Nihongoism turns four

Thank you for reading

Nihongoism was born in April 2022.

It used to be called Japanese One Word at a Time, but that name was far too restrictive. The new name was introduced in late 2024:

It’s been a great pleasure writing these articles. As with all writing, it’s not just about communicating what I know; it’s also about using writing as an accelerator for my own learning process.

The topics have been all over the place, I know. But I think that’s a good thing. We’ve focused on sound symbolism; on native Japanese; on translation; on the role of AI in language learning and translation; on many specific Japanese words of interest; and topics at the intersection of philosophy and language, like consciousness.

Some of the most popular posts have been ones with a personal slant, such as the one about learning Japanese in 1976. Maybe I’ll write more of those!

I’m planning to reorganize my life a bit in the coming months which I’m hoping will give me more time to write and the ability to write more articles. I’ve been trying to write one article every other week, but in some cases the interval has been a month or more. Sorry! I’ll write more often, and perhaps I’ll write more bite-sized articles in between the long-form ones.

It was just a month or two ago that Nihongoism reached 500 subscribers! That is a landmark! And a few hardy souls have even ventured to buy a paid subscription, for which I am eternally grateful.

Thanks again for your interest. I hope to spend many more pleasant hours together writing and reading.