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Curious about feedback.

Angel Valis

黒川
15 Jul 2010
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So I decided I'd do some exercises on LiveMocha.com because I have recently regained a bit of motivation at improving my Japanese. Unfortunately, their Japanese courses aren't the most advanced. Still, a refresher never hurt, so I was going through them.

When I got to a point where I had to write a response to some open ended questions, I was given the choice to allow "experts" (I'm assuming this means native speakers that have been verified in some way in their system) look at and comment on my answers. There doesn't seem to be an obvious way for me to contact these people to ask for clarification, so I thought I'd ask here.

The first set of questions were in audio form but the transcription is:
日曜日に何をしますか。誰とそれをしますか。あなたは 何が得意ですか。

My response was:
多分、日曜日に買い物をするかもしれません。友達が私 の位置に来るかもしれない、一緒にアジアマーケットに行くでしょう。別にあまり得意なことがありま せんが。。。でも、多分、テレビゲームがちょっと得意ですが。

And the feedback I received was:
Hello! :)
Very good!
Only one phrase.
We don't say 私の位置 for my place(home), instead 私の家(いえ・うち) or 私のところ.
Keep learning!;)

I used 位置 because I wasn't referring to my home but somewhere in between my friend and I where I tend to hang out a lot. Should I have then just used ところ?

The second set of questions were:
1. しゅうまつに、なにをしますか。
2. あなたは、テニスがとくいですか。
3. あなたは、ゴルフがとくいですか。
4. あなたが、とくいなスポーツはなんですか。

My answers were:
1.別にあまりしない予定がありません。
2.いいえ、得意ではないと思いますが、テニスをする ことがありません。
3.いいえ、あまりゴルフをしませんでした。だから、 得意ではありません。
4.別にスポーツの種類あまり得意ではありません。

The feedback I received (from a different person) was:
別に何も予定が
思います。
どのスポーツもあまり
別に has negative nuance.

Are the first three lines corrections? And I used 別に to mean "not in particular" and don't know of another way to say such as 別に was the only way I've learned to say that. What other options do I have?

Considering it took 3 days to get feedback, perhaps I should just always ask for feedback here since response times tend to be much faster. :roflmao:
 
You could just say 私がよく遊んでる所/ 場所.. 居場所 is often used to describe "where one belongs" but if you say "現在の居場所" that would help avoid that confusion and could perhaps be usable? I think 位置 is used more when describing coordinates and such but I'm not entirely sure so you might have been correct.

They are corrections. also I think you meant テニスをしたごとがありません as that means I have never played tennis. Whereas with suru it means something like I'm not going to play.

You could perhaps say どのスポーツでも、別にとくいではあらいません。But amari seems to be more commonly used. I wonder if what he meant by negative nuance is that it can display disinterest or something? I think somebody told me that I shouldn't say betsu ni because of that when I first came to Japan, but I'm not 100%

An alternative to betsu ni if you want to express "not in particular" could be toku ni ha so "どのスポーツもとくにはとくいではありません" toku ni tokui sounds weird maybe?
 
They are corrections. also I think you meant テニスをしたごとがありません as that means I have never played tennis. Whereas with suru it means something like I'm not going to play.

Yeah, that's exactly what I meant. I thought it felt wrong as I was typing it.

I wonder if what he meant by negative nuance is that it can display disinterest or something?

Well...if that's the case, then I feel I used 別に, in relation to sports at least, appropriately haha.

Thanks.

Any other insights on the feedback I received or what I wrote is appreciated.
 
The 別にあまり and が、でも、instances are fine in casual speech, but I don't think you should have the doubles in writing.

The 得意じゃないと思いますが、sentence seems correct to me other than the suru -> shita. "I don't think so, but I haven't tried it." is what you're going for right?

And you could perhaps rephrase the golf one to be a little more natural: いいえ、ゴルフはあまりしたことがないので、得意ではありません。 (no de is a formal substitute for takara/desu kara)
 
The 得意じゃないと思いますが、sentence seems correct to me other than the suru -> shita. "I don't think so, but I haven't tried it." is what you're going for right?

Yup, exactly.

Sometimes I wonder how I passed N4 and got my bachelor's degree in Japanese. -_-
 
Yup, exactly.

Sometimes I wonder how I passed N4 and got my bachelor's degree in Japanese. -_-

You could probably pass higher levels :) Might need a little work. I powered my way to the N1 earlier this year.. I'm not gonna lie, it was a lot of boring kanji cramming, but perfectly manageable.
 
日曜日に何をしますか seems to me to mean "What do you usually do on Sunday?", not "next Sunday". I would use 次の/今度の日曜日 for "next Sunday".

1)
It should be 別にあまりする予定がありません. 別に予定がありません or あまり予定がありません is more natural, though.

2)
テニスをすることがありません means that the subject doesn't have a chance to play tennis.
 
