Somewhat unrelated to the topic of the book club, but I once tried working through a 2k/6k vocab deck that I found on Anki web, but after I tried WaniKani I found that I much preferred its more “bottom up” approach to teaching vocab where you first learn the radicals that make up the kanji so that it’s easier to remember the meaning of the kanji, which then aids in remembering the meaning of actual words/phrases. It takes a bit more time than just trying to memorize how a word looks in order to recognize it, and I have to follow whatever order WK decides to introduce me to content (instead of freely adding whatever words I want to a deck), but it’s been much more effective and engaging for me.
So I’m not sure if I’d try studying vocab words from this book on Anki alongside my ongoing studies with WK. I’m kind of trying to avoid having multiple SRS systems to juggle.
It also does wonders for making the brain recognize more complicated Kanji as not just blobs of lines. It’s pretty cool to see an intricate Kanji and notice all the radicals fitting together.
Jpdb.io will do this with lists you make yourself, and it’s free. There aren’t mnemoics for all words or radicals and the radicals aren’t named the same as WK.
I saw that, too… Incredibly sad news. I’m glad she was able to do what she loved, though. She made a huge difference in the world for Japanese learners, and she knew it.
So, that will be interesting. I did read nearly all of this thread and had a wide variety of emotions
I will join, I ordered my copy and it should arrive on Wednesday when I am back home. Since I am level 2 here and like third chapter of Genki 1 it will be a bit of torture, but I am used to that every day when I try to talk to anybody, so that is going to be fine. Also I like the Idea to be exposed to grammar to understand how things work beyond my current knowledge. That worked out great so far.
I also will totally use my volunteer Japanese community teachers to read this Manga with me, that will be Fun I am sure. Also, if I was not in Japan I would never hazard to try, but here I am looking forward to it
I will try to keep all the great advice in mind that many of you have posted here (Especially looking at you, @ChristopherFritz ) but am already prepared to fail spectacularly at it
I just got through watching the Lesson 13 video. Working through the grammar series has honestly been pretty painless so far, I think Dolly does a great job explaining structure so she lays the foundation for any new concepts to fit into that structure and make enough sense to me.
Currently my aim is to watch a video every one or two days (I could probably go at a faster pace if I weren’t re-watching and writing down notes for each video… and if I weren’t working a full-time job, lol.) So let’s see how far I can get before the book club starts - the more I can at least be exposed to, the better.
I found that out very shortly after I started checking out her channel, thanks to comments I noticed while watching one of her videos. Even as someone that was new to her and her content, I felt sad. There’s just some somber feeling of finality to knowing that a creator has passed - whatever content they’ve made is now all that will ever exist.
But it seems like she very much enjoyed what she was doing up until her passing, so I suppose there’s some comfort in that. And if my experience with her grammar series is anything to go by (and the fact that she’s a recommended resource here on the WK forum,) she’s made quite a contribution to the Japanese learning community. I’m only 15 videos in on her 93 video-long “Japanese from Scratch” playlist and I feel like I’m getting more out of it than what I’ve done with Genki I and Tae Kim. I seem to be more engaged by video format and her train analogy for Japanese sentence structure really clicks for me, so it’s been a good fit for me so far.
Here’s to hoping that she leaves a lasting legacy of teaching people the in’s and out’s of Japanese in a way that works for them.
Before we start reading, even, I’ve got some questions about the title of this manga. Regarding “三ツ星”: doesn’t saying “[number] of [thing]s” go “[thing] [number][counter]” in Japanese, or am I mistaken? If so, why is it 三ツ星 in this case rather than 星三ツ? Why 三ツ and not 三ッツ? Why katakana rather than hiragana? Also, is there any rule behind the fact that 星 is rendaku here, or is it just something you have to learn as-is?
I’ve got a copy of the book and i’m excited to start! I just entered the “Hell” levels of wanikani and i’ve gone through Genki I for grammar, but i haven’t done any consistent reading.
