日本語 (Japanese Practice)

[mekon]

Just wondering, are there any other Japanese speaking folks out there? I'm in my fourth year of Japanese class - and by no means am I an anime nerd, don't fear (though I do like anime) - and would just like to know I'm not alone

はじめまして。僕の名前はニックです。高校4年生です。日本語と計算機科学が大好きですよ。そして、５年武道をしています。どうぞよろしく。

[JoseB]

Hallo there! You are not alone! I lived for 4 years in Japan, following a Ph.D. in robotics at Tokyo University between 1995 and 1998. When I arrived there I didn't speak a word of Japanese; they put me in an accelerated Japanese language course for 6 months, after which they sent me into the Ph.D. classes (in Japanese). It was one of those "swim or sink" deals. But supremely interesting!

I try to keep my language somewhat current, talking to my friends in Tokyo from here, reading whatever materials I can get my hands on, watching movies in the original Japanese ("Kwaidan" is a favourite, and the movie "Mishima, a life in 4 chapters" with the Japanese soundtrack is quite good).

Oh, and, who's afraid of the anime otaku?

はじめまして!　ホセと申します。ヨロッパの特許局で働きます。どうぞよろしくおねがいします。

[miraidesuka]

I minored in Japanese in college and lived over there as part of a foreign exchange at Waseda University. I'm planning on going back with the JET program in a few years.

I'm also an anime fan.

I'd post a better introduction, but this computer doesn't speak Japanese.

[JoseB]

miraidesuka: You could always try and type some Japanese introduction in romaji nihongo wo hanashimashou!

[gmedina]

Just wondering, are there any other Japanese speaking folks out there?...and would just like to know I'm not alone

There are at least 127.000.000 other ones. No, you're not alone.

[mrguy753]

I am about a quarter of my way into my first year of Japanese. And I really enjoy it. However, i do not know a lot at all. I am fairly sure i can READ all the kana, writing is another question, but i can read all of em. I just need to, you know, start learning some more of the language.

[Akira]

はじめまして。　私はアキラです。　イースタンミシガンだいがくのいちねんせいです。　どうぞよろしくおねがいします。

And, if I were so inclined, I could give you my daily schedule. But I'm not, because I can't remember "to get up" at this moment. We're starting kanji tomorrow, so as of this moment, 私 is the only one I can confidently use in that sentence. ...Although I could probably have used 一, because I do know the numbers 一 through 十... And 大学, because i know the kanji for "big" and "learn", and college is a big learning institution... So yeah. Anyway.

I've been interested in Japan and Japanese since the third grade, so... I actually became interesting in anime/manga/jdramas/jrock/jpop as a result of my interest in japan, instead of the other way around as I understand is normal.

[exliontamer]

Heya. I just joined and I saw this topic. I speak Japanese, and I live in Japan.

おすっ。こんにちは。ダレルです、よろしく。僕は日本で外国語指導助手です。基本的に英語の教師だよ。島根県浜田市に住んでる。「どこ？」って。ん、どこだろう。本当の田舎だけど、時々面白いと思う。

日本語でしゃべって楽しみましょう！

EDIT: Oh, and I forgot to say, if anyone ever needs help with Japanese homework or whatever, feel free to ask me. My Japanese is far from perfect, but I sit next to about 5 people whose Japanese is. ; )

[Akira]

...Translations are very helpful to those still learning... like me. ^_^

[exliontamer]

...Translations are very helpful to those still learning... like me. ^_^

My bad...

My jikoshoukai went something like this:

Hey. My name is Darrell. Nice to meet you. I'm an Assistant Language Teacher. Basically I'm an English teacher in Japan. I live in Hamada City, Shimane Prefecture. Where the hell is that? Good question. It's the hardcore boondocks, but sometimes it's fun.

Let's enjoy speaking Japanese! (A parody of the common expression "Let's enjoy speaking English" that I hear ALL THE TIME)

Sorry. ; ) Translations in all Japanese posts from now on.

[Akira]

そうですか。ありがとう！ ^_^

(I'll imagine that some of the simpler things like that will be universally understood??)

