corrections

A friend asks you if there are any good restaurants in the area, but you can’t think of any off the top of your head.

This is a good prompt to practice using your filler words in Japanese. Stuff like:

えっとー
あのー
そのー
うーん

which all have similar meanings to the words “uhh,” “hmm,” and “umm”.

Keep in mind that while we can use 忘れる(わすれる)[to forget] to show we’ve forgotten something, it might not work every time in this context, so let’s keep this word in mind as well:

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This week’s prompt

A friend asks you if there are any good restaurants in the area, but you can’t think of any off the top of your head.

友達にここら辺でお勧めのお店(レストラン)ある？って聞かれたけど、パッと思いつかない。

ともだち　に　ここらへん　で　おすすめ　の　おみせ　（れすとらん）　ある？　って　きかれた　けど、　ぱっと　おもいつかない。

＊ You can submit a response in Japanese here. ＊

Please try to submit your response within 48 hours of receiving this email. Please only write one response per form submission.

Corrections will arrive in your inbox next week.

Last week’s corrections

Your friend LINE’d[texted] you asking “How was your Christmas?”

I spent it quite similar to everyone else haha.

I got Lei とびだせ！どうぶつの森[Animal Crossing: New Leaf] for the 3DS and we chilled and played all day. Sadly I don’t have an English 3DS otherwise I would’ve gotten it in English for her to practice with.

For anyone who likes games, Animal Crossing is a great game to practice with especially if you already know how to play the game.

It was the first or second game I ever played in Japanese^^

Anyway, glad everyone seemed to have a relaxing Christmas. Those are the best.

Let’s hop into the corrections:

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Happy holidays everyone^^

Hope everyone who celebrates it had a nice Christmas~

Instead of asking you in the Discord how it was, I’ll ask you here instead:

This week’s prompt

Your friend LINE’d[texted] you asking “How was your Christmas?”

友達がクリスマスどうだった？ってラインしてきた。
ともだち　が　くりすます　どう　だった？　って　らいん　してきた。

＊ You can submit a response in Japanese here. ＊

Please try to submit your response within 48 hours of receiving this email. Please only write one response per form submission.

Corrections will arrive in your inbox next week.

Last week’s corrections

Your boss asks you what surprised you the most when you came to Japan.

For me, I guess it would be how people generally don’t bother you throughout your day. Like, if you don’t talk to people, most people don’t really talk to you outside of necessary interactions. Of course there’s exceptions to this and I’ve spoken to plenty of strangers here, the amount vs the US is a bit surprising.

Something that was a bit of a reverse culture shock is now with Japan opened up again, more people who are here on vacation etc. have been talking to me and I’ve only just realized it in full haha.

So I’d say something like:

知らない人にあんまり話しかけられないことかもです。
しらない　ひと　に　あんまり　はなしかけられない　こと　かも　です。

Which Lei then said was too 曖昧(あいまい)[vague] and probably not a good response for a boss. Woops. hehe.

So she corrected it to:

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Hope everyone’s doing well with the holidays coming up. I’ve been visiting the Christmas Markets in Hakata and Tenjin and the vibes are the best, and the hot wine with a limited edition mug are even better.

This week’s prompt

Your boss asks you what surprised you the most when you came to Japan.

上司に日本に来て1番びっくりしたことって何？って聞かれた。
じょうし　に　にほん　に　きて　いちばん　びっくり　した　こと　って　なに？　って　きかれた。

＊ You can submit a response in Japanese here. ＊

Please try to submit your response within 48 hours of receiving this email. Please only write one response per form submission.

Corrections will arrive in your inbox next week.

Last week’s corrections

Your 4-year-old kid asks you how babies are made.

This is the kind of question that makes you choke on your cup of morning tea when your kid asks you it. Or at least, that’s how I imagine it happening.

I actually asked Lei to tell me what she would say, and she said she’d say something like this:

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A note for non-paid users of FMJ:

We have included the first correction above the paywall this week to help give you a feel for what type of corrections and feedback we tend to give here, so please enjoy this week’s first correction and thanks for reading^^

This week’s prompt

Your 4-year-old kid asks you how babies are made.

自分の４歳の子供に「赤ちゃんってどうやってできるの？」って聞かれた。

じぶん　の　よんさい　の　こども　に　「あかちゃん　って　どう　やって　できる　の？」　って　きかれた。

＊ You can submit a response in Japanese here. ＊

Please try to submit your response within 48 hours of receiving this email. Please only write one response per form submission.

