I'd like some advice on Japanese grammar...

[Peter_20]

I posted a thread similar to this one a while ago, but that one's an old thread now; and this is a new kind of question anyway.

I was just wondering, is it true that words are spelt by using the signs for certain sounds?
For example, if there are signs for "ma", "sa", "mu" and "ne", then can I just write those signs and thus spell the word "masamune"?

Oh, and one more thing:
what letters are used in the Japanese video games?
Kanji?

[41-Inches-Wide]

I suck in Kanji, so whenever I write MASAMUNE I write it in hiragana form and just write, enclosed in parenthesis beside the word, indicating that I mean a "sword", that it's not a surname or a place or whatever else.
But there is a specific kanji for the MASAMUNE, and for the life of me I have no idea what it is.

Writings used in most japanese games are a mix of hiragana, katakana, and kanji

[Peter_20]

Writings used in most japanese games are a mix of hiragana, katakana, and kanji

Eh... why? XD
Are they trying to make understanding the Japanese video games even trickier than it already is?

[41-Inches-Wide]

Well actually, you use hiragana when you write japanese words in japanese characters. you use the katakana for words borrowed from English. Like "AISU KURIMU", it is written EXCLUSIVELY in katakana.
There is a big difference between hiragana and katakana (curved vs. angled strokes), to stop it from being all wierd and messy. It's like this, if you write AISU KURIMU in hiragana form, the japanese will be all like WTF MAN, DUN UNDERSTAND. But when you indicate through katakana that this is a 'borrowed' word, then it's all good.

As for the kanji, that's a pretty long story i dont understand it myself I am terrible at kanji. But anyway you only use kanji for the specific japanese words that have their own characters. Like for example, you don't write FLOWER in katakana (FURAWA-.xD) because it has a japanese equivalent already, which is "HANA". But they use kanji to signify -AGAIN- the difference of the various 'hana's' (i.e. hana means nose) also. The HANA "nose" has its own kanji. And the HANA "flower/blossom" has its own also.

EDIT:
Long-ass post. hope i helped a little

[Marshall Banana]

Even though dialogue in Final Fantasy games contains a lot of Kanji, the games' menus and character names tend to be spelled with Katakana and Hiragana. Thus, they're pretty easy to figure out. =D

<center><img src="http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m285/fofonda/Misc/ffvj.gif"></center>

If I'm not mistaken, all installments prior to FFV use no Kanji.

[41-Inches-Wide]

Why don't you just play English versions? I know I do.

[Marshall Banana]

Why don't you just play English versions? I know I do.

Because Japanese is fun and pretty! XP

[41-Inches-Wide]

Why don't you just play English versions? I know I do.

Because Japanese is fun and pretty! XP

I CONCUR!

[Peter_20]

Even though dialogue in Final Fantasy games contains a lot of Kanji, the games' menus and character names tend to be spelled with Katakana and Hiragana. Thus, they're pretty easy to figure out. =D

<center><img src="http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m285/fofonda/Misc/ffvj.gif"></center>

If I'm not mistaken, all installments prior to FFV use no Kanji.

Hey, I just noticed that Reina's name on that picture indeed became "Rena" in Katakana.

[Peegee]

おまえはもう死んでいる

Omae wa mō shindeiru

Hiragana - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For 'english' sounds
Katakana - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[JKTrix]

If you don't know enough actual Japanese vocabulary, I wouldn't bother too much about reading. Depending what game you're playing, someone should have a walkthrough/story guide on gamefaqs.com or a similar site.

As for 'what words' are in games, it also depends on the age group. Games clearly meant for younger folks would have more hiragana and basest-of-basic-level kanji. Sometimes they might have furigana above the harder words. Actually, in Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, you can touch every piece of kanji that comes up in dialogue to see the hiragana pronounciation for it. I thought that was a nifty feature when I found it out.

Software meant for more mature folks would likely have more kanji for the common words and names. A game like Densha de Go! where you're controlling a train, all the location names would be in appropriate kanji.

So yeah. Unless you do know a good bit of vocabulary, don't stress too much about reading dialogue in these games. Games with voice really help too. I mentioned in a separate thread that I was playing Another Century's Episode 3, and there's a *lot* of kanji in here. However, there's also a lot of spoken dialogue, and a great deal of Katakana as well. The majority of the mechs in the game have Foreign-type names (i.e. God Gundam, Nirvash, Black Selena) so they are all in Katakana.

I tend to only import action-type games from Japan, as objectives are usually pretty clear. RPGs are a no-go for me, despite my decent-and-getting-better grasp of the language.

[Peter_20]

Just one more question:

How do you write separate consonants?
I can only find syllables like "ta", "pa", "ma" and so on.
What about the actual letters "t", "p" and "m"?

[JKTrix]

Japanese doesn't use "letters", it uses phonetic sounds. 41-Inches said in one of his posts something like "AISU KURIMU", which is Ice Cream. That is how you would 'spell' it in Katakana and 'say' it in Japanese.

Vowel sounds and the 'N/M' sound are the only syllables that have their own individual kana. Everything else has the consonant sound linked with the vowel sounds.

[Peter_20]

Hey, I got a few more quick questions.

#1:
How do you spell dipthonghs?
I can't really find any site that explains it.

#2:
Is it true that most of the Japanese letters are signs for objects?
Are these pretty much the only signs you need to learn?

http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/hiragana_b.jpg

Oh, and I'm aware that '' = voiced versions of other letters.

[starseeker]

Hey, I got a few more quick questions.

#1:
How do you spell dipthonghs?
I can't really find any site that explains it.

Japanese doesn't really have dipthongs, but they're spelled by putting two vowel kana together.

ai: a + i = あい

#2:
Is it true that most of the Japanese letters are signs for objects?
Are these pretty much the only signs you need to learn?

http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/hiragana_b.jpg

Oh, and I'm aware that '' = voiced versions of other letters.

Kanji are the signs used for objects, nouns, adjectives etc. But you can't read Japanese using only kanji. Some words don't have a kanji and for verbs, kanji are only used for the stem. The tense is marked using hiragana, called okurigana.
Example:

食べます　＝　食べ　＋　ます
I eat = the kanji for 'to eat' + the okurigana 'masu' which makes it the present (non-past)