Learning Japanese

[NarutoUzumaki]

How should I do it?
Any recommendations on the materials?

[AmenoKitarou]

Hi naruto~
I'm a japanese student and I come on here everyday~
So if you would like I'll post you a lesson here everyday.
If itz too fast you can tell me to slow down, too slow tell me to speed up or wateva~

So wat do u say? Its probably better than going off to a site urself cus itz not very organised~
or would you rather use a site? ^__^
I dun mind either~

[njt]

How should I do it?
Any recommendations on the materials?
http://nihongoresources.com/updates.htm

the only lessons you'll ever need.... for a while that is :p

[NarutoUzumaki]

I'd love it if you posted lessons on here so more people can also learn the language:smile-big

[SillyRabbit123]

o.0! can i hear it too? nihongogah skoshi wakariamasu! lol i cant spell for crap! gl naruto!

[NarutoUzumaki]

yay!!! knowledge is power
Thanx njt!

[AmenoKitarou]

o.0! can i hear it too? nihongogah skoshi wakariamasu! lol i cant spell for crap! gl naruto!

nihongo ga sukoshi wakarimasu.

To naruto~ *and others who want to learn*
Thnx~ I'll start this class (lol) tomorrow.
I can't start today because I got work tonight.

So yes until then~

mata raiban ne~~~

[火影ナルト]

Learn basic Japanese with the dumbass Pizza Cats!
(Somebody should make a website like this for Naruto.)
http://members.aol.com/PrncssVi/lessons/
Somebody pointed out that there are a bunch of mistakes on this website. I'll leave it here anyway, as the same person pointed out that this website is a lot of fun.

Genki: great textbook.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/4789010015/qid=1130144187/sr=8-2/ref=pd_bbs_2/102-5664577-4283355?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Japanese for busy people: the same kind of content as Genki, but with a different view and style. Best to buy both books.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/4770019874/qid=1130144235/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-5664577-4283355?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

www.nihongoresources.com

A Japanese > English, English > Japanese online dictionary. As recommended by NJT of www.mangahelpers.com fame.

Try and buy some Japanese versions of the Naruto manga. You won't understand it all, but you already know the story, and after reading over the Japanese manga every so often, you will find the basic syllabries of Japanese (Hiragana and Katakana) easy to read. Oh hey, you can download the first volume of Naruto raw from www.narutofan.com! Good deal! More raw (Japanese language) chapters of Naruto here: http://xploroxor.free.fr/Naruto-raw/

Try your best to enrol on a Japanese language class where a teacher will give you a formal lesson. You will find it much easier to learn this way. You won't even realise the amount you've learnt in the moment of being in class. If you're super lucky, your teacher will be cute. ;)

If there is a university or college local to you, look on its website for a Japanese society. You should be able to join without being a university student. You can make friends with Japanese people there and watch Japanese movies with Japanese people and go to concerts of Japanese music and go out to Japanese restaurants with Japanese people. And maybe you'll get to practice Japanese language too. Don't you want to do all these cool things? Yes, join the Japanese society at your local university. Hey, and if you're lucky you may meet a Japanese girlfriend.

Keep this advice in mind for now and the future! Japanese is a fascinating language. Go for it! Good luck!

Someone asked me what level I'm at. I'm in the second year of a part-time class which is two hours a week for 24 weeks a year. I think I'm at JLPT level 4, but I haven't taken the test. I can read about 200 or more kanji (Chinese characters), and write at least 100 kanji. So... I'm only halfway through basic Japanese. Let's have a race. First one to JLPT level 3 pass wins!

[Hazu]

This is where I go for my japanese lessons...and my aunt helps me too ^_^
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/completeguide.html#part5.start.html
http://www.freejapaneselessons.com/lesson01.cfm

[AmenoKitarou]

Learn basic Japanese with the dumbass Pizza Cats!
(Somebody should make a website like this for Naruto.)
http://members.aol.com/PrncssVi/lessons/


Try and buy some Japanese versions of the Naruto manga. You won't understand it all, but you already know the story, and after reading over the Japanese manga every so often, you will find the basic syllabries of Japanese (Hiragana and Katakana) easy to read. Oh hey, you can download the first volume of Naruto raw from www.narutofan.com! Good deal! More raw (Japanese language) chapters of Naruto here: http://xploroxor.free.fr/Naruto-raw/

Try your best to enrol on a Japanese language class where a teacher will give you a formal lesson. You will find it much easier to learn this way. You won't even realise the amount you've learnt in the moment of being in class. If you're super lucky, your teacher will be cute. ;)


Keep this advice in mind for now and the future! Japanese is a fascinating language. Go for it! Good luck!


I totally agree with you on that~
Jus that I want to teach someone who wants to learn:amuse
and.....i'm kinda cute:sad LOL!!!

as I said....I'll post my first lesson up tomorrow.

To naruto:
would you like me to post it here? or should I start a new thread for the lessons?

[Edgecrusher]

If you want to type Japanese on here, you'll need to use a word processor, like NJStar. It has a Japanese to English dictionary, and kanji radical entry. (It's shareware though, so it's only free for a short time, so you could always have it open and hibernate your computer so you don't need to close it.)

http://www.njstar.com/

Another site is Jim Breen's WWWJDC which is quite helpful.

http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/wwwjdic.html

[Chorismo]

So yes until then~

matta ashita no ban ne~

matta ashita no ban ne = the time tomorrow that waited eh

I think you meant mata instead of matta, mata means kinda like once again(often used in once again we shall meet) when matta is the past tense of the verb machi which means to wait and when you write the verb in the beggining like that you get a sentence with the "that" construction.

ashita means tomorrow and you could use tomorrow's time but it's better to use raiban where rai means next and without use of the "no" particle. rai is used in words like raishuu and raigetsu which means that rai is often used in timewords such as this.

the formulated So yes until then is though tricky to directly translate and it would have been easier to formulate the sentence in another way to make it easier for you to make a worthy translation so it doesn't consist of such grammar mistakes.

I wish you good luck though with the japanese lessons and it's just to pm me if you want any help or so. I have studied quite alot japanese and have learned all the grammar for the japanese language though my vocabulary is abit bad. Good luck mate! Ganbare yo!

[Vergil]

japanese is hard! very very hard. most people start it and then just give up - I'm trying to stick with it but without proper tuition it's nigh on impossible

[NarutoUzumaki]

I totally agree with you on that~
Jus that I want to teach someone who wants to learn:amuse
and.....i'm kinda cute:sad LOL!!!

as I said....I'll post my first lesson up tomorrow.

To naruto:
would you like me to post it here? or should I start a new thread for the lessons?
You can just post it here and people can post questions and stuff here

[MechaTC]

moved to the language department

[A7X HellKnight]

oh sweet can i join in too?

[Tal Rasha]

yeah, learning japanese would be so cool!!

[hikaranko]

heeheehee, japanese is a fun language, once you get the hang of it. Your school doesn't offer any japanese courses?

anyways... yeah, there are lots of sites that you can go to. you can get books as well, i mean, there are quite a lot out there.

still, the number one thing to do is to completely endorse yourself in the language and the culture. it's good to be exposed to native speakers and to hear everyone speaking japanese around you. since obviously you can't fly over to tokyo at the moment, i recommend watching A LOT of anime. subbed anime, of course. :D

but anyways... best of luck! study hard! it may seem hard at first, but you'll fall in love with the language soon enough. :)

[AmenoKitarou]

Hi Naruto and others interested.
My name's AmenoKitarou as u see~ Ameno is fine *although itz the surname XD)
I'll start giving lessons of japanese to newbies to the language.

Before I start I would like to talk a little about myself.
I'm a senior high school student in Sydney NSW Australia~ Most of you's are in America right?
I started learning Japanese for my HSC last year. I'm on my last year of school and the course I'm doing is accelerated so I know more than average students who studied for one year.

Feel free to ask me any questions to the material i present to you here as NarutoUzumaki allows it~

I'll also open a new thread called "Ameno's Jap lessons"...there I'll post my lessons up in an uninterrupted series. so people who started late or for other reasons won't have to go thru the trouble of finding my posts in this thread.

There will be nearly a new lesson everyday if I'm not busy...but there will surely be at least three lessons a week~. except mondays on which I work...

So yes nice to meet you all fresh to the language.

I will post the lesson in a second post now.:)

[AmenoKitarou]

Welcome to japanese.

Introduction: japanese is language that uses the phonics system meaning that it uses symbols for syllbales and combining those syllables will make words.

Japanese's history: i'm not interested....no one should be:P

LESSON 1
Before you start reading on, please check that your computer can read the japanese characters below:
あ　い　う　え　お　
If not please change your page encoding to Japanese.

Lesson 1 *cont'd*

Japanese wrties with three kinds of scripts.
1. Hiragana. This is used for normal words and nearly everything.
2.Katakana used for sounds, western words, names and others
3. Kanji... Characters that are taken from the chinese language.Appropriate Kanji replaces some hiragana in words and phrases. why? I have no clue....to show sophistication...to save room...wteva~

For the first few lessons I'll do the lessons with Romaji (ponunciations) underneath the japanese sentence. until alot of ppl tell me that they can read japanese characters fine.


First I'll give you the Hiragana list: take time to learn these.
Hiragana

あ い え う お
a i u e o

か き く け こ
ka ki ku ke ko

さ し す せ そ
sa shi su se so

た ち つ て と
ta chi tsu te to

な に ぬ ね の
na ni nu ne no

は ひ ふ へ ほ
ha hi hu he ho

ま み む め も
ma mi mu me mo

や　 ゆ　 よ
ya yu yo

ら り る れ ろ
ra ri ru re ro

わ　 を
wa wo

ん
n

sorry itz hard to read...
Take your time to learn them slowly~
We don't need Katakana yet so i'll leave till later.

Now I'll move onto the basics.
Simple phrases that maybe you know already:

Greetings:
Hello *afternoon, day*
こんにちは
konnich wa

Good morning
おはよう　ございます
ohayou gozaimasu (note: when "u" follows "o", you stretch the "o" sound)

good eveing
こんばんは
konban wa

Good night
おやすみなさい
oyasumi nasai

Note:
Konnichiwa is not used for morning or night.
Oyasumi nasai is only used when ur talking about going to bed.
***and for those who are going to try write these in hiragana: the "wa" in konnichiwa and Konbanwa is written as "ha".

Next is:
some common questions and phrases.

What is your name?
おなまえ　は　なんですか。
o namae wa nan deau ka?

my name is BLAH
わたし　の　なまえ　は　ＢＬＡＨ　です。
watashi no namae wa BLAH desu.

What is your phone number?
でんわ　ばんごう　は　なんばん　ですか。
Denwa ban gou wa nan ban desu ka?

My phone numer is BLAH
わたし　の　でんわ　ばんごう　は　ＢＬＡＨです。
watashi no denwa ban gou wa BLAH desu.

