Learning Japanese in romaji (for members w/o Japanese-enabled PCs)

[yasir]

Watashi wa Yasir des.
[I am Yasir]

Pakistan ni imasu
[i live in Pakistan]

Nihongo de benkyoo shite kara shigatsu 2007.. muzukashii des
[I started learning to speak japanese in March 2007]..[its difficult]

Kono website wa totemo yoii des ne
[this website is very good]

Watashi ga nihongo ni hanashimasho
[i would like to talk in Japanese]

i think you can see how bad my japanese is
but i think i can improve.. i really need to talk and correct my sentence forming
Hoping to have a great time here with all of you guys

 

[Jericho Desu]

Hi, got a question.
For saying 'How are you?' you say 'ikaga desu-ka?' and for 'Are you well?' you say 'O genki desu-ka?'.
Is that right? Because I've heard that O genki desu-ka is asking how are you, so I'm abit confused.
Are they both not that different or are they used at different times?

 

[Tsurugi]

Minasan,o genki de irasshaimasu ka?Watakushi wa Nihongo wo naratte kara mou ninen(or futa-toshi) ni narimashita.Nihongo de jouzu ni naritai ga,ima made keikai ga arimasen deshita.Anatadomo ni Nihongo wo oshiete itadakimasu.

(Hello everyone.I have been learning Japanese for 2 years.I want to become good-skilled in Japanese,but there was not any chance for it.I would like you to teach me Japanese language)

Are there any mistake in this text?

Could I say "futatoshi" instead of "ninen"(Because futatoshi should be the native Japanese word for "two years").

 

[Haruspex]

I don't know about futatoshi, I'd go for ninen.

 

[dodoshady]

Hi all... I'm a student and i'm at the first- second level of japanese. I'd need a help with the -te form! Because i don't undestand what kind of tense it is.... when have i to use the -te form? Tnx a lot!

 

[Tsurugi]

Well,there is many meanings...

1.When the items are in parallel relationship

Tanaka sama wa se ga takakute,me ga ookii.

Mister Tanaka is tall and have large eyes.

2.When the items are opposite to each other..

Koko de natsu wa suzushikute,fuyu wa atatakai desu.

It is cool here in summer,but warm in winter.

3.Indicates that items follow each other in the sentence

Ore wa maiasa kao wo aratte,gakko ni iku.

Every morning I wash my face and then I go to school.

4.Indicates a cause-effect relationship

Atama ga itakute,gakko wo yasumimashita.

I had headache and I stayed home from school.

 

[dodoshady]

Well,there is many meanings...

1.When the items are in parallel relationship

Tanaka sama wa se ga takakute,me ga ookii.

Mister Tanaka is tall and have large eyes.

2.When the items are opposite to each other..

Koko de natsu wa suzushikute,fuyu wa atatakai desu.

It is cool here in summer,but warm in winter.

3.Indicates that items follow each other in the sentence

Ore wa maiasa kao wo aratte,gakko ni iku.

Every morning I wash my face and then I go to school.

4.Indicates a cause-effect relationship

Atama ga itakute,gakko wo yasumimashita.

I had headache and I stayed home from school.

Perfect i'd say..... tnx a lot

 

[Tsurugi]

Well,now there is something more I would like to know.

How could I say the sentence....

This is the village in which I drink the sake.

I would say it like.....

Watashi ni sake o nometa wa kono mura desu.

Is it OK?

 

[Tsurugi]

Thanks.

Now,how could I make the difference between those two sentences?

-I like you more than he likes you.

and.

-I like you more than I like him.

I know the first should be-

Watashi wa aitsu yori ooku kimi ga suki desu.

But how could I make the other sentence?

Should I use-Watashi wa aitsu yori kimi no hou ga suki desu.

Am I right?

 

[gRimmDesu]

Im not particularly good at japanese but ill give it a shot
Firstly if you wanted to say him specifically (as in a guy) i would use kare as aitsu means either gender, or kanojo if it was a girl. Although i think it all has to do with how well you know the person your talking about.
- I like you more than he likes you.
watashi wa kare yori kimi ga mou suki desu.
- I like you more than I like him
kimi ga kare yori mou suki desu (?) - lol thought id take a stab at it XD.
also "no hou" isnt necessary in these types of sentences but i think Japanese people use it anyway. it basically just states the direction of your view.

EDIT: Gah sorry for necro need to learn to read when things are posted >.>

 

[syuha]

watashiwa syuha-desu.
yoroshiku onegaishimasu.

I'll probably make millions of mistake just for that two short sentence.
I wanna ask does a space means a lot in nihongo?
like watashiwa and watashi wa?
^^

 

[gRimmDesu]

watashiwa syuha-desu.
yoroshiku onegaishimasu.
I'll probably make millions of mistake just for that two short sentence.
I wanna ask does a space means a lot in nihongo?
like watashiwa and watashi wa?
^^

As far as im aware it makes no difference to the meaning whatsoever.
When using romaji spaces are used just so its easy to read because we dont have the kanji to see where words start and stop. However if you were writing in japanese characters you wouldn't put a space except for some places where you may use a ", "

Also making mistakes is fine (iv made more than my fair share while learning Japanese XD) Whats important is that you learn from them and don't think that when people correct you that they are being insulting because they really are just trying to help. [i see no mistakes from those 2 sentences though XD]

 

[Elizabeth]

Thanks.
Now,how could I make the difference between those two sentences?
-I like you more than he likes you.

Kare ga kimi wo suki dearu ijou ni/yori (mo)), boku wa kimi wo suki desu. That's my guess, though. I've never said this to anybody in person...;-)


Kare ga watashi no tomodachi de aru koto wo imamade kimi ni shirasete okinnakattakedo...(Although up until now I haven't told you that he was one of my friends....). Just a joke...

