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The "Let me help you in Japanese" thread



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文偉立

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皆さんに今日は(か今晩は). 僕はアクラだ. 日本語が手伝うえ求むで.

Oh, please do not say you cannot even translate a single phrase from that. It's hardbreaking to hear ESPECIALLY if you do have the font.

Welcome. My name's obviously アクラ and if you can't read that by now, it's Akura (no, my name is not random boxes). I have made this thread because I am aware of the Japanese culture fad at this point and I do have a lot of opinions in regards to thinking that just reading manga, watching anime and eating sushi makes you japanese is not true but I will not go into detail on that.

Let me get this clear to you now. I am not Japanese. I am chinese. I have an interest in Japanese not because of the fad but because of career options that have entitled me to learn an asian language of my choice, preferably Japanese. I did not get this name to impress anybody. I did not make this thread to seem over the top. I merely wish to help and for those interested in helping to recognize and collaborate.

So after learning japanese for approxiametely a year and a half now, I have taken the liberty to tell you this now. You have two roads to go in learning Japanese: the gradual road and the rapid road. I'm taking tha rapid road. Let me tell you of the options:

Gradual road - You can learn Japanese at a steady pace, to any speed you desire and a minimum of 2 days a week to learn and only 1 if you have weekly classes.
Rapid Road
- Three hours a night. Minimum: 5 days a week. Is the rapid road hard? Yes. Is it worthwhile? If you want to hurry. Do you really still know as much in the end? Only if you knew you were going to take the rapid road from the beginning.

Why did I choose the Rapid Road? I'm nearly 16 years old at this point and I have two years to go under college classes start and I can't slack off using the steady road. Learning Japanese is a long process (read that sentence two/three more times). It's not easy. I'm barely managing both Chinese and Japanese, which is a heavy challenge to overcome. A lot of people I know take the slow road. They know a few phrases. They can probably speak pretty well and can respond using the phrases they know. I give them some Kanji thrown in with some kana (which is now referred to as "furigana"), they freak out.

At this point, I am hoping you at least can read your kana and recognize them. You should take your time to memorize all 96 characters and it is rather important to understand when to use them in speech. Kanji is at a more difficult level and I began learning to understand furigana only a month ago. Be sure to read up on radicals and how they can help you emphasize the mearning of the characters read in kanji and even other basic chinese characters.

I have recommended the following books I found quite useful:
"Japanese for Dummies" by Eriko Sato
"Teach Yourself: Beginner's Japanese" by Helen Gilhooly
"Teach Yourself: Beginner's Japanese script" by Helen Gilhooly

I actually have a few more but my friends are borrowing them at the moments and I seriously wished I could've put them on the list. Anyhoo, I do recommend those books to be read and somehow in that order as well. Japanese for Dummies, regardless of the title, is a surefire way to get you going as a newbie (you really don't know the limit of newbie so I really recommend you at least look into it). Both books by Helen Gilhooly were magnificently paced for the reader. If you read her books, you will learn much in due time. But do following the arrangement on that list and don't just SKIP to the last book. It's not healthy for your learning.

In regards to advanced Japanese, may I recommend (if I do not be blamed for this) to visit the Gendou forums. I am well aware of this forums' policy against other forum advertising so this shall only be brief as I mean no damage and I truly do not desire a punishment, if you may so spare me upon this. I will definetely admit this. I CANNOT READ EVERYTHING ON GENDOU. Please do not tell you actually expect me to. Their Japanese is top-notch and at the fluency level. I can relate to them at times and speak heartily but they are hard to understand so I am hoping that is not an intimidation.

That is all for now. Please do not give up. A lot of people quit learning Japanese. You might say you won't now but a hell lot of people do. The vast majority of quitters were the people who learned japanese at an even slower pace than the gradual road. So don't give up but if you don't give up, don't brag about your japanese either. It can be quite embarrassing to have to act high and mighty and have someone correct you. Gendou is full of that which is why I always keep my mouth shut there.

Anyways, I'm getting offtrack. Please have a wonderful time with the rest of your japanese material and if I didn't help, then you can always PM me (as long as it's not hatemail or I'll ask for a mod to pre-warn you) and I'll try to settle some things when I'm not in school.

-Akura
 

Ip Man

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I've always wanted to learn Japanese, Im into anime and manga alot. Anyways, how well do understand kanji?
 

文偉立

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Kanji: I give it a good so about 15% of most base-to-base kanji. On a basic note, I can read up to the 3rd grade which isn't a lot but then again, that's the spite for not being born in China nor Japan (which could've helped me quite a lot)

Kanji actually is quite the challenge. The pronunciation is always the downfall of any starter and I still have somewhat troubles between Onyomi and Kunyomi. I've gotten the hang of it.
 

Ip Man

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Thats cool. I guess some time in my life I will take up Jap lessons or something, such a cool language. I only know the little stuff you that you learn from watching anime. LoL.
 

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You could always learn by your own. Lessons are nice but that doesn't mean you have to limit yourself to learning only by what they tell you to learn.

Anime is a great way to learn japanese...only informally. Anime tends to use informal japanese speech. Instead of "Ja ne" you might hear "Ja na!" which you ONLY say to someone you know. I'd suggest a more formal approach first.

