i'm learning japanese, sharing what i'm learning!

[iffy525]

Is there a Vista alternative to MS' Global IME for Japanese?

hm. im not quite sure what you are talking about but for japanese i use japanese and microsoft IME
control panel -> control panel home -> change keyboards or other input methods -> keyboards and languages -> change keyboards -> general -> add -> and then i selected japanese, and the under keyboards, i selected japanese, and microsoft IME
dont know if thats what you mean

 

[kazuki_pl]

it's useless to learn japanese without learning kana (hiragana/katakana) and kanji...

i hope everyone got japanese fonts! cause here we go with numbers...

??/?? - (rei/zero) - zero, there are two ways for zero... one is "rei" and sceong one is just "zero", first you write in hiragana(there is also a kanji fo it) and secong on you write in katakana ( cause it's borrowed from english)
? - (ichi) - one
? - (ni) - two
? - (san) - three
? - (yon/shi) - four ( japanese ppl don't like numer "4", cause "shi" means also "death")
? - (go) - five
? - (roku) - six
? - (nana/shichi) - seven
? - (hachi) - eight
? - (kyu~) - nine (there is long "u", so you read it "kyuu")
? - (ju~) - ten ( here is also a long "u" so you read it "juu")

ok now higher numbers...

to say in japanese, for example 24 you say "???”(nijuuyon), the first one is "ni" that indicates how many "juu" we have... and at the end is "yon"

???(kyuujuuroku) - 96
???(nanajuuichi) -71

and so... hope you all understand... :b

now other "kanji's" for numbers :b

? - (hyaku) - 100
? - (sen) - 1,000
? - (man) - 10,000

the method of creating higher numbers is the same as before

?????(nihyaku/sanjuu/go) 235 (first you say how many of hundreds, next how many tens)

???????(yonsen/gohyaku/nijuu/ichi) 4521

????????(hachiman/nisen/sanbyaku/juu/go)82315 - as you se there are some irrlegularities...

#note1 - don't write like this : ??(juuhyaku), ??(juusen) IT'S WRONG!

the exception is ????????(juuman,hyakuman,senman)

CHEERS!!

PS. I HOPE EVERYONE UNDERSTAND MY ENGLISH ^^

EDIT: and so... i didn;t read the entire topic (just first page) and now im lookin' as na idiot... oh well :b


Edit: Posts edited together, duplicate deleted. Don't double post.

- Ace

 

[test84]

thank you for your help.

 

[kazuki_pl]

no problem, i can write something more about japanese gramatic

 

[superkris]

? - (yon/shi) - four ( japanese ppl don't like numer "4", cause "shi" means also "death")

Just out of curiosity...

Does this affect some aspect of the life in Japan?

Ex. Here some building don't have a 13th floor (they actually do but they don't show it, it goes from the 12th to the 14th floor)

 

[Mangofett]

Is there a Vista alternative to MS' Global IME for Japanese?

hm. im not quite sure what you are talking about but for japanese i use japanese and microsoft IME
control panel -> control panel home -> change keyboards or other input methods -> keyboards and languages -> change keyboards -> general -> add -> and then i selected japanese, and the under keyboards, i selected japanese, and microsoft IME
dont know if thats what you mean

Yeah, I already found out it was preinstalled on Vista.

 

[test84]

and so... i didn;t read the entire topic (just first page) and now im lookin' as na idiot... oh well :b

Kazuki-san, what we need the most is info/tutorial on Kanjis and grammers.
you could also use sentences from older lessons and parse them for your examples when you talk about grammers.

and about Kanjis, It would be nice if we start a thread about Teaching them, like talk about 10 kanjis per post and give as much as info possible in order to make them remembered easily.

and since you havent read the whole topic, i was going to make a topic in order just to talk in Japanese, that wouldnt be important that you type Hiragana/Katakana/Kanji or Romaji, the important part was to talk japanese and no english, no exception, i think you would/could help in that topic too.
(mainly in order to USE the stuff we learn here since i believe thats the only way in learning a language, as i did for english)

EDIT:
I updated the first post and linked your lesson about Kanjis.

 

[kazuki_pl]

sure! im positive! but the topic should be "Sticky"!!!

so it won't lost in others!

ohhhh

contact me@skype

username#okami_irc

 

[moshii]

Kazuki-san, what we need the most is info/tutorial on Kanjis and grammers.
you could also use sentences from older lessons and parse them for your examples when you talk about grammers.

Maybe you could buy a Japanese grammar? For English speakers Oxfords Japanese verbs and Grammar is pretty good..

and about Kanjis, It would be nice if we start a thread about Teaching them, like talk about 10 kanjis per post and give as much as info possible in order to make them remembered easily.

Tuttle and others have books and flash cards for this purpose.

QUOTE(test84 @ Dec 6 2007, 05:10 PM)

and since you havent read the whole topic, i was going to make a topic in order just to talk in Japanese, that wouldnt be important that you type Hiragana/Katakana/Kanji or Romaji, the important part was to talk japanese and no english, no exception, i think you would/could help in that topic too.
(mainly in order to USE the stuff we learn here since i believe thats the only way in learning a language, as i did for english)

If you want to talk in Japanese opposed to just looking like a gaijin using ???????, then you'll probably have to spend a couple months in Japan or something. The stuff you'll learn from sites etc is far to strict and bookish.

