日本語

kaitie

With great power comes
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 10, 2009
Messages
10,992
Reaction score
2,525
Anyone here feel like translating Haruki Murakami's newest novel for me??

:D

私日本語話せるよ! 上手じゃないけどできるよ。読むほうが上手だ。実は、話せることが一番難しいことだ。私の日本語がちょっと高校生っぽいということだ。。。漢字が全然大丈夫なのに。

Would you believe I'm doing this at the moment? You can have the first few pages if you'd like. I probably won't do the whole novel, though, and certainly not the entire trilogy, not unless someone's paying me to do it. ;) I'm turning the first chapter into a translating sample, though.
 

kaitie

With great power comes
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 10, 2009
Messages
10,992
Reaction score
2,525
今日、お父さんの猫が死にました。とても悲しいになりました。:e2cry:

それが本当に悲しいことだ。:(  ごめんなさいね。

今日生徒にプレゼントもらいました。みなさんが英語でメッセージを書いた。すごく悲しいことだ。全然帰りたくないから。一日中泣きそうな気持ちだ。
 

bookbuyer

I'm back, baby! :P
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 13, 2010
Messages
251
Reaction score
11
Location
Nowhere you've ever been.
Hajimemashite, watashi wa Anna desu.

That's mostly what I know of the japanese I've learned. I know some random vocab, but not enough grammar to put it in a proper sentence.

BB. :):):)
 

kaitie

With great power comes
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 10, 2009
Messages
10,992
Reaction score
2,525
Hey, that was a proper sentence! And you could change the word "anna" with other nouns and you have another proper sentence. For instance, watashi ha seito desu. Watashi wa sensei desu. Watashi wa ni-juu-kyuu-sai desu. And so on. :)

Most basic form of grammar of all. :) And you can change the "watashi" as well.

This actually reminds me of English classes here. One of the first things they learn is "This is a pen." And then you can substitute other nouns for "pen." So "This is a pen" is a common joke nowadays and you see it everywhere because it's the one thing everyone remembers from English in junior high. :)

Ganbare!
 

kaitie

With great power comes
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 10, 2009
Messages
10,992
Reaction score
2,525
dou itashimasite. :D
 

kaitie

With great power comes
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 10, 2009
Messages
10,992
Reaction score
2,525
Kaitie, it's called a "template". It's become a pretty popular way of teaching many languages.

Let's see, "this is a pen": ペンです。 Or maybe: これはペンです。 I think it depends on context?

Yup. It's a very logical method. Unfortunately, they loose all semblance of logical methods when they get to high school. ;) I could probably go on for pages though about how the students here would learn so much better if the system was set up following all the research about language acquisition, but that'd be boring so I won't haha.

The second is probably better here. The implication is "this specific object." To me, the first is more like if you said, これは何ですか? then ペンです is a good answer.
 
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Messages
11,042
Reaction score
841
Location
Second star on the right and on 'til morning.
Website
atsiko.wordpress.com
Yup. It's a very logical method. Unfortunately, they loose all semblance of logical methods when they get to high school. ;) I could probably go on for pages though about how the students here would learn so much better if the system was set up following all the research about language acquisition, but that'd be boring so I won't haha.

The second is probably better here. The implication is "this specific object." To me, the first is more like if you said, これは何ですか? then ペンです is a good answer.


Yeah, that's what I figured. #1 is much more likely to be a response to a question.

Like I said earlier, I'm a Ling major, so I'd have no problem following your ramblings for a few pages (I'd probably have plenty of ranting to add from my own experience), but I suppose most other people are just here to play around in Japanese.
 

kaitie

With great power comes
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 10, 2009
Messages
10,992
Reaction score
2,525
I should have known you a year ago. I had to do a presentation last fall about ways to teach only in English because the system is going to be switching over in a few years, and they're going to have to change the methodology. I gave a presentation about different techniques and stuff, but you probably could have given me lots of good info. :)
 

bookbuyer

I'm back, baby! :P
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 13, 2010
Messages
251
Reaction score
11
Location
Nowhere you've ever been.
Ya, I'm really grateful that my I have the opportunity. I also have a latin teacher at my school and I studied 2 years of that, along with the 4 years of french. :D
 
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Messages
11,042
Reaction score
841
Location
Second star on the right and on 'til morning.
Website
atsiko.wordpress.com
Ya, I'm really grateful that my I have the opportunity. I also have a latin teacher at my school and I studied 2 years of that, along with the 4 years of french. :D

Yeah, I took four years of Latin, got three on the AP test, and tested out of my degree language requirements on it. I've heard that many schools are dropping their programs, which is too bad, because it's a very useful language. Never taken French, though.
 

bookbuyer

I'm back, baby! :P
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 13, 2010
Messages
251
Reaction score
11
Location
Nowhere you've ever been.
Yeah, I took four years of Latin, got three on the AP test, and tested out of my degree language requirements on it. I've heard that many schools are dropping their programs, which is too bad, because it's a very useful language. Never taken French, though.

My school still has it, and I think they're going to keep it for a while yet. I love languages, and hope to become a linguist. :)

Just so I have some japanese in here

nihongo> japanese
 

kaitie

With great power comes
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 10, 2009
Messages
10,992
Reaction score
2,525
Eh, I'm not that far along in my degree. I knew a lot less a year ago.


Teach what in only English and to who?

Teach English in English only to Japanese students. Sorry, I forget sometimes people in other parts of the forum I don't frequent know less about me lol. I'm an English teacher.

I took French for three years in high school and continued practicing and using it myself in college and was pretty darn good. I could read and write fluently. Then I started learning Japanese and forgot everything! Now I can't even do the basics lol.

I definitely think it's a shame schools are cutting back on language programs. I'm of the opinion that we need to have required language classes starting in junior high at the latest in America.
 
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Messages
11,042
Reaction score
841
Location
Second star on the right and on 'til morning.
Website
atsiko.wordpress.com
My district required a language from kindergarten--six years Spanish by the fifth grade--but as you can imagine it didn't take too well with most people.


Kaitie, that's kind of what I figured, but I wanted to be sure. I'm a little ambivalent about that methid of teaching language, but I bet your presentation would have been fascinating.


Bookbuyer, that's awesome. It's kind of tough finding jobs in strictly linguistic fields right now, but that will probably change some as the economy gets better.

What stage did you reach in your studies two years ago?
 

bookbuyer

I'm back, baby! :P
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 13, 2010
Messages
251
Reaction score
11
Location
Nowhere you've ever been.
I had learned hirigana and katakana.

And the vocab for these:

the weather
numbers
family members
greeting and partings
months
days of the week
time

I think that's it. I remember most of the hirigana, almost none of the katakana, and vaguely remember some of the above vocab.

I remember there was also some miscellanious words like for hobbies and general everyday items, but I'm a little foggy. I'm going to be learning kanji this year. (YIKES) :)