***same applies to all above. the "wa" is written as "ha"***

Finally for today is a vocabulary list for starters, and for those interested and keen, I've put the kanji down in front of each:

:laugh
名前 = なまえ　namae = name
何　=　なに　nani = what
何　=　なん　nan = what (is followed by "desu")
電話　=　でんわ　denwa = phone
電話番号　=　denwa ban gou = phone number

People:
私　=　わたし　=　Watashi = I/me (for both sexes)
僕　=　ぼく　=　boku = for boys
Ｎ/Ａ　=　あたし　=　atashi = for girls (note that not all japanese words have kanjis)

Ｎ／Ａ　=　あなた　=　anata = you
彼　=　かれ　=　kare = he/him
彼女　＝　かのじょ　=　kanojo = she/her


That should do it for today.
This was a simple introductory lesson that should confuse all of you.

Next lesson I will: -explain the thing behind "wa" and "ha"
-give a few more phrases.
- give you more vocabulary
- if ready I'l start explaining grammar, and teach you to make your own sentences.

*don't post to ask me the three things mentioned above cus i'll answer them and chuck the lessons out od order XDDD*


I hope you find this first lesson good enough for you to continue.
itz my first time teaching after all :laugh

If u got questions on wat I posted up today ask away~

[nah-nah]

Domo arigatou gozaimasu, Ameno-san. Watashi wa nihongo ga sukoshi wakarimasu, demo mada jouzu ja nai.

Sorry for any spelling mistakes here. ^^ I'm learning how to speak and understand Japanese through Pimsleur, but your lessons are an incredible supplement; since Pimsleur is completely audio. This will definitely help in my written understanding of the language. Please keep it up!

I'll probably start calling you Ameno-sensei from now on, too. Hope you don't mind. XDDD

[AmenoKitarou]

Domo arigatou gozaimasu, Ameno-san. Watashi wa nihongo ga sukoshi wakarimasu, demo mada jouzu ja nai.

Sorry for any spelling mistakes here. ^^ I'm learning how to speak and understand Japanese through Pimsleur, but your lessons are an incredible supplement; since Pimsleur is completely audio. This will definitely help in my written understanding of the language. Please keep it up!

I'll probably start calling you Ameno-sensei from now on, too. Hope you don't mind. XDDD

haha~ Ur flattering me~:laugh but i dun mind that~:amuse
and wat r u talking abt!??!?! ur spelling is perfect!! kanpeki yo!! ur sentences are quite good already........
:P i doubt you had any trouble at all with that first lesson:wink

[AmenoKitarou]

Since no-one asked questions I’ll continue onto a new lesson~
However if anyone feels like asking about the previous lesson don’t hesitate to still do so.:amuse

LESSON TWO

I’ll start this lesson by giving you two more sets of hiragana pronunciations.

They are called modified syllables:

First: (dakuon)

By adding two dots ゛or a circle °over the basic syllables *see the hiragana list on lesson one*, the sound of the syllables will change.

Example: か= ka----------が=ga
The two dots are called “tenten”. When it is put over a syllable it reduces itz sound.
The tenten is only added to the “ka”, “ta”, sa”, “ha” series.

The little circle makes the sound bigger and is only used in the “ha” series.
Example: は＝ha------------ぱ＝pa
Here is a list: there are some odd exceptions that you will need to remember and they are highlighted in bold.

がga ぎgi　ぐgu　げge　ごgo

ざza　じji　ずzu　ぜze　ぞzo

だda　ぢji　づzu　でde　どdo

ばba　びbi　ぶbu　べbe　ぼbo

ぱpa　ぴpi　ぷpu　ぺpe　ぽpo

Most of the time when you hear "ji" it is "じ" not "ぢ".
"ぢ" is very rare.


The second modified syllables are called the “y” sound.

By adding a small character of the “ya” series after a character in the “i” syllable, the “ya” sound is adding onto the consonant of the first character.

ka + little ya = kya
か＋ゃ＝きゃ＝kya

きゃkya
きゅkyu
きょ kyo

By following the same rules comes the following list:

きゃkya
きゅkyu
きょkyo

しゃsha
しゅshu
しょsho

ちゃ cha
ちゅchu
ちょcho

にゃnya
にゅnyu
にょnyo

ひゃhya
ひゅhyu
ひょ hyo

みゃmya
みゅmyu
みょmyo

りゃrya
りゅryu
りょryo

ぎゃkya
ぎゅkyu
ぎょkyo

じゃja
じゅ ju
じょ　jo

びゃbya
びゅbyu
びょ　byo

ぴゃpya
ぴゅpyu
ぴょpyo

-------------------------------------------------------

Take time to learn the above as well.

---------------------------------------------

Introducing yourself:

1.はじめまして
hajime mashite
How do you do? (this is a set phrase)

2.（わたしは）雨野鬼太郎　です。
(watashi wa) Ameno Kitarou desu.
I am Ameno Kitarou (see grammar point 1a)

3. どうぞ　よろしく
douzo yoroshiku.
Please to meet you. (also a set phrase)

4. （こちら　は）　ナルト　です。
(kochira wa) Naruto desu
This is Naruto. (see grammar points and vocab list)

The above four can literally be used in that order when meeting someone.

Here's a case:
I am meeting nah-nah for the first time. After introducing myself I introduce to him my friend NarutoUzumaki.

here it how it would be:
ナーナーさん(nah-nah san)、はじめまして。(no.1) 私　は雨野鬼太郎　です。(no.2)　どうぞよろしく。(no.3)　
こちらは　うずまき　ナルト　です。(no.4)

For those still struggling with hiragana:
nah-nah san, hajimemashite.(no.1) watashi wa Ameno Kitarou desu.(no.2) douzo yoroshiku.(no.3)
kochira wa Uzumaki Naruto desu.(no.4)

Here's the trans:
Nah-Nah~ Nice to meet you. I am Kitarou Ameno. (eek I english-ized my jap name!!!) How do you do?
This is NarutoUzumaki.

For western names (like James White or something) it isn't necessary for the surname to come first.
---------------------------------------------------

GRAMMAR POINTS:

In Japanese the subject of your sentence always comes first. Or else there can be no subject if it is obvious what it is that you’re talking about.

After the subject, in the second part of the sentence, there is a result, description or verb.
Joining these two parts of the sentence is a character called “particle”.

Sentence pattern 1 a)

Topic ------ particle --noun-------verb.
わたし--------は-------ばか-------です
Watashi-------wa------baka--------desu.

I am an idiot.

*This should also answer the question as to why “ha” is pronounced as “wa”. The reason is because it is a particle in this sentence.*

Sentence pattern 1 b)　

Last thing for today

Topic ------ particle --adjective-------verb.
かれ--------　は-------かっこいい -------です
kare------------wa------kakkoii-----------desu

He is cool.


OKAYZZZ~~
Itz vocabulary time~
With this list you will be able to make your own sentences about yourself and others.
Next lesson there will be: Asking and telling: name, age, phone number, addresses and nationality.

People:

こちら=kochira =This person
~san = miss, mr, mrs
~kun = address for young males
~chan = address for young females

sensei = teacher

Adjectives:

いい=　ii = good
悪い=　わるい　=warui = bad
かわいい=kawaii = cute
かっこいい=kakkoii = cool
かっこ悪い=　かっこわるい　=kakko warui = not cool
強い=　つよい　=tsuyoi = strong
弱い=　よわい　=yowai = weak
優しい=　やさしい　=yasashii = kind/ gentle
親切=　しんせつ　=shinsetsu= kind
厳しい=　きびしい　=kibishii= strict
酷い=　ひどい　=hidoi = horrible
正直=　しょうじき　=shoujiki = honest

[AmenoKitarou]

Itz too silent in here...if you're using this and understanding please let me know too please so that I know exactly how many people are reading my lessons...
It's just that right now it feels like I'm doing this for no one......please let me know so I know I can continue doing this.

Today is Thursday in Australia...my busiest day excluding Monday....so I don't have time to write a lesson up today...

Lesson three will come tomorrow~

[wolf la jingga]

hi Amenou

I'm new to japanese but I appreciate your effort. How am to know if my pronounciation is right or wrong?

continue the good work.

[AmenoKitarou]

hi Amenou

I'm new to japanese but I appreciate your effort. How am to know if my pronounciation is right or wrong?

continue the good work.

pronunciation....here's some guidelines:

basic sounds:
a = ah
i = ee
u = oo
e = eh
o = aw

apply that to all the other series of sounds and you should be fine.
* just remember that each syllable and vowel stand alone for itself. unlike english most of the time the character following doesn't affect itz pronunciation at all. But despite they all stand alone as sounds...when saying them you have to make sure u say them one after the other without pause.*

[nah-nah]

Ameno-sensei, I think it would also help if you put down words in which the vowel sounds are the same, like so:

a = "car"
i = "speed"
u = "true"
e = "bed"
o = "go"


ei/ee = "may"
ai = "eye"
ou = I guess this would be an elongated "o"... i just hold out my "o" longer instead of pronouncing the "u"

But that's just how I pronounce my vowels. Tell me if I'm wrong. ^^

[AmenoKitarou]

Ameno-sensei, I think it would also help if you put down words in which the vowel sounds are the same, like so:

a = "car"
i = "speed"
u = "true"
e = "bed"
o = "go"


ei/ee = "may"
ai = "eye"
ou = I guess this would be an elongated "o"... i just hold out my "o" longer instead of pronouncing the "u"

But that's just how I pronounce my vowels. Tell me if I'm wrong. ^^

nice...
but there's one problem.....

the "o" in japanese doesn't sound like the "o" in "go"....
the japanese "o" is distinctively "aw"...
unlike english which is like "oe"

so it might be better to follow something like :blink .....corridor...the "o" in the "or" sound is what we're after in japanese.

anyways...
are you guys having any trouble at all with the first two lessons?
If not Lesson 3 will come tomorrow.

[AmenoKitarou]

HEEEEEYYYYY!!!!!!!:yelling
This is lesson 2.5!!!!
Since no-one is expecting a lesson before tomorrow I need to get attention like this----> :guns :cussing

In this short filler lesson...(haha this is like an anime filler)
I will give you the Hiragana chart and Katakana chart which you should take the time to learn.
I already gave the Hiragana in like a list....and that was hard to read so I made you an easier one.
And the katakana charts as well.

here it is!!
Hiragana chart:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y50/lonely_fighter/Hiraganachart.jpg

Katakana chart:http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y50/lonely_fighter/Katakanachart.jpg

^_____^
thatz it for the filler lesson~

[nah-nah]

It's really hard to remember all the kana... do you have any suggestions in learning to remember them?

And you're right, "corridor" would probably be the best word for the "o" sound. ^^

[AmenoKitarou]

Yes I do~
Do you have word processor or anything that can type japanese at home?
if so, type the phrases I've taught or even better other things you know~
when you type it you recognise it and the more you type the better you predict wat's going to appear on the screen when you type.

once you've seen enough on the screen ....it will be in your head.

[nah-nah]

I don't have anything like that. ;_;

Where would I find something like that?

[AmenoKitarou]

What do you use to type english?

