Japanese Japanese Lesson Phrase And Easy Conversation
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tomoka
Thursday 30th of December 2004 03:32:50 PM
Japanese lesson: Japanese is written with a mixture of hiragana, katakana,
kanji, romaji, etcAs I believe the most important thing
is to communicate, I make texts in Romaji(Roman letters).
Im 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
Duffie
Friday 31st of December 2004 02:22:49 AM
Wow: Thanks so very very much!
ありがとう ございます
Anonymous
Friday 31st of December 2004 03:26:26 PM
dou itashi mashite!
(You're welcome)
tomoka ;)
tomoka
Friday 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_Wolf
Monday 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
tomoka
Monday 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
samip
Tuesday 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 :)
Psy
Tuesday 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 arigato, arigatou [u]and[/u] arigatoo. Just as 東京 can be tokyo and toukyou, and こんにちは can be konnitiha, konnichiha, and konnichiwa. 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, doumo is more polite than arigatou, 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 **name** to moushimasu, for example Yamamoto Setsuko to moushimasu, "I am Setsuko Yamamoto."
4) By no means an exhaustive list, but I know sousou, "with haste" and keigu, "sincerely yours."
Any of that help?
[b]*edit*[/b]Fixed some quotes and italics.
tomoka
Thursday 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.
Its a good suggestion. I think its 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-sans 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
(Its 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
samip
Friday 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_Wolf
Friday 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
noxis
Friday 07th of January 2005 03:04:29 PM
Konnichiwa Tomoka-sensei, Arigatou Gozaimasuthis 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~
tomoka
Friday 07th of January 2005 05:00:07 PM
Konnichiwa minasan ;) (hello everyone!)
Wolf-san, Im 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, its better to learn Hiragana and Katakana at the first stage. However, if you want
to learn only conversation, you dont 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, its correct)
"Neko wa Kuro" = "Cat is black"
Its 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
tomoka
Friday 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
samip
Monday 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.
tomoka
Monday 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_Wolf
Sunday 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
Andhera
Monday 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
tomoka
Monday 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_Wolf
Monday 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
Andhera
Tuesday 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~
tomoka
Tuesday 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_Wolf
Tuesday 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
tomoka
Wednesday 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
Andhera
Wednesday 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
tomoka
Wednesday 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
Andhera
Wednesday 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.
tomoka
Wednesday 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_Wolf
Friday 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
tomoka
Friday 21st of January 2005 07:01:03 AM
CW-san,
Yasashii kotoba wo arigatou!
(It's nice of you to say so ;))
tomoka
California_Wolf
Friday 21st of January 2005 07:32:35 AM
Andhera-simpai
where do yo hang out in gaiaonline
Andhera
Friday 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.
tomoka
Friday 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_Wolf
Friday 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
Originally posted by tomoka
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
Andhera-simpai your input is always welcome
California_Wolf
Saturday 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
Saisoku
Saturday 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?
Andhera
Saturday 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_Wolf
Saturday 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
tomoka
Saturday 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_Wolf
Saturday 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
makifu
Saturday 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
tomoka
Saturday 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_Wolf
Saturday 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
Saisoku
Saturday 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 ;)
Andhera
Saturday 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~
Saisoku
Saturday 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!
makoto
Sunday 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,
Andhera
Sunday 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.
Saisoku
Sunday 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.
makoto
Sunday 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
Andhera
Sunday 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~
makoto
Monday 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
Andhera
Monday 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?
makoto
Monday 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
tomoka
Monday 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 its 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.
(Its 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
Wed 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.)
Id like to have two hamburgers and a coke.
(hanbaagaa wo futatsu to koora wo hitotsu kudasai.)
About shitsurei shimasu,
It means Excuse me, Id better get going etc
For example:
(at someones home or at a party)
Its late. Id better get going.
(mou osoi node, soro soro shitsurei shimasu.)
(when you enter your teachers office)
Shitsurei shimasu.
(Excuse me, sir. May I come in?)
(when youd like to talk to your boss while hes busy)
Shitsurei shimasu, ima yoroshii desu ka?
(Im sorry to bother you, can I talk to you a few minutes?)
Ive got to go now!
Soredewa shitsurei shimasu!
(Now, I leave here)
Tomoka :D
tomoka
Monday 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 dont 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
Samip
Monday 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
Anonymous
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
tomoka
Monday 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
tylehu
Tuesday 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!
IwishIwasjapaneseJoelle
Tuesday 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.
tomoka
Tuesday 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
makoto
Wednesday 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
tomoka
Wednesday 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
makoto
Wednesday 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
Aerahs
Wednesday 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!
tomoka
Thursday 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
Samip
Friday 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
youiscrazygurl
Friday 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
tomoka
Friday 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
Saisoku
Saturday 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.
tomoka
Sunday 30th of January 2005 07:37:28 PM
Konnichiwa saisoku-san!
okaeri nasai!(welcome back)
tomoka ;)
freistiler
Monday 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
tomoka
Monday 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
freistiler
Thursday 03rd of February 2005 03:22:19 AM
doomo arigatou gozaimasu,,
I'll be catching you up in other posts,
matane!
frei
makoto
Saturday 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
tomoka
Saturday 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
Saisoku
Saturday 05th of February 2005 09:20:49 PM
Watashi wa dorifuto ga daisuki desu yo!
wikid
Saturday 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!
chad72
Sunday 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
tomoka
Sunday 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
utsumi
Sunday 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 suchuwdesu soretomo tsyaku 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 junch dane. Demo , nihongo ga suki node , nihongo ga hanashitai :-D
:-) messeji wo yonda kurete arigatou.
ps:hanahadashii ayamari de gommenasai...
Anna
tomoka
Monday 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
utsumi
Tuesday 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
tomoka
Tuesday 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
kuzzywuzzy
Tuesday 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。
tomoka
Tuesday 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
kuzzywuzzy
Tuesday 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.
tomoka
Tuesday 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 :)
kuzzywuzzy
Tuesday 08th of February 2005 01:05:01 PM
分かりました。
Regarding your example:
anata no lessun wa yuuyou dakara/nanode tanoshinde imasu.
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！
tomoka
Tuesday 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.
kuzzywuzzy
Tuesday 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！
tomoka
Tuesday 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！
:)
utsumi
Wednesday 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 pr ni ikitai.
My friends and i go wanna go to the swimming pool because it's hot.
Hitobito wa resutoran no ryri 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
makoto
Wednesday 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
tomoka
Wednesday 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
KillingAlchemyx
Wednesday 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.
KillingAlchemyx
Wednesday 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.
Yadizu
Wednesday 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.?
tomoka
Thursday 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?"
KillingAlchemyx
Thursday 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
tomoka
Thursday 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
Maraja
Friday 11th of February 2005 01:43:19 AM
Konnichiwa Tomoka-sensei!
Arigatou for these great lessons, I've only read 1 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
Anonymous
Friday 11th of February 2005 02:39:06 AM
Originally posted by tomoka
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
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 >.<
Saisoku
Friday 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 >.<
kuzzywuzzy
Friday 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！
tomoka
Friday 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
Griso
Friday 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
tomoka
Friday 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
Maraja
Saturday 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
tomoka
Saturday 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.
:)
Anonymous
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
Maraja
Saturday 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. ):
tomoka
Sunday 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
makoto
Sunday 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
kuzzywuzzy
Sunday 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!
makoto
Sunday 13th of February 2005 06:26:17 PM
Kuzzy-san どうも ありがとう ございます！！
Maraja
Sunday 13th of February 2005 07:45:29 PM
ありがとう kuzzywuzzy-さん :D
Makoto-san, I already had everything installed. However kuzzywuzzy-san helped me with that Getting Started tutorial. :D
Hmm it's a bit odd, I write in Hiragana but it wants to transform it to Kanji all the time. O.O Oh well, this is great anyhow. (: Arigatou!
Maraja
tomoka
Sunday 13th of February 2005 08:23:43 PM
皆さん、ご協力をありがとうございます :)
Thank you for all of your help!
tomoka ;)
cokbg
Tuesday 15th of February 2005 12:00:58 AM
Konichiwa Everyone,
I just learned how to count one to ten in Japanese. I am very happy that the Japanese language has a decimal system for their numbers.
I would be trying the sites mentioned here about encoding in Japanese characters. I hope I could use them.
I envy Maraja-san, learn 5 characters a day. That's too big for me. Memorizing is not for me, that is why I try to compensate by trying to associate Japanese characters with other systems, like their chess (if that is correct, that is).
Is there any specific pen that is useful for writing/practice-writing Hiragana? Or use a brush? I hope to find some appreciation in characters I write, but I simply cannot.
Is it better to start with learning characters that are easy to write characters (like "ki") or according to order of the Japanese alphabet ("a," "i," "e" and so on and so forth)?
Are there special procedures when writing punctuation marks in Japanese characters, like the inverted "!" and "?" before the sentences in Spanish?
Last question (for this forum, that is, actually): Can anyone give me the basic sentence structures in Japanese? I know the
Domo arigatou gazaimasu!
Maraja
Tuesday 15th of February 2005 01:28:40 AM
こんばんわ!
cokbg-san, no need to envy me. It's easy for me now, but soon it will be difficult. To my advantage I have a very good 'image memory'. I posted this before, but it didn't show up so.. Yeah. Here's the little picture I use for learning Hiragana:
As you can see it consists of 5 columns, starting with the vowels,
a , i , u , e , o , and then follows all other sounds,
ka, ki, ku, ke, ko, etc.
The 5 columns with characters you see to the right are actually just versions of the left ones. It's a changing of sound, and then it's added either two small strokes or a little circle.
I have no idea how I will learn all of them, seeing as I have to concentrate really hard already. LOL. Oh well...
http://merckel.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=2
^On this site there's a game to check your knowledge of Hiragana. However, I always remember where the characters are placed, so I don't have a problem. o_O
cokbg-san, I don't know if you have this saying in English, but in Swedish it goes something like "Repetition is the mother of knowledge."
:p
いま わたし は にほんご を はなす. すこし. ^^, かんがえる なに を, せんせい?
*Sigh* That is just online translator... Sucks.
Tomoka-sensei, I do not understand Japanese grammar at all. I have a few questions that I'd appreciate if you could answer.
- In what order do you put the words? I have understood from your lessons that you structure like this: watashi wa gakusei desu. But is that only in the case of am/are/is? Or is it like that with all verbs, that you put them in the end of a simple sentence like this?
- Do you have the same verb for all persons?
watashi wa nihon-jin desu = correct.
karera wa nihon-jin desu = correct too?
- Do you have any articles in Japanese, like 'the' or 'a/an'?
- Does male/female and plural things affect Japanese nouns, adjectives or verbs? (Don't really know how to form this question, but Tomoka-sensei, you know maybe how it is in French? They have male/female words, and that changes endings of words, etc.)
I have many questions but this is what came to my mind right now.
ありがとう,
Maraja
cokbg
Tuesday 15th of February 2005 02:31:41 AM
Thank you for the responses. Maraja-san, thank you also for your empathy. It is challenging, learning Japanese considering that I have had a Western language orientation. Actually, Japanese is very much comparable to our native Tagalog. The original Tagalog is syllabary. It is like making a U-Turn in learning.
Regarding the quotation that you mentioned, I think the proverbs I know that is somehow similar to that are "Practice makes perfect" and "Train hard, fight easy". Another is "Repetition is the mother of perfection."
Arigatou!
Maraja
Tuesday 15th of February 2005 03:28:15 AM
cokbg-さん, you're flip? Mahal kita! :p That is how far my tagalog goes, except for some dirty words I don't want to say here. I have a couple of online friends from the Philippines. (:
This was totally off-topic... Hmm hmm hmm.
*Goes to learn next 5 hiragana and waits for Tomoka-せんせい to wake up and post a reply*
By the way cokbg-さん, look what makoto-さん wrote a few posts up in this thread to see how to type in Japanese. I saw you asking about it in another thread. ;)
Now I will post new songs in わたし の うた トピック (watashi no uta topitsiku = my song topic? hehe..). :D
kuzzywuzzy
Tuesday 15th of February 2005 03:29:37 AM
皆さん、
Minna-san,
I am sure Tomoka-sensei will add to this, and correct me if I am wrong, but here are some quick answers from my limited knowledge.
Japanese basic word order is SOV - subject + object + verb. Giving this a default outline like:
X は Y です。
(X = subject, Y = object, desu = verb (to be))
is okay, but it is just a starting point. For instance, using your example, Maraja-san:
私は日本人です。
わたしはにほんじんです。
Watashi wa Nihon-jin desu.
Subject = Watashi = I
Object = Nihon-jin = Japanese (person)
Verb = desu = to be
"wa" or は is the topic particle, and marks the "subject" when referring to SOV, but technically marks the topic of a sentence. "ga" or が is the subject particle and marks the subject. The difference between these is a very advanced subject, so we won't discuss that now.
So we can translate this literally as:
As for myself (subject), Japanese person (object) am (verb).
Or more properly:
I am Japanese.
But once again, this is just a structure to begin with. As you progress, you will become familiar with exceptions and practices such as omitting the subject to make the sentence sound more natural:
日本人です。
にほんじんです。
Nihon-jin desu.
(I) am Japanese.
This sentence is more natural than the previous example. The subject (I) is understood from context, etc.
わたしはすきやきをたべます。 － すきやきをたべます。
Watashi wa sukiyaki wo tabemasu. - Sukiyaki wo tabemasu.
As for myself, I eat sukiyaki. - (I) eat sukiyaki.
I eat sukiyaki.
わたしはすきやきがすきです。 － すきやきがすきです。
Watashi wa sukiyaki ga suki desu. - Sukiyaki ga suki desu.
As for myself, I like sukiyaki. - (I) like sukiyaki.
I like sukiyaki.
わたしはとしょかんへいきます。 － としょかんへいきます。
Watashi wa toshokan e ikimasu. - Toshokan e ikimasu.
As for myself, I go to the library. - (I) go to the library.
I go to the library.
Of course this is all very basic grammar, and we have only mentioned polite, non-past verb forms. Japanese verbs DO NOT indicate number or gender.
I think I'm getting lost, now ;) I hope I've answered some of your questions, and I'm sure Tomoka-san will expand and explain further. Good luck!
kuzzywuzzy
Tuesday 15th of February 2005 03:46:16 AM
Originally posted by Maraja
cokbg-さん, you're flip? Mahal kita! :p That is how far my tagalog goes, except for some dirty words I don't want to say here. I have a couple of online friends from the Philippines. (:
This was totally off-topic... Hmm hmm hmm.
*Goes to learn next 5 hiragana and waits for Tomoka-せんせい to wake up and post a reply*
Nag-aaral ako ng Tagalog. Hindi ako masanay.
I don't know if that's even correct ;)
I wanted to add, Maraja-san, that I also have a very good "image memory", but that can be dangerous if you don't expand out from that. It's very easy for me to memorize the chart and then refer to the sequence, but if you only do that, it will be hard to utilize the knowledge. Make sure you also read hiragana and write the characters out of order to reinforce the knowledge outside the bounds of the chart :D
tomoka
Tuesday 15th of February 2005 07:58:19 AM
konnichiwa mina-san!
It seems like you all help each other! Great!
well, kuzzywuzzy-san explained very well about Japanese grammar, I have few things to add :D
watashi wa nihon-jin desu = correct.
karera wa nihon-jin desu = correct, too
male/female or singular/plural doesn't effect on verbs, nouns or adjectives.
It's the good point of Japanese language ;)
- Do you have any articles in Japanese, like 'the' or 'a/an'?
when we want to /specify/ about it, we say 'sono'(the) or
'hitotsu'(a/an), but normally, we don't mention it.
for example:
when you'd like to buy a car, you must know which car you want, like the color, type, price...
SONO kuruma wo kudassai.
(I want to buy THE car./I want to buy that car.)
but if you want to buy meat or vegetables, you might
think whichever it is,
gyuu-niku wo kudasai.
(I'd like to buy beef.)
ringo wo kudasai.
(I'd like to buy (an) apple.)
If you have any further questions, please post ;)
tomoka
soldado_del_rey
Tuesday 15th of February 2005 03:07:45 PM
こんばんは、ともかさん。
このレッスンは有用です。ありがとうございます。
私はベヌです、私たちがチャットルームに話しました。
音はとても有用です、日本語の発音が時々難しいです。
チャットルームに再々来りますか?
あなたをどこに此の所見ませんでした。
I hope that's at least understandable, I often struggle to figure out how to phrase things, especially if the sentence I want to say is complicated.
cokbg
Wednesday 16th of February 2005 03:46:45 AM
Konnichiwa Minna-san,
I read the message about the gender and number of the Subject of a sentence not affecting the verb. Whew! That's a great relief. It's one of the troubles I've had with Spanish - conjugation.
Maraja-san, yes, I am a Filipino.
Is there a forum here that discusses Japanese culture, politics... nation? Would like to learn more about Japan. It would help me learn more about the language. Of course, I could always ask Mr. Google, but I am thinking that a real person could provide a been-there-still-there-I'm-human information about the culture.
I'll read in the thread of this forum about my question, but just in case there is none, I would like to know if there are equivalent tenses in Japanese for like Present Perfect, past Perfect, and other tenses? I only have read of past tense and negation regarding sentence structure.
I love this place (how do you translate that to Japanese? in Romaji please.)
kuzzywuzzy
Wednesday 16th of February 2005 06:10:36 AM
cokbgさん、
Very close! It is ありがとうございます, or arigatou gozaimasu. (gOzaimasu rather than gAzaimasu.) And yes, it can be translated as "thank you very much".
There is a forum that is meant to discuss Japanese culture, politics, etc. but I am sad to say it receives little or no traffic. Your best bet would be to start a topic in this forum and I'm sure Tomoka-san would answer, as well as anyone else who could provide insight. The other forum can be found here:
http://www.phrasebase.com/forum/board.php?FID=123
Regarding tense, there are two basic tenses in Japanese: past and non-past. The non-past tense is used to express present, habitual and future actions. There is a te + iru form that can be used to express mostly present/past continuous, but many other "tenses" as well depending on words, context, etc. But on a basic level, there is past and non-past.
この所が大好きですよ！
このところがだいすきですよ！
Kono tokoro ga daisuki desu yo!
I love this place!
私も！
わたひも！
Watashi mo!
Me too! :D
Aogin
Wednesday 16th of February 2005 09:05:34 AM
how do you you say please speak slowly I am unable to understand if you talk too fast in Japanese?
Thank is advance
Ja
Aogin
Wednesday 16th of February 2005 09:07:47 AM
My apologies, my typing is terrible. Thanks in advance is what I meant to say.
mata ne
tomoka
Wednesday 16th of February 2005 09:44:48 AM
konnichiwa mina-san!
Hi Ben!
フォーラムにきてくれてうれしいです！
(I'm glad you visit this forum!)
この前はチャットルームで話して楽しかったね！
(It was nice talking to you on the chat room :))
残念ながら、最近忙しくて、チャットルームに行く機会がありませんでした。
(I've been busy these days and I didn't have a chance to
go there...too bad...)
またいつかお話しましょう！
(Talk to you someday again!)
cokbg-san, this website will help you:
http://japanese.about.com/blgrammar.htm
As I rather teach Japanese conversation, it's easy and clear for you to go there
to learn grammar I think :)
There are lots of things to learn. ganbatte kudasai!
kuzzuwuzzy-san,
I love this place = koko ga suki desu
we omit 'basho'(place) in this case, instead of it,
we say koko(here), this is a natural Japanese :)
youkoso, aogin-san,
(welcome aogin)
please speak slowly
= motto yukkuri hanashite kudasai
もっとゆっくりはなしてください
As I start learning English, I thought I need this word,
but I didn't say it much, I rather said,
Could you repeat it again? / Pardon?
mou ichido itte morae masu ka?
もういちど言ってもらえますか？
when I asked it, everyone repeated it slowly again and
I didn't have to say yukkuri(slowly) :D
tomoka
Aogin
Wednesday 16th of February 2005 10:04:39 AM
what is the literal english translation of hanashite?
Aogin
Wednesday 16th of February 2005 10:08:31 AM
Originally posted by kuzzywuzzy
Originally posted by Maraja
cokbg-さん, you're flip? Mahal kita! :p That is how far my tagalog goes, except for some dirty words I don't want to say here. I have a couple of online friends from the Philippines. (:
This was totally off-topic... Hmm hmm hmm.
*Goes to learn next 5 hiragana and waits for Tomoka-せんせい to wake up and post a reply*
Nag-aaral ako ng Tagalog. Hindi ako masanay.
I don't know if that's even correct ;)
I wanted to add, Maraja-san, that I also have a very good "image memory", but that can be dangerous if you don't expand out from that. It's very easy for me to memorize the chart and then refer to the sequence, but if you only do that, it will be hard to utilize the knowledge. Make sure you also read hiragana and write the characters out of order to reinforce the knowledge outside the bounds of the chart :D
If you would like I could teach some tagalog words. I know some words that I'm sure most of filipinos don't use because their too archaic. In turn I wanna speak nihonggo.So I can sing along while watching Love Hina.
kuzzywuzzy
Wednesday 16th of February 2005 10:54:55 AM
今日は、皆さん！
Konnichiwa, minna-san!
ありがとうございます、Tomokaさん！
Arigatou gozaimasu, Tomoka-san!
Thank you for correcting me! Would it also be natural to use:
こちらが好きです。
Kochira ga suki desu.
I believe I remember learning that kochira/sochira/asochira/dochira can be used as a more polite replacement for koko/soko/asoko/doko, but I may be mistaken.
Also, I seem to remember learning:
もう一度ゆっくりお願いします。
Mou ichido yukkuri onegaishimasu.
Please repeat slowly.
Is this correct, Tomoka-san?
Aoginさん、
ようこそ！
Youkoso!
Welcome!
話してください
Hanashite kudasai
Please speak...
"Hanasu" is the verb "to speak". The -te + kudasai form of a verb is used to make a polite request. For example:
食べる - taberu - to eat
食べてください - tabete kudasai - please eat
読む - yomu - to read
読んでください - yonde kudasai - please read
Don't worry about forming the -te form of verbs too early in the learning process, but it doesn't hurt to understand one of its purposes.
Also, I appreciate your offer. I am indeed interested in archaic Tagalog as well as contemporary or conversational, as I think that gives you a deeper understanding of a language. I can't promise you anything since I consider myself a beginner in Japanese, but I will help you as much as I can :D
Please feel free to drop by the Tagalog forum here:
http://www.phrasebase.com/forum/board.php?FID=82
And feel free to PM me any time. :D
Aogin
Wednesday 16th of February 2005 12:59:21 PM
Thanks you-Domoo Arigatoo-Maraming Salamat.
Nice to meet you-Hajimemashita(it is nice to meet you for the firts time)-Nagagalak akong makilala kita(formal tagalog)or just say "kamusta" when you meet someone for the first time. Similar to "como estas" in Spanish.
Hope to see you again/til we meet again- Ja ne mata ne (I know it's not formal Japanese) I guess this means bye see you tomorrow-"Paalam"/"Sa susunod nating pagkikita" (formal tagalog) "Sige kita tayo bukas" (see you tomorrow)
Aogin
Wednesday 16th of February 2005 01:00:10 PM
Thanks you-Domoo Arigatoo-Maraming Salamat.
Nice to meet you-Hajimemashita(it is nice to meet you for the first time)-Nagagalak akong makilala kita(formal tagalog)or just say "kamusta" when you meet someone for the first time. Similar to "como estas" in Spanish.
Hope to see you again/til we meet again- Ja ne mata ne (I know it's not formal Japanese) I guess this means bye see you tomorrow-"Paalam"/"Sa susunod nating pagkikita" (formal tagalog) "Sige, kita tayo bukas" (see you tomorrow)
kuzzywuzzy
Wednesday 16th of February 2005 01:30:23 PM
Aoginさん、
I appreciate you sharing, but let's try not to take over the thread since it is about Japanese ;)
Just to get back on topic, I'll point out a few errors in your Japanese. If you're serious about learning the language, you should try to begin memorizing hiragana as soon as possible. It will make avoiding errors like these much easier.
You wrote: domoo arigatoo
どうもありがとう
Doumo arigatou is the correct way. Depending on the method of romanization, you might see doomo arigatoo, but domoo is incorrect.
You wrote: hajimemashita
はじめまして
Hajimemashite is the correct way. This is an idiomatice expression used when first meeting someone. "Hajimemashita" would be the polite, past form of the verb "hajimeru" (to begin).
But you're doing well, you were very close on these points. Once again, thanks for sharing, and keep up the studying! :D
Andhera
Wednesday 16th of February 2005 07:58:09 PM
Ohayou minna-san,
Gomen ne, for being away for so long. I had to wrinkle out exams and other stuff which kept me away from the computer for a while.
I'm still catching up on all the stuff that happened when I was away. So, many new lessons ^^ I don't really have questions for this post; it's just an I'm not dead yet declaration ^^;
Hi to all the new people I have yet to me. Yoroshiku.
Sore ja.
tomoka
Wednesday 16th of February 2005 08:02:58 PM
okaerinasai, andhera-san! :)
(welcome back, andhera!)
Kuzzywuzzy-san,
こちらが好きです。
Kochira ga suki desu.
hai, sou desu!(yes, exactly!)
kochira/sochira/asochira/dochira can be used as a more polite replacement
for koko/soko/asoko/doko, but I may be mistaken.
Very good! but there is an error,
achira is right, not 'asochira' ;)
cokbg
Wednesday 16th of February 2005 10:44:51 PM
Konnichiwa, minna-san,
Wow, I've just been gone for less than 16 hours, and there were a lot of additions to the thread already. I have to keep up with the lessons here. Thanks for the people who ask and those who answer (of course!).
I have listed some questions I have considered on my way to work. I hope anyone could answer them:
* How do you say the following to Japanese:
I have only started studying Japanese.
You are my friend.
For the second sentence, is "Anata wa watashi no tomodachi desu" correct?
General questions about Japanese language:
How are adjectives placed within a declarative sentence? In a question?
Is it acceptable in "Romajization" (translating to Romaji, is this correct?) a particle (I've learned of this term from a friend here at work who helps me learn Japanese) to be attached to the preceding content word? For example, "Watashi wa" or "Watashiwa"?
I also understand that in original Japanese writing, characters are written from top to bottom. How are spaces managed? Or how are spaces placed?
Tomoka-sensei, thank you for the website. I'll go there just about now.
Kuzzywuzzy-san, thanks for the answers regarding tenses. Another concern about languages for me, whew! (Like I would stop studying Japanese if it were... No way!)
Aogin-san, salamat sa pagtatanong mo ng bagay na dapat ay inuna kong alamin! (Thanks for asking the question I should have thought of in the first place!)
Minna-san, goshinsetsu ni arigatou!
cokbg
Wednesday 16th of February 2005 10:51:25 PM
Sumimasen deshita, minna-san. I forgot to ask this. Is there a forum where there is a test, and participants would answer (of course), and real people give corrections to the answers? I was thinking of searching for a website, but I figured that real people answering would give me the proper response, and point out intricacies of language which cannot be detected by computer.
Domou arigatou!
kuzzywuzzy
Thursday 17th of February 2005 04:00:38 AM
Andheraさん、
はじめまして！(Nice to meet you!) Welcome back... I hope you did well on all of your exams. どうぞよろしく。がんばりましょう！(Please regard me kindly. Let's do our best!)
Tomokaさん、
すみません！ I definitely must study harder and brush up on my basics! Thank you once again for correcting my mistake! ありがとうございます！
cokbgさん、
"I have only started studying Japanese." I will let Tomokaさん answer that one. "Anata wa watashi no tomodachi desu" is indeed correct!
As for adjectives, it depends on their usage and what type of adjective it is. If an adjective is used preceding a noun (describing that noun), then you need to know whether it is an i-adjective or a na-adjective. This isn't really a beginner subject, but as a basic reference: i-adjectives stay the same and just precede the noun, na-adjectives (depending on the adjective) are proceded by "na" and then the noun.
やさしい - yasashii - kind
やさしいおとこ - yasashii otoko - kind man
へん - hen - strange
へんなひと - hen na hito - strange person
When the adjective is alone in the object position (SOV), it can function in its normal form (on a basic level).
あなたはやさしいです。
Anata wa yasashii desu.
You are kind.
あのひとはへんです。
Ano hito wa hen desu.
That person is strange.
Romaji - the romanization of the Japanese written language. What is acceptable and not acceptable in romanization of Japanese depends on the method that you use. That's why it's best to avoid romanization. In general, though, particles are usually seperated.
As for a website with testing and correcting, I don't know of one. Maybe we can do something of the sort here. It would of course need to be material that has been covered, though, so I'm not sure how that would work. I'll think about it and maybe I can figure something out ;)
Anonymous
Thursday 17th of February 2005 06:52:48 AM
thanks :): its so interesting to learn another language, and you make it easy to learn, im just a beginner, and im hooked, keep it up....:)
raxid2
Thursday 17th of February 2005 11:04:34 PM
Thanks: Thank you so much for the good piece of work you have done for people like me who wish to learn Japanese in a very short period of time.
tomoka
Friday 18th of February 2005 10:15:32 AM
konnichiwa mina-san,(Hello everyone)
youkoso(Welcome), raxid2-san, scorpiogrrl-san,
kuzzywuzzy-san,
Thank you for the hard work here! :D
You're a very good advisor to everyone!
I think your explanation is better than mine :) sugoi desu!(excellent!!!)
I have only started studying Japanese
>> watashi ha nihongo no benkyou wo hajimeta bakari desu
私（わたし）は日本語（にほんご）の勉強（べんきょう）を始（はじ）めたばかりです。
'just started' or 'only started' is "hajimeta bakari" in Japanese.
originally, 'only' is translated like だけ'dake' though...
for example:
I 'only' know some words.
(watashi wa ikutsuka no kotoba wo shitteiru 'dake' desu.)
It's only you.
(anata 'dake' desu.)
それでは、また :)
(talk to you later)
tomoka
makoto
Friday 18th of February 2005 06:27:54 PM
Konnichiwa minna-san!!
Congratulations Tomoka san. Your lessons are succesfull, just have to see how many views your thread had. They are useful not only for begginers, but everybody who is learning Japanese language.
Kuzzywuzzy-san, thank you for your explanations. Tomoka san is right. I think you always give the best advices for learning japanese. And your explanations are clear. I'm improving my English reading your explanations. Thank you very much.
I think some points of view are very useful ( explanations from native japanese and non native japanese).
Well, by now, no questions, just wanted to say thanks.
dewa mata,
Makoto
Aogin
Saturday 19th of February 2005 07:43:18 AM
Knonninchiwa minna san.
