Japanese Language Help...

[Aka-chan]

Ha, gomen. It's just too much fun. XD


About "Dattebyo":
What I've really heard is that the later part ("-ttebyo") is suppose to be closely resemble "believe it" or such (or the "spirit" of it, as you said), but the word itself is just made-up gibberish in itself. :p

Wakatta yo. Hontou ni. ^__^

Yeah, that sounds about right regarding "dattebayo". It's funny, though; I wonder if Kishimoto knew how much it would throw all the English-speakers trying to read the raws when he put it in.

[Myoti]

Kishimoto did it on purpose. It's a conspiracy against Americans. XoX

Wakatta yo.

Wakarimasen. Xp

Hontou ni.

For some odd reason, I feel like saying "O HNTU N?" or something. XD;

[Aka-chan]

Kishimoto did it on purpose. It's a conspiracy against Americans. XoX

Mochiron. XD

Wakarimasen. Xp

Nani ga wakaranai?
[quote]For some odd reason, I feel like saying "O HNTU N?" or something. XD]
XDDDD

[Myoti]

Nani ga wakaranai?

Nani "wakatta" da ka? (should that be "nani" or "nan?")


I so want to get that owl picture and put the kana on it... Xp

[Aka-chan]

"wakatta" = "wakarimashita" but less formal (To ask, you would want to say "wakatta" wa nan da ka? or "wakatta" tte nani?)

You so should do that.

[Myoti]

Oh. I see. Xp

You so should do that.

I would if

Ichi) I could find the real pic (probably hard to put the stuff over the other one...)

and

Ni) I knew how to put kana on it. o-o

Maybe I should ask how this guy did his (yeah, tis another OP refrence, but funny). XD

[Aka-chan]

Well, ganbatte ne! ^__^

XDD That's good! I actually read some of the Eneru battle, so I think I actually kind of get it.

[Myoti]

Ah, you read OP?

Yeah, that face = priceless. XD

EDIT: Wow, I went off-topic here. Xp

[Aka-chan]

Well, let's go back on topic by speaking Japanese! XD

A, mukashi OP wo yonda kedo sore wa taihen nagai ne. Nihon ni ita toki maishuu mita noni America ni kaetta ato miru ya yomu no ga muzukashikatta. Mitsukereba, mada yomu kedo amari shiranai.

[Myoti]

Heh, I'm still not good enough to reply (or even understand...) that just yet. All I could tell was about something old having to do with OP, something not very long, then something about looking and reading and something wasn't difficult, I think. Xp

[Chibi_wolf454]

how do you say little sister in japanese?

[Shia Kyosuka]

Little Sister = Imouto.

[Chibi_wolf454]

thank you very much

[Raiden no Kishi]

I'm just starting to learn Japanese on my own [no teacher or anything] using Rosetta Stone software and a few small books [one that's over my head somewhat and two on hiragana and katakana]. Does anyone have any tips/advice for how best to achieve an understanding of Japanese? Thanks.

.rai//

[Aka-chan]

Heh, I'm still not good enough to reply (or even understand...) that just yet. All I could tell was about something old having to do with OP, something not very long, then something about looking and reading and something wasn't difficult, I think. Xp

Gomen, I'm a bit too informal. That can be difficult to understand as well. Basically, I read OP for a while and loved it, making sure to watch it every week when I lived in Japan. But after I left Japan, it just became too difficult to find and keep up on (limited comp resources), so I don't know much about it any more. I read it when I can get my hands on it, though. (One of the random bits I managed to get was Luffy v. Eneru/Enel--good stuff.)

I'm just starting to learn Japanese on my own [no teacher or anything] using Rosetta Stone software and a few small books [one that's over my head somewhat and two on hiragana and katakana]. Does anyone have any tips/advice for how best to achieve an understanding of Japanese? Thanks.

.rai//

For starters, learn your kana. This is insanely important and will open up loads of other opportunities. Flashcards are good for this, and take it a little at a time (maybe make mnemonics?) because it can be overwhelming. Also, keep up with your Rosetta Stone and just listen when you get the chance to hear it (maybe some subbed anime). Learning a language is really just a matter of time and hard work.

[Myoti]

Ah, thought it was something like that (you lived in Japan? o.o ). You should read more. o.o/

I actually try to read the new RAW releases of it (I can read it, but not quite understand it yet Xp). It's also a bit hard when Oda makes those odd refrences from other languages/cultures and stuff (reading French words written in Japanese = me going crazy).

