Japanese Discussion 日本語の討論会

[Guest leelee.]

So a couple of days ago, I found this website called Smart.fm and I noticed that you could learn a bit of Japanese there! I signed up at the website and I'm currently trying to learn hiragana. Hopefully, I'll learn all of the kana by May or June.

Learning Japanese by myself will probably prove to be very difficult . . . does anyone have reccommendations for self-study books for beginners? I have Genki I & II and I'm buying "Japanese Demystified" right now. I was going to buy "An Introduction to Modern Japanese" but it's too expensive for me. >A<

[jcwc]

^ try pimsleur? i dont have the books, but i have the audio lessons n they're really good. i thk the books and audio lessons are complementary

hi guys, im trying to say: My hobbies are listening to music and shopping. im not too sure which is the correct one?

1. 私の趣味は音楽を聴いて、買い物です。

２．私の趣味は音楽が聞く事と買い物です。

because listening is a verb, and shopping is a noun, so can i use て to join them?

can i use で　to join sightseeing and shppg? for eg. i want to go sight seeing and shopping 観光で買い物をしたいです。

and is this correct? i want to go flower viewing in Ueno park: Ueno 公園へ花見に行きたいです。

[Guest hiroshi_ben]

^ try pimsleur? i dont have the books, but i have the audio lessons n they're really good. i thk the books and audio lessons are complementary

hi guys, im trying to say: My hobbies are listening to music and shopping. im not too sure which is the correct one?

1. 私の趣味は音楽を聴いて、買い物です。

２．私の趣味は音楽が聞く事と買い物です。

because listening is a verb, and shopping is a noun, so can i use て to join them?

can i use で　to join sightseeing and shppg? for eg. i want to go sight seeing and shopping 観光で買い物をしたいです。

and is this correct? i want to go flower viewing in Ueno park: Ueno 公園へ花見に行きたいです。

you can use both of them~but i would prefer the second one~haha

and 買い物 you can link it with the する Verb if you want to join it...so its 買い物して。。。and so on

For i want to go sight seeing and shopping,i would use "買い物(を)して観光しにいきたいんです。”

And for your last question,Ueno 公園へ花見に行きたいです。 is correct.

[_daaisy]

Can someone help translate these for me:

1. 京都ではホテルより旅館にとまった方がいい。

2. あの車は交差点の信号が赤に変わっても、止まらないで走って行ってしまった。

3. 図書館から本をたくさん借りてきてけど、読む気にならない。

4. 客間でお茶を飲みながら、話しましょう。

thanks in advance!

[uruchai]

hi, just wanted to know if this sentence makes sense at all. it's supposed to be a question word embedded in a sentence.

すみませんが、何が聞いていたかわかりません。{if i wanted to say: "I'm sorry but I don't understand what you're asking"}

also, if I wanted to make it MORE Polite [required in the assignment], is this okay：

もうしわけありません。何がお聞きになるかわかりません。

[Guest ledolce]

Please help me translate this Thanks!

This page is only for my contacts.

You can add me but I can't promise I will add you in my contacts.

I hope you will understand. Thank you!

[Guest akira53]

Can someone help translate these for me:

1. 京都ではホテルより旅館にとまった方がいい。

2. あの車は交差点の信号が赤に変わっても、止まらないで走って行ってしまった。

3. 図書館から本をたくさん借りてきてけど、読む気にならない。

4. 客間でお茶を飲みながら、話しましょう。

thanks in advance!

1. It's better to stay at a Ryokan than a hotel in kyoto.

2. Even though the light @ the intersection turned red, the car didn't stop and went through.

3. I borrowed lots of books from the library but I didn't feel inclined to read them (sounds kinda weird, if anyone has better translation...?)

4. Lets talk while drinking tea in the guest room

[Guest hiroshi_ben]

hi, just wanted to know if this sentence makes sense at all. it's supposed to be a question word embedded in a sentence.

すみませんが、何が聞いていたかわかりません。{if i wanted to say: "I'm sorry but I don't understand what you're asking"}

also, if I wanted to make it MORE Polite [required in the assignment], is this okay：

もうしわけありません。何がお聞きになるかわかりません。

for the first one,it should be "すみませんですが、何か聞いていた（の）か分かりません”

for the second one..im not very sure...because it seems like you need to use keigo with it which im not very good with it.