I have another questiion why does the Japanese langugae have two different words which describes exactly the same thing? I forgot some examples as I don't have my book with me (I believe that's, Watashiwa no hon desu. This is My book.) To cite some examples.
Aogin
Saturday 19th of February 2005 07:44:11 AM
Gomenasai, my typing is really bad.
Konninchiwa minna san.
I have another questiion why does the Japanese langugae have two different words which describes exactly the same thing? I forgot some examples as I don't have my book with me (I believe that's, Watashiwa no hon desu. This is My book.) To cite some examples.
kuzzywuzzy
Saturday 19th of February 2005 08:56:21 AM
TomokaさんとMakotoさん、
どうもありがとうございます！ I appreciate the kind words, but it's really nothing! I'm just resourceful ;)
The people to truly thank are Tomoka先生 and all of those who contribute and spur the discussions on! :D
皆さん、ありがとうございました！
Aoginさん、
The truth is, languages don't have words that mean the same thing. Whether it is because of the evolution of a language, a nuance that cannot be properly translated, words specific to time periods, etc., words are coined for a reason. If it seems that a word is the same as another, it is most likely because it is not easy to express that word in the language you are studying it in.
If you could provide examples, then perhaps we could give a better explanation regarding that word, but it's something that would need to be done on a case by case basis, most likely. So let us know if you come across any! ;)
Psy
Saturday 19th of February 2005 09:04:57 AM
Beat me to the submit button, kuzzywuzzy! Indeed, there are synonyms dinner, supper, yorugohan, yuushoku but as kuzzywuzzy wrote, indeed every word has it's own nuance and etymology. However, I see no such instance in "this is my book," korewa watashi no hon desu. Unless you're refering to pronouns, which hold their own grammatical purposes, I cannot help you.
tomoka
Saturday 19th of February 2005 09:23:27 AM
Konnichiwa minasan,
makoto-san, itsumo yasashii kotoba wo arigatou!
saikin nihongo no benkyou wa dou desu ka?
(Thank you for the nice words! How's your Japanese study lately?) :)
Aogin-san,
As kuzzywuzzy-san and Psy-san mentioned, we need examples
what you want to know.
tomoka :)
RedSamurai
Tuesday 22nd of February 2005 05:09:57 AM
Arigatou gozaimasu: Ohayou minna san!
I'm new here, and i just wanted to thank you for your efforts! I've been auto-learning Japanese for like 6 months through internet free lessons, but it's hard to get better since each site uses its own teaching method.
I learned the Hiragana "writing and pronouncing", and learned some basics on grammar "ichidan & godan verbs..."
Anyway, I hope I can improve my Japanese with you and exchange cultures.
Once again thanks very much !
cokbg
Tuesday 22nd of February 2005 07:00:07 AM
Konnichiwa minna-san!
I bought a Japanese comic book (manga, as I understand), to help me in learning (actually, I consider it a goal. If I get to read it and understand it, I believe I would be able to communicate better). How do you distinguish space between words, considering that the writing is from top to bottom?
Is the dash () also vertical instead of horizontal?
kuzzywuzzy
Tuesday 22nd of February 2005 08:33:24 AM
Cokbg-san,
That's a good goal with a nice reward :D
In Japanese text, there aren't really spaces between the words, so it's just a matter of being familiar with the language. Different types of words have different types of endings, whether the word is Hiragana/Katakana/Kanji or a combination, etc. These types of things will help you recognize the individual words. It's the same with left to right text, actually.
As for the dash, it depends on which one. The vowel lengthening dash from Katakana （コーヒー） will usually be written vertical, I believe. A hyphen will most likely be written vertical, as well. There is also a Kanji （一月）that looks similar, but will be written horizontal (because that's the stroke). Tomoka-san can confirm/correct and expand on this.
Good luck! :D
tomoka
Tuesday 22nd of February 2005 11:37:07 AM
youkoso(welcome), RedSamurai-san :)
please have fun here ;)
hai(yes), kuzzywuzzy-san is correct.
This is a normal form in japanese writing:
あなたの説明は正しいです。
(your explanation is correct.)
With a combination of Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana,
we easily recognize which is the subject or object or else..
あなたのせつめいはただしいです。
This is not east to understand soon even for Japanese.
If I cut the sentence a word by a word:
あなた の せつめい は ただしい です。
あなた = you
あなたの = your
せつめい = explanation
せつめいは = explanation is
ただしい = correct
ただしいです = (is) correct
I think you have to expand your vocabulary or
to learn easy Kanji as soon as possible to read correctly.
The sounds with long vowels are represented by a horizontal stroke in Katakana:
コーヒー koohii coffee
ビール biiru beer
スーパー suupaa super
一 = one in kanji
ー = dash
yes, these are very similar :D
RedSamurai
Tuesday 22nd of February 2005 06:05:11 PM
cokbg-san, I too think reading mangas can help a lot developping one's skills!
Still, I have a question about kanji: As far as I know, kanji are Chinese characters that express an idea and have most likely two differnt readings. So, will a Chinese (chugokujin) read the kanji (on a mangas for example) the same way a Japanese (nihonjin) will?
tomoka
Tuesday 22nd of February 2005 08:08:42 PM
RedSamurai-san,
There is a difference between Japanese and Chinese
when we pronounce kanji.
We have two ways to pronounce Kanji in Japan:
音読み(on-yomi)
the Chinese reading of a character
訓読み(kun-yomi)
the Japanese reading of a Chinese character.
for example:
The Kanji 山 can pronounce 'san' in on-yomi and also
'yama' in kun-yomi.
山本 is a common family name in Japan,
it's pronounced やまもと, this is kun-reading, not
'san hon'(it's on-yomi).
(There are lots of rules which should we pronounce, on-yomi or kun-yomi...)
"bitter" can pronounce 苦い(nigai) in japanese.
苦 can also pronounce 'ku'.
In Chinese, bitter is 苦的（ku de）
in this case, I'm sure we can understand it.
Actually we can read some of Kanji each other
and some people can guess what they write
but I think it's hardly to say we can understand well.
makoto
Thursday 24th of February 2005 04:31:48 AM
konnichiwa mina san!!
Tomoka san, I have some problems to open lessons files. I don't know if I'm the only one who can't see your lessons or somebody else have the same problem.
I wish to read your updating lessons. Thanks.
kiwo tsukete, dewa mata
Makoto
tomoka
Thursday 24th of February 2005 09:16:12 AM
konnichiwa makoto-san,
I checked the lessons on another computer but
it seems like it has no problem...
could anyone let me know whether you can open and read
the lessons which I updated the other day or not?
Thanks,
tomoka
kuzzywuzzy
Thursday 24th of February 2005 12:18:16 PM
Tomoka-san,
They seem to open fine for me as well. Perhaps it was just that day or something. Maybe they will work fine for Makoto-san now :D
makoto
Thursday 24th of February 2005 05:55:37 PM
Ohayoo minasan!
Kuzzy-san, Tomoka-san, thank you. Today seems, there's no problem to open and read the lessons.
Thank you. I'll practice the update files.
dewa mata,
makoto
tomoka
Thursday 24th of February 2005 08:17:40 PM
Konnichiwa kuzzywuzzy-san, makoto-san,
Thank you for the reply.
anshin shimashita!(I'm relieved to hear that)
doumo arigatou!
tomoka
Maraja
Thursday 24th of February 2005 10:06:59 PM
Konnichiwa minna-san.
I've been slacking lately.. Well. I have been too stressed. So I have not studied any Japanese lately, and forgot the Hiragana I had learnt. )=
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/Marajaja/Emoticons/c9a645dd.gif[/img]
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/Marajaja/Emoticons/3044317d.gif[/IMG] tomoka-sensei, konban hima?
(Just kidding, sumimasen.)
I love the new lesson about being in love! But I totally misunderstand something. You have put blue and pink for men/women. But if it says there in blue, does it mean I should say it to a man, or a man should say it? *Confused*
Kuzzy-さんさびしいよ.
tomoka
Friday 25th of February 2005 08:12:51 AM
こんにちわmarajaさん
gomen nasai!(I'm sorry)
men should say in the blue and women should say in the pink in the lesson(when you fall in love).
for example:
I like you
men: kimi ga suki da
women: anata ga suki (nano)
in the casual situation,
men say '-da', '-da na', '-da ne', '-da yo', '-yo'...
women say '-ne', '-da ne', '-da yo', '-yo', '-yo ne'...
1.
men: kimi wa suteki da ne!(you're cool!)
women: sonna koto nai yo...(well, I don't think so...)
1.
women: anatatte suteki ne.(you're cool!)
men: sonna koto nai yo...(well, I don't think so...)
2.
men: nidoto gomen da!(never again)
women: doushite yo?(why not?)
2.
women: nidoto gomen yo!(never again)
men: doushite da yo?(why not?)
I think you would often learn 'da' is the normal form
and 'desu' is the polite form in Japanese while you
teach japanese by yourself.
However, 'da' sounds a bit rough when women say it,
so if you're a woman, you'd better say 'da ne', 'da yo' or
'-ne'. These '-ne', '-yo' and else express agreement, emphasis, doubt, hesitation,
or the other feelings, but it depends on the conversation.
Some of them are common and some of them are used
by only men or women.
The obvious thing is, when women talk, they never use 'da' at the end of the sentence.
maraja-san,
konban wa isogashii desu :D (I'll be busy tonight.)
paatii ni ikimasu node...(because I'll go to a party)
muri wo shinai de ne!(take it easy~)
tomoka ;)
utsumi
Friday 25th of February 2005 06:55:34 PM
different way to use "tsuite": Konnichiwa minna san
o genki desuka ?
I would like to know if the word " tsuite " has different sens because i have a doubt.
would it be right if i say :
kono hon ni tsuite jibun no atarashii hon wo kakemashita
it is about this book that i wrote my new book.
Is this word can be use in different way ?
I would like to know too if i wanna say for example :
I like this book so much.
I have to use in japanese to translet "so much" , the word "konna ni , sonna ni.." and where do i have to place it in the sentence?
I read some sentences with the word " noka " but i didn't really understand how to use it because there were different sentence with this use and it didn't work for me. -_-
how and when would i have to use this word ?
Is " nara " the same as "naraba" ?
Thank you for reading my message :)
Mata ne
Anna
Maraja
Saturday 26th of February 2005 03:12:43 AM
konnichiwa Anna-san! :)
arigatou tomoka-sensei. (: That is good explanation, I will try to remember.
tanoshii toki wo sugoshi ta ka?
Is that correct to ask "Did you have fun?" at the party? :D
I am not so good at learning languages, because I am not bothered to learn the basics. I should. :P muzukashii..
Maria
chad72
Saturday 26th of February 2005 09:02:59 AM
KONICHIWA! i am chado-san: こにちわわたしのなめあわちゃどです。 はじましてどぞよろしく。あまりはなせません、すこしだけはなせます。hi tomoka im really happy cause i finally could learn more japanese on RB but i was learning japanese since i was in grade 4 and i wanna be a exchange student when im 15 years old and go to high school in Kyooto or Tokyo. i am really good but i dont know evrything but i know lots, i take japanese lessons on online and books. i am in grade 7 and im 12 yaers old well i will take your japanese games and other stuff. 度持 蟻駕戸 ごずぃ間死手
tomoka
Saturday 26th of February 2005 08:13:07 PM
konnichiwa mina-san!
anna-san,
kono hon ni tsuite jibun no atarashii hon wo kakimashita
it is about this book that i wrote my new book.
This is correct :)
I want to know about you.
(anata ni tsuite shiri tai desu.)
like this, about = '(~ni) tsuite'.
however, if it's "tsuite iku/kuru", it means follow:
Please follow me.
(douzo tsuite kite kudasai.)
I like this book so much.
(watashi wa kono hon ga totemo suki desu.)
I don't like this book much.
(watashi wa kono hon ga amari suki dewa arimasen.)
I can say you should totemo or amari before verb.
...in an affirmative sentence, much = totemo,
but in a negative sentence, much = amari (~nai)
about 'noka',
ii noka douka wakaranai.
(I'm not sure this is good or not.)
noka(= ka) indicates 'or (not)'
nara = naraba = if :)
Maraja-san,
hai, tanoshii toki wo sugoshi mashita :D
(Yes, I had a good time.)
It was correct but it sounds a bit rough
because you asked 'shita ka?', the polite way
is 'shimashita ka?' or the casual way is 'shita?'
Polite way:
tanoshii toki wo sugoshi mashita ka?
"Did you have fun?" at the party?
Casual way:
tanoshii toki wo "sugoshi ta"? or "tanoshi katta"? ;)
chad72-san,
こんにちわ。
I could understand what you tried to say >> 度持 蟻駕戸 ごずぃ間死手 :D
you tried to type "doumo arigatou gozaimashita" in Kanji, right? ;)
we normally say it in Hiragana so you could say,
どうもありがとうございました
(when you write them in Kanji like that, it makes no sense)
どういたしまして dou itashi mashite
(my pleasure/ you're welcome)
tomoka :)
utsumi
Saturday 26th of February 2005 10:12:21 PM
Konnichiwa minna san :)
Arigatou gozaimasu Tomoka san.
I tried to make a new sentence with "noka (or) and tsuite about)and nara (if)" and i would like to know if it 's right :
Watashi no bun wa ii noka warui desu , watashi wa kore ni tsuite shiritakatta desu.
I wanted to know if my sentence was right or wrong.
mosi anata wa atashi to isshoni eiga ni ikitai nara , hayaku junbi shite kudasai.
If you wanna go to the cinema with me , prepare for going there quickly.
....
" ... ni" or "no tame ni" (for..)
we use "...ni" when we wanna someone to do something or we wanna do something to someone.
I would like you to come with me in the garden because i would like to show you something.
Anata ni nani ga misetai kara , watashi to isshoni niwa e ikitai desu.
I would like to know when i would have to use "tame ni" in the sentences. I made a sentence to show you how i use it :
Kono puresento wa teburu no ue ni wa anata no tame ni wo agemasu.
This present on the table is for you.
use of "konna ni .. sonna ni"
Watashi wa konna ni hon ga suki de wakaranaiyo...
I don't know why i love this book so much...
Do we have to replace "kono"(this) by "konna ni.." to emphazise the sense of the sentence ?
watashi wa sonna ni otoko no ko ga suki dayo
I love this men so much.
Tomoka san , i would like to know if you find that I would speak enough correctly in japanese if i go to Japan in a family . lol :$
Thank you for reading my message.
watashi no messeji o yonda kurete arigatou
Anna
cokbg
Saturday 26th of February 2005 10:26:48 PM
Konnichiwa, minna-san!
Can anyone please translate this passage for me?
Gashi!
watashi gozen "name of person", naraba tamae nanitozo, watashi nodoka , seppun temae (K)
I could only translate that "watashi," but the "gozen" particle or word I could not find. I do not have a dictionary yet - I could not find a dictionary which has Hiragana or Katakana characters, Romaji and English. I'll look for online dictionaries.
Please?
RedSamurai
Monday 28th of February 2005 05:46:27 AM
Konnichiwa minna-san!
Thank you Tomoka-san for your explanations! It was really helpful :)
As for Cokbg-san, if you're looking for a good japanese english dictionary here's a place where you can get JDIC ,one of the best bidirectional dictionaries in my opinion :
* To get The JDIC: http://mirrors.nihongo.org/monash/jdic26.zip
* To get the EDICT (used by JDIC): http://ftp.monash.edu.au/pub/nihongo/edict.zip
* To get KIJIS16.FNT (Used by JDIC, found in winjdic.lzh): http://mirrors.nihongo.org/monash/winjdic.lzh
I hope this will help you in your Japanese studies ;)
One last question: Do you think that the best way to improve my spoken Japanese is to get a homestay with a Japanese family ?
cokbg
Monday 28th of February 2005 07:59:43 AM
Konnichiwa!
Arigatou gozaimasu, RedSamurai-san. It was really helpful of you.
Regarding your question about improving Japanese is to staying with a Japanese family - well, it is the best, for me. You get to "practice" or rather apply what you want to learn - you may have heard of "What I hear, I forget. What I do, I remember"?
I have a question about "spelling". In a single word, is it possible that that one word would have characters from not just one system? I mean, are words which are "spelled" using not just Hiragana, but combined maybe with Katakana or Kanji? I understand that that is possible within a sentence, but within a word?
Also, a lot of people here are expressing closing remarks which I do not understand. I'll read them, but could you please give me a more or less identifiable list of closing remarks, with their meaning?
Thanks again!
tomoka
Tuesday 01st of March 2005 09:49:50 AM
konnichiwa minasan :)
ni san nichi onsen ni itte imashita.
(I went on a trip to hot springs for a few days.)
takusan shitsumon ga arimasu ne! :D
(There are many questions.)
okay, at first Anna-san's question:
1. I wanted to know if my sentence was right or wrong.
(anna-san's Japanese sentence)
Watashi no bun wa ii noka warui desu, watashi wa kore ni tsuite shiritakatta desu.
(the correct answer) >>>
watashi no bun ga ii noka warui noka shiritakatta desu.
Watashi no bun ga = subject
ii noka warui noka (wo) = object
shiritakatta = verb
2. mosi anata wa atashi to isshoni eiga ni ikitai nara , hayaku junbi shite kudasai. >> This is perfect! well done! ;)
(If you wanna go to the cinema with me , prepare for going there quickly.)
3. I would like you to come with me in the garden because i would like to show you something.
(misetai mono ga aru node, issho ni kite hoshii no desu.)
we normally don't say 'nanika'(something) clearly, the phrase 'mono/koto ga aru' is a common way.
I'd like to show you something = mise tai mono ga aru
I'd like to give you something = age tai mono ga aru
I have something to ask you = tanomi tai koto ga aru
I'd like to say something = ii tai koto ga aru
mono = things that you can touch or see
koto = things that you can't touch or see like feelings
4. This present on the table is for you.
>>> teeburu ni aru kono purezento wa anata ni desu.
This is for you = kore wa anata ni (desu)
...in this case, you don't have to say 'tameni', just saying 'ni' is fine.
5. I don't know why i love this book so much.
>> doushite konna ni kono hon ga suki nano ka wakari masen.
in this case, so much = konnani.
6. I love this men so much.
(anna-san's sentence)
watashi wa sonna ni otoko no ko ga suki dayo.
...this sounds you like /every/ boys, not a special one.
(the correct answer is)
watashi wa kono hito ga sugoku suki nano.
men = dansei, but we often say just 'hito'
the word 'dayo' isn't bad while you talk to someone,
i mean depends on the conversation, but the ending 'nano'
sounds lovely for young women than 'dayo'.
*attention* men never say 'nano'
anna-san, I think you can communicate with them when you live with a Japanese family. The one thing I advise you is
to learn lots of short sentences. If you learn the structure of a short sentence with a grammar, you can improve your Japanese very well. ganbatte kudasai ;)
cokbg-san,
It seems like the Japanese sentence doesn't make sense.
I think it's an old japanese way of saying by using samurai(in anime or manga, they speak like that), but I'm not sure what it means...
RedSamurai-san,
To get a homestay with a Japanese family is the best way
I think :) To live in Japan would be great but if you don't have japanese friends, you'll feel lonely and get sick and tired of staying in Japan.
I recommend a chat with Japanese, especially a voice chat.
You may find some good pals and even visit them after a while you talk online.
tomoka :)
manekiedo
Tuesday 01st of March 2005 08:34:36 PM
??: cokdg,I knew someone whose brother did the same thing & it is the best way to learn.Is it a family of a friend or is thier a program that families join to have a foriegn visitor.Do you have to be in school?How can I participate?Where can I find or contact families who would like to have a overseas visitor?
tomoka
Wednesday 02nd of March 2005 02:14:26 PM
Konnichiwa manekiedo-san,
You can serch on internet about homestay programs to Japan,
for example:
http://gojapan.about.com/cs/traveltools/a/homestay.htm
It takes some costs and the cost depends on the agents.
The best way is to ask to public organizations in your city I think...
I'm sure there are bad private agents, so
public is better I guess.
some schools have exchange programs and
it's absolutely safe but if you're not a student at the
school, you can't join it.
Some of my foreign friends met japanese online and after
a while they became friends. Some of them visit Japan
and they could stay at their online friend's house.
This is a very good example but things always can't be so great...
kou un wo!(Good luck!)
RedSamurai
Wednesday 02nd of March 2005 07:03:57 PM
おはよう ございます そして どうも ありがとう みんなさん!
( Good morning and thank you everybody! )
ようこす マネキエド-さあん
( Welcome manekiedo-san)
tomoka-sensei, cokbg-san
I read a lot about the homestays in Japan, and it's (as you said) the best way to develop ones communication skills. However i read also about a lot of problems that could happen within the homestay: some talk about some kinds of misunderstandings, here's the link :
http://athome.nime.ac.jp/
ヱブサイツ みて ください.
(Please take a look on the website.)
I hope it's correct :D
I found it extremely interesting!! So i wanted to ask you tomoka-san if this is how you (as a Japanese) would react in that same situation.
However, I think Peter is a bit wrong because he should be a little more respectful (even not told to) towards the Sasaki's...Don't you think so?
じぁあ... おなか が すきました!
( Well...I'm hungry ;) )
でわ また こんご
( See ya later )
tomoka
Thursday 03rd of March 2005 08:42:49 AM
こんにちわ、レッドサムライさん
It was a really interesting website! Thank you very much to post the link, RedSamurai-san! :)
I recommend reading the website to understand our different way of thinking. This is a common, good sample of a homestay.
As I had lived in a foreign country, I wouldn't act like the host family. I can understand the gap between us.
However, they're quite normal because they're not used to having a homestay program.
Most of Japanese who is willing to have a foreign guest at their house are kind and friendly, but to be honest, we're not flexible at the bottom of our heart. We don't normally say 'NO' clearly for the others. Even if we say 'okay', we would think like "it's not okay, you'll notice it by yourself because it's a common sense."
It's the Honne(the truth) and Tatemae(what we say) of Japanese.
We often say the word "atarimae", it means "natural, common, normal, of course...". When we think it's "atarimae", we don't say it. There are some cases like "atarimae" for Japanese on the tutorial, so the host family didn't tell them to Peter. It's the fault of the host family. On the other hand, Peter should help the host family something if he appreciate their kindness.
The common sense depends on the country. I think we have to talk a lot to understand each other.
Thank you for the great topic ;)
I mentioned about the difference of "mina san" and "minna san" before though, I explain about it again.
in this case, "mina san" みなさん is correct.
"minna" is used in a casual situation, so when you add "-san"('-san' is a polite way to call someone), you have to say
"mina san", not "minna san".
correction:
ようこそ = welcome
さん = san (sa = さ / n = ん）
ウェブサイト = website
ではまた = See ya later
いいリンクをありがとうございました。
(Thank you for the good link.)
tomoka
bitt
Thursday 03rd of March 2005 11:13:02 PM
Yâ ^^: hi!!
watashi wa mai-asa roku-ji-han ni okimasu sore kara (ore) ko-hi o dorinku (desu). hachi-ji goro asa-gohan o tabemasu.
I try to write 10 parts of my day to check how much i know japanese alredy and to improve it.
Can you tell did i spell that right?
and by the way, is greeting "y" right or is it writed differently?
ps. your exercises were a lot of help arigatou gozaimasu ^^
tomoka
Friday 04th of March 2005 10:13:53 AM
Yaa, bitt :D
Thank you for the post.
やあ(yaa) means 'Hi' or 'Hey', this is used in a casual situation. However, we don't normally say 'yaa' in Japan.
When you happened to meet your friends, you may say:
"Hi, Tom! How are you doing?".
...in Japanese we omit 'Hi' and just say "Tom! genki?", or men say "oo", "yo" often instead of "yaa" like "oo, Tom! Genki?", "yo, Tom! Genki?" and women say "a" like "a, Tom! Genki?" These are used in a casual situation for friends
or family. If you want be polite when you visit Japan, it's better to say "konnichiwa"(hello) :)
bitt-san's sentence:
watashi wa mai-asa roku-ji-han ni okimasu sore kara (ore) ko-hi o dorinku (desu). hachi-ji goro asa-gohan o tabemasu.
the correction:
watashi wa mai-asa roku-ji-han ni okimasu sore kara (watashi) wa koohii wo nomi (masu). hachi-ji goro asa-gohan wo tabemasu.
I drink coffee = watashi wa koohii wo nomi masu
in this case, you can't say "desu".
When you say "..wa ~desu", the subject should be equal the predicate.
for example:
watashi wa gakusei desu. (I am a student.)...correct
watashi(I) = gakusei(student) "desu"
watashi wa 18 sai desu. (I'm 18 years old.)...correct
watashi(I) = 18 sai(18 years old) "desu"
I study Japanese.
watashi wa nihongo wo benkyou "desu"... (not correct)
watashi wa nihongo wo benkyou shi "masu"...(CORRECT)
To write Japanese sentence as possible as you can will be a good practice for your Japanese. Please post again, and
it would be better if you write them also in English for other Japanese learners :)
ganbatte kudasai ;)
tomoka
RedSamurai
Friday 04th of March 2005 10:51:09 PM
おはよう みな さん! ;)
( Morning everybody! )
ようこそ ビツ さん :)
(Welcome Bitt-san)
トモカ せんせい , たくさん きょうせい を ありがとう ございました!
(Tomoka sensei, thanks for your many corrections !)
I'm not sure about it :D
Tomoka-san, how are you? I hope you're doing just great ;)
I wanted to ask you - sorry if i ask too much - about the differnce between the makers "は"(wa) and "が" (ga) , because i'm learning to make compound sentences using more than one verb, and i kinda know that both が (ga) and は (wa) will be used in the same sentence.
So how can I say for example:
* Traveling to Japan will make your Japanese better.
More complex version:
* Traveling to Japan will help you improving your Japanese.
ほんと に かんしゃ する!
(Thank you VERY much!)
I heard it in an anime... ;)
では また :)
(I'll see you later)
tomoka
Saturday 05th of March 2005 08:40:34 PM
Konnichiwa Red-samurai-san,
Hai, watashi wa genki desu. (Yes, I'm fine, thanks.)
thanks for your many corrections = iroiro to shuusei wo arigatou
many is 'takusan' in Japanese. but in this case, iroiro(various) is better I think.
Generally, は(wa) is a topic marker as for old information.
(the hiragana は(ha) pronounce 'wa' after noun/noun clause)
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.)
が(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.)
(Generally) traveling to Japan will make your Japanese better.
(Nihon he ryokou suru koto 'wa' anatano nihongo wo jhoutatsu saseru darou.)
If you ask me 'WHAT is the best way to improve your Japanese', I'll answer,
Nihon he ryokou suru koto 'ga' anatano nihongo wo jhoutatsu saseru darou.
(This 'ga' indicates the emphasis for WHAT)
kore wa oishii desu. (This is delicious.)
kore 'ga' oishii desu. (This is delicious among all of the dishes.)
tomoka
utsumi
Sunday 06th of March 2005 07:41:25 AM
Konnichiwa minna san ( hi everyone )
o genki desuka ? ( how are you ?)
Tomoka san , arigatou gozaimasu
hum... today , i have listened to japanese frases sounds , and watched japanese learning videos (Georges and Keiko) It was really great i can say lol. Do you know their show ?
It was really difficult at the beginning because i didn't understand anything else (they spoke too fast) lol but later my hears started adapting . I wonder if i would understand japanese when i'll go there loool ^^" it is a little bit embarrassing.^^""
use of "mae ni" and "ato de" (before and after)
i would like to know if the use of those two words is correct and if the tense are correct too :
Before eating , i wash my hand
taberu mae ni , te wo araimasu
Before going to the cinema , i have to do my home work
Eiga wo mite ni iku mae ni , jibun no shukudai o shinakereba naranaiyo
After having watched Tv , I go to bed
terebi wo mitta ato de , beddo ni ikimasu
After having eating and drinking with friends at the restaurant , i go back home
resutoran de tomodachi to isshoni tabeta ya nonda ato de , uchi ni kaerimasu
use and meaning of " tsumori da " (in present, past and futur) and "hazu da"
I have a doubt of the meaning of the word tsumori da when using in different tenses.
example :
I'm sure that my brother is at home
Ani wa uchi ni itte tsumori da
how can we express that in the past , in the futur ?
The use of Hazuda also make me confused. It seems to be the same translation as Tsumorida but it seems to be used in different way that i can't see.
use of "motte iru" and "ga aru" (to have)
sometimes , i wanna use motte iru and sometimes ga aru. But how to choose??
example :
I have a project for tomorrow
watashi wa ashita no yotei ga aru / motte iru
I don't know what i have to choose between them. ^^"
well , thanks for reading my message :)
Messeji o yonda kurete arigatou :)
A bientt , see ya , mata ne ^^
Anna
Anonymous
Monday 07th of March 2005 07:42:53 PM
こんにちわ アンナ さん!
(konnichiwa Anna-san)
Salut Anna!
Sorry if I interrupt your question, but I just wanted to get your attention on a little detail on your message:
* As Tomoka-sensei said before: when used next to "さん" "san" , "みんな" "minna" is used instead of "みな" "mina" ;)
Well that's pretty much it :D
あなた の にほんご わ いい です よ!
(Anata no nihongo wa ii desu yo!)
Your Japanese is really good ;)
Ok, goodbye... :)
じぁ, さよなら... :)
Au revoir... :)
adshap
Tuesday 08th of March 2005 05:42:25 AM
こにちは ともこさん。いい先生です。ところで、何をすんでいますか。ニュウヨオクにすんでいます。日本はとてもきれいだと思います。七月いきます。
(Hello Tomoko-san. You are a good teacher. By the way, where do you live? I live in New York. I think Japan is very beautiful. I will go there in July)
I've been watching these posts for a while, and I think what you are doing is great. It gives people a really good chance to learn and practice. I am currently a lvl 2 student of Japanese at my college, and try to get as much exposure to it as possible. I have a long way to go. I really wish I had more speaking practice though.
Anyway, I have a quick question about short form. Let's say you are trying to say the sentence (it is cold) and you want to use ne or yo at the end. Is it feminine to use da, or is it feminine not to use da.
For example, ("samui da yo" "samui da ne") or ("samui yo""samui ne") Which one would a guy use?
ありがとうございます。
-アダム
KillingAlchemyx
Tuesday 08th of March 2005 07:05:39 AM
haven't been here in a while :(: question.. about your "when you fall in love" lesson... blue ones are for guys saying to girls, correct?
tomoka
Tuesday 08th of March 2005 08:03:18 AM
Konnichiwa adshap-san, message wo arigatou!
