Discussion The Japanese Study Thread

[Shurou]

Re: Katsudon and Katsu-udon

In English: I used to get "kitchen" and "chicken" mixed up every now and then in a few hilarious contexts =P

 

[Dokuro no Kishi]

Re: Teach me Japanese, please..

I tried rosetta stone out and now i'm getting pretty good at japanese.. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn another language

Well, I think it's helpful, but not that helpful by itself. It takes too much time trying to learn everything intuitively. It's best to complement it with more conventional methods, such as textbooks or the like.

 

[Jura]

Where to learn Japanese

I wasn't sure where to post this, but I'll try here since I'm sure others have learned the language somehow.

I have one of my state's better community colleges, a pretty big Japanese culture center, Japanese study centers, and then there's Rosetta Stone.

So far I only know a little in which I'm too shy to share here, but I do have a growing collection of Japanese manga (Cloth Road, Soul Eater, and others)...that I can't read. Having my own scan group or joining one may also be a goal.

Basically which would be best?

 

[_ATMA]

Re: Where to learn Japanese

u should try looking around the site more

my post regarding this mater:
http://mangahelpers.com/forums/showpost.php?p=688470&postcount=134

start of thread:
http://mangahelpers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=164

 

[Jura]

Re: Where to learn Japanese

Maybe if you weren't so unfriendly.

 

[_ATMA]

Re: Where to learn Japanese

i wasnt being unfriendly i was directing u to the proper information :P

 

[Yuki_Onna]

Re: Learn how to read Manga: The Japanese Study Thread

Minna no Nihongo and Genki are the two biggest sellers here. I personally use Genki...but I suck at self study so my speaking abilities still sound infantile.

But that is just part of the learning process. You need to work on Speaking, Listening and Reading. You can't get all of that from just a textbook.

For Listening I suggest watching as much anime or dorama as you can in Japanese. First with subtitles then challenge yourself occasionally by watching without subtitles. See how much you understand. I know, this is absolutely awful homework but it will help strengthen your listening ear. (^_^)

For reading/writing... practice your kana. (If you don't already know them...) Write each one ten times and as you are writing them say it's name. Then move on up to Kanji. Usually the textbooks will also have a workbook where you can practice these things. Flash cards never hurt either...

As for speaking...practicing that can be difficult if you don't have access to many native speakers...heck, it is hard even if you do! "Shadowing" is a method that I have recently heard of. And it seems to work fairly well with a lot of people. Basically you try your best to repeat what you hear as you hear it. I haven't tried it yet but I think trying to follow along with podcasts like JapanesePod101 would be a good place to start. There are other language learning podcasts too...I just can't remember their names.

がんばってね！

 

[Tuppenny]

Re: Learn how to read Manga: The Japanese Study Thread

I'm in my second semester of Japanese. I use the Genki textbook too, and I've recently started watching subbed anime with the actual intent to see how much I can recognize. Generally I'm just catching adjectives and some of the more basic stuff, but it's pretty encouraging.

Anyone have a good set of Kanji flash cards they'd recommend? I'm thinking about getting a set from White Rabbit Press, but I wanted to check if there were any other good ones out there.

 

[Fujihara]

Re: Learn how to read Manga: The Japanese Study Thread

I also used Genki when I started Japanese. I almost cried after reading the last dialogue with Mary and Takeshi.
lol Ah well, I won't throw out any spoilers for those still studying from them.

The best suggestion I'd say is to stay devoted to that anime and keep your ears peeled! Once the spoken language sinks in, studying Japanese becomes pretty fun-- especially if you find chances to use it and you realize how much you've learned. In reverse, my speaking/listening is a lot stronger than reading/writing. Damn Kanji >.<

In addition to watching with/without subtitles as mentioned above, one thing I found that helped me was watching the SAME EPISODE over, and over and over. This can be rough if you don't like the series or have little patience. For me, I can watch a comedy-based shojo manga infinitely (lovely complex, nana). Actually, those that have to do with real life are more useful than things like Bleach or Naruto. I'm sorry, they're just not that useful. >_>

Also, if you have some particular motivation, or interest, it's easier to keep going. The first time I ever cracked down and studied outside of class was from wanting to teach myself Kansai Ben (oosaka, kyoto, kobe area dialect). Thing was that in order to understand Kansai grammar, I had to understand Hyoujingo grammar (Standard Japanese).* I felt forced to go back and review standard, and the detailed comparison between the two helped me remember both better. ほんなええ話しはめったにあらへんで。＾＾

Texbook-study is good, but for me it never would have clicked without a good helping of brain-sugar in the form of sparkly shoujo anime (Love-Con forever . . .). I don't think I ever got an A for any beginner/intermediate Japanese class I ever took, and got a flat-out C when I took an intensive course at Sophia University (Tokyo) last year. ^^; Well, I did beg and plead to get into a course that was above where I placed in, and only got in because the teacher was impressed with how well I spoke. >_____> damn kanji lol

However, I just got back the results from this years JLPT exam, and I managed to pass 2 kyu so I'm pretty stoked. I started taking courses in japanese about 3 years ago, and can say it's been some of the most rewarding study to me that I've ever done. Minna gannbatte ne!


*For anyone with an interest in Kansai Ben, I found this site really useful:
Kansai-Ben: Kansai Dialect Self-Study Site Might even be of interest for those just learning standard Japanese.

