Looking to learn...

[Kirie]

Hello I'm hoping one or more of our fabulous jap. translators might be willing to work with me to teach me some jap. in their spare time. At the moment I only know a tiny bit that ive picked up here and there. I will be taking courses in Japanese next semester but i would like to get a head start on it if possible >.<. I'm also looking to learn other languages as well so if you have free time and would be willing to teach me i'm open to learning any language .

Thanks for your time

[Akari]

uh-huh, the forum description is 'Anything you couldn't get an answer for, after you have read the FAQ.' ^^;

so this thread should be in the advice forum, right?

[Kirie]

prob i wasnt sure where to put it ... sry T.T move it please ...

[Akari]

if i am wrong at which forum/section this is, just tell me^^;

[hikaichi]

Depends on what you really want to learn? Like basics are easy ._. which you'll probably learn in your Japanese course anyway but uh yeah ._. our japanese translator numbers..are abit..low ._.

[Kirie]

... i wanna learn whatever anyones willing to teach me lol jap. is gonna be my main or starting language lol i want to learn at least 10 others on top of jap. lol >.< and i can always start at the basics and work my way up... its sad that were short on jap. translators ... hope we get more soon>.

[Nakajima]

How about you check out learning Japanese sites that are really helpful *I started learning Jap. by them before taking official courses*... there are dozens of really good and easy sites!!

[Kirie]

okay ill look into it thanks I also have Rosetta Stone but haven't gotten round to using it lol and now coms broke in shop T.T

[Hira]

Lol, want to learn Arabic or Urdu?

...ugh, speaking of languages, I have to mark my sister's French exam tomorrow...(Which I made, and she basically memorized...cheating runs in my family xD)

...I get off-topic easily >_>

[Kirie]

so kay and sure I planed on learning Arabic eventually anyways lol

[Hira]

Lol, my mom's given me an option of becoming a foreign interpretor, and become an ambassador or something, hehe, since I learn languages quickly xD ...so, the first language I plan on learning is Japanese =D

 

I wanted to do Spanish, but my school didn't allow me to take 3 language classes at once >_>

 

Arabic: من شرال وسواسل قنآس

It's this...reciting thing...

[Kirie]

wow nice i'm plannin on being an ambassador or somework with the gov. thats where the money is and i enjoy learning languages O.O i love the look of the Arabic language its soo cool and i learn fast to... i find random keys for diff. languages or things like the Theban alphabet and memorize them >.> the theban took me one night to memorize but its only symbols for the letters of the english alphabet>.> i get really bored>.

[Hira]

Haha, my mom tells me to be that, or an animator (or well, the animation stuff, whatever it's called) ...I'd rather just lay around at home >_>

 

Wow...never heard of the Theban alphabet, lol. I had to do English --> Urdu translations when in Pakistan. Sheer torture D:

[Kirie]

lol its called the witches alphabet i guess it uses runes but whatever lol like i said its basically just symbols for letters have u looked at the what do you look like forum lately ?

[Hira]

ohh, um, no? lol

[Kirie]

lol u should and if you wanna check out that alphabet see what it looks like heres link

 

http://www.purplehell.com/riddletools/theban.htm

 

this is one version of it >.< depending where u look one or two symbols will change

[Mango_Lassi]

Do you guys have any recommendations for which books/sites you used to learn Japanese? I found a few on Amazon, and unfortunately there are no classes being offered where I am currently living- so it'll have to be self taught. Any help would be greatly appreciated! =D

 

@Hira- I learned how to read a little bit of Arabic when I was in my home country to read the Quran. Is it hard to pick back up once you had already learned some of it? How about the speaking- I know there's a couple different dialects, but is there one "type of Arabic" that is "better" (easier?) to learn? Also learned a little Urdu/Hindi via movies- so fun to listen to, but rather tough to learn and keep up with!

[Ani]

I was looking for some way to learn Japanese, too, and someone suggested the site japanesepod101.com

 

I'm not sure if it's easy and helpful, though, because I haven't had the time to try it out. ^^"

[Seraphia]

thanks ani, i want to learn too:)

just in case i go to japan over break when i visit my family in taiwan

it'd be soooo cool!

[Ani]

Apparently my cousin planned to bring me and my other cousins to Japan after I graduate from college, so I want to learn soon. Now if only my sister wouldn't laugh at and distract me from trying to learn Japanese. -__-

[Cheesecake]

People learn differently so it's best to try many resources before you find the right one for you.

 

Ani, before you go to Japan, it's best to learn their language or be with someone who do because most Japanese doesn't speak English and even if they do they're too shy to talk to you.

[Ani]

Yeah. That's why I want to find a way that's easy for me to learn. My cousin's friend speaks Japanese, so we were planning to drag him to Japan with us. ;D

[angelic_canvas]

I recommend you learn hiragana and katakana first.

Hiragana website with stroke order and sound: http://www.umich.edu...lp/Hiraganapro/

 

Katakana website with stroke order and sound: http://www2.hawaii.e...katakana_image/

 

Kanji is a whole other story... But once you know hiragana and katakana, kanji won't be too bad.

Kanji Dictionary with animated stroke order: http://www.yamasa.cc...Kanji3?OpenForm

 

How to tell time...

What time is it now? ã„ã¾ãªã‚“ã˜ã§ã™ã‹ã€‚ ima nanji desu ka?

