Japanese Speaking Japanese

I wanted to learn Japanese! Once, I have a book that teaches basic Japanese words, but then my brother lost it! So now, I learn by watching subtitled anime and by asking other people who knows it.

 

I'm trying to learn to speak Japanese. Legato taught me the kana and a few kanji, I've got a few different books to try to pick up the formal stuff and I watch a lot of subtitled anime. I still don't know much. I think the only way to get it right is to live there for a while, so that's part of my plan. Currently I'm trying to pick up Kansai-ben because I think I'll go stay in Kyoto or Osaka.

 

I used to be able to say "I do not speak Japanese well". It's been so long I forgot how to say that.

All you need to know is how to say three things to have a conversation -- "Ohayou", "Genki desu ka", and "Ja matta".

It's tough to learn a language and never use it. I'm sure if I heard Japanese again, I could hold a somewhat meanful conversation.

 

I speak a little Japanese cuz I learned it from this Japanese site. You can go to http://www.google.com and search for japanese. Like learn Japanese or something. They'll give you some sites and some of those sites has this voice thingy, you download it and you get to learn like that. When I find the site back, I'll tell you.

 

jodan jai yo!

hai i do not know very much japanese at all

 

I'm Japanese and live in Japan now, so I always speak Japanese. But I speak Osaka/Kansai dialect which is not the standard language

 

How come your English is better than mine!!!!

Mikko-sama, Wolfwood and I are trying to learn how to speak Kansai-ben and it really is not easy! They just don't publish a lot of books on the subject. We've got one book called 'Kinki Japanese' which is probably a bit dated, and we keep trying to find anime with Kansai characters in. We figure in the long run we'll have to give up and go and live over there for a while. Wolfwood is planning on living in Osaka, I was thinking maybe Kyoto.

 

Hello Vash-sama

It's cool that you are trying to learn how to speak Kansai-ben. Do you know Detective Conan? I think it's very popular in Japan now especially among young people. Some characters speak Kansai-ben in the anime. It's totally cool!!

Here, I'll tell you a couple of practical Kansai-ben.
Meccha= very (an adverb)
For ex, when you want to say "This is very good/yummy", you'll say "meccha oisii" or "meccha umai".
Sindoi= (I'm) tired
You can say "Meccha sindoi", which means "I'm very tired"

As for me, I still have to improve my English though I've been learning English for 9 years!

 

Meccha Genki

^^ does that make any sense???

Thanks alot, Mikko!

 

Ohayosan Mikko-sama!

Meccha omoroi ya!

Is that right? My book says in Kansai-ben you drop the 'shi' in 'omoshiroi', and replace 'desu' with 'ya'.

I haven't been trying to learn Japanese for very long, and Kansai-ben for even less time, but I am trying! When I was in Kyoto in February I developed a routine of going to the FamilyMart over the road from my hotel every night for macadamia nut icecream for supper. One night as I left I called out 'ciao!' (If you don't already know it's an Italian farewell, pronounced 'chau') and the guys in the store burst out laughing. I was quite surprised because it was the first time in 3 weeks that anyone had laughed at anything I had said, and once I ordered a 'tsuyoi' coffee. Once I found 'chau' in my book I realised why it was a really odd thing to say as a farewell!

I saw a little bit of Detective Conan because it was on around the same time as Inuyasha, which I watched every week because I already knew the storyline. I went to see the movie too, in Osaka because it wasn't showing in Kyoto any more. There was another really interesting-looking anime that was showing on Monday nights too but I can't remember much about it. I'll appreciate this stuff more when I go back to Japan!

Sorry that this post is a bit long. Thanks for your help Mikko-sensei!

 

Bloodberry, thank you for your praising my English. I think English is a hard language for Japanese to learn because the grammar is too different and there are many vowels and consonants. But to learn English is interesting!! Japanese is my mother tongue, so I donft think itfs hard. But, to learn kanji is not easy. I sometimes forget themc Now, Ifm into using politically correct words, such as homemaker, African American, flight attendant etc in English.