(Hello adshap, thank you for the message)
Watashi wa miyagi-ken ni sunde imasu, miyagi ken wa honshuu ni ari masu.
(I live in Miyagi prefecture, which is in the Main land.)
where do you live = doko ni sunde imasu ka?
何(nani) = WHAT, どこ(doko) = WHERE
New York = ニューヨーク
koukan ryuugakusei toshite nihon ni kimasu ka?
(Will you come to Japan as an exchage student?)
ganbatte kudasai :)
(I hope you'll enjoy staying in Japan, good luck!)
about the sentence "It's cold"(samui):
about the temperature like samui, we don't add '-da' like 'samui da',
we just say "samui"(in a casual way) or "samui desu"(in a polite way).
as the same, we say "atsui"(It's hot), "suzushii"(It's cool), "mushi atsui"(It's humid).
It's complicated, but 'da', 'ne', 'yo' and else are used in various ways.
We can say 'samui ne' or 'samui yo'(but never add '-da' like samui da ne)
but it depends on the conversation.
the emphasis or the agreement:
A: Kyou wa samui ne! (It's cold today!)... it indicates emphasis
B: un, samui yo ne. Kogoe sou..(yeah, I'm freezing.)... it indicates agreement
the emphasis and the objection:
A: Samui yo! mado shimete. (hey, close the window! I'm freezing.)... it indicates emphasis or complaint
B: zenzen samuku nai yo. (It's not cold at all.)... it indicates objection
In these conversations, it doesn't matter weather A or B is a man or a woman.
On the other hand, it's different to add "ne" or "yo" or else after the word "sou"(right).
A: Samui ne. (It's cold, isn't it?) ....men and women say it
B: Sou ne(absolutely) ... only women say it
A: Samui na. (It's cold, isn't it?) ... men say it
B: Sou da na. (absolutely)... men say it
Generally, only men say '-na/da na' and only women say
'-wa/wa yo/-ne'... well, there are so much cases, so you have to learn various ways.
Please write lots of Japanese sentence and get used to saying them :)
Anna-san,
Your way of writing "mae ni" and "ato de" (before and after) are correct :) well done!
I'm sure that my brother is at home >>>
ani wa uchi ni iru hazu da. (present tense/ future tense)
ani wa uchi ni iru hazu datta. (past tense)
I'm going to stay here >>>
watashi wa koko ni iru tsumori da.(present tense/ future tense)
watashi wa koko ni iru tsumori datta. (past tense)
hazu >>> use to guess other's action
tsumori >>> use to say your action
tomoka
tomoka
Tuesday 08th of March 2005 08:04:16 AM
KillingAlchemyx-san,
Yes, you're correct!
Maraja
Tuesday 08th of March 2005 10:20:59 PM
Just dropped by to post this link http://flcl.lain.sk/japanese.htm in case some of you didn't see the topic I started about it. I think this will be great help for me (and you) when learning Japanese, since it's a whole book. :D
Tomoka-sensei, I see you have new photo, nice! I have not been so devoted to my Japanese studies lately... Regular school is taking too much of my time. I'm in toughest semester of high school right now, although I know I should not complain, since I know Japanese pupils study a lot more.
RedSamurai
Wednesday 09th of March 2005 04:55:12 AM
こんにちわ みな さん!
(hello everybody !)
げんぎ いて ほしい
I hope you're doing just well ;)
(Is it correct?)
トモカ せんせい, かいせつ を ありがとう ございました :)
(Tomoka-sensei, thank you for your explanation)
ここ に いて います こと は にほんご の ぎじゅつ ほんと に あがります よ!
Being here, really improves my Japanese skills!
( I used "は" (wa) since i think it's a general idea ;) )
These days, i've been watching a Japanese TV channel (JSTV i
think) and the way the news are presented got my attention:
Since the only thing in Japanese I ever watched is Anime, I was kinda surprised by the tone of the speaker. I found it a little bit strange!
So i wanted to ask Tomoka-san if it's a common way to speak
in TV in Japan :)
P.S: Sorry if the question is somehow outside from the classic language questions :)
ぼく の しゅくだい へ かえなければ なりません, さよなら!
I must get back to my homework, Goodbye ;)
tomoka
Wednesday 09th of March 2005 09:22:06 AM
Konnichiwa maraja-san :) Hisashiburi!(long time!) :D
wow~it was the great link! Thank you for your post!
I can fully understand that you've been busy for school works.
High school students in all over the world must
be really busy to study. Ganbatte kudasai!
こんにちわレッドサムライさん
みんなが げんきに してると いいな
minna ga genki ni shiteru to ii na.
(I hope you're doing just well)
...this is a casual way...
～（だ）といいな = I hope / I wish
in a formal way,
みなさんに げんきで いてほしいです
minasan ni genki de ite hoshii desu.
...ほしい(hoshii) is normally translated as "to want",
but in this case, to express the feelings of "I hope",
I translated "げんきでいてほしい"
I hope = 'watashi wa kibou suru' in literally
However, to make the phrase natural, we just say
（～だと）いいな (~dato)iina in a casual way.
If we say like this, it sounds unnatural:
watashi wa anatatachi ga genkina koto wo kibou shimasu.
(I hope you're doing just well)
This is correct but it sounds too formal.
Normally we don't say "kibou shimasu"(I hope), we just
say "~dato (iina to) omoimasu", it's still unnatural a bit though...
Your way of using 'は(wa)' was correct! ;)
ここにいることは にほんごのぎじゅつを ほんとうにかいぜんさせる
Being here, really improves my Japanese skills!
or the natural way in Japanese is:
ここにいると にほんごのぎじゅつが あがる
(While I'm here, I can improve my Japanese skills)
Thank you for the compliment :D
On TV, they speak very formal while they read news,
I can say it's a common way on business in Japan.
On the other hand, in anime, they talk very casual
and they express their feelings very much.
Because of it, it's no wonder you're surprised to watch
Japanese News on TV :)
I must get back to my homework = shukudai ni modora nakucha.
back = "kaeru" and also "modoru"
OK:
ie ni modoru(kaeru), shukudai ni modoru
NG:
shukudai ni kaeru
Normally, 'kaeru' is used only when you talk about 'place'.
utsumi
Wednesday 09th of March 2005 05:17:05 PM
Konnichiha minna san (i everyone)
genki desuka ? ( how are u )
thank you very much Tomoka san for your help :)
I wanted to know if you knew the group " Spitz " It should be a great success in Japan with their beautiful songs . What do you think about ?
U know yesterday mother and i went to the Hotel ( in Paris) to give something to aunt (who 's hostess) and we were waiting for her in the hall .
Suddenly , There was a Japanese Tourism group who came next to us. alalala looool :d i was so happy loool i tried to understand what they said lol ...(but anything) maybe 2 or 3 expressions lol -_- .
I admire your people . It is sooo wise.^^"
:$ I don't know if it was impolite to wish them a welcome like that...so i didn't say anything lool -_-""... it was impressive . yet I always see japaneses loool -_-...
After that .. maybe 20/30 minutes later, they went upstairs to their bedrooms .. and there was still an old woman and old man. They were searching for something ( certainly how to go to their bed room) ... erf ... -_- i wanted to help them speaking in japanese lool... in my dreams lool my mother said me to go to ask them if they needed something-_- i couldn't ..
well, lool sorry to bother u with this ^^"
Do you know somes youth Hotels in Tokyo ?
I read that Spring and Autumn were the 2 better saisons for coming to Japan . Spring must be really comfortable and beautiful with Sakura Hana :D do you like it ? what is your favorite saison ?
well , thanks for reading
Yonda kurete arigatou
Mata ne
Anna
tomoka
Wednesday 09th of March 2005 08:08:07 PM
Anna-san,
Watashi wa Spitz ga daisuki desu! Karera no kyoku wa totemo kirei desu.
(I LOVE Spitz! Their songs are so beautiful!!)
You should have taken courage in talking to the Japanese people.
Your Japanese is understandable so they would have appreciated your help...
Normally we Japanese don't talk to strangers, but we would
appreciate your friendliness or kindness.
We're kinda shy but it doesn't mean we don't want to talk to people, especially while we travel around.
matane!(see you soon)
tomoka
makoto
Thursday 10th of March 2005 05:06:02 AM
konnichiwa minasan!!
I've read recent post and I'm learning a lot. Thank you very much. Questions are very interesting, and Tomoka's answers are really clear and useful. Minasan, doomo arigatou gozaimasu.
And thank you very much Tomoka san for the information in last post. Next week many people from around the world will come to my city,Barenshia niwa hi no matsuri ga arimasu kara. It's the only time in the year I have chance to speak japanese in my city. But my case is very similar to Anna. I understand very well what hapened to you. I'm afraid to look rude or bother someone. In the other hand I would like to speak japanese. I don't know what to do.
Well, now I'm studing difference between:
"doa ga shimatte imasu" VS "doa ga shimete arimasu". To see the difference between these sentences is a little hard to me.
arigatou gozaimasu, dewa mata
Makoto
RedSamurai
Thursday 10th of March 2005 06:04:06 AM
こんにちわ みな さん!
(Hi everybody!)
トモカ さん, ふつご べんきょう します か ?
(Tomoka-san, Do you learn French?)
なにもの しゅつだい を もてば, かねない ください!
(If you have any question, please don't hesitate!) ;)
あなた を たすけて いる こと わ ぼく を とても うれしい させる よ!
(Helping you would make me very happy) :)
Well, that would be all for sentences in Japanese; I think I made enough mistakes :D
Anna-san, I personaly had the same problem with the first contact with a Japanese.
And I've gotta say that I hesitated a lot before going talk to him, but then you feel how kind, honest and communicative Japanese people are (Tomoka-san, it's not a compliment! It's the truth);)
So I think it would have been good if you have talked to those two Japanese tourists.
Anyway since you meet a lot of Japanese people, be sure to go talk to them especially that your Japanese is GOOD ;)
Okey everybody, see ya later!
また ね!
tomoka
Thursday 10th of March 2005 08:17:33 AM
Minasan, konnichiwa!(Hello, eveyone)
makoto-san,
"doa ga shimatte imasu" VS "doa ga shimete arimasu"
Both of them indicate the state "to close", the difference is:
doa ga shimatte imasu:
It just indicates /the state/, "the door is closed"
doa ga shimete arimasu:
'shimete aru' indicates /SOMEONE/ was closed the door.
"I" was closed the door.
To call someone's attention or to reconfirm, we often say "~shite arimasu",
for example:
child: dekakete mo ii? (Can I go out?)
mother: shukudai wa 'shite aru' n deshou ne?!
(Make sure you finish your homework.)
child: chanto shite arimasu! (Sure, I already finished it.)
A: doa wa aite imasu ka? (Is the door open?)
B: iie, bouhan no tame ni shimete arimasu.
(No, I always close the door to prevent crimes.)
RedSamurai-san,
Je parle le francais un peu, mais j'ai oublie que j'ai
etudie...
In Kanji, we write 仏語(futsu go), but when we talk we say
フランス語(furansu go).
If you have any question, please don't hesitate>>
nanika shitsumon ga attara, enryonaku kiite kudasai.
to hesitate = chuucho suru, so in leterally, "please don't hesitate" is
"douzo chuucho shinaide kudasai" in japanese.
However, enryo naku(not to reserve) is better :)
As I thought you omitted "to ask" after the word 'hesitate',
I added "kiite(to ask)", thus "enryonaku kiite kudasai" =
"Please don't hesitate to ask" :)
tu as compris? :D (wakari mashita?)
(I'm sorry as I normally talk with 'tu' form,
I don't know 'Vous' forms much...)
ありがとうございます(arigatou gozaimasu) :)
tomoka
Honoumaru
Sunday 13th of March 2005 05:33:52 AM
Konnichiwa Tomoka-sensei
While watching many anime, I've noticed, in a series called "Bleach", the term for "death god" was "shinogami". I was wondering when would one know when to pronounce certain letters in certain ways? What I mean is that instead of "shino[u]k[/u]ami", they say "shino[u]g[/u]ami.
arigatou gozaimasu
utsumi
Sunday 13th of March 2005 07:34:48 AM
Konnichiwa:) (Hello)
o genki desuka ? (how are u ?)
shumatsu (no) wa dou datta/deshita ka ? (how was your week end ?)
Doyobi wa , Nihon no machi (Paris no naka ni aru yo^^ Louvres bijutsukan chikaku ni wa)ikitta node , takusan nihon no resutoran ya tokoya mou , omoshiro hon'ya nado ...
jissai ni wa , (if it wasn't the first time ) (sorry^^") noni , ureshii odoriki datta lol (it was just the second time i went there lol^^"2 years ago)
Saturday , as i went to the japanese town (in Paris near the Louvres museum) , there were a lot of restaurants , hair dressers , book shop ^^ it was really interesting , and even if it wasn't the first time i went there ( it as the second time ) it was a great suprise ^^"
RedSamourai san , lol ^^
Furansu ni sundeiru ka ?
minna san ,
"nobody knows" eiga wo mitta koto ga aru n'desuka? (have u ever seen the movie " nobody knows " ?)
nani wo koto wo omotteiru ka ? (hum..i have a doubt) (what do you think about ?)
hiiki no eiga ichiban suki wa nan desuka ? (ure favourite movie is?)
....
Before going to shool , i clean my room
gakkou ni iku mae ni , heya no souji o shite okimasu.
kh wo irette okimasu
I prepare cofee.
The use of "okimasu" is clear but sometimes its hard to know if we have to use it or use another form.
Can we say :
Heya ni iru mae ni , kutsu wo nukitte okimasu (before entering in the room , take off your shoes)
or
heya ni iru mae ni , kutsu wo nukitte kudasai (before entering in the room , take off your shoes)
....
Keiko: Yuri kun , Coca cora no bin wa doko ni aru no ?
Yuri: ..ano.. sumimasen ga, cora wo nonde shimattayo
Keiko: e! -_- paati no tame ni atta -_-
Yuri: sumimasen :(
Keiko: Yuri kun , where's the coca cola bottle ?
Yuri: well, i'm sorry but i have finished all the coca ^^"
Keiko: what ! but it was for the party -_-
Yuri: i'm really sorry :(
Does the little dialogue sounds correct with the use of "te+shimau"?
....
Yuri: Kei chan , kitte kudasai (kei chan , come on)
Keiko: un, nani shiteru no? (ya, what happened?)
Yuri: iie, nandemonai ga , kore wo mitte , kono tsukue wa kirei ne ? katte ! (nothing but look at this table , isn't it cute? buy it!)
Keiko: sou ne , kirei keredomo, chotto taka sugi nai kashira... (yes it is , but a little bit expensive)
Yuri: ano...kore ni wa amari takakunai ne sono ue , totemo kirei ne (hum... and this one is less expensive and really beautiful , isn't it ?)
Keiko: sou ne , katte !^^(ho yes, buy it)
^^" well , i wish it was understandable lol
messeji wo yonda kirete arigatou
thanks for reading my message
Mata ne !
gelsk
Monday 14th of March 2005 12:28:18 AM
hajime mashite: i'm new here..i just found out about this site today.first of all, my name is george..i'm from malaysia..can someone tell me where can i get a good site to learn japanese..i found one...but it is an advanced site..if any of you are interested..you can logged on to //www.nhk.or.jp/english from there you go to "learn japanese" button on the top.
kantasan
Monday 14th of March 2005 06:14:41 AM
konnichiwa.
My name is christoffer and i`m new here.
I am very eager to learn japanese, and i hope i can learn much from you tomoka-sensei.
my interrest in the japanese language started when i watched anime for the first time.
i fell in love with the language and culture at once.
i know a little bit of the language but not much, and therefor i hope i can learn much here.
tomoka
Monday 14th of March 2005 11:40:05 AM
Konnichiwa minasan!(Hello, everyone!)
Youkoso(Welcome) Honoumaru-san, george-san, christoffer-san :)
Honoumaru-san,
shinigami（しにがみ）is the right way to read 死に神（死神）
神（かみ） is pronouced 'kami', but it turns "gami" when the Kanji 死(it means 'death')
is added before the Kanji 神(it means God).
george-san, you can learn Japanese from basics in this website:
http://japanese.about.com/mmore.htm
Anna-san,
Hai, watashi wa genki desu.(Yes, I'm fine, thank you.)
I have to take an ikabana practice exam once a month and
it was on the last Saturday. Because of it, I was a bit
busy.
what do you think about it = sore wo dou omoi masu ka?
what is your favorite movie? = suki na eiga wa nan desu ka?
heya ni hairu mae ni, kutsu wo nuide kudasai
(before entering the room , please take off your shoes.)
'shite okimasu' indicates "in advance", "beforehand".
We mention the reason why we do it beforehand, when we
say 'shite okimasu'.
yoru dekakeru node, shukudai wo ima shite okimasu.
(I do my homework now, because I'm going to go out tonight.)
Dosoku genkin to kiite iru node, koko de kutsu wo nuide okimasu.
(We hear this place is 'No outdoor shoes allowed', we put off our shoes here.)
it was for the party = paatii no tame datta
yes, the use of "te+shimau" is correct.
"te shimau" indicates the past perfect.
RedSamurai
Monday 14th of March 2005 07:45:30 PM
こんにちわ みな さん ;)
(Hi everybody)
ひさしぶり だ な!
(Long time no see!)
ようこそ キリストハー さん, ほのうまる さん と ジョージョ さん!
(Welcome christoffer-san, honoumaru-san and george-san)
ともか せんせい, もう いちど ありがとう ございました ;)
(Tomoka-sensei, once again thank you very much)
アンナ さん,
(Anna-san)
はい, ふらんす に ご ねん まえ すんで いました
(Yes, I was living in France 5 years ago)
ふらんす わ とても きれい だ よ ;)
(France is really beautiful)
ジョージョ さん,
(George-san)
Here's a list of sites ,I used to stop by, that may help you in your Japanese studies:
* www.japanese-online.com (Good for conversation skills)
* www.freejapaneselessons.com (A good one for grammar)
* www.timwerx.net/language/jpverbs/lesson1.htm (I just found it today :D It's huge, and contains much more than basics)
* www.japanese-about.com (As tomoka-san listed it before)
I hope I helped a little ;)
この おかしいな サイツ を みて ください:
(Take a look on this funny site: )
http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/ja.htm
I also wanted to ask you Tomoka-sensei about the use (present,past...) of ござる (gozaru). I've seen it used frequently in Anime, so is my use of it correct:
なぜ あなあ わ かなしい で ござる か?
(Why are you sad?)
しょあ... また ね
(well then...See ya!)
tomoka
Tuesday 15th of March 2005 10:54:01 AM
Konnichiwa minasan :)
RedSamurai-san,
ひさしぶり is better than ひさしぶり だな
-だな sounds very casual or a bit rough for us :)
well, it's not bad because you're a man though...
christoffer = クリストファー
george = ジョージ
site = サイト
about ござる (gozaru) :D
This is really old Japanese way to say "です(desu)"
Mainly, it was saying by samurai during Edo-period.
Yes, it is = そうでござる or さようでござる
Why are you sad = なぜあなたはかなしいでござるか？
well, it sounds funny even it's an old saying, but in anime
or manga, the characters often talk funny or strange to create
the original world in the story :)
じゃあまたね！(then, see you later)
samoansamurai
Friday 18th of March 2005 08:47:31 AM
atarashii seito: minnasan hajemimashite. boku no namae ha Saimon desu. Nuujirando kara kimashita. ima nihon no fukushima ken ni sunde imasu. ichi nen han nihon ni sunde imasu. nihon ni kuru no toki ga nihongo wo benkyou shite hajemimashita. nihon to nihongo ga daisuki desu. mainichi ni nihongo wo benkyou shite imasu kedo ima, watashino nihongo ha maamaa dato omoimasu. sumimasen.
Tomoka sensei he,
anata ha subarashii desuyo. takusan me-ro wo kotaemashita. taihen desune! takusan shitsumon ha kantan dato omoimasu, kareraha intaneto de shiraberu bekki desu. hidoi dato omoimasu. dakara anata ga isogashii dayo! dakedo, anatano oshie ha jouzu desuyo, arigatou gozaimashita!
itsuka, watashitachi ha au kotoga dekimasu. watashitachino ken ha chikaku desu. watashino okaasan ga sendai ni sunde imasu, kanojo ha eigo no sensei desu. ima watashi to chuugakkou no eigo no sensei desu, kono shigoto ga daisuki desu yo. ima watashino reberu ha 4kyuu desu kedo, sugu 2kyuu no testo wo shitai, kore kara takusan nihongo wo benkyou shite imasu.
katakana to hiragana ha kantan dato omoimashita kedo, ima kanji wo manande imasu. honto ni nihongo ha daisuki desu.
yorushiku onegaishimasu.
simon. [samurai to yonde kunansyou]
samoansamurai
Friday 18th of March 2005 08:59:13 AM
to new learners of Japanese: It is a great idea to learn words and phrases, this is obviously for communication and watching or listening to Japanese. However, the best thing I can say to you is that you should really learn Hiragana and katakana, they are really not that difficult! It took me only about 3 hours solid study to learn each script, so 6 hours in all. Then I did a lot of practice after that. But here is the secret to my success.
I used a really good book, actually two books the first is called "Hiragana Gambatte" and the other was called "Katakana Gambbatte" their system is that you make word associations with each of the characters, it's really simple. For example a is for artist, if you can imagine the artist with a paint brush that goes along, then the platter going down, then the fancy artists curve that goes around like a loop, there you have it! and it goes on. All you do is build little pictures in your mind which prompt you into remembering the character.
Then I made sheets using excel to help me write them out a lot of times.
Hiraga and katakana will help you out a whole lot, you can't read kanji, but if the kanji has furigana (small hiragana next to it) then you can read it.
You will severely limit yourself if you don't learn these two simple scripts.
Also, don't bother to learn the za, ba, pa and jya type lines. they are just combinations of others, so just learn the basic lines first, the rest will come.
Sit down one Saturday morning and by dinner time, you'll have the two scripts sussed!.
Gambatte kudasai.
tomoka
Friday 18th of March 2005 12:44:17 PM
Konnichiwa Saimon-san :) Is it better for you to call Samurai? :D
Thank you for the post:) It's good to see you here.
watashi wa nyuujiirando ga daisuki desu!(I LOVE New Zealand)
It's amazing that you speak Japanese so well inspite of
living in Japan only for a year and a half!
korekara mo ganbatte kudasai :)
(Keep doing the good job!)
tomoka
monkeytamer
Sunday 20th of March 2005 06:17:19 PM
Watashi wa nihongo o benkyo shita. Demo rainen taisetsu na shiken ga aru node kurasu o yamemashita.
Sore de.. sukoshi mondai ga aru.
Ima benkyoshinai dakara nihon go wo wasurenai no yoo ni nani wo shinakereba narimasen?
Sore kara... kanji wo naraitai kara nani ka ichiban ii hoohoo desu ka?
Gomenasai ne... watashi no nihon go ga mada mada jozu desu.
hanyou_girl
Sunday 20th of March 2005 11:36:50 PM
can you find it in youre heart?: konnichwa Tomoka-san! My name is keyana.i wanted to know, if you could find it in youre heart to give some time to maybe personnally teach me japanese. maybe on msn or something! DOUZO! I have seen youre tutorial, and i have show many people, and they are excited to learn aswell. i will have you know i would work very hard, and do my very best! you see, i want japanese lessons, but where i am, they are not available! DOUZO! please teach me! be my sensei!
-hanyou_girl
Andhera
Monday 21st of March 2005 05:37:39 AM
Ohayou minna-san! ogenki desu ka?
Hanyou-san, tomoka-san has already been requested (by me and a couple other people) to be a personal sensei, but unfortunately she doesn't have the time. She is actively completing the translation database on Phrasebase, and is occupied with other things in her life.
Maybe all of us beginners could find one person willing to give out a group chat lesson and learn from him/her collectively, ne?
(Her response to a similar question is lurking around page 2/3/4-ish if you wish to check it out.)
On the topic of lessons, I have a request of someone who is somewhat fluent in japanese. Although I don't have much of a hard time memorizing grammatical rules and vocabulary, it is quite different when actually implementing them into sentences. Can someone please help me get started off with creating fairly basic conversational sentences and translating japanese sentences into english? It would be very helpful since I am not fully sure if I'm making correct sentences, since i get mixed up with some verb and adjective conjugations, etc. We could co-ordinate it through e-mail, MSN, AIM, and perhaps even Yahoo. So please, would anyone be interested in helping me?
Arigatou gozaimasu.
KillingAlchemyx
Monday 21st of March 2005 12:52:50 PM
so, I watched this movie from Japan. It was REALLY awesome. and it was subtitled but I could still understand a few words that I learned here ^_^ it was fun. oh yeah the movie was "Casshern". WONDERFUL movie. If you haven't seen it, ORDER IT AND SEE IT ^_^
tomoka
Monday 21st of March 2005 01:22:01 PM
konnichiwa minasan! Ogenki desu ka?
(Hello everyone, how are you?)
monkeytamer-san,
kore wa kaku koto wo manabu noni ii website desu yo :)
This is a good website to learn writing.
http://www.kanjistep.com/en/jlinks/
We need to keep using the language which we learnt, if not,
we easily forget all of them.
Why don't you teach Japanese to biginners? :D It'll be a good practice for everyone :)
Andhera-san,
Hisashiburi!(long time), benkyou wa dou desu ka?(How's your study?)
I hope you all can find a good partner to improve japanese!
Konnichiwa Keyana-san :)
As Andhera-san mentioned, I don't have much time at this
moment...I'm sorry... gomen nasai...
I sent you some good links to learn Japanese from basics, so if you have any questions,
please post here :)
When I'll be available, I'll let you know here when we'll have online lessons on yahoo or something :)
KillingAlchemyx-san,
Casshern is the story of a cyborg, right? It was an old story but now it revived :)
tomoka
utsumi
Tuesday 22nd of March 2005 05:26:52 AM
Use of "koto": Konnichiwa minna san
o genki desuka ? (how are u ?)
shumatsu wa dou deshita ka ? (how was your week end ?)
Makoto san,
We had a good chat last time ! Tanoshii kaiwa datta !
Speaking japanese everytime is a really good way to improve the langage . We also learn new vocabulary ! it's really practise ^^"
i think that for every beginners like me , it's difficult to really know how to use "koto" ..
Tomoka sensei ,
as you said us , "koto" is use for something which we can't see/ for feelings for example .
But sometimes , we have to use it and we're lost because we don't really know when to use it .
for example :
I promise you that i'll show you my picture
Watashi no shashin wo okuru koto wo yakusoku shimasu
How to know that we have to employ it . When ? lol ^^"
messeji wo yonda kurete arigatou
Mata ne !
Anna
tomoka
Tuesday 22nd of March 2005 09:42:00 AM
konnichiwa minasan,
anna-san,
I promise you that i'll send you my picture
(Watashi no shashin wo okuru koto wo yakusoku shimasu)
okuru koto is the "action(koudou)", not the "thing (mono)"
among "that I'll send", that indicates 'koto'.
"koto wo/ga" indicates object/the objective case.
I like you = watashi wa anata(no koto) ga suki desu
...(no koto) is omitted...
I = watashi wa = subject
like = suki desu = verb
you = anata (no koto) ga = object
There are some other cases so you have to get used to it.
tomoka
KillingAlchemyx
Tuesday 22nd of March 2005 01:59:46 PM
Konnichiwa Tomoka-san
right.
"Casshern" is based on a 1973 anime.
It's about a guy reincarnated with an invincible body to fight an 'iron devil'.
tomoka
Tuesday 22nd of March 2005 02:50:25 PM
nantonaku kanashii eiga datta no wo oboete imasu.
(I remember it was somewhat sad movie.)
This is a website of casshern. You can watch some
preview on it before buying it :) I think it's cool.
http://www.casshern.com/
tomoka
RedSamurai
Tuesday 22nd of March 2005 08:42:16 PM
おはよう:)
(Hi!)
ようこそ みな さん ;)
(Welcome everybody!)
しけん を すました ばかり :D
(I just finished my exams)
ともか せんせい,
(Tomoka-sensei)
おげんき です か?
(How are you?)
おうとつ を して すまない :(
(I'm sorry for my roughness)
RedSamurai-kun = ばか ばか ばか :D
このことろ, にほん の えいが を みました...
(Recently, I watched a Japanese film...)
なまえ は "ざこいち" でした と おもいます
(I think It's called "Zatoichi")
しゅたい げいにん: きたの たけし が ほんと に いい でした よ!!
(The main actor: Takeshi Kitano was really good!)
I really liked this film ;) And if i'm not mistaking, this movie won two awards:
* People's Choice Awards (Toronto Film Festival 2003)
* Special Director's Award (Venice Film Festival 2003)
I recommand it for all the Anime otaku!!
にほんご に みて ください ;)
(Please watch it in Japanese ;) )
One last question: How can I compare two things in Japanese?
* Ex: A is (adj + er) than B
また ね!!
(See ya)
tomoka
Wednesday 23rd of March 2005 11:47:10 AM
Konnichiwa, minasan :)
Red Samurai san,
おうとつ を して すまない(I'm sorry for my roughness)>>>
well, I think you mean ざつで すみません or ぶさほうで すみません :)
このところ sounds a bit old, さいきん is better I think ;)
さいきん よく ねむれません
(Recently I can't sleep well.)
The main actor = 主演俳優（しゅえんはいゆう）
にほんご で みて ください
(Please watch it in Japanese)
about the question:
How can I compare two things in Japanese?
* Ex: A is (adj + er) than B
A は B よりも （ ～ ）
A wa B yori mo (adjective)
for example:
You are taller than me.
あなたは わたし よりも せがたかい
'Zatouichi' is better than 'Last Samurai'.
ざとういちは ラストサムライ よりも いい
My salary is worse than yours.
わたしのきゅうりょうは あなたのきゅうりょう より（も） わるい
monkeytamer
Wednesday 23rd of March 2005 06:33:05 PM
arigatou tomoko san!
(thank you Tomoko-san)
Tomoko san wo ageru rinku wa taihen benri desu.
(The link tomoko-san gave me was very useful)
Nihon go no tame ni watashi wa isshokenmei ganbaru!
(I'll try must best to learn Japanese)
Watashi no nihon go ga heta dakara moshi watashi wa burei sou sumimasen
(I'm sorry if I sound rude because I'm not too good speaking in Japanese)
tomoka
Wednesday 23rd of March 2005 07:36:26 PM
konnichiwa monkeytamer-san,
I'm sorry if I sound rude >>>
moshi shitsureini kikoetara sumimasen
no, no...you don't have to worry about it ;)
ganbatte kudasai!
tomoka
tomoka
Wednesday 23rd of March 2005 08:14:17 PM
This is a very good site to learn Japanese.
You can learn Japanese in various languages here.
http://www.nhk.or.jp/lesson/
It must be difficult for beginner, but it makes a good listening I think.
Hamish17
Wednesday 23rd of March 2005 08:57:52 PM
Learning Katakana/Kanji: Konichiwa Tomoka-san!
Hajimemashite, watashi wa Hamish desu.
i've been trying to learn japanese for a while now, thankfully i recently stumbled upon 'phrasebase' site, so far it's been really useful. i can speak basic phrases and i'm reasonable at reading hiragana, although i'm fairly slow ;) i was wondering if you had any suggestions for the best/easiest ways to learn/memorise katakana and kanji symbols?
domo arigato
greygin
Thursday 24th of March 2005 02:01:22 AM
Hi there!!
I'm a new member and I have been wanting to learn japanese...good thing I've stumbled upon this site and this forum becasue it's really helping me with the basic of learning japanese. I actually want to say thank you to tomoka-san for helpong..it's very helpful...:D
bono_212
Thursday 24th of March 2005 06:45:27 AM
konnichiwa: Hello
I have been taking japanese for three years and I was really excited that on this post I am capable of not only understanding the Japanese, but also learning things to. You are truly great for doing this
doomo arigato gozaimsu __ ( ) __
Ashley
tomoka
Thursday 24th of March 2005 08:18:11 AM
Konnichiwa minasan(Hello everyone),
minasan no messeeji wa watashi wo shiawase na kimochi ni shimashita :)
(Your messages made me happy.)
Doumo arigatou!(Thank you very much)
Hamish-san,
Konnichiwa. well, I'm a Japanese so I get used to see Hiragana or other
Japanese letters since I was a child.
The best way is to use it everyday though,
maybe other japanese learners give you a tip about your question ;)
greygin-san,
Please try to use some words you learnt like "Konnichiwa(Hello)", "Arigatou(Thank you)" :)
It's good to memorize ;)
Ashley-san,
Dou itashi mashite(You're welcome)
If you have any suggestions to beginners here, please
post on japanese forum. It would be help for them :)
tomoka
bono_212
Thursday 24th of March 2005 10:27:53 AM
aw :D thanks :D
If anything I would say that it does help very much to learn Hiragana and katakana, pretty much because romanji makes my eyes hurt :D and also, there are so many different ways to write romanji that it gets confusing. There's only one way to write and read any hiragana or katakana character. Another thing that helps if you want to learn the two alphabets is to make out flash cards for your self and get help from someone with them. That's what my nihongo no sensei(japanese teacher) had us do and it worked beautifully.
Ashley
tomoka
Thursday 24th of March 2005 01:38:32 PM
Doumo arigatou, Ashley-san.
in addtion to Ashley's comment, this link might help you.
http://www.apricotweb.com/bbschat/joycha_e.htm
go to 'Learn Japanese' on the left,
and check 'Basic Hiragana & Katakana'
tomoka
makoto
Friday 25th of March 2005 05:21:53 AM
youkoso Hamish-san.
Thank you very Tomoka san for asking about learners point of view about the question of how to learn japanese characters.
Well, now I'm learning Kanji, but what I'll recommend is valid to learn Hiragana and katakana too.
I think trying to do a visual memorizing is not the best way because we can miss some strokes on a character even we can recognize them. I think the optimize on learning to read hiragana and katakana is writing, writing and more writing. and It could be a simply thing, but the right order stroke is important to fix characters on our mind.
At the beginning is hard, and in my case, I was very lazy to write. But you'll see is best way to fix on our mind.
So don't try to memorize just reading, but writing.
I hope it could be useful, Hamish. please tell about your progress on hirarana and katakana.
Makoto
caramelili
Saturday 26th of March 2005 06:29:26 AM
Thank you so much: Tomoka-sensei
thank you so much for the information you provided at this site. I am sort of a linguistic and am trying to learn japanese before i set foot in Tokyo(you know, not to sound stupid to natives) and i want to learn more in order to be fluent. Thus i appreciate your help and look forward to visiting your site when you add more info to it.
Thanxx ^_^
Lily
tomoka
Saturday 26th of March 2005 07:46:50 PM
Konnichiwa makoto-san
こんにちわ、マコトさん
(Hello, makoto!)
Thank you for letting us know your point of view ;)
"the right order stroke is important to fix characters on our mind"...
Yes, exactly! When we start learning how to write Kanji,
teachers teach us like that :)
Lily-san,
messeeji wo doumo arigatou!(Thank you for the message!)
Hai, ganbatte lessun wo tsuika shimasu!
(Okay, I'll do my best and add some more lessons.)
tomoka
bono_212
Sunday 27th of March 2005 09:12:17 AM
I accidently left that part out. On the flash cards he always has us write on the back the stroke order, the reading, the meaning (for kanji), and a compound word (also for kanji)
It is very, veRY, VERY important to know the stroke order. Just wanted to let you know I agree with you ;).
Ashley
RedSamurai
Monday 28th of March 2005 12:53:05 AM
こんにちわ みな さん ;)
(Hello everybody)
まこと さん, ひさしぶり :)
(Makoto-san, long time no see)
おげんき です か?
(How are you?)
ともか せんせい,
(Tomoka-sensei,)
あまい めっせえじ を ありがとう ございました ;)
(Thank you for your sweet message!)
Here are some sentences I made with "よりも" (yorimo) and some other expressions:
* あなた の えいご は わたし の にほんご よりも とても いい :D
(Your English is much better than my Japanese.)
* にほん へ この なつ いけば, ふじ やま を たずねる つもり ;)
(If I go to Japan this summer, I'm planning to visit the Fuji mountain).
One last thing: I'd like please to know the diffrence between "いただく" (Itadaku) and "もらう" (Morau) :( I really don't know when to use one or the other, all I know is that いただく is more polite than もらう...
また ね :)
(See ya!)
Andhera
Monday 28th of March 2005 06:12:21 AM
Ohayou minna-san~ Ogenki desu ka?
Recently I've learnt that "de irrashaimasu" is a more respectful way of saying "desu". Does that mean I can replace desu with de irrashaimasu anywhere? Like, is "Ogenki de irrashaimasu ka?" a proper question?
Secondly, a friend and I have been struggling to find the meaning of a word "Shouganai". We assume it's a negation like shouga+nai. But we can't find the meaning of shouga. then we thought maybe shou+ga+nai, but we couldn't find the meaning of Shou either.
As far as my experience i sort of translate it to "Can't be helped" or "there is no choice". Can someone please help us figure it out.
Arigatou, ne.
RedSamurai
Monday 28th of March 2005 08:00:41 PM
Konnichiwa andhera-san!
Genki desu yo! Arigatou gozaimasu :)
About the word shouganai, you are right since it means "can't be helped" or in another ways "it's inevitable" "it's no use"... If I remember well, I read somewhere that it's an abreviation of "shikata ga nai" and that it's oftenly used in Japanese.
Here's an example -that I found- of the use of "shouganai":
* Monku ittatte shouganai yo!
(It's no use to complaint!)
If you need a good online dictionary, I recommand you this one:
www.csse.monash.edu.au/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/jwb/wwwjdic?1C
It's a really good one ;)
I hope I helped a little :)
Jaa mata...
tomoka
Tuesday 29th of March 2005 01:09:00 PM
minasan, konnichiwa~ :)
Red Samurai-san,
Moshi kono natsu nihon he iku nara, Fujisan wo mini iku
tsumori desu.
もしこの夏（なつ）、日本（にほん）へ行（い）くなら、富士山（ふじさん）を見（み）に行（い）くつもりです。
(If I go to Japan this summer, I'm planning to visit the Mt.Fuji.)
It sounds nice. I think you like the mountain scenery :)
About the diffrence between "いただく" (Itadaku) and "もらう" (Morau):
Yes, you're right. "itadaku" is more polite than "morau".
Both of them mean 'receive', 'get', 'take', 'have'...
The Keigo(honorific)"itadaku" express "accept (something) gratefully (with thanks)".
Before we have meals, we say "itadaki masu!", the word "itadaki masu" express "we appreciate various things
or people which gave us foods". Even in the casual situations, we don't say "morai masu" before eating.
(at a shop)
Can I have a carrier(shopping) bag?
Normal: fukuro wo morae masu ka?
Polite: fukuro wo itadake masu ka?
"morau" sounds like "I take it for granted to have ~ ",
on the other hand, "itadaku" sounds "I'd like to have ~ "
(at friend's house)
A: Does anybody want this CD? (dare ka kono CD hoshii?)
B: Nope(iie)
C: me, neither. (watashimo iranai...)
D: okay then, I take it. (jyaa, watashi ga moratte oku.)
"moratte oku" express "(I don't want it much but anyway) I take it."
Andhera-san,
"shouga nai" is a casual way to say "shikata ga nai"
shikata = 'the way'/'how to', so "shikata ga nai" means "no way", or... yes, it can't be helped.
"irasshaimasu" is a honorific. It's very polite way and
normally it's used in business. When you talk to people
in dairy life, you don't have to say "irasshai masu".
tomoka
Maki
Wednesday 30th of March 2005 10:44:13 PM
Andhera-san, hajimemashite.
I accidentally found your post.
Originally posted by Andhera
Secondly, a friend and I have been struggling to find the meaning of a word "Shouganai". We assume it's a negation like shouga+nai. But we can't find the meaning of shouga. then we thought maybe shou+ga+nai, but we couldn't find the meaning of Shou either.
As far as my experience i sort of translate it to "Can't be helped" or "there is no choice". Can someone please help us figure it out.
I do think you made a really good guess. "Shouganai" is originally "Shiyou ga nai". (If I write it with Kanji, "仕様がない". I hope you can find it in your dictionary.) However, as you know, it is often pronounced like "Shouganai" and even written like that too.
TJ_Anime
Thursday 31st of March 2005 06:58:49 AM
umm..: Konnichiwa Tomoka-san...I have read your lessons, study for a few days and practiced with a friend...I've also been through many websites before I discovered Phrasebase.com and learned a little of this and that, but I've never seen a site break down the basics and tell me how I should start studying and actually learn.
Can you help me?
rahulchan
Thursday 31st of March 2005 06:19:30 PM
minasan,
わたしはあたらしめまぶるです。
ちょっとはなしってください。
どぞうようろしく。
ありがっとございました。
tomoka
Thursday 31st of March 2005 07:42:43 PM
Konnichiwa, maki-san, TJ-anime-san, rahulchan-san, and minasan!
TJ_Anime-san,
How about this website?
http://japanese.about.com/blbegin.htm
RedSamurai
Saturday 02nd of April 2005 01:20:39 AM
Konnichiwa mina-san!
(Hello everyone!)
Youkoso maki-san, TJ-san to rahulchan-san ;)
(Welcome maki-san, TJ-san and rahulchan-san)
romaji de kakimasu, watashi no laptop ni kana o arimasen kara :D
(I don't have kana on my laptop, so I'll write in romaji )
Tomoka-sensei, I really appreciate your help! I'll never thank you enough for what you're doing...
Anou... Ikebana no benkyou wa dou desu ka?
(By the way... How are the Ikebana studies going ?)
I was happy to see that I could understand more and more of the spoken Japanese on Anime :)
But lately, I was kind of scared when I watched a movies in Japanese "Battle royale" -That I liked by the way ;)- God! They spoke so fast that the only thing I got from a sentence was the first and last words :D
So, I was wonderng if that's how people talk in daily life? If that's the case, then I have to think seriously about improving my Japanese "reception skills" :)
I also wanted to ask you please if it's hard to get a 1 month tourist VISA to Japan?
tomoka
Saturday 02nd of April 2005 06:27:53 PM
konnichiwa Red samurai-san,
I don't think it's difficult to stay in Japan as a tourist
for a month though, it's better to ask for the Japanese embassy in your country by email ;)
In the movie "Battle royale", people speak so fast because
the situation is unusual. It's natural you can't understand what they say.
We don't speak Japanese like that
in daily life :D
Thanks for asking! My ikebana study is going well.
I changed my job lately and it makes me busy...*phew*
minasan, ogenki de!
(take care, everyone!)
tomoka
bono_212
Sunday 03rd of April 2005 01:05:57 AM
you are studying ikebana? That's really cool (we just learned about that in Japanese class last week :D)
Anyway, thanks for all you've done, it's greatly appreciated ____( )_____
tomoka
Tuesday 05th of April 2005 08:11:52 PM
Konnichiwa :)
If you're interested in ikebana, this is the website of
Obara-ryuu(Obara style) ikebana.
http://www.ohararyu.or.jp/english/index_e.html
dou itashi mashite!
(you're welcome!)
tomoka
TJ_Anime
Wednesday 06th of April 2005 06:07:01 AM
Konnichi wa...again: As well as studying the grammer, and such on the website you provided me, I also looked at the katakana and hiragana to side study writing in Japanese. What I found most difficult was determining which words would be written in hiragana, and which in katakana. Might you have advice on this?
tomoka
Wednesday 06th of April 2005 08:30:47 PM
Konnichiwa TJ-anime-san :)
Katakana is used for "words of foreign origin"
for example,
coffee = koohii = コーヒー
America = amerika = アメリカ
shopping = shoppingu = ショッピング
koohii wo nomu ...(to drink coffee)
コーヒー を のむ
Amerika ni iku ...(to go to America)
アメリカ に いく
utsumi
Wednesday 06th of April 2005 08:50:19 PM
konnichiwa minna san !: hisashiburi ne :d
genki desuka ? (how are u ):)
Tomoka san no messeji de domo arigatou. ( thank you for your message Tomoka san)It helps us a lot :)
And thanx for all the message you write here people XD REALLY HELPFULL !!
For all student in japanese , i 'v bought mangas and i can say that it's really helpfull too to learn japanese even if it's really difficult to translet lol^^" but if you have bases , i think it's possible.
For example "i's" from Mazakasu , is a good manga , funny , love story between students etc... :-) of course you should buy the japanese version and have the book in your langage lol^^" and a dictionary .
it's really amazing to translet it !! :d
Anna
TJ_Anime
Thursday 07th of April 2005 01:42:45 AM
Oh!: Thats so obvious, I should have seen it sooner...also one more question...
How do you determine which word is a foreign word or native? For example, lets use 'coffee', how would someone know to write it in hiragana or katakana if they had no idea if it is native or not?
You've been a really great help!
(Do you know if theres any site I could go to, to get software to type in japanese?)
Arigatou,
TJ
RedSamurai
Thursday 07th of April 2005 10:36:20 AM
Kombanwa mina-san!
(Good evening everybody!)
Tomoka-san,
Ninmu kanryou!
(Mission accomplished!)
I contacted the Japanese Ambassy by phone, and they were very kind to me. They said that a tourist Visa to Japan isn't hard to get especially if it's for a period less than 1 month. I'm already picturing myself in the hot springs :D
Anna-san,
I really liked "I's" the video game. I didn't know that there was also a "I's" manga :)
Anyway, I hope that the manga is as good as the game ;)
What about your Japanese studies, Is it going well?
-
konnichiwa TJ_Anime-san!
About your questoin on how to make the difference between foreign and native word, It's just about the prounciation of that word in Japanese: if it's pronounced like in the original language then it's a foreign word and thus shoud be written in Katakana ;)
Example:
* Coffee = Koofii = Koohii (In Japanese, Fi and Hi are the same)
* Website = Webusaito
As for the tools to use to type in Japanese try this link:
http://osdn.dl.sourceforge.jp/efont/10087/sazanami-20040629.tar.bz2
All you have to do is to install the fonts from that link. Once done your browser will be able to read Kana & Kanji. If you want to type, you can use the "characters table".
Start menu -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Character Tables. :)
Well, I hope I was of some help ;)
Sumimasen mina-san, honto ni nemui desu :D
(Excuse me everyone, I'm really sleepy)
Oyasumi nasai ;)
(Good night!)
tomoka
Monday 11th of April 2005 07:24:43 PM
Konbanwa minasan!(good evening, everyone)
Red Samurai-san,
It's good to know you got the information that you need :)
Also, thank you for answering the questions of TJ-anime-san. I couldn't come online for a few days, so I'm relieved
to read your post. Doumo arigatou!!
totemo nemui desu.(I'm very sleepy.)
oyasumi nasai...
(good night)
tomoka
Andhera
Thursday 14th of April 2005 05:19:59 AM
Practise: Ohayou minna~
Ogenki desu ne?
Sumimasen. It's been so long since I've dropped by. Actually, I've picked up a course on tape and have been caught up with that as weel as school. The course is very helpful in teaching formal speaking and basic vocabulary. However, I feel I need a lot more practise to actually get all the concepts to memory. So, I was wondering if any one could recommend a few ways I could practise, since I do not have any japanese speaking friends to carry out conversations with. I'm a do-things type of person, and learn better with practise. So I look forward to your suggestions. ^__^
Arigatou~
Andhera.
TJ_Anime
Thursday 14th of April 2005 06:09:06 AM
Un...: I have that same problem...no one I know can speak Japanese, making practice very hard for me. My family won't even try and get sometimes annoyed by my nagging *_*. I need help with that too...so please post if you have suggestions.
<(^_^)>........<(_^<).........<(^_^)>..........(>^_)>.....<(^_^)>
(Its Kirby, dancing!)
makoto
Thursday 14th of April 2005 06:01:25 PM
practice: konnichiwa minasan!! ogenkidesuka
well, I think it would be useful to be able to meet on chat room to do some practice or having some lessons in group there. I know is hard we all can meet because some people is in Asia, others i America and others in Europe and others in Oceanian.
As other languages are doing here, it would be nice we could go for a japanese lesson on chatroom. Well, if anybody is interested on it, could suggest more ideas.
matane,
Makoto
rahulchan
Friday 15th of April 2005 04:57:32 PM
hi: konnichiwa mina-san ,
tamako-san,psy-san your explanations are useful for me.
thank you very much
regards
rahul
Maraja
Saturday 16th of April 2005 04:40:29 AM
konbanwa mina-san!
makoto-san,
Would something like this work?
http://groups.everywherechat.com/community/chat.asp?room=Japanese
I think that it requires Java, but I hope it will work for everyone. It would be nice if we could try it out.
:D
KillingAlchemyx
Monday 18th of April 2005 11:25:32 AM
Konnichiwa, Minna-san.
so, I'm graduating highschool next month.. and at my graduation ceremony there will be graduates from Japan! so I hope to talk with some of them and maybe they can teach me some stuff.. ^_^. [/random]
well.. I am slowly learning Japanese... I'm memorizing phrases (the spelling and pronunciation) after I learn some of this.. I should probably work on sentence structure and stuff.. or I suppose I could start now. no time like the present :)
if anyone cares to post some basics.. or maybe in one of the lessons there is basic sentence structure they could point me to the right lesson.
and also, should I wait to learn the japanese characters?
I suppose I should probably learn and memorize the alphabet first ;p
rahulchan
Monday 18th of April 2005 11:51:39 AM
mina-san: mina-san,
I have a doubt in usage of moraimasu and kuremasu.
please tell me any one knows.
thank you
regards
rahul
KillingAlchemyx
Monday 18th of April 2005 12:43:14 PM
My friend just sent me a link to a live journal that talked about Japan.. and it said soemthign abuot the anime fans play a game called "Kancho."
here's the link
http://www.livejournal.com/community/geekhumor/30970.html
we were wondering if this is true...
hehe silly Naruto fans.
tomoka
Monday 18th of April 2005 07:58:43 PM
Konnichiwa minasan!(Hi everyone!)
I've been very busy lately so I couldn't come online...
sumimasen...
rahulchan-san,
about moraimasu and kuremasu
morau >>> to get / to receive / to take
(watashi ga) morau
kureru >>> to give
(anata(you) or dareka(someone) ga kureru
sorry, I've got to go!
matane!
tomoka
utsumi
Monday 18th of April 2005 10:10:27 PM
konnichiha minna san !: hisashiburi ne XD
minna san , genki desuka ? ( how are u all ? )
Sometimes, we remember us some events when we were young or when we went to a special place (for example)
And to introduice it , we have to use " when ..." in japanese " toki " :
when i was young ...
wakakatta toki ...
when i went to this park...
sono kohen ni ikitta toki ni...
But sometimes there's some sentences we can't use "toki"
Tomoka sensei , can you please giving us some example using another form to say "when"?
thank you very much
domo arigatou gozaimasu
jaa ne
rahulchan
Tuesday 19th of April 2005 04:02:27 PM
tomoka sensei...: konnichiwa tomoka sensei,
Ganbatte kudasai is meant for take it easy or best of luck.
if both are same where we will use?
regards
rahul
rahulchan
Tuesday 19th of April 2005 04:08:34 PM
tomoka sensei...: tomoka sensei,
anatano setsumeiwa ii desu.
arigatto gozaimasu, tomoka sensei.
regards
rahul
TJ_Anime
Wednesday 20th of April 2005 01:42:35 AM
hm..: Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I've been busy with school, and studying Nihongo. I have most of the rules about adjectives and verbs and their forms memorized, but I was wondering how someone can make up a sentence off the top of their head? Do you have to know the set phrase for it or can you twist it to your own use?
___________________________________________________________
I agree, we should start some sort of class either in the chatroom, or some site. I think we would probably learn a lot better if we are all correcting everyone else and learning from everyone else.
tomoka
Saturday 23rd of April 2005 04:10:26 PM
Konnichiwa minasan!(Hello everyone)
Ogenki deshi ta ka?(How've you been?)
Anna-san,
please giving us some example using another form to say "when"?
when
A: nanji ni dekakeru no?(what time will we go out?)
B: okaasan ga modotta ra. (When my mother come back.)
A: itsu modoru no?(When will she come back?)
B: saa...(I don't know)
This is a casual situation.
In a casual conversation we say "(~shita) ra" instead of "(~shita)toki"
kanojho wa itsu kekkon shimashita ka?
(when did she get married?)
itsu kara? (Since when...?)
rahulchan-san,
Ganbatte kudasai is hard to translate.
It means:
do one's best
Keep it up!
wish you luck
work hard
When we cheer up or encourage someone, we say
"ganbatte!" or "ganbatte kudasai"
I heard that they rather say "take it easy" in european countries.
TJ_Anime-san,
We often omit the subject like "watashi wa" or "anata wa"
mother: (anata wa) shukudai wa shita no?
(Did you finish your homework?)
child: (watashi wa) mou shita yo.
(I've already finished it.)
tomoka
Anonymous
Sunday 24th of April 2005 06:01:18 PM
こんいちわともかせんさい、
わたしのなまえPhillipです。
I've been learning Japanese for about one month now and I'm really enjoying it. I can read and write Hiragana and I'm currently learning Katakana. I only know one Kanji though, and that is the one for Dog. Dog = Inu - いぬ - 犬 :D.
Today, I learnt all about how "Desu" and "Dewa Arimasan" are used and it's really interesting. In some ways, Japanese is a lot easier than English.
How many languages do you speak? I noticed that you were speaking a little French a few posts back. I'm currently learning French, Spanish, Korean and Japanese. I'm dedicating the next 5 years of my life to it :).
Au revoir madame,
Phil. (フィリップ)
OvertoneBliss
Sunday 24th of April 2005 06:02:43 PM
こんいちわともかせんさい、
わたしのなまえPhillipです。
I've been learning Japanese for about one month now and I'm really enjoying it. I can read and write Hiragana and I'm currently learning Katakana. I only know one Kanji though, and that is the one for Dog. Dog = Inu - いぬ - 犬 :D.
Today, I learnt all about how "Desu" and "Dewa Arimasan" are used and it's really interesting. In some ways, Japanese is a lot easier than English.
How many languages do you speak? I noticed that you were speaking a little French a few posts back. I'm currently learning French, Spanish, Korean and Japanese. I'm dedicating the next 5 years of my life to it :).
Au revoir madame,
Phil. (フィリップ )
LinguoGuy
Monday 25th of April 2005 03:25:48 AM
Konnichiwa, tomoka-sensei: Hello, tomoka-sensei. I've just started learning Japanese and I am really eager to learn all the hiragana, katakana, and kanji (although I've heard that there are thousands of characters). I also want to speak it fluently, without an American accent. I want to move to Japan for a while to really immerse myself in the language and culture, so I have a question: How do you say "Please be patient with me because I have an accent" or "I am sorry for my poor Japanese, but please don't become offended if I say the wrong things"?
RedSamurai
Tuesday 26th of April 2005 06:32:47 PM
おはよう :)
(Good morning !)
あたらしい にほんご の あいじん :D
(Many new Japanese lovers!)
ようこそ みなさん ;)
(Welcome everyone)
philip-san,
I'm glad - surprised though - to know that you find Japanese easier than English. I can understand that since it's just the begining...
がんばって ください ;)
(Do your best!)
ともかさん,
(Tomoka-san, )
おげんき です か?
(How are you doing ?)
あたらしい ジョブ わ ごう です か?
(How is your new job?)
じぁあ...またね ;)
(Well...See ya)
tomoka
Tuesday 03rd of May 2005 05:01:54 PM
Konnichiwa minasan! Ogenki desu ka?
(Hello everyone! How are you?)
I'm sorry I couldn't post here for a while.
Phillip-san,
Watashi wa eigo to furansu-go ga sukoshi hanasemasu.
(I can speak English and also can speak French but a little.)
LinguoGuy-san,
Hajimemashite!(nice to meet you)
Please be patient with me because I have an accent
>> kikitori nikukattara gomen nasai
we normally don't say "accent" in japanese, so in this case,
it's better to say "kikitori nikui = hard to listen".
I am sorry for my poor Japanese, but please don't become offended if I say the wrong things
>> nihongo ga hata nanode machigatte itara gomennasai
Sometimes I have a question like it from Japanese who is learning English,
but I thought people from foreign countries don't much care about it.
machigatte itara gomen nasai :D
(I'm sorry if it's wrong.)
Red Samurai-san,
Hisashiburi!(Long time)
Atarashii shigoto wa taihen desu.
(It's hard to do a new job because I'm unfamiliar with it.)
demo ganbari masu!
(Anyway, I'll do my best.)
tomoka ;)
utsumi
Tuesday 03rd of May 2005 11:58:08 PM
hi minna san: o genki desuka ? ( how are you)
hisashiburi ne XD
kinou, tomodachi to shinjuku ni itta toki , kamera o katta kedo sono ato , uchi e ikanakereba , dakara takushi o yobitta.
yesterday , when i went to shinjuku , i bought a camera but after that i had to return back home , that's why i called a taxis.
ototoi wa atashi no koibito no tanjoubi datta kara , ryoshin wa atarashii compyuta o katte kureta kedo , ima kore wo kowareta. zannen desu ne.
As the day before yesterday was my boyfriend's birthday , his parents bought him a new computer but now he broke it. that's pity.
well, that was the sentences day lol :)
any corrections are welcome
Anna
LinguoGuy
Wednesday 04th of May 2005 09:03:07 AM
Arigatou gozaimasu, Tomoka-sensei. I hope to learn a lot here.
tomoka
Wednesday 04th of May 2005 11:34:02 AM
Konnichiwa,
anna-san,
I was surprised to read the sentence. They are very good!
I had to return back home , that's why i called a taxis>>>
uchi e modoranakereba naranakatta node, takushii wo yonda
"return" is rather translated "modoru" than "iku"
not "yobitta" but "yonda". if you'd like to say politely,
it's "yobi mashita"
to call
yobu
yo n da ... past tense(normal)
yo bi mashita ... past tense(polite)
to read
yomu
yo n da ... past tense(normal)
yo mi mashita ... past tense(polite)
Can you see the rules? There is the stem "yo".
"n" makes the words sound natural in the case of the normal past tense.
Also "yobu" changes to "yobi" and "yomu" changes to "yomi",
and finally add "mashita" to make the polite past tense.
You can hear the sound "i" often when the verbs
change.
i ki mashita ... I went ( to go = iku )
shi ri mashita ... I knew ( to know = shiru )
ki ki mashita ... I heard ( to hear = kiku )
waka ri mashita ... I understood ( to understand = wakaru )
I explained some of the rules here:
http://www.phrasebase.com/forum/read.php?TID=5610
Konnichiwa LingoGuy-san :)
Nihongo no benkyou wo tanoshinde kudasai.
(I hope you can enjoy studying Japanese.)
tomoka
Aussie_no_hito
Wednesday 04th of May 2005 04:56:37 PM
Tomoka Sensei Go-kigen ikaga desu ka.
Please excuse the long post.
Mainichi nihongo benkyou shimasu.
Demo itsumo wasureru desu ne.
I have had the pleasure of enjoying many nihonjin gakusei stay with us over the years and I would like to thank Hisayo san for helping me to start learning japanese.
It has been a wonderful experience meeting and making new friends.
penparu o futari imasu.???
Toukyou mo Kyoutou ni imasu???
I know this is wrong but I will only learn by trying! I really enjoy thiss forum as I can learn a lot more than is in my books.
ja,soro soro
Mata ne
o-yasumi nasai
Aussie no hito
tomoka
Wednesday 04th of May 2005 08:29:15 PM
Konnichiwa Aussie no hito-san :)
okay, this is some corrections for you:
penparu ga futari imasu.
(I have two penpals.)
Tokyo to Kyoto ni imasu.
(One of them live in Tokyo and another one live in Kyoto.)
wasure masu ne, ( not "wasureru desu" )
Generally, "verb + masu" and "adjective + desu"
kirei = beautiful >> this is adjective
so, "kirei desu" is correct, NOT "kirei masu"
taberu = to eat >> this is verb
so, "tabe masu" is correct, NOT "taberu desu"
soredewa mata! :)
tomoka
utsumi
Thursday 05th of May 2005 08:07:16 AM
hi everyone: how are you?
o genki desuka?
Tomoka san ,
thank you very much
domo arigatou gozaimashita
Do you know about Spitz's new album? hehe so great! i'll get it! their new single " AQUARIUS " is so good ! ^_^
what do you think about this?
Spitz no atarashii arubamu shiteimasuka ? hehe suteki na nodesu ! kore o kai ni iku tsumori da yo XD ! kyokumei no "AQUARIUS" sugoiiii ne XD
dou omoimasuka?
Does anyone has ever been to Ueno zoo ? woaaah there are Panda there ! soo cute ne :)
Dare ka ga Ueno no zoo (sorry) ni itta koto ga aru no? Panda ga imasu yo ne ! kawai da ne :)
:) well , thanx for reading my message.
