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Post by Linalin on Aug 23, 2006 19:23:22 GMT -5
How well? I think I'm the only person I know who's close to fluent. I suck orally though because I have no one to practice with...and I'm deaf.
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Post by trippyflippy on Jan 15, 2007 2:24:11 GMT -5
wat? ur deaf? are u actually deaf or is it just a figure of speach about something?
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Post by Linalin on Feb 9, 2007 8:43:42 GMT -5
I'm actually deaf  . |
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Post by Rai the Space Samurai on Feb 10, 2007 0:10:16 GMT -5
Watashi wa Nihongo ga sukoshi hanasemasu. In fact, I bet I just butchered that sentence. I keep telling myself I'm going to learn one day, and I have made valiant efforts in the past, but there's no one for me to practice with so I've forgotten most of what I did know. And haven't really learned anymore, which can be really frustrating at times.
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Post by Linalin on Feb 11, 2007 11:12:35 GMT -5
It's not that you butchered it as much as you sound like a gaijin.  Tip: Rarely say "watashi wa" The thing I've learned about Japanese is that they like to know that both speakers are able to understand each other without having to exaggerate their sentences with things like pronouns. Just say "Sukoshi hanasemasu" if someone asks you if you speak Japanese or even just "Sukoshi dake". Impressing them with your vocabulary is not how the job's done, you've got to impress them with the Japanese mindset! |
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Post by Rai the Space Samurai on Feb 15, 2007 2:45:46 GMT -5
The 'How to learn Japanese' books totally want me to sound like a gaijin. Not that it isn't enough of a problem with me and my southern accent.
Yeah, I've noticed while watching subbed anime that they like to cut unnessecary words, which is cool. Just a bit confusing sometimes when you have no practice speaking the language. Which just goes to show that you have to dig a lot deeper than mere words when trying to truly learn a language.
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Post by Linalin on Feb 15, 2007 17:25:23 GMT -5
Yep, my teacher once told me "If you're going to speak French, you have to think French first". The same goes for Japanese I think.
The thing about those how-to learn books is that they want you to speak as properly as possible, not as normally as possible. Same goes for English books have you ever really said. "I was going to the shopping mall in order to buy a present for my younger brother"?
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Post by Rai the Space Samurai on Feb 15, 2007 22:49:26 GMT -5
I have spoken like that before, but only to annoy people. It may be easier to learn to speak properly first before learning to speak normally, but maybe none of the books really go back over how to speak normally, or help you get into the mindset.
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Post by tenshi on Feb 16, 2007 10:12:12 GMT -5
Well, I grew up in Montana (USA) and then moved to Switzerland, So i kinda know 3 Languages fluently: English, German, Swiss-German accent. I know what you mean with "think (language) first" everything is said differently if you think of it, example: chasch düütsch can german (CH-German) I have a good website for anyone who wants to learn japanese or gain tips from japanese peope who want to learn english, www.sharedtalk.com is the place i went and now i have a good friend i can talk most anything with. And for people who want to learn Kanji (like me) I would recommend the book "A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters" by Kenneth G. Henshall, it helped me greatly. It tells a brief history about how the Kanji came into existance and shows its evolution to the modern day character and says all meanings and how to say it. I hope i helped someone ._. |
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Post by Linalin on Feb 17, 2007 10:05:23 GMT -5
Thanks so much for your recommendation. I've learned about 100 kanji by just chatting with people in Japanese, but I've been looking to study it ever so diligently, but have yet to purchase book. I'll definitely look into it.
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Post by tenshi on Feb 17, 2007 10:58:51 GMT -5
How long did that take you?
I've noticed that i learned 40 kanji with the book faster than i could learn 15 just by looking at them, it's a really useful mnemonic to know the history behind how the character was first drawn and what it's supposed to resemble.
I'm glad i could help you Linalin!
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Post by Linalin on Feb 17, 2007 20:53:27 GMT -5
Maybe 6 monthes for the majority and then I learn like a new word each week. It's because I chat in Japanese on Sayclub all the time and write Japanese songs...in full kanji thanks to my processor's dictionary. However because I never learned about strokes and things, I have no idea how to write anything really more complicated than "tsuki".
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Post by Ceru on Feb 17, 2007 22:17:14 GMT -5
After taking Japanese for four years I've learned that Japanese is much more complicated than it seems at first, and would be horribly difficult and most likely impossible for a person to learn completely by themselves. I've also learned that learning things from watching movies and other media can be helpful, but shouldn't be used to learn the language because of a hidden aspect of the language.
Its full of words that have little meaning, if no meaning at all. Words that mean feelings, rather than particular meanings and can have many, many meanings based on the context of the sentence.
I plan to master the language, because it is my career path, but honestly, I don't think I can learn the language fully unless I visit for a lengthy period of time.
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Post by †Shiro Metsuki† on Mar 4, 2007 19:32:38 GMT -5
Alex (Tenshi) talks on msn all the time about how much kanji he learns and it inspires me, although while I have the pronounciation down great, I don't...How shoukld I put this... I don't learn good. Not with books anyways. I can get stuff down easy with a group and oraly and stuff. My friend Rumei speaks it a lot around me but never tyopes it, she has to learn to type and wright in english. I think what I need is a college course to learn it. Only thing that sucks...I'm always gonna be a gaijin. T_T So they wont let me into some bars in Japan. I'm a dirty American devil. XD
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