Japanese Society

the character set we use for the new site is one which doesn't support the Japanese and other characters. As soon as I realised this we started working towards using a character set which does contain the Japanese characters however it's not such a simple job.

Well I've just got an offer from Manchester for Japanese Studies and one from Newcastle for Japanese and Linguistics, so I thought I'd say something I'll TRY to keep up with this thread XD.

Congratz

I might go to Manchester as well, if SOAS rejects me lol.

What makes you to put SOAS as a first choice? As I am also waiting for SOAS and somehow I might change my mind to put Manchester as my first choice..

Nearly nothing really, I might change my mind too (in fact I'll probably firm Manchester even if SOAS give me an offer)

Advantages of SOAS? Hmm, lets say...I would like to stay in London...plus
I might have more opportunities to study Japanese in SOAS. I would like to study more Japanese to get a higher mark and make it more easy for me to get a 1st hon as I like it.
(Actually, I doubt both of SOAS and Manchester U would open any upper-further classes for post-JLPTN1 students but...)

However, Manchester seems to be a more sensible choice. (although I would like to apply for a Masters course right after graduation so the Undergrad school might not be that important)

So...meh, I don't know.

For me, both of the two unis are in a city so it doesn't really matter....Looking at others posts, I've seen someone form SOAS who is doing Japanese now finds SOAS not very helpful in his/her study. Like...you have to pretty much work by yourself? I know we're supposed to be independent learners in uni..but I got a feeeling that I would get more support in Manchester. (it's just what i feel about it after I came back from the visit) Also for the 3rd yr, Manchester have a link with tokyo dai which I really want to go..this one of the reason that Manchester UNI attracts me : p
Anyway, if you really want to focus on the language side, why don't you stay in Japan for a year after graduation instead?

I think I know which post you are talking about. I was a bit concerned about it as well but as I applied for a different subject and professors might differ anyway so I didn't really feel anxious about it.

Is Tou-Dai not an exchange partner of SOAS?

Hmm..
1. Expensive / 2. Might be a bit unrealistic since Japanese people are pretty xenophobic
I don't really know, it might not be a bad choice but..I might just give myself one or two more years before deciding what to do after graduation.

As you mentioned about 3rd yr (but not last year) I would assume you applied for Japanese? . Good luck, it is not the easiest language to learn.

I see...I thought you were applying for Japanese too :P I am doing a joint honors with business management though. Tou dai...iam going to force myself to work hard haaha...but anyway,,thanks for your opinion. : )

Can't wait for the non-roman character bug to be fixed....

Until then, I'll try resurecting this thread with a few questions:

° What's the difference between doushíte and doushíta? I understand there is one but didn't really get it...
° Likewise, I've been introduced to the ndesu form but I don't really get the use. It seems to me ndesu as an explaining sentence could very well be said using kara instead which would be easier to pronunce in my opinion, and as for its other uses such as ndesuka, I don't really understand what's so different with a simple desuka question.
° And finally, I've read "ni san nichi" / a couple days. Is it a set phrase or could I say for instance "juu juugo nichi" to say "for ten to fifteen days"?

doumo

° Likewise, I've been introduced to the ndesu form but I don't really get the use. It seems to me ndesu as an explaining sentence could very well be said using kara instead which would be easier to pronunce in my opinion, and as for its other uses such as ndesuka, I don't really understand what's so different with a simple desuka question.

According to everything I've ever looked this up in, in a question, it's a bit more intimate than just asking the question, like you're interested in what the answer is. In a statement, it adds more of an explanatory flavour. It's not the kind of thing that can be explained with a good analogy in English; you have to just feel it after having listened to thousands of hours of Japanese. My personal thoughts are that not using no enough is one of the things that makes you sound gaijin like. If you listen to Japanese people talk, they use nda, ndesu etc. all over the place.

Be careful with kara - saying something kara, something is different to saying something no de, something. It's not a general purpose "because" that can be used in any situation (which is what it's usually taught as...). I was reading some Japanese blog post the other day which said that that overuse of kara is something gaijin do too often and makes them sound rude.

My teacher actually said the opposite! She told us students often start using ndesu everytime after having learned it and that that wouldn't be very japanese-like, and would diminish its emphatic effect when used...

Yeah, I wondered about node and kara too but the only difference I could find was that node was a tad more formal. Should be prefer ndesu's "explanatory" nuance instead then? Or is there other ways to explain causality?
Is the blog in English or Japanese? If in English, could you share the link please? (I'm afraid my level of Japanese won't allow me to read anything short of educational short stories for the moment!)