Corrections will arrive in your inbox next week.

Last week’s corrections

You had dinner with some friends and there’s a total of 5 people there. You just want to pay for yourself and your SO (boyfriend/girlfriend), so you tell the waiter.

This is one that is surprisingly challenging and still gets me to this day haha.

Some helpful words for this are 分(ぶん)[part] because we’ll only be paying for a part of the bill, and of course お会計(おかいけい)[bill].

Something to note is that we する an お会計 instead of 払う it! I’ve probably made that mistake many times without realizing it.

That said, you can totally 払う a 分 of the お会計.

That all might make more sense after reading the corrections, so let’s get into them:

Submission

すみません、お会計で分けますか？彼女と一緒に払います。

Correction

すみません、お会計分けれますか？彼女の分も一緒に払いたいです。
すみません、　おかいけい　わけれますか？　かのじょ　の　ぶん　も　いっしょ　に　はらいたい　です。
Sorry, could you split the bill for us? I'd also like to pay for my girlfriend's portion as well.

Comments

We don't need a particle after our お会計(おかいけい)[bill], and we'll need to have 分ける(わける)[split] in potential form, so 分けれる(わけれる)[(are you) able to split].

You want to pay for her part, so we'll need 分(ぶん)[part] to express that.

We'll say 払いたい(はらいたい)[I'd like to pay...] over 払います(はらいます)[I'll pay...] because you're also asking the staff to go through the effort of splitting the bill for you so saying ~たい is less assuming and therefore more polite.
On the other hand, if the staff already had it split or someone else had split it before you, you can totally say both 払いたい and 払います without any issues.
In short, if you haven't asked them or you're not sure you can split the bill, 払いたい is the one you want.
If the bill is already split, 払います is fine as well (along with 払いたい).

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This week’s prompt

You had dinner with some friends and there’s a total of 5 people there. You just want to pay for yourself and your SO (boyfriend/girlfriend), so you tell the waiter.

5人で夜ご飯食べた。自分と自分の彼女・彼氏の分だけお会計したいことを店員さんに伝える。

ごにん　で　よるごはん　たべた。　じぶん　と　じぶん　の　かのじょ・かれし　の　ぶん　だけ　おかいけい　したい　こと　を　てんいんさん　に　つたえる。

＊ You can submit a response in Japanese here. ＊

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Corrections will arrive in your inbox next week.

Last week’s corrections

You lost your wallet and call the supermarket you went to last to see if it’s there (while explaining what it looks like).

The good thing about losing things in Japan is that they usually turn up somewhere. So if you lose your wallet, phone, or anything else while over here, don’t be afraid to call the places you think they might be in!

I’ve actually found a wallet on the train before. I gave it to the 駅員さん(えきいんさん)[train station staff] when I got off the train and kept going about my day.

I’ve also seen people leave lunch boxes and bags on the train and people will take them to the staff as well.

Of course, this prompt is about supermarkets (and you’re the one who lost something!), but either way there is hope when things are lost! And you’ll be using the same formal language to ask them if you call.

In the corrections this week, a few people used 見る or some conjugation of it. While this can potentially be a good word, depending on the conjugation it could be unnatural/incorrect, or even presumptuous.

That’s why I recommend using…

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This week’s prompt

You lost your wallet and call the supermarket you went to last to see if it’s there (while explaining what it looks like).

財布を失くした。直前に行ったスーパーに電話して、あるか確認してみる。(財布の特徴を説明する)

さいふ　を　なくした。　ちょくぜん　に　いった　すーぱー　に　でんわ　して、ある　か　かくにん　してみる　（さいふ　の　とくちょう　を　せつめい　する）

＊ You can submit a response in Japanese here. ＊

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Corrections will arrive in your inbox next week.

Last week’s corrections

You’re giving your Japanese friend a snack or some sweets you like from your home country. They’ve never seen it before, so they ask you what exactly it is.

I experienced this when I gave Lei skittles. I struggled to properly explain what they were.

Oof.

She tried them and said some very specific things to me, including that they were a 砂糖の塊(さとう　の　かたまり)[ball of sugar], along with アメリカの味(あめりか　の　あじ)[tastes like (it’s from) the US]

Needless to say, she didn’t like them.

I guess I can’t argue with either of those descriptions either. I’d argue those are the strong points, though.

