Funny learning Japanese!

[Stefan the Berserker]

Call me crazy but I started learning Japanese and it is much easyer than you might think You can get "Ningho de Dooso" for 10 Euro. This is rather cheap I think...

Through that course you can learn both the Hiragana/Katakana/Kanji scripts and the bases of the Language. This isn't really more difficult than other Languages (you learn the signs as Vocabulary). There are also Casettes and CDs, yes even Training Software for low Budget

Some examples to show how Japanese works:

Stefan dezu = I'm Stefan... normal and easy sentence.
Stefan dezu-ka = Am I Stefan??? The Particel KA turns a sentece into a question.
1 Doitzugin, 5 Doitzugin = 1 German, 5 Germans... they don't have Singular or Pural.

At least this is funny I say... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Sjakihata]

No, they do not

Because in English you say 5, which suggests it is plural, and the s, which suggests it is plural. That is pleonasm.

[Stefan the Berserker]

Hmmm... The book says that you may use for example Doitzugin or Yukata as Singular and Plural as well... Maybe this changes later, I'm quite early

[Stefan the Berserker]

OH And before I forget: You can't use -san for your own name... So there are quite a few who call themselves that way... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/rolleyes.gif

[bosdur]

I grew up in Asia,when I was little and Nintendo was popular, all the games use japanese as language. So I couldnt understand the story and whats going on, although gameplay and visual has been enough, I always think it would be much cooler if I can udnerstand the story too. Thus in the vote I pick first option.

[Tachikaze]

You should have included a category "Have a Japanese girlfriend or boyfriend".

I first learned the language out of curiousity in high school. I love languages in general. Later, I had Japanese girlfriends, and I wanted to be able to speak with them in their native tongue. I'm glad I had a headstart.

Japanese is easy if:

1) you avoid the written language. I love writing kana and kanji, but it makes reading and writing the language far more difficult. For instance, I can read Spanish, German, Portuguese, Italian, French, and Korean (slowly) text and pronounce them reasonably well, even if I don't understand what I'm saying. I can even figure out the meaning of Italian, Portuguese, and German through my knowledge of English and Spanish. With Japanese kanji, it's almost the opposite. I know what many characters mean (sometimes vaguely), but don't know how most of them are pronounced.

2) You stay in the formal social language level. There are about four formality levels of spoken Japanese, from how you would address the emperor to how you speak to your child. The levels of Japanese are, in some cases, vastly different, especially the verbs and forms of address. The differences are not only based on your relative position to who you are addressing, but also how well you know them. I learned a formal level of Japanese in my classes. When I made my first trip to Japan, I couldn't understand what my girlfriend's friends, using casual "in group" language, were saying

Other than that, it's a logical and clear language. I agree that it is fun to learn. I love to speak it, too, especially when I can use all those noises people make when comprehending something, seeing something special, being surprised by what you tell them, etc. (Aaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh ookii des' neeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Soooo kaaaaaa . . .)

So da ne

[Stefan the Berserker]

The thing I laught about most was the women name "Kanako". In German "Kanake" is a very, VERY unfriendly word for Asian Just compare, imagine you greed a person with: "Morning Mrs. Niggeri" and she is indeed black...

Little evil Dialog:
Kanako: "Kanake"-wo Doitzugo-de dezu ka? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif
Frank: http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif Sumimasen... "Kanake"-wo Nippongo-de "Hinin" dezu http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif
Kanako: OH BURAKUMIN DEZU KA??? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif
Frank: Iye... Sensai dezu... Kanako dezu http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif
Kanako: Sumimasen Schlechte Ohren habe hahaha http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/rolleyes.gif

Ok this dialog is fictive, but I already saw (and heard) something like this happen. A boy called Frank wanted a date and tried to say her name as sweet as possible... But KO became KE... Ouch Through she knew what "Kanake" ment she kicked his Balls... And went home crying... UUUUPPS

Having a Japanese Girl/Boy - friend is indeed a very respectable reason to learn Japanese. Good Guy

Nintendo games were always in English in Europe before SNES brought first German Screentext (Was very usefull in Zelda 3 ). Through mostly the FX-Voice is still English Nintendo and Sony are best motor to learn English here aswell

Even if it's unlogical: We have 100 Million native speakers of German in Europe (Germany, Austria, Swiss, Luxenburg) and just "littele" 57 Million Brits speaking English (- 1,5 Million because Northern Ireland perfers IRISH&#33http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif... So doesn't it make more sense to use the language of the bigger customer's group?

I like switching on the Japanese in Shogun... Dansno means "Son" if I heard correctly... and Suiwasda seems to mean "escape"...

You have Japnese MUCH longer... what does "fight", "drive" and "Tank" mean? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[PanthaPower]

O genki desu ka

Uhm, well it's been a while since my last Japanse words so sorry if the spelling is wrong. I worked with japanese people (and solved their pc problems in a 100% japanese environment) in the past and it grew my interest. Also liked a girl who spoke japanese as a second language so that motivated a little too http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif But I never grew beyond the basics and basic vocabulary. It has been 3 years since I saw a japanase person so I forgot most of the vocabulary. Learning it to understand manga is an impossible task I'm afraid. Although the grammar is easy, learning the vocabulary sucks and the kanji is even worse.

Anyway, good luck with the studying http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Foreign Devil]

I'd like to learn japanese, but i'm really bad with languages- I took 3 years of spanish in high school, and mi espanol is still muy malo.

Although during the course of a week spent en Germany, I did learn how to order a beer. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Bitte ein Bit (thats the Bitburger slogan, its kinda a play on words)

[Whitey]

ME: zenbu nihongin wa baka
FRIEND: CHIGAU omie wa okashi
ME: omie mo na
FRIEND: Hai, demo omie wa segoku okashi
ME: ...kinishinai, kinishinai, kinishinai
FRIEND: Urusai
ME: DAMARAE
FRIEND: AAAHHHHAAAHHHH
ME: AAAHHHAAAAHHH

(my Japanese is not very good...ok - very bad, and forgive incorrect transliterations, for me the written and spoken language have never come together properly http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif )

but It was fun to learn to speak like a five-year-old http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif kinda thought I'd try and learn the language from the bottom up

start with 'kirie, kirie, kirie, yada, yada, yada' rather than 'hajimemashite, dozo yoroshiku, watashi no na maie wa blah blah blah...igirisu kara kimashita...'

it was certainly more fun and I took it as a compliment when I was told I spoke Japanese like a five-year-old...(and a very rude five year old, but I only spoke like that to some people, the kind of people who were amused by that sort of thing...)

and they did truly believe I was crazy - I guess they were right http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif