Does this mean you don't know the function of で / が / の or the conjugation of verbs?I had trouble understanding which specific kanji and particles correspond to what word.
I'm in the process of learning the grammar at the moment, and I was hoping that this would help in providing an example I could work with.
Yes, although I'm familiar with 世界 (world) and 神 (god), I had the most trouble trying to translate 盤上 as dictionaries weren't really returning anything. Your splitting of the sentence actually kinda helped, thanks. But do you have any idea on what each part means and the overall sentence meaning?You mean you can't parse the sentence/clause/phrase; 遊び / 半分 / で / 神 / が / 導いた / 盤上 / の / 世界?
I don't specifically follow a book or a structured guideline, my methods of learning are rather unconventional but they're a lot more interesting and entertaining to keep me involved.Unfortunately, it really won't.
What materials are you using for learning?
遊び半分で = 遊び半分にYes, although I'm familiar with 世界 (world) and 神 (god), I had the most trouble trying to translate 盤上 as dictionaries weren't really returning anything. Your splitting of the sentence actually kinda helped, thanks. But do you have any idea on what each part means and the overall sentence meaning?
「遊び半分に」の英語・英語例文・英語表現 - Weblio和英辞書遊び半分に
partly for fun
「導く」の英語・英語例文・英語表現 - Weblio和英辞書みちびく 導く
2〈指導する〉 guide; lead
用例
先生は考古学という未知の世界に導いてくれた. My tutor guided me to archaeology, a world quite new [unknown] to me.
「盤」の英語・英語例文・英語表現 - Weblio和英辞書盤
【名詞 (noun)】
1 board, gameboard
ボードゲーム用にデザインされた持ち運び可能な平たい盤面(通例長方形)
(a flat portable surface (usually rectangular) designed for board games)
he got out the board and set up the pieces 彼はゲームのボードを出してコマをセットした
http://ejje.weblio.jp/content/上上
読み方:じょう
文法情報(grammatical information)(名詞(noun) 接尾辞(suffix))
(2)
aboard (a ship or vehicle); on top of; on; above
The biggest problem is you don't know modifying clause, as I wrote repeatedly.How for off am I?
This shows that you are still a pure beginner and are not ready for translating Japanese sentences yet. First of all, you HAVE TO remember the conjugations of all types of verbs. My two cents.although I'm still unsure of the いた part
Ah alright, thanks for the useful tips. I'll work on learning the verb conjugations from now.
Well it's a shame you didn't bother to answer mine. I haven't been learning for that long, so I'm not sure about the viability of my methods yet, I'll share them if they end up proving useful.I would appreciate it if you would answer my question.
Well it's a shame you didn't bother to answer mine. I haven't been learning for that long, so I'm not sure about the viability of my methods yet, I'll share them if they end up proving useful.
I tried to pick a sentence that wasn't too abnormal, obviously I'm not just going to be using songs to learn Japanese (but I'll still make sure I go through some interesting lines they contain).I found a while back some attempts of mine at translating songs on an ancient hard drive, which was mildly hilarious. It's something a lot of beginners do, and it's a terrible way to start out because songs don't follow the usual rules in any language (imagine a learner of English trying to make sense out of Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds, or basically any lyrics by my hero, Neil Finn).
If an English learner asked you "I already learned alphabet. I can look up each word in the dictionary, but what's the meaning of 'ing' in 'learning', 'ed' in 'asked' or 'en' in 'eaten'?", what would you do for them? You may be able to explain about the present progressive, perfect tense or passive voice, but instead, to say "Well, I think it's still too advanced for you to translate English lyrics" is a reasonable response, don't you think so?I'll work on learning the verb conjugations from now.
Of course, I agree with you there. When I set out to translate that line of the song, I wasn't planning on getting the translation anywhere near perfect the first time around, I was just using it to expand my kanji vocabulary and to get familiar with the sentence structure. Now, after help from you guys and some more learning, I have a much better idea of what a sentence in Japanese should look like. In my opinion, being able to at least understand a sentence as "Alphabet I already learn" is a more important point to get to first rather than mastering the grammar.If an English learner asked you "I already learned alphabet. I can look up each word in the dictionary, but what's the meaning of 'ing' in 'learning', 'ed' in 'asked' or 'en' in 'eaten'?", what would you do for them? You may be able to explain about the present progressive, perfect tense or passive voice, but instead, to say "Well, I think it's still too advanced for you to translate English lyrics" is a reasonable response, don't you think so?
As I already said, I'm not in a rush, although I think I should be able to at least follow general dialogue and simple conversations in about a years time. Although giving yourself 10 years to be "reasonably profficient" is too much time, if you don't limit yourself to a stricter timescale, you'll cause yourself to go at a much slower pace than you are capable off. I can tell you my methods at the end of those 10 weeks if you're still interested.If anything I have said encourages you to study, that's fine. You wouldn't be the first person to learn Japanese motivated at least in part to spite somebody who thought you couldn't. I doubt that I was the first one either. So if spite works for you like it worked for me, then I am by no means distressed to be the target of it.
My initial goal, by the way, was "reasonable proficiency in ten years". So you have the "this is going to take a while" bit, which is more promising of eventual success than the ones who immediately want to know how quickly and with what minimal effort they can learn Japanese.
I would say your prospects are good if you hold onto the spite and determinedly trudge along.
(What's your method?)
I completely agree with nekojita-san. Song lyrics are not a good choice as a learning material for beginners.It's something a lot of beginners do, and it's a terrible way to start out because songs don't follow the usual rules in any language