Learning Japanese

[larethian]

Originally Posted by Draco Spirit

Thanks for the quick feedback!

I don't mind if it sounds a little 'odd', but I want to avoid it being too far out there, and certainly I want to avoid bad spelling and grammar

It doesn't have to be real, but it to look realistic if you follow me, though Takahashi looks pretty solid at the moment because of its location reference, unless there a nice way to get something a bit closer without falling into the "Sparkles Stardust" of Japaneses naming

I just remembered this
If you are writing fantasy might as well go full Chuuni. Use alternate reading for your writing!

Jokes aside, a search on Arashi (嵐) with a family index returns this:

Images

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Assuming that the index is accurate, it turns out that there are 11 families having the family name 風嵐 (it has 3 possible readings: Kazaarashi / Kazarashi / Kazearashi). Or you can use the same index to find the name you want.

[endarion88]

@erneiz+larethian: wow thanks guys for the details on this. this teextbook is good but is not the best for self study since it has no translation of the pratice dialogue so i dont really have sothing to compere to see if i'm translating it right so is kind of awkard sometimes. anyway thank you very much for the details, been stuck on this lesson for a bit and i can finally move to the next

thank you very much again

[Draco Spirit]

What Chuuni mean btw?

[Yu Ominae]

Originally Posted by larethian

Not sure what you want to review. N4 and N5 should be extremely easy for even the lazy student.

First time to take it. Even if I somehow screw this up, doubt my folks will cover for this (which I unederstand since I need to work soon). Which means that I'll have to make sure I pass.

If anything, I'm practicing listening first.

[erneiz_hyde]

Since JLPT are all written in Japanese (at least it was when I took my N3), then you better make damn sure you remember at least the whole kana. Though I'm not sure in which level kanji is first used in the tests (I think I had them when I took mine, but could be wrong I forgot), remembering the more basic ones never hurt.

Listening was indeed the part that I had some difficulties in (43/60), but I got perfect score for reading and 50/60 for vocabulary. IMO, you better practice more in those two last part because (I think) they're relatively easier to master.

[larethian]

Originally Posted by Draco Spirit

What Chuuni mean btw?

http://www.urbandictionary.com/defin...erm=Chuunibyou
Also, if you watch Inou-Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de, you will understand why I said that

Originally Posted by Yu Ominae

First time to take it. Even if I somehow screw this up, doubt my folks will cover for this (which I unederstand since I need to work soon). Which means that I'll have to make sure I pass.

If anything, I'm practicing listening first.

Originally Posted by erneiz_hyde

Since JLPT are all written in Japanese (at least it was when I took my N3), then you better make damn sure you remember at least the whole kana. Though I'm not sure in which level kanji is first used in the tests (I think I had them when I took mine, but could be wrong I forgot), remembering the more basic ones never hurt.

Listening was indeed the part that I had some difficulties in (43/60), but I got perfect score for reading and 50/60 for vocabulary. IMO, you better practice more in those two last part because (I think) they're relatively easier to master.

Anyway it's kind of late since it's tomorrow. Good luck Yu Ominae

[RRW]

well next year I have a quick course about japanese language.....in japan.

I guess need some beginner introduction lesson. any idea?

[Yu Ominae]

Originally Posted by larethian

Anyway it's kind of late since it's tomorrow. Good luck Yu Ominae

I know. My friend told me that it should be easy to handle even for someone like me.

[Soliloquy]

Originally Posted by RRW

well next year I have a quick course about japanese language.....in japan.

I guess need some beginner introduction lesson. any idea?

http://japaneseclass.jp/ is a good site for beginners. It wouldn't teach you how to form a sentence but gives you all the info about vocabularies and kanji.

[Tranhieu]

So I just got back from the N3 test just now. Taught myself Japanese for a year using Genki and decided to go for something official. Bunpou, Kanji and Dokkai were fairly ok, not very sure about Bunpou though since I haven't touched the intermidiate book yet, however Choukai was a total disaster! It was so different listening in a test room and the echo was so horrible I couldn't make out which is which towards the end at all...

Anyway I'm gonna take it again next summer.

If anyone's looking for revision materials, Goukaku dekiru and Sou matome are pretty decent books. The listening exercises of Goukaku are very easy compared to the real thing but I like it Dokkai and Bunpou very much. The Sou matome is an all-rounder, its Dokkai is fairly easy though.

[endarion88]

hum ok i need some advice now, i started study with genki integrated course in elementary japanese and after that i studied with "an integrated approach to intermediate japanese" (was not as clear as genki though) now what should i do to go on from here? specialy kanji wise, for now i'm tring to read warious manga then confront my own translation whit those of scanlation groups but is not helping me much, specialy in memorizing kanji, any suggestion? i never wanted a teacher in my life more than now T_T

[chikorita157]

Originally Posted by endarion88

hum ok i need some advice now, i started study with genki integrated course in elementary japanese and after that i studied with "an integrated approach to intermediate japanese" (was not as clear as genki though) now what should i do to go on from here? specialy kanji wise, for now i'm tring to read warious manga then confront my own translation whit those of scanlation groups but is not helping me much, specialy in memorizing kanji, any suggestion? i never wanted a teacher in my life more than now T_T

Good question since there is not many textbooks for an advanced level. I decided to go with Authentic Japanese: Progressing from Intermediate to Advanced. However, Nihongo Chukyu J501 seems to focuses on JLPT N2 and N1. Aozora, maybe covers Advanced level Japanese grammar. But note that once you start using advanced level Japanese textbooks, it will have very little English (besides the grammar points).