[mrguy753]

今日は, 七時三十分に起きました。


(Today, I woke up at 7:30. This, with the time and day replacable, was the first sentance we learned to form in class. We know all the kanji for days of the week, today, tomorrow, yesterday, then some random things like the age suffix and stuff. All in all, we haven't learned that much, but I'm finding I really enjoy it)

[Kizyr]

うん、僕も日本語ができるよ。１９９７年勉強を始めて、７年間ぐらい勉強しているわけだ。
高校で自分で勉強して、大学で授業と留学で勉強していた。留学というと、３年前名古屋での南山大学で５，６ヵ月留学していた。偶然に、高校生の頃２ヵ月名古屋で留学生を勤めて勉強していた。

ところで、大学を卒業してから、日本語の勉強を授業ぬきで続くのは難しい。今、日本語能力試験の二級のために勉強している途中で、全部自分で勉強するほかにはならないと思う。

Anyway: "Yeah, I speak Japaense. I started studying in 1997, and I've studied for about 7 years. In high school I studied on my own, and in university through classes and study abroad. Speaking of studying abroad, three years back I was at Nagoya's Nanzan University for 5-6 months. Coincidentally, I was (also) in Nagoya as a foreign exchange student studying for about two months during high school. | By the way, after graduating college, it's difficult to continue your studies of Japanese without classes. Now, I'm in the middle of studying for the JLPT Level 2, but I don't think there's any way to do it except for studying it all on your own."

Just a note of caution... I'm better at reading than speaking, so there might be some slightly unnatural dialogue there.

Just wondering, are there any other Japanese speaking folks out there? I'm in my fourth year of Japanese class - and by no means am I an anime nerd, don't fear (though I do like anime) - and would just like to know I'm not alone

Great! There's a huge rate of drop-off in Japanese between the 1st and 2nd years, and between the 2nd and 3rd.

I like it when folks decide to pick up Japanese, but only if they actually are intent on learning the language, and aren't under the impression that they can pick it up just from watching a bunch of anime (side note: anime's possibly the worst source for actually learning how to speak). The fact that you're in the 4th year means that you're probably past the major hurdles that dissuade people from sticking to it.

Does your college offer a classical/literary Japanese class (文語)? If it does, I highly recommend taking it, if you haven't already. It's tough, but (I think) well worth it.

Let's enjoy speaking Japanese! (A parody of the common expression "Let's enjoy speaking English" that I hear ALL THE TIME)

Say, is that one group of three foreign guys (one white--I think his name is Bobby--and two black guys) still on TV? If you're not sure what I'm talking about, I can try and look up their names; it's just been a while. KF

[Akira]

We use the げんき textbook series at my college, and it moves very linearly. (Firefox says it's a word!) We first learned things like, 「こんにちわ」 and 「でわまた」 and so forth, then once we could introduce ourselves, we started writing and learning how to describe ourselves. All the hiragana, then all the katakana. We just started kanji today, which is a relief for me because, once again, I know most of what's being taught. Like I say, today we learned 一 through 十. Monday we will be covering 百、千、万、 円、　and 時。 After that, first quiz.　I'm looking forward to learning some new kanji, although I know I'm going to have a really hard time.

And I just realized how fluently I can switch between typing in English and in 日本語...

タイピングは。。。　What sort of systems does everyone use to type in 日本語? I'm on Windows XP, so I use the "language bar" IME, with keyboard shortcuts to switch between English and 日本語 input. I usually leave it on 日本語 alphanumeric input, and I can quickly toggle to hiragana using alt+`. My fingers are as trained to do that by now as they are to type 'lol', lol. (Honestly, is there anyone who has to think at all to "lol" anymore?)

And, mostly because I need the practice, I'm just gonna type my schedule. I'm going to try and use some kanji that we haven't officially learned in class, so those whom are more fluent, please correct me if I'm wrong!!

毎日は、九時半に起きます。十時に日本語のクラスへ行きます。十一時に昼御飯を食べます。昼御飯はスパゲッティをいちばんでし。しゅうきつは勉強する。

...Okay, so I didn't do my full schedule, because I don't know the days of the week at all yet. Tell me how I did, and don't be afraid to be merciless. I'm like a shrub: you cut me down, and I am emo and pathetic for a season, but I grow back stronger and more annoying than ever before.

---
And I got ninja'd. Responding to some points Kizyr brought up:

I've heard of the insane drop off rate between the levels of 日本語, but I've studied on my own (inconsistantly and rarely to much effect) for several years now, so I know how difficult it's going to get, but I plan on majoring in Japanese Language and Culture (Eastern Michigan University is the only one in Michigan offering the program, I believe...), so I am dedicated to sticking with it.

