日本語会話を練習するためにこのスレッドを作りました。日本語が分かる者はどうぞこのスレッドに日本語を使 ってください。こちらからよろしくお願いします。m(__)m
I've made this thread for online Japanese conversation practice. Non-Japanese speakers are also welcome to post any Japanese language related questions/comments. :)
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日本語会話を練習するためにこのスレッドを作りました。日本語が分かる者はどうぞこのスレッドに日本語を使 ってください。こちらからよろしくお願いします。m(__)m
I've made this thread for online Japanese conversation practice. Non-Japanese speakers are also welcome to post any Japanese language related questions/comments. :)
sigh, unfortunately my computer doesnt show the katakana or something symbols:(:(:(
yay! now i can continue with my anime work! i don't know where my dictionary is so, what is 'uki uki' and 'biko' as in 'biko-neko'. sorry, there words relating to my work, and they sometimes are from memory.
ウキウキ(uki-uki) is an onomatopoeia for joy or happiness.
"bikoneko" might be 美子猫 which means "pretty kitty."
美 (bi) = pretty, beauty
子猫 (koneko) = kitten
yep... that brings back memories. thanks for the grammer i forgot that 'bi' was seperate. as for 'uki uki' it rhymes with 'yuki' so, 'uki uki Yuki'. my icon pic doesn't show an 'uki uki yuki'(tora) just a blanked faced 'Yuki'(tora)!
Also, what is 'Kirameku'. I've lost my notes and arn't sure on what it means exactly. (got it out of a kanji book) is it 'shining, sparkling or glittering?'
many thanks
Yes, きらめく (kirameku) means shining, sparkling, glittering, twinkling etc.
From this thread:
Heh... the Romanisation on that "Granzort" box made me smile. While "Madō" (魔動) means "demon motion", due to a lack of accent mark on the "o" it says "mado" (窓) which means "window" ;) :D
I've decided I want to start practicing my Japanese as much as possible, so this thread would be a great way for me to do so ... but I don’t know how to make my computer type in Japanese, could someone tell me how to type in Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji?
Also when someone says to you "Hisashiburidesne" what do you answer with?
You need get a computer from Japan.Quote:
Originally Posted by Firestorm
Just kidding. It depends on what operating system you're running.
Here are some links:
For Microsoft Windows PC
Fedora 12 (Linux)
Mac OS X
Unix
May vary depending on Operating System, but on Windows once you've enabled the language bar you should see it on the bottom right of your monitor, near the clock. It should be a small blue square with "EN" (English) written in it. Right click and maximise it and the language toolbar should be on the top of your screen. You can then use your mouse and click on it which will produce a drop down menu with the available languages you've installed (e.g. English (Australia) / Japanese). Choose Japanese. Alternatively you can just hit ALT + SHIFT to toggle between languages (which is very useful when switching between languages in the middle of typing!).Quote:
Originally Posted by Firestorm
Once you've selected Japanese it's default in Roomaji, which means you can still type like in English. The third option from the left should be "Input Method". Select this and choose either "Hiragana" or "Full-width Katakana."
Let's start with typing in Hiragana and Kanji first. Once you've selected "Hiragana" just type in Japanese Roomaji. But remember that ん is typed as "NN" (double-N). Also remember to type particles as they are in Roomaji, so for example the particle-wa is "HA" and particle-e is "HE".
So if you want to type "Konnichi wa" you neet to change the input method to Hiragana and type "K O N N I C H I H A" then hit enter to confirm.
So you will get this:
KO = こ
NN = ん
NI = に
CHI = ち
HA = は
Result----------> こんにちは
To type in Kanji you do the same thing but hit SPACE to see options for Kanji. So again, for "Konnichi wa" I would type KONNICHIHA and get こんにちは, but before hitting enter I hit SPACE. At first the computer will simply highlight こんにちは in blue, so hit space again and a drop down menu will appear. Select the first option and hit enter and こんにちは will instantly convert to 今日は.
In some cases there may be multiple Kanji options. For example if I type "SEI" (せい) and hit SPACE, I will see pages and pages of options! You simply scroll down and select which one you want. Usually the most commonly used Kanji are listed first. The list gets shorter if you can type in more syllables, e.g. if I type GAKUSEI (がくせい) and hit enter, there's only 3 options. Sometimes none of the options are what you want in which case you'll have to do each part separately and scroll through the pages until you find the Kanji you want. You can also just hit the number next to the kanji you want instead of using your mouse (I usually find hot keys faster than mousing).