Actually, that reminds me of something that always kinda confused me:
There's time I've read where it will have a kanji, but the furigana of it is katakana that means some foreign word, like the French words I was talking about, and even in one manga they had a kanji with furigana spelling out an English swear (F-bomb; it actually said it o.O ). So, I'm kinda wondering how that works; does the kanji itself actually mean that, or just some equivelant for the Japanese? O_o

[Aka-chan]

[quote="Myoti"]Ah, thought it was something like that (you lived in Japan? o.o ). You should read more. o.o/

I actually try to read the new RAW releases of it (I can read it, but not quite understand it yet Xp). It's also a bit hard when Oda makes those odd refrences from other languages/cultures and stuff (reading French words written in Japanese = me going crazy).

Actually, that reminds me of something that always kinda confused me:
There's time I've read where it will have a kanji, but the furigana of it is katakana that means some foreign word, like the French words I was talking about, and even in one manga they had a kanji with furigana spelling out an English swear (F-bomb]
Yep. I'd love to read more some time, but the Viz translation drove me insane, so I need another source... (I spent a summer in Japan. ^__^)

Working with the raws can be great for learning conversational Japanese/slang/vocab/etc. But, yeah, OP can be so wacky I can totally understand how it would drive you nuts. I reacted the same way trying to translate the Hokage's long-winded and rather old Japanese when reading Naruto. XD

The fun thing about kanji is that you can do so many crazy things with it because meaning is separated from phonetics. If the character is throwing in a foreign word, the kanji can act as a translation for the Japanese reader. So the reader sees "Bonjour" in katakana and knows the character's showing off a little French, but the kanji for "Konnichiwa" keep anyone from getting too lost. I'm guessing the same went for the case of cursing that you saw. (A note on that: Japanese don't have foul language to the extent that we do, so to them, dropping an f-bomb may actually be kind of cool; it seems to show off knowledge of English slang and such. Usually they don't understand the full impact of what they're saying. I've heard of this happening with other foreign students as well.)

Japanese will also play with kanji to add in extra meaning. I recall a Jrock/Jpop artist (maybe it was Gackt? I don't remember) using the kanji for "god" in his lyrics printed in the CD jacket, but in the song he pronounced it "onna" ("woman"). If you only heard the song, you'd never know, but the printed words emphasize his awestruck, almost worshipful attitude toward the subject of his song.

[Myoti]

Ah, okay. I was thinking it was something like that. It does make alot of sense (and seems to be much easier for them with that kind of thing :p ).

Yeah, I remember seeing other things where they would throw in English stuff to try to seem cool, and then it ends up making no sense. XD
Except the writer of "Bleach." Something tells me he actually knows how ot speak English. All of his chapters have an (correct) English title with Katakana below, and he's had a bunch of English words/sayings on certain parts before (like a caption on Ichigo's shirt that read, "Talking is Not Communication" in English; I always thought that was kinda funny xD ).

[Neko Niisan]

I have seen many words used for 'god' whilst online. I was wondering what the word fo r our God is, if there is a Japanese word for the Christian God.

[Aka-chan]

Yeah, I remember seeing other things where they would throw in English stuff to try to seem cool, and then it ends up making no sense. XD
Except the writer of "Bleach." Something tells me he actually knows how ot speak English. All of his chapters have an (correct) English title with Katakana below, and he's had a bunch of English words/sayings on certain parts before (like a caption on Ichigo's shirt that read, "Talking is Not Communication" in English]
XD There is definitely some beautiful Engrish out there. Hm, yeah, I don't know about Kubo Tite's English background, but he does seem quite good, now that you mention it.

I have seen many words used for 'god' whilst online. I was wondering what the word fo r our God is, if there is a Japanese word for the Christian God.

It's a bit tricky in Japanese, because their word "kami" (often with "sama" attached) generally refers to the spirits in nature and such, not really all-powerful gods in the Western sense. But it's the closest thing, so it's been adopted to mean god, including our God, and the specifics most often come through context.

[Myoti]

XD There is definitely some beautiful Engrish out there. Hm, yeah, I don't know about Kubo Tite's English background, but he does seem quite good, now that you mention it.

Yeah, he does appear to be pretty good at it. I also find it funny that Oda claims he doesn't know English, yet he seems to at least have a fairly good knowledge of it (in using names and puns).

And yeah, I've typically seen "kami-sama" to be the closest use for it. Though (again using OP for refrence), there was a certain character who believed he was God, and the others referred to him as "Kami-sama" or, on occasion, "Gaddo" or such meant to sound like "God" (he was beaten later and proven wrong anyways though XP ).

[Azier the Swordsman]

I'm just starting to learn Japanese on my own [no teacher or anything] using Rosetta Stone software and a few small books [one that's over my head somewhat and two on hiragana and katakana]. Does anyone have any tips/advice for how best to achieve an understanding of Japanese? Thanks.

.rai//

I prefer to make myself a practice sheet of each lesson I do and practice throughout the day. You can also make flash cards. A few students of Japanese even write their own software to help them practice.

