Hey there fellow netizens,

Since our last lesson I kept thinking of what would be the best way for you to learn these compound words... I wanted to teach you this, then teach you that, and the list kept growing out of proportions. Still, I wanted you to know them because it enriches your vocabulary so much, and I think they're really useful too. But the Japanese language is so full of them it doesn't really make sense to list them out and shove them down your throat.

So instead I decided to chill and stop trying to cram stuff into your innocent brains.

It's not fun for any of us.

I am curious to try a new approach. I will try adding Japanese words in an English discourse, with translation only where necessary and all the explanations added at the end of the lesson. I'm thinking this would activate your brain's innate system of automatically trying to solve a little puzzle and figure out what the word means in Japanese. In case you knew the word already, it still helps to see it used in context, in order to reinforce the association and memorization.

Now, my dear guinea pigs, pour yourself a glass of wine, put on some nice relaxing music and casually scroll down. You will be surprised to see how much work your brain can do by itself!

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I decided that today I'm going to tell you a story from when I used to live in Japan.

I was on my way home one summer's day when 大雨（おおあめ) started pouring down.

I always ignored the predictions of the 天気予報 (てんきよほう）even in the rare times when I actually took the time to watch the weather channel.

So there I was, running downhill, literally soaking wet, びしょびしょ from head to toe.

It was a 10 minute walk to the station, but I wanted to get out of the rain as soon as possible, so I 走り続けた（はしりつづけた/ kept running）towards the "finish line," the station.

Then, all of a sudden, I see a car stopping in front of me and this little kid, I think he was no older than 12歳 (じゅうに さい), gets off.

He is holding a little umbrella and coming towards me. He says something along the lines of ｢傘、あげます」(かさ、あげます) and casually hands it over.

I managed to scrape off a confused ｢ありがとう！」before he quickly got back in the car and left. I knew the Japanese were nice people, but this was just the nicest thing, especially coming from a complete stranger.

First, here are the Japanese words listed with English translation:

大雨 / おおあめ / Heavy rain

天気予報 / てんきよほう / weather forecast

びしょびしょ / drenched (onomatopoeia)

走り続ける / はしりつづける / to keep running

12歳 / じゅうにさい / 12 years old

傘、あげます。
かさ、あげます。
Take this umbrella.
Literally: 'Umbrella, + give (polite)'

ありがとう！
Thank you!

Now, in this little story I included a very useful compound word stem:

～続ける / ～ つづける / to continue to X, to keep X-ing.
This word suffix is used for when you keep doing something despite challenges.

In our story we had:

走り続ける/はしりつづける/to keep running
Literally: 'run (masu-stem) + to continue'

ゴールに向かって走り続けた。
ゴール　に　むかって　はしりつづけた。
(I) kept running towards the finish line.
Literally: 'goal + に facing (towards) + kept running'

Unlike how we used it in our story, the word 走り続ける would be more likely if, for example, you were in a marathon, and you kept falling down. Nevertheless, you "continued running" to the finish line.

This ～続ける/つづける/to keep ～ing can be used with a ton of other verbs as well.

Here are some of them:

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考え続ける/かんがえつづける/ to keep thinking

長い間考え続けて、やっといいアイディアが浮かんだ。
ながい　あいだ　かんがえつづけて、　やっと　いい　アイディア　が　うかんだ。
I kept thinking for a long time, and I finally came up with a good idea.
Literally: "long + time period + kept thinking, + at last / finally + good + idea + が + surfaced."

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飲み続ける/のみつづける/ to keep drinking

この薬を１か月飲み続けてください。
この　くすり　を　いっかげつ　のみつづけて　ください。
Please continue taking [drinking] this medicine for one month.
Literally: 'this + medicine + を + one month + keep drinking + please.'

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勉強し続ける/べんきょうしつづける/to keep studying

大学を卒業したあとも独学で勉強し続けています。
だいがく　を　そつぎょう　した　あと　も　どくがく　で　べんきょうしつづけています。
Even after graduating college, I am still continuing my studies on my own.
Literally: 'university + を + graduated + after + も + self-studying + で + am continuing to study.'

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踊り続ける/おどりつづける/to keep dancing

音楽が止まっても踊り続けてください。
おんがく　が　とまっても　おどりつづけて　ください。
Please keep dancing, even if the music stops.
Literally: 'music + が + even if stops + continue dancing + please.'

So, my dear guinea pigs, I hope you enjoyed the lesson and that you had fun figuring out what this and that mean. See you next time!

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This lesson was written by Adriana, a guest contributor.