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tomokaThursday 30th of December 2004 03:32:50 PM
Japanese lesson - Japanese is written with a mixture of hiragana, katakana,
kanji, romaji, etc…As I believe the most important thing
is to communicate, I make texts in Romaji(Roman letters).
I’m thinking about add the texts in Hiragana later.

Please check this website, I'll update the lessons
as possible as I can ;)
http://www.geocities.jp/tomokajp2005/ (updated, Aug 28th)

These are the old version of my Japanese lessons:

alphabet
common expressions 1
common expressions 2
emotions and opinions
conversation lesson1 ~introduction~
conversation lesson2 ~at a restaurant~
Ask questions
hobby
Japanese basic with a little bit grammar
education
when you fall in love

enjoy learning ;)

tomoka
DuffieFriday 31st of December 2004 02:22:49 AM
Wow - Thanks so very very much!

ありがとう　ございます
Friday 31st of December 2004 03:26:26 PM
- dou itashi mashite!
(You're welcome)

tomoka ;)
tomokaFriday 31st of December 2004 09:06:01 PM
you're welcome! - Dou itashi mashite! ;)
(you're welcome)

If you have any questions about the lessons,
please post here ;)

tomoka
California_WolfMonday 03rd of January 2005 05:42:04 PM
- tomoka-sensei

thank you for the welh of informaion you have on yor post please give us more

is the alphabet you have pronounced the same as these http://www.genki-online.com/kyozai/hiragana.html

how about family members
i know
onii-chan is big brother
onee-chan is big sister
(okasa) mother not shure
what wold yo call little brother or little sister
how abo father

if im talking to a friend i call them tim-chan
but if im talking to a senior at work i say linda-simpai
if i am a manager and im talking to an employee i call them kohi right
however what do i call my boss
do i call him simpai aswell

im sorry im just allover the place i promised myself i wouuldent go crazy bt im full of quuestions i promise ill probibly drive you nuts with questions but ill learn aswell

thank you sensei
tomokaMonday 03rd of January 2005 07:53:49 PM
- Konnichiwa :)

about your questions:

little brother is 'otouto'
little sister is 'imouto'
mother is 'okaasan'
father is 'otousan'

you can call '-chan' for your friends, but for
senior or not close friends, you'd better call
them '-san'. Normally, '-chan' is used for kids or
younger people, girlfriend or boyfriend.
Senpai is rather used among students.
If you want be polite, you just call them '-san'
like yamada-san, tanaka-san. Normally, we use family
name at work. To add '-san', you can show your
politeness.

Thank you for visiting my Japanese lessons ;)

tomoka
samipTuesday 04th of January 2005 02:18:00 AM
- Arigatou Tomoka-san, these lessons helped me a lot (especially the alphabet-lesson). I've also a few questions:

1.) What is the correct form of "thank you" ? Is it arigato, arigatou, arigatoo or what ? This is troubling me a bit :)
2.) If you are in a cafe, and you order a cup of coffee for example, do you say "Doomo" or "Arigatou" when you receive the coffee ?
3.) When you are introducing yourself, can you say "Sami-desu" to senior people ?
4.) When ending a letter or an email, what is a good word to use ? Something like the english word "Farewell", or "Best regards".

Thank you again :)
PsyTuesday 04th of January 2005 11:12:23 AM
- I'm not Tomoka-san, nor am I Japanese, nor am I a native speaker. So here goes nothing:

1) The correct form is actually ありがとう which, depending on how you romanize it, can be [i]arigato, arigatou [/i][u]and[/u] [i]arigatoo[/i]. Just as 東京 can be [i]tokyo[/i] and [i]toukyou[/i], and こんにちは can be [i]konnitiha, konnichiha, [/i]and[i] konnichiwa.[/i] There are several correct ways to spell Japanese in English, and the variety can get mind-bendingly confusing to those just starting out. This is one reason why it's a good idea to learn to read kana from the beginning.

2) I can't answer this one definitively, so it might be best to wait for tomoka-san to reply. But I'll try just for the heck of it: If you say it with sincerity, [i]doumo[/i] is more polite than [i]arigatou[/i], and to me seems proper for the situation. (but don't blame me if they throw the coffee in your face!)

3) In all but the most formal situations, this is fine. It's best to introduce yourself with either your full name or last name. Japanese people introduce themselves last-name-first, but we silly foreigners aren't expected to follow that custom. A formal way to introduce yourself is [i]**name** to moushimasu[/i], for example [i]Yamamoto Setsuko to moushimasu,[/i] "I am Setsuko Yamamoto."

4) By no means an exhaustive list, but I know [i]sousou,[/i] "with haste" and [i]keigu[/i], "sincerely yours."


Any of that help?





[i][b]*edit*[/b]Fixed some quotes and italics.[/i]
tomokaThursday 06th of January 2005 04:31:23 PM
- Konnichiwa Sami-san, Psy-san :)

Psy-san, thank you for the post!
You would help Japanese lerners a lot! :D

About Sami-san's questions:

1)Psy-san's explanation is correct. We have several ways
to spell Japanese, and if you learnt Hiragana or Katakana
at the same time, you wouldn't confuse.
ありがとう= "a ri ga to u", so 'arigatou' is correct.
However, when we pronounce ‘arigatou’, it may sound
like ‘arigatoo’. When we pronounce "ou", it often sounds
like "oo".

2)Psy-san said “If you say it with sincerity, doumo is
more polite than arigatou”.
It’s a good suggestion. I think it’s good enough to
say ‘Doumo’ or ‘arigatou’ with a smile at a restaurant.

For your information:
The most polite way is "Doumo arigatou gozaimasu",
the second is "arigatou gozaimasu",
the third is 'Doumo arigatou',
and the last is 'Doumo' or 'arigatou'.

3)Psy-san’s answer is PERFECT!

4)It depends how formal the letter or email is.
For example, when we ask something to the person,
we write “Douzo yoroshiku onegai shimasu.” in formal.
In casual, we just say “soredewa mata” or “matane”
(It’s like ‘see you soon’).
When we write ‘sousou’ in the end of the letter, we have
to start the letter ‘zenryaku’. ‘Zenryaku’ and ‘sousou’
are the set of the greeting, and the most polite way is
to write with the set of ‘haikei’ and ‘keigu’ but this is
only for the letters, not emails.

If you have any further questions, please post again ;)

tomoka

samipFriday 07th of January 2005 02:51:10 AM
- Konnichiwa tomoka-san and Psy-san

Doumo Arigatou Gozaimasu ! Answering those questions helped me a lot. It's a shame that I cannot be taught japanese in my school, but fortunately I found this place :)
Anyways, I have several questions again:
1.) What are "we", "our" and "us" in japanese ? What about "you", "your" and "yours" ?
2.) What are these words in japanese: What, When, Why, Where, How, Whose, Which and Who ?
3.) Should I learn hiragana and katakana as soon as possible, or should I wait until I know the basics ?
4.) Is "Neko wa Kuro" the correct way of saying "Cat is black" ? What about "I can speak finnish, so I can help you" , how is that in japanese ?

Matane Tomoka-san !

California_WolfFriday 07th of January 2005 01:58:07 PM
- Samip you might want to check his link
http://www.mni.ne.jp/~fishtail/Japanese%20lesson/Japanese%20basic%20with%20grammar.htm
Sensei placeed that earlier at the beginning of this post
but unfourtunatly some of your oher questions anrnt in there

i belive from watching tomany animes we is (dont quote me) [wadii wadii] please dont blast me for spelling remember im still learning

me and my brother always have a lot of fun when characters say that for some reason so we kinda learned that one

now for my questions

i have to go with samip
where should i start should i memorize a whole bunch of words or is there a basic starting point

should i learn he alphabetts or basic words

thanks again sensei
CW
noxisFriday 07th of January 2005 03:04:29 PM
- Konnichiwa Tomoka-sensei, Arigatou Gozaimasu--this information you post here is most helpful!

I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions as well... Just recently it looks like I might be hired to a Japanese Resturaunt, and I am very intimidated! ^^;
I'm an all english speaker, but would like to be prepared with some polite things to say in Japanese to greet the guests/to enjoy they're meal, etc...
I have books that say various types of the above, they all seem different and confusing.

I'm not exactly sure of the best phrases to use... I don't want to come across as rude to people my mistake of just greeting them wrong :\ (but I'm going to try my best !)

What would be most important basic phrases or formalities I should use? (and so sorry for the long post ^^; )
Thank you~
tomokaFriday 07th of January 2005 05:00:07 PM
- Konnichiwa minasan ;) (hello everyone!)

Wolf-san, I’m glad to know that you checked the whole lessons ;)
Thank you for letting sami-san know the link :)

I already wrote about some of them in the lessons though,
I answer questions one by one today.

1.) What are "we", "our" and "us" in japanese ? What about "you", "your" and "yours" ?

answer: we= watashitachi, our=watashitachi no, us=watashitachi ni
you=anata, your=anata no, yours= anata no mono

2.) What are these words in japanese: What, When, Why, Where, How, Whose, Which and Who ?

what= nani, when= itsu, why= naze, where= doko, how= ikani/donoyou ni,
whose= dareno mono. Which= dochira, who= dare/donata

3.) Should I learn hiragana and katakana as soon as possible, or should I wait until I know the basics ?

It depends on why you learn Japanese and how much time you have.
Actually, it’s better to learn Hiragana and Katakana at the first stage. However, if you want
to learn only conversation, you don’t have to learn kana I think. It takes much time
and you might lose the interest to learn Japanese if you have less opportunity to use it.
It depends on you. Please think about whether you can enjoy learning one by one for a long time or not.

