Japanese Discussion 日本語の討論会

[Guest heartkiller]

ok so what im asking is the literal translation you would get is if you read the japanese backwards

i need to practice big time but i got noone to practice with

watashi wa su'u ni seikatsu

[Guest akira53]

ok so what im asking is the literal translation you would get is if you read the japanese backwards

i need to practice big time but i got noone to practice with

watashi wa su'u ni seikatsu

Usually Japanese is "backwards" from English, as far as grammar is concerned.

[Guest Avex]

First, can any mod pin this on the first page:

http://kanjidict.stc.cx/japverb

This is a verb/adjective conjugator (is that even a word?) website. I find verb conjugations in Japanese fascinating, but since I'm a beginner, it will take a little while for me to get used to.

I have a question about the phrase:

勉強

benkyou - study

I asked my parents about the meaning of the word in Chinese, and looked this up on a Chinese dictionary, and found that the Chinese definition is:

manage (to do something) with difficulty; force somebody to do something

In mandarin, it's pronounced: miǎn qiǎng

While I do understand studying does sound like hard work and force, I am interested in somebody explaining me about the definition of the phrase which I typed above. Thanks!

おやすみなさい！

[Guest shiawasebeam]

勉強 is study. there aren't really anymore meanings besides that.

you can add する on the end to make it a verb, but that's about it

-----------------

こんにちはみんな！

あたしは日本語を練習したいです～ よろしくお願いしまーす！ニコールです。 3年か4年間ぐらい日本語を勉強しました。でも、最近、勉強を止めたからSoompiで練習したほうがいいと思います～ 4年間ぐらい勉強したら去年日本で留学しました。それからあたしの日本語はめっちゃ高校の女みたいです＾＾ 一緒に喋ったら練習しましょうかww

[Tamago86]

While I do understand studying does sound like hard work and force, I am interested in somebody explaining me about the definition of the phrase which I typed above. Thanks!

おやすみなさい！

Well the original definition of 勉強 in Japanese as far as I know is to face difficulty or to persevere the best one can or to make someone do that, and a very long time ago 勉強 was also used for the act of merchants bargaining and lowering their prices..It was only after Meiji (late 19th century) where western education and education in general for everyone became very popular, and 勉強 became more like forcing oneself to gather knowledge about this and that. So you can never use 勉強 now like 強迫 in Chinese but that was mostly its origin

To make (or let) someone do something in Japanese is expressed by using saseru / aseru (depending on the verb type), for example

benkyou suru - to study / benkyou saseru - to make someone study 勉強する・勉強させる

nomu - to drink / nomaseru - to make someone drink　飲む・飲ませる

taberu - to eat / tabesaseru - to make someone eat　食べる・食べさせる

iku - to go / ikaseru - to make someone go　行く・行かせる

matsu - to wait / mataseru - to make someone wait　待つ・待たせる

suteru - to throw away / sutesaseru - to make someone throw away　捨てる・捨てさせる

[Guest khul]

Try not to compare the Chinese with the Japanese words too much; they really have evolved differently from when they were shared however many hundreds of years ago. I would say most of them have little resemblance to each other at this point.

[Guest megan92]

heyy sorry to intrude because i have no idea if this is okay to post in here.

but could anyone possibly translate what this shirt says?

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/pictures/l/14/05/SA06479-10204.jpg

lolll i want to buy it for my friend's birthday but we are paranoid about what it means even though i'm sure there are probably no people around here who can read japanese. i was just curious.

sorry again if i can't post this in here. but if you know, shoot me a PM or something? thanks.

[Guest KAITOU KID.]

heyy sorry to intrude because i have no idea if this is okay to post in here.

but could anyone possibly translate what this shirt says?

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/pictures/l/14/05/SA06479-10204.jpg

lolll i want to buy it for my friend's birthday but we are paranoid about what it means even though i'm sure there are probably no people around here who can read japanese. i was just curious.

sorry again if i can't post this in here. but if you know, shoot me a PM or something? thanks.

It says "bukkorosu" or ぶっ殺す。 I assume you can read the english where it says SEX POT REVENGE (I think that's the brand?), ahaha XD.

It means "I'll kill you". Else, "I'll fxing kill you". But the main point being "I'll kill you". ^__^=

But it's a cute I'll kill you. ^_~

[Guest luzCONTROL_7]

Hello everyone~!

Does anyone here use the Minna no nihongo series? Are they good?

They are kind of hard to find, but I've found a store here in Stockholm that sells them so I thought I'd try it out,

it seems better than every other teach-yourself-japanese book I've seen. Thanks alot for reading. ^w^

[Guest asianami]

Hello everyone~!

Does anyone here use the Minna no nihongo series? Are they good?