:) jaa , messeji o yonda kurete arigatou
see you later
Anna
normanjp
Thursday 05th of May 2005 10:41:12 AM
tyotto otazunesimasu...: konnitiwa, minna! kikitaikoto ga arimasukedo.....(Hello,you guys, I just wanna ask you something.)
douyatte, nyuuryokusita hiragana to katakana ga hyoujidekiruyouni narunodesuka? (How can I make it possible for kanas to be displayed?)
imamademo, kanade messeeji o kakikonde, "submit reply" o ositara, mojiwa zenbu "bakemoji"ni nattandesu!! Zenzen yomemasen!! komatteimasu!! (So far, I've been confused to see all my kana-input messages convert into unreadable lines after I push "submit reply")
ittai dousurya iino? osietekudasai!!! (Please tell me how to do it?)
grinner
Thursday 05th of May 2005 01:17:04 PM
Konnichiwa minasan :) to tomoka-sensei and all others, just saying Hi! because it's my first time in here... but been reading and tryingfor a long time to learn nihon-go. I'm okay with the phrases, but when i try to talk to people, i mess up :( guess i need more practise?
... anyway, if i may request something, could all those who speak/write in japanese please include a translation so people like me can understand... i know most of you do, but just in case someone forgets, kudasai? gomen nasai!
p.s. hope we all can improve and help out together :D
normanjp
Thursday 05th of May 2005 02:32:39 PM
to grinner: Thank you, grinner, for reminding me of this. I should have done the translation for my message!! ok, I'll just make it up. I will edit my post again by adding English translation so that you guys can help me. ^^
tomoka
Thursday 05th of May 2005 04:05:36 PM
Konnichiwa normanjp-san,
Did you try to encode another one?
When we have trouble to read japanese letters,
we tried to encode other languages or Unicode and
it worked.
Anna-san,
mada spiz no atarashii kyoku wa kiite imasen.
(I've not listened to the new song of Spiz yet.)
Spiz ga suki nara Mr.children mo suki kamo...
(As you like Spiz, I think you might like the songs of Mr.children.)
Konnichiwa grinner-san,
Anata ga zutto kono fooramu wo yonde kurete iru to shitte ureshii desu.
(I'm glad to know that you've been reading this forum ;) )
Doumo arigatou!
(Thank you~)
normanjp
Friday 06th of May 2005 02:28:30 PM
‚Ç‚¤‚à‚ ‚肪‚Æ‚¤‚²‚´‚¢‚Ü‚·?Iƒgƒ‚ƒJ?æ?¶?IThank you very much, Tomoka-sensei!: ςgJ搶̂ƂłIłłIII(It's just as you said, Tomoka-sensei, it worked!! ^^).Thank you!!
RedSamurai
Friday 06th of May 2005 06:13:46 PM
[b]Ohayou gozaimasu![/b]
(Good morning)
[b]Genki desu ka?[/b]
(How are you doing?)
[b]Fooramu ni youkoso minasan[/b] ;)
(Welcome everyone to the forum)
Tomoka-sensei,
[b]Hisashiburi ne![/b]
(Long time...)
Here are some sentences I made about how things are going on around here:
[b]Natsu wa sekkin shite iru kara, totemo atsui desu yo...[/b] :(
(As summer is approaching, it's getting really hot...)
[b]demo, asa ni sameru koto ga yorimo yasashi[/b] :D
(but waking up in the morning is easier)
[b]Nihon e ryokou to omotte yameru koto ga dekimasen, dakara watashi wa itsumo kuusou desu[/b] :D
(I can't stop thinking about my next trip to Japan, that's why I'm always daydreaming)
I hope they're good :)
[b]Jaa... Ima sukoshi benkyou sureba ii[/b] ;)
(well... Now will be a good time to study a little)
[b]mata ne![/b] :)
(See you!)
monkeytamer
Friday 06th of May 2005 08:49:23 PM
konnichiwa minasan!! (hello everybody)
isogashii dakara koko ni mou 2 gatsu ga imasen (i wasn't here for 2 months already since i was busy)
red samurai no bun wa ii demo sukoshi mondai ga aru (red samurai's sentence is good but i have a few questions)
1. sameru to okiru imi wa onaji desu ka? (is "sameru" and "okiru" the same meaning?)
2.sekkin shite wa nan no imi desu ka? (what is the meaning of "sekkin shite"? )
3."Nihon e ryokou to omotte yameru koto ga dekimasen, dakara watashi wa itsumo kuusou desu"
moshii ue no bun wa kore desu:
"nihon no ryokou to omou koto ga yamenai kara itsumou kuusou desu"
ii desu ka?
(if i rephrase this sentence like this "..." would it be correct?)
raishu gakko no shiken ga aru dakara ima benkyo shinakya. (i have an exam next week so i have to study)
meirei keitai ga tsukawanain de sumimasen. (sorry for using the informal way to talk..)
tomoka
Saturday 07th of May 2005 04:15:33 PM
Konnichiwa nimasan!(Hello everybody!)
normanjp-san,
Dou itashi mashite(You're welcome!)
yokatta desu. (It's good to know you can read the
Japanese letters which you type.)
RedSamurai-san, monkeytamer-san,
I corrected some of your Japanese sentences.
Natsu ga chikai node, totemo atsuku natte kite
imasu.
(As summer is approaching, it's getting really hot...)
demo, asa okiruno wa maeyori kantan ni narimashita.
(but waking up in the morning is easier)
Nihon heno ryokou no koto bakari kangaete ite,
hiruma mo kuusou shite imasu.
(I can't stop thinking about my next trip to Japan,
actually, I'm always thinking about it all day long.)
jyaa, ima sukoshi benkyou suru noni ii jikan nanode...
(well... Now will be a good time to study a little.)
isogashi katta node, mou nikagetsu koko ni kimasen deshita.
(i wasn't here for 2 months already since i was busy)
mondai = problem
shitsumon = question
about monkeytamer-san's questions:
1.
sameru = awake, wake up
okiru = get up, get out of bed
2.
"sekkin suru" means "to approach" or "to close"
about 3. please read the correction above which I wrote.
teinei ni hanasanakute gomen nasai.
(I'm sorry I don't talk in a formal way.)
You don't have to worry about talking in a formal way
or in a casual way here ;)
Your Japanese is very good ;)
tomoka
tomoka
Wednesday 18th of May 2005 08:50:04 PM
Konnichiwa minasan(Hello everyone!),
I'm sure some people's posts(include mine) were lost.
I heard that PhraseBASE is moving to a new server and
because of it, we have some problems. I don't know when
it'll be solved, so when you post here, it's good to have a back up of your message I think.
minasan ogenki de!
(Take care, everyone!)
tomoka
RedSamurai
Thursday 19th of May 2005 09:50:56 PM
Konnichiwa! ;)
(hello)
そう です! それ が すこし くどい よ, さいきん すべて の メッセージ が きえた ので :D
(Yes! That's a little bit annoying since all of the latest posts are lost)
じゃあ また ;)
(see ya)
tomoka
Friday 20th of May 2005 09:04:26 PM
Red-Samurai san,
Hidoi yo ne...(We're annoyed by it...)
I hope it's solved soon...
tomoka
Andhera
Monday 23rd of May 2005 06:56:08 AM
Ohayou minna!
My last post was eaten up by the server changing. I wanted to know what senpai-tachi do to expand their vocabulary. Reading a dictionary seems irrational to me, and I know it won't work for me. (I've tried it ._.; ) So, please share your study tactics with me. ^^
Now, my new question pertains to reading japanese. I've discovered that practising the charts over and over gets me nowhere. So, I'm trying to translate japanese manga. That way I get practise for both kana to romanji and romanji to english. It's like hitting two birds with one stone ^___^ But, as soon as I translated one (quite random) speech bubble, I got lost. All the characters are spaced equally, not like in english where letters of a word are closer together and there are spaces between words. So, can someone please tell me how to read the characters.
What I translated was
Minnaukokigawarusugiruyo!
From that I read something like:
Minna, ukoki ga warusugiru yo.
Or:
Minna, ukoki ga waru sugiru yo.
I would give you the japanese writing, but I do not know how to use Japanese text on my computer.
I would really appreciate any help directed my way.
Thank you in advance ^^
RedSamurai
Monday 23rd of May 2005 09:04:44 PM
Konnichiwa Andhera-san!
Yeah, the server change caused us troubles too ;) but I think it's been fixed by now...
* About your question on how to expand one's vocabulary, and as you said, reading a dictionary won't be the right way in my opinion. I think that the best way would be "PRACTICE": I mean the more you use new words in sentences, the more it will be easier for you to keep them in mind. It does take time but if you really enjoy learning Japanese, then you'll be able to keep up and you'll notice that your vocabulary is gradually improving...
* Actually I had the same problem when I first started to read kana. Kana are written one next to the other unlike romaji which makes it harder to read. So when reading, you should detect the sentence components like "verb(s)" and "markers" such as "ga" "wa" "de" "ni" etc... That will make it easier ;)
As for the sentence you mentionned, I'll let Tomoka-sensei translate it since my translation gave something like:
Minna, ukoki ga waru sugiru yo = everyone, Ukoki is too bad :D
Ukoki = ???
waru = bad
adj + sugiru = too adj
yo is used for emphasis
Well, I hope I was of any help ;)
Mata ne!
Andhera
Monday 23rd of May 2005 10:21:54 PM
Arigatou Samurai-san!
I'll try making new sentences everyday, but I'm still in the process of learning all the verb conjugation rules and sentence structures, et al. My patience isn't compatible with my interest in languages ^^; Demo, ganbarimasu yo. (I was trying to say "But I'll do my best.") Maybe I'll come post up a couple sentences here daily to see if I'm on the right track. I don't want to teach myself the wrong thing, since it's so hard to "unlearn" rules.
As for reading, I had a bunch it would be based on vocabulary and markers. Thanks for clarifying it ^^ Actually, "ukoki" might be wrong, since I could only make out "u" and "ki" clearly, the "ko" was too small and scrunched up for me to read. ^^;
Here is a link to the picture:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v681/Andhera-tan/japtextcopy.jpg
I can't read Kanji yet (actually, I'm still looking up charts for the kana ><; ) so I used the little "helper text" (I think it's called furigana, but I'm not sure.) to figure it out. I'm fairly sure the "ko" is probably wrong, but it looked closest. ^^
Thank you so much for all your help! (How do you say that in Japanese? Since I use it so much, I should find out.)
Andhera
Tuesday 24th of May 2005 05:37:14 AM
Samurai-san, Arigatou ^^
I tried looking up "ko" like characters and found "go" which is "ko" with the nigori, ne. Thank you for pointing that out. I was really running around in circles till then.
Could it mean, "Everybody, this development is too bad/ can't be helped!" ?
Or is it more, "Everybody, this is a bad development?"
Arigatou~!
Andhera
Thursday 26th of May 2005 04:40:53 AM
I was wondering if anyone would be nice enough to give me really simple english sentences to translate to Japanese, so that I can practise. I'm not really good at pulling out random sentences off the top of my head. Thanks.
p.s. You think I should start a new topic like this, because otherwise, I'll keep pestering the people here. ^^ Plus, a lot more people can access the sentences if they wish. Just a thought.
RedSamurai
Saturday 28th of May 2005 02:26:25 AM
こんにちわ みなさん ;)
(Hi everyone!)
Ouka-san,
こんな に こと を かたづけた ので, ほんと に うれしい だ よ :)
(I'm really happy that things has been cleared up)
いま, ようこそ こと を いえる ;)
(Now, I can say that it's nice to have you with us)
Andhera-san,
It's a good idea to have a topic for Japanese sentences! I think you should definetly start it ;)
As a hint, why don't you write sentences about your daily activities? I think that would be an interesting exercise :)
じょあ...おなか が すきました :D
(Well... I'm hungry)
なにか を たべれば いい!!!
(It's time to eat something)
また ね!
(See ya)
tomoka
Saturday 28th of May 2005 04:14:49 PM
Konnichiwa minasan!(Hello everyone)
Ogenki desu ka?(How are you?)
Andhera-san, Red Samurai san,
Ogenki deshita ka?
(How've you been?)
It's a very good idea to post easy sentence to practice Japanese :)
I'll post a new forum like "minna no nikki", it means
"everyone's diary" ;)
mou ika nakucha!
(I've got to go!)
matane!(see you later)
tomoka
Psy
Sunday 29th of May 2005 06:59:01 AM
Hi there. Seems I've been out of the loop for awhile on this forum. However I haven't abandoned it completely, you lucky people you! ;) I was originally writing up an explanation about the wondrous world of spaceless writing, dakuten, kanji and particles, but it seems I'm too late for it. I don't know the exact meaning of that sentence, 'cause there are a bunch of definitions for "ugoki." When it comes to manga, it's really important to have a grasp of nuance, as well as when it's okay to throw away the good 'ole grammar book.
Anyway, Andhera, to express your gratitude you could always say "doumo arigatou gozaimashita," but if I'm not mistaken, "o-sewa ni narimashita" is also acceptable, though I don't know all of the proper contexts for it. Regarding simple English-to-Japanese sentences, give these a shot:
If
watashi wa tegami o kaita means "I wrote a letter."
and
watashi wa tegami o okutta means "I sent a letter."
and
watashi ga kaita tegami means "The letter that I wrote."
How would you say "I sent the letter that I wrote."?
How would you say "The food I ate was bad."?
Okay, so that isn't Japanese 101, but it should give the beginners around here something to try wrapping their brains around.
Gambatte!
Andhera
Sunday 29th of May 2005 11:28:49 AM
Ohayou minna-san,
o-genki desu ka?
Thank you Tomoka-sensei, for making a simple sentences (about daily life thread). I'm sure it'll help us all.
Psy-senpai, I love the way you've set up the exercise. It really made me think, especially about which particle went where. I tried it, and came up with the following.
Watashi ga kaita tegami o okutta. (I sent the letter I wrote.)
Watashi ga tabeta meshi wa warui. (The food I ate was bad.)
I hope those are right, or fairly close. I don't know why, but my instint wants to put "Kaita no tegami". Is that usage of "no" positively wrong, or just extremely uncommon? I might have heard something resembling it before, but am not entirely sure.
o-sewa ni narimashita. =D
Ja matta minna-san ^^
Benjamin_Ferreira
Monday 30th of May 2005 08:07:42 AM
Ello all :)
Just wanted to say that this topic is great and a life saver on some things. I just started to learn japanese (using Rosetta stone software - just finished first set of 10 lessons) and now I'm starting to learn hiragana (some of those "pictures" are a true pain-in-the-
laters
Ben
Psy
Monday 30th of May 2005 08:23:53 AM
Your first answer is spot-on. The second one is close, but to make it past-tense, you say 'warukatta desu.' In my translation, I say 'mazui,' which applies more to food: watashi ga tabeta meshi/tabemono wa warukattta/mazukatta desu
Here's another one:
If mise ni ikimashou ka is "shall we go to the store?"
and
suzuki-san ni kaimono ni ikasemasu. is "I'll have suzuki-san go to the store."
What is "shall we have suzuki-san go to the store?"?
What is "shall we have the kids play tennis in the house?"?
Andhera
Monday 30th of May 2005 10:09:00 AM
So, it would be "Tabemono wa mazukatta desu."? (How is that close? xD) Since 'mono' is thing and 'taberu(?)' is a verb (to eat), so 'tabemono' is 'thing i ate'. In that way, is I want to say 'thing I wrote', would it be 'kaimono'?
(edit: okay, so kaimono is store now @@ *just read the example below* But it still serves to explain my question, so I'll leave it there. ^^ Arigatou psy-san)
Just my curiosity. ^^
Now, let me see if I can do a bit better on this one. ^^
Shall we have Suzuki-sn go to the store.
Suzuki-san ni kaimono ni ikimashou ka.
Shall we have the kids play tennis in the house.
Kodomotachi ni ie ni tennisu o asomashou ka.
The verb is most likely wrong since I'm barely into verb conjugations. But to play, according to this dictionary is "asobu" and children's play is "asobi". So, I tried to logically conjugate it to the best of my ability. ^^
I hope i did better this time. I love this exercises very much! Thank you for providing them for me psy-san.
Psy
Monday 30th of May 2005 12:49:27 PM
Managed to slip that one in while I was writing, Ben. To each his own, but I never found pictures helpful in learning the kana; I just drilled by writing them. ɂĂ (at any rate), welcome to the forums and congratulations on your progress! I'm sure the fine folks here will be glad to help you with where they can.
Andhera, hating to burst your bubble, but you're overthinking it. You're quite correct about the etymology of tabemono, but in practice it's another word for "food." Tabemono/meshi, warukatta/mazukatta, any combination of those would have been correct, it's just a matter of preference. Kaimono means "shopping" and kaimono ni ikimasu means "to go shopping." Time for the answers:
Shall we have Suzuki-san go to the store?
suzuki-san ni mise ni ikasemashou ka.
mise = store
mise ni ikimasu = go to the store
(someone) ni ikasemasu = have (someone) go
suzukisan ni mise ni ikasemashou = let's have suzuki-san go to the store
suzukisan ni mise ni ikasemashou ka = shall we have suzuki-san go to the store?
kodomotachi ni uchi no naka de tenisu o sasemashou ka.
kodomotachi = kids
uchi no naka de = (in) the house. de marks where something happens.
tenisu o shimasu = to play tennis
tenisu o sasemasu = to let play tennis
tenisu o sasemashou ka = shall we let play tennis?
The verb conjugation `[a]seru ([a]semasu) means to have/let/make someone do something, and `mashou suggests an action ("let's do"). Can you see how the conjugations are combined? If not, don't fret, this stuff is well above beginner level grammar. It'll all make sense after a few weeks of delightful hair-whitening frustration.
Here are some easier ones to try translating:
What did you eat yesterday?
About when does the movie start?
I don't like natto.
Happy Birthday!
āI
Ouka the Werewolf Chobit
Tuesday 31st of May 2005 10:05:14 PM
I was just wondering how I would say these sentences:
"Hurry up, WWE Smackdown is coming on!"
"John Cena is the WWE Champion."
"Batista has been screwed by Ric Flair."
& "I'm scared about the WWE Draft next week."
Could anybody help me?
RedSamurai
Wednesday 01st of June 2005 11:56:11 PM
Ohayou minasan!
(Hi everybody)
ouka-san,
Here is how I would translate your sentences -I'm not sure if its how a native would :D- :
* Hurry up, WWE Smackdown is coming on!
=> Sekasete yo, WWE Smackdown wa sugu hajimete iru !
* John Cena is the WWE Champion.
=> John Cena ga WWE Champion desu.
* Batista has been screwed by Ric Flair.
=> Ric Flair ga Batista wo taoshita.
* I'm scared about the WWE Draft next week.
=> Watashi wa raishuu WWE Draft ni ojiru yo!
Well, that's how I would proceed ;)
Mata ne mina-san!
Psy
Thursday 02nd of June 2005 09:56:01 AM
Don't know 100% on my end, either. But since #3 is passive, I'm pretty sure it should go more like:
oX^bNt[ɓ|Ă݂B
balista ga rikku fureyaa ni taosarete miseta.
and since the rest of them are in standard form, #2 should be too:
WVBi[WWE`sIB
John Cena ga WWE champion da.
Maybe yes. Maybe no. Still up in the air as far as I'm concerned.
Ouka the Werewolf Chobit
Thursday 02nd of June 2005 07:10:12 PM
Domo arigato RedSamurai-san & Psy-san! I bet this would help me a lot when I'm in Japan rooming with a WWE fanatic.
Nehehe. :D
martingale
Thursday 02nd of June 2005 07:17:58 PM
.: ともか先生、新しい写真！きれいですよ :)
tomoka
Saturday 04th of June 2005 08:24:00 AM
Konnichiwa minasan!(Hello everyone)
Ogenki desu ka?(How are you?)
"Batista has been screwed by Ric Flair."
= batisuta ga rikku fureiyaa ni taosareta
oeBX^bNEtC[ɓ|ꂽ
Psy-san's "taosareta" is the right answer for "been screwed",
but "taosarete miseta" sounds like "ON PURPOSE,
Batista lose".
Hurry up, WWE Smackdown is coming on!
= isoide, WWE Smackdown ga hajimaru!
I'm scared about the WWE Draft next week.
= raishuu no WWE Draft ga kowai...
(ah...by the way, what is the "WWE Draft"? I don't know
much about wrestling things...)
martingale-san,
sou itte kurete doumo arigatou!
(Thank you for your comment about the picture ;))
Psy
Saturday 04th of June 2005 08:54:03 AM
Many thanks, qʐ搶. I misunderstood the nuance of `Ă݂. Would you mind elaborating on it a little, particularly its use with the passive?
tomoka
Saturday 04th of June 2005 09:31:28 AM
Psy-san,
Well, it's difficult to make natural sentences with the passive...
Anyway, these are some natural sentences in japanese with
"`Ă݂"
ށij͋@Bijɂ͏ځijȂA킩ĂӂĂ݂B
(Although he doesn't know machines much, he pretended he can handle it.)
ށij͗ijijłAޏîjɔiققj݂B
(He was depressed but he tried to smile to her.)
You know, 'miseru' means 'to show'.
the 'miseru' indicates "on purpose" or "by force".
In this case, 'miseru' also can say "mise kakeru",
maybe it's better to understand...
wakari masuka? :)
tomoka
Psy
Saturday 04th of June 2005 10:05:19 AM
Ah, I see. I had thought "to show" could include the English nuance of spite. (my grammar book describes it as "firm resolve,") For instance: "I showed him [I could do it]!" Seems I was mistaken.
Thanks again!
tomoka
Saturday 04th of June 2005 01:15:50 PM
Konnichiwa Psy-san,
Your grammar book is also correct.
miseru(to show)
(among friends)
I showed to him I could do it!
(kare ni dekiru tte koto wo misete yatta yo!)...this is a casual way
(at a shop, shop clerk say)
I'll show you another one.
(betsuno mono wo omise shimashou.)...this is a polite way
miseru(to pretend/to do or say something by force)
He pretended as if he was rich.
(kare wa okanemochi de aruyouni mise kaketa.)
He forced a smile.
(kare wa muri ni waratte miseta.)
tomoka :)
Andhera
Tuesday 14th of June 2005 12:00:28 PM
Ohayou minna.
Sorry for being away so long, but my finals have come around, and there is no more time to procrastinate my studies. When I was in the diary thread, I realized that I either don't know or have forgotten the study affiliated verbs. ^^ So out of curiosity I was wonder what the following were in japanese.
I know "To study" is benkyou (benkyoo?).
But what about:
To read
To write
To speak
To say (if it's different)
To review
To dictate
To organise (only because I'm in dire need of this skill ^^; )
Thank you for any help in advance. ^___^
And Psy-san, I'm so sorry I haven't been keeping up with the sentences. I'll get to it right after I'm freed next monday. Although, off the top of my head I know one of the answers. (I think.)
Happy birthday! = Tanjobi Omedetto!
I'm not sure on the romanji spelling of Tanjobi, because the last syllable is pronouced "bi", but I've seen it spelt Tanjobee too. ^^ Excuse the mistakes. If there are any other ways of saying it, please let me know!
Sore wa matta ne minna-san!
(p.s. "Minna-tachi" is incorrect, ne? Or is it a legal word in japanese?)
Psy
Wednesday 15th of June 2005 12:27:52 PM
Originally posted by Andhera
To read
To write
To speak
To say (if it's different)
To review
To dictate
To organise (only because I'm in dire need of this skill ^^; )
Only know the first four off the top of my head. The rest will have to wait for either someone else of greater vocabulary, or for me to pull out one of my dictionaries... but I like being lazy, so count on the first one. ;)
to read yomu / yomimasu ǂށ^ǂ݂܂
to write kaku / kakimasu@^܂
to speak hanasu / hanashimasu@b^b܂
to say iu / iimasu@^܂
And "Happy Birthday" sounds somewhat like that, but in roumaji it is spelled (o)tanjoubi omedetou. There are a number of variations, so when you can type kana, type kana! Never heard minna-tachi. Minna already means everyone, so you don't really need a plural. Anata-tachi is an actual word, but to use it you'd sound, ehh, somewhat political-speechish.
Q鎞ԂBt@`@₷݁`B
RedSamurai
Wednesday 15th of June 2005 09:25:48 PM
Konnichiwa minasan!
(Hello everyone)
Hisashiburi ne ;)
(Long time no see)
Takusan shiken ni ukareta kara, hikkirinashi benkyou shinakereba narimasen deshita :D
(I had to work all the time, so I could pass the many exams)
Minna, Ogenki desu ka?
(how's everyone?)
Andhera-san,
about the rest of your verb list:
* to review > saikentou suru "if it's in the sense of to re-examine"
* to dictate > kunrin suru
* to organize > tsukuru (I'm not sure:D)
mata ne!
tomoka
Thursday 16th of June 2005 07:48:13 PM
minasan konnichiwa :)
I think Andhera-san wants to know the words which are related to study.
If so, they are translated like these:
To review = Kiӂイj^Kiӂイj܂
To dictate = ijiƁj^ijiƁj܂
To dictate = qij^qij܂
To organise = ܂Ƃ߂^܂Ƃ߂܂
To prepare = Ki悵イj^Ki悵イj܂
RedSamurai-san,
Hisashiburi!(Long time!)
Takusan no shiken ni ukaru(goukaku suru) tame ni,
zutto benkyou shinakereba naranakatta.
̎Ɏiij߂ɁA
ƕȂȂȂB
ŁAǁijсij͎iƁj܂?
sorede, yoi seiseki ha tore mashita ka?
(So, did you get good results?) :D
I hope so ;)
tomoka
monkeytamer
Monday 20th of June 2005 04:22:20 PM
konnichiwa
kono forum wa mou nigatsu ga mienai
(it's already 2 months since i last vissited this forum(i no the sentence is wrong... pls correct me. arigatou)
minasan wa dou deshita ka?
What did you eat yesterday?
About when does the movie start?
I don't like natto.
Happy Birthday!
psy san no shitsumon no kotae wa
1) Kinou nani o tabeta?
2) Nan ji gurai ni eiga o hajimeru?
3) Natto ga kirai da.
4) Tanjobi omedetou!
Psy
Wednesday 22nd of June 2005 12:25:05 PM
If I had to guess, I would say aa, nika getsu mae kara kono forum o minakatta naa, but don't take my word for it. Since you're writing in the plain form, I can only assume that you already know the polite form. Still, I will convert it for the benefit of the other learners here:
1) Kinou nani o tabeta? (pol. kinou nani o tabemashita ka?)
correct!
2) Nan ji gurai ni eiga o hajimeru?
Not quite. When you refer to the time, you use goro, and since we're talking about a movie starting (and not someone starting a movie), you would say eiga wa and hajimaru, respectively: eiga wa nanji goro hajimaru? (pol. eiga wa nanji goro hajimarimasu ka?)
3) Natto ga kirai da.
Correct but very blunt. (pol. natto ga suki ja arimasen / natto wa chotto...)
4) Tanjoubi omedetou!
I think it's customary to always put an honorific on tanjoubi, so it should be otanjoubi omedetou. Again, don't take my word as final here. (pol. otanjoubi omedetou gozaimasu)
soredewa, benkyou o ganbatte!
monkeytamer
Wednesday 22nd of June 2005 11:25:14 PM
hmm...
2) Nan ji gurai ni eiga o hajimeru?
Not quite. When you refer to the time, you use goro, and since we're talking about a movie starting (and not someone starting a movie), you would say eiga wa and hajimaru, respectively: eiga wa nanji goro hajimaru? (pol. eiga wa nanji goro hajimarimasu ka?)
hajimeru to hajimaru wa nani ga chigai desu ka?
(3) no bun wa tomodachi dake ni iimasu to omoimasu ne...
(i can't figure out which particle to put between dake and iimasu. Is it "ni", "to" or "o"?)
Psy san no kotae wa benri datte arigatou
PS: and how do i end a letter in japanese?
( Soshite tegami o owaru wa douyatte kakimasu ka?< is this correct also?)
Thank you in advance :D
Psy
Thursday 23rd of June 2005 02:25:31 AM
I don't have long enough to write a full response now, but know that hajimeru is what's called a transitive, meaning someone starts something. (someone makes it start) Hajimaru is an intransitive, and it means that something starts. (no one makes it start)
eiga ga hajimaru the movie starts.
sono hito wa eigo o hajimeru that person started the movie.
That help?
monkeytamer
Friday 24th of June 2005 08:37:48 PM
ah... soudesu ka?
arigatou!
tomoka
Saturday 25th of June 2005 01:19:34 PM
konnichiwa,(hello)
minasan ogenki deshita ka?
(How've you been?)
Psy-san wa ii sensei desu ne! ;)
Doumo arigatou gozaimasu!!
monkeytamer-san,
tegami no owari wa...
If you mean email or casual letters to friends,
we say:
ogenki de!(Take care)
soredeha mata!(talk to you soon)
renraku matte masu. (Hope to hear from you soon)
ohenji matte masu. (I'm waiting a reply from you.)
kaze ni ki wo tsukete!(Don't catch a cold!)
...it seems like "ill" reminds us "a cold".
when someone say "guai ga warui(I don't feel well.)",
we would ask "kaze hiita?"(did you catch a cold?).
So, in the endings of the letters, we often write
"Kaze ni kiwo tsukete!"
If in the case of formal letters,
we write: "Keigu" or "sousou".
tomoka
oviaukko
Sunday 26th of June 2005 01:13:03 AM
konnichiwa all great people who speak japanese.
i'm a newbie and i know nothing of the language. really. but i was wondering as i read some of these replies:
if "I can speak finnish, so I can help you" = "watashi wa finrando-go wo hanasemasu node anata wo tetsudau koto ga deki masu."
then what part of it is "i can speak finnish"? is it "watashi wa finrando-go"?
also, how would you ask "do you speak english"? (a very useful thing, hehe)
thanks!
hazel
Psy
Sunday 26th of June 2005 01:41:22 AM
Sure. The "(watashi wa) finrando-go wo hanasemasu" part is "I can speak Finnish." Likewise, "eigo ga hanasemasu ka." is "Can you speak English?" To use ga/o(wo) is really your option, (you will be understood either way) but somehow I feel ga is more appropriate in this case.
Newbies are always welcome here... at least, after they go though the initiation...
Ainariel-hime
Sunday 26th of June 2005 05:53:35 PM
Konnichiwa everyone! I'm a newbie too, killing my poor brain with learning hiragana at the moment :D but I love this language, so it's all right really :)
And, Psy, you're scaring me... XDDD
I read some of the topic but 16 pages is too much for me to read now... so maybe this has been asked already, I'm sorry if it was... but I noticed that when a word has u on the end, like inotteru, they don't pronounce the u- I only noticed it was there because I looked in the lyrics of the song in question. Can anyone explain why this is?