4.) Is "Neko wa Kuro" the correct way of saying "Cat is black" ? What about "I can speak finnish,
so I can help you" , how is that in japanese ?

Hai, sou desu.(yes, it’s correct)
"Neko wa Kuro" = "Cat is black"
It’s better to say "Neko wa Kuro DESU"
"I can speak finnish, so I can help you"
= “watashi wa finrando-go wo hanasemasu node anata wo tetsudau koto ga deki masu.”

Soredewa mata(See you soon)

tomoka

tomokaFriday 07th of January 2005 08:39:27 PM
- Konnichiwa noxis-san :)

It's nice to know that you work at a Japanese Resturaunt.
You don't have to worry about speaking Japanese, your smile
will make guests happy ;)

Okay, I'll give you some easy Japanese words.

at a restaurant:

*welcome = irasshaimase
*here you are = douzo
*certainly = kashikomari mashita
*enjoy your meal = goyukkuri douzo
(In literaly, "enjoy your meal" is "oshokuji wo otanoshimi
kudasai", but we just say "goyukkuri douzo", it means
"please stay as long as you like".)
*Please wait a moment = shou shou omachi kudasai
*thank you very much = doumo arigatou gozai masu
(this is the present tense, the past tense is
"doumo arigatou gozai mashita")
*yes, (sir), Right away = hai, tadaima

I hope these words help you ;)

ganbatte kudasai(take is easy)

tomoka
samipMonday 10th of January 2005 03:55:48 AM
Konnichiwa minasan - Arigatou tomoka-sensei.
I think I'll start studying Hiragana soon. I'm quite enthusiastic about learning japanese, so I'm most likely not giving up.

tomokaMonday 10th of January 2005 08:38:06 PM
Konnichiwa - Konnichiwa sami-san :)

I let you know a website which you can learn
how to write Hiragana :)

http://www.kanjistep.com/en/online/hiraganasteps/

tanoshinde kudasai!(Have fun!)

tomoka
California_WolfSunday 16th of January 2005 09:07:35 PM
- Ohiyo

sensei we are droping down the list i cannot allow this

hmmm what can i do

i know ill ask qestions

::opens closet::
CRASH!!!
::picks out choice questions::
::shoves rest of silly questions into closet::

ok

what is doll festival and childrens day

can we have list of household items
and a few animals
just to tide us over till the next set of lessons

ahhh i asked youu about all those hing and i dident ask about son and daughter

i have a litle boy do i call him (-chan)
what is (-kun) for

arrrg i better stop or ill overwhelm you
probibly already did

gomen nasai sensei

CW
AndheraMonday 17th of January 2005 06:49:21 AM
- Arigatou gozaimasu, Tomoka-sensei.

Your lessons were very clear and easy to understand.

I just started learning japanese (in an attempt to understand un-subbed Anime) but the language is very fascinating and I think I'll actually continue learning it beyond the conversational stage. In that case, which of the three scripts would I learn to write first. Should I expose myself to more writing in the beginning or speak and listen more? What would you suggest?

Thank you once more for the simple tutorials. Some of the beginners tutorials out there are an effort to dechipher and understand, so this was a welcome relief.

And CW-san, I can attempt answering your questions. Of course, I'm not sure how valid my information is, for I too, am still learning.

Doll festival I've never heard of, but Childrens' day is a national holiday in celebration of children. Families put out flags outside their house for the father and every son in the family. (I remember something about armor, but am not sure. So i'll leave it out).

Animals? Well, there is a section in the Translation part of phrasebase. Neko and inu are the two that stick with me. ^__^ But the other's I need to look up constantly.

Son - Mus(u)ko
Daughter - Musumei

I might have spelt it wrong, excuse me.

Yes, you can call a little boy -chan. Even peers or older boys can be called -chan if you're very close with them. Many people use -chan for boys with cute nicknames. Like, a Yamato-san can be called Yama-chan by people younger than him who are close to him. Similarly, Yuuri-kun can becom Yuu-chan. It also depends on how the person in question takes it. Some boys might never want to be called -chan.

-kun is for boys your age or younger. As far as I know, girls can not be called -kun, no matter how close you are with them. However, -kun is the informal suffix for a male. So, it can be used with boys older than yourself if they permit it.

Of course, one would not call elders or seniors -chan and -kun as far as my knowledge goes. Like I don't think a 16 year old can call a 37 yr old -chan. I could be wrong though.

I hope that helped, and I'm sorry for any mistakes.

Sousou
Andhera


tomokaMonday 17th of January 2005 02:06:37 PM
- Konnichiwa California_Wolf-san :)
Thank you for the constant participation here ;)

Konnichiwa Andhera-san,
Your explanation was very good! Thank you for answering
some of the questions!

okay, as Andhera-san answered some questions, now I'll explain the rest of them for Wolf-san :)

doll festival = hina matsuri
(If you mean the Girls' Festival on March 3...)
childrens day = kodomo no hi...(It's on May 5)
son = musuko
daughter = musume

I'm adding translations on phrasebase.
It takes some more time to finish all of them though
please check 'Translations' section. You can see even
Japanese script there ;)

about -chan:
Even the person is older than you, we call
each other '-chan' between boyfriends and
girlfriends. It depends on the person, but
among very close friends, we call each other
'-chan'. I don't care when my younger friends call
me 'tomo-chan' :)
It sounds friendly, but be careful, only in the case
we like the person. :D

tomoka

California_WolfMonday 17th of January 2005 10:12:33 PM
- Konnichiwa Tomoka-sensei
Konnichiwa Andhera-Sempai

out of curiosity why would you drop the last few letters off your name

for ease of speach or just because

on a side note Andhera
i got those two events from anime me and my brother are big anime buffs as well and are learning japanese out of pure facination of the culture and to enjoy the animes better lol

but there are referances in a couple shows but inpartiularly in a music video "the baka song" ranma 1/2

CW
AndheraTuesday 18th of January 2005 05:09:30 AM
- Konichiwa Sensei, CW-san

Nya~ Gomen, CW-san, I thought you were asking what the two events were in life, as opposed to the words. (I feel like a twit XD)

Mm, the last few letters of the name are dorpped to make nicknames. LIke in the western world, many Samanthas become just Sams. Same with Alexandra and Alex and Nikita and Nikki. It's common in every language to depreive a nickname from the actual name itself. ^__^

To CW-san;
Hai, I watch tonnes of anime as well. I saw Children's Day in one of the Tennis no Oujisama fillers. (Wonderful series<33) It nice to seem someone with common interest and goals. (&glomps j00)

To Tomoka-sensei;
Are there any particular tutorials we should go through? Like the few basic mandatory things one must know? (Besides yours of course ^^) I did the one at JOL, and it was quite helpful. So, I was wondering if there was a particular place to start for building a strong foundation.

That is all for now.

Jyanne~
tomokaTuesday 18th of January 2005 08:53:44 AM
- Konnichiwa,

yes, Andhera-san is right.
The last few letters of the name are dorpped to make nicknames.

For example: If his name is "Yamada Takayuki"('Yamada' is his family name and 'Takayuki' is his first name.)

If Yamada-san is older than you,
We call them "Yama-san" or "Taka-san"

If Yamada-san is younger than you,
We call them "Yama-chan" or "Taka-chan"

This way is used at office often.
To call their family name like this at office shows
their friendliness. It's a casual way so it's better
not to use if you don't know the person much.

tomoka



California_WolfTuesday 18th of January 2005 04:00:07 PM
- Konnichiwa Tomoka-sensei
Konnichiwa Andhera-Sempai

Andhera-Sempai

you were correct in yor thought i was asking about the real events no need for appoligies

and also i find it very intriging to meet a female anime fan i have only met one other unless its hidden by most ladies in wich i dont undersand why animes are butiful and captivaing i cant get enough of them

strangly enough he one that got me intrested and still has a special place in my heart is tenchi

i dont understand but i think that the reason that most people are turned away by anime is that any ttime they hear the word hey automaicly think of hentai its a bum wrap if you ask me im not gonna say i have not seen the hentai (even some of those hat are classified as such have captivating sttorylines) but if people would forget what they have seen and find a good story like farfnar en the azure they would see what anime is truly about

ok nuf about that for now i dought that conversaion is gonna end any time soon

so now for questions

you keep saying family name so in the instance of to of the same family wold you then call them by there first name

wold yo use the titles and still the family name in the situaion of talking to an older and younger sibling

ie
Tomoka-sensei
Tomoka-chan

titles of corse refering to diffrent people

how about a list of vehicles

gomen i told you i ask a lot of questions
but oddly enough i learn best this way

well talk to you all later
CW
tomokaWednesday 19th of January 2005 07:43:30 AM
- Konnichiwa CW-san :)

among family, well it depends on the family though,
normally the parents call their kid's name like

Takayuki,
Taka,

or when their child is very young, they would call
him 'Taka-chan', or 'Taka-kun'.('-kun' is only used
for boys)

about the title:

Tomoka is my first name.
Assuming my family name is 'Ono', normally students would
call me 'Ono-sensei'. Because it's formal, polite way to call our "family name".
When teachers and students became friendly, students may
call their teacher's first name like 'Tomoka-sensei'.
In kindergarten, kids often call their teacher's first
name, but when they get old, they know the good manners
and become calling their teacher's family name.
Foreign students often call our first name like
'Tomoka-sensei', it sounds friendly so we don't care
whether they use the first name or family name :)

To call teachers as 'sensei' shows your
respect, and to call the person like '-chan'
shows your affection or friednliness.
They are totally different so you can't call your teacher
'-chan' if you are not friends. Sometimes it might sounds
over-familiar to us.
You can always say '-san' to elder people and younger
people. To say '-san' is the common way.

tomoka








AndheraWednesday 19th of January 2005 07:54:32 AM
- Cw-san, I am surprised. Maybe I know a lot of fellow female fans because I'm a shonen-ai fangirl. But that doesn't stop me from knowing males who are equally into anime. www.gaiaonline.com is a great place to meet anime watchers. A nice friendly environment. ^__^

Ano... Tomoka-sensei, when it says that your are a language exhange partner, does that meant you teach the language to students like us? For I would love to learn from you. I understand everything you explain clearly, and it makes the learning process smoother and shorter.

