Question Recommendation Thread: (Use this thread when you seek advice.)

[NeoShweaty]

Re: what would you guys recommend?

i can follow anime pretty well. The news is something different. Are there any good places to download raw japanese tv? i would love to see some of the games shows and stuff again.

Im like that too with my music. D-technolife comes up (from bleach), i am in my host stay room, sitting in a seat thing on the floor watching a specific episode from bleach. I am soo like that with my music.

 

[njt]

Re: what would you guys recommend?

Youtube would work. go to the site jdrama to check out series that might be on it

 

[pocketmofo]

Re: what would you guys recommend?

I am not sure exactly what you want to use your Japanese for in the future, but as far as news goes you could always read the asahi newspaper or the nikkei online if you're into business (the nikkei has an excellent 30 minute news program that is updated daily). I'd stay away from the yomiuri and the mainichi (just a personal preference).

I'm with everyone else though. Read everything you can (manga, novels, and especially the news) and watch everything that you can (check out d-addicts and jpopsuki for comedy shows and the like).

Speaking well and writing well come later, but for getting your comprehension levels up just be a sponge. Hard studying for grammar, vocabulary and kanji works well if you balance it out with the way the language is actually used (which is what TV is best for if you don't have a Japanese person to talk to).

It also helps if you have a major or area of focus (apart from manga) so that you can really focus your vocabulary in on that particular area (business, computer science, mathematics, history, etc.). This might not apply to you quite yet though.

So yeah, read the newspaper online and just take in as much as you can. Good luck with your studies!

 

[NeoShweaty]

Re: what would you guys recommend?

What i want to do is be a translator, probably in the business sector. Sadly, after three years, three fucking years, i know about 200 kanji, maybe, so that rules out the newspaper for now.

For nikkei, do you mean online they have the news? because i would love to be able to watch it online.

Also, do you guys have any recommendations for shows to watch? i mean i know little about japanese television outside of anime and super sentai. The kinds of shows that i watch are basically anything. For example, i just started watching Rescue Me (Denis Leary is actually really good) recently and find it really good. I watch the law and orders, i watch the history channel, i like sci-fi stuff. I basically just want a good drama or good comedy that isnt that difficult to watch

 

[Nihongaeri]

Re: what would you guys recommend?

it's all about osmosis!!

This is just my own experience, but I highly recommend against any type of passive study (not that you're necessarily suggesting completely passive "osmosis"). In my experience I have made the most noticeable leaps in over all ability in Japanese (and to a degree English) when I actually made some kind of focused effort at acquiring the language. I lived in Japan for a tad over two years, having times when I was quite active in my studies and others when I was quite passive. Just being in Japan does do a lot, but I have met people who have lived in the country for over 5 years yet still don't speak anywhere near as well as I do. In my experience there is a huge difference in the abilities and progress of people who attempt to practice pure "osmosis" and those who actually focus and reflect on the language as they study it...

What i want to do is be a translator, probably in the business sector. Sadly, after three years, three fucking years, i know about 200 kanji, maybe, so that rules out the newspaper for now.

Kanji, even more than the rest of the language, requires active study in my experience. Most of the study that I have done for kanji has been pretty at random. Attempt to read, right down words that I can't read, look them up, make a list in a notebook, quiz myself on their readings then on writing the characters, rinse, wash, repeat. I'm pretty good at reading now, but I do, in retrospect, wish I had been a tad bit more systematic with my kanji studies. Reason being that while I don't have problems reading a newspaper now, I have big problems writing most kanji from memory.

Also, do you guys have any recommendations for shows to watch?

D-addicts was suggested as a source for Japanese TV above, and WinNY and Share both have a lot of shows available on them. As for specific shows, well, everyone has their own preferences, but some shows that I have liked... さんまのスーパーからくりTV (in particular I love the ご長寿早押しクイズ), ロンドンハーツ, あいのり, 行列の出来る法律相談所, キスだけじゃいや... And there any number of other shows that I've watched regularly. Then there's ドラマ, which are always fine and good... Right now I'm watching a 昼ドラ (read: "soap opera") with my wife which is quite entertaining actually (the acting is ridiculously overdone at parts and the story is completely contrived... which is pretty much the definition of "soap opera" I suppose though...)

 

[flunko]

Re: what would you guys recommend?