Also, people tend to learn Japanese phrases from Anime rather than just Japanese. A simple "Oyasuminasai" may be what you hear so you take it in and just use it. If you do learn phrases from Anime, learn how the structure of the phrase.
 

Ip Man

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What seems difficult to me is how there are different things to say something. Like sometimes it seems that (i dont know the correct spelling to these) "oreba", "watashi" and "warawa" mean the same thing, or how "nani" and "nanigoto" mean the same thing as well. It just seems to me a bit.... confusing, would be a good word choice.
 

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That's not too hard. I had to put the Romaji down or you'll get lost in the Furigana so here you go:

"Watashi" is the most common form of "I" and you can use it as much as you want if you were in Japanese Elementary. If you didn't know, "Watakushi" is much more formal.
"Ore ba" is "I" with the suject marker "wa" (which has been slanged down). This is only said if you want to say "I" like you're godlike which you should only use if you're among people you know you can joke with.
"Wara" is only for women to say so they have another way to say "I" other than Watashi.
"Boku" is "I" for males but I've seen some japanese women use it, which is fine so long as "I" is implied. Boku shows assersion and Wara shows passive.

=============

Nani is just "What?". 何 {Nani} comes in many pronunciations so you should learn how to congiugate some words in Japanese. Yes, Japanese involves conguigating which does sound crappy but you should learn how to do it.
Nanigoto is a conguigation of Nani. Usually, Nanigoto is used for negation which shows its negative mark. So, Nani is positive and Nanigoto can be used for unassurance or negative.

==========

I hoped that helped and yes, you'd think to be a newb is the worst experience to learning Japanese...but wait till you're up to where I'm at right now xD.
 

Ip Man

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Hehe, thanks. That does clear some stuff up. Anyways, one last thing. Could you tell me what's the difference between "hai", "iiya", "ui" and "un"? LoL, I know they mean the same (dont they?) but just like the words I posted earlier, they're used at different situations, I'd like to know how to use them. :p
 

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"Hai" is yes as simplest as it can get
"Iiya" is in agreeance to anything of the topic. If the person asks do you agree, you can say this to agree. If they ask if you disagree, you say this, you disagree.
"ui" and "un" are also quite simple and you only say if you're lazy.
"Ee" is also yes if you want to know but better to exclaim. Like "EEEEE!!!" Or you can sound less idiotic and say "Yatta!" (success)
 

Ip Man

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LoL, I say "eeeee!" all the time in a total non-japanese way. And "yatta" has got to be the first Jap word I ever heard. :D
 

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LoL, I say "eeeee!" all the time in a total non-japanese way. And "yatta" has got to be the first Jap word I ever heard.

It's funny that even though I say I can read and type japanese, I have an accent myself. Then again, it's quite difficult to rid of. Like a Chinese man learning English who's put his heart and sould to learn but in front of an American, they break down in fear. That's my experience in front of any japanese person.

Does any one know a site that helps translate english words into japanese ones? Ive been searching for 2 days and found nothin.

I'm sorry. I'm quite afraid I don't know any translation sites and I would help but I translate things using what I know myself (don't use me as a web translator though. I'm a forum member, not a machine)
 

Ip Man

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marlousmiracle said:
Does any one know a site that helps translate english words into japanese ones? Ive been searching for 2 days and found nothin.

I just googled right now and found this, hope it helps.
http://www.freedict.com/onldict/jap.html

Anyways, Akura-san :)p ) thanks for your help. I've always wanted to learn Jap but I never really taken an initiative, until now. This thread kinda motivated me once again. I'll have to check those books you recommended and hopefully in the future I can try out what I learn with you. :)
 

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xansemx said:
I just googled right now and found this, hope it helps.
http://www.freedict.com/onldict/jap.html

Anyways, Akura-san :)p ) thanks for your help. I've always wanted to learn Jap but I never really taken an initiative, until now. This thread kinda motivated me once again. I'll have to check those books you recommended and hopefully in the future I can try out what I learn with you. :)

Glad to hear it ^^

If you're not in the rush, I truly recommend gradual road. Rapid is difficult and I am barely cutting the cake with school in my schedule. Yet, I make time for the internet so I can always learn.

Anyways,
快を貪よ!!
 

文偉立

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tux_ said:
Lies =(
I guess I'll stick with French and Spanish =(
Japanese so hard =P

Dat !z y j00 f4il xD

I'm pulling your leg. Japanese is hard. I'll tell you that. If you feel that you want to give up before you even try...that'll make it harder.

By the way, DL the text xD That way, you can see my cool name

LordMune said:
Japanese is incredibly logical. Spanish is cyanide for the mind.

Never took Spanish...

Kanji involves plenty of logic...in fact...I emphasize "plenty"...I'm still quite devastated from getting an 86 on a test on a radicals in Kanji. It's my lowest so far...
 

stephaknee

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Learning another language is always fun. My best friend has been learning Japanese for over two years now. However, Korean is more of my cup of tea =]

저는 한국어를 공부해요
.. Anio, those are not just random boxes, either.
 

文偉立

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baka ushi said:
However, Korean is more of my cup of tea =]

저는 한국어를 공부해요

韓国語が解りません...

Korean's also a pretty cool language to learn, I have to say but I'm not too familiar with it. One language at a time for me >.>
 
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