If you are taking on students, please consider me. I would be honored. Doumo Arigatou Gozaimasu.

I must be off now. Sureshimasu.
Andhera
tomokaWednesday 19th of January 2005 08:22:14 AM
- Konnichiwa Andhera-san :)

Thank you for asking me about taking Japanese class :)
I had taught Japanese to some people in private, however,
as for now, I'v been busy for doing the other things.
(I'm adding Japanese translations to all phrase on this website
and it'll take me for a couple months.) and also I'm working at office.)

I've also been learning 'ikebana'(Japanese flower arrangement)
to get a teaching licence :)

I come here and help Japanese learners as possible as I can
but I'm afraid I don't have much time to give private lessons for a while.

Gomen nasai(I'm sorry)

You made me happy to ask it ;)

doumo arigatou gozaimasu!
(Thank you very much)

tomoka :D
AndheraWednesday 19th of January 2005 08:40:31 AM
- Iie, daijoubu desu.

If at anytime you decide to take on students again, please remember me. :) Till then I will continue with the tutorials and asking questions. I'm glad to hear you're working on filling in the translations on the site. They are a good reference for beginners. Only, most of the database is still to be translated. It gives us all something to look forward to.
tomokaWednesday 19th of January 2005 10:51:19 AM
- Hai, ganbarimasu!
(Yes, I'll do my best!)

It's hard work to translate plenty of phrase
though I'll do my best ;)

tomoka
California_WolfFriday 21st of January 2005 04:10:54 AM
- me too sensei
ill love you forever

i was trying not tto make yo feel overwelmed and run away
thats why i dident ask
tomokaFriday 21st of January 2005 07:01:03 AM
- CW-san,

Yasashii kotoba wo arigatou!
(It's nice of you to say so ;))

tomoka
California_WolfFriday 21st of January 2005 07:32:35 AM
- Andhera-simpai

where do yo hang out in gaiaonline
AndheraFriday 21st of January 2005 07:38:09 AM
- Konichiwa minna-san!

Ano, Sensei, in "Yasashii kotoba wo arigatou", "arigatou" is "thank you" but in your translation, there is no thank you. Why? What is the literal translation of the sentence?

Eto.. CW-san, I usually hang out in my guilds. But you can ocasionally find me in the Anime discussions. Fell free to PM me. I am Andhera there as well.
tomokaFriday 21st of January 2005 08:10:42 AM
- Andhera-san,

It's a good question :D

If I translate the sentence literally,

It's nice of you to say so
= sou itte kureru no wa anata no yasashisa desu

However, we never say like that.
The Japanese sentence "yasashii kotoba wo arigatou"
express "you're such a nice person to say so".

In the sentence, the adjective "yasashii" suggests that
"the person" is nice(yasashii), so I wrote "it's nice of
you." This is a natural Japanese but I'm afraid it's
difficult for non-Japanese...

surely, I could say like:
Thank you for the nice words!
(yasashii kotoba wo arigatou)

well, I like the English "It's nice of you~" ;)

any further questions? :)

tomoka

California_WolfFriday 21st of January 2005 08:36:37 AM
- tomoko-sensei

me and my brother were discussing the pronounciation of we in most instances in the animes that we watched the it was prononced "wadii wadii" can you explain this
in your previous post you said we is


[quote][i]Originally posted by tomoka[/i]
What are "we", "our" and "us" in japanese ? What about "you", "your" and "yours" ?

answer: we= watashitachi, our=watashitachi no, us=watashitachi ni
you=anata, your=anata no, yours= anata no mono
[/quote]

Andhera-simpai your input is always welcome
California_WolfSaturday 22nd of January 2005 01:34:54 AM
- ::sobbing::

Tomoka-sensei
Andhera-Sempai

you dont want to talk to me no more

::runs to little box and fells sorry for himself::

lol

JK

but i cant let our post get to far down the list we wont be able to find it

i check almos every 3 to six hours im a litttle obsessed i think

nah not really ii just really want to learn this

talk to you later
CW
SaisokuSaturday 22nd of January 2005 01:54:38 AM
- Hello everyone, I am new to this forum but I have been keeping an eye on this topic for a little while now and I love it.

I have been studying Japanese for almost a year now and I belive I am on a slightly higher level than beginner, but not by much.

CW I too watch a fair amount of anime and as far as your question goes, it reminds me of several movies where the fan subs are slightly off. Do you think the subtitles in that particular movie could be inaccurate?
AndheraSaturday 22nd of January 2005 05:18:02 AM
- Ohayou Gozaimasu Saisoku-san. Yoroshiku.

(Pulls CW-san out of the box) I check back here frequently too, but my internet was being angsty ^^

Like Saisoku-san said, the fan subs could be a little off. Or, not everything on the fansubs is a literal translation. Sometimes, to make it understandable in english, they have to use completely different words to portray the meaning. Or, maybe Wadii (Wadii) was the name of the person. In anime many people refer to themselves in third person. So, if I were an anime character, it would not be abnormal for me to say "Andhera wa ureshii!" (Andhera is happy/I am happy)

...Of course, I could be completely off with that last one. ^__^
California_WolfSaturday 22nd of January 2005 06:03:41 AM
- Andhera-simpai
Saisoku-simpai

thats the meat of me and my brothers debate we both agree to the idea that it maby a litle off how ever the same term was used in another anime this is why i am slighly confused this is also one of the reasons we are trying to learn to speak and understand japanese

for a little idea of what i am talking about he shows tthat i am talking about is fafner en azure and another instance i know of for sure is beserk

now oddly enough fafner the festums refered tto them selves as a collective in the third person which i could see a possible missunderstanding in watashitachi wa where i could see ha slightly sounding lik wadii wadii bu there is to many extra syllables plus the words after the wa would almost have to be a dii hence making the missunderstanding almost to difficult

Saisoku-simpai
on a side note i am also a computer tech thogh a little out of date im trying to get back in but you know how muuch can pass in a year is like im learning everyhing all over again for instance when did amd become the best lol but hey i was always biast towards he one that never did me wrong and amd turned around and snuk up out of the blue figures cantt say i dident see it comming though

thanks again
CW
tomokaSaturday 22nd of January 2005 09:18:52 AM
- Youkoso(welcome), saisoku-san.

The nickname 'Saisoku' makes me worried because
'saisoku' means 'hurry (something) up' :D ...j/k... ;)
or 'saisoku' means 'fastest'?

saisoku = さいそく　=　催促 = huryy (something) up
saisoku = さいそく　=　最速 = fastest
saisoku = さいそく　=　細則 = detailed rules

They are all 'saisoku' but in the different Kanji :)

CW-san, gomennasai!(I'm sorry).
I had to go out yesterday and I didn't have much time...

about your question,
I think "wadii wadii" is "ware ware"(we)

sometimes on anime or manga, they talk in a funny way
like twisting the words.

as far as I know...here is some example:

wade wade = ware ware = we/us
uchi = watashi = i/me
uchi ra = watashi tachi = we/us
washi = i/me
washi ra = we/us
wate = i/me
wate ra = we/us
oira = i/me
oira tachi = we/us

These are not standard Japanese but
they talk with accent, sonant or whatever they like
in anime or manga.

tomoka




California_WolfSaturday 22nd of January 2005 09:26:20 AM
- ty so much for the explaination sensei

dident think about the idea of an accent

btt it is verry possible that it was ware ware and we herd wadii wadii ware ware makes a lot of sence

doumo arigatou gozaimasu!
CW
makifuSaturday 22nd of January 2005 11:31:38 AM
Whoa - Ok, so I've been real busy lately trying to learn too many things outside of school.... But I think after reading this all and being so excited about it I have a quick interest in trying to learn at least a basic competency in it.... So, I guess you've converted another person... I'm gonna study all that stuff ya posted. A lot of the basics I already know which is really nice. But I don't know anything about the characters because I've never studied it formally, only had to learn a few words to teach a martial arts class.... But this is great! Thanks so much for doing all of this.

Doumo Arigatou gozaimasu

Soredawa mata
tomokaSaturday 22nd of January 2005 12:58:14 PM
- Konnichiwa makifu-san :)

Thank you for the post!
a martial arts class sounds nice!
Some of my foreign friends take the lessons of martial arts
and they often asked me about the meanings of Japanese
words like "osu!" or "rei!" :D

tomoka


California_WolfSaturday 22nd of January 2005 09:04:12 PM
- Tomoka-sensei
Andhera-sempai
Saisoku-simpai

ok everyone i gave you all a break now i gotta pull out some more qestions

ready

for vocabulary how abot a list of office supplies

and how would you ask for a bathroom

how about a resturant

hail a taxi

ask his fare

ok i think ill stop on that one

ohh no i guess we need to do numbers soon

talk to you all later

CW
SaisokuSaturday 22nd of January 2005 09:18:38 PM
- Konnichiwa

Tomoka-sensei
Andhera-san
Saisoku-san

Tomoka-san, you are right when my nickname means fastest...Gomenasai, I am another one of those car guys ^_^.