Oh absolutely! I'm certainly not recommending just sitting there vacantly listening to japanese. あくまでも it should be used just to reinforce your more systematic study routine... I just mean you shouldn't push yourself to the max with everything you do... there's japanese for squeezing every drop of meaning out of, and there's japanese to just enjoy and let glide into your ears...
For kanji, I used a great set of 4 books which I would highly recommend... the colours go red then blue then orange then green, and the first two are called "basic kanji book" and the second two are called "intermediate kanji book"... pretty basic titles i know, but I think they're the best on the market. Especially the 3rd and 4th book. They don't just get you to memorise the characters, they give them to you in context, and also teach you about the history, construction, patterns etc etc of kanji. In short, I love them! They take you right up to the 1200 or so mark. And after that you can learn kanji as you encounter them or find one of the other few books that covers up to 2000. I think the one I'm working through at the moment is called "kanji power". They're pretty simple books, they just present the character, its readings and a few written examples, and then every now and then have a comprehension test. But it's useful for the way I study.
For grammar etc, I found that reading the JLPT-aimed books were really good. They sum up everything very concisely. I particularly like the series that is printed in psychedelic colours, and goes right up to 一級. I can't remember the series title, I'll find it and get back to you. They have various books for grammar, vocab, reading comprehension, listening comprehension etc, all the areas on the test. They're good, because they're structured in levels. So you can work through them logically. Personally I got a lot more out of them than I ever did from stupid textbooks like 未来, おべんとう, 日本語毎日, and others like that. Those textbooks can only really be useful in a class situation.
Um, I would list more good textbooks, but I sent all of mine home the other day... so my bookshelf is bare at the moment.
Anyways, hope this helps a bit...
oh, btw, if you're looking for raw shows, then http://bt.saiyaman.info/ has lots of bitorrent anime as well as "トリビアの泉" and a music chat show. Apparently there's something really good called "U-tube" which has heaps of stuff on it, but I don't know where it is, or how to spell it... I'll ask my friend and get back to you...
Also you could try listening to お笑い... although a lot of it will probably go over your head, if you hang in there and keep watching it then you'll begin to tag along. just try searching for お笑い on livewire or something and you should find heaps of stuff.

Sorry for the massive post! I'm off to bed now.

 

[NeoShweaty]

Re: what would you guys recommend?

wow, thanks for your replies, long as they were :P.

Flunko you wouldnt happen to have any links to the kanji books you talked about because they sound like something i would be willing to do over the summer. Also for the JLPT textooks because i am in need of new grammer to learn.

Ill look into some shows. I am downloading eyeshield 21 right now so i can see what i get out of it. I dont watch much anime really so just watching raws for a while isnt gonna hurt me.

I was also considering reading whole volumes, writind down what i dont know as i go and then going back and looking that up. That way i can get what i can get out of the manga and not be going back and forth. I was reading Dragon Ball and piccolo, trunks, tien, and vegita got their asses kicked. Piccolo talked about how vegita has become a super saiyan and finally got to goku's level but the androids treated the fight as a joke and hurt his pride. Then kuririn went on some speech and he asked piccolo about what he was planning to do and Piccolo didnt know or didnt want to say what and kuririn said, arent we friends? and then Piccolo was like when the fuck were we friends?
I never remember that happening, but Kuririn figured out that he was gonna fuse(gattai always reminds me of super sentai) with the other piccolo, wtf was his name....

Anyway, i posted that just to show that i am doing well enough to understand all that shit but it isnt good enough for me. That is why i am going to practice with some of this stuff.

 

[njt]

Re: what would you guys recommend?

Haven't had time, nor do now to read through the posts (will later) just want to inform you guys of Share and winny just incase you haven't used them before...

so yeah- here's a guide and place to download them

http://uguu.org/share/

winny is there too just check that page for a link to their winny guide (though I'd suggest using winny only for short times since yeah people can wreck havoc on your pc through it... )

 

[NeoShweaty]

Re: what would you guys recommend?

i could never get it to work. I could get as far as the search screen but nothing ever downloaded properly

 

[njt]

Re: what would you guys recommend?

i could never get it to work. I could get as far as the search screen but nothing ever downloaded properly

Go through the steps listed on that site, should get it to work... if not might be some problems with firewalls / routers or the like

 

[NeoShweaty]

Re: what would you guys recommend?

i tried everything. Im just not gonna bother. I got enough raw manga anyway

 

[njt]

Re: what would you guys recommend?

i tried everything. Im just not gonna bother. I got enough raw manga anyway

Right, it's not just for manga though ^^. You can find lots of tv dramas and shows and such via the two programs as well

 

[NeoShweaty]

Re: what would you guys recommend?

ill give it one last try later[br]Posted on: May 31, 2006, 11:28:52 AM_________________________________________________i have some questions. I scan and typeset for fullswing and noticed that one of the characters uses a wierd way to end his sentences. I happened to be flipping through bleach and urahara also uses it. Here is an example:
お久し振りっス
now of course i know ohisashiburi but what is the っス at the end? I assume that it replaces です but why does he use that instead.

Also, i was watching G Gundam and there was this mummy fighter and this people recognized his ass and said something like 死んだはず。。 what does it mean? They translated it as he should be dead, so does it mean should in general or what?

Also, Vegita makes use of this verb alot and i am not sure of his intent most of the time. Here is an example of it (the context is that Trunks shot a ki beam at the androids in order to defeat them before they have a chance to do anything): くそやろうめつまらんことをしやがって。。。！！　I understand that he is angry because he is cursing at trunks for ruining his fun (basically) but why use やがる? i have asked this before elsewhere but it just didnt stick i guess.

 

[flunko]

Re: what would you guys recommend?