[nah-nah]

? What do you mean? I just have my regular old keyboard. Is there a different kind of keyboard I should use or could i just use the same keyboard and have a certain program? I don't know what you mean. ;_;

[AmenoKitarou]

ohh sorry i didnt ask it properly...
Itz the same keyboard dont worry about that....
but when you type something up....do you use Word processor? or what program do you use to type like an essay?

[AmenoKitarou]

I will pm you about this. wouldn't want to clog up this place about computers XD

[sharingan_kakashi]

Best way (imo) is a college course intesive or not, or if you're in high school, take the course if it's being offered. I'm taking one at my High School currentlly and continuing in college, i've considered Japanese as my major for a teachign career specifically :amuse undecided though.

[AmenoKitarou]

wow~ I'll be like a Chuunin in japanese then~ while kakashi is jounin~ XDDD
I teach the beginners~ XD

If I have any problems teaching can I ask you? XD

[Chi]

Hi..
A little question.
Will i be able to learn japanese (not whole, but some basics that'll help me understand some easy sntences) form your lessons, if i have 0 knowledge in it now? :)

[AmenoKitarou]

Hi..
A little question.
Will i be able to learn japanese (not whole, but some basics that'll help me understand some easy sntences) form your lessons, if i have 0 knowledge in it now? :)

Hi Chi.
This was a class written for people with 0 knowledge so....YES you'll be able to learn from the beginning....we've started only a few days ago so we're still in the basics.

But if you have some catching up to do because two lessons are out already...
so if you go to the thread called "Ameno's Japanese lessons *un-interrupted*, you'll find lesson 1, lesson 2 and lesson 2.5 .

Welcome to the class.

[Chi]

Thank you :)

Will learn hiragana starting today.. And it's seems kinda hard. I know 3 languages, and they all use latin letters.
:)

[AmenoKitarou]

Hi peoplez again.

Lessons three will be a really compressed lessons with LOTS of phrases on topics like: asking and answering about name, age, phone no., addresses and nationality, and asking and offering.

This lesson is so compressed and intense because I think the stuff right now is TOO boring for you. So I want to get over the basic stuff QUICKLY (as long as you understand), and get onto some advance and more interesting things.


LESSON THREE: :Gaipose

Sentences:

1. おなまえは　なんですかですか。
Onamae wa nandesuka.
-what is your name?

2. ともこです。
Tomoko.
-Tomoko.

3. なんさいですか。
Nan sai desuka.
-how old are you?

4. １７さいです。
Juu nana sai desu.
-17 years old.

5. でんわばんごうは　なんばんですか。
Denwa bangou wa nanbandesuka.
-what is your phone number?

6. “Ｎｕｍｂｅｒ”です。
“number” desu.
- It is “number”.

7. どこに　すんでいますか。
Doko ni sundeimasu ka.
-Where do you live?

8. シドニーに　すんでいます。
Shiidonii ni sundeimasu.
-I live in Sydney.

9. どこで　うまれましたか。
Doko de umaremashita ka.
-Where were you born?

10. とうきょうで　うまれました。
Toukyou de umaremashita.
-I was born in Tokyo.

11. オーストラリアじん　ですか。
Oosutoraria jin desu ka.
- Are you Australian?

12. いいえ、にほんじんです。
Iie, nihonjin desu
-No, I am Japanese.

13. どこから　きましたか。
Doko kara kimashita ka.
-Where did you come from?

14. おおさかから　です。
Oosaka kara desu.
- I am from Osaka.

------------------------------------------------------
Explanatory:

1. “namae” is name. The “o” used before it is to be polite and honorific.
“nandesuka?” is used to ask “what”.

Thus following the structure we learnt last lesson:
Oname (subject) ….wa (particle)….nandesuka (noun).

Literally the sentence will translate as: “your name is what?”

2. Tomoko is a name~
When answering the question, simply putting a “desu” after your answer will make it in to a sentence.

Therefore “tomoko desu” = “Tomoko.” in english. But in Japanese, it will also equal to saying “my name is Tomoko” in English.

3. “nansai” means “how many years old?”. Therefore by adding “desuka” to “nansai” will make it into a proper question.
No big deal there I suppose?

4. Juu nana sai: By adding “sai” to any number…it will turn the number into an age.
At the end of the lesson will be a list of numbers~ for you to learn of course~

Again this is a simple sentence made by adding “desu”.

5. and 6. I did this one before, so it should be old news…but if any problems just ask.

7. here’s new words:
Doko: where.
sundeimasu: to live

Doko ni sundeimasuka?
”doko” is where, “ni” is basically “in” in this sentence.

In Japanese sentences VERBS ALWAYS COME LAST.

subject----particle----------verb-----to make it a question.
Doko--------- ni--------sundeimasu---ka?
Where---------in---------live-----------do you?

8. The answer follows the structure learn in lesson two: subject- particle- verb.Tokyo is the subject.
ni is the particle.
And Sundeimasu is the verb.

Therefore following the structure will give you “Tokyo ni sundeimasu”
Notice that the answer is just “Tokyo” instead of “doko”, and minus the “ka” at the end.

9. This sentence is nearly the same as no.7.
But here, the particle is “de”
So it isn’t “doko NI umaremahita ka”
it is: “doko DE umaremashita ka”

The reason for this is “de is used when an action is done at the place which is the subject.

Umaremashita is the past tense of Umaremasu which is the present tense which makes the question about the past.

10. Same structure as no.8.
11. “jin” means Person.
Whenever “jin” is added to the end of a country name, it becomes the people of that country.
Therefore, Oosutoraria jin means Australian. And Nihon jin means Japanese. Etc

Here the question is: Australia jin desu ka? *are you Australian*
Again this is a simple question made by just adding “desu ka”

12. iie = no
nihonjin= Japanese

Therefore, iie. Nihonjin desu= no I’m Japanese.
The simple adding “desu” comes again here.

13. doko kara kimashita ka.

Step one:
“kara” means “from”
”kimasu” means to come.
Therefore “Kimashita” itz past tense means “came”.

Step two:
Doko kara = Where from
Kimashita ka= did you come

Step Three:

Subject—joint------verb------question.
Doko----- kara –---kimashita--- ka

14. Following the same rule to answer previous questions:

The answer can be one of two:

1. Osaka kara Kimashita.
Oasaka replaces doko.
ka is discarded.

OR

2. Osaka kara desu
Osaka replaces doko.
”desu” replaces the rest of the sentence to make a simple statement.

---------------------------------

Vocabulary list:

なまえ=　名前
なんさい　=　何才
　　　～さい　=　～才　
どこ=
すんでいます=　住んでいます
うまれます=　生まれます
～から=
来ます=　きます=
～じん=　～人=

Number list:

一　=ichi　いち = one
二　=ni　に= two
三　=san　さん= three
四　= yon　よん/ shi　し = four
五　=go　ご = five
六　=　roku ろく= six
七　=nana　なな/ shichi　しち= seven
八　= hachi　はち = eight
九　=　kyuu きゅう = nine
十　= juu　じゅう = ten

十一　= juu ichi　じゅういち= eleven
十二　= juu ni　じゅうに= twelve
Adding a number between one and nine after ten makes the number into “teens”.

二十　= ni juu　にじゅう= twenty
三十　=　san juuさんじゅう= thirty
Adding a number before the ten makes them into “multiple tens”: twenty, thirty etc.

百　=　ひゃく hyaku
　
NOTE: these numbers are used for counting numbers only.
To count objects, different sets of numbers called “counters” are used….when you get up to there, there will be another set of stuff to remember off by heart. ~ haha~:laugh

Thatz abt it for today~

Good work~
*Otsukaresama deshita*

[nah-nah]

Ameno-sensei, I still don't understand the differences between ni and de...

Also... will you be explaining the particles such as "wa" and "ga" and "wo" in a future lesson?

[AmenoKitarou]

Yes I will. ^___^

But for the time being....I'll clear you of "ni" and "de" first okay?

okay:
de is used for when a task or an action is performed at the subject (which is the place).
example:

vocabulary: tabemasu=eat gakkou= school

gakkou de tabemashita= I ate AT school.


To live somewhere.....we use ni.....ni literally means "to"...or "in".
so a normal sentence will be:

vocabulary: gakkou= school .....iku= to go

gakkou ni ikimashita= I went TO school

vocabulary: anime= anime *lol*......ｂoku no heya= my room.....arimasu= to have

anime wa boku no heya NI arimasu= The anime is IN my room.

Therefore if we think like that second example above....then:
Boku wa Sydney ni sundeimasu can be literally said as: I am in Sydney living there....

Think again to the anime example.
Because anime is dead...it can't have a verb....so anime wa *place* ni arimasu.
But I'm alive, therefore, In *some place*, after ni, I get to have a verb like "sundeimasu".

If the structure in the anime example structure is confusing you even more because of the arimasu, skip it first cus We'll get there soon anyway.

[nah-nah]

Nah, the structure wasn't confusing me. :) I get the difference between the two now, thanks!! <3

[AmenoKitarou]

NICE work!!!

The boring stuff will be over very soon just bear with this for jus a little longer~ XDDD

[Chi]

I'm still at lesson 1.
Writing hiragana in my "special notebook", so my hand will be used to letters.

A little question:
How fast can you read senteces written in hiragana, cause for me, it takes quite some time (remembering what each letter's transcription is and then putting them alltogether to form a word.) :)

[tuaamin13]

Sorry if I'm butting in on your thread, I just had a suggestion to the readers.

"Remembering the Kana" by James W. Heisig is a fairly good book for the hiragana. It uses the SKIP approach to hiragana in which you learn similarly drawn characters instead of a -> wa then i -> ri, etc. Theoretically you learn the hiragana in 3 hours of work. The book recommends stationary paper b/c of the squares in order to draw it out symmetrically. I personally used graph paper I had laying around from math class. The other half of the book is the katakana, although that seems like thrown in as an afterthought and isn't as good. If you get this book I definitely recommend becomming proficient at hiragana before you attempt the katakana section.

Kodansha's Furigana Japanese dictionary is very good. It has kanji with furigana (the little hiragana above it so anyone can read the most complex stuff with ease). Japanese to English and English to Japanese is included. The entire Japanese portion is in hiragana though, no romaji, so become proficient before attempting^^

"Essential Kanji" by P.G. O'Neill has 2000 kanji arranged for learning, along with stroke order. The only problem is that it's the Toyo set (as set by the goverenment). However, they scrapped that and now it's the Joyo set (I think I got those names right). In any case, it's an old set, so it's similar but different. Meaning use it as a reference and not as a guide if you're taking the JPLT.