Some useful short cuts:
CHI can be inputted as "TI"
TSU can be inputted as "TU"
SHI can be inputted as "SI"
Also:
For this JI (ぢ) you must type "DI"
For particle O (を) you must type "WO"
For this ZU (づ) you must type "DU"
To make anything half size type "X" in front of it. e.g. A = あ, but XA = ぁ
Typing in Katakana works the same way as typing in Kanji, but it won't usually convert words to Kanji since Katakana is principally used for writing foreign words. So if I want to write "Optimus Prime" I would type "O-PU-TE-XI-MA-SU PU-RA-I-MU" which gives me this: オプティマス プライム
That's like "Long time no see," so you'd just reply with something appropriate... like maybe, 「ええ、そうですね。おひさしぶりですね」Quote:
Originally Posted by Firestorm
cool, now i just need to find the disc so i can start typing in japanese
Thanks, i knew it meant something like "long time no see" I just wasnt sure how to reply, every class when i arrive i go through the same conversation with my teacher,
Sensei: oo [name]san, konnichiwa
Me: Konnichiwa
Sensei: Genki desuka?
Me: Hai, Genki desu
Sensei: Hisashiburidesune
Me: ..... :confused: (i havnt been sure what to answer with)
Perhaps you could answer with 「へええ、そんなにおひさしぶりじゃないとおもいますよ。」... cos don't you see your teacher on a regular basis? "ひさしぶり" is something you usually say if you haven't seen someone in ages.
Also, if you're ever stuck on how to reply to someone in Japanese, this will help:
How to speak fluent Japanese without saying a word
Part 2
:)
I found the Japanese word for "Blobfish" -- it's ニュウドウカジカ Nyuudoukajika
...now I know the Japanese word for what is probably nature's f'ugliest animal. :p
Yesterday one of my senior students pointed out something rather enlightening that I'd never noticed before -- we were talking about the cinematic technique used in anime, and about how anime, especially Shojo Anime, focuses on the eyes to transmit emotions to the audience. Anyway, this student points out that in her observation, Japanese culture tends to look at the eyes for emotion whereas Western culture looks at the mouth. I looked at her in a perplexed way, and she pointed out the differences between Western and Japanese emoticons -- Western emoticons often alter the mouth whereas Japanese emoticons tend to change the eyes. Holy cow, she's right!!
Western emoticons: :-) :-D :-S :-( >:-( :-O :-/ :-P etc.
Japanese emoticons: (^_^) (O_o) (x_X) (の_の) (「_「) (T_T) (>_>) (>_<) (V_V) (@_@) etc.
...obviously there are exceptions, but generally speaking I think it's a fair observation. :)
A customer of mine owns a sushi bar (claims he is going to be the McDonalds of sushi bars:rolleyes:) The business is spelt Mia-Suma. How would you pronounce this Gok?
My twisted mind just thought of something...
Transformers United Soundwave's number is UN-05...
ウンゴ → ウンコ (poop)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...nvoy_unchi.jpg
*immature.giggle* Yeah, small things amuse small minds. :p
Offhand I'd say that BA Philosophy & Cultural Studies might be 哲学と文化学文学士号 and Diploma in Education might be 教育専門士; please give me some time to double check these translations.
Otherwise, you could just say 哲学学部・文学学科, cos that would be similar to what was written on my student ID when I did my undergraduate study in Japan (mine was 外国語学部・日本語学科). I did my post grad study in Australia and not Japan -- so I'm not entirely sure about the names of post graduate courses in Japanese... so I'll have to check on that.
Cheers Goki, having checked those off against the wonders of Google Translate the BA is spot on, while the Grad Dip Ed is coming up as 成人教育の卒業証書
For anyone who's interested the site is here http://translate.google.com/ but it's only up 'til November for reasons of purported abuse. Pity 'cos it puts Babelfish to shame so far.