Thank you much :)
Ainariel-hime
Psy
Monday 27th of June 2005 03:20:25 AM
Can't really explain so much why it is (unless of course you want to delve into heavy-duty linguistics and the way the human voice works, of which I know little enough about to begin with) so much as that is is. Lots of times both 'I's and 'U's are whispered. In desu and masu, for instance... but not all the time. For instance, you say shitteru and the 'I' is whispered but the 'U' is pronounced distinctly. Even so, to sound super-poilite and somewhat girly, people will pronounce the su in desu and masu, so there are no hard-and-fast rules. You'll pick up the feel of it as you go along.
About the 16 pages that gives me an idea. I've been wanting to publish a nihongo web site for a long time now, but I haven't had the content to start one. I suppose, providing it's okay with the members here, I could slice & dice this thread and make the various points easy to find. What do you folks think? Is it okay with you, Tomoka搶?
tomoka
Monday 27th of June 2005 03:31:16 PM
Konnichiwa Psy-san,
とてもいい考えですね！
I've been thinking about organizing this forum thread though, I don't have enough time to do it.
If you could do it, I'm sure it's better for members here.
We can link our websites and help each other now and in the future. ;)
Stephanye
Tuesday 28th of June 2005 05:20:55 AM
Sumimasen...: I'm not sure if that has already been asked, but I have a question about typing the characters...How does one do so on an English keyboard? I have the fonts to allow Japanese characters (though I don't know why Psy-san's characters come out in not-Japanese characters) but I've no idea how to type them. ^^;
Psy
Tuesday 28th of June 2005 09:02:36 AM
Originally posted by Stephanye
I'm not sure if that has already been asked, but I have a question about typing the characters...How does one do so on an English keyboard? I have the fonts to allow Japanese characters (though I don't know why Psy-san's characters come out in not-Japanese characters) but I've no idea how to type them. ^^;
Wow. Never knew you could change colors in this, nor that you can utilize HTML. Fun. Regarding inputting Japanese, it really depends on your operating system, so I can't answer you. To see my writing, try changing the text encoding (view menu) to Shift-JIS.
Glad to have your approval/permission for the idea, Tomoka-sensei. I'll start working on it immediately. :)
| Fun with HTML! | ||
|---|---|---|
| UP! | ||
| LEFT! | RIGHT! | |
| DOWN! | ||
| (don't mess with this stuff unless you really know what you're doing. You could mess up the forum big-time. | ||
RedSamurai
Tuesday 28th of June 2005 11:41:45 PM
こんにちわ みなさん!
(Hello everybody)
やっと! ホルム に かえります よ :D
(At last! I'm back to the forum)
あのう, みな さん は おげんき です か?
(so, Is everyone okay ?)
ともかさん,
(Tomoka-san)
ひさしぶり ね :)
(It's been a long time)
にほん の なつ が どう です か?
(How is summer in Japan)
ここ は じごく よりも あつい :D
(Here, It's hotter than hell)
ステハニ さん,
(Stephanye-san)
About your question about inputing Japanese charaters with an english keyboard, it's been already asked earlier but no problem ;)
Here's what you should do:
* Download the Japanese font below:
http://osdn.dl.sourceforge.jp/efont/10087/sazanami-20040629.tar.bz2
Click on the URL or copy->paste in your browser
* Then you could use the [b]character table[/b] (Start>Programs>Accesories>System tools>Character table) to write in Kana or Kanji :)
You won't use keyboard to type but still, it'll let you input Japanese ;)
I hope I was of some help...
サイさん,
(Psy-san)
あなた の どりょく を ありがとう :)
(Thank you for you efforts)
がんばって ください ;)
(Keep up the good work)
じょあ... また ね!
Psy
Thursday 30th of June 2005 09:55:42 AM
Thanks for your support folks, and welcome back RedSamurai!
I'm revising the messages rather thoroughly for correctness and clarity, and organizing them in such a way so that it won't require an hour to read. It turns out to be quite a task. I've only finished 2 of 16 so far. Whew.
Don't get mad at me if you find your messages barely resembling their former selves; if you should happen to have a bone to pick, I'll send my pet dragon over to eat you.
Good day.
tomoka
Sunday 03rd of July 2005 08:04:43 PM
Konnichiwa minasan!(Hello, everyone!)
RedSamurai-san,
ogenki desu ka?(how are you?)
Eigo wo katakana ni suru nowa muzukashii desu ne.
(It's difficult to translate from English to Japanese
katakana, isn't it?)
forum = フォーラム
Stephany = ステファニー
Psy = hm...I'm not sure what I can say it in Japanese...
Psy-san,
今までのメッセージが、とても見やすくなりました。
どうもありがとうございます！
時間がかかって大変ですよね、みんなのためにありがとう。
とても感謝しています！！
トモカ
Psy
Monday 04th of July 2005 02:51:41 AM
"Psy"J^JiɂAuTCvɂȂƎv܂B:) 搶̑R̃bZ[ŴȂÃy[W͍悤ɂȂ܂B炱肪Ƃ܂B
RedSamurai
Monday 04th of July 2005 09:26:27 AM
ɂ ݂Ȃ!
gJ
ł ;)
肪Ƃ...
ł ? o.O
܂ ₳ ł ܂ ̂ :D
[b]forum = tH[[/b] 킩܂ [b]Stephany = Xet@j[[/b] قƂ 킩܂ ł:
Stephany ɂق SUTEFANI ܂ ?
܂ !
IrPmr :D
tomoka
Monday 04th of July 2005 08:34:17 PM
Psy-san,
搶̑R̃bZ[WȂA
̃y[W͍܂ł
Your Japanese is excellent ;)
IrE :D ,
₳ Ă܂EEE
Yes, you're collect. It's SUTEFANII.
tomoka
daomingszi
Saturday 16th of July 2005 06:16:19 PM
Hi,Tomoka-San. Konnichiwa! :) Watashi wa Firipinjin desu. 28 sai. Hajimemashite yoroshiku onegai shimasu. Hontou ni kono Forum o daisuki desu ne! :)
So, how's dat? From now, I already knew some Japanese and I still want to learn more. This is the first language that I want to master.
By the way, you can also call me [b]"Doumyouji"[/b] in Japanese. (Dao Ming Szi is Chinese)
I'll be back. Domo arigatou gozaimasu. Sayounara. :)
tomoka
Sunday 17th of July 2005 02:38:17 PM
Konnichiwa Doumyouji san :)
If you have much time to study Japanese,
try to visit this website:
http://japanese.about.com/
Thank you for the post!
tomoka
daomingszi
Sunday 17th of July 2005 07:46:45 PM
Thanks for the website, Tomoka-San. :) I will give more time to study Japanese. With my Chinese background, my dictionaries and the internet, I can learn more Kanji, especially the difficult ones.
Wish me luck. :)
redsamurai
Thursday 21st of July 2005 09:49:29 AM
konnichiwa daomingszi-san ;)
Welcome to the forum! I hope you'll enjoy learning Japanese along with everyone here :)
N.B: Your post doesn't show up in the main forum window, maybe it's some login problem...
Mata ne!
Dao_Ming_Szi
Friday 22nd of July 2005 06:09:05 PM
Konnichiwa, Tomoka-San and to Red Samurai-San. I'm back. :)
You know, my old profile or account was being removed and I really didn't expect that. I know that I've done nothing wrong. All I really want is to learn more languages. And first of all, I want to learn Japanese. I hope I'll be here for long, ang count on me - I will stay. I won't stop learning Japanese.
Domo arigatou gozaimashita. :)
tomoka
Friday 22nd of July 2005 07:59:56 PM
Konnichiwa Doumyouji-san,
I'm sorry to hear that your old profile was removed...
Phrasebase is under construction now.
We may have some trouble because of it...
sumimasen...
Anyway, if you have any questions, please post! ;)
tomoka
Dao_Ming_Szi
Saturday 23rd of July 2005 07:16:44 PM
It's okay, Tomoka-San. :) Hontou ni, totemo ureshii desu ne. I'm very happy because I came back. And you've been waiting for me.
I tell you one of the things I know: Calligraphy or writing characters.
If I know Japanese writing, much better. You already know my Chinese background. Right? I'll even try to post some writings sooner or later.
I'll be back again. Sayounara. ;)
Dao_Ming_Szi
Sunday 24th of July 2005 01:44:44 PM
こんにちわ、ともかさん。:)
これは私の日本のプロファイル*ネイムです:
道明寺。
Can you read my profile name in Kanji, Tomoka-San? I hope you do. :)
tomoka
Sunday 24th of July 2005 06:49:36 PM
こんにちわ道明寺さん
はい、私は、道明寺さんの書いた漢字が読めます。
(Hai, watashi wa doumyouji san no kaita kanji ga yome masu)
tomoka :)
*thanks, redsamurai-san. I corrected it.
Darksoul
Tuesday 26th of July 2005 01:01:45 PM
Konnichiwa, minna-san! And particularily Tomoka-sensei!
Boku no namae wa Daakusouru desu. Demo Neo to yonde kudasai.
(My name is Darksoul, but please call me Neo.)
My real name is Lydia. I'm new at "romanizing" names, but Darksoul can be turned to Daaukusouru and Lydia to Ridia, unh?
I know bits and pieces of nihongo from the odds and ends I have gathered on the net. Especially the Nihongo lessons from a zasshi called "Shonen Jump".
I know "dark" is "yami", but what is "soul"?
I know how to write a single word in katagana, by heart: "Zero".
Is "Boku" really a boyish way of refering to oneself?
Zero is a popular terebi gemu (video game) character, and he's refered thorough the games as "Red Demon", "Red Hunter", "Crimson Hunter" and "Crimson Devil". How would you say those?
What do japanese call Sabres/Sabers? Not a Katana or a wakizashi, but a real saber. A beam saber, to be exact.
Now, I'd like to know a few colors: Gold, blonde (if it's different from gold, and I'm refering to the hair color), blood red (and blood would be appreciated as well) and blue.
If Nezumi-Kozo means "rat-boy", would Kitsune-Kozo mean "fox-boy"? Or is there another word for a fox? And what would the suffix become for a girl?
I've seen two words associated with foxes: "kitsune" and "inari". I know kitsune are fox demons/spirits, but what is inari?
This is enough questions for now.
Arigatou gozaimazu, minna-san, for listening to me! Oyasumi nasai (well, from my time zone, anyway)!
Psy
Tuesday 26th of July 2005 03:38:54 PM
Fooramu e youkoso, neo-san! I don't know about that katagana stuff, but man, I'm so totally fluent in hirakana. ;) (perhaps you meant katakana?) Most of your questions could be answered by spending 5-10 minutes on Google, but I'll answer a couple of them because I'm nice:
Inari (ׁjis the mythological goddess of rice and harvest, whose messengers are fox, often also called Inari, which according to legend are quite fond of rice and tofu. (figured out my site's title yet, guys?) Hence the Japanese treat inari-zushi (ij, which are pouches of fried tofu stuffed with rice. Delicious. Oishii. Umai! (see a picture [url=http://www.cozinhajaponesa.com.br/receitas/f_r_inarizushi.jpg]HERE)
Boku (lj is indeed masculine, and has a friendly (but not necessarily boyish) sound to it. It's not strictly formal, but it isn't informal either. Keep your ears out and you'll hear it all the time.
Interestingly enough, kin-iro(F) is gold as a color, and kin-botsu () means blonde hair. In Kanji they are gold-color and gold-hair, respectively. Interesting, huh? burondo (uh) also works, but I've never liked wasei-eigo.
With a little extra effort, I'm confident you can find the rest of the answers yourself. Welcome to the forum and oyasuminasai (from where I live)!
EҐ搶 (O@nn`)
tomoka
Tuesday 26th of July 2005 07:31:24 PM
Enchante Lydia, bienvenu!
Thanks again, Psy-san.
I always appreciate your help.
kin-patsu = 金髪（きんぱつ）
Kozo = こぞう = 小僧 >>> for boys
Komusume = こむすめ = 小娘 >>> for girls
But I've never heard of (something)-komusume.
Kozo means 'a kid' or 'a brat', it indicates that
the boy is a saucy child.
"Red Demon" = aka oni = 赤鬼（あかおに）
"Red Hunter" = aka i hantaa = 赤（あか）いハンター
"Crimson Hunter" = shinku no hantaa = 深紅（しんく）のハンター
"Crimson Devil" = shinku no akuma = 深紅（しんく）の悪魔（あくま）
About the rest of words, please try to check on Google or other dictionary.
It'll be a good practice ;)
tomoka
Psy
Wednesday 27th of July 2005 03:02:42 AM
Goodness gracious! What is my problem with typos lately? ςI It's ρI ρI
Anonymous
Saturday 30th of July 2005 12:33:38 PM
konnichiwa minasan.
watashiwa cristina desu.
philippines kara kimashita.
nu juu-sai desu.
douzo yoroshiku onegai shimasu.
i am also a japanese language enthusiast... i have been studying japanese since i was in college. i know some basic stuffs... i would like to improve my japanese. i am very happy to know that there is a forum like this... doumo arigatou, tomoka-san (and to the others, too)... you are a big help. :) is there a site where i can study kanji? i love writing their characters. ;)
thanks for all the help. ja, mata ne.
tomoka
Saturday 30th of July 2005 03:38:27 PM
Konnichiwa cristina-san, welcome to the Japanese language forum!
Are you 20 years old?
So, it's "ni-jyussai(にじゅっさい)" or "hatachi(はたち)".
'Hatachi' is another way to say '20 years old' :)
watashi wa hatachi desu = watashi wa ni-jyussai desu = I'm 20 years old.
How about this website for learning Kanji? :
http://www.kanjistep.com/index.html
ganbatte kudasai!
tomoka
Salanti
Sunday 31st of July 2005 12:21:35 PM
Domo Arigato tomoka, I have a Speak Japanese Today book, and this helped me out a bit more then the hon!
tomoka
Sunday 31st of July 2005 02:13:09 PM
Konnichiwa Salanti-san, Nihongo fooramu e youkoso!
(Hello, Salanti. Welcome to the Japanese forum.)
If you have any questions about Japanese language,
we're here for you ;)
ganbatte kudasai!(Do your best!)
tomoka
Dao_Ming_Szi
Sunday 31st of July 2005 05:18:13 PM
トモカさん、皆さん、こんにちわ。よろしくお願いします。:)
I really miss all of you here. Long time no message. Nowadays, I'm giving myself at least two (2) hours of learning Japanese.
本当に、一生懸命勉強します！
I will really give my best learning it. :)
redsamurai
Monday 01st of August 2005 11:30:48 AM
今日は皆さん ;)
(Hello everyone!)
久し振りね!
(It's been a long time!)
新しいメンバーズよ､ これが本当に凄いね :)
(New members! That's really great)
クリスチナさん, サランチさん,
(Cristina-san, salanti-san)
このフォオラムにようこそ;)
(Welcome to the forum)
道明寺さん,
(Dao Ming Szi-san)
頑張ってください ;)
(Try your best!)
May the force be with you :D
My regards to Tomoka-san, and everybody :)
AluNightAnge
Wednesday 03rd of August 2005 10:07:24 AM
Hi, I'm erally new to all this and I don't kno where to start. I want to learn japanese, I don't know anything other than "kitsune" means fox and "neko" means cat.
my skype name is AluNightAnge, but I don't have a mircophone yet, I will get one soon though. I really want to learn al I can. :D
~Rai
tomoka
Wednesday 03rd of August 2005 06:56:33 PM
みなさん、こんにちわ
minasan, konnichiwa.
(Hello, everyone)
お元気（げんき）ですか？
ogenki desu ka?
(How are you?)
またすぐにお会（あ）いしましょう！
mata suguni oai shimashou!
(See you soon.)
tomoka
BlueHippo
Monday 08th of August 2005 04:43:40 PM
Minna-san Konnichiwa. Ogenki desu ka?
(Hello, everyone. How are u all?)
Watashi wa namae o BlueHippo desu. Doozo yoroshiku.
(My name is BlueHippo. Nice to meet u.)
Watashi wa Malaysia-jin desu.
Nihongo no benkyou wo hajimeta bakari desu.
(I am a Malaysian and I just started studying Japanese.)
So please correct me if i got any wrongs. Arigatou.
* How to say "so please correct me if i got any wrongs" in Nihongo?
Nihongo Anime to ongaku o daisuki desu, dakara nihongo o benkyou shimasu.
(I love japanese Anime and Jpop song very much, so I learn japanese.)
Tomoka-sensei, your lessons have been great and it help me a lots! Arigatou
There are some questions I want to ask, hope u all can help me.
How to say "Can I help u?" in Japanese?
Then If some one asking me a directions to go to some place how do I answer it....
Can give me some example?
Something like go straight, turn left, turn right, opposite, behind, in front, across and etc...
I am also a bit confuse on using wa,wo,de,ga,no,mo,yo.....
Don't know when to use it....I just know when it is people then use wa, watashi wa, is it correct?
Beside, I also start learning Hiragana and Katagana.
Hope can help me to read more japanese sentences.
Messeji wo yonda kurete arigatou. (Thanks for reading my message)
*What is "yonda" and "kurete" means?
Koko ga suki desu! (I love this place)
mata. (See ya)
BlueHippo
Psy
Tuesday 09th of August 2005 12:38:44 PM
Welcome to the forum, BlueHippo! Good to have you. I can't answer all of your questions, but here are a few things:
Originally posted by BlueHippo
Watashi wa namae o BlueHippo desu. Doozo yoroshiku.
(My name is BlueHippo. Nice to meet u.)
Should be watashi no namae wa.
Originally posted by BlueHippo
So please correct me if i got any wrongs. Arigatou.
* How to say "so please correct me if i got any wrongs" in Nihongo?
In English it is better to say, "please correct me if I've made any mistakes." And in Japanese, while I'm not certain, I think it is:
machigai ga attara, oshiete kudasai.
Originally posted by BlueHippo
Nihongo Anime to ongaku o daisuki desu, dakara nihongo o benkyou shimasu.
(I love japanese Anime and Jpop song very much, so I learn japanese.)
nihon no anime ya ongaku ga daisuki desu kara, nihongo wo benkyou suru tsumori desu.
Originally posted by BlueHippo
How to say "Can I help u?" in Japanese?
In what context?
Originally posted by BlueHippo
Something like go straight, turn left, turn right, opposite, behind, in front, across and etc...
massugu itte kudasai (go straight)
hidari ni magatte kudasai (turn left)
migi ni magatte kudasai (turn right)
[b]something[/b] no mae ni (in front of [b]something[/b])
[b]something[/b] no ushiro ni (behind [b]something[/b])
[b]someplace[/b] o (through [b]someplace[/b])
Originally posted by BlueHippo
I am also a bit confuse on using wa,wo,de,ga,no,mo,yo.....
Everyone is at first. Don't worry about it. You'll pick them up as you learn more.
Originally posted by BlueHippo
Don't know when to use it....I just know when it is people then use wa, watashi wa, is it correct?
watashi wa is used often, especially by learners. You're correct!
Originally posted by BlueHippo
Messeji wo yonda kurete arigatou. (Thanks for reading my message)
*What is "yonda" and "kurete" means?
Should be yonde kurete arigatou, and this is a fairly advanced sentence. yonde comes from yomu (to read) and kurete comes frmo kureru (an honorific). It would take awhile to explain it, so just trust that it means "thanks for reading my message" for now. :)
Originally posted by BlueHippo
Koko ga suki desu! (I love this place)
watashi mo! (so do I!)
chriss
Tuesday 09th of August 2005 01:44:35 PM
Quote:Originally posted by BlueHippo
I am also a bit confuse on using wa,wo,de,ga,no,mo,yo.....
Ok, i'm gonna have a go at explaining it (very) briefly:
WA- Wa is the 'topic marker', it marks what the speaker wants to talk about, and is a bit like saying "as for X," in English. 'watashi wa kurisu desu', is like saying "as for me, i'm chris". It is often used for the subject of the sentence (who does the action of the verb), but that is not technically its function - this will be explained a bit better when we talk about 'GA' later...
WO- wo marks the direct object of the verb (the thing which the verb is done to - so in the example "i eat the apple", 'I' is the subject, and 'the apple' is the object. In Japanese, 'the apple' (ringo) would be marked by 'wo', and the 'I' (watashi) by 'wa' or 'ga'. i.e. 'watashi wa/ga ringo WO tabemasu'
DE- De marks where the action takes place, and can be translated as in/at/on etc. depending on the noun it's used with. So in the phrase "i am learning Japanese at school", 'school' (gakkou) would be marked with 'de'. The word marked by 'de' usually comes near the front of the sentence, but after the subject. i.e. "watashi WA gakkou DE nihongo WO benkyou shite imasu". However, when using the verbs 'iru' and 'aru' (both meaning to be/exist), you should use 'ni' instead of 'de', e.g. "gakkou NI imasu" (I'm at school). There are other uses for 'de', but that comes later...
GA- This marks the subject of the sentence (the person doing the verb). Many learners get confused about the difference between 'wa' and 'ga'. In simple terms, 'ga' is a grammatical particle to mark the subject, whereas 'wa' introduces what one is talking about as the topic for the discussion. Technically, 'wa' can replace other particles, such as 'wo', whereas 'ga' cannot. I'm planning to post something about the uses of 'wa' and 'ga' soon on the Grammar/Vocabulary thread, but for now suffice to say that often you can use either, but not always, and people usually take a very long time to get used to it...I still make mistakes with 'wa' and 'ga' now and then. It's just one of these things that make learning a new language more... interesting.
NO- 'No' links two nouns in a close relationship to one another, usually of ownership. E.g. "watashi NO namae" (MY name), or like a construction using 'of' in english: "Nihon no kuruma" (the cars OF Japan, i.e - Japanese cars). 'No' is also used occasionally instead of 'ga', but only in a modifying clause: "watashi NO notte iru basu" (the bus that i'm riding). 'No' is also used like 'koto' to turn verbs into nouns: "taberu KOTO/NO ga suki desu" (I like eating).
MO- 'Mo' simply means 'aswell/too':"watashi mo" (me too), "ringo MO suki desu ka?" (do you like apples aswell?), "watashi mo gakkou he ikimasu" (I'm going to school too". If a verb ends in '-te MO', it means 'even though (verb)'.
YO- 'yo' is used at the end of a sentence which you wanna give emphasis or stress to. Think of it as an audible '!'.
Hope this helps.... ;-)
BlueHippo
Thursday 11th of August 2005 03:44:36 PM
Doomo Arigatou :): minna-san konnichiwa, Psy-san to chriss-san wa konnichiwa :)
Psy-san, chriss-san thanks for reply. Arigatou gozaimashita
Psy-san, thanks for the corrections and the examples. :)
One question:
when do we use benkyou shimasu and benkyou suru tsumori desu?
For the "can I help u", I want to use it when I see people need help. Like when some one is lost, then i want to help them.
For the direction, can give me example?? like:
Go straight from here, when u see a book shop turn left. The wash room is beside the gift shop.
Chriss-san, ur explaination is very clear. Doomo Arigatou. I get what u mean now, but still dont know when to use wa and ga. i think i need more time to practise :D
Again, there are some questions i want to ask....
Do I need to understand each word in japanese? Each word will have it's own meaning, right?
There are so many words that i dont know in nihongo, like machigai ga attara, oshiete kudasai. I know what the whole sentence means but i dont know the meaning of each word. i need to check for the romanji dictionary.....I have a site which can translate nihongo to english but not for romanji. Any one got a good site to translate romanji to english?? Arigatou
Can help me with below questions:
Where are u come from?
-> ????????
How old are u?
-> Anata wa nan sai desu ka?
What is ur gender?
-> ????????
What is ur job?
-> Oshigota wa nani desu ka?
What is ur hobbies?
-> ????????
What language are u learning?
-> ????????
*I hope I can use it on the chat room*
Messeji wo yonda kurete arigatou
mata
BlueHippo
redsamurai
Thursday 11th of August 2005 08:32:17 PM
Konnichiwa BlueHippo-san :)
Chriss-san, ur explaination is very clear. Doomo Arigatou. I get what u mean now, but still dont know when to use wa and ga. i think i need more time to practise :D
I think I might help you a bit about the use of "ga" and "wa":
[u][b]GA:[/b][/u] Is the [b]grammatical[/b] subject in the senetence, so you put it after the the part(noun, pronoun...) that actually DID the action.
Ex:
Kono hon [b]ga[/b] totemo omoshiroi desu .
This book is very interesting .
[u][b]WA:[/b][/u] Is used to show the general topic you're talking about in a sentence, not necessary the grammatical subject of the senetence.
Ex1:
Kono hon [b]wa[/b] totemo omoshiroi desu .
This book is very interesting .
> You can see that we can use "wa" or "ga" since the subject of the sentence is in the same time the topic of the sentence!
Ex2:
Nippon wa takushi ga sukoshi takai desu .
[b]litteral trans:[/b] Talking about Japan , taxis are a little expensive .
[b]better trans:[/b] Taxis in Japan are a liitle expensive.
> This sentence is a good example of the difference between "ga" and "wa" ;)
when do we use benkyou shimasu and benkyou suru tsumori desu?
As far as I know, [b]base 3 + tsumori desu[/b] is used to express an intention:
* watashi wa nihongo wo benkyou shimasu >> I study Japanese.
* watashi wa nihongo wo benkyou suru tsumori desu >> I plan to study Japanese.
I hope I was of some help.
And don't worry about making mistakes, everyone "daz :D".
Ganbatte kudasai ;)
(Keep up the good work)
matane!
chriss
Thursday 11th of August 2005 09:09:40 PM
Quote: when do we use benkyou shimasu and benkyou suru tsumori desu?
- 'Benkyou shimasu' simply means "I/he/she(etc.) Studies".
- 'Benkyou suru tsumori desu' means "I intend to study", or
"i will study (in the near future)".
'-tsumori desu' basically shows that the speaker has a strong wish or intention to do the action in the near future. In your sentence earlier 'benkyou suru tsumori desu' was (a little) inappropriate because it is obvious that you already are studying Japanese. It wasn't a huge grammatical mistake; it's simply an example of using a word in a slighty weird context. This happens ALOT when foreigners learn Japanese, which is why i've started a grammar/vocab thread. I'll explain '-tsumori desu' on it at some point.
Quote: For the direction, can give me example?? like:
Go straight from here, when u see a book shop turn left. The wash room is beside the gift shop.
- (koko kara) massugu itte, honya wo miru to hidari ni magatte, koinrandorii wa gifutoshoppu no tonari ni arimasu.
(word-for-word translation: (here from) straight go-and, bookshop (obj.) see if/and left to turn-and, laundromat (top.) gift-shop 's next-to at exists.) - I gave you a word-for-word translation because you said you wanted to know what every word in a sentence means, but it is very hard to translate japanese word-for-word into a language as different as english. It's also probably not a good idea when learning japanese to think in english translation, because that will stop your japanese sounding natural. I didn't know whether you meant 'laundromat' or 'toilet' by "washroom", so i gave laundromat in the translation.
Quote: For the "can I help u", I want to use it when I see people need help. Like when some one is lost, then i want to help them.
Someone in a shop would probably say "nani ka go-you deshou ka?" or "nani wo sashiagemashou ka?". If someone looked lost you would probably just ask "are you lost?" (Mayotte imasu ka?). It really does depend on the situation...
Quote: Again, there are some questions i want to ask....
Do I need to understand each word in japanese? Each word will have it's own meaning, right?
There are so many words that i dont know in nihongo, like machigai ga attara, oshiete kudasai.
- It helps to understand each word, but initially it's not essential. Japanese has loads of set phrases and expressions that you can just learn off-by-heart. These phrases are usually restricted to certain situations though...
Finally, some of your translations:
-Where are you from? = Doko kara kimashita ka?
-How old are you? = Nan-sai desu ka?
-What is your gender? = Dansei desu ka? Josei desu ka?
-What is your job? - O-shigoto wa nan desu ka?/ Nani wo shiteiru hito desu ka?
-What are your hobbies? - Shumi wa nan desu ka?
-What language are you learning? - Nan no/dono gengo wo benkyou shite imasu ka?
One last thing: Thankyou for reading my message is "messEEji wo yonDE kurete arigatou".
Keep up the hard work...
Mike_Jahncke
Friday 12th of August 2005 12:53:31 AM
I noticed a pattern w/ Hiragana and Katakana!!: Ok w/ Nigori ( the two marks in the upper right corner)
h = b
k = g
s = z
t = d
sh = j
f = v
w/ maru (the little circle in the upper right)
h = e
That is all.
PS: Tomoka -san, how do you say Switzerland in Japanese? I know Germany is Doitsu, but I can't think of Switzerland.
tomoka
Friday 12th of August 2005 06:47:48 PM
Konnichiwa minasan!
すみません、最近（さいきん）忙（いそが）しくて・・・。
sumimasen, saikin isogashikute...
I'm sorry (not to come here), I've been busy lately.
Switzerland = suisu = スイス
matane!(see you soon!)
tomoka
Mike_Jahncke
Friday 12th of August 2005 11:44:55 PM
domo arigato sinsei
Psy
Saturday 13th of August 2005 04:00:28 AM
Originally posted by chriss
'-tsumori desu' basically shows that the speaker has a strong wish or intention to do the action in the near future. In your sentence earlier 'benkyou suru tsumori desu' was (a little) inappropriate because it is obvious that you already are studying Japanese. It wasn't a huge grammatical mistake; it's simply an example of using a word in a slighty weird context. This happens ALOT when foreigners learn Japanese, which is why i've started a grammar/vocab thread. I'll explain '-tsumori desu' on it at some point.
Thanks thanks. Do excuse me for never being able to practice stuff like this. ;) All part of the learning process, right?
BlueHippo
Monday 15th of August 2005 02:38:05 PM
Minna-san, konnichiwa :)
Chriss-san to redsamurai-san, messeeji wo yonde kurete arigatou ;)
Sorry for not reply. Busy on last weekend.
redsamurai-san, thanks for giving me the Wa and Ga example.
And Chriss-san, thanks for ur direction example.
==============================================================================
Can check for me whether I am right using wa,ga,wo,de,no and mo?
Examples:
1.Kono honya wa hon ga totemo yasui desu ne.
(Books in this book shop are very cheap.)
2.Doubutsuen wa kirin to shimauma ga takusan wo arimasu desu.
(The zoo have many giraffes and zebras.)
3.Nihon wa doubutsuen de takusan doubutsu wo arimasu desu.
(The Zoo at Japan have many animals.)
4.Ashita shiken wo arimasu kara, gakoo wa shitei ga totemo ishogashi desu.
(School's teachers and students are very busy because tomorrow will have test.)
5.Watashi no uchi wa ni ko terabi wo arimasu desu.
