Feedback from a forumer, allenultra: Isn't hajimemashite only used when u meet a person for the first time? You sure hajimemashite = how do u do? Can be used all the time?

As per number 3 in the Explanation section of Lesson 3, you use the formal phrases hajimemashite and dõzo yoroshiku when you first meet someone. After that, the greetings that you use whenever you meet the same person will vary to some extent depending on the time of the day e.g. konnichiwa, konbanwa, etc. And about the translation, I'm rather sure hajimemashite is roughly translated to "how do you do", and I think that the phrase "hajime" means something like "first time" or "beginning" (I could be wrong lol). Maybe aburex can help here?

Konnichiwa is often translated as hello, but the first thing you would say in the morning is ohayõ gozaimasu (good morning) or ohayõ to a friend or within the family. In the evening you would say konbanwa (good evening). Konnichiwa is used later in the morning through to early evening.

Thanks for the question allenultra! I aint no pro yet, but I hope this helps!

This post has been edited by jhcj: Dec 2 2005, 12:22 PM

kore & kochira (polite) has the same meaning though

This thread delivers. Now I can be a 'meeaboo' too. lol.

Yes, same meaning, but different usage depending on the situation.

From lesson 3, explanation 5:
To introduce someone else in person you use the phrase kochira wa. However, you dont use kochira when introducing members of your own family. Instead, you can use the informal phrase kore.

sugoi dess

oh btw, in contructing a sentence in japs, object or subject should begin 1st?

This post has been edited by e-jump: Dec 2 2005, 12:23 PM

I believe that will be covered in future lessons

aiyo...
even though they say it as "dess" ( with the silent u), you still have to spell it as desu liao

Err...I'm not THAT good yet. But I'll cover some of it in Lesson 4 (compiling the information now).


Yep.


Hehe, well if you really want to be proper about it, then yeah, it should be spelt as desu and not des. But then again, asal faham cukuplah.

your link for 2nd and 3rd lesson didn't work correctly. you should put at such:
the last part you should put the post number. example 2nd lesson = 5406900

A sumimasen. Arigatõ!

hey nice jhcj
but if you guys seriously want to learn japanese u should go take classes
private classes where they teach u one by one is by far the best , easier & faster for u to learn
trust me, u won't learn perfect japanese through only books

though i heard japanese classes in KL are veri expensive
they could easily go RM1000+ for i think half a semester?
so you could save up some time and money if u learnt the basic already
so good job

and if u do take japanese classes, i suggest u to learn how to write aswell, coz it totally worth it
my teacher say most malay don't learn kanji
chinese got no prob they are used to chinese characters
one note for chinese who think they can read japanese thru kanji is that not only the pronounciations are different but some kanji are also have different meaning
for example 'doctor' in chinese is 医生, in japanese it is 医者

This post has been edited by 320cbr: Dec 2 2005, 02:17 PM

in my opinion asian should have no problems pronouncing in japanese
those westeners are the only ones havin problem - those wapanese

and btw jhjc i think u should write them in full spellings 'desu'

If you guys are serious AND have the money (and time maybe) then take classes.But I don't have tat kinda money,so learnin here should give me erm..basic speech abilities,lol

This post has been edited by ellimist: Dec 2 2005, 02:51 PM

LESSON 4: Marēshia-jin desu = I'm Malaysian

Vocabulary list
Countries
- marēshia = malaysia
- igirisu = england
- amerika = america
- nihon = japan
- chūgoku = china

Languages
- marei-go = malay
- eigo = english
- nihon-go = japanese
- chugoku-go = chinese

Nationalities
- marēshia-jin = malaysian
- igirisu-jin = british
- amerika-jin = american
- nihon-jin = japanese
- chūgoku-jin = chinese

Useful items
- tokei = watch or clock
- hon = book
- empits(u) = pencil
- pen = pen
- kompyūta = computer
- terebi = television <--- the japanese sound system does not have the "v" sound, remember?

Useful phrases
- ... wa nihon-go de nan des(u) ka = what is ... in japanese?
- nan des(u) ka = what is it?
- o-namae wa? = what's your name?
- shitsurei shimas(u) = pardon me for interrupting

Sample conversation
Anne has settled into her new life with the Yamaguchi family, and today is her first day at a Japanese language school. Her teacher, Satō-sensei, is getting all the students to introduce themselves.

Satō-sensei: Mina-san, ohayō gozaimasu.
Class: Sensei, ohayō gozaimasu.
Satō-sensei: Hajimemashite, Satō desu. Watashi wa Nihon-jin desu. Dōzo yoroshiku. (She points to Anne) Hai, dōzo.
Anne: An desu. Watashi wa Igirisu-jin desu. Dōzo yoroshiku.
Next student: Tani desu. Furansu-jin desu. Dōzo yoroshiku.
Student 2: Ano... Haidi desu. Doitsu (Germany) kara desu. Dōzo yoroshiku.
Student 3: Sukotto desu. Ē to, ē to ... America wa nihon-go de nan desu ka.
Satō-sensei: America wa nihon-go de A-me-ri-ka desu.
Scott: (amidst laughter) Aa! so desu ka. Ja, Amerika kara desu. Dōzo yoroshiku.

A new student arrives late...
New student: Shitsurei shimasu. (he bows)
Scott: O-namae wa?
New student: Han desu. Chūgoku-jin desu.
Anne: (looks puzzled) Chūgoku wa eigo de nan desu ka.
Han: China desu.

