My Determination to Learn Japanese

[xleeque]

Greetings fellow Japanese enthusiast! This is my first day on the forum since January 1st, when I made learning Japanese one of the resolutions for year 2009! So here I am trying to pick things up.

To really push myself to learn Japanese, I have (paid and) created a small site to take down notes as I go through learning the language. You know, to think and write down notes is one of the ways to learn it better, too!

My friend who is very proficient in Japanese language has helped review my site content and she brought a great deal of improvements to the site! I figure with the help from many other people on the forum, I can even make this a lot better than it is right now.

My friend thought the sentences on it are too ﾂ"informalﾂ" and learning Japanese should start with formal sentences. I am just two weeks into Japanese language and there is no way for me to ﾂ"fine tuneﾂ" the sentences on the page to a ﾂ"more formalﾂ" version. I am sure you folks are the best persons to help me on this.


Thanks in advance!!

 

[nekojita]

You have some oddities in your romaji, e.g.

# Ku-ji kara benkyoshita
I studied from 9 o'clock
# Tōkyō kara kaetta
He returned from Tokyo

Why Tōkyō and not benkyō? And then later you use kinou/ginkou. If you must use romaji, you should pick one system, say which you're using, and stick to it strictly, or it becomes confusing.

For that matter, I'm not a fan of ku-ji, san-ji to indicate your times, either - kuji, sanji are fine, or insert a space, or something. (I guess you took these sentences from a couple of different books you have?)

Also, instead of 'Party', use whatever the romaji is for パーティ/ パーティー in the system you're using.

Sentences like the above are easy to make more formal - just change from the plain past (ta-form) into the polite past (mashita-form) benkyou shita = benkyou shimashita, etc. I think the problem is that you have a mix of plain and polite forms without indicating which is which. Again, you just have to be consistent.

 

[xleeque]

Thank you, nekojita! This is exactly what I needed to know (what I have done wrong on the page).

I heed your advices and made changes to the page as you pointed out, with minor questions:

1. I have changed from "benkyo" to "benkyō". I should use "ō" for long vowels, but sometimes I do not know when should I do it (lengthen the sound).
2. "kinou/ginkou", do you mean they should be spelt differently?
3. I have changed "ku-ji" to "kuji", yes they do look better now.
4. I use "paatii" (instead of pātī) for "Party" since it is of foreign origin.
5. I have made the following more formal (with help from Google):

sasotta -> sasotteimashita
benkyo shita -> benkyō shimashita
kaetta -> kaerimashita
matte iru -> matte imasu
tsuita -> tsukimashita


So there you go, the updated page:

xleeque.com/articles/particles-in-japanese-language.aspx


Thanks again for your help, without which my page is misleading!

 

[nekojita]

Long vowels are extremely important! If you are not sure, check in a dictionary.

If you are using benkyō you should have kinō/ginkō as ō stands for ou in systems such as Revised Hepburn. ou is wapuro romaji (the way you type).

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romaji - information on various systems.

You seem to have switched to a te-imashita form for sasou, where your plain form was just an ordinary past tense:
sasotta --> more polite --> sasoimashita
sasotte ita --> more polite --> sasotte imashita


The following still need to be switched into polite forms:
Nihon ni itta
Hoshi ni tonde iku
Tōkyō he itta
Okaasan wa mise he iku

 

[xleeque]

Hi Nekojita, I have updated the site as you pointed out. The fact is verb conjugation is the next thing I am going to pick up, so for now these changes do not make too much a sense for me. I got help from a friend who is proficient in the language.

After all this is over, I am going to analyze "verb conjugation" and try to understand it and have a write-up. By then I will need your feedback too (I am making a kana game, that is going to keep me occupied for a while).

Thanks again, you have been a great help!