Learning Japanese

[RandomGuy]

Originally Posted by Yu Ominae

Yeah, 県警

Fart, I forgot to point that out!!!! oTL

PS - Wonder if that name is okay for a Japanese woman? But oh well, it's fiction.

"Daichi" is usually male (I hesitate to say "always", though I've never seen otherwise).

[Tenken's Smile]

How do you say "It's my honor" in Japanese???

[Mystique]

Originally Posted by Tenken's Smile

How do you say "It's my honor" in Japanese???

I think I'm gonna develop a 'bitch, give context' stick and bop people on the head with it when they ask for translations for phrases or sentences, (we have a thread for that)
without giving any kind of context as to what the situation is or what's being said beforehand.

The only thing that comes to mind is 'kochira koso', (more a contextual interpretation that literal) - but it depends on what was being said beforehand.
So, context please

[Tenken's Smile]

Originally Posted by Mystique

I think I'm gonna develop a 'bitch, give context' stick and bop people on the head with it when they ask for translations for phrases or sentences, (we have a thread for that)
without giving any kind of context as to what the situation is or what's being said beforehand.

The only thing that comes to mind is 'kochira koso', (more a contextual interpretation that literal) - but it depends on what was being said beforehand.
So, context please

I thought you didn't need a context for that
Let's say someone praises you, thanks you, or says he/she admires you, how would you say "It's my honor" or "I'm honored"?

[Raiga]

Originally Posted by Tenken's Smile

I thought you didn't need a context for that
Let's say someone praises you, thanks you, or says he/she admires you, how would you say "It's my honor" or "I'm honored"?

I think the point is that you wouldn't necessarily say, literally, "I'm honored." Especially for set social situations like these, each language and culture likely has its own sort of traditional reply. One sort of example would be the English "good morning." In Japanese you say "ohayou" which to my knowledge comes from the adjective for "early," in other words you are saying something like, "It is early, isn't it?" rather than wishing somebody that their morning may be good, like we do in English. It serves the same social purpose, but if somebody decided to interpret "good morning" literally they might give you "ii asa" or something.

Now, sometimes what you're looking for might actually translate literally to the same thing, but chances are it won't, so it's best to give context.

... I don't have the word/phrase you're looking for by the way (although "kouei desu" did come to mind), I just felt I'd give my spiel on why context is important. XD

[Doraneko]

Originally Posted by Tenken's Smile

I thought you didn't need a context for that
Let's say someone praises you, thanks you, or says he/she admires you, how would you say "It's my honor" or "I'm honored"?

Literally it is "光栄です (Kouei desu)" as Raiga has suggested. But the usage of such is quite restricted and you certainly wouldn't hear it on a daily basis.

An example is "お目にかかれて大変光栄です (ome ni kakarete taihen kouei desu)". It literally means "It's a great honour to be able to meet you." Another is "お誉めのお言葉を頂戴し、身に余るほど光栄です (Ohome ni azukari, mi ni amaru hodo kouei desu)", meaning "I am greatly honoured for your kind complements." Use these only when you are speaking to some big potatoes or want to become a joke among your friends.

One of the many ways to reply to a generic "thank you" for something you have done for the guy who thanks you would be:
どういたしまして (Douitashimasite).

For specific praises regarding your appearance, maybe you can reply like this. Basically you are rejecting the praise and saying it is not true. It sounds very weird in English. But the Japanese culture has a great attention to humbleness and it is a very normal phrase there.
いえいえ。そんなことはありませんよ。 (ieie, sonna koto wa arimasen yo)

In more friendly conversations for the scenario above, you can reply in this way:
またまた、ご冗談ばかり・・・(Mata mata, gojoudan bakari...)
Meaning: Oh, you are joking again...

Depending on the context and circumstances, there are other more appropriate replies.

[Tenken's Smile]

Cool! I've learned more expressions Thank you!!!

[lixuelai]

Originally Posted by Doraneko

Literally it is "光栄です (Kouei desu)" as Raiga has suggested. But the usage of such is quite restricted and you certainly wouldn't hear it on a daily basis.

An example is "お目にかかれて大変光栄です (ome ni kakarete taihen kouei desu)". It literally means "It's a great honour to be able to meet you." Another is "お誉めのお言葉を頂戴し、身に余るほど光栄です (Ohome ni azukari, mi ni amaru hodo kouei desu)", meaning "I am greatly honoured for your kind complements." Use these only when you are speaking to some big potatoes or want to become a joke among your friends.

One of the many ways to reply to a generic "thank you" for something you have done for the guy who thanks you would be:
どういたしまして (Douitashimasite).

For specific praises regarding your appearance, maybe you can reply like this. Basically you are rejecting the praise and saying it is not true. It sounds very weird in English. But the Japanese culture has a great attention to humbleness and it is a very normal phrase there.
いえいえ。そんなことはありませんよ。 (ieie, sonna koto wa arimasen yo)

In more friendly conversations for the scenario above, you can reply in this way:
またまた、ご冗談ばかり・・・(Mata mata, gojoudan bakari...)
Meaning: Oh, you are joking again...

Depending on the context and circumstances, there are other more appropriate replies.

This had me LOLing in class. Reminded me of sometimes when I used overly polite language and got weird looks. Not polite enough = bad. Too polite = worse. -.-"

Anyway I was thinking of how I would use 光栄ですand all the scenarios I can think of was pretty ridiculous. Of course if I was a guest to something and was to do something like laying a wreath that would be an appropriate reply but in general it is pretty unheard of.

[Rajura]

I have become infamous among peers for use of "overly polite" speech.

It has become a force of habit... as I did not learn until much later how overly polite can be viewed as sarcastic and even just generally obnoxious.