You could probably pass higher levels :) Might need a little work. I powered my way to the N1 earlier this year.. I'm not gonna lie, it was a lot of boring kanji cramming, but perfectly manageable.

I barely passed N4, something like 3 points above failing. A big problem I have is that I can't easily understand spoken Japanese, so I only got 50% of the listening section.
 
Oh.. well all it takes is practice. The problem is finding something that actually interests enough to listen to for hundreds of hours that uses relevant Japanese. When you find that you're basically halfway. I would watch(often just listen to) more obscure and serious Japanese dramas, instead of the comedy sap that is predominant.

Also one of my big issues with listening was my vocabulary.. I would often not know the key word of a sentence, and completely lose focus.. so studying vocabulary can help if that's something you're troubled by also. What I did was that I combined listening and kanji, but that might not work for everyone.

And then it comes down to how much free time you have to expend and how interested you are. My friend who worked full time during the studies ended up dropping out after 2 years, because she could no longer keep up at all.. another one speaks Japanese much better than me, but he is possessed and has no social life.
 
Thanks Toritoribe-san.

日曜日に何をしますか seems to me to mean "What do you usually do on Sunday?", not "next Sunday".

That actually crossed my mind. Unfortunately I've not studied in a LONG time and the lesson was so basic, that I didn't give it enough thought. I think an example dialog they gave elsewhere in the lesson used it to mean "this" or "next"...or I could be completely mistaken, that's usually a good bet.

1)
It should be 別にあまりする予定がありません. 別に予定がありません or あまり予定がありません is more natural, though.

One of my textbooks paired 別に with another word (I think it was あまり) to create the "nothing in particular" meaning, which is why I used both (assuming that it was even the correct pairing textbook-wise).


2)
テニスをすることがありません means that the subject doesn't have a chance to play tennis.

I suppose that works too essentially, but I really did mean したことがない.

Definitely feeling ashamed of my Japanese right now *sigh*.
 
Oh.. well all it takes is practice. The problem is finding something that actually interests enough to listen to for hundreds of hours that uses relevant Japanese. Also one of my big issues with listening was my vocabulary.. I would often not know the key word of a sentence, and completely lose focus.. so studying vocabulary can help if that's something you're troubled by also. When you have that you're basically halfway. What I did was that I combined listening and kanji, but that might not work for everyone.

And then it comes down to how much free time you have to expend and how interested you are. My friend who worked full time during the studies ended up dropping out after 2 years, because she could no longer keep up at all.. another one speaks Japanese much better than me, but he is possessed and has no social life.

My degree took me 4 (maybe 5) years to complete and I studied abroad. I just got really discouraged because in the beginning I was generally much better than my classmates because I had self-studied on and off for like 4 years (not nearly as impressive as it sounds, that 4 years got me through as much as my first class), but by the time I went to study abroad I felt really self conscious around all the people who were much better than me. So depression set in, my study habits got even worse (not that I had good study habits....or any at all...to begin with), and from that point on, I feel like I was getting even less from my classes.

I definitely need to try to find something I want to listen to, I'm not super into anime (and we all know the problems with relying on anime regardless), and educational listening stuff doesn't keep my attention so I don't keep listening.

I actually like kanji, so that's usually not been a problem.
 
I totally get where you're coming from, I went from best in class to pretty damn average, if that! Was pretty weird, but what ended up annoying me the most was how I couldn't seem to make any Japanese friends, I ended up having like a bunch of foreign friends and not that many opportunities to speak Japanese. But then by the end of the year, I ended up living at my Japanese friend's place for over a month, and that helped me lay some pretty solid ground work I think... so I was lucky like that.

You could look into a drama called: shinzanmono and another one called kodoku no gurume (the latter is basically just a guy living his life with focus on the food he eats.) I'll try to remember something else that's not super energetic and anime-like D:
 
One of my textbooks paired 別に with another word (I think it was あまり) to create the "nothing in particular" meaning, which is why I used both (assuming that it was even the correct pairing textbook-wise).
別にあまり is not wrong, but just 別に予定がありません or あまり予定がありません can convey the meaning. Further, the latter あまり予定がありません has a nounce of 少しは予定がある.
Isn't it 特にあまり for "nothing in particular"?


新参者 was a nice drama. I enjoyed it.:)
 
別にあまり is not wrong, but just 別に予定がありません or あまり予定がありません can convey the meaning. Further, the latter あまり予定がありません has a nounce of 少しは予定がある.
Isn't it 特にあまり for "nothing in particular"?

I'll have to check my textbook when I get home soon. That does sound rather familiar though.
 
I think I was just confused. In the lesson where 別に + negative is introduced (defined as: "not...in particular") 何も + negative was also introduced (as: "not...anything") and I think I probably saw an example (that I can't find at the moment) that used them together for "nothing in particular". So I was just confused.
 
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