Just Taking the Dive into Nihongo

Hello All, I am NOT SURE that this is the correct spot to post this or not, but I am going to go ahead and just say hello.

My name is Justin (O Bokuno namae wa Justin desu!) and I am a high school student that has just recently moved to Japan. I must say I was so against comming here, but I have been here three months and I must say I absolutely love this country!

I am considering staying here for college and evening thinking of taking up a career here, so yes I am going to learn Japanese. I take classes at school and some on the side, but I hope through an interactive community such as this hopefully I can learn more!

So far I have Hiragana mastered and about 50% of katakana. I can read a lot of what is on signs and such but don't know what they mean of course! Not to mention those kanji, they scare me to death! Haha. But, anyway...Thats a little about me and what I know thus far, so naturally now I have a few questions I would like to ask....hope this isn't too much to ask!

1. I have noticed that when writing Japanese it is difficult for me to tell when to space between words? It almost looks as if all of the words run together into one big line. When do you space between words when writing Japanese?

2. I would like to know how to say "Fine now that I ran into you" as a response to the phrase "O genki desu ka".

I of course have many more questions, but don't want to ask to many on my first post. Thanks in advanced guys, I am glad I found this place!

Saiyanara!

Just wanted to welcome you to jref! Have a great stay in Japan, and goodluck on studying Japanese!!!

ps.s the second question are you going to say that to a girl

TheImmigrantSong said:

1. I have noticed that when writing Japanese it is difficult for me to tell when to space between words? It almost looks as if all of the words run together into one big line. When do you space between words when writing Japanese?

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Japanese doesn't use spaces between words. You just have to kind of get the feel of where one word ends and the next one begins. Good luck!

TheImmigrantSong said:

2. I would like to know how to say "Fine now that I ran into you" as a response to the phrase "O genki desu ka".

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I am told, (as I am quite often) that this isn't especially coloquial, and may be a bit too formal, but okagesama de, genki desu. Is the standard reply.

If you are seeing someone (again) who've you've seen recently, a more natural way to ask how they've been is genki deshita ka?... Unless you prefer the simple genki desu ka?... Since you're prefixing words w/ O- the formality of my response above shouldn't be an issue for you!

Oh, by the way... Why are you in Japan, did your family move there. Good luck, I hope you get to take some language courses. And you're in the perfect place to learn it all...

Protip: Bookoff is a great place to buy books (especially children's books) which are nice to practice when learning hiragana.

take care.

Japanese doesn't use spaces between words. You just have to kind of get the feel of where one word ends and the next one begins. Good luck!

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Wow, that is a bummer, I was afraid of that. I guess that is where kanji comes in, to help seperate between words. Thanks for clarifying that!

Oh, by the way... Why are you in Japan, did your family move there. Good luck, I hope you get to take some language courses. And you're in the perfect place to learn it all...

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Thank You for the help, I will try it tommorow. Yes, family is military so we ended up here, and I am glad we did!

ps.s the second question are you going to say that to a girl

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HAHAHA maybe....

Thanks guys!

The more time you spend off base and away from the places where other foreigners hang out the quicker your progress will be.

Yes you are definatly right about that! Thats why I like to talk to Japanese kids a lot at my school, and I my sport (Ice Hockey) is not so popular so I cant play on base, I have to play off base. So I play Ice Hockey with 100% NO english four nights a week. Which can be hard, but I learn a lot.

yukio_michael said:

I am told, (as I am quite often) that this isn't especially coloquial, and may be a bit too formal, but okagesama de, genki desu. Is the standard reply.
If you are seeing someone (again) who've you've seen recently, a more natural way to ask how they've been is genki deshita ka?... Unless you prefer the simple genki desu ka?... Since you're prefixing words w/ O- the formality of my response above shouldn't be an issue for you!

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Ogenki ? is pretty friendly, feminine and colloquial I would say but the past tense of deshita is actually "how were you" and so awkward for a straightforward greeting.

おかげで元気にしています（いる）よ。 (Okage de genki ni shite imasu (iru) yo) おかげで元気です（だ）よ。(okagede genki desu(da) yo). either one are suitable for most occasions. Drop the okagade and append iru/da for a more informal tone with other kids. It probably isn't anything a normal high school student would say in English either.

Welcome to jref, fellow n3wb.