Topic: Japanese (language) discussion thread

@RR529 Oh okay, that sure is a very confusing question, but if it's asking you what え MEANS and not what え SOUNDS LIKE, I would pick D, and uninstall that app.

@Tsuchinoko I'm a Taiwanese-American, I learned Chinese at a bilingual school and taught myself Japanese. I guess knowing kanji or Chinese characters is indeed an advantage, but at the same time the word order (SVO versus SOV) is still different, so it was still a challenge for me.

@HADAA Ahh, I see. Well do you consider yourself fluent in Japanese? Can you speak in a full conversation? Yeah, we've known a lot of Chinese speakers especially that I would say their conversation is like, at a level 3 or even 4, but they can pass level 1. I heard from a Chinese friend of mine that lives in Tokyo that the JLPT board are aware of this, and are sometimes try to separate Chinese speakers, or grade them differently. Since there is no speaking portion on the test, and in the upper levels no real kanji portion anymore (its all based now on mostly multiple choice grammar and reading) the Chinese speakers pass just by reading the kanji.

Conversely, I have an American friend who is a native English speaker. Her Japanese is amazing, she reads novels and newspapers, she only dates Japanese boys, I mean, basically her life IS Japanese. She still didn't pass Level 1.

@RR529 Its a bad app. Since its testing your knowledge, its up to them to make clear concise questions. You should never be confused when taking a test, you either know it or you don't. If a question is vague or confusing like that, its a bad app.

Someone give me a test on the first line of hiragana! I have memorised it. I want to try from sounds to characters and characters to sounds I also memorised the "ha" "ma" "ya" "ra" "wa" and "n"
@theblackdragon isn't there a different character for "wa" already?
Like that? ^

Yeah, I deleted the app, thanks.

@smexi: you're correct, that's the kana for 'wa' in hiragana, but like i said, it's one of the quirks of the Japanese language — sentence particles don't quite match their pronunciation as straight kana. 'は' (ha), becomes 'wa'. 'へ' (he) becomes 'e'. 'を' (wo, though it's very rare to see that kana used in a word, haha) becomes 'o'. :3

Can someone give me some words to read in hiragana? Like some basic words to learn and to practice reading in hiragana.

@Tsuchinoko: I now consider myself fluent in casual speech thanks to all the skype sessions with my friends, but it's true my conversation skill was still rather elementary like a level 4 when I passed JLPT 1. I guess it's akin to how English-speakers can understand Spanish more quickly due to vocabulary similarities (recomendar, terminar, contribuir...etc) although they don't necessarily know how to speak it well. And no, I can't stand formal or business speech, so I highly doubt I would try to master all those keigo or even fathom working in Japan.　敬語は大の苦手でね、性に合わないというか。俺はもともと無礼な奴なのでｗ

@Semxizeldaman: Try romanizing each of the following. Example: あい＝ai. Note some hiraganas have dots that make them voiced, turning a K sound to G sound, T to D, S to Z... etc.
1. あお　と　あか
2. かわいい
3. おやすみなさい
4. にんてんどうらいふ
5. ぜるだまん

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Not sure about 4 or 5, but I know the first part of 1 is "blue". I'd say that the last part of 1 would be "red", but I realized there was no hiragana for the "i" sound. 2 is "cute", and 3 is "good night", I believe.

No idea what the first one is. I only have learned the first two lines in hiragana so far. All the "a" sounds and "i" sounds
2. Kawaii
3. I can only pick out "ya" "mi" "na" "sa" and "i"
Rest I can't do I'll try to learn third row today and then maybe there will be some that I can read from that. Thanks for helping though Hadaa

@smexi: there was this really amazing book i remember reading — it wasn't mine, that's why i don't have it now — but it had mnemonic illustrations comparing the kana to images of things to help you remember them. like あ was a turtle yawning somehow, for the 'a' sound, and ち was a jumping cheerleader, for the 'chi' sound. there's a few apps and websites that do the mnemonic thing, but if you can't find anything that works for you, just make up your own tricks that help you to remember the shape of the kana and the sounds they represent. you'll get it, bro :3

