I want to learn Japanese

[MistressEnvy]

silverstez

I learn online and made some Japanese friends who help me too.

If you want I can help you out with the basics?

Hello = konnichiwa
Goodbye = ja ne
How are you? = Genki desu ka?
I am well = Genki desu

I think that is a good start to have

Actually hello is the only word that I know in Japanese. I learned that back in elementary school lol.

[cemap95]

Hello. All of my Japanese is self-taught and I have read several books and tried out many iPod apps. The one I found the most helpful for everyday conversation was Lonely Planet's Japanese book. It comes with a CD which I found utterly useless but the mini-book was really helpful.

I also have and app on my iPod from Mirai Languages and it's the Japanese one. That is extremely helpful if you don't know a lot. There's always the Idiot's Guide to Japanese, which helps you with pronounciation and stuff. Anime is good if you can catch on to the more slack phrases but I would suggest sticking to the books for the beginning. It takes way to long to have an actual knowledge base from anime. (Believe me, I have been learning the language for 5 years now and I have learned a lot more in the last two than the 3 years of watching anime and writing down notes).

This is getting long but one last thing. It's a good idea to know your hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Cue cards or writing the symbols out repetively are helpful. I have a set of cue cards for katakana and hiragana and since I'm not so great at katakana, I test myself when I read manga to see if I can guess what all the sound effects mean before seeing the T/N at the bottom.

OKAY! That's all I had to say. I could teach you if you want but I'd much rather do it in a forum than a PM. (^_^)/ 　がんばって！

[PrincessNeko]

Here's a rather helpful dictionary:



Also, the textbook that was most recommended to me was the Genki series.

Here on Gaia, there is a language learning resource somewhere around here that should be pretty helpful. Something mint... question

So why do you want to learn Japanese?

[Kimi-inufan2011]

cemap95

Hello. All of my Japanese is self-taught and I have read several books and tried out many iPod apps. The one I found the most helpful for everyday conversation was Lonely Planet's Japanese book. It comes with a CD which I found utterly useless but the mini-book was really helpful.

I also have and app on my iPod from Mirai Languages and it's the Japanese one. That is extremely helpful if you don't know a lot. There's always the Idiot's Guide to Japanese, which helps you with pronounciation and stuff. Anime is good if you can catch on to the more slack phrases but I would suggest sticking to the books for the beginning. It takes way to long to have an actual knowledge base from anime. (Believe me, I have been learning the language for 5 years now and I have learned a lot more in the last two than the 3 years of watching anime and writing down notes).

This is getting long but one last thing. It's a good idea to know your hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Cue cards or writing the symbols out repetively are helpful. I have a set of cue cards for katakana and hiragana and since I'm not so great at katakana, I test myself when I read manga to see if I can guess what all the sound effects mean before seeing the T/N at the bottom.

OKAY! That's all I had to say. I could teach you if you want but I'd much rather do it in a forum than a PM. (^_^)/ 　がんばって！

you would probably be a better teacher than I am, i'm not very experienced... so i'm kinda thinking that i'm gonna quit my teaching career on gaia, besides I'd rather just speak what I know.
<^.^'> - sorry guys!

[cemap95]

Kimi-inufan2011

you would probably be a better teacher than I am, im not very experienced... so im kinda thinking that im gonna quit my teaching career on gaia, besides Id rather just speak what I know.
^.^ - sorry guys!

Thank you for recommending me. That actually makes me a lot happier than you think. I hope you conitnue to explore the Japanese language. It really is fun ^-^)

[M99-Etorphine]

My boyfriend took a semester of Japanese at college.

He stressed out so much, since it is a difficult thing to learn, on a time crunch.

[Sekushi-Hige]

If you live the US.
*points to sig*

[paramecium99]

MistressEnvy

silverstez

I learn online and made some Japanese friends who help me too.

If you want I can help you out with the basics?

Hello = konnichiwa
Goodbye = ja ne
How are you? = Genki desu ka?
I am well = Genki desu

I think that is a good start to have

Actually hello is the only word that I know in Japanese. I learned that back in elementary school lol.

haha yeah but you have to start somewhere, I say look for podcasts, youtube videos and written references on the internet. Also watching a lot of anime and Jdramas you can actually pick up on a lot. Don't base a lot of your learning on what white people tell you though, personally I have had bad experiences learning through white people.

[lelai]

DragonForce97

MistressEnvy

I always thought it was an interesting language. Iver never had the time to learn it and I have no idea where I can learn.

also, I suggest looking at these two links

Wiktionary - I / Me
Wiktionary - You

Advice. Don't use kisama, temae, or omae when having polite coversations. Unless u want the person pissed at you.

What about yatsu or yatsura?

[AelvirValfortLugn]

lelai

DragonForce97

MistressEnvy

I always thought it was an interesting language. Iver never had the time to learn it and I have no idea where I can learn.

also, I suggest looking at these two links

Wiktionary - I / Me
Wiktionary - You

Advice. Don't use kisama, temae, or omae when having polite coversations. Unless u want the person pissed at you.