Also for all you people wanting to type Japanese very basically - Microsoft IME. Control Panel > Regional/Language Options > Languages and install the foreign languages. It allows you to read Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Arabic, and some other stuff. You'll need the XP installation disk unless XP was pre-installed on your computer (like you bought it from Dell), but just check both boxes and follow the directions. Then go to Languages again and click on Details. Add a keyboard (JP) and configure it to MS IME Standard 2002 ver 8.1 and MS Natural Input 2002 v8.1 (or similar). Enable the Language Toolbar, and you can switch between Japanese and English (or whatever language you want to add), and you can type in that language. For Japanese you need to set it to which mode you want to type in (hiragana, katakana, full width alphanumeric, or halfwidth hira/kata, or direct input). Direct Input will get you normal keyboard characters. If you set it to Hiragana and start typing in Word or whatever (since installing those languages gives support to most programs) you can type in romaji and it will automatically switch to the character. So typing "ha" will get you the character "ha." Spacebar would be character convert so if you type "roku" (six) and press space, it will switch to the kanji. The only downfall to this method is that if you type on the internet (these posts or your xanga or whatever) you need to set the page encoding to Japanese (Shift-JIS) to read it. If anyone can help me get Japanese characters to Unicode or Western European (ISO) please let me know.

Hope this helps. Sorry I'm trying to condense something so complicated into a single post.

[AmenoKitarou]

I'm still at lesson 1.
Writing hiragana in my "special notebook", so my hand will be used to letters.

A little question:
How fast can you read senteces written in hiragana, cause for me, it takes quite some time (remembering what each letter's transcription is and then putting them alltogether to form a word.) :)

Are you talking about me? Or Japanese people?

For me: I can read a medium length setence with some kanji such as
"こんにちは、私は　十六才で、十一年生です。”
”こんにちは、わたしは　じゅうろくさいで、　じゅういちねんせい　です”
"konnichiwa, watashi wa juuroku sai de, juuichi nen sei desu.", in about 4 seconds....with one breathe....and understand what I'm reading.

Japanese people: hell ...I've seen even faster...

Basically Chi, you need to not only memorise them, you need to recognise and KNOW them when you see them.
Just like english letters when they form a word.

Work Hard ^___^
Any questions just ask me~

[AmenoKitarou]

Sorry if I'm butting in on your thread, I just had a suggestion to the readers.



Thanks for the resourses Tuaamin13~:laugh *reps fpr you*
They were exactly what I had to learn my hiragana and more~~!!

Thanks again~

[Archssor]

Go get classes or take it as your language at school (If they have it)...thats what I am doing. :P

[AmenoKitarou]

what I'm doing as well~ teaching this class gives me the chance to get better at it.

[Chi]

It's a shame, but we don't have ANY japanese classes in my town, and i didn't found ANY books either. It's just very small town. There like only 80 000 people there..

Well.. I trying to learn 5 hiragana letters each day. I write whole page of each character to get used to it. When i'll learn all hiragana i'll try to make texts (written in hiragana) transcriptions, to improve my hiragana reading skills :)

P.S. A question again. My name is Alex, and i understand that it must be something like "Areksu" in japanese, but i don't know how to write this "-ksu" in hiragana. Or maybe it must be "Arekusu", or something like this?

[nah-nah]

It would be "arekusu." the "u" after the "k" would be said so fast that it's almost a whisper, thus making the sound "ksu".

[AmenoKitarou]

Nah-nah nailed it~:laugh nicely!

Adding onto that....it is very easy to tell because: "k" doesn't exist alone in japanese. And Japanese is made of syllables not letters. (except for "n")

Therefore "ksu" can't exist in japanese.

[Chamcham Trigger]

Nah-nah nailed it~:laugh nicely!

Adding onto that....it is very easy to tell because: "k" doesn't exist alone in japanese. And Japanese is made of syllables not letters. (except for "n")

Therefore "ksu" can't exist in japanese.
What about the "a" "e" "I" "o" and "u" sounds in Japanese? They're by themselves in the kana as well :amuse.....or were you only covering consonant sounds :S

[mtora83]

Weird thing i learned from JAPANANESE 101. KFC (the restaurant) is pronounced as "kenta" and written in katakana.

[AmenoKitarou]

What about the "a" "e" "I" "o" and "u" sounds in Japanese? They're by themselves in the kana as well :amuse.....or were you only covering consonant sounds :S

add this to your notes guys: "Ameno-sensei is a forgetful idiot"

[botoman]

Actually, I think you could classify the "a, i, u, e, o" 行 as syllables because you don't pronounce them as you would in English. Rather, it's the same as saying the "ka, ki, ku, ke, ko" 行, making it syllabic.

So Ameno-Sensei isn't that forgetful...:P

[nah-nah]

add this to your notes guys: "Ameno-sensei is a forgetful idiot"
*writes it down*

Ameno-sensei.... is... a forgetful.... idiot. *circles it, underlines it, highlights it in bright yellow highlighter*

XDDDD

[AmenoKitarou]

*writes it down*

Ameno-sensei.... is... a forgetful.... idiot. *circles it, underlines it, highlights it in bright yellow highlighter*

XDDDD

XDDD the quote will giv u THE top reference to any job any university/ college, any company and will give you a forever happy and successful life XDDDDDD

*nah-nah becomes my favorite student:laugh *


---------------------------------------

Oh yes...and guys Sorry there's no lesson until tomorrow *a.k.a. Wednesday in Australia*
because tonight was officially the night where I enter the last year of my schooling, an assembly was held, reports were given......and guess what....itz where parents....met the teachers!!!:oh yay....

The only REALLY exciting thing on my report was: I got 97% and ranked 1st in the grade for Japanese.....:amuse

the rest was.....okay.

Therefore tonight I really want to calm down and think about how I'm going go about tackling my last and most important year of school...

Sorry guys.
I'll write the lesson tomorrow....PROMISE!!! <--quote that guys in case i forget:amuse

[Chi]

mmmm.. i have a little request...
Could you please post a big text written in hiragana, so i could test my knowledge of the letters =)
Or maybe, if it's possible, you could post some (not really big text) every day, or every two days, so i can improve my readings skills..
It'd be cool if you could post Big text in hiragana and it's transcription. So I (maybe someone else will find it usefull) could try to do it two ways. From hiragana to transcriptions, and from transcriptions to hiragana. And also, so i could compare my results.. :)

Best regards...

[Zenko Hazumi]

きょうのてんきはあまりよくない。あめがふっている。そして、かぜがすごくつよい。さき、かいものにいった 。ふくやくつをかって、うれしい。いま、うちでおもしろいまんがをよんでいる。

kyou no tenki wa amariyokunai. amegafutteiru. soshite, kaze ga sugoku tsuyoi. saki, kaimono ni itta. fukuyakutsu wo katte, ureshii. ima, uchi de omoshiroi manga wo yondeiru.

Hope this helps! :tem

[tuaamin13]

Not to be picky, but when you post big stuff in hiragana and romanji, could you also throw in a translation? I can read hiragana and a bit of kanji, although my vocabulary is very limited, contrary to what you guys may think from my last post on this thread.

[Chi]

きょうのてんきはあまりよくない。あめがふっている。そして、かぜがすごくつよい。さき、かいものにいった 。ふくやくつをかって、うれしい。いま、うちでおもしろいまんがをよんでいる。

kyou no tenki wa amariyokunai. amegafutteiru. soshite, kaze ga sugoku tsuyoi. saki, kaimono ni itta. fukuyakutsu wo katte, ureshii. ima, uchi de omoshiroi manga wo yondeiru.

Hope this helps! :tem

Yes! Perfect! This is what i need.

ありがと (hope wrote it correctly)

EDIT:
Well.. Like 90% wrote correctly (i confused few letters :) ) And it's always "tsut*" (itsuta) in my transcription, and it's "tt" (itta) in yours. Could you please explain, or tell me if it was already explained in some lesson (i'm still at number 1).

Anyway.. Need a little more practise, and... And to learn some words, cause i didn't understood anything :P

[AmenoKitarou]

きょうのてんきはあまりよくない。あめがふっている。そして、かぜがすごくつよい。さき、かいものにいった 。ふくやくつをかって、うれしい。いま、うちでおもしろいまんがをよんでいる。

kyou no tenki wa amariyokunai. amegafutteiru. soshite, kaze ga sugoku tsuyoi. saki, kaimono ni itta. fukuyakutsu wo katte, ureshii. ima, uchi de omoshiroi manga wo yondeiru.

Hope this helps! :tem

Oh thanks So much for doing this for me Hazumi!! *reps for u*
I'm such a crap teacher, I forgot to post up a lesson again....

but just one little thing Hazumi if you don't mind.....these guys learning here are beginners. So please use "desu" "masu" form when you give them something to read or give them a random list of hiragana to test them if they wanted a hiragana practise.... Because Chi sounds confused about your passage...and tons of other students will be too because they've only just started not long ago, and is no where near that level yet...But I really appreciate your help!!!

P.S.
TINY TINY grammar mistake: さき、かいものにいった。ふくやくつをかって、うれしい。
The tense on the last word うれしい was wrong. Because after that sentence you said:いま、うちでblah blah~...
Things that happened before the いま, should be past tense for it to sound right.
So it would've been better if you sed: うれしかった。

[botoman]

Not to be picky, but when you post big stuff in hiragana and romanji, could you also throw in a translation? I can read hiragana and a bit of kanji, although my vocabulary is very limited, contrary to what you guys may think from my last post on this thread.

I think I can help you there. I'll　try to translate it word for word.

Today's weather isn't really good. It's raining. And, the wind is very strong. Earlier, I went shopping. I bought clothes, shoes, and other things and I'm happy. Now, at home I'm reading an interesting comic.

[AmenoKitarou]

OH!!! I AM SO sorry everyone!!! I promised a lesson two days ago...

Sorry This lesson is a little shorter than usual...because I'm REALLY REALLY busy with my School asessment tasks....SORRY SORRY SORRY!!!!

-----------------------------------

LESSON FOUR: inviting and asking and accepting and rejecting and etc~

------------------------------------

Sentences:

Naruto asks sakura out:

1. サクラちゃん、ハイキング　に　いきましょうか。
Sakura chan, HAIKINGU ni ikimashou ka.
Sakura-chan would you like to go hiking with me?

2. ああ、いいですね。いきましょう。
Aa, ii desu ne. ikimashou.
Ah That sounds nice. Lets go then.

OR

3. けっこう　です
kekkou desu!
No thanks!

OR

4. それは　ちょっと。。。
sore wa chotto...
umm....*wants to say no but itz rude to say no*


Hinata asks Naruto out:

5. ナルトくん、がっこう　に　いっしょに　いきません　か。
Naruto kun, gakkou ni isshoni ikimasen ka...
Naruto-kun, won't you like to go to shool together?

6. はい
hai
Okay/yes~

OR

7. いいえ、ごうめん　なさい。
iie, goumen nasai.
No, sorry.

-----------------------------------------------------
Explanations:

1. HAIKINGU ni ikimashou ka.
as learnt last lesson, ni= to
and ikimasu= go

This lesson something is new.
By changing "ikimasu" to "ikimashou"......"to go" changes to "lets go"

And finally by having "mashou ka" at the end of the question, it doesn't mean "are you going"....but "Would you like to go".

The sentence structure here is similar to ones learnt before:

Subject-----particle-----verb------question thingy.
HAIKINGU----ni---------ikimashou-----ka
Hiking--------to----------lets go-----yes? no?