They are kind of hard to find, but I've found a store here in Stockholm that sells them so I thought I'd try it out,

it seems better than every other teach-yourself-japanese book I've seen. Thanks alot for reading. ^w^

Minna no Nihongo

(Tokyo: 3A Corporation, 1998)

Main text

Work book

Kanji book

Translation and grammatical notes

This is a series aimed at taking you from the very beginning level right to the lower Intermediate level. Before you do anything else, you are expected to learn hiragana and katakana. You will never see any romaji. These texts are well supported, you can buy additional CDs and videos as you require them, or use only the text. The basic materials are buying the conversation book, and the accompanying exercise book which can be used to write what you are learning. I used these texts at the school I went to. They are great. If you learn from the beginning by this method, you will never enter romaji hell. All kanji are in furigana format. Do not buy these texts with the intent of being taught kanji, they are aimed at improving your speaking ability. There is, however, an additional book aimed at kanji learners. I am using it now, in conjunction with other methods, using the kanji books. I find that they introduce relatively complex kanji too quickly, and other than rote memorization and writing don't offer a particularly good method of kanji study.

Overall, I was neither inspired nor bored by this series (other than the mildly amusing dates of the stereotypically American charisma man Mr. Miller with the stereotypically demure and proper Japanese lady Ms. Kimura) , it's definitely a functional series and will teach you what you need to know. It is very well supported with materials and is probably the best text I know of to be used in a classroom setting. I was taught using these textbooks, level I and II.

Score: 8

Advantages: It's a complete system, if you buy everything. But if you buy everything, you're going to be paying a lot of money. Each level has full resources (main book, grammar and translation in English book, exercise book, CD's). Speaking is useful and task oriented. Buying things, asking directions, typical Japanese social situations. Grammar notes are good. You get as much information as you need but no more.

Disadvantages: Floppy textbooks. They fall apart quickly. Expensive if you need more than the main text and supporting translation/grammar book. For one level, you can easily blow over $100 US.

Source: http://www.karatethejapaneseway.com/all_ab...ese_part_3.html

That's what I found online. I haven't used it or any other Learn Japanese textbooks to self-study the language though.

[Tamago86]

Hello everyone~!

Does anyone here use the Minna no nihongo series? Are they good?

They are kind of hard to find, but I've found a store here in Stockholm that sells them so I thought I'd try it out,

it seems better than every other teach-yourself-japanese book I've seen. Thanks alot for reading. ^w^

Check out Genki and Japanese for Busy People also, they're pretty solid and I know quite a few universities in Sweden that use them so it should be available.

[Guest Avex]

Check out Genki and Japanese for Busy People also, they're pretty solid and I know quite a few universities in Sweden that use them so it should be available.

Speaking of availibility, i saw Japanese for Busy People at Borders.

[Guest heartkiller]

ive bought a couple books that are supposed to help you learn

but honestly i think my random house english japanese dictonary has taught me more than anything

but some words that werent in the book that i want to know the meaning of

saraba

satsuna

im sure ill be back with more

[Tamago86]

ive bought a couple books that are supposed to help you learn

but honestly i think my random house english japanese dictonary has taught me more than anything

but some words that werent in the book that i want to know the meaning of

saraba

satsuna

im sure ill be back with more

saraba is older japanese, used in formal contexts now, it is the same as sore dewa. Something along the lines of 'if that's the case' or 'if it's like that', and also farewell.

for satsuna are you sure you dont mean setsuna? 'momentary'

give the sentence it's used in

this is one of the best japanese dictionaries anywhere, because it's user contributed, kind of like wikipedia (but with much less mistakes)

http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1C

[Guest fanfre]

yay, i don't think japanese is going to fit into my schedule this semester. but i can practice here. thanks for starting this thread!

[Guest heartkiller]

well i actually heard the word setsuna so i thought it was spelled satsuna

[Guest orangecake]

7月になったょ～ん 。

7月7日は七夕さま。

短冊にお願いごとを書いて、川に流すのだ。

・・・・・・・・・最近は、ゴミの問題があって、禁止されてる川も多いけど。

そして、21日はハッピーマンデイ、海の日～～～。

で、学校もそれぞれ夏休みに突入～～～～。

･･・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・私は仕事だけど

それでもやっぱり、わくわくする。

夏の始まりだ～～～～ってね。

早く梅雨が終わればいいのに。

[Guest sourx3candi]

こんばは！

キャンデイ　アリノ　です！

lol, it's summer and this is all i can say for now xP

i'm taking japanese at school and will being going into 4th year IB... Can't wait =D

[Guest Avex]

I just want to randomly say some sentences to practice my Japanese.

こんばんわ！

今日は墨ですね。

ぼくわおれんぎを食べました、本を読みました。

明日は店に行きます。今は眠い!　

昨日も眠い!　私は友達に書きます。

こにゃすみなさい!

[AsobiSeksu]

so i got this book that my brother's co-worker gave to him cuz he used to study Japanese. i'm studying Japanese as well, and i can honestly say that this book made reading Kanji sooo much more easier to understand. the book is called Read Japanese Today by Len Walsh. i have the older version (copyright in 1969). Basically it explains what is Japanese writing; how the characters were constructed; and how the Japanese borrowed characters from China.

this book holds about 300 everyday, useful characters, with pictorials so you can get an idea of each character's origin, modern meaning, main pronunciations and some examples of how to use it.

my thoughts overall is that it's a really good book to read and learn about Kanji and it's meaning. i thought it was pretty cool how they should pictorials of the original character thousands of years ago in China and then how they modernized it. you can find this book at barns and noble or amazon.com for under $10. recommend this book to anyone who whats to learn Kanji and it's history behind it.