Learning Japanese

[Nagato]

If you're interested ⇒ http://homepage3.nifty.com/jgrammar/ja/colum016.htm
Introducing some irregular verbs.

[richvh]

Hm, Kojien does list the godan verb 愛す as a variant of the sa-hen verb 愛する.

Interesting link there, Nagato... so I guess 愛そう is much more frequently used than 愛しよう, but some other forms are much more likely to use the sa-hen conjugation than the godan one.

[lreth]

Originally Posted by richvh

That "aisou to shinai" still looks weird to me. Are you sure it isn't "aishiyou to shinai"?

i dont think aishiyou-aishyou even exists, while aisou does.

If i'm wrong what does aishiyou mean ?

[FatPianoBoy]

'Aishiyou' does indeed exist. Its dictionary form is 'aisuru (愛する),' which means 'to love.' 'Shiyou' is the volitional form of 'suru.'

[htsuji]

Originally Posted by Apple84

aisaretai demo aisou to shinai??? what does that mean in english? hopefully its nothing silly or funni =D

Probably, it means someone's selfishness: "Even though X has a desire to be loved by Y, X won't give Y his/her love (in return)."

("Aisou to shinai" is a bit corny and soap opera-like phrase but not strange.)

Since the phrase doesn't say "who" wants to be loved by "whom", it could mean "While X hopes Y loves X, Y is indifferent to X." I guess this is possible, though it is somewhat sloppy on grammar.

[deathreape98]

Originally Posted by lreth

of course if i'm gonna embarass myself i'd tell that one to a japanese sensei:P

lol thatwould suck.... but lucky me im like the only person with somewhat of an understanding of japanese within a 10 mile radius :P


anyways, i have a question- where can i find some good hiragana and katakana reading exercises?

also what do i do after learning katakana- kanji and grammar?

[Tri-ring]

Originally Posted by deathreape98

lol thatwould suck.... but lucky me im like the only person with somewhat of an understanding of japanese within a 10 mile radius :P


anyways, i have a question- where can i find some good hiragana and katakana reading exercises?

also what do i do after learning katakana- kanji and grammar?

Since I am Japanese I don't really have any place to point in terms of your first question but I do have adivce for your second which is learn the culture.
Language is in itself useless if you do not understand what the other side is anticipating as your reply and may resolve to further misunderstanding due to usage of the same language.
In other words, to place yourself in the other person's shoes you first need to understand what he is thinking and to know that you need to understand the culture to understand the opponent's priorities are.

[richvh]

@deathreape98: You need to study both vocabulary and grammar, as one is useless without the other. Kanji is something you should study along with vocabulary.

I'd suggest getting a textbook, as that will gradually introduce you to all of those, and at least some of the culture, in an organized manner.

@Tri-ring: While "opponent" is a good translation for 相手 in the context of a fight, it isn't for a conversation. Using "the other person" again would have been better.

[psycho bolt]

Here is a site for Japanese onomatopoeias
http://everything2.com/index.pl?node...20onomatopoeia

Just a random thought: What is the jap onomatopeias for sneezing? In English is ah-choo!

Edit: NVM found the answer with a better list.
http://www.oop-ack.com/manga/soundfx.html

piiiiiiiiii piyo! piii piyo!

[Takeru]

Originally Posted by deathreape98

lol thatwould suck.... but lucky me im like the only person with somewhat of an understanding of japanese within a 10 mile radius :P


anyways, i have a question- where can i find some good hiragana and katakana reading exercises?

also what do i do after learning katakana- kanji and grammar?

Try this, it's not hiragana/katakana, but it's what I learned kanji by in my official class.
http://webjapanese.com/kanji/

And in terms of after, read as much as you can, I finished all my classes and I read books on culture, food, even hand gestures, and occasionally translate songs just to keep my feet wet.

[Risaa]

One great thing about watching anime is that if you pay attention, you'll learn a lot of nonverbal gestures. Nonverbal communication is very important in learning any new language or culture, and it's saved me quite a bit since I've come to Japan.