Anyway, you can find lots of foreign candy at certain stores. The ones I tend to look at first are KALDI(かるでぃ) and 北野エース(きたのえーす)[Kitano Ace].

KALDI has some great vibes so you should check it out if you find it anyway. I know there’s lots of locations here in Fukuoka at least.

北野エース is also pretty cool. There’s one or two in the Tenjin area:

So if you find yourself with either of those shops in the area and are missing some of your favorite snacks from back home, give those places a look.

Anyway, let’s take a look at this week’s corrections:

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This week’s prompt

You’re giving your Japanese friend a snack or some sweets you like from your home country. They’ve never seen it before, so they ask you what exactly it is.

母国の好きなお菓子を日本人の友達にあげた。友達がそのお菓子は見たことないのでどんなお菓子？って聞かれて、説明する。

ぼこく　の　すき　な　おかし　を　にほんじん　の　ともだち　に　あげた。　ともだち　が　その　おかし　は　みた　こと　ない　ので　どんな　おかし？　って　きかれて、　せつめい　する。

＊ You can submit a response in Japanese here. ＊

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Corrections will arrive in your inbox next week.

Last week’s corrections

You’re on a crowded bus or train and you get a phone call. (Because you know it’s rude to talk on the phone while riding crowded public transport,) you quickly tell them where you are and that you’ll call them back.

One thing that might be a bit unique about trains in Japan is that they tend to be very quiet. You’ll also see a bunch of signs and announcements about not talking on your phone while riding them, especially when crowded.

I’ve also personally found that nobody leaves voicemails when I miss calls, so picking up can be pretty important to know who on earth is calling you.

Words like すみません[sorry], 連絡する(れんらくする)[to contact], and 電話する(でんわ)[to call] can be pretty important here, and lots of people used them so great job everyone^^

Let’s take a look at this week’s corrections:

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This week’s prompt

You’re on a crowded bus or train and you get a phone call. (Because you know it’s rude to talk on the phone while riding crowded public transport,) you quickly tell them where you are and that you’ll call them back.

混んでる電車かバスに乗ってるときに電話がかかってきて、今は話せないことと後で折り返す旨を電話に出て簡潔に伝える。

こんでる　でんしゃ　か　ばす　に　のってる　とき　に　でんわ　が　かかって　きて、いま　は　はなせない　こと　と　あで　おりかえす　むね　を　でんわ　に　でて　かんけつ　に　つたえる。

＊ You can submit a response in Japanese here. ＊

Please try to submit your response within 48 hours of receiving this email. Please only write one response per form submission.

Corrections will arrive in your inbox next week.

Last week’s corrections

You just went somewhere you’ve never been to before (a mall, park, restaurant, theme park, anything) and really liked it. Afterwards, you invite your friend while telling them why you liked it so much.

We thought of this one because we went to a really cool place in Fukuoka and I wanted to invite my friends, but I felt like I could’ve done a better job and realized that it could make a pretty cool prompt.

I’ll just let you read my Japanese instead of describing where I went^^

昨日ららぽーとにあるVSParkっていうところに行ったんやけど、いろんなテレビ番組に出そうなゲームみたいなのがあってまじ楽しかった。今度一緒に行こう！
きのう　ららぽーと　に　ある　ぶいえすぱーく　っていう　ところ　に　いった　んやけど、いろんな　てれび　ばんぐみ　に　でそう　な　げーむ　みたい　なの　が　あって　まじ　たのしかった。　こんど　いっしょ　に　いこう！

Lei told me I was pretty close but there are some tweaks.

It’s more natural to use ってとこ[a place called~] instead of っていうところ[a place called~]. The less sounds to say, the better, I suppose.

It also seems like ありそうな[likely to] fits more than 出そうな[would appear].

Also I goofed on where I put my いろんな[all sorts of~]. In mine, it feels like it’s saying it would happen in a bunch of different TV shows, but I wanted to say that there were a bunch of different games.

So here’s the end result:

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This week’s prompt

You just went somewhere you’ve never been to before (a mall, park, restaurant, theme park, anything) and really liked it. Afterwards, you invite your friend while telling them why you liked it so much.