I really, really want to study abroad, but I'm shy and awkward enough in an American college, I shudder to think how I'd survive in a foreign country.

[Kizyr]

We use the げんき textbook series at my college, and it moves very linearly. (Firefox says it's a word!) We first learned things like, 「こんにちわ」 and 「でわまた」 and so forth,

One side note: "dewa mata" is ではまた (は, not わ, since it's a particle). However, "konnichiwa" is either こんにちは or こんにちわ (the latter--what you put there--is more frequently used now).

タイピングは。。。　What sort of systems does everyone use to type in 日本語? I'm on Windows XP, so I use the "language bar" IME, with keyboard shortcuts to switch between English and 日本語 input.

I use Microsoft's IME (same language bar). It's the easiest system I've found. I tried non-Microsoft ones, but none of them are nearly as accurate. (Don't know about any Mac/Linux-based ones, though.)

I usually leave it on 日本語 alphanumeric input, and I can quickly toggle to hiragana using alt+`.

I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR THAT KEYBOARD SHORTCUT FOR YEARS!

Seriously... I hate using my mouse. I usually learn the keyboard shortcuts for everything, and rarely touch my mouse. The only occasion that frequently comes up that forces me to use it is when I switch to Japanese and then have to switch from alphanumeric to kana input. That one Alt+` shortcut is going to save me a lot of irritation now... I can't believe I didn't find that earlier.

So, yeah, thanks.

毎日は、九時半に起きます。十時に日本語のクラスへ行きます。十一時に昼御飯を食べます。昼御飯はスパゲッティをいちばんでし。しゅうきつは勉強する。

It's mostly ok. Particles, words, etc. are all in place (although you'll occasionally see particles like に or は omitted when using time-related words, especially in casual conversation). Only a couple things...

"昼御飯はスパゲッティをいちばんでし。"
I can't tell what you're trying to say here. If you mean your favorite thing is spaghetti, it'd be something like "スパゲッティがいちばんおいしいです。" (Spaghetti is the most delicious.) The 'でし' doesn't mean anything here, and if you're trying to say 'です' there, then you wouldn't use an を particle with it (remember that を is an object marker, so you can only use it with transitive verbs that act on something).

"しゅうきつは勉強する。"
しゅうきつ=???
Other than that, it's probably better as を. However, は is a generic particle that's rarely technically incorrect, but it'd be better to avoid ambiguity here.

I've heard of the insane drop off rate between the levels of 日本語, but I've studied on my own (inconsistantly and rarely to much effect) for several years now, so I know how difficult it's going to get, but I plan on majoring in Japanese Language and Culture (Eastern Michigan University is the only one in Michigan offering the program, I believe...), so I am dedicated to sticking with it.

Well that's good. I started off studying on my own as well, so I found some things that worked well, and some things (the hard way) that worked badly. At the beginning level, formal classes are nearly always better than self-study, however (I do have some minor gripes with how Japanese is usually taught at beginner levels, but that's another topic).

I really, really want to study abroad, but I'm shy and awkward enough in an American college, I shudder to think how I'd survive in a foreign country.

Keep an open mind about it. There's not a single person I know who's actually regretted it. How many years do you have left in college? If it's early, you have plenty of time to plan your schedule ahead for it. KF

[Akira]

oohh--I knew about こんいちは, actually, that was a mistype. I did not know about ではまた, thank you.

^_^;; Glad I could be of service? If it works for you, then that's fabulous, but I think I had to set it to that key? It gives you options for that on the language bar >right click >settings.

Okay, i get what you're saying. でし was actually a typo on my part, i did mean です...

According to my textbook, しゅうきつ is--.....<_< Another typo. I meant しゅうまつ--weekend. I study on the weekends; would を still be used?

I rather like my instructors, although I have no other Japanese instructors to compare them to--I'm not sure if it's common (I doubt it), but I have two--Fujuwara-sensei for monday, tuesday, and wednesday, and Tsuda-sensei on thursday and friday. Tsuda-sensei is way too hyperactive for her age, I think, but she's awesome, and Fujiwara-sensei is really nice. So yeah. I hope I keep them (or one or the other) throught my studies.