CW-san, as far as the computer stuff is concerned, I have been a big fan of the AMD cpu architecture. If you take a look at the benchmarks between the intel and amd processors you maybe surprised in what you find. To be honest I think it all boils down to the whole Microsux syndrome, meaning Some companies produce things the people need (AMD) and others produce things that they feel people want (Microsoft, Intel).


Back to the fun stuff...


The only phrase I know in you list is Doko wa Otearai desu ka? Which is, Where is the restroom? You have to know the essentials ;)

AndheraSaturday 22nd of January 2005 10:42:56 PM
- Konnichiwa minna-san~

Sensei, looking at your list, adding tachi to a word meaning 'I' makes it plural. So, since 'ore' is 'I', then is 'ore-tachi' us/we as well?

CW-san, everytime I've heard "Where is the washroom?", the character always says "Toilet wa doko (iru)?" Of course, from the sound of it, it seems very informal, and I'd go with what Saisoku-san said.

As for lists of things, they are available in the translation section. Why don't you check there, since tomoka-sensei is working hard to update those. It'll probably save her much work. ^^

As for numbers, I know a few...

1. Ichi
2. Ni
3. San
4. Shi
5. Go
6. Roku
16. Juu-roku
17. Juu-nana.

Please excuse the random jump from 6 to 17. (I remember 16 & 17 from HikaGo. Sai says it many times. ^^) It might be safe to assume 7 = Nana, but I'm not sure. Those are the ones I know by heart. I'd doo a google search, to find up till at least ten, but I must be off now. Exams are on the horizon.

Matta ne~

(P.S. Is it Sempai, ot Senpai. It sounds like senpai, but I've seen both.)

P.p.s. Wai~ Watashi-tachi wa ... on the first page! (Haha, I can't complete that sentence. But i just had to type it out for the triple 'wa' sound. ^^ Help finish it, please?) We're second last (at least so far) under the 10 most viewed~
SaisokuSaturday 22nd of January 2005 11:26:32 PM
- You are absolutely right Andhera-san when it comes to the number. I have never seen or heard oretachi before. That doen't mean it isn't right though.

As for the numbers you are correct with 7 being Nana;however, 7 can also be Shichi depending on what you are talking about.

1-ichi
2-ni
3-san
4-shi-yon
5-go
6-roku
7-nana-shichi
8-hachi
9-ku-kyu
10-ju

now from then all the way to 100 (hyaku) is simple math.

11-Juuichi
12-juuni
etc

20-niju
21-nijuuichi
etc

As far as the Sempai/senpai thing is ...I always thought it was senpai.

Ja ne!


makotoSunday 23rd of January 2005 01:59:44 AM
- konnichiwa minnasan.
C_W san , here there are some dictionaries on line that can be useful to improve vocabulary:

http://spencer.blackmarket.net/dic_word_search.asp
http://www.freedict.com/onldict/jap.html

Andhera-san, you are doing well!! you know about numbers. now you can try to make a very basic sentence with numbers:
For example = tatoeba:

(subject)wa (age) sai desu.
watashiwa sanjuuni sai desu.

try to practice this structure changing the subject and age.

Saisoku, welcome and thank you for helping with numbers.

ja mata,


AndheraSunday 23rd of January 2005 03:42:12 AM
- Wai~ Arigatou Makoto-san. I've been looking for good dictionaries to enhance my vocabulary. I have been using the second link for a while now, so the first one is a nice addition. Doomo Arigatou.

Atashi wa juuroku sai desu.

Ne, senpai-tachi, what is the sentence structure for "I have ___ number of (noun)."

Also, while saying numbers, say it were 67, would the japanese translation be 6-10-7 as in rokujuunana/rokujuushichi or 6-7 rokunana/rokushichi. Looking at Makoto-san's sentence, I'm opting for the former style, but I'd like to confirm.

Arigatou, ne.
SaisokuSunday 23rd of January 2005 05:13:13 AM
- I'm sorry but I cannot help you with your sentence, but I can help with your number question. I hate not knowing things so I am eagerly waiting Makoto or Tomoka-san's reply.

And you are correct by saying the literal translation for 67 would be 6-10-7, or rokujuunana.
makotoSunday 23rd of January 2005 06:55:18 AM
- konnichiwa Saisokusan, Andherasan.I'm a student like you are, so I don't know if I can explain well:

1) about numbers:
In Japanese language , the numbers structure is similar to English or Spanish. look:

thir-ty five: 3 Thir (3)-- ty ( 10, ten) five (5)
for-ty eight: 4 for (4)-- ty ( 10, ten) eight (8)

In Japanese it's the same:
san-juu-go: 3 san (3)-- juu ( 10, juu) go (5)
yon-juu-hachi: 4 yon (4)-- juu ( 10, juu) hachi (8)

2) about I have (number) of (noun):
It's too hard for me to give you an explanation about it. And I'm sure I'd make many mistakes. I'm afraid to give you an answer. I'm sorry.

ja mata,
Makoto
AndheraSunday 23rd of January 2005 08:26:47 AM
- Arigatou futari-san.

I'm a little clearer on numbers now. As Makoto-san suggested, I'll try to have a sentence structured '(subject) wa (age) sai desu' in all my posts. if I go wrong somewhere, please correct me.

And, Ore-tachi is 'us'. ^^ I heard it in an episode I just watched.

Ore-tachi no sensei wa nijuugo sai desu.

(In no way affiliated to Tomoka-sensei ^^; )

Sumimasen is excuse me, ne. So, then what is Sureshimasu. The word is stuck in my head, but I can't remember off hand. Tasukete kudasai. Doomo arigatou.

matta ne~
makotoMonday 24th of January 2005 12:11:05 AM
- well, I think It'd be better talk about "counting" here. I add a listing of suffix added to numbers:
nin: persons.
hiki: fishes,insects.
hon: elongated things.
dai: machines.
mai:flat things.
satsu: books.
hai: objects for drinking.
mei: also for persons.
wa: birds
seki: ships.
ko:small things like fruits.
soku: pair things.


Makoto

AndheraMonday 24th of January 2005 12:48:13 AM
- So, like the sentence "17 people are watching." would be as follows?

juunana-mei ga miteiru.
juushichi-nin wa miteiru.

Is that right? And, what is the difference between ga and wa?
makotoMonday 24th of January 2005 05:10:42 AM
- hi, Andherasan. the sentence struture is this:

1)(subject)wa (number + suffix) (verb)

hito wa juuroku-nin mite iru.
hito ga juuroku-nin mite iru.

16 people are watching.

juurokunin only means 16 (refering to humans). Besides, you must to add "16 of what" you are talking about ( doctors, teachers, brothers, thieves....).

2) difference "ga" Vs "wa". uffffff... very hard to explain... There's no rule fix ( no maths). The conversation situation and context is important to choose "ga" or "wa". If you talked about it before or It's something known by speakers the particle is "wa". In contary case is "ga".

Makoto

tomokaMonday 24th of January 2005 12:00:26 PM
- Konnichiwa mina-san!(Hello everyone)

It's nice to see you all help each other ;)

It seems like some of questions were already settled.
GOOD JOB, EVERYONE!

Especially, makoto-san. You help Japanese learners a lot!
I tried to put a post on this forum last night but I
erased all of them by mistake :S
It was too depressing to re-write them for me…*sigh*…
Okay, as makoto-san worked hard here, I only add some explanations ;)

Where is the bathroom? =

Otearai wa doko desu ka? > formal
Toire wa doko desu ka? > normal
Toire wa doko? > casual

About asking questions, please check the Japanese lesson4
(ask questions)

Japanese lesson4

ore means ‘I/me’, which is used only by men, and
atashi also means ‘I/me’ but it’s used only by women.
Both words are used only in casual situation, when
talk to friends or family.

About ‘I have ~ number of (noun)’

Makoto-san added a list of counting :) arigatou gozaimasu!!

Here is a example, when you actually use the words.

I have three Japanese books.
Watashi wa nihongo no hon wo san-satsu motte imasu.

I need two pencils.
Watashi wa enpitsu ga ni-hon hitsuyou desu.

Could you send me some pictures of you?
Shashin wo nan-mai ka okutte kuremasu ka?

Also we have another way of counting general objects.
(It’s only from 1 to 10)

1 = hitotsu
2 = futatsu
3 = mittsu
4 = yottsu
5 = itsutsu
6 = muttsu
7 =nanatsu
8 = yattsu
9 = kokonotsu
10 = too

We’d like to have one more room.
(heya ga mou hitotsu hoshii.)

She ate up the cakes. (…so, there is no cake here.)
(kanojho wa okashi wo hitotsu nokorazu tabete shimatta.)
hitotsu = one
nokorazu = nokotte inai = to the last

His son is 8 years old.
(kare no musuko wa yattsu desu.)
(kare no musuko wa hassai desu.)

I’d like to have two hamburgers and a coke.
(hanbaagaa wo futatsu to koora wo hitotsu kudasai.)

About “shitsurei shimasu”,
It means “Excuse me”, “I’d better get going” etc…
For example:
(…at someone’s home or at a party…)
It’s late. I’d better get going.
(mou osoi node, soro soro shitsurei shimasu.)

(…when you enter your teacher’s office…)
Shitsurei shimasu.
(Excuse me, sir. May I come in?)

(…when you’d like to talk to your boss while he’s busy…)
Shitsurei shimasu, ima yoroshii desu ka?
(I’m sorry to bother you, can I talk to you a few minutes?)

I’ve got to go now!

Soredewa shitsurei shimasu!
(Now, I leave here)

Tomoka :D

tomokaMonday 24th of January 2005 03:49:02 PM
- To the hard workers!