2. ii desu ne, ikimashou.

ii= good
desu ne= isn't it?

therefore: "ii desu ne" LITERALLY means: "thats good isn't it?"
and putting that into logical english gives us "that sounds good"~~:laugh

ikimashou: as sed in last example, it means "Lets go"
This time nothing is following t therefore it only means "lets go.

ii desu ne ikimashou= that sounds good~ lets go~~!!

3. kekkou desu!!
"kekkou" is a VERY VERY polite way to say "good"
and when Japanese people say "it's good" to answer a request....it usually means "itz FINE, I'll pass".....in other words a rejection for u~:P

kekkou desu= an UBER polite rejection.

No need to worry about structures here, jusr remember it is fine~

4. sore wa chotto...
*that's a little...*

Japanese people HATE saying no. because in their culture its rude to say directly NO....therefore this phrase was designed to sound like you're hesitating about it, and give the idea that you don't want to go...

5. gakkou ni issho ni ikimasen ka...

This is the same as number 1....except
"ikimashou ka" is now "ikimaSEN ka"....
NO difference at all in meaning here.
"ikimasen ka" is the more polite way of asking.

isshoni= together
isshoni ikimasen ka= would you like to go together?
gakkou= school

following the same structure try putting the sentence back together without looking at the top~:)

6. hai
Who doesn't know this? HANDS UP!!! WHO!?!?!?:guns

7. iie, goumen nasai
iie= no (as if u dont no)
goumen nasai (sorry~)

simple~:laugh

----------------------------------------------

Any questions on this badly written lesson feel free to ask.

Once again I apologise for the decreasing quality of the work....:sad

[nah-nah]

Don't worry about it, Ameno-sensei. You should do what you can do. You're not being paid for this after all. :)

You're doing a great job! Also, you don't have to do it EVERY day... Maybe if you could give us a couple exercises to work on for a bit with each lesson, it would help a lot; and then you wouldn't have to worry about posting a lesson every day, you know? I'm still working on learning the kana after all... so I'm making use of my time to learn it while you're busy.

Besides, your school work IRL is much more important than Japanese lessons on a forum for which you are not even being paid. XD

Take care, just relax, and do what you need to do. We will still be here waiting patiently. ^^

<3

[AmenoKitarou]

We will still be here waiting patiently. ^^

<3

:crying Awwww...I'm so touched ......

*It sounded like one of my favorite anime quotes after all~ XD

RAAAAR!!! :yelling I WON"T GIVE UP!!!!

[AmenoKitarou]

LISTEN UP!!
After four lessons, I've decided there is enough material to give you a small test on.
Anyone taking these lessons should make sure they pass this test with at least 65% before proceeding onto further lessons.

-In the underneath spoiler tag is the test (DO NOT OPEN paper yet:P ).

The test will have four sections
-part A , Hiragana reading
-Hiragana writing (self marking)

-part B Katakana reading
-Katakana writing (self marking)

-Part C Vocabulary quiz.
-Part D Reading and responding.

Here is the procedure:
Copy the the test down into a new response, then type your answer under each question.
For Hiragana and Katakana writing sections, do this on a piece of paper, then mark your answers (I'll provide the answers in another spoiler tag).

Type your Hiragana writing score and Katakana writing score at the bottom.

Then hide your whole paper in a spoiler tag.

Post it here~ and I will mark....then U'll get your mark~

If someone has done the paper before you, do NOT look at their spoiler tags....for your own good.

Here we go:



PART A (32 marks)

Hiragana reading (15 marks)
1. け
2. ぷ
3. し
4. つ
5. きゅ
6. あ
7. む
8. み
9. ちょ
10. わ
11. ゆ
12. び
13. え
14. す
15. さ

Hiragana Writing (17marks):
1. (5 marks) genki desu

2.(5 marks) sayounara

3. (7 marks) ojamashimasu
One mark for each character right.

PART B: (28 marks)
Katakana reading (15 marks)
1. ワ
2. ス
3. デ
4. キ
5. ホ
6. ネ
7. マ
8. シ
9. ツ
10.チ
11. レ
12. ナ
13. タ
14. ヌ
15. ケ

Katakana writing:(13 marks)
1. (5 marks)arupaito
2. (5 marks)haikingu
3. (3 marks) gurasu
one mark for each character right.


PART C (20 marks)

If the word is in Japanese translate to english.
If word is english translate to Japanese. (romaji or hiragana is fine since not everyone has japanese typing program)

One mark each

1. おはよう　ございます
2. Nice to meet you (first time meeting someone)
3. Name
4. this person
5. なに

6. weak
7. しょうじき
8. うまれます
9. to come
10. ~years old.

10 marks for this following question:
Count from one to ten in japanese (romaji or hiragana is fine)

PART D (20 marks)

Read the follow passage and answer the the questions.

The passage is in Hiragana and romaji. The romaji version is in a spoiler tag....please try not to use it. keep in mind that you should learn your hiragana.

Passage　１ (7marks):

はな：　はじめまして。わたしは　はな　です。よろしく。
たま：　はじめまして。　わたしは　たま　です。
はな：　たまさん、こちらは　けんさん　です。
たま：　けんさん、こんばんは。

Hana: Hajimemashite. Watashi wa Hana desu. Yoroshiku.
Tama: Hajimemashite. Watashi wa Tama desu.
Hana: Tama-san, kochira wa Ken san desu.
Tama: Ken san, konbanwa.


1. Have Tama and Hana met each other before? (1mark)

2. What time of the day do you think it is? (1 mark)

3. Who did Hana introduce to Tama?(1mark)

4. Translate Hana's first line. (4 marks)

Passge two: (13 marks)

こんにちは。　ぼくは　あめのきたろう　です。　じゅうろく　さいです。　オーストラリアにす んでいます。
ホンコン(hong Kong)　でうまれました。
ぼくの　でんわばんごう　は　はち　はち　ご　ご　よん　なな　に　きゅう　です。

Konnichiwa. Boku wa Ameno Kitarou desu. Oosutoraria ni sundeimasu.
HonKon de umaremashita.
Boku no denwabangou wa hachi hachi go go yon nana ni kyuu desu.

1. What is the name of the person speaking? (1 mark)

2. How old is the person speaking?(1 mark)

3. Is the person speaking a boy or a girl?(1 mark)

4. Where does he live?(1 mark)

5. What is his phone number? (8 marks)

6. Where was he born? (1 mark)



Your score for the writing part:

Hiragana: /17
Katakana: /13


Entire test is out of 100.

[Master Scorpion]

Hello..I want to learn japanese!!! but I need help from you guys,please can someone translate these words into japanese/kanji..:smile-big
I love you and I do really care about you so..would you wanna be my boyfriend???

[AmenoKitarou]

This question belongs in the "intermediate/advanced Japanese" thread, or the "Japanese Class" thread.

This place is for beginners and the teacher (a.k.a. me) is a noob~

But I'll do this anyhow~ XD
あなたの事が好きです。(I care about you)　だからあたしと好き会ってくれませんか。

Okay I did it except for "I really care about you..."...I have no idea on that one~
BOTOMAN!!! >__< Helpppp!!!!! XD 助けてくれ！！

[botoman]

めちゃ恥ずかしいけど。アメノ先生のほうがうまいのにね。:)

Ameno-Sensei got most of it, but I'll just retype it.

I love you and I do really care about you so...would you wanna be my bf?

あなたのことが大好きです。本当に深くから大好きですから．．．私と付き合ってくれませんか？

I don't think there is a Japanese equivalent for "caring about someone" in that certain way, so I just took a guess and said "I really love from the bottom of my heart." Hope that helps!

[Master Scorpion]

Arigatoo gozaimasu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ~bows~ for the translation!!!!!! you guys help me sooo much, and I give you both a rep!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dimezanime20]

how do u guys get the japanese text on here like that?

¤¨¤¦¤«¤«¤µ¤

[AmenoKitarou]

アメノ先生のほうがうまいのにね。:)



U got to be joking~:laugh ~
I've learnt jap for only nine months~ and I'm a noob~
:amuse :laugh :amuse :laugh

[AmenoKitarou]

NOTICE TO ALL JAPANESE LEARNERS HERE!!!

So far there are four lessons and a test.
The test was kind of given to slow you all down.
This is because If I rush things you'll just be confused when we move into the next few lessons.

Also it is because I'm so dodgy:laugh ....and very busy~

So here comes the NOTICE

There will be no lessons on new topics until A few people (at least nah-nah) have attempted the test.

This is because of a number of reasons:
1. Some people like Chi is still on the first two lessons and if we move on too much it will be hard for Chi to ask questions.

2. I am busy :laugh *sorry*

Second notice~!!
A TEST PERIOD will run for the next two weeks~
So I'll take a two week break from writing lessons and concentrate the two weeks on answering your questions on the test (and the previous lessons if there are).
In other words....itz REVISION period.

Work hard~ ^____^

~Ameno~

[Dimezanime20]

hahaha! I finally learned it!

私輪僕 William です。
Thought I don't think boku belongs there. はい

[AmenoKitarou]

hahaha! I finally learned it!

私輪僕 William です。
Thought I don't think boku belongs there. はい
STOP!!!!
Red card for wrong use of Kanji and Particale there!!!

Watashi OR boku wa William desu. NOT both.

although itz pronounced as wa, it is written as "ha" in this sentence.
And also the Kanji of "wa" there is completely wrong.

私はＷｉｌｌｉａｍです。
OR
僕はＷｉｌｌｉａｍです。


Anyways......How nice!!! My namez William too~

[Dimezanime20]

lol, thanx for that.:P

[AmenoKitarou]

In Japanese it isn't how much Kanji you know that determines your level of skill but the complexity of your sentence structures.
Therefore it is always better to write all hiragana instead of putting a wrong Kanji down. Kanji should only be used when you fully understand the usage of it, not just an ornament in a sentence.
Using the wrong Kanji is trivial places will make you look like a fool.

[AmenoKitarou]

I forgot to say this: People who pass the test gets rep!!!

Advanced people who can ace this easily aren't recommended to do this~ but if ur desperate for a rep by all means go ahead~

[Dimezanime20]

I see. Well, what about this try?

私はこの日本の学問の糸で最上になります！

[nah-nah]

alright~ I'm going to try the test tonight. I hope I do okay. ^^ Wish me luck!!!!

Also, to everyone else trying out the test.. GAMBATTE!!

[njt]

こんにちは。　ぼくは　あめのきたろう　です。　じゅうろく　さいです。　オーストラリアにす んでします。


just a little typo i found... in the test, thus the spoiler tags...

should be すんでいます。

good job btw :ossu.



vocabulary: anime= anime *lol*......doku no heya= my room.....arimasu= to have

ah, and one more little thing...
This would be the poison room :o
should be boku no heya ;). (page 3)

[AmenoKitarou]

just a little typo i found... in the test, thus the spoiler tags...

should be すんでいます。

good job btw :ossu.


ah, and one more little thing...
This would be the poison room :o
should be boku no heya ;). (page 3)

EEEEKKKK!!!!!!!! THNX SO MUCH!!!!
I owe you so many reps!!!!!!! :laugh
I'm TERRIBLE in typing.....i even typed wrong in the rep i sent u!!