I'm a first year student--JPNE121/Beginners Japanese is actually one of about 12 credit hours of basic Japanese I need to take before I can start on the classes in my major. Other than Japanese, I'm just doing gen-ed credits right now (Although I think Intro to Asian Philosophy is counting towards my Humanities(?) portion of my major? I'm not sure.)

I know that I will definitely study abroad, no matter what; my main concern is just that everyone says that, when you go study abroad, you should have fun and no hide in the library all the time or something... Which is exactly what I do here, you know? I'm not really outgoing enough to go get involved in stuff, so it's awkward for me. I've said that I would go to the Japanese Student Association meetings with some acquaintances for a while now, but I haven't yet because of that shyness. I'm just wondering how it'll go when i finally do do it (probably in my third year)

[Kizyr]

oohh--I knew about こんいちは, actually, that was a mistype. I did not know about ではまた, thank you.

You spelled こんにちわ/こんにちは correctly in your first post there. I'm personally biased towards the latter, but that bias is based on having taken literary Japanese. Honestly the way you put it (こんにちわ) is more common. (EDIT: Well I'm not sure which one's more common anymore--Google says は is more common. But I see both frequently.)

^_^;; Glad I could be of service? If it works for you, then that's fabulous, but I think I had to set it to that key? It gives you options for that on the language bar >right click >settings.

I think it's the default setting, since it works fine for me without messing with options. I discover most of my keyboard shortcuts by accident, and I knew there was a shortcut to switch to kana (since I'd accidentally hit it before), I just couldn't replicate it.

Okay, i get what you're saying. でし was actually a typo on my part, i did mean です...

Ok, in that case it sounds kind of funny to just say 「昼ごはんはXがいちばんです」, since it's literally saying that "For lunch, X is the best" (but best what?). It's grammatically fine, but it just sounds a bit more natural to use an adjective there--like いちばんおいしい = "most tasty/delicious". You could omit the adjective if the surrounding context explains what you're talking about (e.g., in a conversation where everyone's talking about their favorite food), but that's not the case here.

According to my textbook, しゅうきつ is--.....<_< Another typo. I meant しゅうまつ--weekend. I study on the weekends; would を still be used?

Ah, in that case it's different (I was thinking it was a typo for some subject you study). In that case you wouldn't use を (which denotes an object, i.e., what you're studying). You'd instead use に (which denotes when you do the studying).

I also noticed something else: you're using polite speech throughout what you said (起きます・行きます・です・等). So you'll want to say 勉強します instead of 勉強する to be consistent.

I know that I will definitely study abroad, no matter what; my main concern is just that everyone says that, when you go study abroad, you should have fun and no hide in the library all the time or something... Which is exactly what I do here, you know? I'm not really outgoing enough to go get involved in stuff, so it's awkward for me.

It's much easier than you might think. For starters, Japanese universities are the polar opposite of high schools. Most people have a lot of free time, and your only serious class will usually be your Japanese class. You'll have time to go traveling with other students (Japanese or other exchange students), time to join student clubs, etc. Not to mention that you might change considerably in the next two years of college.

In short, don't sweat it. I'd say for now just try and prepare so that you won't have to worry about transferring a lot of credits (which will eliminate most of the stress), and see how your next couple of years go. KF

[Akira]

Lol, in any case, I aspire to correctness, so I will stick with こんいちは. I might get made fun of when i study abroad, but the older people will like me XD

Lol, alright. Now, if only i could figure out the shortcut to get to katakana... <_<

I see u_u Alrighty then, I can get behind that. I'll be more careful ^^;

Okay, dude, makes total sense. u_u and yeah, I wasn't really thinking, I should have used します. Fujiwara-sensei would be appalled. Technically, we're supposed to only be using the "formal forms" until we're used to them, lol.

That's interesting to know u_u I know that change is inevitable, so I'll look forward to changing. They've got a whole department dedicated to helping people prepare for studying abroad, so I will most likely be heading there soon and frequently.

[exliontamer]

Say, is that one group of three foreign guys (one white--I think his name is Bobby--and two black guys) still on TV? If you're not sure what I'm talking about, I can try and look up their names; it's just been a while. KF

Yeah, you bet they are. Still yucking it up like the minstrel show westerners that they are. I really resent that the only western people who get on TV in Japan are total fuckwits who play down to the Japanese expectation of "the foreigner" stereotype. Grr. Hulk smash.

