Inspired by the ‘Most Recent Japanese word that you’ve learned?’ Thread, I decided to create the No Translation version of the thread, where only the definition of the word in Japanese is allowed. Why do this? After relying solely on monolingual dictionaries such as 大辞林 and 大辞泉 for a month now, I’ve found that I’m able to better conceptualize and understand new words, mainly because monolingual dictionaries are much more detailed than J-A dictionaries. And because the definitions in monolingual dictionaries basically explain the meaning of a word in detail, I basically get to learn its synonyms and new ways to express myself. So I hope we can all add some new words into each other’s vocabulary bank.
The easiest way to find the definition of a word in Japanese for me is to just enter the word in Google Search, and then use とは。For example, I’ll enter 「ガッシリ とは」 into the search engine and the definition will pop up from there.
Here’s one I just got in me book with a pretty easy to understand definition. More of an expression but whatever. It also doesn’t actually show up on any J-E dictionaries anyways!
I’ve found that I’m able to better conceptualize and understand new words
Consuming monolingual content after you learn the basics of a language is definitely a good idea, but it’s not very easy to get started with. I remember reading somewhere that language teachers who teach directly in the given language without translating had a positive effect on students’ learning. Sounds great in theory but you also run the risk of missing information because you couldn’t understand everything, especially if you’re not paying total attention.
Regarding the topic of the thread, I can drop this word: