Japanese Speakers

[Khengi]

Any Japanese speakers here? If there's enough, maybe we could get a chat/practice thread going on. Machine translations obviously being a no-no, as they can be spotted a mile away :P

 

[digi-kun]

Sort of? I know a decent bit to know what's being said to me, but definitely not near enough to carry a relatively long convo, no less about anime or something along those lines. My accent is good, or at least better than most people, but at the same time, I don't think I'd be able to talk as fast as most (my talking speed isn't too good). Besides that, my base talking mode is informal, so nyeh. Was thinking of putting a basic guide up at some point, but that'll be a while, especially with finals right around the corner.

or wait? are you talking just posting here in Japanese? Cuz you can always just run your text through a translator(sorta)

 

[Alice]

You read my mind. I actually asked about this in the J-E Discussion thread, and never got a response.

I know quite a bit more than your average weaboo, but I'm no where near actually speaking it yet.
I also have a lot of sites that I can post if you guys are looking for learning resources.

or wait? are you talking just posting here in Japanese? Cuz you can always just run your text through a translator(sorta)

I was thinking more along the lines of a thread where you can ask what words mean and phrases mean, or how you should set up a certain sentence etc.

There are times where google translate, and jisho.org combined aren't enough to figure out what I'm reading, so it would be nice if I had someone I could ask about that stuff.

 

[Damien_lucifer]

Im much the same. Learning, have a good base knowledge and can utter cetain things.

What resources are you using?

Im using Tae Kims japanese guid to japanese grammar as my main tool, along with some other things.

Im also playing pokemon in japanese. and although im not traslating EVERY conversation i have on there, im doing some and learning from it.

 

[Alice]

^ Yeah, I used Tae Kim's guide too. (I suppose I could just ask on that forum... but it'd be easier to ask here. lol)

I also did the same thing you're doing with pokemon, except I'm reading Lucky Star: Brilliant Star. It has the kanji with furigana, so I can learn the kanji at the same time. So, it's pretty cool.

 

[Khengi]

Yeah, I really was just thinking about a chat thread in Japanese, but a help thread would work too, as any of us proficient enough could help everyone.

 

[Azumi]

Weeeell, I understand Japanese enough to get me off the weaboo list, but not enough to maintain a conversation without saying "I don't understand what you just said".

I agree with a help thread! I like helping people~ ^^ And it would certainly be fun since it's Japanese.

 

[Esper]

I'd call myself a speaker of sorts. I've carried on a couple of pretty lengthy conversations before, but they were punctuated with a lot of "what's that?" because there are lots of words I don't know, and people who speak fast or not very clearly can really throw me off. Like most people I'm better at reading/writing.

I would be up for helping people with their 日本語. And if we're throwing out resources there's a dictionary site I quite like, WWWJDIC, because it's pretty comprehensive and includes multiple search functions (kana, English, radicals, etc.) for words and kanji.

 

[Corvus of the Black Night]

I don't speak Japanese. Yet.

I'll be studying it in college so that I can return to Hiroshima. because unlike most of you I actually lived there lololol

/um, wait, wouldn't that be writing? Lol you don't speak on a forum lol

 

[Khengi]

Well, let's get a Japanese help thread started. I have the perfect person to help us out (native!).

 

[Alice]

Here are the sites I've used, in no particular order. (Maybe sticky them on the help thread when it's created.)

Dictionary:
https://jisho.org/


Best way to learn grammar:
https://guidetojapanese.org/learn/complete

Spoiler:

It has a page on learning hiragana/katakana, but I recommend using the steps further down in my post instead. Otherwise, this is great for learning grammar, and I definitely recommend it.

Google Translate:
https://translate.google.com/#ja|en|%0A

Spoiler:

This isn't really the most useful thing ever. Never trust what it says 100%, but sometimes it helps to get two translations if you're trying to figure out what a word means. (One from jisho.org, and then one from google translate.)

Another Dictionary:
https://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1C

Spoiler:

It's just another dictionary, but it also has a page for each kanji showing how to write them. I think jisho.org is way better as a dictionary, but it lacks that extra feature.)

Memorization help:
https://smart.fm/goals/search?autodetected=japanese&keyword=&language=ja

Spoiler:

The dictation option on this site is helpful, but otherwise, I don't really like it. Everyone else seems to though, so give it a shot. Definitely learn hiragana/katakana before trying to learn any kanji with it though.

Ultimate 1 day method of learning Hiragana and Katakana: (This is just the method I used, but it works really well. Also, this is definitely the first thing you should do, before trying to learn anything else.)

• First, visit this site, and copy the first hiragana chart onto paper. (There is another chart showing how to write them.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirigana

• Then, pick any song, and find the romaji lyrics for it. (Generally, you can find it, along with the song, on youtube.)

• Finally, just write down the lyrics in Hiragana. (Don't worry about whether the lyrics are actually kanji/katakana, all you're trying to do is memorize the hiragana.)

• You probably wont need to write out the whole song (that would take awhile) so, after you think you've gotten a decent way into it, try reading what you've written. (Hopefully you'll have used just about every character at that point.) If you can read through it without having to look at the chart, you're good to go.

• Done! To reinforce what you've learned, be sure to try and read every hiragana you see on niconico, youtube, or wherever else you might see it. This is actually really important to continue doing, even if you think you already know it well enough. It will help you read faster, and ensure that you never forget. (I still do it like a year later, and I can read pretty fast now.)

• Finally, repeat all of these steps with Katakana. It will be a bit tougher to learn, but don't give up on it! (Here's the chart for katakana: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katakana)

Good luck! I hope this helps everyone.

 

[Khengi]

Your methods are pretty good, but they'll only help so far in the long run. I would advise to begin reading online material and learn words from actual sentences. Sentences are always the best method to learning vocabulary. :P

 

[Alice]

^ Bah... I knew I was forgetting something... I even mentioned it earlier in this thread too.

I don't really have any specific links, so I dunno if I should put it in that post, but I do read manga in Japanese, and translate as I go. It kinda ruins the story, because it takes forever, but it's definitely a good way to learn.

 

[Khengi]

This is very true. I like reading small folk tales in Japanese, hopefully the new topic I made can help people!

 

[Alice]

Looking good. Should I repost that in the other thread, or do you wanna put it in the OP?

 

[Khengi]

The other thread is the way to go! :D

Let's give you a test, the more people we get on staff to help this project the better.

 

[Wings Don't Cry]

I've been learning Japanese for two and half years at school, I know a fair amount but not enough to carry out a proper conversation. I basically know the basics that can actually help me survive in a Japanese city.

 

[Khengi]

Let's start a basic conversation to get everyone on track!

こんばんはー。みんな元気？

 

[Hitomi☆]

私は元気～～。今日、朝、ゆきがふった。だからすごくさむい～～～。

 

[Khengi]

待て待て雪なのか？

マーーージでぇぇ？今日さむいけど、前ほどさむくないよね。だからサッカーやってた ：D