So you wanna learn Japanese, huh?

[SevenStar]

http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~thoureau/japanese.html

[Helicopter]

Reminded me of when I went to China. Trying to speak Chinese is the same nightmare!

[Satanachia]

"English Sentence:
Jane went to the school.

Same Sentence In Japanese:
School Jane To Went Monkey Apple Carbeurator."

Its funny because its true:D

[neito]

i'd say that basic japanese is a snap compared to basic levels of other languages. on the other hand, as it becomes complex its a nightmare.

[Former castleva]

That must be one of the most depressively expressing site on japanese,I have seen yet.
Actually lets you understand that you should NOT study the language at all.
Sure it´s hard,different writing style as an example is hard on a westerner.
I´ve tried some home studying,it´s basically fun but a good teacher would be welcome.

[fa_jing]

It's hard, I took 18 months of intensive chinese in college, learned 1000 characters. After 6 months of French, I could speak and read French much better than I could Chinese. Also, I have lost almost all my Chinese knowledge in 7-8 years, the only thing I remember is Qing Ni Gei Wo Lau Mian. Hao jou bu jian and Xing Nian Quai Le.
-FJ

[IronFist]

Japanese is much easier than some languages in some respects. It has no gender of nouns, no noun cases, no plural forms to memorize, no verb conjugations based on person (ie. "you go" is the same word as "I go" which is the same as "he/she goes", etc), etc.

But it's got other stuff that makes it hard.

IronFist

[IronFist]

The two funniest parts of that website:

1. Kanji also have different pronounciations depending on where they are in the word, how old you are, and what day it is.

2. http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~thoureau/classmates.jpg

:D

IronFist

[guohuen]

That was hilarious! I have a friend that goes by the name Dashi because no English speakers can possibly pronounce his real name. Sort of like the hard consenant in ren/zen. He just laughs at me.

[rogue]

Nice article on speaking Japanese (http://www.24fightingchickens.com/shotokan/heresy/haragei.html)

The part about describing every little thing was right on the money. On one job the company I was at was owned by a Japanese firm. Went out to a sub shop with a couple of the boys (to practice the English) and the conversation went
Japanese guy A. "This sandwich is big"
Japanese guy B. "Yes very big, and it has <Japanese word for onions>"
Japanese guy A. "Yes and peppers, Rouge what kind of peppers are these"
Rogue. "Green"
Brief silence "..."
A & B go on in Japanese for a bit (Louge big poopy head, Hai!) and then back to English about American Football.

Didn't get until weeks later that I wasn't playing the game correctly and my one word answer made them think I wasn't interested in their sammich discussion, so they switched to something they thought I'd like better. Nice guys but inscrutible.;)

[neito]

sticky fingers has been to Osaka? Osaka-ben wakarahen

[Mr Punch]

This article is terrible!



"English Sentence:
Jane went to the school.

Same Sentence In Japanese:
School Jane To Went Monkey Apple Carbeurator."


Anyone who knows even the most basic Japanese knows this should be:

School to Jane Monkey Apple Carburettor Went If-you-don't-mind-if-orwould-be-so-good-as-to-do-me-an-honourable-favour-with-your-presence-oh-please-I'm-being-so-rude.

[ewallace]

Hey mat, your mom was teaching me some japenese the other night. I think she was only letting me hear the vowels on the first date....I mean night. Yeah...night is what I meant.

:)



Sorry. I owed you one.

[neito]

jane went to school. = jane school at go did.
i'm pretty sure thats what it would look like. japanese is easier if you have taken french before. their grammer has a similar backwardness to it.

[neito]

i think i will mention that japanese language courses are notorious for making it harder than it needs to be. conversational japanese is much easier since you can use some pretty short, and sometimes one word sentences.

[chingei]

Originally posted by neito
i think i will mention that japanese language courses are notorious for making it harder than it needs to be. conversational japanese is much easier since you can use some pretty short, and sometimes one word sentences.

is that the goal of a language course?

[neito]

no, but depending what your personal goals are, you may find that conversational japanese is easier and more useful. personally i realise that i will never be fluent in japanese. but, the simple phrases i learned from working with japanese people have proven very useful. the long sentences i learned in class are just too much for me to spit out at once. i know that learning written japanese will give you a better understanding of the language, but my intent is not to conquer it, only to survive. when traveling in japan i had to use japanese language abouit 97% of the time. mostly in a semi formal(talking to strangers) situation. even though i uttered the usual sumimasen(excuseme) all the time, my one word phrases probably came off kind of rude. however, i figure that since i am obviously a european they will not assume that it is due to my ignorance of the language not my rude nature. and of course i try to be as polite as possible. if you have ever talked to a canadian you will notice that we say sorry all the time anyway

[chingei]

Originally posted by neito
since i am obviously a european

if you have ever talked to a canadian you will notice that we say sorry all the time anyway

so canada is in Europe, eh?

must be that continental drift thing...

[NorthernMantis]

You've eaten at a few Japanese restaurants, seen some anime, hosted an exchange student, and had a Japanese girlfriend. And now, somewhere in ..

Man I wish I had a Japanese girlfriend to relate. Hey Ryu don't you have any groupies I could borrow?:D

[Ryu]

"Ryu don't you have any groupies I could borrow?


__________________


Not anymore no. :) The English Club thing is over with. Most of the "groupies" I knew I wouldn't be at all interested in. Their only opinions were on such things as cell phones and clothes.

.... I spent my time trying to chase mature and intelligent women who were out of my league. It was fun, I recommend it to everyone..... *grumble grumble*

:D

Ryu