How to find Japanese Speakers in your local area

by | Apr 30, 2018 | Tips

How do you practice Japanese if you don’t know any Japanese speakers? You find some! Here are some of the steps that I took to find Japanese speakers in my city, Edinburgh… in Scotland! You can take similar steps to quickly improve your speaking fluency...

Like a baby

by | Apr 2, 2018 | Strategy

I cannot communicate enough the value of mistakes! We learn from them. No, it is not pleasant making them, but it is possible to change the way that you think about mistakes. Remember when you were a baby? No? OK, let me paint the picture for you… you...
How did I start that!

How did I start that!

by | Mar 12, 2018 | Fun Activities

From Friday the 2nd of March my Edinburgh Conversation and Study Club moved to a Japanese Arcade Cafe. The arcade is full of authentic Japanese arcade machines with games like Street Fighter and Bubble Bobble.  Around 15-20 people have attended the last two weeks and...

Visiting Japan soon?

by | Feb 19, 2018 | Uncategorized

People always ask me “Where is a nice place to visit in Japan?” That’s a very difficult question to answer because it depends what you’re looking for! If you love the city perhaps you should be looking to 大阪 (おおさか) Osaka or 神戸 (こうべ) Kobe or even 東京 (とうきょう)...

How did it all begin? Part 3!

by | Jan 15, 2018 | Immersion

This blog post continues on from Part 2, which funnily enough starts at Part 1. If you want to the full story please start from Part 1. I challenge myself to think in Japanese as much as I possible. I go shopping and think about the things I need to buy, talking to...

How did it all begin? Part 2!

by | Jan 8, 2018 | Immersion

I joined the JET Programme in 2000 and I spent 3 years in a Taketa City, Oita Prefecture on the island of Kyushu. For my first two years on the programme I taught at 10 Elementary Schools and 4 Junior High Schools. I went to a different school every day. Then for my...

How did it all begin? Part 1!

by | Jan 1, 2018 | Strategy

Since I started running my Japanese conversation group in 2014, people have been asking me how I originally got into the Japanese language and what took me to Japan in the first place. Well, I was studying English Literature and Education at university and I was...

Germ alert!

by | Dec 11, 2017 | Strategy

I am almost over the horrible cold that flattened me last week. What was the main blow? It stole my motivation to do anything. Fever and lower energy levels made me so sleepy, but I kept up with my Japanese… You see, thankfully Japanese is part of my life....

Watch Netflix in Japanese :-)

by | Dec 8, 2017 | Immersion

During our recent JLPT Bootcamp I showed attendees how they could use Netflix to help them to learn Japanese. I showed them how to set up a new profile and browse the films in Japanese and then continue on and watch with Japanese dubbing and or subtitles where...