(I have two televisions in my house.)
6.Watashi mo ichigo ga suki wo tabemasu desu.
(I like to eat strawberry.)
==============================================================================
==============================================================================
Here is some examples that I made for direction:
Examples:
1.Koko kara massugu itte, tokoya wo miru to migi ni magatte. Yuubinkyoku wa ginkou no ushiro ni arimasu.
(From here go straight, when u see a barber shop turn right. The post office is behind the bank.)
2.Anata no daigaku kara hidari ni magatte sorekara massugu itte. Made kyoukai wo miru to migi ni magatte.
Byouin wa anata no hidari ni arimasu.
(From ur college turn left then go straight until u see a church. Turn right and the hospital is on ur left hand side.)
==============================================================================
Chriss-san to redsamurai-san, I am clear with benkyou suru tsumori,
but I wonder whether i can use in other place....like
shirimasu suru tsumori? (plan to do)
arimasu suru tsumori? (plan to have)
And lastly, chriss-san, thanks for the answers. I had use it in the chat room :D
DoMo AriGaTou
mata ne ~
BlueHippo
Psy
Wednesday 17th of August 2005 03:14:13 AM
It looks like you have the right idea, but unfortunately, there are lots of corrections needed. Don't have time to write a full response, but here are a few things to note:
1.Kono honya wa hon ga totemo yasui desu ne.
(Books in this book shop are very cheap.)
Technically speaking, there's nothing wrong with this sentence, but my (perhaps inaccurate) experience tells me that better options might be kono honya no hon wa totemo yasui desu ne or more likely kono honya wa totemo yasui desu ne, as it's generally understood that bookstores mainly sell books.
2.Doubutsuen wa kirin to shimauma ga takusan wo arimasu desu.
(The zoo have many giraffes and zebras.)
This is where we run into issues. Firstly, while arimasu does indeed mean "is/are," it's only used for inanimate objects. For living creatures (including humans) you use imasu. Secondly, arimasu/imasu always takes [b]ga[/b] instead of [b](w)o[/b]. Thirdly, when you've got a verb ending in ~masu, it's already polite so you don't need desu. So, revised: doubutsuen wa kirin to shimauma ga takusan imasu.
3.Nihon wa doubutsuen de takusan doubutsu wo arimasu desu.
(The Zoo at Japan have many animals.)
Same notes here. If you wanted to literally say "the zoo in Japan" you would actually say nihon no doubutsuen. If you wanted to put takusan before doubutsu you need to put a no inbetween them: nihon no doubutsuen wa takusan no doubutsu ga imasu.
4.Ashita shiken wo arimasu kara, gakoo wa shitei ga totemo ishogashi desu.
(School's teachers and students are very busy because tomorrow will have test.)
ashita shiken ga arimasu kara, gakkou wa sensei mo gakusei mo isogashii desu.
5.Watashi no uchi wa ni ko terabi wo arimasu desu.
(I have two televisions in my house.)
watashi no uchi niwa niko no terabi ga arimasu
Word order. Particles. That's pretty much it.
6.Watashi mo ichigo ga suki wo tabemasu desu.
(I like to eat strawberry.)
watashi mo ichigo wo taberu koto ga suki desu
"mo" means "I also [like to eat strawberries]." The structure here gets a little more involved, using conjugations of verbs you're probably not familiar with yet. What you should know is "taberu" is the plain way to say "tabemasu," and is used in circumstances like this. You'll learn more about it as you progress.
That's all I have time for. Hope that helped. Corrections, as always, are welcome!
wordzworth
Wednesday 17th of August 2005 09:49:37 AM
Visiting in-law: Tomoko-sensei,
Mondai arimasu yo. Boku no tsuma no chichi wa watashi-tachi no ie ni ikimasu ka? Dou shite desu ka? He does not speak eigo and my nihongo is not good. Mada jouzu ja arimasen. I want to make a good impression on him, this will be my first time meeting him. So I don't want my wife to translate, I think he will want me to talk to him straight not through my wife. I know there is not much you can do for me, but do you have any advise? Should I just go with what I have a struggle with my Japanese or what?
wordzworth
Wednesday 17th of August 2005 09:51:20 AM
sorry: I'm sorry, I wrote Tomoko-sensei, I meant Tomoka-sensei. Gomen nasai m(_ _)m
Psy
Wednesday 17th of August 2005 01:15:34 PM
Woah. Scary.
First of all, you in trouble boy. ;) Well, maybe, maybe not. This is a pretty heavy subject to be putting a message board, and my Japanese is nowhere near the level to give you any specific answers, but here are some recommendations:
Explain to your wife that you need to know what the proper customs are for this meeting. Make sure she knows you want to give a good impression to her father. I would agree that it is important to speak using your own words. Your effort to do so will be appreciated, regardless of how little you can speak/understand. Depending on how much time you have, you should try to brush up on as many Japanese customs (no doubt, living in Okinawa you know many of them already) as you can. Specific information relating to this is pretty hard to find, but there is a wealth of Japanese-language information to be found here: http://www.sabotenweb.com/bookmarks/language.html
... as a matter of curiosity... how did you manage to marry a Japanese woman without first meeting her parents?
ganbatte!
tomoka
Wednesday 17th of August 2005 07:40:51 PM
こんにちわサイさん、いつもありがとうございます！
Hi Psy-san, I greatly appreciate your help!
wordzworth-san,
Konnichiwa, Psy-san is right.
If you try to talk to your wife's father in Japanese
even if you can't speak well, he would appreciate your
effort.
Japanese men seem curt or unfriendly, but please remember,
generally they're just shy.
If you talk with patience and with a smiling face, you can
communicate ;) , also to communicate by gesture will be
a great help I think.
ganbatte!
tomoka
Axystos
Monday 29th of August 2005 01:57:06 AM
I have a question and I hope someone can answer it.
It's about the english word 'but'. In my book, 3 translations are given (が けれど and けど ) with が being the most formal and けど the most casual version.
However, at an earlier stage, I learned the word でも for 'but'. How does this word fit in with the other three?
tomoka
Monday 29th of August 2005 07:21:17 PM
Konnichiwa Axystos-san,
でも is often used to excuse oneself or to complain,
it's a casual way.
But I don't like it.
（でも、すきじゃなかったんだもの）
I wish you had told me, though.
（でも、私に話してくれればよかったのに）
けど is almost the same as でも
が or しかし is formal, it's like "However"
tomoka
maraja
Tuesday 30th of August 2005 01:59:01 AM
I'm back =)
I'm now taking Japanese in school. I've only had one class last Thursday (it was cancelled today) but I really like it. I already know most of the basic Hiragana since I repeat every day. ( http://www.chipchat.com/NihonGo/ )
By the way, Tomoka-sensei you look great! :D
Axystos
Tuesday 30th of August 2005 02:04:21 AM
Originally posted by tomoka
Konnichiwa Axystos-san,
でも is often used to excuse oneself or to complain,
it's a casual way.
But I don't like it.
（でも、すきじゃなかったんだもの）
I wish you had told me, though.
（でも、私に話してくれればよかったのに）
けど is almost the same as でも
が or しかし is formal, it's like "However"
tomoka
Ah, ok, I understand.
Thank you very much!
tomoka
Tuesday 30th of August 2005 07:20:11 PM
Konnichiwa maraja-san, hisashiburi!
Ogenki deshita ka? :)
Thank you for the compliment! ;)
Axystos-san,
dou itashimashite!
(You're welcome!)
tomoka
california_wolf
Tuesday 06th of September 2005 07:59:53 PM
well looks like you all slowed down quiet a lot in my absence if ahndrea-simpai gets back we are a force to be recond with lol
im so glad to post on this thread again i missed it i hope you guys are ready by the way sensei would you prefer me to start a new thread ill try to catch up but my questions will probibly back where i left off
i did have a question about sentance structure
if i speak to someone is it more proper to speak there name or say anata
just a warm up ill get you all later
Psy
Friday 09th of September 2005 12:56:38 PM
Easy one. In a polite situation you always use someone's name.
laxxy
Saturday 10th of September 2005 10:29:43 PM
I was reading this thread, and had a couple questions, I'd appreciate if someone had some comments on these:
Originally posted by Psy
3.Nihon wa doubutsuen de takusan doubutsu wo arimasu desu.
(The Zoo at Japan have many animals.)
Same notes here. If you wanted to literally say "the zoo in Japan" you would actually say nihon no doubutsuen. If you wanted to put takusan before doubutsu you need to put a no inbetween them: nihon no doubutsuen wa takusan no doubutsu ga imasu.
If I had to say this, I'd say something like "nihon no doubutsuen ni wa doubutsu ga takusan imasu" (日本の動物園にわ、動物がたくさんいます）, would that be correct? Also, is the second "no" required in your sentence?
4.Ashita shiken wo arimasu kara, gakoo wa shitei ga totemo ishogashi desu.
(School's teachers and students are very busy because tomorrow will have test.)
ashita shiken ga arimasu kara, gakkou wa sensei mo gakusei mo isogashii desu.
Can I say "学校 の 先生も学生も" (gakkou no...) rather than "gakkou wa"?
california_wolf
Saturday 10th of September 2005 10:44:26 PM
aregato psy-san
oh no i am not that easy
in a polite situation as in situations where i dont know the person very well
hmmm
the only reason i ask is as im watching my animes im starting to pick things up and the people who are very close to one another are speaking the person they are talking tos name and actually it is verry rare to even hear anata
now dont get me wrong people that dont know eachother i dont think i ever have heard anata but im not gonna say never
ok since some one tried to answer that one lets get another question out there
i was told that the japanese language likes to leave out words a lot if we learn to speak this language how will we determine what words to leave out
sits down on his waiting bench
california_wolf
Saturday 10th of September 2005 10:56:57 PM
Originally posted by laxxy
I was reading this thread, and had a couple questions, I'd appreciate if someone had some comments on these:
Originally posted by Psy
3.Nihon wa doubutsuen de takusan doubutsu wo arimasu desu.
(The Zoo at Japan have many animals.)
Same notes here. If you wanted to literally say "the zoo in Japan" you would actually say nihon no doubutsuen. If you wanted to put takusan before doubutsu you need to put a no inbetween them: nihon no doubutsuen wa takusan no doubutsu ga imasu.
If I had to say this, I'd say something like "nihon no doubutsuen ni wa doubutsu ga takusan imasu" (日本の動物園にわ、動物がたくさんいます）, would that be correct? Also, is the second "no" required in your sentence?
4.Ashita shiken wo arimasu kara, gakoo wa shitei ga totemo ishogashi desu.
(School's teachers and students are very busy because tomorrow will have test.)
ashita shiken ga arimasu kara, gakkou wa sensei mo gakusei mo isogashii desu.
Can I say "学校 の 先生も学生も" (gakkou no...) rather than "gakkou wa"?
ohyo laxxy-san hope i can help a little although i think i should probibly treat you as a simpai i mean after all you have sentances but i learn a little differently so i will give it a shot
so far as i know and i may be corected but they are not required but if used they add emphsis to the object like the zoo might be in japan but if you use wa it is in japan as for no im staying out of that one i confuses me im still tring to figure out Ranma no baka which i suppose is to mean ranma you stupid ahhh i just figured it out no posesses the statment stupid to ranma this gose with my question earlier they are useing ranmas name as the you and using no to qualify the name as the subject interesting
laxxy
Saturday 10th of September 2005 11:40:27 PM
Originally posted by california_wolf
aregato psy-san
oh no i am not that easy
in a polite situation as in situations where i dont know the person very well
hmmm
the only reason i ask is as im watching my animes im starting to pick things up and the people who are very close to one another are speaking the person they are talking tos name and actually it is verry rare to even hear anata
I have definitely heard anata in animes, but not too often. I am not sure if animes are a good representation of the language though, after all, I hear kisama much more often than anata in there :) i also hear omae a lot. Here's an interesting link:
http://www.yale.edu/anime/glossary.html
Psy
Sunday 11th of September 2005 06:21:20 AM
If I had to say this, I'd say something like "nihon no doubutsuen ni wa doubutsu ga takusan imasu" ({̓ɂA܂j, would that be correct? Also, is the second "no" required in your sentence?
Common mistake, but the particle wa is always written , so niwa is ɂ. I'm not a native speaker, but an educated guess tells me that sentence of yours is right on the mark. The second is only needed if you put before the thing you're counting.
Can I say "wZ 搶w" (gakkou no...) rather than "gakkou wa"?
No idea for sure, but you will be understood either way. Don't take my word as final, but I think wZ says the school is busy in general, whereas wZ says the teachers and students, who happen to be in the school, are busy. Additionally, wZ sets wZ "outside" the rest of the sentence (don't ask, I've developed a rather strange way of looking at and ... I still can't explain it, and I still mess them up), so you know that the test is taking place there as opposed to some other place.
now dont get me wrong people that dont know eachother i dont think i ever have heard anata but im not gonna say never
Funny thing, anata is actually a polite word, but once you know someone's name it can be considered impolite to use. In anime, they seldom care about politeness, so you'll hear omaes and kisamas and antas all over the place.
i was told that the japanese language likes to leave out words a lot if we learn to speak this language how will we determine what words to leave out
It's done all the time. If you think about it, do you really need to have "you" in "how are you?" If you're analyzing the sentence out of context, you'll find it impossible to figure out to whom "you" actually refers. Thus when you ask ogenki desu ka, isn't it clear you're asking anata wa?
im still tring to figure out Ranma no baka
Songs tend to bend the rules a little. For things like this it's just best to understand the message and not analyze the grammar to death. Certainly you can figure out what she means by Ranma no... baka!!. I could speculate, but isn't the answer obvious?
laxxy
Sunday 11th of September 2005 04:49:16 PM
ǂ肪ƂApsyB
Originally posted by Psy
If I had to say this, I'd say something like "nihon no doubutsuen ni wa doubutsu ga takusan imasu" ({̓ɂA܂j, would that be correct? Also, is the second "no" required in your sentence?
Common mistake, but the particle wa is always written , so niwa is ɂ. I'm not a native speaker, but an educated guess tells me that sentence of yours is right on the mark. The second is only needed if you put before the thing you're counting.
Oops! I know about /, but I am still doing this sometimes :(
BTW: I noticed that in songs, they sometimes pronounce "w" in , I wonder if that is specific to singing, or if it is some local dialect that I was hearing...
Which one do you think sounds more common in such a sentence, ""
or "ɂ"?
Additionally, wZ sets wZ "outside" the rest of the sentence (don't ask, I've developed a rather strange way of looking at and ... I still can't explain it, and I still mess them up), so you know that the test is taking place there as opposed to some other place.
I think I understand what you mean here, I am trying to develop the same kind of feeling too.
california_wolf
Monday 12th of September 2005 12:50:26 AM
Psy-san
i get the general consept as to the leaving out words that are truly redundant as in anata is a redundant word because there can be lots of yous but there is only one psy-san therfor using psy-san is more effeciant but what about other words or are pronouns the only words dropped i was under the understanding that if they can find a word to drop they will do so
argato
CM_EigaMan
Tuesday 13th of September 2005 12:22:08 PM
Originally posted by laxxy
Which one do you think sounds more common in such a sentence, ""
or "ɂ"?
Konnichiwa. Mind if I toss in my 2 cents?
I think both are probably correct, but there are subtle differences. {̓ɂ́A܂ (nihon no doubutsuen NI WA, doubutsu ga takusan imasu) sounds more correct to me. I would translate this as "There are many animals in Japan's zoo." Using just "wa" would, in my mind, translate as: "Japan's zoo has many animals." Both correct, but the first sounds more natural.
BTW, my take on the other example would be similar....
A܂AwZł́A搶wZłB(Ashita, shiken ga arimasukara, gakkou DE WA, sensei mo gakusei mo isogashii desu). "Because there is a test tomorrow, teachers as well as students are busy at the school." - Just a guess, but it feels right to me. Particles are always tricky.
I'm just a student of Japanese, too. Not a native speaker by any means....
tomoka
Tuesday 13th of September 2005 03:09:47 PM
Minasan konnichiwa :)
It's nice to read the thread you all help each other ;)
okay, this is the final answer :D
1.The Zoo at Japan have many animals>>>
Nihon no doubutsuen niha takusan no doubutsu ga imasu.
{̓ɂ́A̓܂B
To put emphasis on "What is?iHj" >> ij
To put emphasis on "How many?iǂ̂炢Hj" >> @́@ij
As the subject is "doubutsuen", it's natural there are animals. So, in this case, ̓܂
is better. I mean it's a natural way in Japanese.
ɂ is grammatically correct.
you may hear Japanese people say {̓,
but it's not good in this case.
If you want to say {̓Ait should be
{̓́A̓ijĂ܂B
ɂ́@@܂ /@(܂)
There are many students in gymnasium.
̈ɂÅw܂
There are many books in a library.
}ɂA{܂
́@@verb + ܂
ޏA{Ă܂B
(She has many books.)
2.Because there is a test tomorrow, teachers as well as students are busy at the school.>>>
Ashita shiken ga aru node, gakkou deha sensei mo seito(gakusei) mo isogashii.
ÂŁAwZł́A搶kiwjZB
because = ...(da)kara, ...(na)node
You can omit the polite expression in the first half
of the sentence, which is express "the reason and the result".
for example:
Because I have a stomachache, I'm absent from school.>>>
Onkaga itai node, gakkou wo yasumi masu.
Ȃɂ̂ŁAwZx݂܂B
Because he is very kind, I like him.>>>
Kare ha totemo shinsetsu nanode, watashi wa kare ga suki desu.
ނ͂ƂĂeȂ̂ŁA͔ނDłB
In both cases, you don't have to talk with "desu-form" like
desu nodeił̂Łjor desu karaiłjin the first half.
hm...maybe we have an exception, if you have further questions, please post again ;)
About anata and one's name:
When we don't know our name each other, we talk like this:
Yamada: "ano, shitsurei desu ga onamae wa?..."(excuse me, ..can I ask your name?).
Katou: "Katou desu"(I'm Kato.). Anata wa?(what's your name, please?)
Yamada: "aa, sumimasen. watashi wa yamada desu."(oh, I'm sorry, I'm Yamada.)
Katou: "Yamada san wa Tani san no tomodachi desu ka?"(are you a friend of Mr. Tani?)
Yamada: "Hai, sou desu."(Yes, I am.). "Satou san mo?"(You, too?)
Katou: "Watashi wa douryou desu."(I'm his co-worker.)
..........................................
To call "Anata" is a polite way when we don't know the person,
but we normally don't talk to like "Anata no onamae wa?",
we just ask "ano...shitsureidesuga, onamae wa?"(excuse me, can I ask your name?).
After that, we talk each other with our name(normally, it's last name.)
When we complain of something, we often say "Anata wa...",
even if we're family or close friends. It indicates
sarcasm and women often talk like these:
anata wa sou iu hito dakara...
(That's the way you are...)
anata wa iikedo, watashi wa iyada.
(maybe you like it, but I don't.)
anata dake ikeba?
(Why don't you go alone?)
You don't have to worry about talking to someone, anata,
because you're not Japanese. We would think it's polite.
However, among Japanese people, "Anata" sounds not natural.
tomoka
california_wolf
Tuesday 13th of September 2005 10:03:27 PM
ahhhh tomoka-sensei missed my question im gonna go cry
if your looking for it im asking about droped words
im also under the understanding that there is a tendency to show different meanings of words by voice inflection can you explain please
laxxy
Thursday 15th of September 2005 12:46:56 AM
Originally posted by california_wolfahhhh tomoka-sensei missed my question im gonna go cry
if your looking for it im asking about droped words
when clear from context, dropped :)
im also under the understanding that there is a tendency to show different meanings of words by voice inflection can you explain please
I think that happens in any language to a certain extent, or is there something specific that you have in mind?
CM_EigaMan
Thursday 15th of September 2005 05:52:35 AM
Ashita shiken ga aru node, gakkou deha sensei mo seito(gakusei) mo isogashii.
ÂŁAwZł́A搶kiwjZB
After sensei answers california_wolf's questions (I have a great example of dropped words I recenlty saw in a textbook. I'll dig try to dig it out.), I have a question on kara vs. no de.
Since Tomoka-sensei changed "shiken ga arimasu kara..." to "shiken ga aru no de..." it made me realize I don't really know the difference between kara and no de. I know how to conjugate and use them, but I always thought they were interchangable (when used as "because"), which I now think might not be the case. Are there subtle differences? Is it a question of formality? When should one use no de and when should one use kara?
Psy
Thursday 15th of September 2005 09:29:37 AM
From my reading, aside from the variations ( but not ̂, but rather Ȃ̂), there are no grammatical differences between the two words. However, in real-world practice, ̂ sounds softer and more polite, and emphasizes more the present circumstance rather than the reason behind it. , however, emphasizes the reason and can sound scornful in some contexts. One web site put it this way:
q̂Ŏ͍o邱ƂłȂBiႭbb킽b܁bŁj
q邩玄͍o邱ƂłȂBiႭbb킽b܁bŁj
Translated, they both mean the same thing, but ̂ says "I can't go out because a guest is coming. (and it's no problem.)" says "I can't go out because a guest is coming. (I want to, but can't because of this blasted guest.)"
tomoka
Saturday 17th of September 2005 06:49:14 PM
Gomennsai, california_wolf san! Please don't cry~
hm...but I'm not sure what you'd like to know...
CM_EigaMan-san, you said "I have a great example of
dropped words I recenlty saw in a textbook.". Could you
please post the example? After that, maybe I can answer
the question.
im also under the understanding that there is a tendency
to show different meanings of words by voice inflection can you explain please
About the question,
laxxy-san said "I think that happens in any language to a
certain extent". It's correct and you have to practice
each pronunciations to express the meanings like:
ame = candy
ame = rain
kami = paper
kami = hair
kami = God
I'll update about such cases with an audio file
on my website later ;)
CM_EigaMan san
As Psy-san explained about your question, I think I don't
have to add a lot :)
ので is...yes, it's softer and natural than から.
ので(node) indicates just the reason, but から(kara) often
has a negative nuance.
davyherriage03
Tuesday 20th of September 2005 10:28:49 AM
Can somebody help me translate this in English?: Hi I need someone to help me translate this in english for me, I am studying the language of japanese and I recieved an e-mail from a friend and I want to know what this means "Watashi wa genki dayo". I really be happy if anybody can tell me, thank you for reading this and your time.
Psy
Tuesday 20th of September 2005 01:36:25 PM
I'm going to fathom a guess and say this friend of yours hasn't quite reached native proficiency. ;) Somehow, I feel watashi wa (kinda polite sounding) and dayo (pretty casual) rather conflict with each other. There's nothing technically incorrect, but I can't imagine hearing it very often in casual conversation... maybe from a girl or something, in a room full of people who weren't genki...
Anyway, no problemo: It means "I'm fine." Welcome to Phrasebase!
purabaku
Wednesday 21st of September 2005 04:07:57 AM
はじめまして: ともか先生
インドのプラと申します。
今日はじめてここのフォーラムを拝見しましたので、簡単な自己紹介をさせていただきます。
今インドのネール大学で修士二年生をしています。専門は日本語で、日本語、日本文化や日本文学も勉強しています。
僕も日本語と外国人向けの日本語教育に興味がありますので、今後とも色々ご指導を受けたいと思います。
どうぞよろしくお願いいたします。
ぷら
tomoka
Wednesday 21st of September 2005 05:07:45 PM
Konnichiwa purabaku-san,
Nihongo fooramu e youkoso!
(Welcome to Japanese language forum!)
日本（にほん）の若（わか）い学生（がくせい）たちより、日本語（にほんご）が上手（じょうず）ですね！
Nihon no wakai gakuseitachi yori, nihongo ga jhouzu desu ne!
wow! (Your Japanese is better than Japanese young students) :D
It would be great for other members if you could write messages also in Roma-ji and in English ;)
どうぞよろしくお願いします
Douzo yoroshiku onegai shimasu.
Tomoka
BlueHippo
Monday 26th of September 2005 01:09:02 PM
Konnichiwa: minna-san, Ogenki desu ka?
Saikin totemo iishogashi desu ne.
So, that's y i din login to this forum.
Tadai imasu. ( < is "I am home", right? Can I use this like that? like "I am back"?)
* Ittekimasu - use when we leave home
* ?? - welcome home
Btw, I have some problems that need helps here.... :)
watashi wa hitori ja nai.
wathshi wa hitori ja arimasen.
What's the different? which one correct?
* "hitori" is alone right?
* Then "hitori hitori" is it everyone?
messeji o yonde kurete arigato
Koko ga suki desu! mata
BlueHippo
tomoka
Tuesday 27th of September 2005 05:11:35 PM
Konnichiwa!
*tadaima = I'm home
*okaeri = Welcome back/ welcome home
itte kimasu is...yes, you're correct ;)
watashi wa hitori ja nai.
wathshi wa hitori ja arimasen.
Both of them means "I'm not alone."
"arimasen" is the formal way of saying "nai".
hitori = alone
hitori hitori = each one / everyone of yours
Julianita
Friday 30th of September 2005 05:24:35 AM
konbanwa minnasan!!! :D
i just wanted to post something that i loved to say when i was living in japan, and its fun too:
ITTADAKIMASU!= this word is said before u start ur meal.
GOCHISOUSAMA!= this one is said right after you finish ur meal.
althou i dont remember well if the first one means "let's eat!" or "thanks for the meal", but i am 99.9% sure that the second one means "it was delicious!" the 1% left is that i am not certainly sure about the 99.9% lol :D, Tomoka-san can correct me :). So start frikin out ur moms when she serves u dinner and when u finish ur meal by saying those two :D.
Psy
Friday 30th of September 2005 12:41:37 PM
Aye, those are indeed sentences you can't live without! Strictly speaking, the first one should be spelled ITADAKIMASU u܂v, but I suppose if you were either really hungry or really excited you could say something like ITTADAKIMAAAASU!!u܁``bIvas well. :) For you beginners out there, the small pause in pronunciation, indicated by a small tsu, is [b]very[/b] important. For example, (kite), (kiite) and (kitte) are three entirely different words. (come! / listen! / postage stamp) A rather humorous instance of this can be heard in the film The Last Samurai: Nathan (the lead played by Tom Cruise) orders a troop to fire, but instead of shouting ! (fire!) he shouts āI (fire [please]!)
Just something to keep in the back of your head the next time you're training a Japanese army. ;)
tomoka
Saturday 01st of October 2005 03:18:58 PM
Konnichiwa Julianita-san, Psy-san :)
Hai(yes), itadakimasu and gochisousama are very important
words ;)
I've watched the movie "The Last Samurai".
Actually, Tom Cruise's Japanese sounded strange sometimes.
If men order like ā`I, it sounds girlish :D
tomoka
Julianita
Wednesday 05th of October 2005 05:34:57 AM
lolol @ Tomoka-san :D , but now i have a question, when i used to live in Gunma-Ken back in the 90's, i dont remember the Gunma accent, i am not sure if they add the "-ne" at the end of every exclamation, like "soshite ne" "ano ne" "honto ne" lol...sounds funny but i am not sure if that was the accent :D could u tell me Tomoka-san?
Doumo Arigatou :D
edit:chigau!
ca_ca_im_a_seagull14
Monday 10th of October 2005 07:12:55 AM
I just have a quick question on writing. I took this sentence from a website and a translating site says it means photo report renewal!
フォトレポート更新！
What does the symbol ー mean?
Psy
Monday 10th of October 2005 11:52:47 AM
Yup, that's what it means. *coughs* see [url=http://www.phrasebase.com/forum/read.php?TID=2489&page=2]http://www.phrasebase.com/forum/read.php?TID=2489&page=2
... it might help to pay attention this time. ;)
BlueHippo
Monday 17th of October 2005 10:15:56 AM
Minna-san, Konnichiwa,
There are some questions I need help here.
Is dake same with dakke? What is the main function of dake or dakke in the sentence? How to use it?
I heard the SMAP's song 'sekai ni hitotsu dake no hana' the dake in there is it same with the dakke, 'are nan dakke?', in Tomoka sensei's Japanese Lesson (lesson 8 - nichijhou yakunitatsu kotoba)??
Moreover, I also found that in Final Fantasy VII - Advent Children, Kadaj also use dake, 'hitosu dake dayo', is it means "only one"?
I found that watching Japanese movies or Drama and listening to the Jpop song can help me much in learning nihongo :) It is a great way of learning nihongo if u are a newbie like me :)
But sometimes I need to play back many times, because they speak too fast and I cannot capture what they said :D and of course need subtitle :D
messeji o yonde kurete arigato
BlueHippo
Psy
Tuesday 18th of October 2005 01:37:37 PM
Konchiwa. ;)
Is dake same with dakke?
Simply put: NO. dake and dakke are two different words, and if you really want to get technical, they're three: dake, da, and kke.
What is the main function of dake or dakke in the sentence? How to use it?
I heard the SMAP's song 'sekai ni hitotsu dake no hana' the dake in there is it same with the dakke, 'are nan dakke?', in Tomoka sensei's Japanese Lesson (lesson 8 - nichijhou yakunitatsu kotoba)??
"sekai ni hitotsu dake no hana"
"the one and only flower in the world," dake = only
"are nandakke" = "what was that again?" (uttered in the sense as if the speaker was scratching his head, as if he knew what it was but couldn't quite recall)
Moreover, I also found that in Final Fantasy VII - Advent Children, Kadaj also use dake, 'hitosu dake dayo', is it means "only one"?
Bingo!
I found that watching Japanese movies or Drama and listening to the Jpop song can help me much in learning nihongo :) It is a great way of learning nihongo if u are a newbie like me :)
But sometimes I need to play back many times, because they speak too fast and I cannot capture what they said :D and of course need subtitle :D
Exposure to the language spoken by natives is one of the best things you can do to learn. The plight of any language learner is speed keep it up and, as time goes by, the recordings will seem to slow down!
messeji o yonde kurete arigato
douitashimashite.
mata ne
BlueHippo
Thursday 20th of October 2005 10:25:21 AM
Konnichiwa ;)
Psy-san, thanks for the explaination.
sore ga totemo tasukemashita (It helps so much)
How about, It helps me so much - "kore ga watashi o totemo tasukemashita" ??
Btw, I had found out a Japanese Lesson's website which is very helpful in Grammar, u all can go check it out: http://www.learn-japanese.info/indexg.html
At last, can someone show me what is below words mean? I found it from anime:
ware-ware (I thinks is watashitachi)
solo-solo
moto-moto
mukashi mukashi (Is it Once upon a time?)
Can give me some examples of other similar word?
