Starrodkirby86 wrote:

Don't know many phrases, know just little sayings, like "Hai", "Iie", "Nani", and so forth. I also remember the numbers from 1-10. Ichi, Ni, San, Shi, Go, Roku, Nana, Kyuu, and Ju. XD

AKA anime japanese

Kylecito wrote:

Starrodkirby86 wrote:

Don't know many phrases, know just little sayings, like "Hai", "Iie", "Nani", and so forth. I also remember the numbers from 1-10. Ichi, Ni, San, Shi, Go, Roku, Nana, Kyuu, and Ju. XD

AKA anime japanese

Hahaha, thanks. XD

At least I don't say "Baka" to everybody or anybody, or commonly at all. That'll make me feel like a total n00b. I'll focus solely on Engrish thanks. And Thai.

hahahaha its ok, it was just some lame attempt at trolling ;D

I downloaded a full course with CD..
I started it last year..
But I had to stop to focus on regular studies..

One day, it's a dream, i'll learn it and go to Japan.

I'm so damn sure about it..

I haved learned some japanese vocabularies as I started to play Japanese TV video game when I was just 5.
Some common words like "magic" "equipment" "item" etc(mostly from RPG LOL).
I can clearly identify them, but it is difficult for me to write.

Yeah I speak... of sorts. It's been a long time since high school.

Tried once and gave up... just like so many other things i've tried to learn!

tensheapz wrote:

Tried once and gave up... just like so many other things i've tried to learn!

same here
only bothered to learn kana

Learnt on and off for awhile, but now I'm doing it at university, progressing nicely.
Starting 'advanced 1' next semester, probably along side introductory Chinese

I'm also like Lumino, on and off. I'm planning to take it in University, so maybe it can be something I teach my students (I plan to become a teacher, yes...more school. Huzzah! )

I guess I started this thread but never really mentioned my history!

I studied Japanese through high-school and university, and majored in it. I don't use it much since I graduated apart from watching japanese TV so it is gradually deteriorating in my head .

Lumino wrote:

Learnt on and off for awhile, but now I'm doing it at university, progressing nicely.
Starting 'advanced 1' next semester, probably along side introductory Chinese

Nice.
I've forgotten a lot of what I learnt now, which sucks. I can still read hira/katakana easily and I still know enough to use Japanese P2P programs. As well as kind of understanding game centre cx.

I minored in it after taking two years. Would've (double-)majored, but I started it too late in my junior year.
I graduated two years ago, and have lost a bit since I graduated. I've tried to self-study to not forget it, but I still have a long way to go for it to be useful.

a friend of mine went to japan once. shes teaching (as well as our friends) a little of what she knew.

I also have a jap-eng dictionary! That and the 3-CD course but it didnt help.

一年勉強する！

少し読めるでも、話せない。　余りしません　＾＾；

I plan on going to Japan next year, so hopefully I can make the jump to pseudo-fluency by then.

ああ、誰かがやっと日本語で打った！

Gilradさん初めまして。勉強をがんばってね！

ohha!
Born in Japan, came to Australia at very young age. I speak Japanese at home with my parents.
I used to go to saturday school everyweek (until high school), but never paid attention.

Watch a little bit of anime here and there, enjoy variety shows, and listen to jpop.

tsububu wrote:

ohha!
Born in Japan, came to Australia at very young age. I speak Japanese at home with my parents.

I wanna be you..

At my high-school you can learn either French or some really odd language (i'm guessing they had Japanese. I HATE French beacuse it is very annoying but
"dans le fin, Je chois Francais."

Question for the Japanese Majors....

Hopefully everyone knows that the kanji in my signature is Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!! (Go! Fight! Cheer Squad!!), but is that the real kanji? I looked up Go in my jap-eng dictionary but nither "Osu" nor the kanji show up.... Am i missing something here?

Ok here goes a translation from wikipedia-jp on the origin of the word osu. There are two separate meanings - one which was used as a greeting between upper and lower students in some insitutes in japan. Both meanings are very deep in history and not used (with the kanji seen in the Ouendan title) in recent years. The second meaning has more relevance to what you would be interested in though:

一説では、佐賀・鍋島藩においては山本常朝の「葉隠」が武士道の基本とされ、藩校において厳しく躾が為されていた、若い青年武士たちは互いに励まし合う意味で、往来などで出会った際、押忍！と声を掛け合ったと言われている。応援団や武道家が使う押忍はこちらのほうの意味であり、友達同士でオスというのは前記のように「おはよう」などが縮まったものであると考えられる。

Theory has it that in some wards in Japan (can't be bothered translating place names, irrelevant) where the samurai was born, clans used very servere discipline on their members. It is said that the young members used to shout "OSU!" when seeing/meeting each other in the chaos, trying to cheer each other up. It is thought that the "osu!" that cheer groups/martial artists use was born from this meaning, moreso than the previously mentioned "osu" as a simple greeting (which is used in a more plain context of saying "hello").