 

[gRimmDesu]

When it comes to writing romaji you can say honto(meant to be a line over the o though) or hontou (in reality its spelt hontou, but writing honto in hiragana would still be correct i think). Its kind of like when you do romaji for words such as senpai (sempai can be used for the romaji) and kanpeki (kampeki can be used), because your writing it how it would sound.

As a general rule though I would try and do the romaji as the hiragana spelling as its better for practice (in hiragana its spelt arigatou so its best to try and use this when writing in romaji). The only other thing to be aware of when writing in romaji is the particles. For example watashi wa ____ desu. even though the hiragana is actually a ha you would use wa when using romaji and wo instead of o (hon wo yomukoto ga suki desu. - I like reading books). The only other particle i can think that causes problems is e (eki e ikimashita - I went to the station) because the particle for e is written in hiragana as "he"

The only thing to be careful about with J-Drama is some of the translations are done quite loosely. This is just so it reads nicer but you do notice it later on when you get better at japanese, the meaning is changed slightly so that it reads better in English (not a huge problem but something you should be aware of)

When it comes to speaking though thats a whole new ballpark. While its easier to get away with slight mistakes, trying to make sentences on the go (especially when using relative clauses and node/kara structures) is really hard because its so different to english. You have to really think about where each part goes, but as with everything the more practice you get the easier it becomes [im really horrible at Japanese conversation XD]

 

[syuha]

LOL. だいじょうぶ。
does "ni" exist as a particle?
what's the way in saying i'm really sorry.
just hontou gomenasai or, honton ____ gomenasai?
I'm guessing,
hontou ni gomenasai?

nyaa~

 

[gRimmDesu]

yep ni is a particle.

hontou ni arigatou - Im really thankful
hontou ni gomenasai - Im really sorry.

^_^

it has many other uses that you'll learn later on though.

 

[the mighty quinn]

Are these phrases correct?

I'm a beginner, and recently have been trying to form my own little sentences using the words and grammar that I know. Are these correct?

Note: I'm having difficulty making the difference between kore/kono, sore/sono etc...

kaidan o agarimasu - go up the stairs

sore wa kobe desu - that is a wall (sore/sono?)

kore wa mado dewa arimasen - this is not a window (it's a mirror)

And the 'o' particle - did I use this right in the first sentence?

Thanks!

 

[gRimmDesu]

I think you did a pretty good job .

The difference between kore/kono is easy once you get the hang of it.
Ill give you a simple example and hopefully that will help @.@. I cant explain stuff at all so ill leave it up to someone else XD.
kore wa ringo desu - This is an apple
kono ringo desu - This apple.

I think for the first one you might need to use ni instead of o but tbh im not really that sure. Apart from that it all seems pretty correct.

Its a pretty impressive start

 

[the mighty quinn]

I see - that has made it a little clearer. Now I just have to try and remember it!!

Arigatoo gozaimasu!!

Thanks for the complements too

 

[AJBryant]

Nice start!

One quick note: "wall" is "kabe," not "kobe." (Kobe is a basketball player and a city. )

Tony

 

[Toritoribe]

I'm a beginner, and recently have been trying to form my own little sentences using the words and grammar that I know. Are these correct?

Note: I'm having difficulty making the difference between kore/kono, sore/sono etc...

kaidan o agarimasu - go up the stairs

sore wa kobe desu - that is a wall (sore/sono?)

kore wa mado dewa arimasen - this is not a window (it's a mirror)

And the 'o' particle - did I use this right in the first sentence?

Thanks!

"Kaidan o agarimasu" is correct. In that sentence, the particle "o" indicates the direct object of the verb "agaru". The particle "ni" indicates the arrival point.

Nikai(The second floor) ni agarimasu.

As gRimmDesu wrote, "kore/sore" is "daimeishi; the pronoun", "kono/sono" is "rentaishi; the attributive".

Kore wa ringo desu.: This is a apple.

Kono ringo wa akai desu.: This Apple is red.

Sore wa kabe desu.: That is a wall.

Sono kabe wa atsui desu.: That wall is thick.

hope this helps

 

[alantin]

Nice start!

One quick note: "wall" is "kabe," not "kobe." (Kobe is a basketball player and a city. )

Tony

Sono shi ha "kobe" ja nakute, "koube" jan?
"kami no to" to iu imi darou ka na.
Henna yomikata de omoshiroi yo na!

 

[AJBryant]

Sono shi ha "kobe" ja nakute, "koube" jan?
"kami no to" to iu imi darou ka na.
Henna yomikata de omoshiroi yo na!

Well, I don't know about Finnish encyclopedia, but I'm willing to bet yours spell it "Kobe" (as with Osaka, Tokyo, and Kyoto ) as ours do.


Tony

 

[undrentide]

Well, I don't know about Finnish encyclopedia, but I'm willing to bet yours spell it "Kobe" (as with Osaka, Tokyo, and Kyoto) as ours do.


Tony

I believe both are OK.

"Kobe" is most commonly used for the city 神戸. It's basically an English spelling.
If one follows kana more strictly (i.e. write it in Nihongo/Romaji rather in English), it is Koube （こうべ）.

Same goes for Osaka, Tokyo, and Kyoto

大阪（おおさか） Oosaka - Osaka
東京（とうきょう） Toukyou - Tokyo
京都（きょうと） Kyouto - Kyoto

 

[AJBryant]

As a former newspaper editor in Tokyo, I have to tell you that if you wrote Koube, Oosaka, Toukyou, Kyouto, or Koube, the spellings would get corrected.

As a rule, for those places, we don't even use the macron over the long vowels.


Tony