[prime]

わたしのことばはえいごです。にほんごじゃありません。わたしはしかごからきました。わたしのなまえはベンです。わたしはいちねんせいのこうこうせいです。

I just started Japanese this school year (about 3 months ago). We've only learned hiragana and are working on our introductions with basic sentences. I think that what I wrote says "My language is English. Not Japanese. I come from Chicago. My name is Ben. I am a first year high school student."

[Akira]

Ahh, hey there!

I wondered what that third sentence was. I was able to read everything fine except for that, but only because "Chicago" should have been in katakana, because it's the name of a foreign city: シカゴ. other than that...

Welcome to the thread ^_^

[Kizyr]

Say, is that one group of three foreign guys (one white--I think his name is Bobby--and two black guys) still on TV? If you're not sure what I'm talking about, I can try and look up their names; it's just been a while. KF

Yeah, you bet they are. Still yucking it up like the minstrel show westerners that they are. I really resent that the only western people who get on TV in Japan are total fuckwits who play down to the Japanese expectation of "the foreigner" stereotype. Grr. Hulk smash.

...merde. I was hoping their novelty had worn off by now. I was always confused by them. Mostly confused on if I should feel amused or offended.

わたしのことばはえいごです。にほんごじゃありません。わたしはしかごからきました。わたしのなまえはベンです。わたしはいちねんせいのこうこうせいです。

Welcome! Besides the しかご⇒シカゴ thing, the only other minor problem is in the first sentence. ことば=Word(s); the word you're probably looking for might be こくご=language (of a country). Although, saying something like "私は英語を話します - わたしはえいごをはなします - I speak English" sounds more natural.

Lol, in any case, I aspire to correctness, so I will stick with こんいちは. I might get made fun of when i study abroad, but the older people will like me XD

You need to hit the "n" key three times to key it in right, by the way ("nn" gives the ん character, and "ni" gives the following に character), otherwise you get こんいちは instead of こんにちは. MS IME sometimes automatically corrects for that if you hit space, however. KF

[Magitek]

　　　　　　　　　　　にほんご　　　がくせい
XKCDの日本語の学生は、

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　わたし　　なまえ　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　さんねんせい　　けいさんき　かがく　　　　　だいがくせい　　　　　　はじ
こんにちは！私の名前はジェスです。三先生の計算機科学の大学生です。始めまして、よろしくおねがいします。

I wonder if we should post furigana for the benefit of those learning kanji? Then again, it takes a while to format it.

[Akira]

Haha, for a moment, I was like "WHOA. How'd they do that?"

While that is a brilliant idea, and quite useful, I think that it would probably be equally beneficial to simply include a glossary at the end of the post with perhaps some of the new terms we might not have seen before.

For example, everyone here seems to at least be able to recognize 日本語, right? That could be used freely, I'd say. Also, 私 is fairly common and has been used and not wondered about, I think. 始めまして, on the other hand, while commomnly said (at least so far, lol), people might not recognize the kanji, and might not be able to deduce the meaning from "some-sound-memashite". I would say use your best judgement, and be open for people to ask questions

[legion]

I'm taking Japanese 4 in college, but I took four years in high school, a year in middle school, did some self-study, and took a second-semester Japanese course and slept though most of it (it was a late night class) before starting over with Japanese 1 on the quarter system and going all the way up to 4 (skipped 3).

I have an odd level of proficiency. My vocab is rather poor, I don't know a lot of kanji (these things take constant practice to keep up for me), but I can speak a million times better than I can write, I can read pretty well (if the kanji has readings in kana), and my accent has been described as "amazing".

I can't decide whether to feel good about my Japanese or bad, so I usually don't mention that I study it. I'm majoring in linguistics with a focus on Japanese, and at kendo practice I try to pretend I don't speak Japanese at all, but my accent during kiai gives me away.

I hope that made sense.

[exliontamer]

　　　　　　　　　　　にほんご　　　がくせい
XKCDの日本語の学生は、

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　わたし　　なまえ　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　さんねんせい　　けいさんき　かがく　　　　　だいがくせい　　　　　　はじ
こんにちは！私の名前はジェスです。三先生の計算機科学の大学生です。始めまして、よろしくおねがいします。

I wonder if we should post furigana for the benefit of those learning kanji? Then again, it takes a while to format it.