Since there are some enthusiastic learners here, :D
I let you know some websites which can learn Japanese
when you have time :)

http://japanese.about.com/
This is a good site but you might be burned-out to learn such a plenty
of contents :D I think only hard workers should go to this website*lol*

http://www.geocities.com/jay3242000/mypage.html
This is a very good site to learn basic Japanese ;) simple and clear

http://www.nhk.or.jp/lesson/
This is for advanced Japanese learners though, why don’t you try?
(you need a real player I think)

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/stream/
click ‘WMA’ or ‘REAL’, you can listen and watch Japanese news ;)

I'm not sure whether I can add direct link to them or not,
so when you go to the site, just copy the URL and
paste it on the adress bar.

ganbatte kudasai!(Do your best!)

tomoka

SamipMonday 24th of January 2005 07:11:59 PM
- Konnichiwa tomoka-sensei.

I studied some Katakana, and now I'm able to recognize all the 46 signs. I'm just wondering, should I learn the rest of them (kya, kyu, kyo and so on), or start study Hiragana ? :)

Sami
Monday 24th of January 2005 07:46:43 PM
- Konnichiwa sami-san
コンニチワ　サミー　サン

It's great that you memorized Katakana so soon!
Keep it up and start to learn Hiragana :)

You can memorize such as kya kyu kyo like this:

kya = ki（キ） + ya（ヤ）=　キャ
kyu = ki（キ） + yu（ユ）=　キュ
kyo = ki（キ） + yo（ヨ）=　キョ

so I think you'd better start to learn Hiragana.

ganbatte kudasai!(please stand it out!)

tomoka
tomokaMonday 24th of January 2005 07:51:39 PM
- Konnichiwa sami-san
コンニチワ　サミー　サン

It's great that you memorized Katakana so soon!
Keep it up and start to learn Hiragana

You can memorize such as kya kyu kyo like this:

kya = ki（キ） + ya（ヤ）=　キャ
kyu = ki（キ） + yu（ユ）=　キュ
kyo = ki（キ） + yo（ヨ）=　キョ

so I think you'd better start to learn Hiragana.

ganbatte kudasai!(please stand it out!)

tomoka
tylehuTuesday 25th of January 2005 01:17:44 AM
Sugoi! Arigato! - I just want to thank you all for the great site. It has really helped a lot! I just want to know, how did all of you get started learning Japanese? Are there any sites that I should go to? Any info would be appreciated!

Arigato!
IwishIwasjapaneseJoelleTuesday 25th of January 2005 05:32:04 AM
Hi. - Hi. I'm Joelle. I am REALLY interested in learning Japanese. I am moveing there when I turn 15. I know, some basics, but I still need lots of help. (I'm looking to learn Romaji)

Arigoto! -Joelle C. L. P.
tomokaTuesday 25th of January 2005 08:52:13 AM
- Konnichiwa tylehu-san(Hello, tylehu)

maybe this website help you:
http://japanese.about.com/

Konnichiwa joelle-chan,

we often call '-chan' to younger people, especially for
girls :)
Your name is so lovely!
You can write your name like this in Japanese Katakana:
ジョエル (in romaji:jho e ru)

Have fun to learn Japanese! ;)

tomoka
makotoWednesday 26th of January 2005 03:45:06 PM
- どうも ありがとう、 ともかさん！！
Your examples and explanations are very useful. You know how to teach very well.

Well, I have a question about counting... the struture in sentecence in which counting subject and object like this:
"three cats are eating four fishes".
dewa mata,

Makoto



tomokaWednesday 26th of January 2005 04:14:15 PM
- Konnichiwa makoto-san,

"three cats are eating four fishes"
= san-biki no neko ga yon-hiki no sakana wo tabete imasu.

fish or cat counts like 'hiki/biki/piki'

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (of animals) =
ip-piki ni-hiki san-biki yon-hiki go-hiki rop-piki
nana-hiki hap-piki kyuu-hiki jhup-piki

wow it's trouble to memorize!

well, but if you memorize the rule, the rest is easy.

1 = ichi >> piki, so 11 = jhuu ip-piki, 21 = nijhuu ip-piki
2 = ni >> hiki, so 12 = jhuu ni-hiki, 22 = nijhuu ni-hiki
3 = san >> biki, so 13 = jhuu san-biki, 23 = nijhuu san-biki

two girls are asking for a date to a cool guy.
= futari no onnanoko ga (hitori no) kakkoii dansei ni
deeto wo moushikonde imasu :D

The structure is:
subject : '~' no (something/someone) ga
obect : '~' no (somthing/someone) wo

two girls = 'futari' no (onnanoko) ga
a cool guy = 'hitori' no (dansei) wo

soredewa mata ;)

tomoka
makotoWednesday 26th of January 2005 05:27:14 PM
- wakarimashita, Tomoka sensei. doomo arigatou gozaimasu.
then, are right both structures?

juurokunin no hito ga imasu"
hito ga juurokunin imasu"

makoto

AerahsWednesday 26th of January 2005 07:54:44 PM
Hello - Konichiwa everyone:)

I just want to congratulate the work that you're doing here, I think it's very good indeed.
I think Japan still hasn't lost the traditional magic, and for that it must be a wonderful country to visit. Maybe we could also talk about it's culture.
I'm a big anime fan and I'd love to be able to understand it without subtitles.

I have some questions:

Anata is polite, but anta is rude(?)

When to use "ga" or "wa"?

Matane!


tomokaThursday 27th of January 2005 04:57:00 PM
- Konnichiwa makoto-san,

sou desu!(that's right)
you can use the both ways.

The point is this:

Q1: how many poeple are there?
A1: juuroku-nin no hito ga imasu.

Q2: what are there?
A2: hito ga juurokunin imasu.

Konnichiwa Aerahs-san :)

hai(yes),

"anata"(you) is polite but "anta"(you) or "omae"(you) is rude.
"anta" or "omae" sounds like looking down on others.
If you say 'anta/omae dare?' to others, it sounds 'who are you?',
if you'd like to say 'who is it?', you must to say 'donata desu ka? or
'anata wa dare desu ka?'

ga is a subject marker.
It marks the new subject of a sentence or the person doing the action.

Q: dare ga imasu ka?(who is there?)
A: makoto-san ga imasu.(There is makoto.)

wa is a topic marker as for old information.

Q: anata wa ima nani wo shite imasu ka?
(what are you doing now?)
A: watashi wa ryouri wo shite imasu.(I'm cooking now.)

tomoka


SamipFriday 28th of January 2005 01:14:29 AM
- Konnichiwa!

When do I have to use Hiragana, and when do I have to use Katakana ? Also, is Kanji mixed with Kana in casual writing?

Let's say: "My name is Sami, and I live in finland"
How would you type that with kana(+kanji) ?

Sami

youiscrazygurlFriday 28th of January 2005 10:33:44 AM
- Konnichiwa! I'm Elana! I'm new here and am trying to speak and write Japanese. ^_^

Tomoka, what is my name in Japanese? I would like to learn how to write it so I can incorporate it into my artwork. ^_^

I listen mainly to Japanese music so I am used to the pronunciations now. Learning to understand it has proven to be a somewhat difficult task, although English is said to be one of the hardest languages to learn. Lol!

I've seen many sites with basic Japanese language tutorials, yet most of them have no examples of written text. :( I'm glad that everyone here seems to be helpful to newcomers though. :P
tomokaFriday 28th of January 2005 12:16:16 PM
- Konnichiwa sami-san

Katakana is used when writing down foreign names, places,
or words of foreign origin.

"My name is Sami, and I live in finland"
私の名前は、サミです。フィンランドに住んでいます。

in this sentence, 'Sami' and 'finland' are foreign name
and country so you write them in katakana.

It is said that there are about 2,500 kanji for dairy use.
You can write 私, 名前, or 住む in hiragana though,
as they are common kanji in Japan, we write it in this way.
The good point of mixing kanji and kana is we can
understand easily what you write.

for example, if you write about you only in hiragana:

わたしのなまえはさみです。ふぃんらんどにすんでいます。

It's a bit difficult to understand what you say,
because we don't know which word is subject or so.
This sentence is short so we could understand, but
if it's long, it's maybe trouble to understand soon
for Japanese what you said.

youkoso Elana-san,

I think your name is エラナ in katakana

This is a writing tutorial site:
http://members.aol.com/writejapan/

I hope this is helpful for you.

tomoka

SaisokuSaturday 29th of January 2005 09:23:52 PM
- konnichiwa minna-san!

Sorry I have been away for so long (work has been real crazy). I wish I didn't miss so much time on here, you guys went over alot of material.
tomokaSunday 30th of January 2005 07:37:28 PM
- Konnichiwa saisoku-san!

okaeri nasai!(welcome back)

tomoka ;)
freistilerMonday 31st of January 2005 04:10:24 PM
sugei ze!! - konnichiwa tomoka-san, gokigen wa ikaga desu ka?
Watashiwa toruko-jin desu, gakusei desu. Watashiwa nihongo wo benkyo-chuu desu. Nihongo ga daisuki yo!

I'd like to improve my Japanese here and as far as I can see, you're trying to help everyone whose interested in Japanese! I appreciate that. I'll join you up here and ask my questions when I have any.

Karada ni kiwotsuke te,
Dewa mata

frei
tomokaMonday 31st of January 2005 04:37:53 PM
- konnichiwa freistiler!

youkoso!(welcome!)

your japanese is very good!
sono choushi de ganbatte!(keep it up!)

soredewa mata(talk to you soon)

tomoka
freistilerThursday 03rd of February 2005 03:22:19 AM
- doomo arigatou gozaimasu,,
I'll be catching you up in other posts,

matane!
frei
makotoSaturday 05th of February 2005 08:27:26 AM
Practicing Lesson 5: hobbies - Konnichiwa, minnasan! about my hobbies...

