Japanese Society

Bah, I give up. I'll just borrow an XP CD of my girlfriend and install it via control panel.

こんにちは! I've just started teaching myself Japanese, primarily to give myself something to do over the holidays but I'm also very interested in Japanese culture. Can anyone recommend good beginners' textbooks for self-study?

Reply 382

Gwilym

Breve

こんにちは! I've just started teaching myself Japanese, primarily to give myself something to do over the holidays but I'm also very interested in Japanese culture. Can anyone recommend good beginners' textbooks for self-study?

"Japanese : The Manga Way" by Wayne Lammers.
Don't be put off by the Manga thing ; the book explains a point and then uses excerpts from Manga to demonstrate "real" Japanese as opposed to "textbook" Japanese. It's an engrossing read as well as hugely informative.

Reply 383

Breve

Gwilym

"Japanese : The Manga Way" by Wayne Lammers.
Don't be put off by the Manga thing ; the book explains a point and then uses excerpts from Manga to demonstrate "real" Japanese as opposed to "textbook" Japanese. It's an engrossing read as well as hugely informative.

Thanks! That sounds useful...and I like Manga!

Reply 384

frogout

4

Hey! Is there anyone that can see what mistakes I have made in this sentence:

この世界にはお前のような人間がいない.

:smile:

Reply 385

gaijin

1

In this world, there are no people like you?

Omae is very strong and possibly only used amongst male acquaintances. Any place else and its considered very rude, like saying bastard or prick. Its very rare for a women to say it without being sarcastic.

人間 is also very strong, and is maybe more like human-kind, man etc. Its more generic and doesn't work with omae, which is singular.

Here's my example (poor it may be);

この世界には人間性というものがないよ。

There is no such thing called humanity in this world.

I dunno what you are trying to say though...

Maybe;

この世界にはあなたのような人々がいない

There are no people like you in this world.

Reply 386

frogout

4

gaijin

In this world, there are no people like you?

Omae is very strong and possibly only used amongst male acquaintances. Any place else and its considered very rude, like saying bastard or prick. Its very rare for a women to say it without being sarcastic.

人間 is also very strong, and is maybe more like human-kind, man etc. Its more generic and doesn't work with omae, which is singular.

Here's my example (poor it may be);

この世界には人間性というものがないよ。

There is no such thing called humanity in this world.

I dunno what you are trying to say though...

Maybe;

この世界にはあなたのような人々がいない

There are no people like you in this world.

ありがとう :smile:

Yeah I think the second one is what I was trying to say

Reply 387

GodspeedGehenna

3

Hi, sorry to butt in.. but I have a quick question.

At the moment I am learning Romaji, and I find the written language rather intimidating. How/where do I start?

Or should I just focus on strengthening my understanding of Romaji first?

Reply 388

frogout

4

GodspeedGehenna

Or should I just focus on strengthening my understanding of Romaji first?

NO

I am no expert on Japanese but I know that that's not a good idea! I mean, maybe you may wanna wait before you learn Kanji but you should definitely learn hiragana and katakana! I guess everyone has their different ways of learning but personally I found a programme called 'slime forest' useful (it sounds weird but was fun) http://lrnj.com/

Reply 389

GodspeedGehenna

3

kimoso

NO

I am no expert on Japanese but I know that that's not a good idea! I mean, maybe you may wanna wait before you learn Kanji but you should definitely learn hiragana and katakana! I guess everyone has their different ways of learning but personally I found a programme called 'slime forest' useful (it sounds weird but was fun) http://lrnj.com/

Sorry, I meant to reply last night, but I got distracted :o:

Thanks for the link, I've downloaded it and given it a go, seems like a fun little game. I'm playing it now :smile:

But wow, there are so many characters :s-smilie:

This is going to be very difficult.

Reply 390

dominiclmorris

Learning the kana is easy peasy if you put in the time (an hour a day for a week or two would deffinatly do it). The characters are sort of... aranged by sound, for example:

A I U E O
Ka Ki Ku Ke Ko
Sa Shi Su Se So

and so on.
The way I learned was working on two lines a day, so in one day I would write, A 15 times, I 15 times, U 15 times, and so on, untill I could write A I U E O, then I'd move on to Ka Ki Ku Ke Ko. The next day you try to write all the characters you learned previously from memory, then move on to the next lot. It's literally just a memory thing, anyone can do it.

Reply 391

Frogsofhope

2

GodspeedGehenna

Hi, sorry to butt in.. but I have a quick question.

At the moment I am learning Romaji, and I find the written language rather intimidating. How/where do I start?

Or should I just focus on strengthening my understanding of Romaji first?

what do you mean understanding of romaji, as you already know the letters and close enough hoe to pronounce them (with the odd exception)

so do you mean vocabulary/spoken?

the only place you are going to ever read in romaji is the odd Japanese learning book or site, it is not actually used in Japan(that i have ever seen) or any "real" Japanese books, also for the same reason you will probably never write in it.

If you start learning how to speak with it youll just become all gooed up when you want to start learnign to read and will have to start from scratch!

Learn the Kana,simple characters that each corrrespond to a syllable like sound,there are only 50 or so to learn which isnt a lot, and start vocab that way, at first everytime you see one you will turn it into the romaji in your head before saying it outloud but eventually that middle process will dissapear so you read the phonetics directly into sounds.