Hours [you basically add 㘠(ji) at the end]

1) ã„ã¡ã˜ ichiji 2) ã«ã˜ niji 3) ã•ã‚“㘠sanji 4) よ㘠yoji 5) ã”㘠goji 6) ã‚ã㘠rokuji 7) ã—ã¡ã˜ shichiji 8) ã¯ã¡ã˜ hachiji 9) ã㘠kuji 10) ã˜ã‚…ã†ã˜ jyuuji 11) ã˜ã‚…ã†ã„ã¡ã˜ jyuuichiji 12) ã˜ã‚…ã†ã«ã˜ jyuuniji

Minutes [order: ã·ã‚“ punã€ãµã‚“ funã€ã·ã‚“ punã€ã·ã‚“ punã€ãµã‚“ funã€ã·ã‚“ punã€ãµã‚“ funã€ã·ã‚“ punã€ãµã‚“ fun, ã·ã‚“ pun]

1) ã„ã£ã·n ippun (the double p makes like a staccato sound) 2) ã«ãµã‚“ nifun 3) ã•ã‚“ã·ã‚“ sanpun 4) よんã·ã‚“ yonpun 5) ã”ãµã‚“ gofun 6) ã‚ã£ã·ã‚“ roppun [almost like a rotpun] 7) ãªãªãµã‚“ nanafun 8) ã¯ã£ã·ã‚“ happun [almost like a hatpun] 9) ãã‚…ã†ãµã‚“ kyuufun 10) ã˜ã‚…ã†ã£ã·ã‚“ jyuuppun [like a jyuutpun]

30 minutes is special. Instead of saying ã•ã‚“ã²ã‚…ã£ã·ã‚“ sanjyuuppun, you'd say ã¯ã‚“ han. For the rest, you have to say for example... 45 minutes... よんã˜ã‚…ã†ã”ãµã‚“ yonjyuugofun.

 

Additional time words... [note: for words such as gozen and gogo, you'll need to put them before the time rather than after. relationals are usually placed after the word to mark it. in this case, gozen and gogo don't follow this rule]

ã”ãœã‚“ gozen - A.M.

ã‚ã• asa - morning

ã”ã” gogo - P.M.

よる yoru - night [note: Japanese vocabulary is very specific and unique. You can come across several words for night or relating to night]

 

Some time relationals...

ã« ni - at or on example: ã”ãœã‚“ ã”㘠㫠ãŠãã¾ã—ãŸã€‚gozen goji ni okimashita. [note: usually sentences in Japanese aren't spaced out, but I spaced them out in hopes to make recognizing the characters easier] This sentence means... I woke up at 5:00 A.M.

ã”ã‚ goro - around

ã‹ã‚‰ kara - from

ã¾ã§ made - until

ã¾ãˆ mae - before

 

Counting in Japanese is pretty simple once you get the hang of it. For the most part, you're just adding numbers with each other. For example, in order to say 55, you'd say ã”ã˜ã‚…ã†ã” gojyuugo. You need the ã˜ã‚…ㆠjyuu there because that's how counting works. You can't say gogo to say 55. How I remember Japanese numbers is by multiplying. To figure out how to write 55, multiply 5 and 10, and then add 5. So in Japanese, you'd write ã” go (which is 5)ã€ã˜ã‚…ㆠjyuu (which is 10), and ã” go again since it means 5. If you want to learn more about numbers, just write back or pm me. I'll be glad to help.

 

 

Some time you will come across adjectives. In Japanese there are two adjective types. ㄠi adjectives and 㪠na adjectives...

i adjective endings... you can tell most i adjectives apart by checking if it ends with an i. there are some exceptions, and if you have questions, feel free to ask.

present (+): +ã§ã™desu

present (-): take out an ã„ i and add ãã‚ã‚Šã¾ã›ã‚“ ku arimasen or ããªã„ã§ã™ kunai desu.

past (+): drop ã„ i and add ã‹ã£ãŸã§ã™ katta desu.

past (-): drop ã„ i and add ãã‚ã‚Šã¾ã›ã‚“ã§ã—㟠ku arimasen deshita or ããªã‹ã£ãŸã§ã™ kunakatta desu.

 

the only acception to this rule is ã„ã„ ii, which means good. You may also know good as よã yoku, but ii is the pure form. what happens is...

if you want to say it is good, you'd say iidesu.

if you want to say it is not good, you'd say yoku arimasen or yokunaidesu.

then it goes on... but basically, ii becomes yoku in all the other forms except for the present (+).

na adjective endings... they end in ei, ui, ai, na, ka...basically, they hardly end in ii.

present (+): +ã§ã™ desu

present (-): +ã§ã—㟠deshita

past (+): +ã§ã¯ã‚ã‚Šã¾ã›ã‚“ dewaarimasenï¼ã˜ã‚ƒã‚ã‚Šã¾ã›ã‚“jyaarimasen

past (-): ã§ã¯ã‚ã‚Šã¾ã›ã‚“ã§ã—㟠dewaarimasendeshitaï¼ã˜ã‚ƒã‚ã‚Šã¾ã›ã‚“ã§ã—㟠jyaarimasendeshita

 

I hope I was of some assistance. If you ever need help, feel free to ask! ^^

[lat]

thanks for all the really helpful posts everyone I might start learning again- I got as far as learning Katakana but that was it ^^; hehe wish me luck! though i am a VERY slow learner...

[x5ga]

a sweet guide to Japanese grammar: http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar

 

RosettaStone also has ... a different approach for learning Japanese.