Japanese Language Questions? Ask Here.

An interesting story I read about "Sayounara" is that it is sort of a leftover from Samurai speech. It is literally "sayou" (it is so) + "nara" (if) == "if it is so", and it was part of the ritual of the changing of the guard. One guard would say "Everything is ok", the other would say "If it is so", then they would part.

So now when people part, they just say "Sayounara".

supermidget wrote:
I'm not sure about one with a duplicate ‚ñ sound though. When checking google I find some hits on ‚¶‚á‚ñ‚Ë‚¦ but the meaning is different (= ‚¶‚á‚È‚¢‚Ë‚¦~ain't it?). It might be like ‚¨‚Á‚͂悤‚²‚´‚¢‚Ü‚·@yo-h-hayou gozaimasuz, it's more like a way of saying it with emphasize, but I think the general way for "bye" would be ‚¶‚á‚Ë‚¦.

Hope it helps. If nessecary, feel free to correct me.

Not really a correction, you got the basic meaning of it. Acutally, that is what it means but it comes from the colloquial word ‚¶‚á‚ñ, which is used at the end of sentences.

Ex.:

”ü–¡‚µ‚¢‚¶‚á‚ñI(Oishii jan!)
"Hey, that's pretty delicious!"

‚»‚¤‚¶‚á‚ñH(Sou jan?)
"I'm right, right?"

And to that ‚Ë is added, which gives you the double ‚ñ sound:

”ü–¡‚µ‚¢‚¶‚á‚ñ‚Ë‚¦B(Oishii jan ne.)
"It's pretty good, isn't it."


It's hard to really explain the meaning of ‚¶‚á‚ñ in one posting, as it can encompass so many different meanings, depending on context, stress, etc.

HTH,

‘‰¤š

kokuou wrote:

Not really a correction, you got the basic meaning of it. Acutally, that is what it means but it comes from the colloquial word ‚¶‚á‚ñ, which is used at the end of sentences.

Ex.:

”ü–¡‚µ‚¢‚¶‚á‚ñI(Oishii jan!)
"Hey, that's pretty delicious!"

‚»‚¤‚¶‚á‚ñH(Sou jan?)
"I'm right, right?"

And to that ‚Ë is added, which gives you the double ‚ñ sound:

”ü–¡‚µ‚¢‚¶‚á‚ñ‚Ë‚¦B(Oishii jan ne.)
"It's pretty good, isn't it."


It's hard to really explain the meaning of ‚¶‚á‚ñ in one posting, as it can encompass so many different meanings, depending on context, stress, etc.

HTH,

‘‰¤š

you do well in your explanations....but as someone of far LESS understanding i will admit japanese can be quiet confusing...

like someone saying zenzen...as in "no, not at all" and then saying something like zenzen oishii....."really delicious"

Tu_triky wrote:

you do well in your explanations....but as someone of far LESS understanding i will admit japanese can be quiet confusing...

like someone saying zenzen...as in "no, not at all" and then saying something like zenzen oishii....."really delicious"

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that because typically zenzen is used with a negative, giving it the meaning "not at all", so when used on its own, Japanese anticipate the negative that is left out. If it is explicitly used with a positive, then it takes the opposite meaning "completely". Similar things happen with other adverbs too I believe.

supermidget wrote:

That's a nice proverb :) But do you mean that we are your subordinates? That's kinda rude :sweat: Just kidding :hehe:.

It is not like you say.I think maybe the translation is wrong .The proberb is copy from dictionary .Confucius is the greatest Confucius in china.He said:"•sãÕ‰º问",means "don't feel lowlihead and ashamed to ask ".The subordinates is myself . "feel not ashamed to learn from one's subordinates! " if change the "from" to "be",I think that is good.of couse,it is a figuration,you see!

Thank you for you explain.
kokuou explained it in a sentence :crazy: ,‚Å‚àCŽ„•ª‚Á‚½‚È‚¢ :shamefulcry: I only want know how to say "‚³‚悤‚È‚ç"@by other way.

I'm sorry for my bad English.

vega12 wrote:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that because typically zenzen is used with a negative, giving it the meaning "not at all", so when used on its own, Japanese anticipate the negative that is left out. If it is explicitly used with a positive, then it takes the opposite meaning "completely". Similar things happen with other adverbs too I believe.

you're precisely right...i was just giving an anecdotal example of how the japanese language can be difficult to get a handle own given its idiosyncratic grammatical constructions.

