[LiteratureGeek]

I am still toying with the idea of doing Japanese A-level by self-study. I suggested it to my teachers earlier this year, but I was really in no fit state to be studying anything at that point, so the idea kind of fell by the wayside.

I do have my Japanese Grammar workbook, Grammar & Verbs guide and a lovely Kanji Learners' Dictionary, and I really should be getting back to it. My interest in Japan started when I was 12, and I'm still in contact with my Japanese friend who spent a year at school with me.

[LucyA]

I bought a Japanese dictionary the other day, it's really good - Oxford Beginners.

Nice to see new people

I am now without clean water and lucky to have electricity due to flooding in the South West

P.S I never think I am going to be able to read Japanese fluently - it seems to take me ages to translate a sentence - (I know I'm a beginner, but...). Will it just click one day, or?

[Excalibur]

(Original post by LucyA)
I bought a Japanese dictionary the other day, it's really good - Oxford Beginners.

Nice to see new people

I am now without clean water and lucky to have electricity due to flooding in the South West

P.S I never think I am going to be able to read Japanese fluently - it seems to take me ages to translate a sentence - (I know I'm a beginner, but...). Will it just click one day, or?

Oh no! I hope things improve for you. We've been hearing some awful news about the floods

Don't worry, you are still as you say a beginner. Things will definitely improve over time, although reading is probably one of the hardest things to do.

Hello to new members Edited the memberlist to add new people.

[frogout]

Oh gosh, I hope the flood situation improves... it's all over the news, looks bad.

Oh btw, I found what looks like a pretty comprehensive guide to Japanese grammar, albeit I haven't read past the introduction (will do later though), but it looks pretty detailed: http://www.guidetojapanese.org/

[LucyA]

Thankfully the worst is over - and we might be getting water back soon (!)
I got to have a shower yesterday at a relative's. It was the nicest shower ever

I tried that website Kim, it looks really good

Shall I put the memberlist on the front page?

(I have applied to become a soc but no luck so far )

[dominiclmorris]

僕は日本の文化が大好きでも現在の日本はたくさん問題が あるよ。
例えば日本では外国人は差別に対したりサラリーマンは働きすぎるから 過労死したりしている。
ほとんどアニメやj-popが好きなイギリスやアメリカ人は”日本の文化が大好き”と言う がほんとうに文化ついて知ってない。
たとえそうでも僕は日本語や日本の文化や日本の問題がとてもおもしろ いと思う。それは大学で日本語が勉強したい理由です。
I've been learning japanese a couple of years now, just did the AS and i try to use japanese I'm not quite good enough to use, so if that was full of mistakes, feel free to correct me~

[gaijin]

I've been studying for about 18 months and I'm still hopeless.

Understood some of that, the only problem I can see, is that you put the wrong particle after Japan, it should be 'de' rather than 'wa'.

Also if you are using quotation marks then put ｢日本」　rather than "日本". This was probably stylistic on your part, so I wouldn't worry about it.

Where are you hoping to go to uni?

Sorry, I didn't write this in Japanese, I can't be arsed.

[gaijin]

Good website on structural particles;

http://home.inter.net/kenbutler/particlehome.html

I like this site as well, some good info;

http://www.timwerx.net/language/index.htm

[Excalibur]

(Original post by dominiclmorris)
僕は日本の文化が大好きだけど、現在の日本にはたくさん問題がある(と思う)。

例えば日本では外国人に対して差別したり、サラリーマンは働きすぎるから過労死したりしている。

アニメやj-popが好きなイギリス人やアメリカ人のほとんどは「日本の文化が大好き」と言うがほんとうに文化ついて知 ってない。

たとえそうでも僕は日本語や日本の文化や日本の問題がとてもおもしろ いと思う。それが大学で日本語が勉強したい理由だ。(You need to decide whether you want to use the formal 「です」「ます」form or the informal form - I made it all informal for the time being)

I wasn't trying to be a pedant, so if that was annoying do tell me! Your Japanese was in general very good though!

[gaijin]

I don't know why I find these funny but I do.

