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#11
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vikingpizza (01/11/2016) [-]
That's the same reason I started learning... My plan was a single semester so I could read text on buttons and understand the basic gist of things, but all my professors kept recommending me for the next level. Long story short, I start my final semester tomorrow and half of my classes are for a Japanese minor. I actually got kind of lucky and live in an area with a bit of a demand for Japanese speakers, and there's a ton of opportunities for study abroad / paid internships. Because I wanted to be able to understand the 2D girls getting drilled by trans-dimensional squid tentacles. Totally worth it
Memrise is pretty good
I'd also recommend Kanji Draw
It teaches you actual useful stuff, starting with basics, and goes from there
I'd also recommend Kanji Draw
It teaches you actual useful stuff, starting with basics, and goes from there
i'm using Memrise. it's free with optional premium. it has pretty neat courses for japanese.
you should start with www.memrise.com/course/12/introduction-to-japanese/
you should start with www.memrise.com/course/12/introduction-to-japanese/
I'd have loved to learn, cept, none of my schools offered it, I ended up failing spanish and french because I HATE those languages and don't give a **** about them, it might have been different.
I'm going to be going to college soon and thinking of dual majoring , with my second major being in japanese for the reason you put, and just so i can go abroad somewhere. Or italian, since rome is another option.
I think it kind of depends. Wall of text incoming.
If you want to learn just for family, friends, whatever, it might not be too difficult
You could go for the basic structure, vocab, etc. and be pretty much fine with just picking up more through immersion
Casual conversation is a bit odd if you've learned generic polite form first, so it can be weird to pick up, but I'm like, 95% sure all you really need to do is change verb endings
But there's a different way of speaking depending on how polite you want to be
So if you wanted to learn, say, business Japanese, which I really know pretty much nothing about, good luck
Things like context and verb form, and even certain words will pretty much shuffle around entirely
Oh, and there's a different way to end verbs in writing and in speaking... And IIRC there's a masculine form for one of those ways. I forget. I always **** that up anyway.
So, it's similar to the difference (in English) between addressing your friends or family, and your boss
You wouldn't say "Hey, what's up?" to the CEO of your company, unless he's one of those chill CEOs who tries to mingle with the peons but let's assume he isn't but you might say it to your friend in a casual setting
If I remember correctly, verbs can have a few different endings (same tense) depending on the context
That's harder to explain in English... I'm not sure there's a real equivalent
I guess the closest thing would be saying, "Yes," "Yeah," or "Yes, esteemed customer. Right away."
There's certain greetings and phrases used specifically by shopkeepers or employees to address customers politely that you might not ever really hear in casual conversation
Also particles are a real bitch
Fun example:
鈴木さんの家に行きました。ー (I - implied) went to Mr. Suzuki's house.
鈴木さんの家で行きました。ー I ejaculated in Mr. Suzuki's house.
に is used to indicate movement, and で is used for the place an action occurred.
People mixed these up all the time in my first class. Our sensei thought it was hilarious. He was super cool. First word we learned was おっぱい and he always found a way to put the phrase "bikini party" in our exams.
Overall, it's a very context-heavy language, and most of the time people tend not to really want to talk **** or hurt anyone's feelings
So even if you suck, you're doing pretty good
I should know. I suck
That's like, the most extensive explanation I can offer. I turned my brain off as soon as I got home today
If you want to learn just for family, friends, whatever, it might not be too difficult
You could go for the basic structure, vocab, etc. and be pretty much fine with just picking up more through immersion
Casual conversation is a bit odd if you've learned generic polite form first, so it can be weird to pick up, but I'm like, 95% sure all you really need to do is change verb endings
But there's a different way of speaking depending on how polite you want to be
So if you wanted to learn, say, business Japanese, which I really know pretty much nothing about, good luck
Things like context and verb form, and even certain words will pretty much shuffle around entirely
Oh, and there's a different way to end verbs in writing and in speaking... And IIRC there's a masculine form for one of those ways. I forget. I always **** that up anyway.
So, it's similar to the difference (in English) between addressing your friends or family, and your boss
You wouldn't say "Hey, what's up?" to the CEO of your company, unless he's one of those chill CEOs who tries to mingle with the peons but let's assume he isn't but you might say it to your friend in a casual setting
If I remember correctly, verbs can have a few different endings (same tense) depending on the context
That's harder to explain in English... I'm not sure there's a real equivalent
I guess the closest thing would be saying, "Yes," "Yeah," or "Yes, esteemed customer. Right away."
There's certain greetings and phrases used specifically by shopkeepers or employees to address customers politely that you might not ever really hear in casual conversation
Also particles are a real bitch
Fun example:
鈴木さんの家に行きました。ー (I - implied) went to Mr. Suzuki's house.