I skimmed through the first chapter and I know i’ll definitely have questions! Or i’ll just lurk and read other people’s questions/answers.
Numbers can take a few different ways that I’ve seen. I’ve seen it like it is here where it’s number first, I’ve seen it where it’s number after like you describe. Often when it’s number first, there’s a の between the number-counter combo and the thing(Number-counterのThing). Sometimes, I’ve seen a が or を between the thing and the number-counter combo when it follows. (ThingがNumber-counter/ThingをNumber-counter)). I still have NO idea what the rules are for each situation, if it’s interchangeable and up to preference, or what on that front. I’m hoping to get a feel for it as time goes on, but all that is to say, I’m pretty sure it’s grammatical.
As for the second part of the question, I wondered the same thing and spent a while trying to find something useful when I first came across the title. I couldn’t find anything in English, but what I could puzzle out from the Japanese sources is that 三ツ星 (aside from being a transmission belt brand, which complicated finding things) is a common adjective. I can’t find any explanation for why it suddenly becomes みつ instead of みっつ, but it does when saying “Three-star [noun]” (i.e., a 3-star hotel, restaurant, etc.). Perhaps to distinguish it as an adjective as opposed to a counter for three actual stars? But that is just a guess. I would welcome any explanation if somebody else has something more concrete.
As for katakana vs hiragana, again, it just seems to commonly take that form when being used as an adjective. The why of it eludes me there, and I chalked it up to being the adjective form again.
Rendaku for は-line syllables often occurs after つ and ん noises, but it’s not 100% of the time either, so it’s best to learn it by case, keeping in mind that it will often switch to ば or ぱ sounds following either of those two, though if it does and which it does varies quite a bit.
Edit to add: It also seems that “Three Star” is considered it’s own shape, after checking on Weblio. It has the same reading and spelling, and that probably makes more sense in the context of the title, with the girls making up the Three Star (Shape) in question, more-so than a star-rating of the colors. 三ツ星」の英語・英語例文・英語表現 - Weblio和英辞書
Without digging into the counter issue itself, I note that “三つ星” is listed in my dictionary as a distinct noun in its own right (meaning among other things, Orion’s Belt). This idiomatic use may throw off the normal rules a bit.
edit: I should also note, many English speakers may have already come across a similar pattern in the corporation name, Mitsubishi - 三菱 (in this case with 菱 acquiring ひ➝び rendaku.)
三星 (in the astronomical sense) is attested in Chinese, which makes me wonder if it came across this way, and then later picked up the つ as an indication that it was to be pronounced みつぼし instead of さんせい, which is an alternative reading provided for the kanaless form on 三星 - Wikipedia. But this is speculation on my part, so I’ll hide it in this edit.
This is how I was explained the counter thing:
When you do noun は number-counter, you say … number of noun.
When you use the number-counter の noun combo, it means (number) specific things.
りんごは三つ - (any) three apples
三つのりんご - (these specific) three apples
And noted, thank you! I imagine the が and を particles are similar situations as to the は in that case, given that they follow the same pattern? (Thing - Particle - Number-counter). That saves me a lot of “Why, though?” either way. I appreciate it!
Yes, the は was only an example, a place holder for any other possible particle. The particle depends on the verb you use, not on the number-counter thingy.
If you’d like to focus on learning new words along the way, aim for the three-star words. Chances are you’ll see them again sooner rather than later!
For anyone adding words to the spreadsheet, the frequency information will display automatically. (See the editing guide on the first tab of the spreadsheet for more information.)
Disclaimers
Frequency is based on the 三ツ星カラーズ anime, so it’s not a perfect match to volume one of the manga.
Differences in use of kanji versus hiragana between the anime subtitles and the manga may affect accuracy of stars. I don’t foresee this being anything to worry over.
Thank you to the hero(es) who’ve started pre-populating chapter one’s vocabulary words. Having the first few pages populated in advance of a chapter’s start date is extra important for first-time readers. It ensures no one is waiting for words to be added to begin reading, as well as minimizing the friction of manually looking up each word.
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