LOL, also I guess you didn't consider that some people might have a different screen resolution than you. For me your carefully formatted furigana is all ばらばらした.

[Magitek]

I was thinking about that...hmmm

Are there any good firefox extensions to right click on kanji and get the reading? If we had something like that, then I guess that would help.
As far as limiting ourselves to basic kanji, I agree to the point that if we use more kanji, that will make it more familiar to those learning it. I saw a super cool feature in the Japanese version of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, the text is on the bottom screen, and when u tap a kanji, the furigana came up. That'd be fun to have in a browser.

[Akira]

I have seen programs that do that, but they are separate programs. I don't think that Firefix has that sort of extention. Any programmers in here that could do that?

Also, does anyone in here used Ubuntu and have any idea how to input Japanese in Ubuntu? It reads the fonts fine, but I have no idea how to write.

[Kizyr]

I wonder if we should post furigana for the benefit of those learning kanji? Then again, it takes a while to format it.

It really is a bitch to format in furigana. If someone doesn't understand a particular kanji, I recommend C&Ping it into WWWJDIC's J-E Lookup:
http://www.edrdg.org/cgi-bin/wwwjdic/wwwjdic?1C

The only time it's easy to put it in is in some word-processors (the Japanese version / addons for MS Word can do this, I believe) when it's an automatic option. The best way on a forum is just to add a parenthetical with the kana, if need be. Any other method is more trouble than it's worth.

I have an odd level of proficiency. My vocab is rather poor, I don't know a lot of kanji (these things take constant practice to keep up for me), but I can speak a million times better than I can write, I can read pretty well (if the kanji has readings in kana), and my accent has been described as "amazing".

That sort of thing happens often as a result of self-study, or from changing venues.

You can pretty much break communication down into four parts: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Depending on how your self-study goes, or how classes are organized, you can improve in one while lagging behind in others. The best kind of class will focus on all four, but you can come across the occasional class that has a narrow focus and might, unfortunately, keep you behind in one or two of the four aspects.

So, for instance, if your studying involves a lot of speaking with people in Japanese, and if there's a lot of immersion involved, then speaking/listening improves more. With self-study, it's usually easiest to improve reading, and to a lesser extent writing, since it's easy to find reading materials and study guides for that.

I will be honest, though: you'll want to focus on your weak points--particularly grammar--or you'll quickly run into a point where you'll stagnate. If the classes you're taking aren't cutting it, then try studying for the JLPT (I suppose Level 3 in your case, maybe Level 2), learn the related vocab. for that, and start finding a few things to read regularly in Japanese. KF

[Magitek]

Interestingly enough, I alluded in a separate topic earlier that I'm currently working on writing some software to help learn Japanese. I'm building it to focus on a couple of things:

- Learning vocabulary
- Practicing grammar in example sentences
- Writing practice using Pen Input

The cool idea I have is that I'm designing the program so that it adapts its character set to be at your level. For instance, when you first start out, everything is in romaji, and as you practice and master kana, it switches to kana, and for every kanji you learn, sentences that use that word will use the kanji. I want to make it fun so it's not so tedious, and I guess when I'm done with it I'll release it as open source, but are there any cool features or game ideas you'd like to see to help you learn Japanese?

(BTW, I'm thinking of doing it in Java just because I'd like to offer it cross-platform)

[Akira]

That sounds really, really cool! I would imagine that programming it to increase with your level would be relatively easy, logic-wise. Once the person has, say, a 90% accuracy rate for one skill, move it up. Easier said than done, I understand, but you know what I mean.

I think my biggest weaknesses are vocabulary and listening.

And procrastination. *is discussing Japanese on-line when she should be working on the worksheets that were due today*... lol

[Gelsamel]

I can say "Kawaii" and "Chibi" and I can recognise what some words mean and get the general gist of the topic if there is no subtitles (For instance, on the Tales of Symphonia OVA I could tell you just about exactly what they were saying even without the subtitles.. but then again I played the game... the Sheena Vs Kratos fight I could tell almost exactly the words they used just because of context haha)

Also "Sashiburi da na" (since it's like the most common phrase ever in animes...)

Don't I rock at japanese?

[Akira]

Haha, for the longest time, all I knew was "kawaii" and "baka".