Well, I'm off to Japan agian tomorrow to visit a friend who's studying abroad
so i need to figure out how to get to where he lives
could someone tell me how to ask "how do i get to shin-yokohama station" or "which train line takes me to shin-yokohama station"
I've missed my last few weeks of Japanese class and now my mind has gone blank on how to ask for directions
Goki Sempai ... (or someone else who is good at Japanese) I have another japanese question
could someone explain the term "Aniki" for me
I've heard it means big brother, but I've also heard it is a term only/mainly used by the Yakuza
As far as i know it is to denote big brother or a superior man much like prolly Senpai but less formal.... Hence the term is used to call the wrestler (also a pornstar) Billy Herrington in Japan. Prolly because of his excellent physique and wrestling prowess (? - open to debate:p) and not for being a pornstar :D:D hehehe. As for the Yakuza aspect... well I have no idea one must prolly be well immersed in the culture/life in Japan to fully grasp why.
It's an archaic word for older brother. It originated as an honorific term of older brother, kinda like 兄上 (あにうえ; in Transformers Car Robot Speedbreaker addresses Mach Alert and Wild Ride as 兄上, likewise Mach Alert addresses Wild Ride as 兄上). These days it's used as a slang reference for any older brother figure and is commonly used in 'street slang' (including yakuza slang).
A lot of slang words in Modern Japanese come from archaic honorific terms. For example 貴様(きさま)is considered offensive today, but it was originally an honorific second person address (similar to 貴方(あなた); it even uses the same first Kanji); ditto お前(おまえ; although it's often slurred as おめぇ in gutter street talk).
I really don't recommend you start using these words in your 毎日会話 ... unless you want to sound like a chav. I don't recommend it though.
うっす!
P.S.: 兄上 is pretty safe if you want to use that. Although thou speech shalt verily forsooth soundeth of yon Oldendays. ;) Asgaaaaaaaaard! *spins Mjölnir*
Hi, was wondering if anyone can tranlate these Q & A Ultra Magnus has for us?
http://thumbnails57.imagebam.com/147...b147110362.jpg
From what I have been told so far it could be something along the lines of how big is trypticon? .... bigger than a mountain!?! :confused:
Q1: How big is Metroflex (Metroplex)?
Q2: How powerful is Dinozaurer (Trypticon)?
Answers:
A1: Total length 1km with arms about as long as Sunshine 60 (a skyscraper in Ikebukuro Tokyo, 239.7m tall).
A2: According to my investigation I understand that he has enough power to destroy Mount Fuji with one strike of his claws.
It's not rude, but it's not polite either. You wouldn't use it with a person of senior social rank or someone you don't know well. You could use it with good friends - guys often use it with girls, as well as kids. It's colloquial but not offensive... unless you pronounce it as おめぇ then that starts sounding nasty. ;)
A variant of おまえ is 手前 (てまえ), which is certainly not polite and is considered offensive when the pronunciation is slurred as てめぇ!
that makes more sense, since when i watch J-dramas i hear guys hitting on girls by saying "Omae" and that made me confused :o
"Temee" i have heard a few times in anime and dramas and pretty much gathered that it was rude (since it was always punk characters and really angry people that said it)
next word I'm unsure on "Umai" since i hear it for food, talet, and other things
(sorry to keep asking questions, but I really want to improve my Japanese Vocab / Fluency)
It can be used to describe anything that's good or awesome - either something well done or tasty. :)
I suppose it has a broader meaning than お上手 or おいしい because お上手 refers to proficiency and おいしい just refers to flavour - whereas うまい covers both. :) So you can use うまい as a synonym for either じょうず or おいしい.
e.g.
アーシーさんのサンスクリット古語はじょうずですね
"Arcee's Classical Sanskrit is good, isn't it?"
アーシーさんのサンスクリット古語はうまいですね
"Arcee's Classical Sanskrit is good, isn't it?"
アーシーさんの料理はおいしいですね!
"Arcee's cooking is delicious, isn't it?"
アーシーさんの料理はうまいですね!
"Arcee's cooking is delicious, isn't it?"
Btw, the best way to improve your Japanese fluency is to just go hang out with Japanese speakers. The best kind are the ones who speak NO English. :D And if they try to speak to you in English, keep answering back in Japanese... I find in most cases they'll give up and switch over to Japanese. :) Although it's funny when they don't... some older members here may remember Tiger Convoy - the Japanese Transfan who lived in Australia for a while. At first he and I spoke to each other in Japanese, and sometimes at meets I would help translate for him -- but as his English got gooderer, he would start talking back to me in English (how dare he take my advice and turn it back on me! :p) -- so we would end up having these weird bilingual conversations where I would talk to him in Japanese and he'd keep talking to me in English! :p Heh.
