Learning Japanese

[ukiuki]

Originally Posted by ACGalaga

I used Katakana for two reasons. First, to add emphasis (particularly with 全部). I see it sometimes in other comics, especially used for foreigners. Although that doesn't explain 「ザッシ」. I tend to use only simple kanji being that a large part of my readership are Japanese learners. I can't stand it when hiragana is all mixed up with other hirigana. Therefore, I decided to use katakana for more complex kanji instead in order to make it stand out from the rest of the words. Do you think that's wrong?

「雑誌がありがとう」is suppose to mean, "thank you for the magazine." Since it is a little out of context, maybe what you said 「あなたが作ったザッシが大好きです!」would be better. Along the lines of, "I love the magazine you made!"



Hmmm... if it's too hard to read, then maybe there is a better way? It's printed on a B6 page, which makes it very difficult to use furigana.

Thanks for all your help!!

I like your drawing!!
if you are trying to target beginner class for japanese learner, maybe better to use only hiragana and katakana.
also, japanese charactor may act like typical japanese.
many japanese young girl is shy to talk at first time.

good luck!


learn must be fun http://wwjanime.blogspot.com

[Haladflire65]

Originally Posted by ACGalaga

I used Katakana for two reasons. First, to add emphasis (particularly with 全部). I see it sometimes in other comics, especially used for foreigners. Although that doesn't explain 「ザッシ」. I tend to use only simple kanji being that a large part of my readership are Japanese learners. I can't stand it when hiragana is all mixed up with other hirigana. Therefore, I decided to use katakana for more complex kanji instead in order to make it stand out from the rest of the words. Do you think that's wrong?

As I said before, it's not entirely wrong, but the standard way in Japan is to write hiragana for kanji you don't know. That's how all schoolkids do it... If you look at a first grade textbook, it's all in hiragana. That's for your info.

[iLney]

Hmm, after getting used to Japanese, I find the kanji help a lot. I am personally irritated at sentences written only in kana and kata because I can read them quick enough. Kanji FTW

Anyway, next question ^_^:

部屋をきれいに掃除します.

=> "please clean the room and make it nice."

Now, I'm totally "lost in translation." What the....? "を" followed by an adjective. And where are "please" and "and" coming from?

[Kylaran]

Originally Posted by iLney

Hmm, after getting used to Japanese, I find the kanji help a lot. I am personally irritated at sentences written only in kana and kata because I can read them quick enough. Kanji FTW

Anyway, next question ^_^:

部屋をきれいに掃除します.

=> "please clean the room and make it nice."

Now, I'm totally "lost in translation." What the....? "を" followed by an adjective. And where are "please" and "and" coming from?

That should be "I'm going to clean the room to make it look nice." or "I am cleaning the room to make it look nice." (Future and present tenses are ambigous.)

部屋を　(heya wo) is the object being cleaned | きれいに describes the manner it's being done (adverb) | 掃除します (soujishimasu) is the tense and verb.

I'm not sure where you got the "please" from, but in English, you can reword that sentence as: "I'm going to clean the room and make it nice." and have the same meaning as the translation I gave above. There's no grammatical "and" in that sentence, but it's not an incorrect way to say "and" in English.

As long as you separate the sentence into words + particles and read it that way, basic sentences should be easy. You don't have to think of the translation as entirely being word for word, and that'll help you wrap your brain around the meaning easier.　Word order can change but the meaning will remain the same.

[Mystique]

Originally Posted by iLney

Hmm, after getting used to Japanese, I find the kanji help a lot. I am personally irritated at sentences written only in kana and kata because I can read them quick enough. Kanji FTW

Anyway, next question ^_^:

部屋をきれいに掃除します.

=> "please clean the room and make it nice."

Now, I'm totally "lost in translation." What the....? "を" followed by an adjective. And where are "please" and "and" coming from?

That's a bit of a lame example purely in context.
To use 'kirei ni' as an adverb for the verb 'to clean' (which.... last time I checked, cleaning = making something clean and tidy and neat etc) - is like what... they're cleaning with 'finesse' or 'elegance' or something... :\
ケーキをきれいに切る
kirei ni kiru, sure (cut the cake neatly)
But short of a person being a slob most days and their idea of 'cleaning' is some quick botch job, lol - that seems totally redundant.

That's just me poking fun at the sentence itself, I'm half tempted to tell iLney (use another website!!) - but eitherway it's as Kylaran explained it

Originally Posted by Kylaran

部屋を　(heya wo) is the object being cleaned | きれいに describes the manner it's being done (adverb) | 掃除します (soujishimasu) is the tense and verb.

[lixuelai]

You can probably just take out 掃除.

部屋をきれいにします.

[Haladflire65]

部屋をきれいに掃除します.

This is a perfectly normal and everyday sentence...

Since 'kirei' is an adverb/adjective, and its original form is 'kireida', you have to put a 'ni' behind it to use it as an adverb. That's where the 'ni' comes from. It's probably hard to understand 'kireini' for Westerners - it's one of those Japanese expressions that aren't really translatable directly into English.

Sorry if my explanations are dumb... I haven't studied Japanese grammer all that hard and I haven't studied it in English, so I don't know some terms.