Hi hi!
I'll try answeringyour questions for you
You're completely right in thinking that っス replaces 'desu' at the end. Basically the person can't be bothered saying the whole 'desu' but they are talking to someone they have to use polite (or halfway polite at least) speech with, so they shorten it to っス. Does that make sense? Lots of high school boys etc use it.

死んだはず, means exactly that.. "he should be dead", as in, they thought that he was dead but he's not OMG shock! You can use it if you lose something and you're like..　ここにあったはずだけど。。。

with ～やがる... it's something added onto the end of verbs which insults the person doing the verb... (well, not really insulting, just being rude really)... It can go on the end of any verb... So basically you have things like,
～なさる・なさいます　(polite)
～する ・します(normal)
～しやがる・しやがります (impolite)
The important thing is to remember that the end refers to who is doing the verb, not the person you are speaking to... So if someone was speaking about someone they don't respect to someone they do, then they'd say,
あいつ、きやがりました (not きやがった）

Um, I hope that explains it a little bit.. There's a few other endings like that which go on the ends of verbs, but I don't have my handy dandy reference book with me and I can't remember them.

 

[NeoShweaty]

Re: what would you guys recommend?

im not sure about やがる　but i get the other stuff. Wait, oh i get it. That makes sense in context because the only time i have ever heard it is for people speaking down about another person. Thanks for your explanation

 

[flunko]

Re: what would you guys recommend?

Okay,
I've got some links for you...
First, there's the Kanji books that I was telling you about... there's 4 volumes which cover the kanji roughly like --> 1-250, 250-500, 500-800, 800-1200.
The sites are from amazon.co.jp, I don't know what stores might stock them where you live... you may have to order them through amazon or amazon.co.uk or whatever...

基本漢字５００　(english name: basic kanji 500) http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4893580914/qid=1149830202/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_10_4/503-5184825-9592726

基本漢字500 Vol2. http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4893581198/ref=pd_sim_dp_2/503-5184825-9592726

Intermediate kanji book―漢字1000PLUS (Vol.1) http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4893583565/qid=1149830126/sr=1-19/ref=sr_1_2_19/503-5184825-9592726

Intermediate kanji book―漢字1000PLUS (Vol.2) http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4893584898/qid=1149830126/sr=1-18/ref=sr_1_2_18/503-5184825-9592726
Also, there's "kanji in context" which is alright as a backup to other study, but not as a stand alone kind of thing. It's one of the few that goes all the way up to 2000 though.

Then there's the JLPT books
The 完全マスター Books are alright... just go to amazon.co.jp and search for them.
Then the 実力アップ　books are good.. they go from 3級 to 1級 and there's different ones for vocab, grammar, listening etc...
Here's a few:
http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4896894308/qid=1149831725/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_8_1/503-5184825-9592726
http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4896894324/qid=1149831791/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_10_1/503-5184825-9592726
http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4896891740/qid=1149831791/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_10_2/503-5184825-9592726

Oh, and I read this book the other day. It was really really interesting! I'd reccomend it to anyone. It's called 日本語の練習帳, and it's a book about japanese for japanese people. Interesting.
http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4004305969/ref=cm_lm_fullview_prod_2/503-5184825-9592726?%5Fencoding=UTF8

Anyways, hope this helps... Not sure how many you'll be able to find in your country.

 

[NeoShweaty]

Re: what would you guys recommend?

well, ill see about finding them but at least you gave me a start. Thank you
edit: check it out: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/48...f=pd_bbs_1/102-2437656-9445711?_encoding=UTF8
I think ill be able to find it just fine[br]Posted on: June 09, 2006, 03:30:55 AM_________________________________________________anyway, i havent been able to start buying those kanji books considering i dont get paid till next week on thursday but i was wondering something after reading bleach on the crapper. Does Shinji speak in kansai-ben? i mean i saw alot of "nen"'s and "ya"'s in his speech and found it difficult to follow. [br]Posted on: June 17, 2006, 11:49:45 PM_________________________________________________anyone have an answer to this question? about the dialect of shinji

 

[njt]

Re: what would you guys recommend?

sorry don't read bleach...

 

[NeoShweaty]

Re: what would you guys recommend?

ill scan the page when i get home so you can see, unless someone else answers

 

[pocketmofo]

Re: what would you guys recommend?

NeoShweaty, Hirako Shinji most certainly speaks in "Kansai-ben" along with the rest of the Vaizard members (to varying degrees, Sarugaki Hiyori and Hirako Shinji being the worst...mostly because they've gotten the most dialogue). In fact, the Vaizards are pretty much one big お笑い group where a lot of the gags they use are right out of Japanese comedic style.

As a sidenote, one of the biggest translation mistakes (in the Bleach community) made in recent chapters is in chapter 190 where many translators mistranslated Hiyori's dialect-ridden speech (where she says that she hates Shinigami and humans but translators messed up and said that humans and Shinigami hate her).

If you have any other questions about dialects, please feel free to check out the Japanese language thread (where I posted a few links to sites which might help you out if you want to learn about different dialects).