(no subject)

[changeling]

Yesterday I was going to suggest that we learn Japanese together. I'd just dug out all my old Japanese books.

Today...

I've never been so insulted in my life.

Warmest blessings for the rest of your life, Sarah.

Comments

[burningskyfire.livejournal.com]

*snugs* What happened?

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

I'll explain later.

[dorukai.livejournal.com]

I'm going to assume you mean that 'h' ;-)

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

I do. No worries there.

[dorukai.livejournal.com]

Excellent . . .

[billradish.livejournal.com]

*cuddles*

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

*clings*

[billradish.livejournal.com]

*snufflepetluffles* Nasty peoples making my Mummy upset...grr!

[normalcyispasse.livejournal.com]

日本語を話しますか？

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

I learnt Nihongo for fiveish years at school. I've only just picked up my texts again, after another five years. And I'm afraid that I can read all of that bar the kanji after (w)o. And I can't remember what shimasu means. I have fallen far...

[normalcyispasse.livejournal.com]

にほんご　を　はなしますか　-- nihongo wo hanashimasuka -- "Do you speak Japanese?"

I took college Japanese for two years.
I'm happy to say that those two years are over.

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

Ah, I can read the kanji for nihongo fine...

I did it at high school. I remember the kanji for days of the week, nihongo, ta(bemasu), nin, woman (but not the word...), and probably for i(kimasu) but that's about it.

Amusingly enough, I came across a similar phrase in one of my books last night, but they phrased it "nihongo wo kimasuka"--lit., "Can you do Japanese?", which I thought was interesting.

I still remember my hiragana, and I remember most of my katakana. I was astounded when I finished taking Japanese at how much of it immediately dropped out of my head. Unfortunately, most of the words I still remember are the ones used by obnoxious anime fangirls--namely words such as "neko" and "kawaii".

[normalcyispasse.livejournal.com]

I only remember. . . shit, probably less than 200 kanji. I always hated them.
I still use a couple kanji frequently; while taking notes, it's easier to denote years/people/men/women (onna, incidentally) by kanji. They stand out, and while the note may look only partially intelligible to English-only speakers, they work for me.

If you ever want to practice typing in rudimentary Japanese, let me know. It's only been a year since I've formally studied but much of it has gone the way of high-school chemistry.

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I will.

We'll see how my discipline goes at revising over the old texts, I think. My discipline isn't too good with these things. I'll discover something new and forget all about Japanese...

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

Iie?

How do you use Japanese characters with your browser, by the way? Do you need to download an add-on?

[normalcyispasse.livejournal.com]

Most browsers support Unicode -- character sets which permit non-Roman text -- by default. To make the characters, you'll need to install the Japanese IME; the language pack can be configued under the "Region and Language" tool of the Control Panel if you're running Windows. You'll get a new toolbar on your Start menu which will allow you to toggle between English and Japanese; just select "Input Method: kana" from the Japanese menu and type in romaji -- it will be automatically converted to hiragana. When you finish typing a word, hit the space bar and you can select how it's formatted: hiragana, kanji/kana, and katakana.
Then you'll get to do all sorts of fun things, like write papers in Japanese! Oh, wait, I said "fun" things. Never mind.

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

Well, I think it's fun. *grins*

[youraugustine.livejournal.com]

::hugs?::

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

*cuddles* Thanks. See recent friends-only post for details, if you're interested.

[bekscilla.livejournal.com]

*huuuuuuuuuuuuugs*

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[chennpug.livejournal.com]

*pet pet pet*

You will find many people happy to learn Japanese with you, surely. Acknowledge the pain and keep moving. *nod*

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

For me it was more of a revision of stuff I learnt at school. She was the one who wanted to actually learn the language.

[chennpug.livejournal.com]

*nod* Teaching is a great way to learn, too. Oddly enough.