---------------------

Anyways: Good luck ~Nah-nah!!! and others doing it~

-----------------------
I see. Well, what about this try?

私はこの日本の学問の糸で最上になります！

u did this on an online istant dictionary didn't you?.....If you didn't itz surprising...because the words you used there aren't common words that you'd use....and the sentence structure is wierd...and doesn't make sense...(nothing negative implied to you.....just that I find this sentence wierd)....what are you trying to say anyway!?!?

I put this into an instant translator, and it gave me: I with this thread japan will become best....:oh ...???????

So I'll guess:...I will study here (the thread) and become the best at Japanese....??? Is that a good guess?

I'll translate that for you: 私はここに勉強して日本語が一番になります！

Is that good?

[njt]

私はここに勉強して日本語が一番になります！
hmmm a tad bit better way to put this would be...
このスレを使えば、僕の日本語はかなりうまくなります！
If I use this thread, my Japanese will get really good!

or
このスレのおかげで、僕はちょっとでも日本語を話せるようになります！
Even if it's just a little bit, because of this thread, I'll be able to speak Japanese.

Amenoさんもがんばってくさいね(^_-)

[AmenoKitarou]

Thnx njt~~~ XDDDD I would rep u if I haven't only just gav u one...XDDD

[Dimezanime20]

u did this on an online istant dictionary didn't you?.....If you didn't itz surprising...because the words you used there aren't common words that you'd use....and the sentence structure is wierd...and doesn't make sense...(nothing negative implied to you.....just that I find this sentence wierd)....what are you trying to say anyway!?!?

I put this into an instant translator, and it gave me: I with this thread japan will become best....:oh ...???????

So I'll guess:...I will study here (the thread) and become the best at Japanese....??? Is that a good guess?

I'll translate that for you: 私はここに勉強して日本語が一番になります！

Is that good?[/QUOTE]

Ah, arigatou gozaimasu sensei! This whole learning experience is being challenging. I'm not using an online site, but a software. Thanks to u i will be able 2 learn from the mistakes it gives me.:P I was trying to say that "I will become the best in this Japanese thread!", in which i proved myself wrong.:P

[njt]

I was trying to say that "I will become the best in this Japanese thread!", in which i proved myself wrong.:P

That would be...
この（日本語の）スレでは、みんなを超えてやる！
絶対にな・・・

Sorry, just about read the entire DBZ series in the past two weeks (yes in japanese....) and Vegeta uses this countless times, so yeah- it fit this situation....

[AmenoKitarou]

hahahaha~~~ njt!!!! I love how you worded that sentence!!!
超えてやる!!
This sounds Soooooooo Naruto-ish too!!!

[Cynnah]

Hi everyone! I haven't been on this Naruto forum for so long I feel like a newbee!

I think this thread is awesome and now that I have some time I'll give these japanese lessons a try. I'll do my best to catch up with you guys as fast as I can...

I'm starting lesson 1... NOW!

[tuaamin13]

I found that reading entirely in Japanese greatly improves your fluency. I strongly recommend getting a textbook in entirely hiragana, kindergarten style. It may seem a little under some people, although if you're trying to learn by yourself (like I am) b/c your school or community doesn't offer classes. I personally use ひろこさんのたのしいにほんご。It's at least 2 books.(Gotta change page encoding to JP-Shift to read that I think, I'm using MS IME. If anyone knows how to change it so it works in western encoding please tell me....) I'm still trying to figure out the crazy organizational structure (Ch2 vocab is foot, salt, house, umbrella, cow, hand, watermelon, and lips). Even if you don't use this to increase your vocab, you can use it to increase your reading fluency. Pros: all hiragana/katakana, kanji introduced gradually, reading paragraphs, pictures (to help interpret words) Cons: No JP>EN, so you need JP>EN dictionary (see my other post on this thread). Also the organization mentioned above. It's not totally unorganized, there's a theme to the main part of each chapter, then additional vocab is increased weirdly. Also this is only polite form of verbs (doesn't have dictionary/plain form).

[tuaamin13]

My hiragana appears to read in Western Encoding, forget what I said about switching it.

[AmenoKitarou]

Hey everyone~

Just letting you know that lesson 5 is coming in two days time.~:)

[sasuke_limays]

i will wait for it

[kuromoku]

me to [I`m waiting]:) . but two days is to long..........

[AmenoKitarou]

Well use these two days to ask anything u dont understand about the stuff I taught so far....

[kuromoku]

okay. but i only know alittle that you have teach me .:)

[AmenoKitarou]

Read the lessons posted up so far...and THEN ask questions.
So far there are four lessons plus a mini test...
U can find them here in the heap of posts....or u can go the un-interrupted lessons and get them all in one series.

[kuromoku]

nani..... mini test? what is in it ?

[AmenoKitarou]

It contains things i've taught in lessons 1-4....

[kuromoku]

oh....... er..... which forum was it again? :)

[AmenoKitarou]

oh....... er..... which forum was it again? :)
the one u posted into :nerve :nono :cussing

[kuromoku]

hei man chill out , don`t be angry or you`ll be old quickly , you know that?

[AmenoKitarou]

I wasn't angry...

[kuromoku]

oh i know you just pissed of didnt you ? [just kidding dude] :)

[AmenoKitarou]

XDDD lol~ XDDD

[kuromoku]

huh? what did you wrote up there man?

[AmenoKitarou]

Lesson five: FAMILY members.

Sorry for the wait~!!!お待たせしました
Here comes the brilliant new lesson 5!!!!

----------------------
Structures:

There not much structures in this topic.

1.nan nin kazoku desu ka?
何人かぞくですか。
how many people are in your family?

go nin kazoku desu.
五人　かぞくです。
There are five people in my family.

2. oneesan ga imasu ka?
おねえさんが　いますか
Do you have a older sister?

hai, onesan ga futari imasu.
はい、おねえさんが　二人います。
Yes I have two older sisters.

--------------------------------

Explanations:

Family members:
Grandmother: Your own:　そぼ Other people's:　おばあさん
Grandfather: Your own:　そふ Other people's:　おじいさん
Father: Your own: ちち　Other people's:　おとうさん
Mother: Your own:　はは Other people's:　おかあさん
Auntie: Your own:　おばさん Other people's:　おばさん
Uncle: Your own: おじさん　Other people's:　おじさん

Older sister: Your own: あね　Other people's:　おねえさん
Older brother: Your own: あに　Other people's:　おにいさん
Younger sister: Your own: いもうと　Other people's:　いもうとさん
Younger brother: Your own: おとうと　Other people's:　おとうとさん

Rules:

1. When talking to other people about your own family members you use the ones in "your own" column.

2. When talking to others about family memebrs that aren't yours, you use the "other people's" column.

3. When talking to your own family members, you call them by the ones in "other people's" column.

----------------------------------------

Structure explanations:

1. nan nin means how many people.
as 'nan' means what, and 'nin' means person.

Kazoku means family.

nan nin kazoku desu ka?
literally means: How many people is your family?

conviently translated into english give the end result: how many people are in your family?


go nin kazoku desu.

go nin means five people. At the end of this lesson will be a section that teaches you how to count people.

so like english: "go nin" is an adjective, and "kazoku" is a noun.
So putting go nin before kazoku turns it from "family" into "five people family"

therefore go nin kazoku desu literally means: it's a five people family.

conviently translated into english as: there are five people in my family.

2. oneesan ga imasu ka?

strusture here is:
subject (person)-------particle--------verb.----question mark.
nee-san-----------------ga-----------imasu---ka?
sister------------------ particle-------have-----?

Rules:
1. In sentences where "Has" or "have" is the verb for a person, the particale "ga" is used.

2. when you have something that's alive, "imasu" is used. and if it's dead, "arimasu" is used.


hai, oneesan ga futari imasu.

same structure:

yes/ no-----subject--particle-----adverb and verb.
hai---------oneesan---ga--------futari------imasu.
yes---------older sister-----------two people---have.

When u say you have a number of people.....you put the number before the verb "have", and after the particle of the sentence.

Futari means two people by the way~

------------------------------------------------

How to count things and people:

To count things: (dead things only)

please remember the kanji of these too because they are never not in kanji.

hitotsu----> ひとつ---> 一つ
futatsu---> ふたつ---> 二つ
mitsu---> みっつ---> 三つ
yotsu---> よっつ---> 四つ
itsutsu---> いつつ---> 五つ
mutsu---> むっつ---> 六つ
nanatsu---> ななつ---> 七つ
yatsu---> やっつ---> 八つ
kokonotsu---> ここのつ---> 九つ
tou---> とう


To count people: (people only)

one ---> ひとり---> 一人
two---> ふたり---> 二人
three---> さんにん---> 三人

from three onwards, just add "nin" to the normal number.

---------------------------------

Vocabulary:

see family members.

Family: かぞく---> 　家族

[kuromoku]

long and long as always [ kidding man]:)

[AmenoKitarou]

This is the nature of students...short and concise lessons, they complain its not good enough...
Long and detailed lessons they complain itz too long...

If you giv them a lessons thats JUST right....they complain about the subject being boring....

[kuromoku]

hm......... maybe but i like teasing you , you know that man

:) resistance is futile

[TEK]

So are there links for each lesson, cuz I would like to learn as well.

[botoman]

Yep, just check out this thread and good luck studying!

Ameno Classes Uninterrupted (http://forums.narutofan.com/showthread.php?t=65188)

[AmenoKitarou]

Yep, just check out this thread and good luck studying!

Ameno Classes Uninterrupted (http://forums.narutofan.com/showthread.php?t=65188)
Thanks Botoman~ :laugh
いつも手をかしてくれてありがとう～

[Cynnah]

A question for u guys: How did you manage to get to lesson 5 so fast?! I'm at lesson 1 since about a week and I know only half of the hiragana table... Do you know all the hiragana symbols by heart already or do you move on anyway?!

And another thing, in order to practice my hiragana reading I'd like to find some japanese version of the Naruto manga, do you have any link for me? Or do you have scans of japanese books? I can't find any here, too small libraries...

[tuaamin13]

Sasuga bookstore has a fairly nice selection of books to learn, and they have a nice promotion too: Have 10 orders, on your 11th order you get the average of your 10 previous orders taken off. The store is also online.

There's also another bookstore that's fairly large, I can't remember the name of it, but it's mentioned in the post-opening credits ("We'd like to thank the following sponsors for their support, etc, etc" Normally includes Bandai or Sony or Sony Music or something like that)

Yeah, basically we learned the hiragana. It's just massive drills. Learn it kindergarten style -- get out grid paper (stationary paper or graph paper from math class) and practice writing the character over and over again and try to get the proportions right. It's like you learned how to write English. Reading in it also helps. Translating Hiragana > Romaji > English totally kills your fluency, so I don't recommend doing that. Learn the sounds and not the English letter representation.

Narutofan has RAW manga for download. I never read it so I don't know how much kanji is in there, and if it has a lot of furigana.