I'll teach you new Kansai-ben.
Okan=Mom/mother
Oton=dad/father
Uchi no=my
These words are informal. For example, uchi no okan means my mother))))))))

Bye!

 

Hi Meaikoh. Meccha genki makes sense! You speaks Kansai-ben as if you were Kansai people. Are you from Montreal? I love the city! Ifve been there about 2 years ago and I was so happy when I went to Le circuit Gilles-Villeneuve!!
Sorry, this is a off topic.

 

Hi Vash!

Meccha omoroi ya sounds a bit strangec It would be better you say Meccha omoroi wa. Itfs true that we replace edesuf with eyaf. But, in this case, we donft do like that. We replace edesuf with enenf too. You can say Meccha omoroi nen.

It was interesting and funny to read your experience in Japan. Chau is one of popular Kansai-ben. But, the intonations of Ciao and Chau are not the same. So Ifm not sure that the guys thought you had spoken Kansai-ben. I donft know if you know this or not, we usually donft say eHif or eHellof when you enter restaurants or shops. I didnft know that I have to say eHif, eHellof or such things when I enter or see store clerks as I went to Canada. My friends also didnft know this custom either. So I didnft know why some store clerks looked angry when I didnft say anything to them. It was a very embarrassing momentc

I donft know the anime you mentioned, but I hope youfll see it again Bai bai kin!

 

Boy this is fun!
Thanks Mikko. I had noticed that store clerks and waiters and what-have-you seemed to find it odd when I kept greeting them and especially when I thanked them on leaving. The FamilyMart guys were the only ones that laughed though! Is 'Ciao' a funny thing to say in Japan?? Actually, it could be a pronunciation thing, I'm Australian, so I don't say it exactly the same as an American would. To my ears it sounds pretty much like Wolfwood saying 'chau'. Who can tell? I'm sure I did a lot of things that people thought odd in Japan but everyone was really nice about it. I had a great time.
I'll try to think up some good politically correct-speak for you!

 

Well, I went in and bought me a book toaday. I hope it's good, I just did the first chapter today, and there was only like 3 words I didn't already know. I think I should try learning the basics before I try kansai though. Also, I know 2 kanji: big and small. Hmm. Well anyway, V.

 

We say Ciao in a affected way, but not so often. Do I make sense? I may say ciao when I want to make my friends laugh. It's funny to see your friends saying something like that, isn't it? But it's not good the guys laughed at you like that. I think it's rude.
If you say ciao, like chao in a Japanese way, when you meet Japanese, I think he or she understand what you mean.
But, I have to admit the greeting custom at shops is one of the things I was moved and love. I wish we had the same stuff.

It's very nice to watch anime subtitled. I love to watch movie subtitled because I can learn English and can hear the real voice of actors and actresses)
I understand how kanji is difficult to learn for nonnative speakers. But, it was hard for me to recognize b from d too when I started to learn Alphabets))
I want to know what kind of Japanese people here want to learn. Sentence? Slang? words? Please LMK

Ciao!

 

I really didn't mind being laughed at Mikko, don't worry! And I really like the way people greet me in shops too and I always say 'Hi' back, although now I'm worried that they think I'm a thief since 'Berry's post!

I saw a really funny, although incredibly offensive (not to me, but I'm hard to offend) example of Japanese people using US slang. It was a comedy short called 'Tokyo Breakfast'. Are you familiar with it? You wouldn't dare use that kind of slang in America unless you wanted your head kicked in. Hey, now I come to think of it 'getting your head kicked in' is a very slangy sort of expression. Is that the sort of idiomatic English you're after? Eh, other ways of expressing the same concept are, for instance, 'get the crap beaten out of you' or 'get the s*** kicked out of you'. Hmm. Maybe I'm focusing on the negative too much.

Lemme think. At the moment in Australia if we want to express approval over something we often say 'It's all good'. That's a fairly recent colloquialism.

I'm floundering here Mikko! How about you give me a phrase in correct English and I'll tell you how a normal Australian would say it! Actually, you'll probably learn a lot just hanging around on the different threads and talking to people.

Honja, mata na!