Being a "fer-ner" though, I've noticed I generally get a free pass... except for a few weird looks and an occasional laugh.

[onehp]

人は「後悔」を背に 明日を見つけ出す
かよわい生物(いきもの)だから

たぶん僕らが今ココにいる意味は

Part of a song I'm confused. Can anyone please translate?

[Raiga]

Originally Posted by onehp

人は「後悔」を背に 明日を見つけ出す
かよわい生物(いきもの)だから

たぶん僕らが今ココにいる意味は

Part of a song I'm confused. Can anyone please translate?

"People shoulder their regrets on their backs and seek out the future
Because we are such frail creatures

Probably, the meaning to our existence here is... [rest of the song?]"

Er, just my attempt, I'm not fully sure myself but hope it helps. ^^

[Wrath88]

Originally Posted by Rajura

I have become infamous among peers for use of "overly polite" speech.

It has become a force of habit... as I did not learn until much later how overly polite can be viewed as sarcastic and even just generally obnoxious.

Being a "fer-ner" though, I've noticed I generally get a free pass... except for a few weird looks and an occasional laugh.

The place I'm learning Japanese from focuses more on daily use ones, and since I'm a beginner, all I get is polite forms.

On the other hand, with anime background, I find it VERY easy and tempting to throw out colloquials.

[Rajura]

Originally Posted by Wrath88

... with anime background, I find it VERY easy and tempting to throw out colloquials.

Not being an anime follower, colloquials are my weakness. I have done all my study to date with "proper" Japanese. I guess it sounds a little strange...kind of like people who speak English and do not end their sentences in prepositions. Oh wait, that also describes me.

[gondo]

Do any of you guys watch anime purely in Japanese? I got interested in learning Japanese and that is how I started watching anime - I thought the practice would be good.

I am using kanagrams for learning hiragana/katakana and smart.fm for learning vocab. Is there anything particular to keep an eye out for if I am watching a lot of anime at the same time as trying to learn Japanese?

Thanks

[yoropa]

I think we have a thread for this.

Watching children's programming in Japan without subtitles can help one pick up the accent and learn basics. The same is true (give or take) for any language.

[Vexx]

Yes, there are already several threads for this. Read the forum rules

But in brief, anime is full of EXTREMELY informal and coarse language. Be very wary of actually using phrases from it with real life people. Its quite useful to listen to though so you can practice word recognition and "catch the rhythm."

[0utf0xZer0]

When I went for dinner with my anime club recently, one of the newbies had an iPhone app that could recognize and provide a definition for Japanese characters drawn on the screen. Now, I'm not an iPhone owner nor am I trying to learn Japanese at the moment (really, really busy!), but I thought people here might be interested. Unforunately I do not remember the name of the app, but I suspect it could be turned up with some searching.

[Mystique]

Yeah, I'll report the thread so it can be merged with the 'Learning Japanese' one

Originally Posted by Vexx

Yes, there are already several threads for this. Read the forum rules

But in brief, anime is full of EXTREMELY informal and coarse language. Be very wary of actually using phrases from it with real life people. Its quite useful to listen to though so you can practice word recognition and "catch the rhythm."

^
Is absolute truth.
Use it to sharpen your listening skills but not to learn entire phrases or slang from. I'm speaking from experience of giving my old Japanese teacher many grey hairs for doing that especially as a shounen-loving fangirl.
(Of course, practice the phrases with your fellow students but don't let any natives hear you screaming out,)
SHI-NE!
or
OMAE WA MOU.... SHINDERIRU xD

[Tenken's Smile]

I have a question:
--> 日本語できたんですか まあったりまえでそけどね. I don't understand this phrase: "まあったりまえでそけどね"

[Mystique]

Just an interesting article to post in here for those who're thinking of learning japanese or are just beginning.
This time its the 'serious' version, which truly has some useful tips in here, the intro of which I'll post
(The funny version is from the writer called 'Dan'.)

So you really want to learn Japanese?

For the last nine months (as of this writing) I have been spending a large amount of my spare time learning the Japanese language. I've discovered that Japanese seems to be a pretty popular language to learn. Although I'm still only a beginner, I've recently found myself making recommendations and suggestions to other beginners.

Why? I think that it might be difficult to move beyond the "completely raw beginner" stage in to the "plain old beginner" stage; the job of "Japanese language beginner" seems to have a very high turnover rate. I see it all the time at the local Japanese conversation group and on Japanese learners' forums on the internet: people are interested in learning Japanese but quickly disappear after a little exposure to the task of actually learning it.

And it really is a task. It takes real work and effort to learn Japanese (or any new language or skill, for that matter). Time and time again I see comments such as, "It shouldn't be too difficult just to pick up enough Japanese to play a video game", or "What's a quick and easy way to learn Japanese but still remember everything?" Well, there is no "quick and easy way". However, the right tools can make learning Japanese "quicker and easier", and even fun.

A few years ago someone named "Dan" wrote an essay titled So you want to learn Japanese. It was an amusing satire which has become more amusing as I've become more familiar with the world of learning Japanese. However, finding really useful beginner-level information is a little more difficult, so I've put together a few of my own observations here.

So, you really want to learn Japanese? Let me give you a few tips and show you some of the tools and tricks which have worked for me. Occasional Japanese words and phrases will appear in romaji rather than in kana; if you're advanced enough to expect kana, you'll be advanced enough to forgive the use of romaji for the beginners' sake.

Someone pointed out that the best way to learn Japanese is to go to Japan, become immersed in the language and culture, and either sink or swim. Great idea...if you can do it. These tips are for the rest of us.