Even in today's japanese culture, osu is used as a greeting (regularly heard as "ossu!" between friends) and is actually quite popular amongst the youth. But as you probably gathered from the translation above, this has a very different meaning to what is used by ouendan - and is never seen using the　"押忍" kanji, but simply in hiragana or katakana "オッス！".

The greeting:
「おはようございます」
ohayou gozaimasu (good morning)

「おはよーっす」→
ohayo-ssu

「おわーす」→
owa-su

「おす」
osu

The origin of the kanji is as follows (in its original martial arts/ouendan-ish form):

「押して忍ぶ」（自我を抑え我慢する）
(押して)oshite (忍ぶ)shinobu (to push and withstand) - having the meaning of "swallowing one's ego and bearing with it"

Leads us to the final 「押忍」.

Hopefully I'm not too far off with this translation .

Starrodkirby86 wrote:

Don't know many phrases, know just little sayings, like "Hai", "Iie", "Nani", and so forth. I also remember the numbers from 1-10. Ichi, Ni, San, Shi, Go, Roku, Nana, Kyuu, and Ju. XD

Isn't it Ichi, Ni, San, Yon (Well, thats what my CD says, haven't used it in years tho), Go, Roku, Hachi, Nana, Kyuu, and Ju

the way I remember up to 5 is "itchy knee" "sun" She go"
Really stupid

Homestarrunner wrote:

Starrodkirby86 wrote:

Don't know many phrases, know just little sayings, like "Hai", "Iie", "Nani", and so forth. I also remember the numbers from 1-10. Ichi, Ni, San, Shi, Go, Roku, Nana, Kyuu, and Ju. XD

Isn't it Ichi, Ni, San, Yon (Well, thats what my CD says, haven't used it in years tho), Go, Roku, Hachi, Nana, Kyuu, and Ju

shi/yon (4) and shichi/nana (7) are both interchangable and correct.

I think I'm gonna learn ... 私の車は赤い。 = My car is red. XD

Kylecito wrote:

only bothered to learn kana

hahahaha me too

I just learned enough Japanese to play Kingdom Hearts Final Mix/FM+ I also kind of remember how to say stuff like "Sorry, but I don't understand Japanese".

yeah, i'm doing gcse japanese at the mo,i'm on my second year of it. お元気ですか。

Osu! おかしいゲームはある、しかし私はそれをすることができない。

Hey Gyrus, what a coincidence. I'm doing GCSE Japanese too. But we've surpassed the GCSE level a long time ago (could've taken it two years ago and still gotten an A*, but our school system doesn't allow me to take it early >.>). I'm planning on taking IB Japanese B1 (for those of you who know what the heck IB is XD) which is going to kill me.

I am taking it in school, it's my second year. IMO it's easier to read and talk than Chinese by far. I speak Cantonese at home and learn Mandarin in Saturday school so the Kanji comes pretty easily.

I feel obligated to post this link:

http://pepper.idge.net/japanese/

Author's Note:This whole essay, although sprinkled with truisms here and there, is a joke and should be taken like one. I'm actually a Japanese major myself, and even if I've given it a bit of a hard time, I love the Japanese language, and I think everyone should give it a try.

You should just be ready for a whole lot of pain.

HAPPY LANGUAGE LEARNING!

I've read that before lol

You know, the bad thing about having no clue how to make japanese symbols, is that i only know how to write them out with english letters. Bokuwa Tensai da. >:D

Talk about bumping an old thread @alieax

That being said,

僕、来年大学で日本語を習うかもしれませんよ

I've been slowly trying to learn by myself. I was going pretty strong untill I got into Hiragana and Katakana. Good thing I have pimp music videos like this one:

Know a little bit of vocabulary and have some understanding of the grammar. I'm going to get myself into some courses sometime.


Oh, and I went to Japanese 101 at Otafest last year. Although we were told after the fact that it was like Japanese 101 and 102 in like an hour. Lol.

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I was learning last semester, I'll probably pick it up again next semester

I can introduce myself, but that is pretty much it. I've only learned a little from my brother who went in a Japanese class.
So far I only know Ko & Ni in katakana and No in Hiragana as signs.
Still learning and when I go out school this year I'll probably try to attend a japanese class.

peppy wrote:

A little bonus - the origin of the kanji is as follows:
「おはようございます」
ohayou gozaimasu (good morning)

「おはよーっす」→
ohayo-ssu

「おわーす」→
owa-su

「おす」
osu

「押して忍ぶ」（自我を抑え我慢する）
(押して)oshite (忍ぶ)shinobu (to push and withstand) - having the meaning of "swallowing one's ego and bearing with it"

Leads us to the final 「押忍」.

