Japanese Society

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Scold me. I just left my Japanese unit in favour of World Politics. I just couldnt get into it this term.

Will still be learning it in my own free time though and might retake the class next year as a paid extra. But it was going to get in the way of me passing this term :frown:

Reply 161

s.e.r.e.n.e

OK let's resurrect this thread!

Reply 162

gaijin

あああああああ。。。。キタよ！！！！！

日本語はむずかしすぎる！

I hate learning the little social rules, like why you can't say this or that, and then forgetting them instantly. I have an exam, but thankfully it isn't until 5 weeks from tomorrow. Plenty of time to revise. In the meantime, I'm typing up my memoirs in Japanese.

I would like to hear anyone else doing Japanese at uni to see if they have it easy compared to us. I heard Leeds' course was easier than ours. I heard that they do te-imasu form in like a week, but we did in one lesson, no sorry half a lesson. Plus that little review thing when we did relative clauses.

二月に日本語のしけんがあるが、まだ勉強をしはじめていない！わるい学生ですね？

じゃ、明日はじめるつもりだ。

みんなさん、日本語の勉強はどうですか？

Reply 163

s.e.r.e.n.e

gaijin

How can te - iru take one week? That must be mickey mouse lol! :wink:

It takes half a lesson to introduce but then we will be using it all the time from then on so it will get drill into our heads.

But it is still better to do Maths. It is just proposition after proposition, proof after proof. :biggrin:

Reply 164

s.e.r.e.n.e

gaijin

Kanji.....kanji....カンジ。。。。かんじ。。。。漢字

Well I can write 火山岩 and read it as kazangan - volcanic rock.

200 before Christmas. :frown:

Jesus.

Okay, definitely going to try and speak Japanese with my friends today, but will fail miserably again. Still better than most first years on my course though.

Hey this is interesting. 火 looks like a blazing fire, 山 looks like a hill, so that's fire-hill = volcano? Then for the last one you have the hill on top and a stone at the button, so it is hill-stone = granite? :rolleyes:

So you have volcano granite :cool:

Reply 165

dominiclmorris

gaijin

あああああああ。。。。キタよ！！！！！

日本語はむずかしすぎる！

二月に日本語のしけんがあるが、まだ勉強をしはじめていない！わるい学生ですね？

じゃ、明日はじめるつもりだ。

みんなさん、日本語の勉強はどうですか？

はい、本当に悪い学生だ！
(エートー。。。日本語で"only joking"の話し方は知っていないよ　＞＿＞）
僕の日本語の勉強はまあまあしかじゃない。もっとれんしゅしたらいいよ。
ざあ、しょうがないね?　がんばて〜

I've just finished watching Cowboy Bebop, so I've been thinking in really slangy japanese >_<

Reply 166

gaijin

dominiclmorris

はい、本当に悪い学生だ！
(エートー。。。日本語で"only joking"の話し方は知っていないよ　＞＿＞）
僕の日本語の勉強はまあまあしかじゃない。もっとれんしゅしたらいいよ。
ざあ、しょうがないね?　がんばて〜

「only joking」は日本語で「じょうだんですよ！」と思う。

I've just finished watching Cowboy Bebop, so I've been thinking in really slangy japanese >_<

私の友達は関西からです。　だから、今関西べんで話すことができる。 :biggrin:

いいやな？それから、「オラ」と「めっちゃ」と言う。ｗｗｗｗｗ

でも、若い人だから、大丈夫だ！ :cool:

Reply 167

gaijin

spencer smith

So you have volcano granite :cool:

I am quite annoyed at how many kanji I have forgotten since taking a Christmas sabbatical. That said, I have learnt a lot in a short space of time. 200 or so in 10 weeks. Its quite annoying... I do know them, but *ugh* Today, I couldn't remember how to write 速い for some reason.

Reply 168

Zhen Lin

そうですか。私は日本語を早く忘れてしまうかな……もう何ヶ月も書きも会話もしませんでした……

To everyone with a module test coming up - good luck!

で、試験と言えば……ここではEdexcel A2 Japaneseをした人がいますか。難しかったですか。私がASはしましたんですが、A2は文学なのでするまいと思っていました。学校では教師も無いしね。

Reply 169

Liberties

Am inspired to post here after receiving an English letter from a girl I stayed with in Japan. I wrote back in a rather absurd combination of English and Japanese. In hindsight it probably sounded ridiculous. ^^;

I hope this hasn't already been discussed, but I can never tell which level of politeness is appropriate in a given situation. People say that polite Japanese is the 'safe' option, but does it sound completely stupid if I'm talking or writing casually to a girl who is slightly younger than me? And should I address her with 「さん」or 「ちゃん」?

おねがいします。＾ー＾

Reply 170

dominiclmorris

It depends how close you feel to her.
I think that if she's younger than you, san might be a bit too formal.
Not adding anything is a sign that you're very close and it could be considered overly familiar, or even flirty.
I think chan's quite safe in that situation (and if you want to be mega-patronising, tan could world)

Reply 171

gaijin

Liberties

Technically in written Japanese to express formality you should use the plain form, if addressing someone you don't know or the level of the speaker is not known (essays, documents etc.) Therefore using the polite form is okay in this instance - because its a personal letter and you know the person in question. You could use plain, but I think it depends how well you know them. I wrote to my teacher in the polite and she wrote back in the plain form (how it should be really!)

The use of chan depends on the age of the girl. If she is much younger than you - then its okay to use chan. I think using chan for someone you don't really know can seem a little intimate. Amongst girls its okay, but from a guy to a girl - it just seems weird. I only really call my female friends chan when I'm messing about.

Reply 172

Tianbao

haha~~~i'm study Japanese as well

so glad that i'm a Oriental people, makes Japanese not very hard to study, and i only need to learn a few Kanji. but the germar it's not that easy.

漢字 rocks~~~!!!

Thanks gaijin; that's really helpful.

gaijin

Amongst girls its okay, but from a guy to a girl - it just seems weird. I only really call my female friends chan when I'm messing about.

Do you call your female friends 「さん」, then, or omit the honorific altogether?

Is anyone else doing GCSE Japanese? :p:

Reply 175

Liberties

dominiclmorris

Thanks for your advice. Well, she is only very slightly younger, and I would call her an acquaintance -- so perhaps 「さん」is not too formal. Then again, I think she used 「ちゃん」when speaking to me a couple of years ago... :s-smilie:

How do Japanese work these things out, let alone foreigners? ^^;

Reply 176

Zhen Lin

Like all social norms, by experience and example, most likely.

... I wonder if anyone here has done the JLPT?

Reply 177

gaijin

Liberties

Do you call your female friends 「さん」, then, or omit the honorific altogether?

I would say 'san' in Japanese, or just omit it really.

Reply 178

Excalibur

Liberties

Is this letter addressed to the person you stayed with in Japan? In that case I think it would be appropriate to use 「ちゃん」。

If you don't know her that well 「さん」would be safe, but if you've talked with her a few times, it may seem a bit too formal. Also, it depends on whether you're a girl too - if it's between girls 「ちゃん」is definitely more appropriate, I think. If in doubt, you could always ask her which one she'd prerfer! :wink:

Reply 179

s.e.r.e.n.e

SinoSamurai

漢字 rocks~~~!!!

Rubbish.