Watashi no shumi wa supotsu wo suru koto desu.
watashi wa tenisu ya sakka ya fuuteringu suru kotoga suki desu.
watashi wa ryori suru no mo suki desu. "Paerya" ga dekimasu.
watashi wa orenji ga suki desu. watashi no ken ni takusan orenji arimasu kara, takusan orenji wo tabemasu.
watashi wa utau no ga suki desu. Demo shawaa no shita de shika utaimasu.
watashi wa Pizzicato five ongaku wo kiki no ga suki desu.
watashi no shumi wa rekishi no hon wo yomu koto desu.

jaa mata,

Makoto

tomokaSaturday 05th of February 2005 05:59:33 PM
- konnichiwa makoto-san,

takusan shumi ga arimasu ne!
(You have lots of hobbies.)

watashi wa Paeriya ga daisuki desu!
(I like Paeria very much!)

shawaa no shita de shika utai masu.
>> shawaa no shita de shika utai masen.

when you use 'de shika'(only in/at...), you must say
'~masen', "~shika" indicates partial negation so
you don't say 'masu' after '~shika' :)

onaka ga suite inai node sukoshi shika tabe masen.
(As I'm not hungry, I only eat a little bit.)

kinou ie niwa anata shika imasen deshita.
(There were only you at home yesterday.)

kiki no ga >>> kiku noga

can I ask you what is the fuuteringu? :D

tomoka


SaisokuSaturday 05th of February 2005 09:20:49 PM
- Watashi wa dorifuto ga daisuki desu yo!
wikidSaturday 05th of February 2005 10:13:22 PM
Practicing Lesson 5 (woot) - Konnichiwa Tomoka-san!
unlike Makoto-san, I only have a few hobbies.

watashi no shumi wa utau koto desu. furuto wo hiku ga suki desu.
Watashi wa ongaku ga suki desu.
watashi wa manga wo yomu ya manga wo kaku ga suki desu.
watashi wa monogatari wo kaku no ga suki desu.

Jaa!
chad72Sunday 06th of February 2005 12:21:55 AM
sooo cool - im cant belive your setting up japanese lessons i can speak japanese well and i have inputs too my dream is to go to japan but i will soon for forgien exchange student.


どもありがとごずぃます
tomokaSunday 06th of February 2005 03:14:19 PM
- Konnichiwa mina-san!(hello everyone),
youkoso chad ;) (welcome here, chad)

saisoku-san wa 'dorifuto' ga suki desu ka?
I think you meant 'dorifuto-soukou' by car :D

wikid-san,
furuuto wa 'fuku', gitaa ya piano wa 'hiku' wo tsukaimasu.
play the flute = furuuto wo 'fuku'
play the guitar = gitaa wo 'hiku'
plya the drum = doramu wo 'tataku'

I'm sorry there were some ways to say 'Play' and I didn't menthion all of them on the lesson.

Your Japanese is very good but I give you some tip.

watashi wa manga wo yomu ya manga wo kaku ga suki desu.
>> watashi wa manga wo yomu koto ya manga wo kaku koto ga suki desu.

when you say '~ga suki desu', " ~ " should be "noun/noun clause"
so not 'manga wo yomu' but 'manga wo yomu koto'
and not 'manga wo kaku' but 'manga wo kaku koto'

こんにちわ、チャド(hello, chad)

どうもありがとうございます = doumo arigatou gozaimasu　
...so close!

tomoka

utsumiSunday 06th of February 2005 04:36:21 PM
Konnichiwa minna san - :-) Watashi no namae Anna da.
Furansu ni sundeiru demo.. jissai ni watashi wa Madagasukara ni kimasu.Nihon ga suki dakara , jibun no nihongo wo benkyou shimasu.
watashi no mirai no shigoto wa suchuwâdesu soretomo tsûyaku ni naritai . Demo..watashi no nihongo wa dame dayo.
Penfurendo soretomo nihongo no sensei wo sagashita kara , koko ni ikitta . Takusan koto ga aru de wakaranaiyo. lol junchô dane. Demo , nihongo ga suki node , nihongo ga hanashitai :-D
:-) messeji wo yonda kurete arigatou.

ps:hanahadashii ayamari de gommenasai...

Anna


tomokaMonday 07th of February 2005 08:13:22 AM
- Konnichiwa Anna(Bonjour Anna :))
watashi no namae wa tomoka desu.(Je m'appelle tomoka :))

messeeji wo arigatou!(merci pour votre message)

da is used in a casual way and sometimes it sounds rough
so in this case, you'd better to use 'da yo'. If you'd like to talk in a polite way,
you can say 'watashi no namae wa anna desu'.

when you'd like to say "my japanese is not good",
you say "watashi no nihongo wa heta desu".

no no, it was understandable! well done!! ;)

I have lots of Japanese words that I don't understand.
(wakaranai nihongo ga takusan arimasu)

If you post, I or someone here would help you ;)

matane(a bientot)

tomoka

utsumiTuesday 08th of February 2005 03:26:58 AM
watashi no messeeji wo yonda kurete arigatou - :) Konnichiwa Tomoka san:) Hajimemashite

Anata wa furansugo ga hanasureru ne?
Ikebana wa totemo kirei na shigoto desu yo ne.
watashi wa Japan expo (manga no baiten aru , mangaka iru takusan koto aru) ni iku toki ni , KOsei no Hana ga aru sore kara KOsei no Hana wa totemo kirei dayo. :D
...Nihon ni iku naraba , Tokyo to Shibuya ni ikitai dakara shibuya wa Manga no machi desu. Sugoiii !!! Osaka mou ni ikitara , otera ni ikitai dakara , kirei daaaaaa (l)!
terebi de takusan nihon no eiga to tanbou wo mitta .. sore de wa omoshirokatta desu ; samourai ya enbun ya takusan hanashi ga aru. nani ga suki desuka ?

Arigatou gozaimasu

Anna




tomokaTuesday 08th of February 2005 06:16:01 AM
- konnichiwa utsumi-san :)

hai, watashi wa furansugo ga hanase masu.
(yes, I can speak French)

I would appreciate if you could write in also English or
French. It would be a good lesson for other Japanese learners ;)

today's tip:

Nihon ni iku naraba , Tokyo to Shibuya ni ikitai dakara shibuya wa Manga no machi desu

it's better to say:
shibuya wa Manga no machi dakara, nihonni iku nara Shibuya ni ikitai.
(I'd like to go to shibuya because it's famous for manga.)

when we use '~dakara'(because), normally, at first we
mention the reason like
"anata ga dai suki dakara, issho ni itai"
(I want to be with you because I like you a lot.)

because I like you = anata ga suki dakara
I want to be with you = issho ni itai

Japanese word order is often different from other languages. For example:
I like you = watashi wa anata ga suki desu
watashi = Subject, anata ga = Object, suki desu = Verb

English order is "S V O"
Japanese order is "S O V"

We can understand if you say 'watashi wa sukidesu anata ga',
but to speak natural, you have to learn the word
order in japanese.
I think basically utsumi-san know the word order,
because you wrote 'takusan nihon no eiga wo mita' correctly :)

tomoka

kuzzywuzzyTuesday 08th of February 2005 07:49:49 AM
dakara - 日本語が好きだから日本語を勉強します。
にほんごがすきだからにほんごをべんきょうします。
Nihongo ga suki dakara Nihongo o benkyou shimasu.

Would that be correct? Does it sound natural? If you split this into the two seperate ideas/phrases, which would dakara be in? Could you say:

日本語が好きです。
Nihongo ga suki desu.

And then as an afterthought, add:

だから日本語を勉強します。
Dakara nihongo o benkyou shimasu.

And if so, could you just say:

日本語が好きです、だから日本語を勉強します。
Nihongo ga suki desu, dakara Nihongo o benkyou shimasu.

or would that sound unnatural/incorrect?

It seems to me that the translation of dakara might be closer to "therefore". "It is because of this...that..." is just a drawn out way of saying "This... therefore that...". But that's just from what I see here - maybe there are extended uses of dakara that would nullify that thought?

ありがとうございます。
tomokaTuesday 08th of February 2005 08:15:19 AM
- konnichiwa kuzzywuzzy-san,

your Japanese is perfect!
all of your japanese sentence are correct and natural :)

If I dare to add something,

about this sentence: 日本語が好きです、だから日本語を勉強します。
(Nihongo ga suki desu, dakara Nihongo o benkyou shimasu)

です(desu) or ます(masu) indicates the end of the line,
so this sentence sounds like two separete lines.

If we say like this, it sounds not fluent. However, when
you want to place the stress for the 'action' not the 'reason', you can say
日本語が好きです、だから日本語を勉強します


kuzzywuzzyTuesday 08th of February 2005 08:37:34 AM
- 分かりました。
Wakarimashita.

ありがとうございますTOMOKAさん。
Arigatou gozaimasu Tomoka-san.

TOMOKAさんはとても有用だから楽しんでいます。
Tomoka-san wa totemo yuuyou dakara tanoshinde imasu.
tomokaTuesday 08th of February 2005 10:16:34 AM
- ありがとうございます、クズィーウズィーさん　:)

normally 'yuuyou' is used before "something", not 'someone'.

kono lessun wa yuuyou desu.
(This lesson is useful)

yuuyou na jhouhou (useful information)

Actually, we can say :
彼女はこの会社にとって有用です。
kanojho wa kono kaisha ni totte yuuyou desu.
(she is very valuable for this company.)