鈴木さんの家で行きました。ー I ejaculated in Mr. Suzuki's house.
に is used to indicate movement, and で is used for the place an action occurred.
People mixed these up all the time in my first class. Our sensei thought it was hilarious. He was super cool. First word we learned was おっぱい and he always found a way to put the phrase "bikini party" in our exams.
Overall, it's a very context-heavy language, and most of the time people tend not to really want to talk **** or hurt anyone's feelings
So even if you suck, you're doing pretty good
I should know. I suck
That's like, the most extensive explanation I can offer. I turned my brain off as soon as I got home today
#143 to #109
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datonelurker (01/11/2016) [-]
I'll be completely honest, I workout 5 times a week, cook my own food and have a proper diet, and Japanese is at least twice as difficult to learn. However, that's because I want to read Japanese novels, light novels and VNs so I spend at least an hour a day grinding Anki words or reading. Speaking Japanese isn't too bad, writing is just repetition, but reading novels is pretty brutal to be honest. Beyond not knowing words, it all comes down to decoding the sentence, and there will be a lot of phrases which, even with a dictionary you simply wont get.
The language I hear is simpler than English... the writing system on the other hand....
Re
Re
Well, seeing as I am fluent in English, and have a good ear for languages, it seems that all I need to do is take classes in it? I've picked up some bits and pieces from watching anime here and there, but not enough to use it in a coherent sentence - which is what I'm aiming for.
Besides, my guess is that most of the things they say in animes isn't something you'd normally use in a given every-day situation.
Besides, my guess is that most of the things they say in animes isn't something you'd normally use in a given every-day situation.
Sometimes I wonder if my perfect scores in English examinations, means that my brain is "full" in the language center to speak. I want to learn am not sure where to start, though I'd say it's possible, I as well have watched so much anime that I recognize words, phrases, certain expressions and such.
In fact, that alone helps me ignore the localization in subs, I also notice the mixed English used and how the translator changes certain things. Also how everyone seems to talk in 3rd person, and how they mention the name before what they talk about. Very strange indeed, but if there's any hope in learning a new language (and being monolingual), its in something you've had a lot of exposure to. anime isn't much, but it's something. The writing on the otherhand.....
In fact, that alone helps me ignore the localization in subs, I also notice the mixed English used and how the translator changes certain things. Also how everyone seems to talk in 3rd person, and how they mention the name before what they talk about. Very strange indeed, but if there's any hope in learning a new language (and being monolingual), its in something you've had a lot of exposure to. anime isn't much, but it's something. The writing on the otherhand.....
Yes, I agree with you on this. But the things is, I'm not monolingual - I speak fluent danish, fluent english and coherent german as well - but as you say, the writing on the other hand... Oh God, my grammar in German ist scheisse, and the fact that you have to learn another written language is probably what discourages me the most.
Well then it shouldn't be that hard.
I was screwed when I wasn't taught by my parents anything other than english, their poor english mind you
I was screwed when I wasn't taught by my parents anything other than english, their poor english mind you
Good to know. I can tell you that the way I learned to understand, not so much as speak, but that comes all by itself, was by watching a lot of german translated cartoons as a kid. The reason being that it was the only cartoon channels we had on the TV in my home at that time.
Wanting to play games not available in U.S.- primary reason for learning so much Japanese.
Cruel fate? Stationed in Korea for 3 years. Pretty much conversationally fluent.
Cruel fate? Stationed in Korea for 3 years. Pretty much conversationally fluent.
Everyone else said it way better than I could
It's a bitch
It's just a total bitch
Kanji sucks and trying to puzzle out the context of a context-heavy language that you don't speak natively sucks worse
It's a bitch
It's just a total bitch
Kanji sucks and trying to puzzle out the context of a context-heavy language that you don't speak natively sucks worse
You don't understand how ridiculously frustrating it actually is to translate Japanese to English. I'm completely fluent in Japanese, but translating is a huge pain in the ass because you need to carry over the original meaning without making your English sentence sound like ass, which is a lot more difficult and time-consuming than it sounds.
#67 to #49
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datonelurker (01/11/2016) [-]
JP learner in progress here. Though I haven't officially translated anything, I can confirm that Translating JP to ENG is pretty much one of the biggest pains in the ass I've encountered. Not only that, but once you get to higher level stuff English Edict definitions simply don't cut it (幽玄) or some of them are straight up ridiculous. Like... jesus christ translating 幽玄 would make me want to tear out my hair since the concept literally doesn't exist in English, nor does it mean the same thing. I've only ever seen Tanaka Romeo use it in his writing so I don't think well see it anytime soon, but it does exist. Most anime Dialogue isn't too difficult as a whole to TL, but there are exceptions (Fate, Oretsuba, Kouya, Dies Irae when it comes out for sure) Part of the job of TLing is recreating the experience so the audience can enjoy the product to it's fullest extent. Though not as bad as the VN fate has difficult infodumps and you have to make Gil's speech sound like a king, Oretsuba is just... ugh... though, admittedly whoever did the script for the English dub should be given a medal since they have to convey a myriad of speech styles and slang in English, In Kouya's case... anything by Tanaka Romeo is just a pain in the ass to translate, Kouya's dialogue carries this mellifluous nuance that's subtle yet completely natural in Japanese, and Dies is the most Chuu2 thing to exist, making Gil's speeches look like child's play.