最近初めて行った場所をすごく気に入った（モール、公園、お店、遊園地など、なんでも）。その後、友達に気に入った理由を説明して誘ってみる。

さいきん　はじめて　いった　ばしょ　を　すごく　きにいった（もおる、こうえん、ゆうえんちなど、なんでも）。　ともだち　に　きにいった　りゆう　を　せつめい　して　さそってみる。

＊ You can submit a response in Japanese here. ＊

Please try to submit your response within 48 hours of receiving this email. Please only write one response per form submission.

Corrections will arrive in your inbox next week.

Last week’s corrections

You’re at a restaurant. You (or someone with you) have dietary restrictions that you need to explain to the waiter when ordering.

This is one that I’ve definitely lived when on my first two trips to Japan. I was a vegan during them so I spent a lot of time hunting for vegan-only places or asking and hoping that they would have something.

With that experience, you might think I would’ve nailed this one… but this is why we try and get corrections.

I think everyone’s responses would have been understood, but Lei really helped make them more polite and easier on the listener.

Here’s what I said:

すみません、ビーガンなのでお肉とか卵とか動物の生産食べれないです。そういうの入ってない料理ありますか？
すみません、　びいがん　なので　おにく　とか　たまご　とか　どうぶつ　の　せいさん　たべれない　です。　そういうの　はいってない　りょうり　ありますか？

Let’s skip the translation on this one because we’re about to get some great corrections.

She let know how about since most people, especially in Japan, might not be familiar with exactly what vegans can and can’t eat, that adding things that are fine to eat might also be a good idea. She also let me know about some more natural wording like 動物性の食品(どうぶつせいのしょくひん)[animal food products].

Here’s what she corrected me to:

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Quick announcement:

We have a new channel in the NativShark Discord community specifically for FMJ students.

If you’re subscribed, send me a DM on Discord (TyYaki#7777 or Ty | たい in the Discord), and let me know the email you’re subbed to FMJ with and I can get you in the channel.

I’m pretty excited to have direct communication with everyone and would love to hear any feedback, questions, prompt suggestions, and whatever else might be on your mind related to FMJ there.

In fact, this week’s prompt is based on direct feedback from there. So thank you everyone who has participated there so far^^

Here’s the link to the channel.

Looking forward to seeing everyone in there!

This week’s prompt

You’re at a restaurant. You (or someone with you) have dietary restrictions that you need to explain to the waiter when ordering.

レストランにいる。注文するときに店員さんに自分(もしくは自分以外の誰か)が食べれない物を伝えようとする。
れすとらん　に　いる。　ちゅうもん　する　とき　に　てんいんさん　に　じぶん　（もしくは　じぶん　いがい　の　だれ　か）　が　たべれない　もの　を　つたえよう　と　する。

＊ You can submit a response in Japanese here. ＊

Please try to submit your response within 48 hours of receiving this email. Please only write one response per form submission.

Corrections will arrive in your inbox next week.

Last week’s corrections

It’s your first day at your new job. Your Senpai [more experienced coworker] asks you about what made you want to study Japanese.

This is one you’re gonna get asked a lot. Or maybe it’s already happened countless times.

Either way, having a natural response to impress people with is nice.

Here’s my try:

言語の勉強がもともと好きですし、ニンテンドー、アニメ、神社とかそういうのも好きなので日本語勉強してみました。
げんご　の　べんきょう　が　もともと　すき　です　し、　にんてんどう、　　あにめ、　じんじゃ　とか　そういう　の　も　すき　なので　にほんご　べんきょう　して　みました。
I like studying languages to begin with, and I like stuff like Nintendo, anime, and shrines so I decided to give Japanese a go.

Lei gave this one an okay, but also gave me some important feedback I didn’t know about for my use of ～し when I started listing stuff, along with some other adjustments.

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This week’s prompt

It’s your first day at your new job. Your Senpai [more experienced coworker] asks you about what made you want to study Japanese.

新しい仕事の初日。先輩に日本語の勉強のきっかけは何？って聞かれて、答える。
あたらしい　しごと　の　しょにち。　せんぱい　に　にほんご　の　べんきょう　の　きっかけ　は　なに？　って　きかれて、　こたえる。

＊ You can submit a response in Japanese here. ＊

Please try to submit your response within 48 hours of receiving this email. Please only write one response per form submission.

Corrections will arrive in your inbox next week.

Last week’s corrections

You're out shopping with your kid. They start begging you for a switch, but you tell them why you won't/can't buy them one right now.

This one was definitely an interesting one because it highlights how adults will often talk differently with children as we can see in some corrections below.