The word 'yuuyou' for the person is used only
in formal situation.

anata no lessun wa yuuyou dakara/nanode tanoshinde imasu.
(I enjoy your lesson because it's useful.)

これが自然な言い方です
(This is a natural way)

いずれにせよ、どうもありがとう！
anyway, thank you!

tomoka :)

kuzzywuzzyTuesday 08th of February 2005 01:05:01 PM
- 分かりました。

Regarding your example:

[quote]anata no lessun wa yuuyou dakara/nanode tanoshinde imasu.[/quote]

I was under the impression that あなた (anata) was generally not used because it sound very familiar (i.e. close friends or a wife to her husband). Would it be appropriate in this situation? I am probably mistaken. Would there be another "you" that is appropriate? おまえ (omae) is probably too informal, correct? Perhaps the safest way would be to use TOMOKAさん (Tomoka-san) rather than a pronoun? Lastly, does なので (nanode) generally follow the same guidelines as だから (dakara)?

ありがとうございます！
tomokaTuesday 08th of February 2005 01:33:08 PM
- you = anata, kimi, omae, anta
'anata' is the most polite and 'anta' is very rude.

when we call somebody 'anta', it means we are furious
with the person.

generally, we use 'anata'
among friends, especially men say 'kimi' to women.
among close friedns, men say 'omae' to their friends.
between couples, men say 'kimi' or 'omae' to their
girlfriends or wives.

'-san' is polite so you can say it.
well, to call our name like 'tomoka-san' sounds friendlier
than 'anata' :) so you can choose it.

a wife calls her husband 'anata' but it sounds old, young
couples normally call each other by their first name like 'tomoka'.

we use nanode a lot but it all depends,

mou osoi node kaeri masu. (It's late, so I've got to go home.)

hidoi ame datta node, zubunure ni natta.
(Because it was raining hard, I get soaked to the skin.)

it's not strange if you say kara/dakara instead of
node/nanode, but in these cases, 'nanode' or 'node' sounds natural than 'dakara'.
This is advanced case, I think you have to
practice a lot to get to know which is which.
kuzzywuzzyTuesday 08th of February 2005 02:14:11 PM
- 分かりました。

I'm sure over time I'll come to understand when to use から／だから and when to use ので／なので. I know that there are many nuances like that which will just require patience and practice ;)

ありがとうございます！
tomokaTuesday 08th of February 2005 05:05:15 PM
- どういたしまして(you're welcome)

日本語の勉強がんばってください！

:)


utsumiWednesday 09th of February 2005 12:36:13 AM
- Konnichiwa

I'm sorry if i didn't write in english before , i wanted to know if my japanese was understandable. gomennasai :(

Chocoreto ga suki dakara , mainichi watashi wa kono koto wo tabemasu.
I eat chocolate everyday because i like it.
Onesan wa nemitai dakara , kanojo wa heya no naka ni ikimasu.
My sister goes to the bedroom because she wanna sleep.
Onesan wa gakkou ni wa shika imasen deshita kara , uchi ni kaerimashita.
My sister came back home because she was alone at school.
Atsui dakara , tomodachi to isshoni pûrû ni ikitai.
My friends and i go wanna go to the swimming pool because it's hot.
Hitobito wa resutoran no ryôri wa totemo umai to iimashita kara , kazoku to isshoni wa asoko wo taberu ni ikitai.
We would like to eat in the restaurent because people said that the food was good.

Is there another sentence where we can employ "dakara"?

I have a doubt too with the use of "if"

If you want me to go to the swimming pool with you ...
Mosi watashi tachi to isshoni iku naraba...
If i smoke , i'm gonna be ill.
Watashi wa byouki ni naru , tabaco wo suu naraba .

is this the same system as the use of dakara? for the order of the sentence?

When do I have to use nara ?
for example :
shibuya wa Manga no machi dakara, nihonni iku nara Shibuya ni ikitai.

thanks you

Anna






makotoWednesday 09th of February 2005 03:18:21 AM
- hi! konnichiwa minna san!!

Sumimasen, Tomokan san. Obviously... I invented a new word "fuuteringu" :D .I did that mistake because I'm native-spanish. In spanish language, sometimes we take an English word into our own language, and the Spanish meaning changes from the original English meaning. It happens with the word "footing". We took that word from English, but the Spanish meaning is "jogging". So I meant:
"jogingu ga suki desu. jogingu wo suru koto ga suki desu."

Welcome Anna. Your Japanese is very good. dono gurai mae kara nihongo wo benkyoshimashita?
ni nen mae ni Pari e ryokoo wo shimashita. Watashi niwa, chikyuu no naka de, Pari wa ichiban kireina machi desu. ( mada nihon ni ita koto ga arimasen) :D .
(I traveled to Paris two yeras ago. I think Paris is the most beautiful city around the world. (Well... I haven't travelled to Japan, yet)

I'm not sure, but It seems to me something strange in your sentences. Maybe I don't know yet. So I'll ask because I'm not sure:

"Onesan wa gakkou ni wa shika imasen deshita kara , uchi ni kaerimashita."
I don't know if it's right the sentence, but I'd have wroten:
"Onesan wa gakkou ni hitori de inakatta kara, uchi ni kaerimashita."
1) hitori de -- "de" indicates "how" she was: alone (hitori)
2) imasendeshita (polite form) Vs inakatta (plain form). I think we must use the polite form just at the end sentence.

Well, I'm not correcting what you wrote because I'm not sure about my explanation. It would be better wait Tomokasan's explanation and give a light.

mata ato de,

Makoto
tomokaWednesday 09th of February 2005 12:33:18 PM
- konnichiwa mina-san :)

makoto-san,
jogingu ga suki nandesu ne :)
(ah..you like jogging.)

"Onesan wa gakkou ni hitori de inakatta kara, uchi ni kaerimashita."

The makoto-san's correction is so close!

"Onesan wa gakkou ni hitori datta node, uchi ni kaerimashita."

or the best way is:
gakkou ni dare mo inakatta node, oneesan wa uchi ni kaette ki mashita.

daremo inai = nobody's (there)
node = nanode/dakara/kara/
kaette kuru = come back

anna-san,

If i smoke , i'm gonna be ill.
tabaco wo suu naraba, watashi wa byouki ni naru deshou.

It's better not to put naraba/nara(if), dakara/kara(because),
nanode/node(as/because) to the end of the sentence.

woman:watashi wo aishite iru nara, tabako wo yamete!
(If you love me, quit smoking!)

man: wakatta kara, nakanai de!
(okay, okay, I'll try so please don't cry)

woman: karada ni warui kara, shinpai shite iruno.
(because it's not good for your health, I'm worrying
about you.)

well, maybe this is a strange example :D

tomoka
KillingAlchemyxWednesday 09th of February 2005 10:33:42 PM
awesome. - arigatou.

i just signed up here and this is the first place i visited. i have always been fascinated by the japanese culture and i've always wanted to learn the language but i didnt know where to begin.. so i was looking for sites, and found this. your lessons are very clear and easy to understand.
arigatou gozaimasu.
KillingAlchemyxWednesday 09th of February 2005 11:19:02 PM
- EDIT: nevermind i found it in one of the lessons.




new question. how do you say "will you be my valentine?" in japanese? i think it'd be neat to ask somebody in japanese.
YadizuWednesday 09th of February 2005 11:36:58 PM
- Hi everybody!
I'm new student here and also would like to learn to speak japanese.
I started to go to lessons in this fall and study with book called "Japanese For Busy People".
As one lesson in a week isn't enough, I decided to learn it in internet, the second best place after own teacher.

Tomoka, your lessons have been great and I'm waiting for more! Arigatou.

1) Could you please tell more about using "anata", "watashi" etc. I don't want to be rude to japanese people and my teacher said I should not use those words because I don't know when I can use them.

2) Are there more pages where I could hear japanese news or something else japanese conversations etc.?
tomokaThursday 10th of February 2005 10:15:36 AM
- konnichiwa KillingAlchemyx-san, Yadizu-san.
youkoso!(welcome!)

"will you be my valentine?"?*lol* do you have anyone to ask? :D

"koibito ni natte kuremasen ka?"
恋人になってくれませんか？

we often say つきあってください"tsukiatte kudasai",
tsukiau = kousai suru = keep company/go about together

we avoid to ask directly because it's embarrassed if he/she
says 'NO'.

There is a joke:

boy: つきあってください(tsukiatte kudasai)
girl: いいよ(ii yo)
boy: ほんと？(honto?!)
girl: うん、で、どこへ？(un, de doko he?)

the boy obviously meant "will you be my valentine?",
the girl answered "okay", he was happy at a moment
but soon she said "so, where do you want to go?"

we tend to say indirectly so we have a problem sometimes :D

"my teacher said I should not use those words":

well, when we teach japanese, it's easy not to teach
the subject like 'anata' or 'watashi'.
actually, when I lived in the States, some Japanese teachers taught like that.
However, I can understand what you feel. If you have to
learn 'anata' or 'watashi' after a while, it's better to
learn at the first stage. We omit the subject often while we talk,
but it's better to know which word is omitted.

'anata' or 'watashi' is the formal way, so you can always say them.

when somebody ask about yourself, you would reply
like this:

gakusei desu >> (watashi wa) gakusei desu = I am a student.
19 sai desu >> (watashi wa) 19 sai desu = I am 19 years old
oniisan ga imasu >> (watashi wa) oniisan ga imasu = I have a big brother.

you omitted (watashi wa)

when you ask about somebody:

oikutsu desu ka? >> (anata wa) oikutsu desu ka? = How old are you?
sensei desu ka? >> (anata wa) sensei desu ka? = are you a teacher?
itsu modori masu ka? >> (anata wa) itsu modori masu ka? = when will you come back?