TLR Translating JP is hard cuz you gotta make it sound good in English too
TLR Translating JP is hard cuz you gotta make it sound good in English too
There are so many Cyclone comics that need translating! Something freaky is happening to those magical girls and we may never know what it is!
i speak two languages
i can tell you, it's like that when you're "fluent" in two languages, but you don't know them inside out yet.
once you get really good at it, you'll translate between them fluently.
i can tell you, it's like that when you're "fluent" in two languages, but you don't know them inside out yet.
once you get really good at it, you'll translate between them fluently.
The difficulty of the task does differ from language to language. I'm fluent in Russian, and I can say for a fact that translating from Russian to English is very easy (and vice versa), though there are many languages where it becomes extremely frustrating.
Thing is, languages like Russian can be translated almost word for word sometimes. They come from a similar origin, and share many words.
I don't speak Japanese but, considering it's not one of the languages of Latin origin, I'd assume that it's pretty difficult to translate it to English since the languages are so different.
Thing is, languages like Russian can be translated almost word for word sometimes. They come from a similar origin, and share many words.
I don't speak Japanese but, considering it's not one of the languages of Latin origin, I'd assume that it's pretty difficult to translate it to English since the languages are so different.
#65 to #55
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anon (01/11/2016) [-]
I know exactly what you mean, it took me a while, but now i can translate spanish and german quite perfectly, as soon as i focused to only translate the meaning.
Still got trouble translating anything to/from english as fluent though
- also, why are you blocking me? Erotictentacle
Still got trouble translating anything to/from english as fluent though
- also, why are you blocking me? Erotictentacle
idk, i usually screenshot why i block people, but i have no screenshot of you
how i know: i speak english on a daily basis
as in several hours a day
since my mother joined the technological revolution (got a PC and a smartphone) i've had to spend a considerable amount of time translating.
this means making sentences that sound just fine in english, sound just fine in our language as well.
which in the beginning was a pain in the ass, but eventually became second-hand
as in several hours a day
since my mother joined the technological revolution (got a PC and a smartphone) i've had to spend a considerable amount of time translating.
this means making sentences that sound just fine in english, sound just fine in our language as well.
which in the beginning was a pain in the ass, but eventually became second-hand
I speak 3 fluently, two of them I've spoken since I was like 4 or something (I dunno at what age kids start speaking, is it 2? 3?) . Translating between English and Afrikaans is already a pain in the ass, but it's fine because the grammar structure is similar. English and Japanese have completely different grammar structures, which makes it really ******* frustrating, especially when you have to translate half-sentences.
My biggest issue is in cases like "Anata no koto ga... (suki)"
In English, that would be "I like you, but with "like" ommitted because the character dies or something. How am I supposed to translate something like this?
In English, that would be "I like you, but with "like" ommitted because the character dies or something. How am I supposed to translate something like this?
#64 to #61
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pentol (01/11/2016) [-]
it is you that i (love)?
really clumsy, but functional. most translators probably go for something along the lines of "I love..." it conveys the same dramatic effect of uncertainty, even if the meaning is different. if you get into translating, make sure you do better than what is currently going on with most companies "localizing" instead of translating.
really clumsy, but functional. most translators probably go for something along the lines of "I love..." it conveys the same dramatic effect of uncertainty, even if the meaning is different. if you get into translating, make sure you do better than what is currently going on with most companies "localizing" instead of translating.
well the translation would effectively be "I like y..."
while the word that is cut off is a different one, it has the same effect.
because the point isn't that the person they say it to, can't imagine what they were about to say, but that they didn't get to finish the sentence.
if it is absloutely imperative that the exact word is the one cut out, the scene has to be altered, a simple cough fixes it easily:
"i *cough* you..." (ded)
while the word that is cut off is a different one, it has the same effect.
because the point isn't that the person they say it to, can't imagine what they were about to say, but that they didn't get to finish the sentence.
if it is absloutely imperative that the exact word is the one cut out, the scene has to be altered, a simple cough fixes it easily:
"i *cough* you..." (ded)
It really depends how basic it is to be honest
I'd say I know survival / lewd Japanese
So if it's about general everyday stuff or dicks, probably
I'd say I know survival / lewd Japanese
So if it's about general everyday stuff or dicks, probably