 

[Arvael]

Re: Learn how to read Manga: The Japanese Study Thread

I do hope somebody can help me since I only have a few hours 'till my test -when to study if not the day before, right?^^"

Anyway, I need help with this:
"youna ki ga shimasu" I just couldn't find in my book or on the net - I'm out of options

~crosses fingers to find someone willing to help quickly~

Found it. No longer need an explanation

 

[eni]

Re: Learn how to read Manga: The Japanese Study Thread

Arvael, a short tip: There's a #translator channel on irchighway where you can get a quick help ^^

 

[kawaii]

Re: Learn how to read Manga: The Japanese Study Thread

I have a couple text books that help me. The best one that I can recommend is "Japanese for Everyone". Also I have a device called an EXword. It has hundreds of books like encyclopedias, dictionaries and other things so that I have help translating. Most japanese have them for learning english here. I am not too sure how hard it is to get outside of japan though..

 

[nacryss]

The Japanese Language and the Hepburn/Kunrei systems

oh thanx iwanin *writes it in a book*

hey, i still got lots of questons
why say me like boku and watashi, or ore

whats the difference??

and why the ha-ha for uchiha is read like-wa

because we already got wa but japanese also pronounce it-wa

It is only a matter of register: watashi>boku>ore
Watashi is the casual I
Boku and ore are more informal and generally used by men. This is why in some manga, when a girl talks about herself as 'ore' or 'boku', people are surprised and find it inappropriate.
You can also find watakushi, which is more formal and atashi, used by women.
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Any special one that u can recomend me?

Well, I don't know whether an English version is available but I use the "Kanji to kana" book written by Wolfgang Hadamitsky and Pierre Durmous. Although there are only the 1945 characters deemed to be essential in your daily life, I find it really useful.
It's a pity I haven't brought all my Japanese textbooks with me because I was given some English references but, unfortunately, I can't remember them.




For those who don't know, there are currently two systems to transcribe Japanese into Western languages: Hepburn and Kunrei.
They are relatively similar, the differences dwells in the pronunciation of certain sounds. I've been told that English speakers usually use the Kunrei system; I personally use the revised Hepburn system.
Which one do you think is better?

Here are the links for those interested:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepburn_romanization
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunrei-shiki_romanization

 

[r@z]

Where can I learn Japanese?

I found a site once that was wonderful for learning Japanese from scratch but lost the site (after I caught a virus), and since then (about 2 years now) I haven't picked it up again. I was just wondering if anyone here knew of any good websites for learning Japanese. I know the pitfalls of learning from a website, but I think I can deal with them -- from the little I learned, I can understand quite a lot of Japanese when I watch subtitled anime, and can grasp most of what's going on without reading the subs.

All that aside, does anyone have any references?

 

[dosukoi7]

Re: Katsudon and Katsu-udon

A good friend of mine that was studying Japanese with a long time ago used to get おっぱい and いっぱい　confused

 

[BlitzRonin]

Kanji Readings - On & Kun in Naruto

I just started learning about Kanji and am at a very basic level. I'm trying to apply what I have learned to some manga that I am reading. I came across something that doesn't make sense to me, I'm assuming this is one of the exceptions to the rules, but I figured I would throw it out there.

In regards to the Kages in the world of Naruto, I was wondering why their names are read as kun readings -

Hokage, Kazekage, Tsuchikaze, Mizukage, and Raikage

When their names are made up of two kanji...

If you go by the rules shouldn't they be called -

Kaei, Fuei, Suiei, Doei, Raikage (wait that one works....)

Am I completely missing the point here? Are kanji readings more lenient when it comes to titles and the names of people?

 

[Finestela]

Re: Kanji Readings - On & Kun in Naruto

O_o" I didn't realize there's some kind of rule when it comes to Kunyomi and Onyomi... I thought they just go with the meaning or the source of the meaning of the word/phrase, or sometimes it's just... the way it is...

The word 音 has "on" and "oto" as onyomi and kunyomi, but there isn't any rules in particular that I know of when it comes to forming phrases with this kanji...

As for names and title... You can pretty much make up any pronunciation when it comes to names and fictional titles.

I mean for crying out loud... 夜神"月" is pronounced as "Light (Raito)"... If someone I know in real life name their kid like that with that pronuciation of that kanji, I would personally want to slap them silly...

 

[Meriken]

Re: Kanji Readings - On & Kun in Naruto

Yep, you just have to "know" what's right from looking at the phrase. That's why furigana is so helpful.

In addition to "on" and "kun," there's also a "nanori" reading, which exists specifically for use in names. For instance, there are 13 different ways to read the kanji "一" when it's used in a name (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/一). Of course, "Light" which Finestela pointed out, is NOT even a "nanori" reading for 月, and I remember they had to make sure to put the furigana so people would know how to read it.

Another ridiculous example is "早稲田" read as "Waseda." "Wa" isn't a given reading of "早" and "se" isn't for "稲" in any dictionary (even nanori). But it's an accepted reading, and I guess they just know to read it that way.

 

[WinterLion]

Re: Kanji Readings - On & Kun in Naruto

Kanji is very tricky to really learn.

On readings of the kanji more or less identify the kanji by itself, for example if we took 人 "hito" the on reading of it identifies what kanji it is with just the reading. The kun readning "nin" makes it much harder to identify. Is it 任 忍 認 妊 or 人?　

That said I think the confusion that you may be coming across is that with a few exceptions if a kanji is stand-alone (not connected to any other kanji) it uses the On reading of the kanji, BUT the statement can't be applied the other way around: If there are more than 2 kanji together it uses the Kun reading. (This statement isn't true).

And just to throw another loop in here, there's also another thing call "ateji"　（当て字） when it comes to kanji. These just take the readings of the kanji and ignore the meanings to create a word with the right sounds, but if the individual kanji meanings were translated, would make no sense at all.

 

[Finestela]

Re: Kanji Readings - On & Kun in Naruto

lol... and don't forget those pesky foreign words into Kanji, like 硝子 (glass) and 頁 (page)...