Koohii wiki gives a nice comparison of Japanese textbooks.

[Cloudedmind]

Originally Posted by endarion88

hum ok i need some advice now, i started study with genki integrated course in elementary japanese and after that i studied with "an integrated approach to intermediate japanese" (was not as clear as genki though) now what should i do to go on from here? specialy kanji wise, for now i'm tring to read warious manga then confront my own translation whit those of scanlation groups but is not helping me much, specialy in memorizing kanji, any suggestion? i never wanted a teacher in my life more than now T_T

If you're just trying to find a way to help you memorize Kanji there are SRS (space repetition software) programs that you can use to help with that. I use Anki, but I'm pretty sure there are others. There are also phone apps that you can download. I use one called Tango Master for my windows phone. I believe there's also a version for apple an android phones. It's a really nice app, the only downside is that when it quizzes you on kanji it focuses on just onyomi readings and not kunyomi readings as well.

There's also a site called Tangorin that has kanji lists which can be imported into just about any SRS program. There's also Quizlet which has different lessons and vocab lists submitted by users.

[endarion88]

keep in mind that my main goal is to be able to read manga and light novel so i dont know how far should i go

[Cloudedmind]

Originally Posted by endarion88

keep in mind that my main goal is to be able to read manga and light novel so i dont know how far should i go

You wanna learn all of the Jouyou Kanji, which consists of 2136 kanji and are pretty much all the kanji that Japanese school kids should know by the time they graduate high school. If you learn all of those you'll most like know at least 95% of all kanji that are likely to appear in a manga or light novel.

[endarion88]

sorry i meant grammar level wise on this point, at least since most manga and novel are aimed for young boy/girl i though maibe they wont use an extremely advanced grammar

[Cloudedmind]

Originally Posted by endarion88

sorry i meant grammar level wise on this point, at least since most manga and novel are aimed for young boy/girl i though maibe they wont use an extremely advanced grammar

That unfortunately, I am less knowledgeable on. If I had to guess I would say if you have a JLPT N3 level of knowledge you could probably read most manga and light novels. If you're not really insure what that entails you can do a search for JLPT N3 sample questions and past tests and see how well you do.

[Tranhieu]

Personally I don't think it's a good idea to attempt mangas at N3. Compared to the test the Japanese used in most manga (save for seinen and josei ones) isn't 'proper' Japanese . If you're looking for something to read, I would recommend NHK News Web, I've been reading news there ever since I took the test last Dec and it really is a great help in terms of word building and sentence structure.

If reading news everyday isn't your cup of tea, I'd recommend this page http://syosetu.com/. They have all types of long and short novels for you to try and everything is free.

[Notshane]

Dang, why does Japan have to have everything I enjoy, and have the most complicated language to understand in the world? Sometimes life isn't fair

[roxybudgy]

Originally Posted by Notshane

the most complicated language to understand in the world

Really? My first language is Mandarin, although I consider English to be my native language. I've spent some time learning French, Japanese, Thai, German and Croatian. If anything, Japanese is amongst one of the easiest languages to learn.

From the perspective of someone who is an English-language native, compared to all the languages I have tried to learn, Japanese is the easiest to pronounce, the only tricky parts would be getting the "r/l" sound right, but even if you half-ass it, you'll still be understood (don't get me started on that weird European "r", I will never master that >.<)

Grammar is also relatively simple in Japanese, as opposed to European languages with their genders, declension, conjugation, exceptions, etc. In comparison, Japanese has far fewer exceptions to memorise.

I can imagine that reading/writing would be a challenge for English natives, especially when it comes to kanji. With my Chinese background, I found this aspect very easy because there are patterns/links with Chinese.

I think the key to learning any language is the grammar. I remember Japanese lessons in primary school, they just gave us sentences to memorise. But I noticed a pattern: a lot of sentences ended with "-masu", "-mashita", "-masendeshita" etc, and I asked my teacher what they meant, why were so many sentences ending like this? I never really got an answer that made sense, the teacher just told me to memorise the sentences. But eventually I got a pretty good grasp of how the grammar works, and rather than regurgitating memorised sentences, I could look up vocabulary and make my own sentences. Further study allowed me to recognise when a a grammar structure I was not familiar with was being used, which I would look up in the grammar dictionaries that I bought.

Learning a language is like learning to draw. A teacher could make you memorise how to draw one particular image (say, a bowl of fruit), or they can teach you how to use the tools (pencil, brush, paint) and you can create whatever drawing you want.