[Guest heart143]

^ try pimsleur? i dont have the books, but i have the audio lessons n they're really good. i thk the books and audio lessons are complementary

hi guys, im trying to say: My hobbies are listening to music and shopping. im not too sure which is the correct one?

1. 私の趣味は音楽を聴いて、買い物です。

２．私の趣味は音楽が聞く事と買い物です。

because listening is a verb, and shopping is a noun, so can i use て to join them?

can i use で　to join sightseeing and shppg? for eg. i want to go sight seeing and shopping 観光で買い物をしたいです。

and is this correct? i want to go flower viewing in Ueno park: Ueno 公園へ花見に行きたいです。

because it's 2 separate hobbies, you can't join them.

so instead you should say　私の趣味は音楽を聞くことと買い物（をすること）です。

unless you want to say your hobby is to listen to music while shopping, you could say

私の趣味は音楽を聞きながら買い物をすることです。

you should state where you want to go sightseeing.

for example if you wanna say to go to japan to go sightseeing and shopping, say

日本へ観光に行って買い物したいです。　＝）

[Guest heart143]

hi, just wanted to know if this sentence makes sense at all. it's supposed to be a question word embedded in a sentence.

すみませんが、何が聞いていたかわかりません。{if i wanted to say: "I'm sorry but I don't understand what you're asking"}

also, if I wanted to make it MORE Polite [required in the assignment], is this okay：

もうしわけありません。何がお聞きになるかわかりません。

申し訳ありませんですが、何を聞いていらっしゃるのかわかりません。

[jcwc]

heart143, thanks for that!

i learnt ~てはいけません　lately. the techr said to use it when its for something against the rules. for eg. if someone asks can i smoke here? and the ans is no, u say, すってはいけません　altho it sounds a bit rude

but can i use to for things that im incapable of doing? can i use ～てはいけません too? for e.g.

i cant wake up early (cos im lazy etc)　はやくおきてはいけません　

or i cant eat eggs. たまごをたべてはいけません

thx!

[Guest plumplum]

heart143, thanks for that!

i learnt ~てはいけません　lately. the techr said to use it when its for something against the rules. for eg. if someone asks can i smoke here? and the ans is no, u say, すってはいけません　altho it sounds a bit rude

but can i use to for things that im incapable of doing? can i use ～てはいけません too? for e.g.

i cant wake up early (cos im lazy etc)　はやくおきてはいけません　

or i cant eat eggs. たまごをたべてはいけません

thx!

No, it means more like, "you musn't" or "you shouldn't".

You could say, "You shouldn't eat those eggs", maybe if they're rotten or something.

[Guest hisohiso]

Could someone help me translate this?

I really appreciate your time. Thanks so much.

＊友だちに言ったりもしなかったの？

「しないっすね。冷やかしが怖くて言えなかったっすね（笑）」

＊じゃあ告白されたり、つきあったりもなかたの？

「中学生の頃に形上はつきあったことがあるんですよ（笑）。その頃って女の子の方がムセてますよね？向こうが俺のことが好きですよオーラをすごく出していて、そうなったら男から告るしかないなと。そういうシチュエーションを作られたんですよ。そんで一緒に帰ったりするのがすごく恥ずかしかったんですけど、女の子方からけっこうグイグイと‘一緒に帰ろうよ’みたいな。で、俺は‘あ、うん......’ってなるんだけど」

＊どんだけリードされてるんですか（笑）。

「（笑）奥手もいいところでした。手をつなぐタイミングもわからなかったし......」

[Guest heart143]

heart143, thanks for that!

i learnt ~てはいけません　lately. the techr said to use it when its for something against the rules. for eg. if someone asks can i smoke here? and the ans is no, u say, すってはいけません　altho it sounds a bit rude

but can i use to for things that im incapable of doing? can i use ～てはいけません too? for e.g.

i cant wake up early (cos im lazy etc)　はやくおきてはいけません　

or i cant eat eggs. たまごをたべてはいけません

thx!

どういたしまして～☆　(you are welcome)

～てはいけません　is used when someone tells you that you cannot, shouldn't do something.

it's not used when you want you say you literally are unable to do something.

so for the eggs and waking up part, you have to use the potential form, in this case ～られる。

so! for example:

I can't wake up early in the morning

朝早く起きられません。

asa hayaku okiraremasen.