[kuromoku]

huh............. kage kuro no jutsu

dissapearing in the darkness of shadows

[Cynnah]

Sasuga bookstore has a fairly nice selection of books to learn,..

There's also another bookstore that's fairly large, I can't remember the name of it, but it's mentioned in the post-opening credits ("We'd like to thank the following sponsors for their support, etc, etc" Normally includes Bandai or Sony or Sony Music or something like that)

...get out grid paper (stationary paper or graph paper from math class) and practice writing the character over and over again and try to get the proportions right.

Narutofan has RAW manga for download. I never read it so I don't know how much kanji is in there, and if it has a lot of furigana.

Gee thanks.. I'll try to find that cie, but in Canada, and especially here in TR, there isn't much great book store and no variety at all.

Yeah I tried to write the hiragana on a paper but as soon as I learn a new sound I totaly forget about the one before! But I'm still working on it... I WON'T GIVE UP:yelling !

Oh and about the RAW manga, I tried to download one of the Naruto Manga Download section of Narutofan, I think it's the 128, I picked it randomly, and it was in english. Is it because I picked the wrong manga section?

Could someone give me the good link please...

[AmenoKitarou]

RE: Cynnah---> Lessons one has been up for almost a month now~ So I'm not surprised if the others know it already...but the thing is...I won't be surprised if lots of other people aren't up to Lesson 5 yet~ maybe they're on 2 or 3 or something....since we didn't all start at the same time right? :)

but don't let not knowing all the hiragana stop you learning japanese just yet, because I have romanji (a.k.a. pronunciations) underneath the sentences for those who can't read.

RE: tuaamin13---The RAW has all appropriate kanji into their sentences (which is quite alot) as would other japanese books. But the RAW always has Furigana for those who don't know the kanji.

[AmenoKitarou]

Weeee~!!!
Guess what!! Itz my Birthday This saturday!!! 26th of Nov!!!
I'm turning 17 FINALLY!!!!! XD


I might as well add a little lessons here:

Happy Birthday: 誕生日おめでとう　ございます　Tanjoubi omedetou gozaimsau.

When congratulating, jus put what your congratulating first, then add "omedetou"

"gozaimasu" just makes it polite.~

YAyyy~

[tuaamin13]

たんじょびおめでとうございます！

[Kiie-chan]

Omedetou Ameno-sensei! :party :squish (sorry if I'm bein informal...kinda used to talking like that with my friends...)

[AmenoKitarou]

I like informal~ XD

[botoman]

お誕生日おめでとう！！:amuse

何かほしい物あるの？

[AmenoKitarou]

ありがとう～ボトマンさん～

ボトマンはもしくれる物があれば何でもいいんだよ～

:laugh :laugh

[botoman]

え～と．．．

良かったら、このサイトでも教えてもいいかな？

この前学期、オレの先生が日ー英、日ー日などが出来る役に立つサイトを下さって、その時からずっと使ってる オレはあんたにあげようと思ってるね。あんたにも役に立てたらいいッスね。:)

チュウタ太の道具箱 (http://language.tiu.ac.jp/tools.html)

[AmenoKitarou]

Thanks SoOoo muchh!!!!!オレはず～～～～～っと　このようなサイトを探していた！！！
ありがとう！！！！ＸＤ

[Chi]

Ok.. Sorry guys.. I didn't had enough time for japaneese.
I'm study and working sometimes and have my trainings...
I'll try to do the first test in near time, but i don't think i'll catch up to you anytime soon..

P.S. I chaged my username. I was "Chi" before... hope you remember..

[AmenoKitarou]

Jus go at your own pace~ I doubt anyone is up to where I am so yah~ take it easy~ its not like this is a school~

[doc_thomas]

i know some dirty words in japanese. but i wanna learn some more. Cant find any decent website with japanese cursewords.

how du you say "to fuck"? "i wanna fuck" etc. ??

i hope its not something like "fakku/sekusu wo suru"

[AmenoKitarou]

People in this thread is genuinely learning not for a joke. If you want dirty words, start your own thread and request them. Not in here.

[Kiie-chan]

I like informal~ XD

LOL Everytime my friends and I use informal stuff for our written tests, we always end up losin marks...:sweat But the teacher doesn't seem to mind too much if we use infromal talk in our oral presentations though.....

[AmenoKitarou]

I'm really careful with mine....If it doesn't say what to use, I'll use formal~ But if it wants you to write like.....a diary....Woah shit!! ....you see me swear in there XDDDD haahahaha~

informal talk in oral presentation is fine~ but I always hav to be careful to keep EVERY sentence informal once I start using informal~

for some wierd reason Japanese people consider it rude when you switch dialects in the same conversation....hahaha~
like....you start of really informal...then suddenly you say something really polite...
or.....start off really formal then crack up an informal sentence~

HAHAHHA how wierd~

[Kiie-chan]

Yeah that is strange...But we're careful not to use any bad language in them though. The only word that we use rather often and seems ok with the teacher is "baka". :P

And yeah, I only use informal when we're writing either diary entries or e-mails but when it comes to reports and letters I use formal.

[Rui]

May I ask some of the stuffs? Please convert it via this thread or private message me.

Here goes:

Soul , Ghost, Evil, Devil, Monstrous, Kill, Afterworld, Death.
Fire, Water, Ice, Earth, Wind, Wood.
Initial, Life, Harm, Death, View, Wonder, Limit, Heal
First, Second... Eighth, Ninth

Thanks Guys...

[Rocklee88]

damn i cant read my own language let alone learning japanesey! X[

although if given the opportunity i would =D

[AmenoKitarou]

May I ask some of the stuffs? Please convert it via this thread or private message me.

Here goes:

Soul , Ghost, Evil, Devil, Monstrous, Kill, Afterworld, Death.
Fire, Water, Ice, Earth, Wind, Wood.
Initial, Life, Harm, Death, View, Wonder, Limit, Heal
First, Second... Eighth, Ninth

Thanks Guys...
I'll do the ones I know okay?

soul= tamashii
to Kill= korosu
Death= Shi
Fire= hi, ka
Water= mizu, sui
Earth= chi
wind= kaze, fuu
Wood= moku, ki
Initial (as in the first?)= sai sho
Life= (life) inochi, (human life) jinsei

First- ninth.
Add "dai" in front of the following numbers (in order)...ichi, ni, san, shi, go, roku, nana, hachi, kyuu

[Natsuhito]

I lucked out :P
My cousin who majored in Japanese for colledge left me some of his old books so I could study by myself. Kind of sad that my gramma on my mom's side his full blooded but I don't even know enough to carry on casual conversation.. though I could cuss someone out or signal my sexual partner to increase his/her[HER] speed, strength and such. I know some basic things like numbers, love, and some other stuff...I wouldnt quite die. Learning mandarin kind of helped with the translation.

You guys are lucky.. at my school, they just cancelled the Japanese program. eh.. going to transfer anyway.

[suki_neko]

im taking lesson over the net it a dollar a lesson and theres 40 lessons

[tuaamin13]

Here I go with another book reference...

Someone mentioned slang, and even though it shouldn't be in a Beginner's forum, it is a real part of language, and should probably be at least recognized as slang, even if you have absolutely no idea what it means. I am by no means advocating use of the slang mentioned in the book I am to list.

"Japanese Street Slang"
by Peter Constantine
ISBN 0-8348-0250-3

I picked up the book just for fun, although it has some very useful things in the preface. This is the first book I have picked up that explains the different forms of I, you, and s/he. Since most of us watch anime, you will have noticed that everyone does not start every single subject with 私
(わたし）. So here I am and going to cover this instead of Ameno b/c I think everyone should at least recognize it. The -masu form Ameno is teaching is used with the more polite forms.
(this is stuff paraphrased from the book, so feel free to correct)

I
わたくし--Formal, polite, respectful. Used by male & female
わたし--Usually feminine, although also polite, but not as polite as above
あたし--Popular/casual feminine way of saying I. It's everyday speech.
あたい-- Very casual and feminine. Used in rough, slangy speech.
あてえ--Tokyo version of あたい. Very much more rough
ぼく--Masculine equivalent of あたし. Lots of anime characters use this or...
おれ--Rougher version of "I." It's masculine and used in slang

You
あなた--Formal, and slightly feminine depending on usage. Men can use it tho
あんた--Rude/masculine form of　あなた. Tough women can also use this too. I think it's used in Noir a few times.
きみ--Casual/familiar and masculine. Very rough when women use to anyone other than children
おまえ--Masculine and familiar to the point of roughness. おめえ is even rougher
てまえ（てめえ）-- Both pronounciations are correct. Aggressive in most places used. Used in anime a bunch, especially when main character is addressing main bad guy.

He/She
Basically you want to use この/その/あの 人 when referencing someone within hearing range. You can also use their name. I believe that's why in anime the subs will say 'you' 'he' or 'she' even though they actually say the person's name. Using pretty much anything else is considered offensive. こいつ、
そいつ、 and あいつ are the ones you hear in anime because those are the much more slangy or rude ways of saying "this guy," "that guy" and "that guy there" (respectively).

It
Evidently you can also make "it" slang. もの is "thing" in polite/neutral speech, but changing it to やつ makes it more slangy.

[Cloud_Strife_1UK]

Keep the Jap lessons comming this is kool!

[XxShinzouxX]

boku wa mada nihongo wo benkyoushiteru kara, sukoshi ga dekimasu yo, dakara, yoroshiku onegaishimasu!!!

Since I'm still studying japanese, I can do a little of it, so, please treat me nicely!!! ^^

Forgive me if my translation is poor XD

[doc_thomas]

Here I go with another book reference...

Someone mentioned slang, and even though it shouldn't be in a Beginner's forum, it is a real part of language, and should probably be at least recognized as slang, even if you have absolutely no idea what it means. I am by no means advocating use of the slang mentioned in the book I am to list.

"Japanese Street Slang"
by Peter Constantine
ISBN 0-8348-0250-3

I picked up the book just for fun, although it has some very useful things in the preface. This is the first book I have picked up that explains the different forms of I, you, and s/he. Since most of us watch anime, you will have noticed that everyone does not start every single subject with 私
(わたし）. So here I am and going to cover this instead of Ameno b/c I think everyone should at least recognize it. The -masu form Ameno is teaching is used with the more polite forms.
(this is stuff paraphrased from the book, so feel free to correct)

I
わたくし--Formal, polite, respectful. Used by male & female
わたし--Usually feminine, although also polite, but not as polite as above
あたし--Popular/casual feminine way of saying I. It's everyday speech.
あたい-- Very casual and feminine. Used in rough, slangy speech.
あてえ--Tokyo version of あたい. Very much more rough
ぼく--Masculine equivalent of あたし. Lots of anime characters use this or...
おれ--Rougher version of "I." It's masculine and used in slang

You
あなた--Formal, and slightly feminine depending on usage. Men can use it tho
あんた--Rude/masculine form of　あなた. Tough women can also use this too. I think it's used in Noir a few times.
きみ--Casual/familiar and masculine. Very rough when women use to anyone other than children
おまえ--Masculine and familiar to the point of roughness. おめえ is even rougher
てまえ（てめえ）-- Both pronounciations are correct. Aggressive in most places used. Used in anime a bunch, especially when main character is addressing main bad guy.