Just today an old lady stopped me to ask me for directions to someplace and she couldn't hear me because of the loud traffic right next to us, but she saw me make the sign for "I'm sorry" (open "ready to karate chop" hand in front of your face as you bow) and understood that I couldn't help her.

(Although, she ended up thinking that I didn't know where the place was and replied that it's OK and left... Honestly, I was actually apologizing because I'd missed half the question and didn't understand what she was asking at the time. )

[Vexx]

One of the stupid Americans here called an older woman he was talking to a "MILF". Nobody knew what that was (ofc) but he was dumb enough to translate it... and couldn't understand why the woman got angry with him. I need to keep saving my reputation in various ways because of dolts like him! DX

O my aching back...... what a bloody idiot.

[deathreape98]

Originally Posted by Takeru

Try this, it's not hiragana/katakana, but it's what I learned kanji by in my official class.
http://webjapanese.com/kanji/

And in terms of after, read as much as you can, I finished all my classes and I read books on culture, food, even hand gestures, and occasionally translate songs just to keep my feet wet.

thanks, but im having some trouble with it. ill use list 1 for an example. it says

*kanji* 1hi 2-bi 3 -ka 1 sun 2 day
1Nichi 2 ni 3 jitsu

whats it mean and how do i say it?

[Takeru]

Originally Posted by deathreape98

thanks, but im having some trouble with it. ill use list 1 for an example. it says

*kanji* 1hi 2-bi 3 -ka 1 sun 2 day
1Nichi 2 ni 3 jitsu

whats it mean and how do i say it?

The left is the kanji, the middle is the pronunciation, and the right is the meanings. But, I see what you're getting at now.

Luckily I found you a rather nice, in my opinion, hiragana/katakana site.
http://www.gyford.com/japanese/

Originally Posted by Risaa

One of the stupid Americans here called an older woman he was talking to a "MILF". Nobody knew what that was (ofc) but he was dumb enough to translate it... and couldn't understand why the woman got angry with him. I need to keep saving my reputation in various ways because of dolts like him! DX

Oh man, I seriously hope you're kidding. That's the lowest of low right there.

[richvh]

That is the reason people at The Japanese Page advise people to learn words, not kanji.

日 means "sun" or "day", depending on context; as a stand-alone kanji, it is pronounced "hi", but in compounds it may be "bi", "ka", "nichi", "ni" or "jitsu"; which it is, you learn along with the word it's used in.

[deathreape98]

Originally Posted by Takeru

Luckily I found you a rather nice, in my opinion, hiragana/katakana site.
http://www.gyford.com/japanese/

thats a good website, but for じょ iput "jyo" and it says its wrong. rather sure its right, especialyl since when i type "jyo" in words processor it shows up as じょ

[richvh]

"Jyo" is sort of non-standard for じょ; more common is "jo" (Hepburn) or (among native speakers) "zyo".

[deathreape98]

ah, i see, thanks.

[Kang Seung Jae]

Sorry, but can anyone translate this for me?

我々の知る昭和に似た、別の歴史にある「1941年」の冬、邪悪な赤き帝国は突如北海道及び帝都に襲来、皇 国を占領下に置く。
欧州歴訪の旅中にあった内親王『桃園宮(とうえんのみや)那子様』は祖国奪還の戦いへ赴く為、敵艦隊に痛打 を加えた日本連合艦隊と合流し、世界情勢へ如何に対処すべきか世論定まらぬ米国に同盟せんと真珠湾へ向かう 。だが……。
帝国最強の姫君が硝煙に塗れ、権謀術数渦巻く世界を舞台に大活躍する、一億待望の書が登場。

こんなプリンセスを僕たちは待っていた!!

[SSJiffy]

もも子さんの車は車が止まてぶつけたとことです。
Here I'm attempting to say "Ms. Momoko's car just struck a parked/stopped car.", is it correct grammatically?

古いコンピュータがこわれたので、新しいコンピュータを買わなくてはいけません。
”My old computer broke, and so I had to buy a new one [computer].", is that sentence okay?