I want to learn Japanese

yah we need to know... :lol:

thats a good start

http://genki.japantimes.co.jp/self/self.html

This has a number of useful links (online flashcards, mini-quizzes, that kind of stuff) that might help you out. Not sure if it'll be too useful though since it's intended for use with the "Genki" series of text books.

Does anyone know a website that's good for learning kanji? If I knew some more kanji, I might actually be able to understand most of your average hentai manga. (only so many different ways to discuss what's going on in those you know?) Of course, なか is the one I see the most that I personally understand.

Also, how to type kanji on an American laptop? I've just been using the kitsune firefox add-on. This is getting long-winded...

wow, thx dude... i'll check it out... lets hope this will help me learn faster..^^

seriously dude just go find a school that teaches it, a weeks worth of it should help a bit and a months worth would be really helpful.

well,i think youre right... but, i dont have enough budget to do that, and besides im just studying it whenever i have free time... im not serious serious... but i do want to learn it...

well the internets the only option i guess

yeah dude... well, i should be resting now... thx for the help guys! *yawn*

see u 2morrow.. :D

So how much words you know

look above >__>



@J
i learn random bits of japanese from anime, my friends who speak it, people here on FAKKU!, and looking some up myself. check out this site. it's a universal translator i use when i have to come up with name for my books and stories.

The old section about learning Japanese:
https://www.fakku.net/viewforum.php?f=67

There are a lot of useful links there.



From what I understand, there are three things to learn: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. The thing you posted (なか) is hiragana and means "naka." (But I have no idea what "naka" means. I've only tried to learn the symbols so far, which is probably a bad decision.)

Most doujinshi use only a few hiragana and/or katakana. The ones I see most often are は (ha), あ (a), and わ (wa). Not surprisingly since there are a lot of "AAAAAAAAAH!"s when people are fucking.

I'm no master, nowhere close, but it's been my experience that learning the hiragana and katakana is fun, because after you study what one symbol means, you'll probably see it used in a manga or doujin, and you'll feel cool because you know what it means. And it might also help you to learn new words, though you should consult a dictionary to confirm your ideas.

Japanese Version

Tanaka: Konnichiwa.
Kimura: Konnichiwa.
Tanaka: Kimura-san, kochira wa watashi no tomodachi desu.
Yamada Hiroko-san desu.
Yamada: Hajimemashite. Yamada Hiroko desu. Douzo yoroshiku.
Kimura: Kimura Ichirou desu. Douzo yoroshiku.
Yamada: Gakusei desu ka.
Kimura: Hai, gakusei desu.
Yamada: Go-senmon wa.
Kimura: Keizai desu. Anata mo gakusei desu ka.
Yamada: Iie, hisho desu.

Kimura: Sou desu ka.


English Version

Tanaka: Hello.
Kimura: Hello.
Tanaka: Mr. Kimura, this is my friend. This is Hiroko Yamada.
Yamada: How do you do? I'm Hiroko Yamada. Nice to meet you.
Kimura: I'm Ichirou Kimura. Nice to meet you.
Yamada: Are you a student?
Kimura: Yes, I am.
Yamada: What is your specialization?
Kimura: Economics. Are you a student, too?
Yamada: No, I'm a secretary.
Kimura: I see.














I have a question, is it easier to go to a class or is self study better?

the ideal way to learn japanese to to memorise the letters first and with each new word you learn, you find out how to spell them.

that way, you don't have to relearn a word as if it were something of an entirely new language.

Not saying it's going to be easy though, hirigana and katakana are simple-ish enough

but kanji will make you want to die or kill the nearest conveniently killable thing (if that thing isn't yourself)

"fuck yourself" eh...
hmmm...from what i know of the syntax and the words involved (english has quite a wide range in comparison to japanese-its the writing and playing with kanji is what makes most of its complex word play and depth)
sex=fuck
yourself=you=masturbation

so..."kimi wa (hitori de?) ike no lovu hoteru desu"

"go take yourself to a love hotel"

I DO need to buy a dictionary, that's a good point. I've mastered hirigana and most katakana, though katakana is harder for me since we don't use it nearly as often in class.

The kanji for naka is this: 中 and means "inside". I'm sure you can see why this is common in hentai doujins. :roll:

Hirigana and Katakana are the cakewalk part though, where we english speaking folks get off easy and learn all of our alphabet in our first year of schooling, the Japanese are learning Kanji year after year after year. My japanese teacher (a japanese woman from Japan) believes that to be able to get along comfortably while in Japan and read a newspaper or something like that, you'd need to know at least 2,000 unique kanji.

So get studying. I've got like... 30 or so down. ~_~



Japanese sentence structure is balls. (imo) Something closer would probably be: "Anata wa hitori lovu hoteru ni ikkimasuyo." Which is roughly:"You're going to a love hotel by yourself!" Though that's probably wrong too. I'm not sure on the proper usage of "hitori" (alone) or how to tell someone to do something without implying you're doing it too, so I used "ikkimasuyo" which is ikkimasu: to go (present; affirmative form) + yo (which is used as a suffix on desu to imply that you're stating something strongly, no idea if I can throw it on verbs or not.)

Quick tips: Verbs go at the end of the sentence when using polite speech, this doesn't apply as strictly when using "te" form, but I just got to that in my studies so you're stuck with my pseudo polite version for now.

ike no lovu hoteru desu This part's a lovely example of what not to do. ike (the verb, I'm assuming you meant "to go" dictionary form of which is "iku") conjugates to "ikkimasu" in the present tense, and goes to the end. Also, when connecting a place intended as a destination to a verb, you use either "ni" or "he" as a particle, not "no". Finally, desu isn't used in a sentence like this that ends in a verb. "masu" form (as seen with the verb in masu, big surprise there) erases the need for the desu.

Besides, desu is polite, you're trying to be mean, so fuck it.

And I have no idea why I got so into this, probably just trying to prove to myself that I'm not TOTALLY useless at japanese... ah fuck it. When I finish my shower I'm gonna put more work into this until I can get the most offensive sentence I can manage using my textbook.

EDIT: Realized while in the shower (lathering my sexy bod) that I botched my translation of my own words. How fail is that? Fixed now.

wow, so many people helping me... thx for your help guyz.... :cry:

i'll check out everything you put here... thx!!!! :D :D :D

If you need somebody to practice with i would be more than willing to help. Ive taken 2 years here at school and need practice now to get better and to shake the rust off.

PM me with anything.

Nihogo wa hanasemasu ka.

wow... thx dude...^^ yes i'll pm you if ever i'll need help arigato!,...^^

Nearly everybody I've talked to on the subject (or heard discuss the subject) has said that learning in a classroom is ideal. And it makes sense. If you use only online materials, there's a chance that you'll get confused about something, and no one will be able to tell you that you're wrong.

I've been kind of learning bits and pieces of the language over the past couple of months, hoping not to actually learn the language but to be well prepared when I do take a class. My plan is to go into a Japanese class and have no problems at all for the first month. I imagine that's when most people will drop out of the class, once they realize how difficult Japanese can be for a person who speaks English.

Yeah, classes are better. You'll actually be speaking to people in the language you'll be learning. If you stick with the program long enough, maybe you can even become a foreign exchange student or something.