I recall feeling so cool when I figured out "sugoi" and confused the 14m3 0t4ku with my "advanced" Japanese.

And then I started actually LEARNING the language. And now frequently feel stupid.

Vocabulary test tomorrow, verbs. I'm gonna do fine. But I failed the frequency verb quiz miserably. I remeber ときどき only because i thought it sounded funny, and cos I use "Okiedokie" a lot... I remeber まいにち、まいばん、まいあさ、きょお... I can remember others if I'm looking at them, but not usually, lol.

[miraidesuka]

Interestingly enough, I alluded in a separate topic earlier that I'm currently working on writing some software to help learn Japanese. I'm building it to focus on a couple of things:

- Learning vocabulary
- Practicing grammar in example sentences
- Writing practice using Pen Input

The cool idea I have is that I'm designing the program so that it adapts its character set to be at your level. For instance, when you first start out, everything is in romaji, and as you practice and master kana, it switches to kana, and for every kanji you learn, sentences that use that word will use the kanji. I want to make it fun so it's not so tedious, and I guess when I'm done with it I'll release it as open source, but are there any cool features or game ideas you'd like to see to help you learn Japanese?

(BTW, I'm thinking of doing it in Java just because I'd like to offer it cross-platform)

as a kid, I always loved the Mavis Beacon-esque games that would teach typing. You could have the word show up in kanji/kana and have the player type out the romanji.

Also, awesome idea. If I knew how to code I'd help.

[Magitek]

Ok, I need some suggestions,

all of the classrooms at my school have computers. Sometimes we have study sessions for Japanese in different rooms. Sometimes the computers don't have the language bar showing on the desktop, so does anyone know of any programs that are like some small exe that lets me type romaji into a textbox and convert it to kana/kanji so I can copy/paste it into documents?

[Gelsamel]

I want to see a table of frequently used Japanese phrases in anime.

I got $10 on "Sashiburi da na" now someone go do it so I can take back my $10!

[Akira]

Ok, I need some suggestions,

all of the classrooms at my school have computers. Sometimes we have study sessions for Japanese in different rooms. Sometimes the computers don't have the language bar showing on the desktop, so does anyone know of any programs that are like some small exe that lets me type romaji into a textbox and convert it to kana/kanji so I can copy/paste it into documents?

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

One of my favorite resources. You'll have to go word-by-word, but you can always be fairly sure of having the exact kanji you want.

Edit: It just occurred to me, as I'm dressed for Halloween, to ask if anyone is involved in any of the modern Japanese subcultures? Myself, I'm a fan of Jrock, and am somewhat into the VK scene, and I also have a growing interest in the street fashion/Lolita scene. (That's what reminded me, I'm dressing as a doll for halloween, lol)

[Kizyr]

I want to see a table of frequently used Japanese phrases in anime.

I got $10 on "Sashiburi da na" now someone go do it so I can take back my $10!

Um, are you sure you're hearing that right? "Sashiburi" doesn't really mean anything. What do you think it's supposed to mean?

Edit: It just occurred to me, as I'm dressed for Halloween, to ask if anyone is involved in any of the modern Japanese subcultures? Myself, I'm a fan of Jrock, and am somewhat into the VK scene, and I also have a growing interest in the street fashion/Lolita scene. (That's what reminded me, I'm dressing as a doll for halloween, lol)

I've been out of the music scene for a little while. I started getting a little bit into Japanese hip-hop, which I find completely fascinating, so if I get back into Japanese music then that's where I'd start.

Also, as a side note that occurred to me, it's always been one of my biggest pet peeves to hear arbitrary Japanese thrown in English sentences. KF

[Akira]

Oh, Hip-hop, eh? I'm not a huge fan of the american version of the genre, but then again, I'm not big on american pop, and I like Jpop (I confess: I'm a Johnny's fangirl. Mostly for Arashi. ^_^)

LYKE Gee Willikers THATS SO KAWAII!

...*ahem*... It's always bugged me, too, lol. When I go back and read fan fiction that I wrote years ago, I see that I did that and I want to stab my hard drive for preserving those monstrosities, lol.

[Gelsamel]

Yeah I probably got it wrong, after google searching a bit I think its "hisashiburi da na"

But don't take me on that.. it's 4am and I can hardly think..