What about yatsu or yatsura?

yatsu is an informal he/she pronoun, It translates as : "A thing (in this case : very informal), dude, guy."
yatsu is the same but plural, as "ra" is a pluralizing suffix.

[MistressEnvy]

Grape Expectations

Wow. Well, Im not trying to put down Kimis teaching strategies, but I think the best place to start with learning Japanese is with hiragana　ひらがな) and katakana カタカナ). Honorifics are a bit confusing, especially if you know little about Japan, the culture, the language, or in general. My best friend is Japanese, and shes taught/teaching me.

I can understand if you just want to learn from Kimi, but Id be happy to teach as well with the knowledge I know. I also know some kanji 漢字） which are some of the crazy, confusing Japanese characters, that Id be happy to help teach you about if you made it that far. Im familiar with the

Message me if youre interested. If not, good luck. smile Japanese really is a great language.

Im interested in learning from you as well. I would message you but I have to use my phone to get on here and it wont let me send messages for some reason.
Im familiar with the honorifics by the way.

[MistressEnvy]

Kimi-inufan2011

lesson 2: the different levels of respect

The Japanese use a sort of system to show how much you respect someone they often refer to this system as the honorary system.

there are certain ways of speaking to others depending on the different levels of respect.
for example: Ohayou gozaimasu good morning) is often what you would say to your sensei, or people that you dont know very well, but also for people who you must show respect to.
the shorter Ohayou is more for when you are talking to friends, or people that you like to hang out with.

so now that thats cleared up, lets actually mark out the different honorifics.
Its Study time!!! i want your next reply to include the different honorifics, and how they are used... so heres a site for you to use for study purposes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_honorifics
good luck to you who are willing to learn! ^.^ - 3

The different honorifics and how theyre used.


Im pretty sure this is right there honorifics are basically suffixes added on to words. For example here jn America we say Ms. Mrs, Mr ect. In Japan they say San, which is a title of respect typically between equals of any age. There is also chan which Expresses that the speaker finds a person endearing. Its used but isnt limited to babies, young children, cut animals, lovers, and teenage girls.
Bo is another diminutive that expresses endearment. Is like chan but is exclusively for boys instead of girls.
Kun is used by persons of senior status in addressingg to those of junior status, or by anyone when addressing make children and teenagers. Can he used by females when addressing a male theyre emotionally attatched to.
Dana is markedly more respectful version of San. Its used mainly to refer to people much higher in rank than oneself,
Senpai, kohai, and gakusei
Senpai is used to address to ones senior.
Kohai is used to address ones junior
Gakusei means student and isnt normally used as an honorific.

[Weeamoo]

I want to learn, too T-T
All I know is "Do you understand English?" And that's just how to say it. I'm trying, though!
Good luck!
I also like your siggy! Is that you?

[Kimi-inufan2011]

MistressEnvy

Kimi-inufan2011

lesson 2: the different levels of respect

The Japanese use a sort of system to show how much you respect someone they often refer to this system as the honorary system.

there are certain ways of speaking to others depending on the different levels of respect.
for example: Ohayou gozaimasu good morning) is often what you would say to your sensei, or people that you dont know very well, but also for people who you must show respect to.
the shorter Ohayou is more for when you are talking to friends, or people that you like to hang out with.

so now that thats cleared up, lets actually mark out the different honorifics.
Its Study time!!! i want your next reply to include the different honorifics, and how they are used... so heres a site for you to use for study purposes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_honorifics
good luck to you who are willing to learn! ^.^ - 3

The different honorifics and how theyre used.


Im pretty sure this is right there honorifics are basically suffixes added on to words. For example here jn America we say Ms. Mrs, Mr ect. In Japan they say San, which is a title of respect typically between equals of any age. There is also chan which Expresses that the speaker finds a person endearing. Its used but isnt limited to babies, young children, cut animals, lovers, and teenage girls.
Bo is another diminutive that expresses endearment. Is like chan but is exclusively for boys instead of girls.
Kun is used by persons of senior status in addressingg to those of junior status, or by anyone when addressing make children and teenagers. Can he used by females when addressing a male theyre emotionally attatched to.
Dana is markedly more respectful version of San. Its used mainly to refer to people much higher in rank than oneself,
Senpai, kohai, and gakusei
Senpai is used to address to ones senior.
Kohai is used to address ones junior
Gakusei means student and isnt normally used as an honorific.

congrazzles! that's right! <^w^> - yay!

[Adventurer17]

Im still a beginner but something that helps me out a ton is a program
called Drive Time Japanese. It comes with four CDs and a book.
It gives you a great stepping stone in learning the language.
Youll have to learn more after you learn that but like I said,
its a great start. I like it because I can listen to it in the car
when Im driving to work. Plus, I learn better by listening not
reading. Plus it gives you culture facts at the end of each
lesson too!

Quick question. Ive learnt that arigato means thanks and arigato
Gozaimasu means thank you very much but what does domo arigato
goazaimasu mean?