Here's a sample from one of my lesson practice sheets I made based on YesJapan's Lesson 1-1.

The sheet is divided into two parts. Part One, I read the Japanese and translate to English. In Part Two, I read the English and translate to Japanese.

Example: (Original lesson material Copyright YesJapan.com)

[B]Warning: You must have Japanese IME enabled for you to be able to view Japanese text.

Japanese Language Interpreter Practice 1-1

Vocabulary Practice

口
目
耳
鼻
手
足
指
頭
歯
顔
枕
ベッド
布団
毛布
タオル
風呂
石鹸
歯ブラシ
鏡
窓
何「なに」「なん」
はい
いいえ
犬
猫
さん
田中
小林

Phrase Practice

分かりますか
はい、分かります
いいえ、分かりません
もう一度言ってください
もっとゆっくり言ってください

(Continued)

[Azier the Swordsman]

(Continued from above)

Grammar Practice

Remember: Plural does NOT exist in the Japanese language.

です

枕です
田中です
小林さんです
石鹸です
歯です
猫です
歯ブラシです
布団です
ベッドです

か

枕ですか
田中さんですか
小林さんですか
石鹸ですか
窓ですか
鏡ですか
犬ですか
鼻ですか
頭ですか

何

「なに」 and 「なん」 both mean what, but are used differently. なに can be used by itself to mean ‘what’. なん cannot be used by itself, and must always be used with other words such as です. 「何ですか」

Question and Answer Practice

何ですか

枕です
石鹸です

鏡ですか

はい、鏡です
いいえ、窓です

ベッドですか

いいえ、布団です
はい、ベッドです

田中さんですか

はい、小林さんです
はい、田中です

犬ですか

いいえ、猫です
はい、犬です
分かりません

何ですか
手です
足です
指です
歯ブラシです

分かりますか

いいえ、分かりません
はい、分かります
いいえ

小林さんですか

分かりません
いいえ、田中さんです
はい、小林さんです

(Continued)

[Azier the Swordsman]

(Continued from above)

Part Two

Vocabulary Practice

Mouth
Eye
Ear
Nose
Hand
Foot/Leg
Finger
Head
Tooth/Teeth
Face
Pillow
Bed
Futon
Blanket
Towel
Bath
Soap
Toothbrush
Mirror
Window
What?
Yes
No
Dog
Cat
(comes after name)
(Common last name)
(Common last name)

Phrase Practice

Do you understand?
Yes, I understand.
No, I don’t understand.
I don’t understand. / I don’t know.
Please say it one more time.
Please say it more slowly.

Grammar Practice

It’s a pillow.
I am Tanaka.
He/She is Mr./Ms. Kobayashi.
It’s soap.
It’s a tooth.
It’s a cat.
It’s a toothbrush.
It’s a futon.
It’s a bed.

Is it a pillow?
Are you Tanaka?
Is he/she Mr./Ms. Kobayashi.
Is it soap?
Is it a window?
Is it a mirror?
Is it a dog?
Is it a nose?
Is it a head?

Question and Answer Practice

What is it?

It’s a pillow.
It’s soap.

Is this a mirror?

Yes, it’s a mirror.
No, it’s a window.

Is this a bed?

No, it’s a futon.
Yes, it’s a bed.

Is he Mr. Tanaka?

No, it’s Mr. Kobayashi.
Yes, he is Tanaka.

Is it a dog?

No, it’s a cat.
Yes, it’s a dog.
I don’t know.

What is it?

It’s a hand.
It’s a foot.
It’s a finger.
It’s a toothbrush.

Do you understand?

No, I don’t understand.
Yes, I understand.
No.

Is she Kobayashi?

I don’t know.
No, she is Tanaka.
Yes, she is Kobayashi.

[Azier the Swordsman]

The above is a great way to practice and the method can be adapted to whatever program you are using.

[Esoteric]

Hey guys, quick question for all you Japanese-learning gifted people. What is the Japanese word for 'monster'? It would be great if one of you could tell me. Thanks!

[Myoti]

Checking my dictionary, I find 'kaibutsu.' There might be other ones for it, but that's all I can find.

[Azier the Swordsman]

The most common one I hear used is 'Bakemono'.

[Esoteric]

Two? Hmm, thanks guys! One of these should work.

[Shia Kyosuka]

Ah, I've been wondering about this Japanese Word forever, now, and finally figured out what it meant.

It's in the following sentence:

Jibun-kattena koto
iwanaide yo.

It means:

You're always talking about yourself.

iwanaide is the negetive te-form of iu (to say).

Why is the negetive te-form being used in that sentence if the speaker is telling someone that they do talk too much?