Hopefully I'm not too far off with this translation .

This is a fascinating example of phonetic erosion and rebracketing <3 can I have some more?

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Been learning for a few years at highschool, but I suck.

こんにちはみんなさん。今、私は日本語勉強をしましたよ。私は二年間に日本語勉強をします。

I've started learning Japanese since I was 16 in Fukuoka, Japan. To be honest, it was the first time I've started learning it. My dad was surprised about my achievements. At first, I was a beginner. Until now, I'm stil a beginner, getting close to an intermediate student. I'm still learning in London.

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Learning it, been taking Level 1 Japanese all year. After all, I need to take a language, and I decided to take this one (only other options were Chinese, Spanish, and French, and this one could actually get me a job, so what the hell?).

Right now we're on some basic grammar (time, 'de' for where it takes place, 'wo' stuff, ect. Nothing complex... yet) and some culture stuff. Not looking forward to doing a report at the end of it all.

Been fun to learn, currently working on raising my grade (mid-term was 'ACK' this time). Helps me get into the habit of studying, since you're screwed in this class if you don't study. ;_;

Pasonia wrote:

nana

I thought it was shichi

yon/shi nana/shichi kyuu/ku

shi sounds like "death"
shichi sounds too similar to ichi
ku sounds like "suffering"

something like that >.<

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neo@lex wrote:

my teacher didn't even know what Hentai, Baka and Sukumizu meant...

Wat? That better be your math teacher.

Seriously? My teacher sure as heck knows what they mean. We had to create words from the first 25 characters or so with flash cards, and this guy behind me was one of those guys who never paid attention, nor put any effort into it, so he didn't know any words, so I "helped" him by oh so "graciously" tell him to put a 'ha' above a 'ka', and to add one of those thingys to it (good ol' dragging characters for him).

...Needless to say, when the teacher saw that, it didn't go well.

*Ahem* But I am seriously amazed your teacher doesn't know the meanings of at least hentai, of all things......

neo@lex wrote:

Echo wrote:

yon/shi nana/shichi kyuu/ku

shi sounds like "death"
shichi sounds too similar to ichi
ku sounds like "suffering"

something like that >.<

I know about 四 and 七, but are you sure ku isn't just a mispronunciation?

I'm sure I read that somewhere before :/

I think it is true since 九時 is pronounced "kuji" and not "kyuuji"

http://www.eudict.com/?lang=engjap&word=nine&go=Search
Umumu.

oishi! (sp?) , tastes good, right? im trying to learn but its going slow.

Personally I took three years in high school, other than that I practice from time to time (when I'm bored).

It isn't very practical to learn it in a professional way. I know few words from anime.

Yosuke Hanamura wrote:

Personally I took three years in high school, other than that I practice from time to time (when I'm bored).

I envy you. Our school only has French, Spanish, and I think German.

And at the local university there are some Japanese courses, but there's a prerequisite of Japanese 20.... Not that I have any idea where I'm supposed to get that, with no classes at high school... And they don't list it in the university classes, only as a prerec.....

I was in the same boat as you back in highschool An, with my school only offering programs in French and Spanish and ultimately only got to take Japanese class when I discovered there was a local Japanese language school in Ottawa (OJLS). I would research this in your own neck of the woods, to see if any local schools are offering Japanese lessons.

I studied it a bit on my own, but i don't remember so much >.<
And i almost don't know any kanji >.<
I think i'll start studying it again after high school, i really need to know more grammar, at least to be able to speak something xD

Anyway, i think all the words i know are from listening to animes.

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I nvever knew peppy is this bored! ROFL!

eirrol wrote:

I nvever knew peppy is this bored! ROFL!

Ahahahaha-- Wait, what?

Uhm I now know what are the Japanese for months and days, numbers only 1 - 10 ( ichi, ni, san, yon, go, roku, shichi, hachi, kyuu, juu) lol, I know hiragana. I know nothing about Katakana and Kanji. Except the word Kokoro in Youtube which is in Katakana, I think. I also can't type Japanese symbols here in my computer. I learned how to read hiragana by playing My Japanese Couch DS but since my DS died 3 weeks ago......

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I speak some Japanese, my skills are kinda at the "simple everyday conversation" level. I know the hiragana/katakana and around 70 kanji or so, but I'm still trying to learn the grammatical rules/sentence structure.

Daniellynet wrote:

I tried to but i cant do it with my parents at home.. (embarassed...) :/

Why would you be embarrased about that ._.

I studied Japanese for 2 and a half years, then did a study abroad in Japan (Fukuoka and Tokyo) for 6 weeks, then spent 5 months working at a small company in Toyama.

My Japanese still sucks.