Once you have mastered that and some basic spoken vocab then start looking into Kanji, which are probably the complicated looking characters you are intimidated by, and are used when reading/writing "grownup" Japanese text where each character corresponds to a word or part of a word and can be pronounced several ways, and good luck with that because there are thousands and they suck :mad:

P.S Im no expert I failed Japanese at Uni *doh* but am learnign what i can in my own time

As well as the slime game someone mentioned above there is another one that helps with kana

dont be fooled by the "china land" it is Japanese!

http://www.tbns.net/knuckles/

Reply 392

GodspeedGehenna

3

princessmarisa

what do you mean understanding of romaji, as you already know the letters and close enough hoe to pronounce them (with the odd exception)

so do you mean vocabulary/spoken?

Sorry yes, I didn't word that very well did I? I meant vocabulary/spoken as you said :smile:

Thanks for the advice though! I'll get stuck right in :smile:

Reply 393

Frogsofhope

2

http://nihongo-dekimasu.blogspot.com/search/label/Genki

some good dowloads of books on this site :smile:

They have minna no nihongo , genki, etc
good ot give you a taster to pick before you buy, or you can try just learn off screen but i find it better to have a book you can carry about, read in bed/on the bus etc.

Reply 394

Leonardo85

8

Hey I need some help here with film, please.
My department sent me a list of films I should watch before starting my first year Japanese course, and there is one, Akira, by Katsuhiro Otomo. Problem is it says on the list the film was directed in 2002, but the only Akira I found is an anime film made in 1988..I've read on wikipedia about the plot of the film, and it seems strange to me that the department wants me to watch a cartoon about a futuristic japan, I don't see what it has to do with my course...so I was wondering if anybody saw it and if it actually is a must for students of japanese..?

Reply 395

Excalibur

15

Leonardo85

Hey I need some help here with film, please.
My department sent me a list of films I should watch before starting my first year Japanese course, and there is one, Akira, by Katsuhiro Otomo. Problem is it says on the list the film was directed in 2002, but the only Akira I found is an anime film made in 1988..I've read on wikipedia about the plot of the film, and it seems strange to me that the department wants me to watch a cartoon about a futuristic japan, I don't see what it has to do with my course...so I was wondering if anybody saw it and if it actually is a must for students of japanese..?

Anime/manga is a huge part of Japanese culture, and Akira was one of those that paved the way towards making anime popular overseas - so that might be why your department want you to see it? It's an okay film, though I personally didn't like it much. But the only Akira I know was definitely directed in 1988.... (well, there's a live action one that's coming out in 2009, but that's not 2002!)

Reply 396

gaijin

1

Leonardo85

Hey I need some help here with film, please.
My department sent me a list of films I should watch before starting my first year Japanese course, and there is one, Akira, by Katsuhiro Otomo. Problem is it says on the list the film was directed in 2002, but the only Akira I found is an anime film made in 1988..I've read on wikipedia about the plot of the film, and it seems strange to me that the department wants me to watch a cartoon about a futuristic japan, I don't see what it has to do with my course...so I was wondering if anybody saw it and if it actually is a must for students of japanese..?

It was originally released in 1988 and written as a manga in 1982. The DVD oth, was released in 2002.

If you can understand the subtext to which Otomo was centring his piece you will find it very insightful into understanding certain aspects of Japanese culture and history. He was theorising that the inevitable internal destruction Japan would face if it continued economic expansion at the cost of self-liberties amid the crushing external forces of national isolationism. In 1982, when he originally wrote Akira, Japan was one of the fastest growing economies in the world and the landscape was being transformed - Tokyo turning into futuristic metropolis. Inevitably Otomo saw this as costing Japanese people their liberties and eradicting their individualism even more. The crux, as he saw it - was that in the distant future, people would be completely disconnected from any sense of individual power.

Japan is very much a society build on the collective rather than the individual. And its central to the way the society functions.

At Sheffield we have the Japanese DVD which has a load of extra features on it. Sadly a lot aren't subtitled, but are truly fascinating to watch.

If possible get your hands on the manga, which includes many of the sub-plots that were either cut or dumbed down for the cinema.

Reply 397

Frogsofhope

2

I still feel a fraud in the fact I have never seen Akira, I was even in an anime soc at Leeds, woops!

Reply 398

Leonardo85

8

hey guys I need to ask you something else..I'm studying katakana, and at the end of the syllabary there is a box that says "only found in katakana" with these symbols:
ヴァ　ヴィヴ　ヴェ　ヴォ　ドウ　テイ　ファ　フィ　フェ　フォ　シェ　ジェ　チェ
I don't get if they are impure sounds or diphthongs, and also what "only found in katakana" means..
thanks for your help once again! :wink:

Reply 399

gaijin

1

Leonardo85

hey guys I need to ask you something else..I'm studying katakana, and at the end of the syllabary there is a box that says "only found in katakana" with these symbols:
ヴァ　ヴィヴ　ヴェ　ヴォ　ドウ　テイ　ファ　フィ　フェ　フォ　シェ　ジェ　チェ
I don't get if they are impure sounds or diphthongs, and also what "only found in katakana" means..
thanks for your help once again! :wink:

Its for foreign words...and obviously not part of any Japanese because they are irregular sounds.

Wa, Wi, We, Wo, Du, Di, Fa, Fi, Fe, Fo, She, Ji, Chi etc etc...

シェフィールド - That has two. She-fii-ru-do = Sheffield.

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