There’s other stuff like お目々(おめめ)[eye] or お手々(おてて)[hand] for even younger kids, but that’s a lesson in an of itself.

Anyway, thanks to this prompt I realized I’m going to be a broke dad because I realized I’m not going to be very good at turning my kid down. I could barely think of something to say in English, let alone Japanese.

In the end, I realized I would totally use mom as a scapegoat:

ごめんね、お母さんが怒ると思うけんとりあえずもう家にある３ＤＳいっぱいやってね。
ごめんね、　おかあさん　が　おこる　と　おもう　けん　とりあえず　もう　いえ　に　ある　すりーでぃーえす　いっぱい　やって　ね。
Sorry, mommy will probably get mad at me so play on your 3DS at home a bunch in the meantime, yeah?

A quick note: けん here means から in Itoshima dialect and many other dialects in Kyushu.

She said that was good, but apparently using とりあえず gives the vibe that I'm planning on buying it very soon, just not at this moment.

ごめんね、お母さんが怒ると思うけん今は買えない...しばらくの間は家にある３DSいっぱいやってくれない？
ごめんね、　おかあさん　が　おこる　と　おもう　けん、　いま　は　かえない...　しばらく　の　あいだ　は　いえ　に　ある　すりーでぃーえす　いっぱい　やって　くれない？
Sorry, mommy will probably get mad so I can't right now. Could you play on your 3DS at home for now?

That main difference is she uses しばらくの間(しばらくのあいだ)[for the time being] instead of my とりあえず[for the time being]. Which is great because they both mean the same things when I look them up in the dictionary.

Oof.

Thankfully she explained the difference to me.

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A quick note, from here on out I’m gonna be referring to my fiancé as Lei (instead of Rei) to avoid confusion with the Rei that Niko is married to.

This week’s prompt

You're out shopping with your kid. They start begging you for a Nintendo Switch, but you tell them why you won't/can't buy them one right now.

自分の子供と一緒にショッピングしている。子供にスイッチほしい！ってねだられたが、今は買わない/買えない。理由を説明する。

じぶん　の　こども　と　いっしょ　に　しょっぴんぐ　している。　こども　に　すぅいっち　ほしい！　って　ねだられた　が、　いま　は　かわない/かえねい。　りゆう　を　せつめい　する。

＊ You can submit a response in Japanese here. ＊

Please try to submit your response within 48 hours of receiving this email. Please only write one response per form submission.

Corrections will arrive in your inbox next week.

Last week’s corrections

A friend is asking you if there’s any interesting anime, TV show, movie, etc. you’ve watched recently. There’s one you liked but you forgot the title. You try to explain a bit of the show to them to see if they know it.

I always found topics like this to be a bit tough for me personally.

Whenever I talk to my friends in Japanese about a story, I feel like the talk often starts and ends with 面白い(おもしろい)[it’s good (interesting)].

This could be the specific people I’ve talked to or maybe my lack of ability to eloquently describe stories, but either way, this means trying to explain the contents of a story sometimes isn’t a skill that doesn’t get enough training, at least in my experience.

Something I noticed when going over the corrections (and it’s hard to express this in writing) is the use of filler words while we’re trying to think of the title.

For example, I would use some words like えっとー[umm], あれ[that], その[umm/that] near the start.

えっとー、あれ。あれだよ。そのー、緑と黒の市松模様の着物みたいなの着てる鬼殺し屋の話。
えっとー、　あれ。　あれ　だ　よ。　そのー、　みどり　と　くろ　の　いちまつもよう　の　きもの　みたい　なの　きてる　おにごろしや　の　はなし。
Uhh… y’know. Right? The uhh…. the story about an oni killer who wears a green and black checkered kimono-lookin’ thing.

I feel like being able to properly use あれだよ in a normal conversation is a superpower. For some reason, it has avoided me for years. Definitely keep your ears peeled for this to absorb its use in as many natural conversations as possible.

I also learned how to use a word called 要素(ようそ)[elements] which is a word I’ve kind of heard before but never really known how to use thanks to the corrections below.

Let’s take a look at them:

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This week’s prompt

A friend is asking you if there’s any interesting anime, TV show, movie, etc. you’ve watched recently. There’s one you liked but you forgot the title. You try to explain a bit of the show to them to see if they know it.