Thank you Goki-Senpai :D
maybe i should be calling you Goki-Sensei instead lol
I really need someone i can talk to in Japanese for longer than just 1 hour a week, (japanese class)
heh , just use oishi for good/delicious with food related wise eheheh.
Continued from here
Why drink Australian beer in Japan? (you can do that when you get back) -- might as well try Japanese beers while you're there. Where else can you purchase alcohol from vending machines?! :D Enjoy your time in Japan and just immerse yourself in the culture and language - for better or worse (every culture/society has its good and bad elements). Worry about experiencing Aussie things for when you're in Australia. ;) When I was in Japan I made a conscious effort to distance myself from the English language and Anglo-culture and tried as much as possible to immerse myself in Japanese language and culture.
Truth be told I'm not too fussed on the beer count, the beer here isn't too bad and I'm rather fond of Kirin. Couple it with it being cheaper than Oz, and a certain weakness for sake and umeshu and I'm quite content booze-wise.
Sadly vending machines require an ID card now, so I just use supermarkets and combinis.:(
Pity you can't get decent wine here, but again sake and umeshu are nice enough to make up for it
Food-wise I really miss affordable cheese, and Vegemite on toast for breakfast is pretty much a staple. I'm not a morning person and am a slow eater to boot so having something I can make easily and quickly and eat while doing the morning prep routine is pretty important.
Ultimately though, I'm not looking to 'go native' even though I do love it here in Osaka. A lot of gaijin and especially JETs do and all power to them, but there are aspects of being both Australian and internationally minded that I like and want to keep, just as there's a lot of valuable traits in the Japanese way I'd like to take (and am taking) on board. My house has a fold-out couch for a bed because it's more comfortable for me than a futon, and because having my home be effectively the pseudo-uni-student setup I'm used to makes me feel at home and reduces culture shock. I'll still happily sit on the floor with guests and when the girlfriend is around we usually do, but I also have the option of a couch. I loved going to the Sports Day at my chugakko, but found the tea ceremony one of my shogakko did was less enjoyable, albeit still quite interesting on a cultural level.
Similarly while I like a lot of Japanese foods I also like pizza and hamburgers. Language-wise I try to use Japanese where I can, but at my very very basic level I still have to resort to English more often than not. Most of the TV (well, computer files) I watch is Japanese anime and movies with subtitles and the occasional English movie, while most of my news comes from the ABC and international sites like the BBC and Al Jazeera.
Besides the fact that my job as a JET ALT is as much about exposing the students to gaijin and our gaijin-y ways as it is about teaching English (ergo 'going native' would be a bit counterproductive), IMO the best approach to living overseas is to try and combine useful/positive aspects of your own culture and the cultures you live with, with the end goal of being the most well-rounded person you can be.:)
Sorry if that was a bit rambling, I'm pretty wiped out atm.:o
[QUOTE=Ode to a Grasshopper;279504]Truth be told I'm not too fussed on the beer count, the beer here isn't too bad and I'm rather fond of Kirin.
Drinking a Kirin as we speak. I heard fosters was different/better overseas but I wouldn't drink it here or there.
I agree with Goktimus about immersing yourself. I'd love to go one day:rolleyes:(dreaming) .. Maybe take some cheese.. live out my life on the fat profits of being a cheese dealer.. buy all those Japanese only releases.
one day....
one day..:rolleyes:
I'll show you rambly!! :p
Yeah, I'm not a massive fan of Japanese bread. Much prefer the taste of Aussie bread. Mind you, Aussie bread probably has WAY more kilojoules in it. :p
To this day I still prefer sitting on the floor. ;) (as anyone here who's been in my Transformer room will know :p)
Also, please understand by saying "immerse" oneself into a culture, it doesn't mean you have to like everything. I think it's impossible to find any one culture where you can like everything. There are things about Japan that I like and dislike and things about Australia that I like and dislike too... and I'm sure you have your own likes and dislikes when it comes to JP and AU.
Yeah... not a fan of Japanese pizza (blecch). I do like Japanese burgers though... especially Mos Burger! :D But one thing I cannot deny is the health benefits of living a Japanese lifestyle. I may be a podgy fatso now, but when I was in Japan I was thin and tanked. I was at the peak of my physical health... and damn I wish I could get back to that! :(
Pics for comparison...