 

[test84]

thnx mooshi but where i live, we cant buy stuff off internet.

would you explain why there is Kanji? isnt it possible with Kana to express all ideas? like english? since Kanjis are also words, sounds, verbs, etc !

i'm so lost.

 

[test84]

015 Gakuseidesuka
(Are you a student?)

A. Kento-san wa gaksei desuka.
(Mr. Kento, Are you a student?)

B. Iie, mou, gakusei ja arimasen, Sakaijin desu.
(No, I'm not a student anymore, I'm a full time employee)

A. A, Soudesuka.
(Oh, So its like this)

A. Sorewa Shitsurei shimashta.
(Please excuse me/ Please forgive me)

Notes:
1- We usually say the persons name and dont usually use "You" in conversations.
2- Negative form of "Desu" is "Ja Arimasen"
3 - "Wa" in first sentence shows that Kento-san is subject of sentence.
4- "Mou" means "no longer"
5- "Shakaikin" is a special word and Japanese love it and it means that the person is a helpful member of the society.

 

[test84]

016 Oshiireno nakani armimasu
(Its in the closet)

B. Saa, douzo.
(so, welcome(implicitly means "get inside") )

A. Waa, Tatamino heya desune.
(Wow, this room is tiled with tatami, isnt it?)

B. Futon wa, Oshiireno nakani arimasu.
(the blanket is in the closet)

A. Arigato Gozaimasu.
(Thank you alot)

Notes:
1- "no" in second sentence makes tatami a property for the room's floor.
2- Desu as we had in pervious lessons, is question tag form.
3- "ni" in 3rd sentence used to show that something is somewhere.
4- "wa" as we had in las lesson shows the subject of sentence.

New Words:
Heya = Room
Oshiire = Closet
Futon ~= Bed (its not bed, its blanket and pillow that most Asians use to sleep, instead of bed and dont express the "u" too much)
Imasu = "IS" for live people/animals.
Arimasu = same as above but for non-living stuff(, such as a Wii or DS

!)

 

[DarkAura]

Damn, how'd I miss this topic? I'm taking japanese at school, maybe I can help?

 

[test84]

Damn, how'd I miss this topic? I'm taking japanese at school, maybe I can help?

Sure, you could answer some still-not-answered or i-'m-not-satisfied-with-that-answer ones, correct lessons OR TELL ME WHY THEY USE KANJI WHEN THEY CAN USE KANA TO EXPRESS ALL WORDS LIKE ANY OTHER SANE PEOPLE ! phew.

 

[Cermage]

With number 15 you missed a space i believe.

Gakusei Desuka?

anyway, i could probably get by in japan with what i know but when i comes to reading hira/kana my brain explodes. I can help out with the romaji but thats it. i should get back to reading my Genki I book, i gave up because its and ebook and reading from the monitor burns my eyes.

 

[test84]

With number 15 you missed a space i believe.

Gakusei Desuka?

anyway, i could probably get by in japan with what i know but when i comes to reading hira/kana my brain explodes. I can help out with the romaji but thats it. i should get back to reading my Genki I book, i gave up because its and ebook and reading from the monitor burns my eyes.

Thanks, I didnt understand much of your post but using an LCD monitor really helped me for reading ebooks, still I prefer printed formats.

oncoming lesson 017!

 

[DarkAura]

Hiragana is not that hard to read, it's just that why the hell are there so many characters? There's over 100 in hiragana alone, and there is still katakana. It's so much too remember.

 

[BrianTokyo]

Hiragana is very quick to learn.. but somehow I keep forgetting katakana

 

[test84]

Would please someone answer my question over Kanji?

Why there are Kanji when you can have all words expressed through Kana?
like you can treat Japanese like English and use Kana as alphabet alone, so why bother using special characters for special names/objects/etc?

 

[kikuchiyo]

Would please someone answer my question over Kanji?

Why there are Kanji when you can have all words expressed through Kana?
like you can treat Japanese like English and use Kana as alphabet alone, so why bother using special characters for special names/objects/etc?

Because A) kanji break up sentences. There are no spaces in standard written Japanese. You can see how a setence works by the kanji. All the grammatical information is in the kana sections. It's extremely difficult to smoothly read a sentence totally in hiragana. Someone competent with kanji can easily glance at the first sentence and understand it, while reading the second would be trying to read English totally phonetically (i.e., George W. Bush style).

????????vs ?????????????(which is still a weird sentence - far more kansai like to use ?).

B) It promotes literacy. Japan has an extremely high literacy rate and part of that is because kanji with a syllabic alphabet is a good, logical writing system, even if it doesn't seem like it.

C) Because the range of sounds in Japanese are less than in other languages, there are many (many) many homophones. Kanji can help you decided whether one is talking about a turtle or a vase?or the te-form of to say and to go, ????vs ????for example.



As for katakana, the key is using it. Not just typing it but writing it. Even I sometimes have to think a second before writing kana as I don't nearly use them as much as hiragana or the kanji I know (which sadly is far less than I should).