Domo arigato
Mata ne
BlueHippo
Psy
Sunday 30th of October 2005 02:17:17 PM
fudge and a half...: I had a nice, long, helpful and informative reply written for this... and then I accidentally closed the browser window... fishsticks.
I'll write another one tomorrow. oyasuminasai.
Psy
Monday 31st of October 2005 07:39:09 AM
Originally posted by BlueHippo
sore ga totemo tasukemashita (It helps so much)
How about, It helps me so much - "kore ga watashi o totemo tasukemashita" ??
There are three words that directly translate to "help" in Japanese, and each has its own usage:
1. tasukeru (to help [emergencies])
2. tetsudau ` (to help [assist with])
3. yaku ni tatsu ɗ (to help [to be useful])
For example:
1. kaji da! tasuketeeee!! (fire! Heeelp!)
2. shukudai wo tetsudatte kurenai no? (Won't you help me with my homework? [feminine])
3. sore wa hijyou ni yaku ni tachimasu. (That is extraordinarily helpful)
At last, can someone show me what is below words mean? I found it from anime:
ware-ware (I thinks is watashitachi)
solo-solo
moto-moto
mukashi mukashi (Is it Once upon a time?)
Can give me some examples of other similar word?
Sure thing. Those kinds of words are called gitaigo and there are many, many of them in Japanese:
ware-ware ("we," archaic form of watashi-tachi)
solo-solo [soro-soro] (gradually)
moto-moto (originally)
mukashi-mukashi "once upon a time" (lit. "long ago long ago")
pera pera (fluency, such as language ability)
doki-doki (beating, throbbing)
shinzou ga doki doki shiteita! (my heart was beating so fast!)
Ouka the Werewolf Chobit
Wednesday 16th of November 2005 12:23:17 AM
I have a good phrase too.
Shizuka ni minna-san, kudasai!!!!
(Shut up everyone, please!!!!)
I used that at rehearsal and everybody was liek, WTF.
clownyrobba
Wednesday 16th of November 2005 12:31:58 AM
Konnichiwa: Does 'minna-san' really mean 'everybody'? My name is Minna and if I attach -san after my name I'm Minna-san :D
Ouka the Werewolf Chobit
Wednesday 16th of November 2005 12:35:10 AM
Konnichiiwa!
Yes, it actually does. It would be preferred if you used a different form of your name to avoid confusion.
kuzzywuzzy
Thursday 15th of December 2005 03:00:33 PM
こんにちは、皆さん！
Generally, when 皆／みんな／minna is given the さん／san suffix, it is pronounced 皆さん／みなさん／minasan, rather than minna-san. Technically, I believe minnasan is still correct, but not used nearly as often.
The only place that your name might be confused, though, would be in romanized text. In Japanese text, your name would be written ミンナさん, using Katakana since it is a foreign name :)
IIMicheleII
Wednesday 28th of December 2005 02:32:25 AM
Hello
how can i use "datte"?
i need some examples. ..
よろしくおねがいします
Psy
Saturday 31st of December 2005 04:39:16 PM
Oof. This one I don't fully understand, but what I know is it's a less formal substitute for demo (as a particle, "itsu demo" [whenever] and not "demo," [but]), shorthand for "da to iu," and also has a whole bunch of emphatic uses aside from that. Once I get more practice, I'll be able to explain more. In the meantime, [url=http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1Q%A4%C0%A4%C3%A4%C6_0__]check this site.
Julianita
Monday 02nd of January 2006 03:03:42 AM
...konnichiwa!!!...i know this might not be the thread but i just wanted to say:
[size=10][color=red] AKEMASHITE OMEDETOU GOZAIMASU!![/color]
[img]http://keikei.s21.xrea.com/xoopsnewyear2.gif[/img]
Tchotto
Tuesday 03rd of January 2006 07:49:48 AM
Mina-san, akemashite omedetou gozaimasu !
Happy New Year 2006 ! Best wishes !
Bonne anne 2006 ! Meilleurs voeux !
utsumi
Tuesday 03rd of January 2006 11:20:11 PM
AKEMASHITE OMEDETOU GOZAIMASU !!!: KONNICHIWA MINNA SAN !!! (hi everyone)
Hisashiburi !!!! Tomoka san, hisashiburi... watashi no koto wo oboenai to omoimasu kedo, ANNA desu !!
(long time no see, Tomoka san, long time no see... i think you don't remember about me, i'm ANNA !!)
I Hope for everyone of you and family, that new year 2006 will bring you all the best ! :) happiness,success in studies and work and of course Health.
Anyway, so long time i didn't come here to post message, i was a little bit busy while this moment, by studies and activities but i'll try my best to post messages here to ask and give suggestions !
Tomoka san,
sono aida zutto, nihongo o benkyou benkyou shita kedo, umaku natta koto shiranai loool iya.. ima, yori yoru wakaru koto dekiru kedo, muzukashii da yo. hahaha...
(while all this time, i studied japanese a lot, but i don't know if i improved it lool... no i can un,derstand better but it's difficult..hahaha)
Nihon ni ikitakatta kara, okane o tametta kara, NIHON NI ITTA !!! eeto... 10 gatsu ni itta. SUBARASHIKATTA DESU YO.
(As i wanted to go to Japan, i saved money (by working) and WENT TO JAPAN. this year, in october. It was fantastic !!)
Demo Tokyo ni tomatta dake desukedo tanoshikatta desuyo.
(but I only stand in Tokyo, but it was nice !)
Iku mae ni, atarashii penfurendo no koto wo aitta koto dekita. e, Nihon ni itta toki, karera to isshoni iroiro omoshiroi tokoro ni itta.
(Before to go to Japan, i could meet new japanese penfriend. When i arrived in japan, we went to different interresting places !!)
Ikutsuka hitobito ni aitta !!! chikatetsu de, youth hostel de (onaji heya kara)
Nihongo de hanashite mita kedo,nihonjin ha hayaku sugiru hanashimasu kara, tokidoki muzukashiin dakara !!! looool
Then i met MANY people !! in metro, youth hostel.. (same room) I tried always speak in japanese, but as japanese speaks very quickly lol it was sometimes difficult !! loll
demo watashi wa omoide ni motsu... NIHON WA SUGOKU SUKI.
But i keep in souvenir that I REALLY LOVE JAPAN !!
I don't know if my japanese was correct, if you could understand i'm happy ...but if want to speak correctly language it's better to be corrected lollll ne? :$ haha...
I would be happy if you could correct my fault and if you have any suggestions about anything :)
Anyway, I hope everything is ok for everyone of you.
JAA, itte kimasuuuu
Utsumi
kuzzywuzzy
Wednesday 04th of January 2006 04:59:48 AM
こんにちは、Annaさん!
I remember you! Welcome back! The boards seem so quiet these days. That's awesome that you made it to Japan! Sounds like you had a great time! 知果先生 has been very busy lately and hasn't been to the boards in a while, but hopefully she'll come back soon!
In the meantime, I hope we can continue learning from eachother!
よろしくおねがいします！
Psy
Friday 06th of January 2006 02:43:09 PM
Okaerinasai, Anna.
Glad to hear you made it. From here on, Western baths will forever seem mediocre, won't they? Suffice it to say, in the past three days that I've been living here, I've heard more spoken Japanese than the entire duration of my self-study... overwhelming is an understatement. Lengthy sentences that I could comprehend in writing whiz by with the intensity of a gale. One word at a time, one word at a time...
I'll try to post again soon. Glad to have more people back here!
mrkab00m
Saturday 07th of January 2006 12:22:35 PM
Wow! I have begun the move into learning Japanese, and I have to say I am very impressed with this forum... the ability to ask a personalized question to Tomoka(-sensei) is just awsome. I have few Japanese-speaking friends, so this is perfect!
I think I'll be posting here a bit, to help myself along the way-it's great to be here. ^____^
kuzzywuzzy
Saturday 07th of January 2006 12:58:54 PM
mrkabさん、
このサイトへようこそ！
Kono saito e youkoso!
Welcome to the site!
Make yourself at home! Please feel free to ask questions. There are some very helpful people around!
Psyさん、
It's great to hear you made it over safe and sound! Keep us updated with your unique perspective - being right in the middle of it all! I'm sure you'll have some fun stories to share ;)
mrkab00m
Saturday 07th of January 2006 02:25:08 PM
What is 'fear' in Japanese?
kuzzywuzzy
Tuesday 10th of January 2006 05:39:21 PM
mrkab00m,
There are a number of words that might work. What is the context? What are you trying to say?
Without knowing, I think 恐怖 might work. I'm not sure if it would be the most natural choice, though.
mrkab00m
Wednesday 11th of January 2006 10:24:22 AM
Originally posted by kuzzywuzzy
There are a number of words that might work. What is the context?
To fear someone, in a dramatic, almost anime sort of way.
Ouka the Werewolf Chobit
Thursday 12th of January 2006 03:37:08 AM
Yeah, if you want to get the grasp of the concept, read TOKYOPOP'S "Pet Shop of Horrors." Now THAT'S fear!
Psy
Thursday 12th of January 2006 12:02:57 PM
Probably "kowai," "I'm scared." But a fear, as in "the danger of," can be expressed by "osore." "ame ga furu osore ga aru." "there is the fear that it will rain." or "it threatens to rain."
Ouka the Werewolf Chobit
Friday 13th of January 2006 03:36:17 AM
Oh yeah, I remember Shonen Jump back in 2003 did a little romaji lesson in the Akira Toriyama interview article on that! One of Akira Toriyama's manga book title's is "Kowa!", which is a pun on "kowai," translated into English, means "fear" or "scary"!
Psy
Friday 13th of January 2006 08:20:32 AM
Actually it's quite normal to make an exclamation out of something like that by shortening it. kowa! can actually mean "I'm scared!" as well. This morning, for instance, I exclaimed samu! when I hopped out of the futon.
shinktwink
Monday 23rd of January 2006 03:42:49 PM
Thank U for a very useful information!: Originally posted by tomoka
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
Konnichi wa Tomoka-san,
I am so really thankful that I found this website here..My name is Twink, I haven't go through yet with ur posted lessons but I will take my time to do so later on I believe I can learn more thru ur shared website. Presently I am studying Japanese grammar w/c includes the writing hiragana as well as reading and some vocabulary.
Hope it's okay to ask some questions with U..my question is why some words like "tempura" are pronounce "m" instead of "ng".Sorry I don't know hw to write the hiragana using my keyboard. Hope U can advise me so it will be clear to my understanding.
Arigato Gozaimasu! Twink
shinktwink
Monday 23rd of January 2006 03:59:05 PM
I am confused...: Originally posted by kuzzywuzzy
こんにちは、皆さん！
Generally, when 皆／みんな／minna is given the さん／san suffix, it is pronounced 皆さん／みなさん／minasan, rather than minna-san. Technically, I believe minnasan is still correct, but not used nearly as often.
The only place that your name might be confused, though, would be in romanized text. In Japanese text, your name would be written ミンナさん, using Katakana since it is a foreign name :)
Konnichi wa Kuzzywuzzy-sang,
Hi, my name is twink.. can I ask a question plzz..If a word written in katakana, can it be also written in Hiragana? How would I know if I have to write the word in hiragana or katakana...I am really confused..
hope I can hear some feedback on this..arigato gozaimasu...
twink
kuzzywuzzy
Monday 23rd of January 2006 10:30:59 PM
Twink-san,
Welcome to the forums!
First of all, there is no "ng" sound in Japanese. The way your mouth forms the "n" sound is different than the "ng" sound. I noticed you mentioned it to Tomoka-sensei, as well as the "san" in my name.
Second, there is no single "m" sound in Japanese, either. "Tempura" is only a romanized representation of the word. When you say テンプラ (te-n-pu-ra), you still form the "n" sound, but in normal speed speech, because of the way your mouth moves from the "n" sound to the "pu" sound, it sounds like "m". This generally only happens when "n" comes before "p"-sounds and "b"-sounds.
Katakana is generally used for loan words, meaning words not of Japanese origin. This would include foreign names. Katakana can also be used to emphasize Japanese words that are normally written in hiragana, a bit like bolding a word. Hiragana is used for words of Japanese origin. Of course, it is used in combination with kanji.
So, I would say that unless you know the word is a loan word, it is safer to use hiragana. If it something like bokushingu, which means "boxing", it is obviously a loan word and would be written with katakana - ボクシング.
I hope that helps! Let us know if you have any other questions!
shinktwink
Tuesday 24th of January 2006 05:14:39 PM
Thank you so much for the information!~!!!: Konnichiwa Kuzzywuzzy-san,
I am really thankful for the information you had explained. I had now a better clear picture of those things left unexplained during our class discussion.
Furthermore, I also want to know how the small "tsu" and the big (tsu) can be use. Is there an explanation or any method on using this.
And I am also confused about reading the hiragana "ga" w/c some pronounciation are sounds "nga" for some words. Like for ex:wanage (the toss-a-ring game) when sensei pronounce it sounds like wanange.. how come.. can you clarify the usage and pronounciation plz..
Hoping that I can learn more from you and from anybody who can contribute their ideas.
Also a separate reply was sent to you thru PM pls. also check my inquiry there... thank u so much!!!
Arigato gozaimasu.... twink!!!:)
kuzzywuzzy
Tuesday 24th of January 2006 09:25:33 PM
Twink-san,
I'm glad that helped!
The big tsu is no different that the rest of the hiragana characters. The small tsu is used to denote a slight pause before the syllable following it. When romanized, it becomes a double consonant. For example, みっつ becomes "mittsu" when romanized, and there is a slight pause before the regular "tsu" syllable is said. Here is a sound file:
http://japanese.about.com/library/media/audio/mittsu.wav
Compare that to いつつ (itsutsu), which has no small tsu:
http://japanese.about.com/library/media/audio/itsutsu.wav
As for nasalizing the "ga" sound, there's not really a rule, and it will vary depending on who you are talking to. The best advice I can give is to just be aware of it and try to notice when native speakers do it. In some parts of Japan, like Tokyo I believe, they will do it fairly often. I believe NHK newscasters are trained to do it at certain times. But in other parts of Japan they may never nasalize their "ga"s. So just be aware of it and keep alert when listening to native speech. If you want to be safe, I think it would be better in general to pronounce it "ga" rather than "nga".
I'll check my PMs now.
beegirl
Wednesday 25th of January 2006 01:32:15 PM
What is "yasashi" really means?
I know it is an expression.
Arigato gozaimasu ~
kuzzywuzzy
Wednesday 25th of January 2006 11:42:50 PM
優しい (yasashii) is an adjective that means "tender, kind, gentle, etc."
易しい (yasashii) is an adjective that means "easy, plain, simple".
shinktwink
Thursday 26th of January 2006 01:07:31 PM
I am now learning faster: Kuzzywuzzy-san,
I am really glad of those explanations.. it is a big help..if I have further questions I will post it again here in the forum. I'll try to check all those websites you suggests previously.
Doumo Arigato Gozaimasu kuzzywuzzy-san!
Twink:)
kavithabaskar
Saturday 28th of January 2006 02:38:04 PM
kanji: Dear sensei,
Lessons are very good. if the lessons are in Japanese (Hiragana & Kanji), it will more help for me. because prounciation & Kanji is difficult when we learn only in English. please advise..
spindelight
Tuesday 07th of February 2006 10:20:04 AM
ohayoo: can i have friends who know nihongo?
shinktwink
Wednesday 29th of March 2006 12:58:42 PM
Konnichi wa Kuzzywuzzy-san,
How r U? As I am going further with my Nihongo class, found so many questions but I will post it later on... I had send u a PM as a reply to your previous message. Pls. check it.
Have a nice day!
Originally posted by kuzzywuzzy
Twink-san,
I'm glad that helped!
The big tsu is no different that the rest of the hiragana characters. The small tsu is used to denote a slight pause before the syllable following it. When romanized, it becomes a double consonant. For example, みっつ becomes "mittsu" when romanized, and there is a slight pause before the regular "tsu" syllable is said. Here is a sound file:
http://japanese.about.com/library/media/audio/mittsu.wav
Compare that to いつつ (itsutsu), which has no small tsu:
http://japanese.about.com/library/media/audio/itsutsu.wav
As for nasalizing the "ga" sound, there's not really a rule, and it will vary depending on who you are talking to. The best advice I can give is to just be aware of it and try to notice when native speakers do it. In some parts of Japan, like Tokyo I believe, they will do it fairly often. I believe NHK newscasters are trained to do it at certain times. But in other parts of Japan they may never nasalize their "ga"s. So just be aware of it and keep alert when listening to native speech. If you want to be safe, I think it would be better in general to pronounce it "ga" rather than "nga".
I'll check my PMs now.
RedSamurai
Thursday 20th of April 2006 10:26:27 PM
こんにちわ皆さん ;)
(Hello everyone!)
久しぶりですね！
(It's been a long time)
最近はちょっと忙しかったので、フォーラムに来ませんでした :(
(Lately, I haven't been coming often to the forums cauz I was a little busy)
それに、ログインすると、問題がありました！
(Besides, I had a problem logging in)
たくさんな試験を受けなければならなくても、日本語を勉強していましたよ :)
(During this time, I was learning Japanese even though I had many exams to take)
とにかく、今帰って来てよかった！
(Anyway, I'm glad to be back)
皆さんは元気ですか。
(How is everyone?)
sato
Saturday 22nd of April 2006 12:38:10 PM
AUDIO LESSONS: hi im Jr, i really love the japanese language i was wondering if you have an audio class of some sort i really want some one that knows the language fluently so i can what iv learn is good so far im not good at spelling the words thought heres something iv learned
Watashi wa ago-ga wakaremas, ago-ga wakaremas ka
riverdancers
Friday 05th of May 2006 07:24:01 AM
Food!: Because I am obsesed with food here we go!
Menchi- Food.
Ichigo- Strawberry.
Onigiri- Rice ball.
Kobe beef- a very expensive type of beef, (these cows are pampered!)- Cows that live in Kobe, Japan.
Miso- Type of soup can be vegetables or meat.
Sakiyoba- Type of noodles.
Kinoko- Mushroom.
Odin: Think miso with a ravioli noodle in the center.
ofu- Bean paste.
Mizu- Water.
Ringo- Apple.
Miruku- milk.
Momo- Peach.
Mikan- Orange.
Budo- Grape
Kaki- Orange Plum (Persimmon)
Nasi- Japanese Pear
Sakuranabo- Cherry
Suika- Watermelon
Kuri- Chestnut
Kyuri- Cucumber
Ninzin- Carrot
Kyabetu- Cabbage
Horenso- Spinach
Kabotya- Squash, Pumpkin
Zyagaimo- Potato
And if anyone is having trouble with pronouncing anything here's the greatest tip I was given!
A sounds like a in August. E sounds like e in Hey. I sounds like i in Igloo. O sounds like o in Dog. U sounds like oo in balloon. I don't know if it's right or not but when I keep this in mind then speak people are able to understand me perfectly. And, there is no such letter as L.
"It's time to show them what we're really made of!
In my case it's a rare metal called afraidium, it's yellow and tastes like chiken!"
Psy
Saturday 06th of May 2006 12:32:51 PM
Originally posted by riverdancers
And, there is no such letter as L.
Right you are, but note that there is no such letter as R, either. The sounds of the Japanese ra, ri, ru, re and ro are not found in English, though they can sound more like an L or an R depending on the person saying them.
riverdancers
Monday 08th of May 2006 04:26:07 AM
Hehe.: Your right. Ne, was my vowel pronoucing tip accurate?
Psy
Monday 08th of May 2006 10:36:38 AM
Originally posted by riverdancers
Your right. Ne, was my vowel pronoucing type accurate?
un. (yup) :D
riverdancers
Tuesday 09th of May 2006 03:40:48 AM
So true: Originally posted by Psy
Originally posted by riverdancers
And, there is no such letter as L.
Right you are, but note that there is no such letter as R, either. The sounds of the Japanese ra, ri, ru, re and ro are not found in English, though they can sound more like an L or an R depending on the person saying them.
My IRL teacher has to tell this to us atleast once a day. LOL
Wordmaster
Wednesday 12th of July 2006 05:26:12 AM
Umm is this thread still alive? ^_^'
If it is, Id like to ask a question.
When I was watching some anime, some characters were pronouncing certain words (negative verbs) differently.
Example:-
Dekinai - Dekinei - Dekin
Ikanai - Ikan
Are these words just different accents, or is there any difference in their meanings.
Thanks in advance. :D
Psy
Wednesday 12th of July 2006 11:45:48 AM
Originally posted by Wordmaster
Umm is this thread still alive? ^_^'
D
Spot on. Those do mean the same thing as the ~nai form, but sound a bit more colloquial. Take wakaru, for instance:
wakaranai
wakannai
wakaran.
So your intuition was right.
It seems this part of the forum is dying off, but some of us still drop by. :) All the best for your studies!
Wordmaster
Monday 17th of July 2006 06:46:40 AM
Thanks for replying.
I have one more question :D
I believe all verbs in japanese can be conjugulated in three forms (or perhaps more)...
These are
1)Active
2)Passive
3)Causative
Example:
Kiku - Active
Kikareru - Passive
Kikaseru - Causative
My question is about the causative form. Im not exactly sure of its meaning, does it mean to [b]make[/b] someone do something or is it to [b]let[/b] someone do something. Any clarification would be appreciated.
Psy
Monday 17th of July 2006 01:11:53 PM
Originally posted by Wordmaster
My question is about the causative form. Im not exactly sure of its meaning, does it mean to [b]make[/b] someone do something or is it to [b]let[/b] someone do something. Any clarification would be appreciated.
There is no clarification. The only way to tell the menaing is through context, because it means both make and let.
The word "Context" comes up a lot in Japanese. :D
Osumanu
Thursday 27th of July 2006 07:05:20 PM
Konnichi wa : ) i'm new,from turkey.I want to learn japanese too... You really teach good tomoka-san (i learnd it from your posts :) anyways) keep on it.I will read all posts.
mr_kanada
Wednesday 02nd of August 2006 01:23:42 AM
Konnichiwa,
I have been reading this thread for a while and looking up the tutorials(Arigato Tomoka-San)and I just wanted to become part of the major discussion on this thread. I hope I can be an active participant.
Arigato for your time,
Matane!
Psy
Friday 04th of August 2006 02:13:26 PM
Not wanting to disappoint you, but this forum has been quiet for a long time. Including myself there are very few common visitors here.
Always feel free to ask questions! Good luck with your studies.
xnaimax
Friday 05th of January 2007 03:30:30 AM
Konnichiwa Tomoka-san
Umm... Arigato! :D
Thank you soo much for the lesson. I cant wait to learn them all.
I just started learning japanese yesterday!
Sayounara ^_^
Axystos
Sunday 25th of March 2007 02:17:20 PM
In my neverending struggle to master the Japanese language, I've stumbled on a couple of things. I hope you can help me:
'To return' in Japanese is (according to my dictionary) 'kaeru', but there seem to be two different kanjis for it: 帰る and 返る. Is there a difference?
Is there also a difference between konnichi/kyou (today), sakujitsu/kinou (yesterday) and myonichi/asu/ashita (tomorrow)?
And the last one, is there a difference between morau and ukeru (which, according to my dictionary, both mean 'to receive')?
Thanks!
Natsuko_
Saturday 21st of April 2007 04:20:32 AM
Oyahou Gozaimasu Tomoka-san. (Its early ne?!)
I have this question,
Could you perhaps help me with some grammar parts.
At home we used to speak Japanese, but since it was in the Netherlands we rarely wrote it.
So now I dont wirte phrases grammaticly correct.
But now I live in Tokyo, and really need it to fill in applications etcetera, I'm freakin out a bit.
Because i can read and speak but cant write correctly..I feel stupid haha!
I really hope you can help me out!
Much love
Wordmaster
Sunday 22nd of April 2007 08:47:54 PM
Well, tomoka-san hasnt been replying alot lately, probably busy with her work. [Her last post on phrasebase was dated 11 Apr 06, more than a year ago :(]
Anyway, you can speak (and read!!!), so you have a great advantage right there. Alphabet, spellings, letters, words, kanji, thats all memorization. Especially kanji as its not phonetic. Making sense out of it doesnt work, atleast not with me.
Example:
Beauty = Bi = 美
Flavor = Aji = 味
Together, "Beauty" and "Flavor" become, "Tasty"!
美味 = Oishii / Umai / Bimi
Theres no other way about it, youll just have to KNOW by memorization that bi and aji kanjis make oishii. If you can read however, thats a great asset. Just start reading anything of your interest, like some manga for example and pick up words from there. If you can read, it wont long before you can write too. Good luck. :D :D
Psy
Thursday 26th of April 2007 02:32:18 PM
Originally posted by Axystos
'To return' in Japanese is (according to my dictionary) 'kaeru', but there seem to be two different kanjis for it: A@and@Ԃ. Is there a difference?
Yes. The first one is specifically for a person returning home, whereas the second is for things like the mail, replies, returning to a condition, etc.
Is there also a difference between konnichi/kyou (today), sakujitsu/kinou (yesterday) and myonichi/asu/ashita (tomorrow)?
konnichi is pretty much exclusively used for the greeting konnichi wa, so much so that if you tried writing it in kanji (), people would see it and immediately think "kyou." Myounichi and sakujitsu are both rather stiff and formal sounding, and while you might hear them occasionally in speeches and the like, keep with the others during everyday conversation.
And the last one, is there a difference between gmorauh and gukeruh (which, according to my dictionary, both mean 'to receive')?
This one is a little more complicated. "morau" is an honorific word whereas "ukeru" isn't. You use morau only in the sense of having a favor done for you. "ukeru" is better thought of as "to accept" or "to undertake." The Japanese phrase for "to take a class" is literally "to undertake classwork" jugyou wo ukeru. "To receive blame/criticism is hinan wo ukeru.
If you've studied keigo, morau is just a less formal version of itadaku a favorite amongst Japanese folks for sounding amazingly, flagrantly flatteringly polite.
Originally posted by Wordmaster
Well, tomoka-san hasnt been replying alot lately, probably busy with her work. [Her last post on phrasebase was dated 11 Apr 06, more than a year ago :(]
Yeah, this forum has been pretty quiet since then. If it weren't for a couple of truly awesome individuals (you all know who you are), this forum would have died completely.
Theres no other way about it, youll just have to KNOW by memorization that bi and aji kanjis make oishii.
It's a huge pain in the butt. This is one thing I like better about reading Mandarin Chinese.
If you can read however, thats a great asset. Just start reading anything of your interest, like some manga for example and pick up words from there. If you can read, it wont long before you can write too. Good luck. :D :D
This is good advice for learners but not for people who already speak the language and need to learn how to write effectively. Manga has earned a huge reputation in Japan for "dumbing down" literacy levels of the new generation. While you might pick up some new kanji, you certainly won't be learning proper grammar. The advise that reading will help your writing is solid, though and were I in your position I'd start tackling books, novels, and maybe a magazine article or two. The exposure (along with perhaps trying to emulate the styles you find pleasing) will certainly help, though until you learn kanji sufficiently it will be difficult. If you can, try to get already literate friends/relatives to help out.
Additionally flashcards are also your friends. :D
tomoka
Monday 04th of June 2007 12:54:45 PM
Minasan konnichiwa!
I'm sorry I've not replied for a long time at all.
I've been busy for work and couldn't come here.
Psy-san,
Ohisashi buri desu :)
itsumo minnna wo tasukete kurete arigatou!
I don't have much time but will try to come here
and post sometimes.
minna genki de!
Tomoka
FaWzY
Saturday 09th of June 2007 05:38:45 AM
Konnichiwa Tomokasan, hajimimashite! :)
Watashi wa genki desu, okagesamade, anata wa?
Nihongo ga sukoshi wakarimasu, demo mada jouzu ja arimasen.
I'm glad to see that you're still around, good luck with your work. :)
tomoka
Saturday 09th of June 2007 08:58:21 AM
Konnichiwa FaWzY-san,
Hai, watashi mo genki desu.(I'm fine too, thank you.)
kyou wa doyoubi desu.(It's Saturday today.)
koko wa ame ga futte imasu.(It's raining here.)
ashita wa hareru to iina.(I hope it'll be fine tomorrow.)
matane!
tomoka
natebmore
Friday 27th of July 2007 03:10:15 AM
me: tomoka-san
i have enjoyed going through all of your lessons they have helped me e lot in talking a lot of the japanses exchange students at my school we are all now very good friends and i thank you for allowing me to do so
tomoka
Friday 27th of July 2007 07:15:12 PM
domo domo: Konnichiwa natebmore-san :)
Messseeji wo doumo arigatou!
oyakuni tatete ureshii desu :D
(I'm glad to know that I could help you :D)
If you have any questions, please post here.
tomoka
liasuzuki
Wednesday 05th of November 2008 02:58:59 PM
Hajimemashite.: Hi Everyone!
I'm Lia and I just joined this group. Quite impressive! Lots of great info about Nihongo here...
Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.
Lia
Monica
Sunday 04th of January 2009 01:13:34 AM
konnichiwa: nee minnasan konnichiwa
atashiwa monica de indoneshiajin desu
yoroshiku..^^v
Paige
Tuesday 31st of March 2009 04:45:29 PM
Hello all! I am new in the forum.I wanna learn Japanese from the very basic.I have read all the previous posts,it is amusing as it is very interesting..I hope I can learn more.I think tomoka is a very good teacher. ;-)
Paige
Tuesday 31st of March 2009 04:45:35 PM
Hello all! I am new in the forum.I wanna learn Japanese from the very basic.I have read all the previous posts,it is amusing as it is very interesting..I hope I can learn more.I think tomoka is a very good teacher. ;-)
jaedreth
Thursday 27th of August 2009 06:53:37 PM
Arigato gozaimasu tomoka and Psy. You guys are great and this site is awesome. I started learning japanese words (as opposed to the language) when I was in 3rd grade at a judo club. We were taught from the Kodukan (sensei had a copy of the book), and were expected to learn the japanese names of the throws and holds. Much later in life, I got into anime, though I only watch the subtitled anime, because you lose all depth with english dubs. I hope one day to not need the subtitles. *heh* I'm also 1/16th Japanese, as my great great grandmother was half Japanese and half Cherokee. So I've always felt a strong pull to Japanese culture and to Shinto.
dackel
Monday 21st of September 2009 07:43:08 PM
Konnichiwa minasan.
Watashi-wa Martin desu. Douzu yoroshiku. Cheko-jin desu, mou sukoshi nihon-go ga wakarimasu demo mada jouzu jaarimasen. Katakana mo hiragana mo wakarimasu ga kanji doumo muzukashii desu. Watashi-wa kotoshi nihon-ni iku desu.
Unfortunately, I don't have a Japanese keyboard. Any corrections welcome ;)
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