おはようございまおうす。おげんきですか。

私は日本語を勉強したい
Yes, i'm trying to learn Japanese. Unfortunately here in my country it's impossible, unless you want to study Japanese or live in Warsaw.

私の名前はデレックチャンです。

I know very little xd

Learned quite a bit in the past few months.

Also, Kanji can be a pain at times. Whose idea was it to give lots of them multiple readings? ><;

Ekaru wrote:

Learned quite a bit in the past few months.

Also, Kanji can be a pain at times. Whose idea was it to give lots of them multiple readings? ><;

Because it makes them "easier"

...

<_>

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Baah, I'd love to learn Japanese, just because the language is so interesting and different. See, the European languages like Italian, French, English, all derive from Latin, which makes them super similar. And somewhat boring.
Thing is, at the moment I'm learning Latin, English AND Italian at school, so if I tried to learn Japanese too at the moment.. well, I'd probably end up with a nervous breakdown. orz

tldr: No, I've got NO CLUE about Japanese, but I'd love to learn it.

English was definitely influenced by Latin, but it's actually a Germanic language, not derived from Latin.

Well, you get the idea, they're super similar anyway.

Only certain words. In general, English is much more similar to German/Swedish/etc. than French/Italian/etc.

For example, the verb "to say":

French: dire
Italian: dire
Spanish: decir

English: say
German: sagen
Swedish: säga

Well, my native language IS German. So the only way I can get a more interesting/diferent language than what I already know is to get Japanese or Chinese or Thai or other "weird letter" languages <3

Echo wrote:

Only certain words. In general, English is much more similar to German/Swedish/etc. than French/Italian/etc.

For example, the verb "to say":

French: dire
Italian: dire
Spanish: decir

English: say
German: sagen
Swedish: säga

Polish is also European language.
Polish: powiedzieć

Teaching myself Japanese. It reminds me of Korean, a lot. I don't find it too difficult...(so far ).

I'll go to Japanase Language faculty in the university.

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I'm learning it now, but being a native english speaker makes it a bit difficult because of the differences. Eastern and Western languages are incredibly different so it's difficult to learn one after knowing the other.

I started learning it about a year ago. Since English is my native language I found it tricky at first, but once I learnt a bit, the rest started to be understood easier.

Now all I need to do is focus focus focus on learning more kanji... orz

I'm in my second year of Japanese class right now.

It's going quite smoothly, my teacher is great.

I actually really like kanji while everyone else whines, to be honest. That's +1 to "how much more peculiar Senbon can be."

Hey, anyone learned the Mori no Kuma song? Best song I've ever heard.

先に「来年日本語を大学に勉強する」って言ったけど、今勉強しないかもしれないと思います。日本語なら、自分で習えますからね。

Echo wrote:

先に「来年日本語を大学に勉強する」って言ったけど、今勉強しないかもしれないと思います。日本語なら、自分で習えますからね。

D:

Topic: I'm not really interested in learning Japanese.

I think I already posted here but oh well orz

I'm interested in learning </weeaboo> but it wouldn't be the best thing to do right now. I'm already heading towards a college minor in Spanish, so that's enough language for my brain for now...

I'd love to learn any of the eastern Asian languages, but I have no idea how to get started learning. I don't really think Rosetta Stone or anything like that is the best way to go but I don't have any classes offered at my college in any of those languages.

:/

You could read a book.
Use the internet.
Ask someone who knows to get you started.
A combination of all three.

adam2046 wrote:

You could read a book.
Use the internet.
Ask someone who knows to get you started.
A combination of all three.

Fuck books
Internet...I'm not really sure where to begin and I don't really trust a lot of the information that's out there quite honestly
And I don't know anybody who speaks them irl, only some online friends (I would imagine typing on MSN is not very effective as to learning how a language is spoken)

Just do some google searches, almost all of the information will be quite useful to you.
Show some initiative.
And read some books...seriously they're good for you.

adam2046 wrote:

Just do some google searches, almost all of the information will be quite useful to you.
Show some initiative.
And read some books...seriously they're good for you.

What I meant is that I could go find any old site that tells me how to speak Japanese and it could tell me a whole bunch of incorrect shit and I'd believe it because I wouldn't know any better and have nobody to tell me if I'm doing it wrong

Just do it.

http://guidetojapanese.org is great for a grammar-oriented approach. It's better than textbooks imo.

Cool, thanks Echo

adam you're so mean:;
btw

I just learned that "kanji" is 漢字 wtf

感じ(kanji, feeling)
This kanji is well-known word in Korea orz
So I misunderstood kanji's meaning until this time......

I need to learn Japanese for my future. (To get ready for my 2nd foreign language class)

漢字 is "hanja" in korean, right?

Anime has made me interested in learning Japanese, but till I convince a friend to learn as well don`t think its gonna happen.
At least I know one word ,which you all can guess.