Thread: japanese (the language)

i dont think the language will be that bad! im taking japanese this fall in my highskool. now im a freshman hehe. but im taking it through out of my highskool yrs.! and college to. so i will be used to it.

I go on sites and stuff and teach myself...and when i go to college...i'm going to take japanese language and whatnot.....do they even have something like that??

I plan on taking Japanese my next semester of college. I know its hard but hopefully I'll learn something and pass because college is expensive.

i tought myself how to write the japanese alaphebet one day cause i was bored so now at least i knwo i can kind of commutnate with them if i have to

I know some:
Ohayo-hey
Okaasan-mother
Otousan-father
Nii-chan- brother
Ie-no
hai-yes
youkai-demon
hanyou-half demon
miko-priestess
inu-dog
neko-cat
koi-loved
koishii-beloved
utenshi-mate
jinkoiteki-unnatural
hanshu-general
ayane-iris
arigatou-thank-you
domo arigatou-thank you very much
gomen ni-I'm sorry
honto ne-really
Then there are the bad words I dont think I should say.

I've been learning Japanese at a pretty good clip since college. If you're trying to learn I have a few recs for you:

1. If you really want to learn it go live there - it's the only way you'll develop a natural accent. I don't know anyone who has achieved true fluency without living there.
(anyone interested in living there for 6 weeks to a year I know some good programs).

2. For home study: "Genki" by the Japan Times is a very good series but you have to order the teachers manual also. "Japanese for Busy People" and "Japanese for Young People" (not by JT) are also very good resourcces for english speakers. If you want to get a taste of some spoken my rec is to buy some audio CD's - bar none the best is Pimsleur. The cd's will run you about 2-3 hundred but are well worth it if you have time to listen.

Also not sure what you mean when you say

Originally Posted by mei

For ex: in English you'd say "I went to the park"
but in Japanese you could break it up, literally, and say "went. park to. I..."

The english "I went to the park" translates as: watashiwa kooen ni ikimashita - (i park went to)

Notice the verb iku is at the end. In modern Japanese anyway you won't really encounter the verb at the beginning.

I know a lot of koreans who are learning japanese and they said the same thing you did, structure is very similar, but you still have to put in the hours.

It's nice to know that there are so many people interested in the language. what fun!

FD

I got interested in Japanes through anime and have down loaded heaps of songs sung in japanes. I have taken a real interest in it and intend to learn it when I go to Uni. I think the language would be quite hard to learn as there are three different ways of speaking Japanes