Lately I’ve been feeling like my Japanese language skills have been fading. I haven’t been studying nearly as much as I used to and it seems like, when I watch anime, I’m glancing at the subtitles at the bottom of the screen a lot more that I once did. I can’t even remember the last time I clicked on my Duolingo app on my phone! Though I’m very happy with my progress with my New Year’s resolutions to walk more and learn Blender, that doesn’t mean I want to forget the good habits I had before the new year started! So to inspire myself to get back into the habit of language studying, I decided to rummage around in my old books and notes on language games, and I found a really good one that I just had to share! This is a game I learned in one of my language classes while I was at university, and I wrote down the rules because it really was fun and helped me learn a lot.
Rules
This is a fairly simple game that can be played in a group or solo. Much like traditional Bingo, the goal is to get as many matches from your card as possible. Getting a full black-out is best, but getting all the matches vertically or horizontally is also pretty good. 1. Start with a “Card”, a grid with a Japanese word in each box (see example below). 2. While watching an subbed episode of anime, listen carefully for a character to say one of the words on the card. 3. As you hear the words, mark off that matching word on your card. 4. When you’ve heard every word in a vertical or horizontal line that’s Bingo! Special: If you want an extra challenge, you can go for a “Black-out”, meaning you have to watch anime until you hear a match for every word on the card!
Example
Here is an example of a Anime Bingo card you can use, or you can also make your own with a lined sheet of paper. Feel free to check out my list of 100 Anime Exclamations for help finding words to create your cards. Hope you have lots of fun with this, I know I will!
| Nani! | Ohaiyo! | Hayaku! | Mo ii? | Anata! |
| Honto? | Saiko! | Okii! | Hanase! | Shinde! |
| Kawaii! | Ja ne! | Onnegai! | Chotto ma te! | Zuto zuto! |
| Itadakimasu! | Sumimasen | Kochira! | Dekita! | Omoi! |
| Baka! | Oishi! | Umi! | Ganbatte! | Urusai! |
Anime Hanabi 
My Japanese has been slipping as well since last year, certain words escaping me here and there when I try to remember what the Japanese word for ____ is. But if I hear it, I’ll know it immediately haha. When I was in Japan I’d constantly whip out my phone and go straight to my jisho app (Takoboto) when needed, even if it was in the middle of class or whatever. But of course there’s no regular exposure to Japanese anymore, so yeah it’s difficult to be motivated.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Though I know that living in Japan isn’t a magic spell that will automatically teach me Japanese, it’s still a life goal of mine to live there for at least a little while. But I bet while living there you had all sorts of things to motivate you to practice!
LikeLiked by 2 people
It’s pretty crazy how fast you can pick up conversational Japanese. Like you don’t even really notice it until a year, two years later you look back and realize how much you’ve improved.
I went from being the new person to Japan letting someone else order for me at a restaurant to being the one ordering for new people prior to leaving, which was a cool achievement. And teaching English while there is sort of like a work-vacation. Really is a great opportunity if you can afford a year or two for it.
LikeLike
ひほんごはとてもかんたんじゃありません！むずかしいですよ！😤
LikeLiked by 1 person
Correction! にほんごはとてもかんたんじゃありません！むずかしいですよ！See what I mean!!! 😤
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lol! Yeah, it isn’t easy!
LikeLiked by 1 person