He/She
Basically you want to use この/その/あの 人 when referencing someone within hearing range. You can also use their name. I believe that's why in anime the subs will say 'you' 'he' or 'she' even though they actually say the person's name. Using pretty much anything else is considered offensive. こいつ、
そいつ、 and あいつ are the ones you hear in anime because those are the much more slangy or rude ways of saying "this guy," "that guy" and "that guy there" (respectively).

It
Evidently you can also make "it" slang. もの is "thing" in polite/neutral speech, but changing it to やつ makes it more slangy.

isnt the word "kisama" in that book of yours?

[tuaamin13]

No it is not, but my dictionary has it. きさま=貴様, which is the crude way of saying you. It's very insulting to use. I've seen fansubs translate it as "Bastard" or something along those lines. I've also seen てめえ translated as "Bastard." In either case, it's about the same, and impolite.

[AmenoKitarou]

Hi guys~ I'm back.....
I wasn't here for the whole of this week because I was in Melbourne playing Mational Volleyball....our team came THIRD!!!! yayyy~ ureshii!!!!

Anyways...as soon as I get the time another one of those really long lessons wil attack u all!!! XDDD

[kuromoku]

long as a snake or long as a train?

[AmenoKitarou]

as long as Manda~ XD

[tuaamin13]

Sweet, now I no longer have to fill the void with book references^^

[sapphireninja]

Konichiwa! see i know how to say hi uh....can you teach me how to say "i hate you" in japanese

[Fighting Spirit]

Japanese is the language that most anime uses? Right??

[tuaamin13]

I'm sorry, you should just be shot for that comment. I know it's sarcastic, but still, you lack intelligence for making that joke.

[Fighting Spirit]

Nevermind, question answered.

[iwakura]

how can i say my book?

[Sho]

^
-"Boku no hon" (males-sort of polite way of referring to yourself)
-"Watashi no hon" (anyone can say this)
-"Atashi no hon" (females say this)
-"Ore no hon" (males only-more of a rough way to refer to yourself)
-"Jibun no hon" (anyone can say this)

[Dimezanime20]

I just got Rosetta stone. Do you think that will help alot?

[moer]

a quik question, i was watching an anime and they kept repeating the word "disca", what does that exactly mean?

[sousukeclone]

I want to learn at least some japanese, but the characters dont seem to work on my computer.

[tuaamin13]

You have to install East Asian text support on your computer. I explained this a few pages back. Just look through all the posts for the one explaining it. For webpages (if you have the fonts installed) you may have to change the page encoding. You can right click the page if you're using IE.

[Shinobi-Hime]

cool japanese lessons! I have a tutor and I still can write proper japanese.

[ichigo kurosaki]

yay!!! knowledge is power
Thanx njt! ade nani sote

[miggiddymickmickens]

FIGHT DA POWA! BLACK MEN UNITE! BECOME BILENGUAL LEARN JAPANEESEEEEE:notrust

[Medea]

これを　読めますか。私は日本語のクラスをやめなければいけませんでした。それから、今は　わすれないため に、れんしゅうを　したいです。:)

Kore o yomemasu ka? Watashi wa Nihongo no kurasu o yamenakereba ikemasen deshita. Sorekara, ima wa wasurenai tame ni, renshuu o shitai desu. :)

Eigo: Can you read this (the Japanese font)? I had to drop Japanese class. Therefore, so that I don't forget, I want to practice. :)

[botoman]

Why did you have to drop your class Cyhiraeth? That's really a shame.

[Medea]

てつがくとロマンスの言葉をせんこうしたいだから、他のクラスをとらなければいけません。時かたんいをろう ひしてだめです。ところに、あのくらすは　もうはげしく　なりました。

Tetsugaku to romansu no kotoba o senkou shitai dakara, hoka no kurasu o toranakereba ikemasen. Toki ka tan'i o rouhi shite dame desu. Tokoro ni, ano kurasu wa mou hageshiku narimashita.

Eigo: I want to major in philosophy and Romance language, so I need to take other classes. I can't waste time or credits. Besides, the class was becoming too intensive.

[botoman]

へぇー、そうですか？事情によって日本語のクラスをやめさせられるなんて、とてもキツイですね。とはいって も、今でもまだ練習しているってことはホンマに賢いと思います。

[Medea]

私は日本語をまだ勉強している友達があるから、いそがしくなかったら、まだ練習をできるが、文法を習えると 思う。

ボトマンさんは日本語をたんのうに話しますか。

[botoman]

日本人の友達がいて日本語で話し合えてすごいですね。やけど、僕には日本人の友達が出来ても、仕事や学校で ひどく忙しくなりますから話し合いの機会とかとても捕らえられません。

Cyhiraeth－さんはペラペラとしゃべれますね。どれぐらい日本語を勉強していますか。僕の日本語と 言えば、まだまだだと思います。日本で留学した事があっても、たくさんを教わらなくてはなりませんね。でも 、頑張ってま～ス！:nod

[AmenoKitarou]

こんばんは～Ｂｏｔｏｍａｎさん～
久しぶりです~~~私を憶えますか？
私はもう高校三年生に成って、学校は激しくなりました。
だから最近あんまりこのサイトに来ることが出来ませんでした。

Ｃｙｈｉｒａｅｔｈ　さん～　はじめまして～　雨野　ともします~
私はオーストラリアに住んでいて日本を勉強してる高校三年生です~
Ｃｙｈｉｒａｅｔｈ　さんの日本語はとてもうまそうです。
何か分からなかったら　あなたとＢｏｔｏｍａｎさん　に日本語の問題を聞いてもいいですか?

まっ～　
私も日本人の友達があります~　２００５九月　に、私は交換留学生として、名古屋に行きました~　そこで沢 山の友達を作りました。今までも連絡を日本語でしています。

[Medea]

ごめんなさい!　日本語で書くのはむずかしいから、私はあまりしたくないの!　けれども、にんたいよくつず けなかったら、すべてを忘れる。:(

Ｃｙｈｉｒａｅｔｈ　さん～　はじめまして～　雨野　ともします~
私はオーストラリアに住んでいて日本を勉強してる高校三年生です~
Ｃｙｈｉｒａｅｔｈ　さんの日本語はとてもうまそうです。
何か分からなかったら　あなたとＢｏｔｏｍａｎさん　に日本語の問題を聞いてもいいですか?

エーと、私は日本語があまり上手じゃないだ!　:P 雨野さんは　ボトマンさんに質問を聞いてもいいだの！でも、私に聞いたら、答えてみるよ。:)

[botoman]

こんばんは～Ｂｏｔｏｍａｎさん～
久しぶりです~~~私を憶えますか？
私はもう高校三年生に成って、学校は激しくなりました。
だから最近あんまりこのサイトに来ることが出来ませんでした。


やぁ、久しぶりやん！もちろんAmeno-さんのこと覚えてます。元気ですか。最近はどうですか。学校や宿題などうまくいってますか？あんまり見てま せんから、忙しいかなぁって。

[ChopinsLady]

Konnichi-wa everyone or Komban-wa (komban-wa means good evening) Kamaimasen (it doesn't matter) Ikaga des ka? Wata shi-wa mo kaerimasu, sayonara!! ^-^ I want to join if thats ok with ya'll I want to learn Japanese so bad, most of the words that I just said are from a book that has a lot of Japanese sentances in it, its very use full!! ^-^

[AmenoKitarou]

Ｃｙｈｉｒａｅｔｈ　さん~　ごうめんなさい　と言わないで~　したくなければ大丈夫だから。 :amuse
ね~　Ｃｙｈｉｒａｅｔｈさん　は女の人ですか?それとも男の人?

Ｂｏｔｏｍａｎさん~　私元気だ~　最近はまあまあね~　学校の宿題がおおおおおお多くて、難しくて~　で も大丈夫~!!!私がんばるぞ!!

[sasuke_limays]

how do you write the words..........

[mech-eng]

i have a question as to how you can write certain syllables/words when they are not in hiragana, eg chan, ga, gi gu ge go etc. Kanji?

[Gesry]

ma....Kono HIGH LEVEL Kanji to , oreteba wakannenda.
Boku wa yapari yowai dana.

[Yoshitsune]

i have a question as to how you can write certain syllables/words when they are not in hiragana, eg chan, ga, gi gu ge go etc. Kanji?

When they are not in hiragana, then they are either in Katakana or Kanji..
If you want to just type in Japanese, you need install the fonts on your comp..
Control Panel>Regional and Language Options>Languages (if you dont have asian fonts installed, click the box to install them)>Details. Then just pick Japananese and the keyboard typing option for it, and then you easily switch back and forth.

チャン 　ｖｓ　 ちゃん
katakana hiragana

is this what you meant?..

[Zhero]

Ive always wanted to learn japanese

[AmenoKitarou]

Ive always wanted to learn japanese
Well....although I havent posted a new lesson up for months now....I think if you visit the lessons in my sig, they'll last you about two weeks...?:nod

[Medea]

Ｃｙｈｉｒａｅｔｈ　さん~　ごうめんなさい　と言わないで~　したくなければ大丈夫だから。 :amuse
ね~　Ｃｙｈｉｒａｅｔｈさん　は女の人ですか?それとも男の人?

　「ごめんなさい」　と言わないが、言いたい。:wink というのは、私の返事のために雨野さんがながく待たなければいけない。

私は女の人。:)

[mech-eng]

When they are not in hiragana, then they are either in Katakana or Kanji
チャン 　ｖｓ　 ちゃん
katakana hiragana

is this what you meant?..
no what I meant was something like "ga" as opposed to "ka", with the little dots to the top right of the symbol. It doesn't matter, I understand now anyway.smile-big I had my first lesson at Uni today and they were just teaching basic hiragana with a few simple phrases - I already knew it all so these threads have actually been very useful.:P

[shoopuffoo]

I LEARN JAPANESE AND IM JUST ABOUT TO FIN MY FIRST YEAR! AND IT IS SOOOO GOOOD! AND IT WILL LEAD TO SOOOOOOOO MANY THINGS IN THE FUTURE!!
IF N E 1 WANTS N E ADVICE OR HELP GIVE ME A SHOUT

[The Black Knight]

I'd like to point on Japanese-online.com It is a very good resources for beginners and has a forum too. Sign up is free.

[Portaljacker]

Well....although I havent posted a new lesson up for months now....I think if you visit the lessons in my sig, they'll last you about two weeks...?:nod
Please post more!

[uchiha11223]

How long did it take you to learn japanese

[Mish<3]

Hey, i'm new to this forum.. just signed up today. Anyway, this thread was awesome! I'm a first year university student in Melbourne, Australia double majoring in japanese and psychology and yeah, it's my first year of japanese and this stuff is definitely helpful to look at on top of what i am doing in class :) Thanks Ameno!

[The Black Knight]

wow this thread is old....hehe
+1