Tu_triky wrote:

vega12 wrote:Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that because typically zenzen is used with a negative, giving it the meaning "not at all", so when used on its own, Japanese anticipate the negative that is left out. If it is explicitly used with a positive, then it takes the opposite meaning "completely". Similar things happen with other adverbs too I believe.

you're precisely right...i was just giving an anecdotal example of how the japanese language can be difficult to get a handle own given its idiosyncratic grammatical constructions.

Ah, I see ^_^

Yes, compared to English, its grammar can be awkward to say the least. I found when I am learning, that it is easier to learn the grammar by treating it like I would a programming language (at least at first). In other words, I try to treat the constructions and grammatical rules as tightly defined rules, with clear translations (even if there aren't English equivalents, knowing the nuance that certain devices introduce can be considered translation). Luckily, at least early on, this is works quite well, although it isn't nearly as effective for less formulaic languages (English...). Partly why I was never too enthused about learning French in high school.

Essentially all my experience so far has been through text-books, so my strong point is reading. When I approach a sentence, I break it down bit-by-bit using all the rules I've learned to date, and try to build a mental construct of the meaning that the string contains. I then try to put into English what the meaning I've conjured up for the sentence is. Although this is impossible for me to do in practice, given how rigidly structured my brain has become for thinking in English, I feel my experience with programming languages really helps when I'm abstracting the concepts presented in Japanese.

Huh, I seem to have gone off on a minor tangent of sorts... Oh well (^_^)b

‚±‚ñ‚É‚¿‚Í :woot:

i'm new member in this amazing forum :)

i need ur help in small things

i studied japanese by myself and i stoped because of studying :crazy:

can u help me to know if it correct to do the following : ?

1) my name , it's correct to write my name like this ( ‚³‚Ÿ‚Ü) sa la ma , is it correct?

2) how can u create a simple sentences ; i just want to see how the words connect :

for example, i speak little, but i can write better

how can i write it ?? plz with Explanation@

i know i should say sth include these words::

watashi wa , sukoshi , hanasu , dekiru , sukoshi dake, dekimasu

but i cant collect it together !!! can u help me :puppydog:


waiting for ur help ^_^

Welcome sakura_chan! (it feels a bit weird to say that as i'm kinda new too) :)

Anyway, about how to write your name, I not sure if i'm correct but i think
it's written like ƒTƒ‰ƒ}. But of course, it can be written in many different ways depending on how you want it to sound.

About writing, did you want to write in kana(japanese alphabets) or in romanji? If you want to write in kana, i think you should first try to learn the hiragana alphabets. However if you want to write in romanji, i suggest you start with the basic "watashi wa (noun) desu".

i know i should say sth include these words::

watashi wa , sukoshi , hanasu , dekiru , sukoshi dake, dekimasu

That actually depends on what you're trying to say. I sorry but i can't explain everything to you as i'm also still a student. However, i'll make some example sentences for you that i hope you'll find helpful. :)

Watashi wa gakusei desu.
I am a student.
Ž„‚ÍŠw¶‚Å‚·B

Sukoshi yasunde kudasai.
Please rest awhile.
­‚µ‹x‚ñ‚Å‚­‚¾‚³‚¢B

Here's a combined sentence:
Watashi wa nihongo wo hanasu koto ga dekimasu.
I can speak japanese.
Ž„‚Í“ú–{Œê‚ð˜b‚·‚±‚Æ‚ª‚Å‚«‚Ü‚·B

Hellbourne wrote:
...if you want to write in romanji, i suggest...

I'm suprised how many western learners of Japanese say romanji.
It does actually comes from the word for "Rome," but in Japanese Rome is ƒ[ƒ}. So, adding Žš after that gives you ƒ[ƒ}Žš (ro-maji), not romanji. :beaten:

Anywho, thanks for the response to the question.

Oh, and to the original poster, please direct your Japanese questions to this thread, and if you can, make them more specific than, "how do you speak/write/read Japanese."

Welcome to the forum!