The Japanese version of the prompt since we got some feedback saying people wanted to see it (thanks for the feedback!):

友達に最近見たアニメ、ドラマとか映画ある？と聞かれて、好きなやつ思いついたけどタイトルを忘れてしまった。 内容を説明して伝えようとする。

ともだち　に　さいきん　みた　あにめ、どらま　とか　えいが　ある？　と　きかれて、　すき　な　やつ　おもいついた　けど　たいとる　を　わすれて　しまった。　ないよう　を　せつめい　して　つたえよう　と　する。

＊ You can submit a response in Japanese here. ＊

Please try to submit your response within 48 hours of receiving this email. Please only write one response per form submission.

Corrections will arrive in your inbox next week.

Last week’s corrections

You see that Japan is finally opening up on October 11th! You tell your friend you're on your way (but haven't planned much past that). You ask for recommendations on where to visit.

I’m pretty excited to have Japan open up again. If anyone wants to grab a coffee or a beer with me, let me know in the discord!

Here’s my shot at this prompt in Itoshima dialect, while using this word that I’ve heard a lot of people say recently but not really tried to use myself:

水際対策(みずぎわたいさく)[Closed border policy/ border control measures].

Not to be confused with 水着は対策(みずぎ　は　たいさく)[Bathing suits are the strategy] which I totally didn’t do the first time I heard it and embarrass myself about.

水際対策終わりそうみたいやけん日本行くよ！絶対見ないかんところとかあるー？

みずぎわたいさく　おわりそう　みたい　や　けん　にほん　いく　よ！　ぜったい　みな　いかん　ところ　とか　あるー？

And Rei kindly corrected me:

水際対策終わりそうやけん、日本行くよ！絶対見らないかんとことかあるー？

みずぎわたいさく　おわり　そう　やけん、　にほん　いく　よ！　ぜったい　みらな　いかん　とこ　とか　あるー？
Japan's opening its borders soon so I'm planning on going. Any places I gotta see?

Looks like I made a few mistakes here.

Let’s do a quick rundown on the Itoshima dialect that appears here while going over them.

It’s quite similar to Hakata dialect and other dialects from Fukuoka/greater Kyuushuu, so this’ll be great for making/ understanding friends when you come here.

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With more news!

Last week I took over for Niko, and this week we also have my fiancé taking over for Satoko.

Her name is Rei. Which is (perhaps obviously) a different Rei than the one that Niko is married to.

Don’t worry, the team has already mixed up the Reis on several occasions while messaging each other.

She’s from Itoshima which is a great place on the western part of Fukuoka. She also speaks 糸島弁[いとしまべん] (Itoshima dialect) which has been a ton of fun to learn.

Also, since all our conversations are in Japanese, that means that we write out prompts in Japanese as well. If the original Japanese for the prompt is something you’re interested in seeing, let us know and we can start adding that as well.

This week’s prompt

You see that Japan is finally opening up on October 11th! You tell your friend you're on your way (but haven't planned much past that). You ask for recommendations on where to visit.

＊ You can submit a response in Japanese here. ＊

Please try to submit your response within 48 hours of receiving this email. Please only write one response per form submission.

Corrections will arrive in your inbox next week.

Last week’s corrections

You're at a restaurant you've never been to before. You don't have any cash on you right now, so you ask an employee what else they take.

I remember my first time experiencing not having cash and needing to ask for other ways to pay.

It was terrifying. You would think your heart wouldn’t be pounding from something that should be so simple, but… alas.

Hopefully thinking about it will help you when the time comes.

Looks like a lot of us chose credit cards as our go-to when we’re out of cash.

Thankfully Japan is becoming more and more credit card-friendly but there’s definitely still places that take nothing but cash.

Or maybe they’ll take cash and 交通系[こうつうけい](public transportation payment methods), the category to which IC cards belong to. Which are VERY worth getting even if just for using on the trains alone. You don’t have to bother learning how much every route costs.

If you have one of those, you can ask:

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I’ll be taking over for Niko going forward to allow him to keep making more sweet sweet NativShark content.

If you’re in the NativShark community Discord, you likely already know me.

I’ve been living in Fukuoka for the last two years and have zero plans to change that, so I’m excited to share my experiences of living here and all the situations I’ve run into so far and will run into in the future.

Looking forward to sprinkling some Japanese only used in western Japan into my responses as well^^

(Don’t worry, we’ll let you know when I do.)

よろしくお願いします！

This week’s prompt

You're at a restaurant you've never been to before. You don't have any cash on you right now, so you ask an employee what else they take.