Small question: In English, what do you call adjectives that have 'い' in the end like おいしい, 冷たい and まぶしい, and what do you call ones that have 'な' like 静かな, 正直な and 大きな　?

[Circular Logic]

Originally Posted by Haladflire65

Small question: In English, what do you call adjectives that have 'い' in the end like おいしい, 冷たい and まぶしい, and what do you call ones that have 'な' like 静かな, 正直な and 大きな　?

'-i adjectives' and 'na adjectives'
or adjectival verbs and adjectival nouns.

[lixuelai]

Originally Posted by Haladflire65

部屋をれきいに掃除します.

This is a perfectly normal and everyday sentence...

Since 'kirei' is an adverb/adjective, and its original form is 'kireida', you have to put a 'ni' behind it to use it as an adverb. That's where the 'ni' comes from. It's probably hard to understand 'kireini' for Westerners - it's one of those Japanese expressions that aren't really translatable directly into English.

Sorry if my explanations are dumb... I haven't studied Japanese grammer all that hard and I haven't studied it in English, so I don't know some terms.

Small question: In English, what do you call adjectives that have 'い' in the end like おいしい, 冷たい and まぶしい, and what do you call ones that have 'な' like 静かな, 正直な and 大きな　?

Well I think the pt the others were making was that 掃除 and きれいに both means cleaning so having both in it is kinda redundant. Having きれいに it would mean "Make the room pretty". Having 掃除 would mean "Clean the room". Not necessarily anything wrong with the sentence, I bet people say it in real life. Though I am getting the impression that it is implying that whoever clean the room normally does a bad job at it and you would say it with emphasis on the きれいに

[Haladflire65]

Originally Posted by Circular Logic

'-i adjectives' and 'na adjectives'
or adjectival verbs and adjectival nouns.

Thanks a lot!

@lixuelai: I see. But I've heard a lot of Japanese people say sentences very similar to that, so I think it's a correct one.

[Yu Ominae]

Need clarification on 第1 話

Is it　だいいちわ? I'm kinda not sure.

[ganbaru]

Yes it's that

[Misora]

Wow. This is all wrong.

[RandomGuy]

Originally Posted by Misora

Wow. This is all wrong.

Care to explain what exactly "this" is? Context is your friend.

[Kudryavka]

Is using novels and light novels written in Japanese a good way to learn Japanese? Or practice skills?

[Raiga]

What's the little ヶ for? I saw it in the middle of a name recently and was like, "Wait, wut?" It looks like a small katakana ke but...

Also something I'm certain I've read an explanation for but which has completely slipped my mind... how does 行く→行って as in 行って来ます? I thought く→いて in て-form?

[Mystique]

Originally Posted by Raiga

What's the little ヶ for? I saw it in the middle of a name recently and was like, "Wait, wut?" It looks like a small katakana ke but...

Also something I'm certain I've read an explanation for but which has completely slipped my mind... how does 行く→行って as in 行って来ます? I thought く→いて in て-form?

I see 3 people in here, so probably risking triple posts for an easy answer, lol

The te form has about... 10 different rules, depending on the last two letters of the verb or if it's a group 1 or group 2 verb.

ru
gu
mu
nu
u
ku
and so on.

The rule for ku -> ite
We just happen to have this thing called 'irregular' verbs

Iku = Itte
Suru = shite
kuru = kite

as for ヶ - 1ヶ月 (most commonly used to count months)
ikkagetsu

Phonetically, it's similar to the chiisai tsu.
For an actual rule with it, I believe it falls under making pronouncation easier in the similar way of how sometimes words change depending on what comes before it.
一本 - ippon
二本 - nihon
三本 - sanbon

But that's just my guess.
Personally, I just kinda learnt to pronounce it without questioning it, but it is an interesting point to raise.
Will leave it for the more linguistically savvy to help ya out there

Originally Posted by Komari

Is using novels and light novels written in Japanese a good way to learn Japanese? Or practice skills?

I'm not sure on the content that they're written in, but it's a format that I'm highly interested in myself to be honest.
(Bookworm into novels, not manga)
I'd think getting into reading material of that nature would benefit people no matter what language.

In terms of Japanese, you'll be picking up on kanji and vocabulary and reading speed at a fast level, so sure why not?
Use it as a supplimentary than on its own however. You'll need a good command of grammar to understand the meaning depending on how the words are conjoined.

[Raiga]

Was wondering if it was an irregular. I thought only suru and kuru (and the negative of aru) were irregular (and desu, but the site I'm using treats that one separately). Don't think the lesson would have left it out, so I probably just forgot... oh well, thanks.

[ACGalaga]

Originally Posted by Raiga

What's the little ヶ for? I saw it in the middle of a name recently and was like, "Wait, wut?" It looks like a small katakana ke but...

I'm not sure of all the uses for ヶ, but I also see it in town names. For example: 百合ケ丘 and 南ヶ丘. Here it is pronounced "GA" (Yurigaoka and minamigaoka). It roughly translates to "Lilly of the Hill" or "South of the Hill."

[Kudryavka]

Thanks, Mystique.
I wonder what grade level reading the Shana novel series is. Any one know? Viz Media tore out my heart and smashed it into itty bitty pieces when they canceled their translations. :'(