The LanguaCards Blog
Clear guides to learning French and Japanese from the LanguaCards Team.
Learn French in Paris: Lessons, Immersion and Daily Practice
Paris gives you the conversation. Here is how to add lessons, immersion and daily vocabulary practice so your French keeps moving forward.
Read more →Japanese Days of the Week: Kanji, Meaning and a Memory Trick
All seven Japanese days of the week with kanji, hiragana and romaji, what 曜日 means, an easy way to remember them, and how to use them in a sentence.
Read more →I Adjectives vs Na Adjectives: How to Tell Them Apart
Japanese has two kinds of adjectives that behave differently. Here is how to spot each type, avoid the common traps and conjugate both in polite and plain forms.
Read more →Japanese Past Tense: Polite and Plain Forms Explained
How to talk about the past in Japanese, from polite ました to the plain ta form, with a simple chart for たべる and のむ.
Read more →Japanese Sentence Structure vs English: The Verb Goes Last
English puts the verb in the middle, Japanese puts it at the end. Here is how Japanese word order works, with examples, particles and a cheat sheet.
Read more →Japanese Counters: A Beginner's Guide with Chart
Japanese adds a counter word to every number. Here is why, how the general つ series and the people counter work, and six counters to learn first.
Read more →Japanese Months and Dates: A Simple Beginner Guide
Japanese months are a number plus gatsu, with three small traps. Days of the month have a few irregular names. Here is a table of each, and the date order.
Read more →Japanese Numbers 1 to 100: How to Count, With Kanji
Learn ten words and the word for 100, and you can say every Japanese number from 1 to 100. Here is the pattern, the kanji and the two readings for 4, 7 and 9.
Read more →Japanese Particles List: The 10 Every Beginner Needs
A short list of the Japanese particles beginners meet first, with one line and one polite example each, plus a clear rule for ni vs de.
Read more →Te Form Japanese: How to Make It and When to Use It
The te form links Japanese verbs and builds requests and ongoing actions. Here is a chart of the endings, the exceptions, and three uses to start with.
Read more →Watashi vs Boku vs Ore: How to Say I in Japanese
Japanese has several words for I. Here is what watashi, boku, ore and atashi feel like, who tends to use each, and which one to start with.
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50 Useful Japanese Phrases for Travel and Everyday Life
The 50 Japanese phrases you will use most on a trip, from sumimasen to okaikei o onegai shimasu, grouped by situation with romaji.
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60 Useful French Phrases for Everyday Life and Travel
The 60 French phrases you will use most, from bonjour to l'addition, s'il vous plaît, grouped by situation with a simple pronunciation guide.
Read more →How to Learn JLPT N5 Vocabulary in 6 Weeks
The next JLPT is on 6 December. Here is a simple 6-week plan to learn the N5 vocabulary: about 15 new words a day, grouped by topic, with daily reviews and a quiz to check your progress.
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Anki vs Quizlet for Japanese: How LanguaCards Compares
Anki and Quizlet are both popular with Japanese learners, but with each one you build your own cards or rely on decks other people made. Here is how they compare, and where LanguaCards fits.
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Anki vs Quizlet for French: How LanguaCards Compares
Anki and Quizlet are both good flashcard apps, but with each one you build your own cards or rely on sets other people made. Here is how they compare for French, and where LanguaCards fits.
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Hiragana vs Katakana: What Is the Difference?
Hiragana and katakana write the same sounds but do different jobs. Here is how to tell them apart, how they work together and which to learn first.
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How Many Kanji Are There? What Learners Really Need
Dictionaries list tens of thousands of kanji, but everyday Japanese uses the 2,136 jōyō kanji. Here is how many you need at each stage and how to learn them.
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Is Japanese Hard to Learn? An Honest Answer
Japanese is one of the harder languages for English speakers, but not every part is hard. Here is what is easy, what takes time and how to make it manageable.
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Wa vs Ga in Japanese: The Difference, With Examples
は (wa) and が (ga) both appear after nouns, but they do different jobs. Here is the difference, with short examples and the set phrases that usually take が.
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Japanese Honorifics: San, Sama, Kun, Chan and Sensei Explained
Japanese honorifics such as san, kun and chan are added to names to show respect or closeness. Here is what each one means and the rules beginners need.
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When Do You Use Tu or Vous in French?
Tu is for one person you know well. Vous is for strangers, formal situations and any group, and here is how to choose, how to switch and what changes in the verb.
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What Are the JLPT Levels? N5 to N1 Explained
The Japanese-Language Proficiency Test has five levels, from N5 to N1. Here is what each one means, how it is scored and where to start.
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10 Minute Routines for French Conjugation Practice (A1 to C2)
The exercises, weekly structure and daily routines that turn French conjugation from something you recognise into something you can produce.
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French Vocabulary PDF: 692 Beginner Words to Download
692 beginner words, grouped by topic, free to download. And the honest problem with vocabulary PDFs.
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What Is the 5 to 7 Rule in French?
One phrase, two countries, two very different meanings. Get this one wrong in the wrong city and the room goes quiet.
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How Long Does It Take to Learn French?
The honest answer is 600 hours, and the honest follow up is that the number hides more than it tells you.
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Is French Hard to Learn?
Officially one of the easiest languages for English speakers. Which does not explain why so many people quit.
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What Are the Most Common French Words?
The words that appear most in French are almost none of the ones beginner courses start with. Here is what actually tops the list.
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When Do You Use Passé Composé vs Imparfait?
Completed actions take passé composé. Ongoing states, descriptions and habits take imparfait. Here are the tables, the signal words and the exceptions.
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What Is the Best Way to Learn French?
No single method wins. But there is a shape that nearly every successful French learner ends up with.
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What Are the 3000 French Words You Need to Know?
The first 100 words do more work than the next thousand. Here they are, grouped and translated, ready to learn.
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Can I Get B2 French in 1 Year?
Yes, from zero, if you can find the hours. Here is exactly how many, and the four things that derail most people.
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What Is A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2 for French?
The six French levels, what each one actually means in practice, and roughly how long it takes to get there.
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