＊ You can submit a response in Japanese here. ＊

Please try to submit your response within 48 hours of receiving this email. Please only write one response per form submission.

Corrections will arrive in your inbox next week.

Last week’s corrections

You work remotely as a translator. While traveling, the charger to your laptop broke, and you haven't been able to find a new one yet. Your editor texts you on LINE and asks when you'll be able to send the translations he is waiting for.

I remember my first few days at the NativShark office.

We got all the furniture set up, including this beautiful 電気ポット(でんきぽっと // electric thermos) that kept the water at the temperature you set it as long as it was plugged in.

I made myself some お～いお茶(お～いおちゃ // a popular tea in Japan), sat down, and…

Promptly spilled tea on my laptop charger. While it was plugged in.

This language came in handy that day for sure.

I ordered a new one from Yodobashi, which is a wonderland I highly recommend visiting when you’re in Japan.

Here’s Satoko with corrections:

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This week’s prompt

You work remotely as a translator. While traveling, the charger to your laptop broke, and you haven't been able to find a new one yet. Your editor texts you on LINE and asks when you'll be able to send the translations he is waiting for.

＊ You can submit a response in Japanese here. ＊

Please try to submit your response within 48 hours of receiving this email. Please only write one response per form submission.

Corrections will arrive in your inbox next week.

Last week’s corrections

You’re the new person at work. Your senpai just asked what sort of extracurricular activities you did back in high school.

I was definitely in the 帰宅部[きたくぶ] “going home club” — a new term that I learned last week. Thanks Satoko!

Or maybe I need to make a term for the go-home-and-play-video-games club.

Here’s Satoko with corrections:

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This week’s prompt

You’re the new person at work. Your senpai just asked what sort of extracurricular activities you did back in high school.

＊ You can submit a response in Japanese here. ＊

Please try to submit your response within 48 hours of receiving this email. Please only write one response per form submission.

Corrections will arrive in your inbox next week.

Last week’s corrections

You’re chatting with the new guy at work. You want to ask him what sort of extracurricular activities he did back in high school.

These culture-heavy situations tend to throw me off a lot, as it’s so tempting to start wondering “Extracurricular activity? What is that even called in Japanese? How does the system for this even work in Japan?”

And if you don’t know that system, well, it seems kind of difficult to have a conversation about it.

Anyway, for this one I might have said:

高校んとき部活かなんかやってた？
こうこう　ん　とき　ぶかつ　か　なんか　やってた？
Were you in any clubs or anything in high school?

Well, what I originally came up with was this sentence minus the かなんか part, and that would have been fine, too. But then Rei suggested adding かなんか, which I thought was a nice touch, as it sounds less direct, much like the nuance added by that “or anything” in English.

I intentionally wrote ん instead of の since during the last few years, I’ve been trying to remind myself to say んとき instead of のとき to make my casual speech sound more like that of a native speaker. When writing, it would be more common to put の, however.

(On a side note, translating 部活 (ぶかつ) as “club activities” or whatever always irks me because 部活 includes sports, but you have sports “teams”, not “clubs” where I went to high school.)

Here is Satoko with everyone’s feedback:

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This week’s prompt

You’re chatting with the new guy at work. You want to ask him what sort of extracurricular activities he did back in high school.

＊ You can submit a response in Japanese here. ＊

Please try to submit your response within 48 hours of receiving this email. Please only write one response per form submission.

Corrections will arrive in your inbox next week.

Last week’s corrections

You’re at the store. Your spouse asked you to buy some ちくわぶ (not ちくわ). You’ve been looking everywhere, but you can’t find it. You decide to ask one of the store staff for help.

This has happened me before… multiple times, for all sorts of requested items.

The correct thing to do in these situations is to stay quiet (you know, because of the crippling shyness) and keep searching for the item until you eventually die of old age.

I remember once Rei asked me to pick up マロニーちゃん at the store, and I was super lost because I had no idea what that was. When I texted to ask, she sent me this picture:

And now I’m thinking, Do I really just ask, “Hey, ya’ll got any Maroni-chan?” What kind of noodle is this, anyway? 春雨(はるさめ // glass noodles)?

In the end, I showed one of the staff the picture and asked if they had it. She had this smirk on her face, like, “Silly foreigner, what are you doing looking for this?” And no, they didn’t have it.

Here is Satoko with feedback on your submissions:

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