@HADAA See I love formal speech. Its just sounds so pretty to me. I have this lady that works in my office that answers the phones. Her 敬語 is amazing. I just get so distracted listening to her. haha

いやいや、そんなことないかなぁ。目的、興味、趣味でも人によって違いますね。日本で働くつもりがなくても日本語の勉強頑張ってください！確かにほとんどの人にとって敬語は難しいね。多分日本人もそうかもしれない。目標はあまり会わないんですけれども、まだ一所懸命日本語頑張りましょう。応援していますよ。

ちなみに、Nice examples, but I don't even know what #5 is. I mean...I have an idea...but I feel like my idea HAS to be wrong, unless you wrote it to be cute and silly, then maybe I'm correct

@RR529 No, you're right on the "red" part. Colours and things have the い at the end when they're being used as adjectives, and without when they're being used like nouns. 赤（あか）- red, noun. 赤い（あかい） red, adjective. Same with blue, and you got that correct too. 青い、青（あおい、あお）。

@Tsuchinoko: why so serious? #5 is definitely supposed to be silly — especially when who it's directed at is taken into account. :3

Oh crap! I just read...ok, I was correct. I had never actually read...that long string of seemingly random letters before. When I say it written out in hiragana, and then read it out loud, I thought, "well that's cute and random, but it HAS to mean something else". I get it now. duh

@Tsuchinoko: 応援どうもです。俺は今日本語の勉強というより、アニメやゲームなど、いわゆるヲタ関連の勉強に手をつけてますｗ　あとまさかとは思うが、変なこと想像してなかった…？ｗ

@Theblackdragon: Well played :3 Yes, #5 is indeed an easter egg for smexi

@RR529: #4 and #5 are supposed to be in katakana, so they actually should sound like Engrish. That said, everyone here should know what #4 is

@SmexiZELDAMAN: This is what TBD was talking about:
http://japanese.gatech.edu/WebCTVista/JAPN1001/contents/Lesso...
http://japanese.gatech.edu/WebCTVista/JAPN1001/contents/Lesso...
Note that we usually go by consonant columns, 5 at a time, so it's like a-i-u-e-o, Ka-Ki-Ku-Ke-Ko, Sa-Shi-Su-Se-So... It's interesting that you're going by vowel lines (a-Ka-Sa-Ta-Na-Ha-Ma-Ya-Ra-Wa, i-Ki-Shi-Chi-Ni-Hi-Mi-Ri...), but whatever works :3
I also recommend using flashcards to help you memorize. Try my 5 questions again once you've mastered the hiragana.

^Oh, it just made sense now, lol. Are you able to type in Katakana?

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I do not have trouble remembering them, but thanks tbd
@HADAA I also recite them in my mind with the vowel sounds like you did, but for me it's easier to get all of the vowel sounds out of the way on top of that. I now have kind of got a grasp and am practising the "u" sounds if you could maybe make words out of those, or if not words then gibberish to help me :3 Thanks, dood

翻訳者は、素晴らしいです!

@smexi: So you've gotten the "u" sounds down? I don't want you to forget your "a" and "i" sounds though, so here are your romanization quizzes. Challenge accepted?
1. ふゆやすみ
2. さむらい
3. ぬいぐるみ (ぐ=gu)
4. うつくしい
5. おやすみなさい (お=o)

Everyone else can try to answer their meanings

1.Fuyuyasumi? Or huyuyasumi?
2.Samurai.
3.Nuigurumi?
4.Utsukushii?
5.Ayasuminasai?
I went through those kind of fast so I may be wrong. Wanted to see how good I could recognise them. Thanks for quizzing me HADAA
I'll go check them against my chart now and see how I did, but I won't edit my answers.

I wanna get this thread back up, but IDK what to ask or where to move on from what I know