Japanese Language

[GoldCoinLover]

I went to a store in arizona today, (around where I live) and saw some of their japanese candy. They had some strawberry pocky, some weird chocolate candy with a mushroom like chocolate thing at the top of it..and some other stuff. It reminded me I need to concentrate on my japanese as I'm leaving to tokyo in a year.

The chocolate mushroom candy was COMPLETELY in all japanese, everything, even the nutrition info. I couldn't even read the name, I did manage to read something in kana though. I need a place on the internet I can go to find all the kana, so I can print them out and study them, is there any such place?


I need to learn it...
All the possibilities..

I was reading a magazine the other day about all the pokemon stuff in japan that has and never will get released here in the US. I am saddened by this, as I just got the new pokemon ruby game (In english). So I need to learn japanese. I have a few questions:


1) Is the U NEVER pronouced? For example, if you had a word such as:
IRRASSHIMASU. I know that if the U is at the end, you usually don't pronounce it. However, what if the U is in the middle of a word?
2) How do you spell "It is raining." in japanese? (With characters), also , how would you spell it with romanji?
3) Is it possible to spell something in japanese (like a whole sentence) using only kana? Would this make sense? More importantly, if I wrote something this way in kana only, could another japanese person in tokyo who does not know english understand it?



Thanks for your help all, I appreciate it!



Psszt, how do you say welcome...ANATA NO YOKODAIKUMASU?

 

[Glenn]

Moved to "Learning Japanese."

For kana tables, try Teach Yourself Japanese. For the rest of the questions, try the search function.

 

[Buntaro]

The U at the end of a word is sometimes pronounced, but usually not. Middle U is usually pronounced.

"It is is raining." is "Ame ga futte imasu."

Japanese people find writing everything in kana very inconvenient. For example, take the syllable "kou." In my dictionary there are many words that are written and pronounced "kou". If you write it in kana, you must explain which kou you are talking about. Using kanji removes all of this confusion.

If you, a foreigner, wrote something entirely in kana, a Japanese person would understand you, especially if it was a simple sentence. (But you would quickly run into the "Which kou" problem mentioned above. Get a Japanese dictionary and see how many times one-syllable words repeat.)

 

[GoldCoinLover]

The U at the end of a word is sometimes pronounced, but usually not. Middle U is usually pronounced.

"It is is raining." is "Ame ga futte imasu."

Japnese people find writing everything in kana very inconvenient. For example, take the syllable "kou." In my dictionary there are many words that are written and pronounced "kou". If you write it in kana, you must explain which kou you are talking about. Using kanji removes all of this confusion.

If you, a foreigner, wrote something entirely in kana, a Japanese person would understand you, especially if it was a simple sentence. (But you would quickly run into the "Which kou" problem mentioned above. Get a Japanese dictionary and see how many times one-syllable words repeat.)

Thanks for your response! Is it possible you could write "It is raining" in japanese characters w/the kanji too? (And explain what they mean?)

Thanks so much.!

 

[Glenn]

雨が降っています。

雨 - kanji/word that means "rain"
が - nominative case particle (marks the subject of sentences and phrases)
降る - verb that means "to fall"
-います - auxiliary verb that means progressive or continuous action, or that something is in some state.

 

[Eve]

i have a question about the "U" in the end too. If you say Itadakimasu do u say the "SU" or just "MAS*

 

[Glenn]

Usually just the mas. But sometimes Japanese people say masu, which I think is used for more politeness/less directness, but I could be wrong about that.

 

[kdynamic]

Saying or not saying the U at then end is kind of a case-by-case basis thing, but as a rule, it is not pronouced. If you want to err on the side of caution, just pronounce it like "mas*" and then, when you get to tokyo, you'll here when and how that rule has exceptions.

 

[Eve]

oh ok thxs guys ^^

 

[Soren]

I'll just add a little to what people have said...

1) Is the U NEVER pronouced? For example, if you had a word such as:
IRRHASSIMASU. I know that if the U is at the end, you usally don't pronouce it. However, what if the U is in the middle of a word?

Both /u/ and /i/ are normally voiceless (which makes them sound whispered) when occurring between two voiceless consonants (p, t, k, s, sh). For example: <takusan - 沢山> (many), where the /u/ is voiceless because it is between /k/ and /s/.

This also happens to /u/ and /i/ at the end of an utterance when they follow a voiceless consonant (p, t, k, s, sh); commonly with the ending <-masu> that you mention. /u/ is generally dropped in these circumstances, unless someone is trying to pronounce a word with deliberate care. I'm not entirely sure if /i/ is also commonly dropped in these circumstances....I can't remember noticing, and also can't think offhand of an example word (I'm sure there's a really obvious one that I'm missing). You would be quite safe not pronouncing /u/ in those circumstances. Only after voiceless consonants though....it is pronounced in full otherwise.

3) Is it possible to spell something in japanese (like a whole sentence) using only kana? Would this make sense? More importantly, if I wrote something this way in kana only, could another japanese person in tokyo who does not know english understand it?

If it is short, then it would likely be understood. Reading longer sentences that are only in kana is sometimes quite a challenge though; kanji break up the sentence visually, and make it quicker to read. It can help distinguish between different words with the same pronounciation, and so the same kana....you can often know what is meant by context though.

If you aren't leaving until a year, you would have no problem learning some basic Kanji. There are a few that turn up all the time. I would mention some, but I have to go now. I'm sure someone can fill you in or give you a link if you want to know which Kanji are most common.

Psszt, how do you say welcome...ANATA NO YOKODAIKUMASU?

You can say ようこそ(yﾃｴkoso)

 

[Fantt]

Hey - GoldCoinLover, which store was it? I'm in Scottsdale, AZ...

 

[Scrivener]

There are situations where you pronounce the "u" in "desu", et cetera.

This is (a) feminine and (b) emphatic. So if you are being polite (which is a given, since you are using desu/masu) and female and you want to give an emphasis to what you are saying, you can say:

hai, sou desuuuu

(yes, that's riiiiight...)

But normally you would always just say:

hai, sou des

Taking the trouble to putting in the "u" sound is a little bit "camp", if you know what I mean. You would normally only do that in a formal situation, and maybe it would give what you are saying a slightly humorous or light-hearted edge, within that formal context. It's very 微妙 (subtle) so I wouldn't bother too much about it.

For welcome, just say "youkoso". But there is a change from normal grammar, because you put the place they are being welcomed to at the end. E.g. "Welcome to America" is ようこそアメリカへ