I can't eat eggs.

卵が食べられません。

tamago ga taberaremasen.

when you use the potential form, the particle が is used (although using を is not incorrect either!)

keep in mind that different verb classes conjugate differently.

like for example, if you want to say you can't speak Japanese, it's NOT

x 日本語が話せられません。　　

o 日本語が話せません。　>> in this case it's ～える。

hope that helps!!

[Guest heart143]

Could someone help me translate this?

I really appreciate your time. Thanks so much.

＊友だちに言ったりもしなかったの？

「しないっすね。冷やかしが怖くて言えなかったっすね（笑）」

＊じゃあ告白されたり、つきあったりもなかたの？

「中学生の頃に形上はつきあったことがあるんですよ（笑）。その頃って女の子の方がムセてますよね？向こうが俺のことが好きですよオーラをすごく出していて、そうなったら男から告るしかないなと。そういうシチュエーションを作られたんですよ。そんで一緒に帰ったりするのがすごく恥ずかしかったんですけど、女の子方からけっこうグイグイと‘一緒に帰ろうよ’みたいな。で、俺は‘あ、うん......’ってなるんだけど」

＊どんだけリードされてるんですか（笑）。

「（笑）奥手もいいところでした。手をつなぐタイミングもわからなかったし......」

I'm more curious as to where you got this?!

it's like part of an interview... but there are some little mistakes in there* ^^;;

but anyhow! quite interesting so here you go...

* you didn't even tell your friends?

"nope. I was scared of being made fun of, so I couldn't tell them. lol."

* then... didn't someone ever confess (their love) to you, or haven't you dated someone?

"superficially, I've experienced dating during the time I was a middle school student lol. around that time girls are more mature (than guys), right? (this girl) showed these strong "signs" (literally: aura) that she liked me, and as a guy I had no choice but to confess. such a situation occurred. and then, although it was very embarassing for me, we went back to my place together, the girl seemed like she was really pushing me like "let's go back to your place." so, I was like "o... ok...."

* whaaat -- you were so controlled? (lol). - this literally means the lead was taken over

" lol I was extremely shy / late bloomer. I didn't even know when was the right time to hold hands ..."

[Guest hisohiso]

Thank you so much heart143!!!

And oops, yeah there's some mistakes...it was from a magazine interview that I sort of typed it up. Unfortunately I didn't look at it carefully. But wow, that IS REALLY interesting! I went through the interview again and fixed it. Do you mind checking it again? Sorry to bother you again.

じゃあ告白されたり、つきあったりもなかったの？

「中学生の頃に形上はつきあったことがあるんですよ（笑）。その頃って女の子の方がムセてますよね？向こうが俺のことが好きですよオーラをすごく出していて、そうなったら男から告るしかないなと。そういうシチュエーションを作られたんですよ。そんで一緒に帰ったりするのがすごく恥ずかしかったんですけど、女の子の方からけっこうグイグイと "一緒に帰ろうよ" みたいな。で、俺は"あ、うん......"ってなるんだけど」

どんだけリードされてるんですか（笑）。

「（笑）奥手もいいところでした。手をつなぐタイミングもわからなかったし......」

[Guest litto cookie]

hi i was wondering whats the translation of this??? ```

私の心飛べが風にあなたへ。これ愛がほんとうですか？

thanks guys! im hoping to learn japanese too >.<

[Guest purersaga]

What does

もって

translate to in romaji. I was wondering becuase I'm using rosetta stone right now and some other books to learn to read Japanese text and from what I know, it would translate into motsute. However, in Rosetta stone, it translates into motte. Am I missing something here? Thanks.

[butterflyeffect]

What does

もって

translate to in romaji. I was wondering becuase I'm using rosetta stone right now and some other books to learn to read Japanese text and from what I know, it would translate into motsute. However, in Rosetta stone, it translates into motte. Am I missing something here? Thanks.

っ is a small tsu which makes a "popping" sound so もって would be motte. Same thing applies for any other words with small tsu.

Sorry if my explanation isn't very good.

[Guest purersaga]

っ is a small tsu which makes a "popping" sound so もって would be motte. Same thing applies for any other words with small tsu.

Sorry if my explanation isn't very good.

Ah, I see. I didn't pay attention to the size of the っ. Thanks alot.