Satō-sensei now proceeds to check how many everyday objects the students know.
Satō-sensei: (points to her watch) Kore wa nihon-go de nan desu ka.
Han: Tokei desu.
Scott: (looking at watch) Nihon no tokei desu.
Satō-sensei: So desu. (picks up Anne's coat) Kore wa nan desu ka.
Tani: Kōto desu.
Scott: (showing off a bit) Igirisu no kōto desu.
Anne: Iie, sukottorando (Scotland) no kōto desu yo.

Extras
mina-san = everybody
watashi wa = i
hai, dōzo = go ahead; there you are
kara = from
ē to = another hesitation word (er, erm)
kore wa = this
yo = i tell you, actually

Explanations
1. Watashi wa Nihon-jin desu I'm Japanese.
Watashi means I and anata means you. There are other words for he/she/we/etc., but the Japanese tend not to use them unless it needs to be made clear who is being talked about. Boku is often used by males instead of watashi. In contrast, atashi is the form often used by females (both of these are more casual forms). Ore is least polite, and can be used by both males or females. - contributed by 320cbr.

When addressing other people it is more polite to use their names instead of anata, and unless you need to emphasize I, there is no need to say watashi/boku.

Wa is used after a word to show that that word is the 'topic' (subject) of whatever is being talked about. It can sometimes be translated as as for in English:
- Watashi wa Amerika-jin desu = I (subject) am American. (As for me, I am American)
- Haidi-san wa Doitsu kara desu = Heidi (subject) is from Germany (As for Heidi, she comes from Germany)

2. O-namae wa? What's your name?
In point 1 it is already mentioned that it is more polite to use people's names when addressing them istead of using anata (you). The japanese language has other ways of avoiding the use of anata. One of these is the use of "o" in front of certain words to make them sound more polite or formal when addressing other people. However, you dont use it to talk about yourself or your family members. Here are some examples:
- o-namae = your name
- namae = (my) name
- o-shigoto = your job
- shigoto = (my) job

3. Doitsu kara desu I'm from Germany.
Kara means from and follows the word, unlike English where we say from first. For example:
- Tōkyō kara = from Tokyo
- Furansu kara = from France
- (watashi wa) Igirisu kara desu = i'm from England
- kono uisuki wa Sukottorando kara desu = this whisky is from Scotland

4. Nihon no tokei desu It's a Japanese watch
The word no, when inserted between two words works something like 's in English:
- An-san no kōto = Anne's coat
- sensei no tēpu = the teacher's tape

It also gives meaning of my, your, etc. For example:
- watashi no tokei = my watch
- anata no hon = your book

It connects an item with its owner, origin or language:
- Igirisu no kōto = an English coat (a coat of/from England)
- Doitsu-go no hon = a German (language) book

5. Nihon-go de nan desu ka What is it in Japanese?
A very useful phrase to learn when wanting to improve your Japanese vocabulary. Also, if you dont understand much Japanese you can always say:
- Eigo de nan desu ka = What is it in English?

If you want to specify an object, place it in front of the sentence followed by wa. For example:
- Book wa nihon-go de nan desu ka = What is book in Japanese? (As for book, what is it in Japanese)
- Tokei wa eigo de nan desu ka = What is tokei in English?

--------------------------------------------

LESSON 4 PRACTISE - click me!

This post has been edited by jhcj: Dec 21 2005, 11:11 AM

I'm not saying this is the best way to learn Japanese. Heck, I'd love to pick up Kanji (I can already recognise hiragana, working on Katakana now), but these lessons should at least get me speaking japanese decently after a while. Anyways, thanks for the feedback.


I thought I was? O_o'''


Yeah, that's what these lessons are about - basic speech abilities lol.

Found the term used for "malay" as in "malay language". It SHOULD be correct, I think.

I hope.



Here's what I found:
マレーシア = marēshia = malaysia
マレイ (n,adj) = marei = malay

Edited lesson 4's post to reflect this find. If I'm wrong, please PM me and let me know so that i can make the necessary corrections!

This post has been edited by jhcj: Dec 2 2005, 03:37 PM

i w a t c h t o o m u c h a n i m e >_<
its amazing that i can roughly understand the dialogues w/o seeing the actual TL ..
yey...

so kids, watch anime back to back for a day, u sure can cath up fast


u guys win several internets for these stuffs

wat i meant was write it in normal ro-maji
'enpitsu' not enpits(u)


i think it is マレー not マレイ
as in マレー語 mareego, malay language
and malaysian is マレー人 (mare-jin)

and maybe u want to write the example dailogues together with kana too

This post has been edited by 320cbr: Dec 2 2005, 04:13 PM

oh note that the topic marker particle, 'wa'
is written as は(ha)
私は日本人です。
watashi wa nihon jin desu

and more on watashi
watakushi or watashi (same kanji : 私) is polite
unpolite one for male is boku
while female use atashi
i think the least polite is ore

Regarding the romanji, I write like that in the "Vocabulary" section to give the readers a feel of how to pronounce those words. If you notice, I take away the brackets in the "Conversation" section.

I'll check with my gf's Japanese friends regarding the pronounciation and written form of Malaysia and Malay. For now, I'd say both yours and mine sound plausible.


Thanks for the extra feedback! Yeah, i do know that the particle 'wa' is written as は. Like I said, I didnt want to include any hiragana/katana/kanji so as to make these lessons easy to understand for others. Perhaps you can contribute these parts as feedback? I know I'd love that! Thanks again!