Using 「って」To Help With Discovering Japanese Colloquialisms

「って」

is a contraction of 「と言う」and is used like verbal quotation marks. There's lots of ways to use it, and lots of info online about it, but I wanted to mention one way I think it's useful as a tool for learning.

It can be used in place of the subject marker「 は」. Often when you see it following a phrase, the preceding phrase is a set expression that can be useful to memorize.

Like if I said:
"Being home for the holidays is more stressful than it is fun."
I might use 「って」after saying "being home for the holidays". That's because it's a common expression and I'm referring to the fact that it's an expression. So, in that usage of 「って」it's similar to saying 「と言うのは」. You're nominalizing a clause which happens to be an expression.

My point is that by looking for 「って」in sentences, you can use it to discover expressions that Japanese people use. In every language there are thousands of commonly used expressions that textbooks don't (and could never) tell you about. And the list is always growing. Looking for 「って」is a way to try keeping up with them.

Kanji Compounds Using 「最」

The kanji 「最」is used in compounds to express the superlative degree. Learning compounds with 「最」is a good way to learn other common kanji and their meanings and pronunciations, [otherwise known as their "音読み (ON-readings)"].

Here are some examples:
最上、さい・じょう、best
最小、さい・しょう、smallest
最初、さい・しょ、the beginning
最後、さい・ご、the end
最古、さい・こ、oldest
最近、さい・きん、recently
最強、さい・きょう、strongest
最下位、さい・か・い、lowest rank
最奥、さい・おう、innermost
最愛、さい・あい、beloved
最高、さい・こう、maximum
最悪、さい・あく、worst