Makoto+ isn't just a subscription to the monthly Makoto e-zine for beginning to intermediate students of Japanese. It has new content added several times a week.
For example, beginners get a sentence... (Click the down arrow to expand for the sound files and full explanation.)
7/28/2020: Jogging
今日は、朝早く起きてジョギングをしました。
kyou wa, asa hayaku okite jogingu o shimashita.
as for this morning - morning - early - woke up and - jogging - did.
This morning, I woke early and went jogging.
VOCABULARY
- 今朝 kesa - this morning [literally, 今 (this) + 朝 (morning)]
- は wa - as for (this morning) [topic particle; pronounced "wa" even though it is written with the hiragana "ha"]
- 朝 asa - morning
- 早く hayaku - early
- 起きて okite - woke up and [from 起きる okiru (to wake up); the て form here acts as a conjunction]
- ジョギング jogingu - jogging
- を o - (direct object marker)
- しました shimashita - did (past polite of する)
All Makoto+ members get a new sentence every other weekday. The sentence is broken down with vocabulary, explanation, and translation so you can fully understand the meaning. Not only that, but every single sentence has two recordings: slow and normal speed.
But Makoto+ isn't just for beginners. We also add new intermediate-level sentences usually taken from the news. Not only will you learn about the language, you'll also learn about what's going on in Japan right now.
Here's an example intermediate sentence:
7/31/2020: Gas Explosion
There was an explosion at a restaurant yesterday around 8:57 am in Koriyama city, Fukushima prefecture. According to the fire department, the explosion was caused by a gas leak from a faulty valve of a propane gas tank in the building which caught fire.
昨日 yesterday [昨 (previous; yesterday) + 日 (day; date)]午前 am; before noon; morning [午 (noon) + 前 (before)]時 o’clock [時 (time; hour; o’clock)]分 minuteごろ around; approximately [used as a suffix to indicate “around ~”]福島県 Fukushima prefecture [福島 (Fukushima); 県 (prefecture)]郡山市 Koriyama city飲食店で at a restaurant [飲食店 (restaurant); 飲 (to drink) + 食 (to eat) + 店 (store); で (at; indicates the location of an action, happening or event)]爆発 explosion [爆 (to burst) + 発 (to emit)]ありました happened; occurred [from ある (for something to take place)]消防 fire department; [消防 (firefighting); fire department; 消 (to extinguish) + 防 (to defend); 消防署 is “fire station”]によりますと according to [によりますと is politer version of によると; に (by); よりますfrom よる (to be based on; to be due to); と (when; if); によると is a commonly used phrase]建物内の inside of the building [建物 (building); 建 (to build) + 物 (thing); ~内の (inside of ~)]ガス栓 valve of gas tank [ガス (gas); 栓 (valve); propane gas is commonly used for cooking in Japan]壊れて broke and… [壊れて from 壊れる (to break); te-form conjunction]ガスが漏れ gas leaked and… [漏れ from 漏れる (to leak); masu-stem conjunction, which sounds better instead of repeating te-form back to back]このガス this (leaked) gas [この is pointing to “the leaked gas” which was just mentioned]引火 ignition; catching fire [most of the time it is used in ~に引火する, rather than ~が引火する☞; (literally, “fire to ignite ~”); 引 (to draw; to pull) + 火 (fire)]~に引火して ~ ignited and…; ~ caught fire and… [from に引火する (to catch fire); te-from conjunction; most of the time]爆発した exploded~ものとみられています it is thought to be the case that ~ [もの (the case; nominalizing particle very similar to こと. When it is used in statements such as, “ものとみられる”, “ものと思われる”, or ”ものと考えられる”, it means that the preceding statement is assessed in theory and not completely proven to be a fact. こと could be used the same way but ものとみられる is a commonly-used phrase in the sense.); と (quoting “the theory”); みられて from みられる (to be seen; to be considered) which is passive of みる (to see); います from いる indicating the state “being considered as…for now”)]
Located in the Tohoku area (area north of Tokyo), Fukushima was one of the primary regions hit by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.
The capital city is also called Fukushima.
After you've reviewed the vocabulary and grammatical explanations, listen to the sentence over and over to practice your listening comprehension. Then begin "shadowing" the sentence by speaking the words with the recording.
This is a powerful way to:
- Increase vocabulary and kanji
- Improve reading
- Improve listening
- Improve speaking
New content is added almost daily and this is included in your membership.
Samurai members can see the latest content; Shogun members can see all previous entries.
This is just a taste of what we offer for as little as a few dollars a month!
Makoto+ also has a lot of interactive content like above:
- Haiku (with linguistic and cultural explanations and sound recordings)
- Japanese tongue twisters (with slow and fast speed recordings)
- Audio-only content
- Audiobooks on old Japan
- Makoto e-zine back issues (Samurai has access to three web format issues; Shogun has access to ALL back issues)
- Most of our books in web format (Shogun members only)
- Occasional freebie downloads
- and more
With updates added multiple times a week, you'll have a constant supply of fun material to help you along your Japanese language journey.
Click here to learn more about Makoto+.
Try it free for seven days. No obligation and you can cancel at anytime no questions asked.