Bit of the kid's show 「ピタゴラスイッチ」 for you to enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FHk-SkIFIg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlRne8tZrI4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_15D1pz_ya8

(＾∀＾) ｗｗｗ

[gaijin]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjMd2Vabcv8

(＾∀＾) ｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗ　やばい！

The two greatest videos in internet history combine.

[s.e.r.e.n.e]

gaijin: You are incredibly helpful!

Anyone using Shin Nihon-go no Kiso? 新日本語の基礎

Do you think it is a good book (I have copy I at home and is contemplating to buy II)? My future university is going to use that book for teaching!

[Simba]

*Waves to everyone*!

'Remembering the Kanji' by Heisig is a great book for Kanji memorisation. I started learning Japanese on Sunday, it's tons of fun ! I'm not good yet, but it will come with time I hope ! With the help of 'Remembering the Kanji', I've learnt around 60 Kanji in an hour or so today. Considering it took me a couple of days to learn the hiragana independently, I'd say 'Remembering the Kanji' is something special!

[thomasjtl]

for beginners to intermediate i'd recommend genki no nihongo 1 and 2. both very good.

[s.e.r.e.n.e]

So how's Shin Nihon-go no Kiso? 新日本語の基礎 .... Anyone using it?

[gaijin]

(Original post by Simba)
*Waves to everyone*!

'Remembering the Kanji' by Heisig is a great book for Kanji memorisation. I started learning Japanese on Sunday, it's tons of fun ! I'm not good yet, but it will come with time I hope ! With the help of 'Remembering the Kanji', I've learnt around 60 Kanji in an hour or so today. Considering it took me a couple of days to learn the hiragana independently, I'd say 'Remembering the Kanji' is something special!

I was thinking of investing in that. My friend bought it and I haven't seen in him in 6 months, so I don't know how good it is. He's probably either still in Egypt or speaking fluent Japanese to someone.

I personally don't have any problems with remembering to write the kanji, its just like remembering how to draw a picture and piecing together the stroke orders etc. What is hard, is the pronounciations, as I usually forget them.

My vocab also sucks.

I've also learned that pirate is kaizoku whereas family is kazoku. So if your family are pirates then 'go-kazoku ga kaizoku da' is just what you need.

I need to get some work done.

If anyone studies Japanese at uni then root around for this, if its not there, then demand that they stock it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Systemic-Fun...343284&sr=8-42

That's the leviathan of grammar. Practically everything you wanted to know and didn't. I would also err on the caution of picking out books from about 1960/70 and anything before. Japanese as a language has seemingly evolved at such an unusual spatial time-frame, that certain contexts of speech seem very outdated if you don't understand the context correctly.

Also if anyone is studying the language at quite an intensive level, then check out "An Introduction to Japanese Linguistics" by Tsujimara Natsuko. Quite pricey, but worth it I reckon.

[gaijin]

http://wakan.manga.cz/

You'll need to download the vocab and sentence example files separately I think.

[LucyA]

I'm gonna start learning kanji soon, but have no idea of how to go about it. Should I do it like GCSE style, learning colours, numbers, jobs etc?

I'm not sure whether I should invest in a kanji book - I do have a dictionary now but I suppose a book separated into sections would be better.

[gaijin]

Get yourself a kanji learners dictionary and some kanji learning sheets to practice on. Ideally you can do this on any old piece of paper. But its worth while to have some of these* available to you and then fill them in.

It helps to write down the stroke order, stroke number, definition, pronunciations and of course any useful jukugo (compounds.)

*I'll upload it.

[gaijin]

(Original post by LucyA)
I'm gonna start learning kanji soon, but have no idea of how to go about it. Should I do it like GCSE style, learning colours, numbers, jobs etc?

I'm not sure whether I should invest in a kanji book - I do have a dictionary now but I suppose a book separated into sections would be better.

I'll just add to this, because I forgot. NO. Its best to tackle the grades or do the ones that are set by the JPLT or GCSE. You'll find if you don't go via this method, that you'll learn a load of useless kanji and that you can't slowly build on pre-existing knowledge. When you go onto harder more complex characters, you are expected to know the basic radicals that you master at the very start. Therefore, whilst stuff like 門 would seem stupid at the start, its invaluable to know for later on.

I would say to get started, maybe try doing the kanji numerals. Its always a good start.