Discussion The Japanese Study Thread

[kyubisharingan]

Re: Help with learning japanese

If u get any textbooks, the best, and mostly recommened is the "GENKI" series

http://thejapanshop.com/product.php?productid=16153&cat=0&page=1

 

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Help with learning japanese

I'm sorry I have a question about something I'm having trouble understanding, I think my brain is just dead because I feel like I should get this but I just don't.

I'm going to give an example. mo includes the vowel o. But when it's written in Hiragana it's written as mo-u <When prolonged.

How do you know when it's a prolonged o or a u?

Please help!

(I probably didn't make any sense... I'm very sorry.)

---

Nevermind I think I understand.

 

[richvh]

Re: Help with learning japanese

Well, there's the particle も and the adverb もう - two different words, I presume you're talking about the latter. -ou is pretty much always pronounced as a prolonged o, unless you're crossing word boundaries, or the -u is a verb ending.

 

[Kastro187420]

Re: Help with learning japanese

I'm still learning Japanese myself, but heres a few things that i suggested to some other people on another site that have really helped me get along:

http://www.guidetojapanese.org/index.html#contents - This website has alot of information on the Grammar of the Japanese Language, and a Kana table. This site is useful for trying to learn to put sentences in the correct context to make sense, something I recommend anyone trying to learn reads through.

http://genki.japantimes.co.jp/self/self.en.html - This website has alot of useful things on it. One of the ones I've found and have been using, is a "Flash Card" type thing for Kana. It will display a Kana, and 3 possible meanings, and you have to choose the correct one of the 3. It also has various Kanji exercises, and Grammar and Vocabulary Exercises, another site I recommend for sharpening your skills.

http://www.japanese-kanji.com/ - This website is a Kanji Flashcard Program written in Java. It tests your knowledge on 60 Kanji at a time, and you can choose the order of the Kanji. It has a few different ways of learning the Kanji, from displaying 1 Kanji and giving 5 possible readings, with you choosing the right one, or displaying 1 Reading, and choosing the correct Kanji that corresponds to it. It also has On-yumi and Kon-yumi tests, so you can learn to recognize Kanji by their Kana readings. Again, a great site to sharpen your skills on.

And then, the last thing I recommend, is a program called "Wakan", which has MANY useful features, including a Kanji look-up too, with 6 different ways to look up Kanji, a Dictionary, and a Translation tool so that you can Paste Kanji and do an Auto-Translation. A great tool for beginners to use for Translations when you learn to use it effectively. Can be downloaded from here: http://wakan.manga.cz/

 

[Kastro187420]

Re: Help with learning japanese

I found a really good dictionary actually at my Library, called "NTC's New Japanese - English Character Dictionary". I definitely recommend people getting it. Its got a few side lessons inside it for learning Stroke Count, Look-up Methods, and other things. Its a rather thick book, not a pocket book, but it still definitely helps out, especially if you wanna just sit down and read.

 

[goldb]

Re: Teach me Japanese, please..

I also wanna learn japanese so if there's anybody here who can help or suggest anything..please drop me a PM...thanks

 

[godofthesunn]

Re: Teach me Japanese, please..

i suggest picking up a copy of the program Rosetta Stone Japanese I and II this will probably be the fastest and easiest way for you to learn the language yourself.

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

 

[goldb]

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

do you where i can get it from?

 

[redcometfm]

Re: Teach me Japanese, please..

do you where i can get it from?

bittorrent, where else haha

 

[LadyHatake]

Re: Teach me Japanese, please..

There's also a free website called LiveMocha.com that's pretty good at teaching you languages, and I know Japanese is offered.

 

[JunkStory]

Japanese language question

How do you say "Naomi's friend's teacher" in Japanese? Using English words to transcribe, of course.

Also, if you happen to know linguistic, how would you draw the word tree for this phrase?

 

[Emily00]

Re: Japanese language question

naomi no tomodachi no sensei
ナオミの友達の先生。

 

[eni]

Re: Learn howto read Manga: The Japanese Study Thread

Merged threads from the Study Corner into this thread.

 

[Red Hood]

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

Im a new student, anyone care to tell me where do i start?.

 

[richvh]

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

A good start is getting a textbook.

 

[Red Hood]

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

A good start is getting a textbook.

Any special one that u can recomend me?

 

[richvh]

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

Not personally; the texts I have a couple of decades old, and not readily available. Look here for a good overview of different textbooks.

 

[Lingwe]

Katsudon and Katsu-udon

I realise this isn't really a translation issue but since this is the place where people will understand what I am talking about I figured I should put it here. I hope that is okay.

Today my friends had a good laugh at me for the way I misinterpreted something one of them said. We were walking to the restaurant and one of my friends said that they had eaten Katsudon (as in かつ丼) yesterday and wondered what she should order today. I who wasn't listening carefully thought she said katsu-udon and asked her if the katsu-udon was tasty.

Needless to say they all found it very funny and teased us about being a manzai pair for several minutes afterward. I wonder if anyone else has unintentionally said something funny due to the way japanese syllables can run together?

 

[Mikc]

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

hey all im also new and WOWEE im studying jap as well haha not exactly fluent yet but im struggling through children's picture books and am slooooowly getting there. can't wait till i cant start translating

 

[tora-chan]

Re: Katsudon and Katsu-udon

Something similar happened to me in March... XD

I was working (for free) as a support interpreter during a Japan-related event. It was dinner time, a Japanese language professor and me were sitting at a table with a Japanese writer and her husband. She's interested in urban phenomena and trends, so we were talking about that kind of stuff. At one point we talked about "maid cafes" and "butler cafes", but my tongue slipped and I said "hitsuji (羊) cafe" instead of "shitsuji (執事) cafe". Since 執事 = butler and 羊 = sheep, they found it pretty hilarious XD