勉強文

[mdchachi]

That reminds me -- I had the same understanding of the ending わ as you do. So imagine my surprise when I heard a guy at work using it some 20 years ago. No he wasn't okama. As I understand it, it can be used by guys to indicate some decisive statement and it's particularly used in Kansai. In any case, I've never attempted to use it myself.

 

[diligentcircle]

I find that hard to believe but in any case didn't you say you have Genki now? I don't have it but an online table of contents indicates that Lesson 7: Family Picture is all about this. Maybe they don't explain it in detail but it seems all the common family word pairs are in there.

I'm only on lesson 5.

"He doesn't know the meaning of 'だめ'" is the cause/reason of his breaking things, as you yourself used "because". That's exactly the reason why "but" is semantically odd in your original sentence even in English.

This is a perfectly constructed English sentence:

"Mike is also a klutz, but because he doesn't know the meaning of "stop", he keeps messing with Mom's antiques."

So no, it's not semantically odd at all in English. It's quite common, in fact.

But I accept that it is semantically odd in Japanese, and I just don't know how to express that same idea in a way that wouldn't be semantically odd there.

Haven't you learned about the form attached to わ? Also, haven't you learned that the feminine わ is quite rarely used nowadays?

For the second, no, not at all. Nothing I've ever seen referencing it says anything of the sort. But now that you've told me, I'll just chop it off of my usage/learning list.

For the first, I honestly don't even know what you mean, but if the takeaway point is "don't use わ", I doubt there's much of a need anyway.

 

[AmerikaJin5]

For the second, no, not at all. Nothing I've ever seen referencing it says anything of the sort. But now that you've told me, I'll just chop it off of my usage/learning list.
For the first, I honestly don't even know what you mean, but if the takeaway point is "don't use わ", I doubt there's much of a need anyway.

Imagine hearing a non-native English speaker in America, who has heard some words abbreviations or slang words like "FYI" etc and just sprinkles them in the sentence; another example would be if they liberally use punctuation like semicolon incorrectly in written text. It would sound/look weird, right? It's more than just looking up the "meaning" in a dictionary, it's largely about understanding the feeling/situation with which they are used. That's why it's best to put a hold on using end-particles for a while.
I know a Canadian guy who uses まあ with nearly every other word and it drives me crazy. I don't know where he picked it up from.

 

[diligentcircle]

I know a Canadian guy who uses まあ with nearly every other word and it drives me crazy. I don't know where he picked it up from.

If you have a strong enough urge to learn something and your class or textbook doesn't teach you, you will take it upon yourself to do so; and without guidance, you will probably do so wrongly. That's my guess as to what the explanation is. If nothing else, it's why I sought many of these things out (the difference being that I didn't even have a textbook or class at that time; though then again, maybe that's not a difference).

Personally, I have always had a strong desire to make my manner of speaking more complex and expressive. I'm really bad at vocabulary, so the way I've tended to prefer to do that through most of my life has been through grammar and tone. I can't tell you how hard it is to not attempt to use and understand a grammatical construct that I understand very little. I suppose it's like seeing an oasis in the distance. Even if I've got a less desirable but functional water source where I'm standing and can't tell whether what's in the distance is an actual oasis or just a mirage, I really want to get there if it won't kill me to do so, at least to see if it's real and try it out.

 

[AmerikaJin5]

If you have a strong enough urge to learn something and your class or textbook doesn't teach you, you will take it upon yourself to do so; and without guidance, you will probably do so wrongly. That's my guess as to what the explanation is. If nothing else, it's why I sought many of these things out (the difference being that I didn't even have a textbook or class at that time; though then again, maybe that's not a difference).

Personally, I have always had a strong desire to make my manner of speaking more complex and expressive. I'm really bad at vocabulary, so the way I've tended to prefer to do that through most of my life has been through grammar and tone. I can't tell you how hard it is to not attempt to use and understand a grammatical construct that I understand very little. I suppose it's like seeing an oasis in the distance. Even if I've got a less desirable but functional water source where I'm standing and can't tell whether what's in the distance is an actual oasis or just a mirage, I really want to get there if it won't kill me to do so, at least to see if it's real and try it out.

I understand your desire, but like everyone has said, you're putting the cart before the horse. Become proficient in the basics first.

 

[Toritoribe]

This is a perfectly constructed English sentence:

"Mike is also a klutz, but because he doesn't know the meaning of "stop", he keeps messing with Mom's antiques."

So no, it's not semantically odd at all in English. It's quite common, in fact.

No, you changed the sentence. What you wrote initially corresponds to "he is also a klutz, but he doesn't know the meaning of 'stop'". Again, it's semantically odd even in English, since these two clauses are not adversative.

I'm only on lesson 5.

Then my advice is simple. Read through the book and practice making sentences along with the workbook instead of randomly trying using, asking or searching around grammatical structures you don't know well. In fact, you can get explanations about ～たほうがいい or ～なければいけない at the end of the book.