The easiest way is to just follow the link I posted and install the user script.
With the script, one can write something like 日本語 by just entering the kanji in your forum post or reply using the IME on your computer, then the script automagically turns it into
<日本語>[にほんご]
[This conversion happens inside the forum post editor after selecting the desired characters in your IME.]
You can also just type this format directly.
Upon submitting the post/reply, it is then converted again by the script into its final form which is valid HTML:
<ruby lang = 'ja-JP'>日本語<rp>(</rp><rt>にほんご</rt><rp>)</rp></ruby>
Since markdown allows you to type valid html, you can also just type a simplified form without installing the script:
<ruby>日本語<rt>にほんご</rt></ruby>
All the <rp> stuff is just there to support strange browsers or unusual situations where the furigana must be in parentheses.
Hello! I’m new here but I fit your description Studied Japanese back in college and had a Japanese friend, but like you lost it all over the years. Although I did find that hiragana/katakana came back quickly. Now I’m studying again in earnest. Hope to travel to Japan for a long stay (at least 1month) for my 50th. I’ve wanted to travel there since I was a child, but well, life and finances have made that tough so far. I’ll get there!
I am rooting for you!!! I really hope you get there!! I want to go too! Which is another reason why I want to learn this beautiful and complex language so badly! 頑張りましょう
They already increased the size of the meanings in the info panel slightly (I’d prefer larger, bolder, and high-contrast color: the primary meaning and reading should be the most immediately obvious info in the info panel).
FWIW, one of the improvements in the new code is that theming is easier. See this post.
It’s not quite live yet, but I really like the high contrast for the primary meaning in my color scheme. [1]
Making that specific styling change was NOT made easier in the new code, unfortunately, but I have hope for the future. ↩︎
In four months you’ll burn your first subject, which will feel great at first, then each time will quickly become old hat, then you’ll start to have pangs of regret (or alarm when you burn something you weren’t completely sure about).
I just reached Level 6… Here’s a snapshot of my SRS stage amounts. Does this seem like a reasonable balance? Should I have fewer Apprentice, or should I plow ahead?
Apprentice items will usually be about 80% of your workload since they come up much more frequently. So, if you are feeling okay with your current workload, you’re fine. (And yes, that looks pretty normal to me).
If you ever find yourself getting overwhelmed in the future, just cut back (or temporarily stop) the number of lessons you are doing, and your workload will slow down by up to 80% over the following 2 weeks, depending how much you cut back on your lessons.
The right pace for me is maxing at around 65-75 Apprentice Items. I finish my levels in about 10-12 days and that seems to be a good pace for if I don’t want to be overwhelmed but not go so slow I feel like I am making no progress.
It’s interesting to see that even though the demographics of WK tend to skew toward the younger end of the spectrum, there are still plenty of older people here.
It’s hard to explain to someone who is substantially younger than me, but I don’t really feel ‘old’ inside, rather I’m basically the same person that I was as a teenager, as a college student, whatever, albeit a bit wiser and with maybe a few scars picked up along the way.
Anyway, I continue to entertain the fantasy that ‘someday’ I will be able to retire from my job and take a year (or two) and enroll in a language school in Japan - if they’ll accept older students.
Will it actually happen? I dunno. But I certainly can’t rule it out.
Last December I took a shot at the JLPT N4 exam (I passed the N5 a few years prior) - I ended up missing the passing grade by 3 points - but it was clear when I walked into the building where the exam rooms were located, that the exam credentials ‘checkers’ in the building’s foyer pretty much ignored me, not grasping the possibility that I might actually be taking the test alongside all of the younger folks entering the building - perhaps they thought that I might be a parent of someone who was taking the test - or perhaps, unbeknownst to me, I was simply invisible that day - it happens, I guess…
I’m freshly 30 so I can’t speak to their experiences personally but I attended the GenkiJACS language school in Shinjuku back in 2014 and my classmates were truly a wide range of ages. A typical class of mine would have college students, adults on holiday, one or two retired folks, as well as many mid-career professionals who wanted to change fields or pick up helpful skills. I was 21 at the time and almost always the youngest person in the room. There was once a 17yo who had just graduated high school and he was a total novelty to us. It never once struck me as weird or awkward to be learning alongside those over 40, they were my classmates and we studied together or went drinking together like I would with my college pals. And GenkiJACS was a tremendous school, I definitely recommend it.
Needless to say, I truly hope you don’t talk yourself out of seeking a language school experience. It should be a goal, not a fantasy
Based on other comments that I’ve seen, the GenkiJACS school looks interesting. For how long did you go to classes there? What were your living arrangements like?
While I would consider other locations (Kyoto, Fukuoka, ???), I’d imagine that Tokyo might be the best location for me if I were ever to be in a position to enroll.
I attended for one semester, about 4 months, and the school provided me with a private room in a guest house (shared kitchen, bathrooms, but fully private room). The guest house was not owned by the school and so I met many locals who were attending their own conferences/colleges/businesses. I chose the guest house because I knew I wouldn’t stay long, but if I’d decided to do a full year or more then I would’ve chosen their private apartments. There are also dorms or homestays, the school arranges all of that for you, but those aren’t really my style.
I’d hoped to attend again at their Kyoto location this summer but, unfortunately, my timing didn’t quite work out right
You know you are gettin old when you are the same age as old people…
I am not really that old. My mind thinks I am still 21, my body thinks it is 80. I am actually 53.
As for Japanese, I initially got interested in it when my first roommate in college was dating a Japanese girl. Her parents would send packages over full of all kind of treats. Through her I started watching some anime. I never did anything to learn the language then. I enlisted in the military when I was 20 and life got in the way.
I started trying to learn Japanese middle of last year but did not take it seriously. Around Christmas i started looking for the best ways to learn outside of a classroom and found Tofugu. I started wanikani in January and just now getting into genki.
Studied Japanese back in college and had a Japanese friend, but like you lost it all over the years. Although I did find that hiragana/katakana came back quickly. Now I’m studying again in earnest. Hope to travel to Japan for a long stay (at least 1month) for my 50th. I’ve wanted to travel there since I was a child, but well, life and finances have made that tough so far. I’ll get there!
but I attended the GenkiJACS language school in Shinjuku back in 2014 and my classmates were truly a wide range of ages. A typical class of mine would have college students, adults on holiday, one or two retired folks, as well as many mid-career professionals who wanted to change fields or pick up helpful skills. I was 21 at the time and almost always the youngest person in the room. There was once a 17yo who had just graduated high school and he was a total novelty to us. It never once struck me as weird or awkward to be learning alongside those over 40, they were my classmates and we studied together or went drinking together like I would with my college pals. And GenkiJACS was a tremendous school, I definitely recommend it.