Learning Japanese thread- learn here!

dan_j · 19 Feb 2007

hey guys,
i just thought that there might be a easier way of learning some japanese by writing how each word sounds and its meaning.
write how it sounds 1st and its meaning after as demonstrated below, hopefuly we can get this thread rolling.

(nah-nee) - What?
(mi-na) - everyone
(soh-ka) - realy? /that so?

if you have any problems with what i have translated above let me know as i am not 110%, but i guess you guys know how to do it so you can add onto the above words

would be great if we cud get this sticky'd

happy posting

nice gaijin · 20 Feb 2007

Instead of creating your own way to transliterate Japanese, you are FAR better off studying hiragana and katakana and using them instead. There aren't that many sounds in Japanese, and if you actually study the writing system, you'll also be making steps towards literacy. Just a thought.

JimmySeal · 20 Feb 2007

(koh-ray) this
(waah) is
(mat-takoo) completely
(yah-koo) use-
(nee-ta-ta-naie) -less

golly gee I hope this thread gets sticky'd

undrentide · 20 Feb 2007

Showing pronunciation with this English(?) style makes me feel really uncomfortable... (Unfortunately international phrasebooks puslished by Lonely Planets and Berlitz employ this method)
Might be good for English natives but for me it really doesn't work, it takes me hours to figure out what it actually should be pronounced.

And Oh, JimmySeal,

JimmySeal said:
(koh-ray) this
(waah) is
(mat-takoo) completely
(yah-koo) use-
(nee-ta-ta-naie) -less

golly gee I hope this thread gets sticky'd

Hiralious!

Elizabeth · 20 Feb 2007

undrentide said:
Showing pronunciation with this English(?) style makes me feel really uncomfortable... (Unfortunately international phrasebooks puslished by Lonely Planets and Berlitz employ this method)
Might be good for English natives but for me it really doesn't work, it takes me hours to figure out what it actually should be pronounced.

There are actually grammar books on the market much worse than these. I have one titled "Japanese in Plain English" which may be true enough, with suggestions like "kome bahn wah" "oh-nay-guy-she-mahss" or "go-mane-kuu-dah-sie." Mina is "mean-nah." Really too bizarre. It's littered with obvious typos, but even these English syllables don't make sense to me as the "ah," "hss" and "sie" sound they're supposed to represent. ☝

doinkies · 20 Feb 2007

doinkies looked up the book Elizabeth mentioned on amazon, and it really does look doinky! Even worse is that some of the sentences given in it sound weird or incorrect...like for "I like you" they give "Anata o suki desu", when it should use "ga" instead of "o".

And yeah, I agree with undrentide...writing pronunciation like that looks ugly, and gives people wrong ideas on how to pronounce things.

dan_j · 20 Feb 2007

Elizabeth said:
There are actually grammar books on the market much worse than these. I have one titled "Japanese in Plain English" which may be true enough, with suggestions like "kome bahn wah" "oh-nay-guy-she-mahss" or "go-mane-kuu-dah-sie." Mina is "mean-nah." Really too bizarre. It's littered with obvious typos, but even these English syllables don't make sense to me as the "ah," "hss" and "sie" sound they're supposed to represent. ☝

so i'm guessing this thread is doing some gud ?
hopefully the thread will get more responses and translations .

semi~sweet · 20 Feb 2007

i don't know alot of japaneses but i'm learning

(ah-me) rain
(egg-ao) smile
(hoh-she) star
(tie-yoh) sun
(sue-key) moon

Mikawa Ossan · 20 Feb 2007

To give you an idea why this is a bad idea, let's approach English with the same approach.

Ai donto shii howai yuu shinku zatto zuisu izu a guddo aideia. Itto jasuto meikuzu yuu aninterijiburu tsuu za piipuru yuu aa tookingu tsuu.

Try making sense out of that!

JimmySeal · 20 Feb 2007

Anazaa riizun zuisu izu pointoresu izu bikoozu raaningu randamu waazu dazunto herupu yuu raan. Bato inkeesu aimu rongu, hiia aa foo randamu waazu.

hah-shee-go - ladder
ee-chee-reen-shah - unicycle
boon-bow-goo - stationery
oo-mee-gah-may - sea turtle

doinkies · 20 Feb 2007

ドインキーズ・アグリーズ。ライク・アイ・セッド、アイ・リアリー・ドント・シンク・ザット・ライティング・ジャパニーズ・ライク・ザット・イズ・グッド。イット・ルックス・ドインキー・アンド・ストゥーピッド。

Niedy · 21 Feb 2007

omg... you made my day... both the japanese english and the english japanese look and sound soooooooo funny... I'm not a native of either language so at first I had a hard time to actually decipher what it should say... but it work with reading out loud... イツ・リーアリ・コミカル

@doinkies: your リアリー = really, right? リーアリ <-- mine
why is your lengthening at the end? just curious if I (since the beginning of learning english) have pronounced it wrongly...

PS: german japanese wouldn't be all that different from Hepburn... we have the same sounds... so we don't have any funny books in german like those english examples up there...

Learning Japanese thread- learn here!

dan_j

先輩

nice gaijin

Resident Realist

JimmySeal

Tubthumper

undrentide

Japa'n vagyok

Elizabeth

先輩

doinkies

ガイジン娘。

dan_j

先輩

semi~sweet

warumono

Mikawa Ossan

いかんわ！

JimmySeal

Tubthumper

doinkies

ガイジン娘。

Niedy

猿が去る

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