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...tomangaken.jpghttp://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...k_makeover.jpg
L: me living in Japan, R: me living in Australia
I personally avoided using English, and this included not seeking out Japanese people who can speak English... because as you know, the vast majority of people in Japan don't speak English! (so it's really easy!) But I know a lot of Gaijin who do seek out or allow themselves to be drawn toward English speaking Japanese people -- and they are attracted to Gaijin like moths to a flame as they're keen to practise their English.
I didn't have home internet when I was in Japan. :p
I was there as a university student, so I wasn't required to speak English to anyone really -- but all English speaking students make extra pocket money by coaching/tutoring English at jukus or kateikyou (home tutoring) etc... and that's what I did. So when I was "on the job," okay, I would use some English -- even then, Japanese was the language of instruction. There's no way my students would have understood the subtleties of dental fricatives or egalitarianism if I explained them in English! :)
But anyway, the only time I used English would be:
+ With other English speaking foreigners - even then, it was sometimes. As our Japanese improved, we actually started speaking Japanese amongst ourselves. So we'd only use English (which increasingly became a hybrid Japanese-English, e.g. "Nee, ashita you wanna meet at the eki?" ;)) with more recently arrived foreigners - but for any Gaijin who'd been in Japan for 3 months or more, we often just exclusively spoke Japanese to each other.
+ During tutoring/coaching.
So basically, the only time I used English with Japanese people was if they were paying me! Once the lesson was over - that's it, I'd be switching back to Japanese. Wanna speak more English? It'll cost you. ;)
Admittedly as a full time student (on a student visa - which restricts working hours), I only had limited amounts of tutoring/coaching time... as a full time ALT I guess you're pretty much on-call to use English for hours a day. But if I were a JET, I wouldn't use English outside of when I had to in my job. e.g. during explicit classroom tasks/activities. We have German ALTs at our school and they only speak German to our kids when they need to. Outside of class they speak English (e.g. socialising in the staffroom or outside of school etc. :)). With the younger kids they speak more English and with the senior HSC students they'll speak more German.
I don't know about you, but when I used to coach/tutor English in Japan, I would actively correct all their text books from American English to Standard English! And I'd also correct their pronunciation too, e.g. insist on the use of Received Pronunciation etc. :D If anyone questioned it I'd tell them that I speak/teach 英語 (えいご), not 米語 (べいご)! ;)
Fosters is crap, and I say this as a trained bartender. Most export beer from most countries is pretty bad.
As far as immersion goes, it's less about how much you like a place than about how much you get into it. For me I fond if I go out on nights before work then I don't do so well at my job the next day, so I try to focus on work first and play/immersion second.
I've got five years here, I'll be plenty immersed and more so as my Japanese improves. Right now I'm one of those recently arrived foreigners, and one whose job is largely pandering to those English speaking Japanese.
On which topic I have to go now and see one in particular...gomen.:o
Yeah, that's fair enough. I was there as a uni student and... I don't know if you're aware of this yet, but Japanese undergraduate university is a complete bludge. Nobody studies - they just party a LOT. It's like in compensation for their senior high school years where they have no social lives and study their butts off to get into university, but once they're in, they need to learn how to socially interact (i.e. get drunk :p). So JP university is less about べんきょう and more about のみかい! :D Which was great for me, because basically partying was the main way that I learnt Japanese! :) It was far more efficient and fun than learning out of books. ;)
Having said that, I've heard that post-grad study in Japan is really hard though (I did my post-grad in AU; only ever did undergrad in JP so I can't comment first hand about JP post grad study - but JP post grad students all tell me it's heaps hard).
Five years! :eek: That's freakin' awesome! :D I'm sure you'll be more fluent than me before you can say りゅうぐうのおとひめのもとゆいのきりはずし! (that's a real word btw ;p)
I have to say that Fosters sucks as well. I love alot of the aussie beer myself, that one not lol. Tooheys Old or any other dark beers are my fav. I would say I'm a bit of a coniseur of beers. I tend to go to Dan Murphys and go in the international beer isle and buy whatever looks good, or the name appeals to me lol.
As for vegimite, yes that does rule, and does kinda suck that you can't get it cheaply over there. Why not ask some aussies over here to send you some? gotta be cheaper that way than buying it there.