The Student Room Group

Japanese Society

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1420
Original post by Ilot
A cheaper model is probably available if you're not interested in all the extra fancy stuff.
I checked out Yodobashi Kamera, and the XD-SC4100 model is available at 29800 yen. (220 GBP). It only has 35 books included, and no Ei-ei dictionaries from what I can see. (English-English, but that might not be a problem for you since your native language is English? Definitions in English of English vocabulary might not be interesting.)

I'm so cool, I can say I learnt Japanese by living in and experiencing Japan going to high school/upper secondary there. :cool:
(I will be a freshie studying Japanese studies from september tho'. It'll be my first "formal" Japanese classes.)


I don't know, the extra fancy stuff is pretty good XD ei-ei dictionaries are useful, even as a native speaker, I use the one on my laptop quite a lot, particularly when reading articles/books for essays :tongue:

That's very cool! :biggrin: how did you find it?
Ohh where, might I ask? Formal Japanese class will certainly be interesting after having learned it in context. What kind of level would you say you are if you think you still need lessons?
Reply 1421
Original post by Natsuko
I don't know, the extra fancy stuff is pretty good XD ei-ei dictionaries are useful, even as a native speaker, I use the one on my laptop quite a lot, particularly when reading articles/books for essays :tongue:

That's very cool! :biggrin: how did you find it?
Ohh where, might I ask? Formal Japanese class will certainly be interesting after having learned it in context. What kind of level would you say you are if you think you still need lessons?


I think the extra stuff and Ei-ei would be worth the extra 40 GBP in case. :smile: Think of it as an investment for future learning and fluency!

Secondary school in Japan was quite awesome, though I hated having to wear a skirt at first. (I wasn't used to having school uniforms and such.) Being the only white kid among a thousand japanese ones was tsurai at times, because it felt like everyone were watching my every move. I got really close to some people however and made a lot of friends, so I have no regrets. I think you make better/closer friends at secondary school level than uni-level, so I'm really thankful.

Oxford Brookes. I know people have said its Japanese Department is not that good, but I need to go to a school that is accepted by the institution for student loans and grants here, and Oxford Brookes was one of the few that offered Japanese in combination with another subject. (Combined honours.)

As for level, I'm not sure. I took an oral exam and a written exam in december and aced them. It was way too easy, but it's what you're supposed to be able to do after studying it for two years as a third language or something. (I just took the exam so that I could have some proof of knowing some Japanese when applying for uni.) I honestly have no idea, not having taken any formal classes or anything I don't know what's normal for x amount of years studied or anything...
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 1422
I only skimmed through the posts so I might have missed it, but what are ei-ei dictionaries?
Reply 1423
Original post by Xurvi
I only skimmed through the posts so I might have missed it, but what are ei-ei dictionaries?


Ei-ei is just a shortening for Eigo-Eigo. English-English dictionaries. :3

Ei-ei = English-english
Wa-ei = Japanese-english
Ei-wa = English-japanese
Reply 1424
Original post by Ilot
Ei-ei is just a shortening for Eigo-Eigo. English-English dictionaries. :3

Ei-ei = English-english
Wa-ei = Japanese-english
Ei-wa = English-japanese

Ah right, thanks, that's what I thought it could be but didn't understand why it would be a good thing on a denshi jisho! And at the same time I just saw it was explained already :sigh:
Reply 1425
I find Ei-ei very useful. Mostly because my first language isn't English, so I have to look up stuff from time to time.
Reply 1426
Original post by Ilot
I'm so cool, I can say I learnt Japanese by living in and experiencing Japan going to high school/upper secondary there. :cool:

Wow, that's pretty interesting. Did your parents relocate there or something?
Reply 1427
Original post by Azimuth
Wow, that's pretty interesting. Did your parents relocate there or something?


Nope, I got a scholarship and was part of a study abroad programme of sorts. I was about to turn 18 at the time, so my parents mostly stayed out of it. My father was dead set against it though. He was wondering why I was "wasting my life by going abroad learning things I'd never have a use for". (I think I crushed his dreams for me by not wanting to become a lawyer or a doctor or something.) :biggrin:
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 1428
I'll have my exams next week and that includes Japan history. I have to revise from Heianjidai to Azuchimomoyamajidai, and to be honest I have a lot of trouble doing it. Everything seems too abstract for my brain to remember. I keep being confused between dates and people and have difficulty linking events to each other.

I'm thinking maybe watching a movie or something would help me, or at least allow me to better understand who are all these important people (I remember the important names such as Fujiwara or Minamoto but couldn't tell who Minamoto no Yoritomo was).

So, does anyone know movies set in these periods? Books, video games and the like would be useful too, but since I don't have a lot of time left they wouldn't be as optimal as a two-hour movie.

Cheers
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 1429
Can i ask a question? just because i am curious.

How do Japanese people feel about Black people? Do japanese guys date black girls in japan?
(Sorry i dont not mean to offend anyone by asking this question)
Reply 1430
Original post by kaygee
Can i ask a question? just because i am curious.