You omitted (anata wa)

They sounds natural even though the subject 'anata' or 'watashi' is omitted.

you know, '~desu', or '~masu' is the polite form.
when you say '~desu', or '~masu', you can always say
'anata' or 'watashi'.

for example:

anata wa donata desu ka? (who is it?) >> this is correct
omae wa dare desu ka? (who are you?) >> this is wrong

because 'omae' should be used only among close friends, especially men,
if you say omae(..rude) wa dare desu(..polite) ka, it sounds funny.

If you want to be rude to the person, you must say :
"omae wa dare da?"



KillingAlchemyxThursday 10th of February 2005 10:52:19 AM
- konnichiwa tomoka-san.

arigatou. i think i will stick with asking in english for now :D
wow.. japanese isnt easy is it? haha. i guess i'll just have to work harder :D
tomokaThursday 10th of February 2005 02:49:26 PM
- KillingAlchemyx-san,

Please don't worry, it could be easy sometimes :)

well, maybe I scared you to write a long post :D
gomen nasai~(I'm sorry~)

you can take only some tip which you need :)
if you work /really/ hard, you might be burned-out.

Take it easy!

tomoka
MarajaFriday 11th of February 2005 01:43:19 AM
- Konnichiwa Tomoka-sensei!

Arigatou for these great lessons, I've only read 1½ page in this thread and already learnt some. Really great. I always wondered why in the NGE-anime Shinji called Misato 'Misato-san' and she called him 'Shinji-kun' but now I know! ^^,

I wish I could start studying Japanese right off, but I have to study for school stuff instead. (: I will return...


Maraja
Friday 11th of February 2005 02:39:06 AM
- [quote][i]Originally posted by tomoka[/i]


KillingAlchemyx-san,

Please don't worry, it could be easy sometimes :)

well, maybe I scared you to write a long post :D
gomen nasai~(I'm sorry~)

you can take only some tip which you need :)
if you work /really/ hard, you might be burned-out.

Take it easy!

tomoka[/quote]

Konnichiwa Mina-san! Genki desu ka?

You are very right Tomoka-sensei. I have been studying Japanese for almost a year now and there were many times when I was burnt out and didn't think I could remember all the rules in Japanese. I still have hope that I will be able to speak the language fluently but that is still quite some time away.


My question is what are some other ways to study while when we are not in the forum? I have a few books that I read on occasion, I watch anime and car videos that are in Japanese. I also have been known to listen to Jpop (Koda Kumi to hamasaki Ayumi wa cho saikou deshou!).

The only other thing I can think of is find a Japanese girlfriend, but that won't happen in this town >.<

SaisokuFriday 11th of February 2005 03:00:52 AM
- Konnichiwa Mina-san! Genki desu ka?

You are very right Tomoka-sensei. I have been studying Japanese for almost a year now and there were many times when I was burnt out and didn't think I could remember all the rules in Japanese. I still have hope that I will be able to speak the language fluently but that is still quite some time away.


My question is what are some other ways to study while when we are not in the forum? I have a few books that I read on occasion, I watch anime and car videos that are in Japanese. I also have been known to listen to Jpop (Koda Kumi to hamasaki Ayumi wa cho saikou deshou!).

The only other thing I can think of is find a Japanese girlfriend, but that won't happen in this town >.<

kuzzywuzzyFriday 11th of February 2005 08:58:31 AM
- TOMOKAさん

I just read through your lessons on the first page. I didn't notice them before.

ご免なさい！

よく出来ました！ オーディオファイルはとても有用です！ :D

I hope you continue them!

ありがとうございました！
tomokaFriday 11th of February 2005 04:11:00 PM
- konnichiwa Maraja-san: hisashiburi, saisoku-san:
homete kurete arigatou, kuzzywuzzy-san :
(homete kurete arigatou = Thank you for the praises) :D

saisoku-san,
There are some ways to improve your Japanese though,
the best way is going to chat sites and talk to Japanese
people as possible as you can. It's interesting and
you won't be bored.

http://www.apricotweb.com/

you can listen Japanese pop's here:
http://www.japanaradio.com/

The one thing I want you to know is,
although sometimes you might be hurt by someone's words while you're talking to,
please don't give up talking.
They might be really mean, but sometimes it might be a
misunderstanding. If someone was really mean, ignore them
and leave there, next time I think you can meet nice people.

kuzzywuzzy-san,

みんなが最初のページを読むものだと思っていました(笑）
minna ga saisho no peeji wo yomu monoda to omotte imashita! :D
(I thought everyone would read the first page :D )

気づいてくれてよかったです！
It was good you noticed it :)

tomoka







GrisoFriday 11th of February 2005 06:49:07 PM
konnichiwa tomoka-sensei - arigatou gozaimazu for your tips and advices... i'm new to this forum but i've always had a nack for foreign languages... this time it's nihon turn...
however... I would really like to learn some writings too... and I don't really know if I should begin with Hiragana or elseway. Thanks for your help :D
tomokaFriday 11th of February 2005 07:54:18 PM
- hajime mashite(how do you do/nice to meet you), Griso-san

I think it's better to start learning Hiragana at first.
You can learn how to write japanese letters here.
http://members.aol.com/writejapan/

Have fun!

tomoka
MarajaSaturday 12th of February 2005 12:26:27 AM
- Konnichiwa Tomoka-sensei (:

Watashi wa Maraja desu, Sweden-jin desu. Watashi wa 17sai desu.
Watashi wa ongaku wo kiku no ga suki desu, anime wo miru, hon wo yomu, gogaku no benkyou wo suru!

Sumimasen Tomoka-sensei but I think your dog is very cute, and I want to ask what breed it is. :D

I would like to know some words like this: and, but, also, too, moreover, etc. I don't even know if you have words like that in Japanese.

Arigatou,

Maraja
tomokaSaturday 12th of February 2005 08:32:37 PM
- konnichiwa maraja-san,

sore wa watashi no tomodachi no inu desu.
(It's my friend's dog.)

sore wa 'shiba-ken' desu.
(It's 'shiba'.) ...'shiba' means 'brushwood' in Japanese :)

watashi wa kanojyo ga daisuki desu!
(I like her very much!)

You can write Japanese very good!

I would like to know some words like this: and, but, also, too, moreover...

and = soshite
but = demo, shikashi
also = mata
too = mo
moreover = sarani

for example:

watashi wa ongaku wo kiku no ga suki desu soshite anime wo
miru no mo suki desu, demo benkyou wa kirai desu.

I like listening to music and I like watching anime too, but I don't like studying.

:)


Saturday 12th of February 2005 09:39:32 PM
- Konnichiwa Tomoka-sensei,

Arigatou! I try to learn Hiragana right now, I learn 5 characters every day, so since I started learning them yesterday I only know the first 5 ones now, haha :D . I made this, it's easier to learn with colours, if anyone want to use this little Hiragana 'map' you're very welcome. ^^,

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/Marajaja/Wallpapers/294b561c.jpg[/IMG]

Oooh I should have known it's a Shiba, very old Japanese dog. (: Watashi wa suki 犬!

Thank you for the useful words, so I don't have to repeat myself with 'watashi wa' so much.

Maraja
MarajaSaturday 12th of February 2005 10:13:04 PM
- Tomoka-sensei, I made a post as a guest, and now I don't know where it went. Maybe you can see it, but I can't. ;P

Anyhow, I would like to ask; how do I type Japanese with keyboard? I have it installed, but I can't type with it. ):
tomokaSunday 13th of February 2005 01:53:15 PM
- maraja-san,
It seems like if someone post on forum as a guest,
it doesn's show up, we can only read it when we type
the replies. If it doesn't bother you, it's nice to put
the list again ;)

Gomen nasai! I don't know about the keyboard system.
I think somebody help you sometime soon here
or you can serch on internet like 'writing, japanese keyboard" or such keywords...

tomoka
makotoSunday 13th of February 2005 06:07:27 PM
- Konnichiwa minna-san!
Hi Maraja-san, I use a Japanese Word Processor to write kanji,hiragana and katakana caracters.
I write on the processor screen and I do "copy-paste" on Prhasebase replaying screen. I don't know other way to write japanese. If anybody knows an easier way to type, please tell us.
The software I use is NJStar Japanese Word Processor 5.0
and you can download freely here:
http://www.gold-software.com/download8902.html
http://www.softaward.com/8902.html
You can learn to type japanese practicing "Tutorial". there are exercises. It's very good to learn vocabulary and conjugating verbs (there are a dictionary and generator verbs).
I hope It could be useful for you,

ja mata,
Makoto
kuzzywuzzySunday 13th of February 2005 06:17:39 PM
- Maraja-san,

Makoto-san gave a good alternative to the IME that is built into Windows 2k/XP, but if you run Win2k or WinXP, you may want to use that instead. I found some good instructions here.

Installing East Asian Support:
http://newton.uor.edu/Departments&Programs/AsianStudiesDept/Language/asianlanguageinstallation_XP.html

Writing in Japanese (Getting Started):
http://newton.uor.edu/Departments&Programs/AsianStudiesDept/Language/japanese_write.htm

Good luck and let us now if you have any questions!
makotoSunday 13th of February 2005 06:26:17 PM
- Kuzzy-san どうも ありがとう ございます！！
MarajaSunday 13th of February 2005 07:45:29 PM
- ありがとう　kuzzywuzzy-さん