‘‰¤š

kokuou wrote:
Not really a correction, you got the basic meaning of it. Acutally, that is what it means but it comes from the colloquial word ‚¶‚á‚ñ, which is used at the end of sentences.

so ‚¶‚á‚ñ is actually a stand-alone word?? That's pretty surprising :) I thought it was the same like:
‚¢‚ç‚ñ@= @‚¢‚ç‚È‚¢
‚í‚©‚ç‚ñ@@‚í‚©‚ç‚È‚¢

so ‚¶‚á‚ñ@=@‚¶‚á‚È‚¢... because of this I was confused for a long time wether it should be really interpreted as such. In many occasions it sounded more like it would mean "don't you think" (like the English equivalents "isn't it" "don't you" etc), instead of "it isn't". If you can, could you please explain the difference between:

”ü–¡‚µ‚¢i‚ñHj‚¶‚á‚È‚¢!? and ”ü–¡‚µ‚¢‚¶‚á‚ñIH

thanks for your help every time :bow:

supermidget wrote:
”ü–¡‚µ‚¢i‚ñHj‚¶‚á‚È‚¢!? and ”ü–¡‚µ‚¢‚¶‚á‚ñIH

I can never explain grammatical points to any sort of satisfaction, but since oishii is an adjective, the first would still become ”ü–¡‚µ‚­‚È‚¢? which pretty much "Isn't it delicious?"

”ü–¡‚µ‚¢‚¶‚á‚ñ has slight "yappari" feel to it...
mmm...like sombody made some cookies saying they weren't very good, but when you try them out, you think that they are. So you say, "This is delicious!" (meanwhile thinking: wtf are you talking about? ^_^;;; )

uh....yeah...
:waits for the pros to come along: :bleh:

supermidget wrote:

That's a nice proverb :) But do you mean that we are your subordinates? That's kinda rude :sweat: Just kidding :hehe:.

It is not like you say.I think maybe the translation is wrong .The proberb is copy from dictionary .Confucius is the greatest ideologist in china.He said:"•sãÕ‰º问",means "don't feel lowlihead and ashamed to ask ".The subordinates is myself . "feel not ashamed to learn from one's subordinates! " if change the "from" to "be",I think that is good.of couse,it is a figuration,you see!

Thank you for your explain.
kokuou explained it in a sentence :crazy: ,‚Å‚àCŽ„•ª‚Á‚½‚È‚¢ :shamefulcry: I only want know how to say "‚³‚悤‚È‚ç"@by other ways.

I'm sorry for my bad English.

thanx sooooooooooooooooo much for helping me

:puppydog: :puppydog: :puppydog:


thanx i really apperciate that :shamefulcry:

kokuou wrote:

Please post any questions that have to do with Japanese language here.

As for your question, it all depends on context.


Both ‚Å‚à (demo) and ‚¾‚¯‚Ç (dakedo) usually cannot be used as conjunctions...

Haha, I'm late in doing this but... thanks a lot! And sorry for not posting that in this thread.

Could someone enlighten me on the difference between the conditional conjunctions (using K‚¤ as an example):

`K‚Á‚½‚çA`
`K‚¤‚È‚çA`
`K‚¦‚΁A`
`K‚¤‚ƁA`

and feel free to add any that I might have missed. To someone like me, it seems there is little difference between the different conjuctions but I know I'm just ignorant ^_^. Thanks!

vega12 wrote:Could someone enlighten me on the difference between the conditional conjunctions?

I was going to explain, but I just did a quick search on the internet and found this page

http://www.guidetojapanese.org/conditional.html

which I think does a pretty good job at explaining it.

HTH,

‘‰¤š

Does anyone know how to pronounce numbers with decimals in it either in mathematical context or in sentences? Like I was trying to read some news article aloud saying:

’†‘‚Ì“ì“Œ•”‚É‚ ‚é]¼È‚Å‚Q‚U“ú’©Aƒ}ƒOƒjƒ`ƒ…[ƒh‚TD‚V‚Ì‹­‚¢’nk‚ª‚ ‚èAŒš•¨‚ª“|‰ó‚·‚é‚È‚Ç‚Ì”íŠQ‚ªo‚Ä‚¢‚Ü‚·B

translating: in the southeastern part of china in jangxisheng, on the morning of the 26th, an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.7 occured and there was damage such as collapsing of buildings.

Anyway how to pronounce 5.7 in Japanese?

supermidget wrote:Anyway how to pronounce 5.7 in Japanese?

I just looked this up in Basic Technical Japanese.

Scientists and engineers normally read decimals as follows, with “_ indicating the decimal point.

0.256 —ë“_ƒjŒÜ˜Z [ƒŒƒCƒeƒ“ƒjƒSƒƒN]

So for your example:

5.7 is ŒÜ“_Žµ [ƒSƒeƒ“ƒiƒi]

loris wrote:

So for your example:

5.7 is ŒÜ“_Žµ [ƒSƒeƒ“ƒiƒi]

Thank you :D :woot: