Hello! Minasan! Welcome to "Dictation for Every Day" (D4E: version 5) a.k.a. Mainichi no Kikitori
Workbook
PDF Workbook (volume 1, 2, and 3) is available from
[here]!
It includes the notes of words, phrases and grammars.
News and Story
2024.07.14: Volume 3, episode 101-150 starts.
An episode is updated every day.
A.E.A.D. (An Expression A Day)
If you want to learn Japanese expressions more,
visit the A.E.A.D. (An Expression A Day) page:
AEAD Search.
2025.08.27 Wed #505: How does it end up like that?
なんでそうなるの？
nande sou naru no?
Why does it end up like that?
A「パソコン直そうとしたら、もっと壊れた」 B「えっ、なんでそうなるの？」
A: "I tried to fix my computer, but it broke even more." B: "What? How does it end up like that?"
"Nande sou naru no?" is an immediate grammar expression used when confronted with an unexpected or unreasonable result. It is less a request for information and more an incredulous reaction that pressures the other person to explain. In formal contexts, it can be rephrased as "Doushite sonoyouna koto ni naru no desu ka?"
2025.08.26 Tue #504: You should've known if you saw it
...てたら、...はずで
...tetara, ...hazude
If you'd been watching, you should have known
A「え？そんなことあったの？」 B「それは見てたら、わかるはずで...」
A: "Huh? That happened?" B: "If you were watching, you should've noticed..."
The expression '...tetara, ...hazude' implies that something should have been obvious if the listener had seen or experienced it. Ending with 'de' softens the claim and leaves it open-ended, often suggesting a mild reproach or implicit expectation. It is an example of immediate grammar, expressing the speaker’s real-time judgment.
2025.08.25 Mon #503: I had no choice but to...
しかなくて
shika nakute
I had no choice but to...
A「どうして遅れたの？」 B「電車が止まって、歩くしかなくて...」
A: "Why were you late?" B: "The train stopped, so I had no choice but to walk..."
"Shika nakute" is an immediate grammar expression used to say there was no other option. It often appears in excuses or explanations, and can also trail off to leave the situation implicit. In formal contexts, it can be expressed as "...suru hoka nakute."
2025.08.24 Sun #502: As soon as
...とすぐ、
... to sugu,
as soon as ...
玄関を開けるとすぐ、猫が飛びかかってきた。
As soon as I opened the door, the cat jumped at me.
"... to sugu," is an immediate grammar conjunction indicating that the second event occurs almost immediately after the first. It signifies a close, inevitable connection between the two events, similar to "then" in English. It is natural in both spoken and written Japanese.
2025.08.23 Sat #501: In that case
それなら
sore nara
In that case
A「今日は雨みたいだよ」 B「それなら、家で映画を見よう」
A: "Looks like it's raining today." B: "In that case, let's watch a movie at home."
"Sore nara" is an immediate grammar expression used to shift actions or decisions according to the given condition. In daily conversation, it often introduces suggestions or agreement, carrying a nuance of adapting to the other person's statement or the situation. Learners sometimes overanalyze it as a nominal conditional, but in practice it works very much like the English "then", a simple, immediate connector.
Let's practice every day!
Let's learn Japanese through dictation practice!
PDF Workbook (volume 1 and 2) is available from
[here]!
It includes the notes of words, phrases and grammars.
This is the dictation practice site operated by Japanese Language Teaching Section, Tokyo Institute of Technology.
This practice involves a variety of natural expressions in daily conversation.
You can practice 10 sentences a day depending on your language ability.
It's a very simple exercise. You just follow the audio you hear and type in Roman letters.
Your comments and bug reports are very welcome. Please submit from here.
Zen and the Art of Dictation
Let's learn Japanese through drill and practice!
You will practice 10 sentences in an episode.
It's a very simple exercise.
You just follow the audio you hear and type in roman letters.
The first objective is to learn the basic Japanese sounds
and hiragana/katakana combinations.
You can practice as many times as possible.
The more you practice, the better you will get.
Please regularly contribute your time to this practice.
It is important to practice every day rather than to practice a lot at once.
The following is the psychological evidence of the importance of regular practice:
Figure 1: The forgetting curve described by Hermann Ebbinghaus.
Here, b represents 'Savings' expressed as a percentage, and t represents time in minutes, counting from one minute before end of learning. The constants c and k are 1.25 and 1.84 respectively. Savings is defined as the relative amount of time saved on the second learning trial as a result of having had the first. A savings of 100% would indicate that all items were still known from the first trial. A 75% savings would mean that relearning missed items required 25% as long as the original learning session (to learn all items). 'Savings' is thus, analogous to retention rate.
Drill for Every Day (D4E: V5)