How do Japanese people feel about Black people? Do japanese guys date black girls in japan?
(Sorry i dont not mean to offend anyone by asking this question)


I've only spent a very short amount of time in Japan so take what I say with a pinch of salt. Japan is of course a homogenous society so any foreigner will stick out like a sore thumb and being Black even more so.

Honestly I've faced more racism in the UK than in Japan, rather than being explicitly racist a lot of them believe the racial stereotypes they see in the media (Black people being good at dancing/singing/sport or really ghetto - I'm none of those at all haha). Whilst it can be a tad annoying it's not malicious and I'm sure once you get to know people that attitude will start to dissipate. If you go to Shibuya I will guarantee you that at least one person will ask about/touch your hair :rolleyes:

As for dating I wouldn't really know :tongue: I have quite a few Japanese friends in the UK and they prefer to date their own race but most of them wouldn't rule out dating a person of another race. But then again Japanese people in the UK differ from those who have never left Japan.
Just started learning Japanese a few days ago. Really exciting to see so many others interested in Japan and learning their language : )

Personally only just got done learning Hiragana and Katakana as I've literally only just started. I'm learning about 25-50 Kanji a day, is that a good pace? If I keep it up, shouldn't take too long to read the 2,000 commonly used Kanji.

For anyone else looking to learn, I'm finding the book "Japanese For Everyone" good. It's full on, but there's tapes for it as well so you can listen to the questions and extracts. Wont link to it, but the book and tapes are available on the net. The local library seems to have a few Japanese language books too.
Reply 1432
Original post by Astonix
Just started learning Japanese a few days ago. Really exciting to see so many others interested in Japan and learning their language : )

Personally only just got done learning Hiragana and Katakana as I've literally only just started. I'm learning about 25-50 Kanji a day, is that a good pace? If I keep it up, shouldn't take too long to read the 2,000 commonly used Kanji.

For anyone else looking to learn, I'm finding the book "Japanese For Everyone" good. It's full on, but there's tapes for it as well so you can listen to the questions and extracts. Wont link to it, but the book and tapes are available on the net. The local library seems to have a few Japanese language books too.


The thing about learning 25-50 kanji a day is good, but don't forget revision. Kanji are easy to forget if you don't use them constantly.
Reply 1433
Original post by Astonix
Just started learning Japanese a few days ago. Really exciting to see so many others interested in Japan and learning their language : )

Personally only just got done learning Hiragana and Katakana as I've literally only just started. I'm learning about 25-50 Kanji a day, is that a good pace? If I keep it up, shouldn't take too long to read the 2,000 commonly used Kanji.

For anyone else looking to learn, I'm finding the book "Japanese For Everyone" good. It's full on, but there's tapes for it as well so you can listen to the questions and extracts. Wont link to it, but the book and tapes are available on the net. The local library seems to have a few Japanese language books too.


http://www.renshuu.org/ This site is really useful for practicing Kanji, you can make your own Kanji lists and customise the quizzes. Of course nothing beats old-school hand writing Kanji until your fingers are numb for practice :tongue:
Found a really interesting song sung by Chata, written by Deadball P (You should be familiar with them if you are a NicoNico Douga/Anime Nerd, ha.)



I tried to translate the lyrics into Chinese and English and I would appreciate if someone can leave me some comments that enable me to improve my English/translate skill :biggrin:

Enjoy the great song! :P

http://paste.plurk.com/show/450163/ <- Link for lyrics in JP/CHT/EN
(edited 12 years ago)
Was just curious... what JLPT level does a full A-level Japanese equal to?

Does anyone know?
Original post by MizzPoly
Was just curious... what JLPT level does a full A-level Japanese equal to?

Does anyone know?


Maybe N4/N5? Definitely not higher than N4.
Original post by asabashoyuki
Maybe N4/N5? Definitely not higher than N4.


That's insane. I was reading through some past edexcel papers and I was quite surprised by the supposed level it expected at A-level.

I would've put it at N3-N2 frankly.
my teacher is from Japan.
Original post by MizzPoly
That's insane. I was reading through some past edexcel papers and I was quite surprised by the supposed level it expected at A-level.

I would've put it at N3-N2 frankly.


Both exams are hard in various ways.

JLPT -
No writing
Loads of grammar
Loads of Kanji/Goi/honorifics
Really hard reading part

MC only, which allows candidates to use elimination method

A Level -
No listening
Translation part might be a bit 'painful'.
Reading part is dead easy, relatively less focused on grammar.

Facts
(Recommended learning hours, numbers of kanji, numbers of words)


N2:600 Hours, 1000 Kanji, 6000 Words
N3:Inbetween
N4:300, 300, 1500
N5:150, 100,800

AS:175,198, ?
A2:145,199,?

It's nowhere near N2. (Can't believe that I actually counted the learning hours and numbers of Kanji of AL exams by myself :rolleyes:)

Learning hours are estimates based on my other courses as I don't learn Japanese in school

(If you're interested about my background regarding Japanese)

Spoiler

(edited 12 years ago)

Quick Reply