Suki desu

[rubah]

The fuddy duddies at GHF want you all to know about this mozdev.org - kanjilish: index

[Momiji]

Downloaded. Let's see how this works...

EDIT: A lot of words don't get kanji-fied, though...

[The Summoner of Leviathan]

The fuddy duddies at GHF want you all to know about this mozdev.org - kanjilish: index

There are a lot of problems with a program like that. It does not really teach any sort of proficiency in reading kanji. I am aware that it states it own flaws but I think the flaws, personally, would out weight any good that would come from it. Even if you know what two kanji mean in a word, it does not mean you can always figure out the word. An example where with a bit a thinking you can figure out what it means: 「電話」 (read: denwa). 「電」 means "electricity" and 「話」 means "talk". So "electric talk"? If you think about it, then you realize it actually means telephone. Now something like 「電車」 (read: densha) is a different story. As we know, 「電」 means "electricity". 「車」 means "car". Electric car? How about it actually meaning "train". It can be more confusing than that, but at first most of the words you learn make sense, later the compounds, from what I understand take a lot more thinking to attach them together or barely does. Personaly, I am more into learning it all at once, so when I learn a kanji I want to learn its meaning, stroke count and order, and its readings. I do not want any backtracking. But maybe that is just me.

Which reminds me, if I have no mentioned this, then I should.

Resources:

Tae Kim's Japanese guide to Japanese Grammar - An awesome guide that helps with a lot of grammar, often also giving information on the slang equivalents.

Tae Kim's Blog - Such a good and interesting read and often very informative.

Jim Breen's WWWJDIC - One of the best E-J/J-E dictionaries out there. It is this dictionary that rikai-chan uses. Also can do various forms of kanji look ups. Highly recommend it.

[Moon Rabbits]

Resources:

Tae Kim's Japanese guide to Japanese Grammar - An awesome guide that helps with a lot of grammar, often also giving information on the slang equivalents.

Tae Kim's Blog - Such a good and interesting read and often very informative.

Tae Kim's Japanese Guide to Japanese Grammar is what I'm currently learning from. I tried learning Japanese way back when and used some awful direct phrase translation (ie. this is how you say "Where is the bathroom?") way back when I was like ... twelve. Then I took Latin in school and was taught proper skills to use in learning new languages, which in turn made me realize that learning grammar is the first proper step in learning any language.

And so here I am! I know Hiragana and the muddied sounds, although I just can't seem to properly memorize Katakana. Then again, I haven't really applied myself to studying lately

[Rye]

I'm taking the Japanophile plunge, and decided to study Japanese for at least a semester in college. I'll be here when the time comes practicing too!

[Moon Rabbits]

I can't read that yet. I'm just starting to learn to read Hiragana and katakana. Any advice will be appreciated.

I only know hiragana and some katakana. What's a good way to learn kanji? ;-;

I learned them through memorization, obviously. I'm still having trouble with distinguishing 「シ」、「ン」、「ツ」、and 「ソ」, but it can't be helped.

I just made small flash cards on paper in order to teach myself because I was trying to memorize hiragana and katakana in order, which was just hindering me. I have hiragana completely committed to memory, and 90% of katakana came just from making the flash cards!

Now the actual learning of grammar comes D:

[Moon Rabbits]

Sorry for the double post and all, but I need some help. I'm having a lot of trouble distinguishing between the particles は、も、and が.

I understand how to use wa, such as in this context:

私は学生。

Except I don't understand how that would differ from:

私が学生。

も I'm pretty good with. Can it only be used for including another topic, though、or are there other uses for it?

[Zeromus_X]

I learned them through memorization, obviously. I'm still having trouble with distinguishing 「シ」、「ン」、「ツ」、and 「ソ」, but it can't be helped.

I'd recommend practicing by writing them over and over again, in the proper stroke order (that's how I memorized them, anyway). That way you can tell katakana shi/tsu and n/so apart. Remember that katakana shi has the curvy line going up 「シ」, and tsu has it going down 「ツ」. Katakana n has it going up 「ン」, and so has it going down 「ソ」.

[The Summoner of Leviathan]

Sorry for the double post and all, but I need some help. I'm having a lot of trouble distinguishing between the particles は、も、and が.

I understand how to use wa, such as in this context:

私は学生。

Except I don't understand how that would differ from:

私が学生。

も I'm pretty good with. Can it only be used for including another topic, though、or are their other uses for it?

Tae Kim's Guide explains it pretty well, but I'll add to what I know about the differences.

Overall が has many more uses than は. As most know は is referred to as the topic marker whereas が is the subject marker. Tae Kim, in her guide, says that defining が as a subject marker can be misleading, I agree. How my prof explained it to us is that は expresses shared knowledge between the speaker and the listener, whereas が expresses that the information is new to the listener or that the speaker believes the is new to the listener. In this case, Tae Kim's redefinition of が as an unknown marker is apt. Returning to your examples:

私は学生。

Here it is understood that both the speaker and the listener are aware that the speaker is a student.

私が学生。

Here it is understood that the listener did not know that the speaker was a student.

が also functions as marking an unknown in questions as well. When the subject is a question word, then が always follows it.

Ex: どこがいぬいますか。 (Where is the dog?)

In this case, the location of the dog is unknown to the speaker.

If the question words follows the topic, then you use は.

Ex: じむしつはどこですか。 (Where is the business office)

In this case, the topic, business office, is known to the speaker therefore is marked with は.

Also, after the subject has been mentioned, you can use は to refer to the same thing.

Ex:

A:あそこにねこがいますね。 (There is a cat over there)
B:それはくらいねこですか。 (Is it a black cat?)

A-san reveal the information about the cat to B-san (this is new information to B-san). B-san, now knowing of the cat's existence, uses は to mark it.

は and が can be used in the same sentence as well.

Ex: 田中さんは目があおいです。 (lit: As for Tanaka-san, he has blue eyes)

The topic here is Tanaka-san, though the subject of the verb copula is eyes.

*This is not to be mistaken for: 田中さんの目はあおいです。 (lit: As for Tanaka-san's eyes, they are blue). Even though to English speakers there would be very little difference between the two, also the fact that the more literally translation of the former is rather clumbsy in English, there is a slight difference between the two.*

There are a few more examples where you would use が with は but those are for more complex sentences that use modifying clauses. I was about to write about them but then realized I am more or less vomiting all that I know and it might prove to be TMI. If not, just say and I can try to explain those too. (Also if I am wrong, please correct me for my own sake as well as everyone else's. I profess that I am only a beginner like everyone else. Heck, I barely passed my Japanese class).

I hope this makes sense. It is part from memory, part from my text book (Nakama). Mostly the examples from my text book. If anyone notices any mistakes, please tell me!

As for が it can have other uses too. が also works with intransitive verbs as well, or when referring to skill or abilities. So when you are talking about being skillful at something (上手), suck at something　(下手), like something　(好き) or understand something　(分かる), you use が to mark that which you skillful[or good] (at)/poor (at)/like/understand.

Finally, が can be used to contrast two sentences. Think of it like a weak version of "but".

There are many more uses of は and が, though you will come more and more across them as you further your studies. Heck, I am sure I have not seen the end of them yet. -__-; *should brush up on stuff before September*

EDIT:

As for も, it can be used with question words to form a negative noun. Okay, that sounds odd but here is what I mean:

何も - nothing
だれも - no one
いつも - never (can also be used in the affirmative sense to mean always)
どこも - nowhere

も can also be used to express a lack of preference.

東京も京都もおもしろい所です。 (Both Tokyo and Kyoto are interesting places)

There are probably more uses of the particle も that I am not aware of. Still a newb to the language myself. ^__^;;;

[Moon Rabbits]

Thanks for all your help This has cleared things up for me, enough to move onto learning adjectives anyway.

[Momiji]

Attention all Firefox 3 users: the Furigana Injector is back.

[Initial Fantasy]

Muhyo, how long have you studied Japanese?

[Peter_20]

俺はこの言葉がとても好きだから、マイニチ勉強すんだよ。

I learned them through memorization, obviously. I'm still having trouble with distinguishing 「シ」、「ン」、「ツ」、and 「ソ」, but it can't be helped.

I'd recommend practicing by writing them over and over again, in the proper stroke order (that's how I memorized them, anyway). That way you can tell katakana shi/tsu and n/so apart. Remember that katakana shi has the curvy line going up 「シ」, and tsu has it going down 「ツ」. Katakana n has it going up 「ン」, and so has it going down 「ソ」.

This is how I tell said Katakana letters apart:

シ and ン use more or less horizontal dots, and they are placed high up.
ツ and ソ use relatively vertical dots, and they're positioned further down.

I only know hiragana and some katakana. What's a good way to learn kanji? ;-;

First of all, make sure you get used to the radicals.
A radical is a component that serves as a "building block" for a Kanji.

Next, make sure you always actually memorize the radicals, NOT every single stroke.
For example, the Kanji for "demon", 魔 (ま), consists of 21 strokes, but if you know what you're doing, you can easily memorize it by memorizing 4 components!

And finally, you should focus on memorizing compounds rather than single Kanji.
You don't even need to know the meaning of certain Kanji, the only things that matter are if you know the compound and how to read it.
Besides, if you frequently study Kanji and learn new words, the meaning of each Kanji will become clearer and clearer anyway.
For example, take a look at these compounds:

洗車 (せんしゃ) = car wash
電車 (でんしゃ) = train
洗濯機 (せんたくき) = washing machine

If you compare these compounds, then I'm fairly sure you can guess the basic meaning of 車 and 洗.

[Clouded Sky]

えええ。。。

EOFFで日本語の話があるね。なるほど。

じゃー、はじめまして。私はCLOUDEDSKYだ。実は私は「です/増す」の形がちょっと好きじゃないから仏に使っていない。それも皆を知っているんだ。

私のアメリカの大学で日本語を二年間ぐらい勉強して今東京の早稲田大学で留学している。日本は面白いけど、私の日本語はまだ上手じゃないんだからよく困ることがある。今ホームステイをやっているけどお婆さんがしか いない。ちょっと一人ぼっちよ。も、家でネットがないんだ。それから私は学校にいる時よくネットを使っている。EOFFが大好きだ。