A simple hack to remarkably natural Japanese (1)

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I haven’t had time to update this blog, but there will be more for my podcast episodes soon! In the meantime, there is a pinned thread on my Twitter where you can find all the past shadowing sentences with pitch accent diagrams, etc.

Shadowing sentence

前回ぜんかいの試験しけんは全然ぜんぜんダメだったけど、今回こんかいはまだましでした。でも今度こんどはもっとできるように頑張がんばろうと思おもっています。

Transcript

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Tweet on Episode 1

Despite the kanji 今 (= now), 今度 means “next time”, not “this time”.
⭐️語彙（ごい）
・前回（ぜんかい）＝この前（まえ）Last time
・今回（こんかい）This time
・次回（じかい）＝今度（こんど）＝次（つぎ）Next time

* 次 can also be used as in 次の人、次の日, etc.
— しろくろパパ｜Podcast for Japanese learners (@shirokuropapajp) December 22, 2020

A simple hack to natural Japanese

ましな

(na-adj.) to describe two or more things that are equally bad/not great, but to say one is slightly better than the other(s).

ex) この本はどっちも面白くないけど、こっちの方がまだましかなぁ。
These books are both not interesting, but this one is a little better than the other, I think.

〜しようと思っています

I am thinking about doing ~ / planning to do ~; Maybe I will do ~

ex) 来週からもっと日本語の勉強をしようと思っています。
I am thinking about studying Japanese more starting next week.

〜しようと思っています is usually used when you thought about it for a while.

On the other hand, 〜しようと思います could be used when you just came up with the idea on the spot = you won’t sound natural with 〜しようと思っています if this is the case.

Compared to 〜します, 〜しようと思っています sounds less sure and could sound you have about 50-80% chance of actually doing it, implying the plan could change.

My Suggestion:

Start using【Verb (volitional Form: 〜よう) + と思っています】, if you are thinking about doing something. It should work in most cases and you’d sound more fluent instantly!