making progress with my Japanese lessons

[sonjajade]

Cliff's girlfriend is a teacher in canada, and she gets all these educational cds and dvds for practically nothing, so for Easter/Beltane she sent me 'Speak Japanese with Confidence"

Because Joey's a little nitwit, he won't let me listen to more than one lesson at a time, but on the other hand I'm learning it better that way.

I can say (this sounds so stupid XD) "Welcome to Japan" Nihon e yokoso!!!  "I am Jenny, how do you do!" Jenny desu. Hajimemashite!  "Are you Miyuki?" Miyuki desu ka?

I can't seem to remember "Pleased to meet you" which is Dozo yoroshiku.


What is cool, is I was listening to some of that Bleach Musical (my favorite damn song, Zattsu Otoko) and I could UNDERSTAND SOME OF IT.  Like I now know that Madarame was asking if Kenny meant Kira because I now know what desu ka means.  I was all kinds of excited.  (btw here is link to IRL Kenpachi singing.  I love it!!!)

I think though, from what I've learned from ravyn bb is some of this in the lesson guide is a little too formal.  The next lesson has Ohayo gozaimasu in it, and arrigato gozaimasu, which I've heard in anime before but only when someone's being uber formal...  I will take what I can get though.

Comments

[ravyn-skye.livejournal.com]

You're doing good, I seriously do applaud the effort, and you should keep going with it, but... NO ONE TALKS LIKE THIS.

You are SERIOUSLY talking like you're talking to the emperor. Take the politeness level down like 3 notches.

Oh, and "ARISU" is the CORRECT way to T/L Alice.

There is NO SUCH THING as an 's' without a 'u' or other vowel after it in Japanese.

The hiragana for the 's' letters are さ し　す　せ　そ　(A I U E O) but it's a 'SHI' for the 'si' instead.

You can't have an 's' on its own at the end of a word, and the 'u' is silent, so they add that. Like I am 'Ka-n-di-su' or カンヂス in Katakana (because my name is foreign, it goes in Katakana not hiragana.)

The ONLY letters that stand completely alone are 'n' and 'm' and the vowels. EVERY SINGLE CONSTANANT is followed by a vowel.

Aris does NOT EXIST in Japanese.

[ravyn-skye.livejournal.com]

Oh, and remember, IT GOES BY SOUND for translating foreign names.

You would be 'Je-ni-fu-ra' or 'Je-ni' not 'Je-n-n-yu' in katakana, because it doesn't go by LETTERS, it goes by SOUND, that why 'arisu' is 'alice' instead of like, 'a-ri-ku-e' or something.

[sonjajade.livejournal.com]

no I know that's how it's spelled/ tl-ed into Japanese, but it's not said "Ahree-sue" it's said "Ahreese". What little I do know, it makes me mad when dubs get it wrong. I can see why people who speak Japanese get irritated with dubs.

[ravyn-skye.livejournal.com]

I was totally half asleep when I commented, so I just realized how... BITCHY those comments came off.

URG I'm SO SORRY, they totally weren't MEANT that way at all. I was trying to be like... Encouraging and helpful, and I totally ripped you apart without meaning to and I SUCK AND FAIL AT LIFE AND SOCIAL INTERACTIONS FOREVER.

*pouty lips, big eyes* Ffff.. Forgive me? Onegaishimasu? ;)

"Ahreese?"... That too, does NOT EXIST in Japanese... "Ah" doesn't exist. neither does a double 'e' and the 'se' at the end would sound like, 'say' so it would SOUND like, "Ah-rayay-say".

Also, a lot of times FANSUBS suck, but usually, Official release subs are WAY CLOSER than DUBS are to what they are REALLY saying.

Oh, and I forgot to even tell you HOW to lower the politeness levels. -___- >.>

Okay, so here's whatcha do... Leave off the crap at the end. "Onegaishimasu" is just "Onegai", "Gomennasai" = "Gomen" or "Gomen ne", 'Ohayogozaimasu' would just be 'Ohayo' and things like 'Pleased to Meet you'... you'd ACTUALLY greet someone in Japan as such:

"Hajimemashite! Jeni desu. Yoroshiku." *BOW LOWER THAN THE OTHER PERSON.

You DO NOT say, "Hajimemashite. Watashi wa Jeni desu. Yoroshiku." because it sounds ARROGANT unless you are in a school or business setting. NEVER use 'Watashi wa' unless you are in one of those two settings. Use, "Atashi ga" or "Ate".

For 'you', since you're a woman, you usually use 'anata' or 'omae'. Men should call you as 'Omae' or, if they are kind of being 'controlling' or 'masculine' they may call you 'kimi'. ('kimi' is also kind of a really casual way men call eachother... It's kinda douchey... Kimi is like, 'Bro' or maybe even... 'homeboy'.)

You add the 'Hajimemashite' ONLY if it is your FIRST time meeting the person.

The 'Dozo' is not necessary in a casual situation, and 'Yoroshiku' actually T/Ls to 'Please take care of' and can be used to mean 'take care of ME' or 'Take care of X person'.

Your question markers are correct, but in many cases you don't need the 'desu' before the 'ka'. You can also end a question with 'Ne', but only if you state something in the positive form. "It's a nice day, ne?" vs, "Isn't it a nice day?" and "It is a nice day" is the same as "Isn't it a nice day", except you'd add 'ka' as a question marker....... Ne is kinda like, 'Huh?' (It's a nice day, huh?) or desu ka is 'Isn't that so?' (Isn't it a nice day?)

Other useful quick phrases: "Sou ka?" = Is that so?
"Sou da" = That's so/Indeed. "Daijoubu?" = "Okay?"/"Alright" so... "Daijoubu desu ka?" is "Are (you for implied subject) okay?" and then one would respond, "Daijoubu" or "Daijoubu yo". "Kono (or if its a carried over recent subject, 'kore') wa Daijoubu desu ka?" = is THAT okay? and "Daijoubu desu"/just Daijoubu while nodding head 'yes', = "That's okay."

"Tadaima" = I'm home!
"Shi ka Shi" = little by little/step by step
"Matte!" = wait, "Matte Kudasai" = PLEASE wait.
"Yamero/Yamette" = STOP
"Hanashite" = LET ME GO!
"Itadakimasu!" = said before eating

With any verb ending in 'te' your safest bet to be grammatically correct is to use 'Kudasai' for 'please', and that has a higher politeness level.

For instance, "YAMERO!" for "STOP IT!" is an ORDER GIVEN, vs "Yamette Kudasai", which is a polite request. You can also make a lot of verbs into 'commands' by adding 'se' to the end.

Example: Iku = to go Ikuse/Ikuso = "Let's go", "Ikimasu" = I'm going!

I AM HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS YOU HAVE and I'm HAPPY to help you learn Japanese.

We were ALL beginners once, I am just very lucky to have IRL practical experience to draw on. <3

[sonjajade.livejournal.com]

maybe you should teach us all Japanese, since I know I'm not the only one of your homies to want to do so.

I will look this over (O_O) when I'm not starving and not monitoring Joey-chan's breathing. He's wheezing and coughing, and I'm definitely taking him to the dr. tomorrow but I want to be sure he doesn't need to go to the ER. He's not in distress, just a little wheeze when he exhales.

Sounds like Croup cough. STEAMY BATHROOM/VICKS VAPOR RUB

[ravyn-skye.livejournal.com]

ROFL... My 'homies'...! You're MORE than just my 'homie', atashi no anata ga kimi-chan desu. <3 (Kimi also means 'darling', in some instances, btw.)

Put Joey-chan in a steamy bathroom, and rub a TINY little bit of Vicks vapor rub on his little chest... 'Water it down' with vaseline a little too, so it isn't so strong.

The steamy room will help the wheezing cough... It sounds like he has croup. It SOUNDS awful, but it isn't dangerous, and if he has no actual INFECTION, viral/bacterial, the doc will tell you that steam is the best thing for it.

If he actually has a little cold, make sure to give the lil guy LOTS of fluids, including WATER. People don't seem to think babies ever need WATER sometimes, and they give them nothing but formula. USUALLY its okay, but if he's actually sick and you want to hydrate him, give him WATER, (formula helps produce phlegm too, which makes his cough thick and mucus-y) or some kind of sports drink (sugar free if you can get it) or pedialyte, and see if you can crush up some Vitamin C pills and sneak it in his formula.

Vitamin C is completely SAFE because you just pee out the extra (makes the pee really yellow) but it is a MAJOR boost to the immune system.