don't use Google translate for sentences and there are more straight forward, if single that's fine

How about some real live conversation?

An elderly Japanese lady on a tight budget is hoping maybe a female language learner might spend a little time to shop for an MP3 player and help learn how to use it, including downloading, etc.

Meet in central KL for an hour at lunch first time, then one or two more short meetings later if useful. Please PM me if interested. Her request: "Must be someone patient with technologically challenged older people!"

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Arigatou. However, these aren't the forms I'm looking for as they don't directly modify the way or quality of the singing itself.

The romanization of the Japanese syllable was made to help people learn Japanese. It's used to represent the sound of a Japanese syllable using roman letters. It's not a conversion of the Japanese syllable to the English syllable. There are many systems used. The common ones are Hepurn - used in a lot of signs, older textbooks and shows. And Kunrei Shiki, used commonly in newer Japanese learning books, and also the one you used above.

In English, we may have [sa si su se so], {sha shi shu she sho} and (sya syi syu sye syo). There are far more distinct sounds in English than in Japanese.

In Japanese, there is さ し す せ そ which are pronounced sa shi su se so. Even though it resembles the order of the English syllable, it's doesn't. し is pronounced shi and not si. There is no si sound in Japanese.

So even though や ゆ よ are pronounced ya yu yo respectively, it doesn't mean they they turn しゅ into syu. It's just the way the Japanese write the sound sha. Don't pronounce it as a combination of two syllables, pronounce it as a whole new syllable on it's own.

Some sound have very subtle differences which we may not be accustomed to hear. Consider す ず つ they are represented as su zu and tsu. The su and zu sound quite like how we say it in English. However the tsu actually has a slight tongue flick from the tip of your upper front teeth then down. it's subtle, but very noticeable to the Japanese.

Another problem is ら り る れ ろ they are often romanized as ra ri ru re ro. But if you watch dramas or hear real Japanese speak. it will come out either as la li lu le lo or ra ri ru re ro or a mixture. Actually, to the Japanese it's very hard to tell the difference between the r and l sound. Depending to out exposure to language when we're growing up, the brain develops different degrees of sound separation. Each language is unique. English speakers are can differentiate r and l very easily, and we Malaysian who speak many languages can difference very very small differences. When you hear the Japanese rock singers rolling their r, the Japanese do hear the r too, but at a very much lesser degree. To them, it's not much different from lolling the l.

Beware of が ぎ ぐ げ ご , alot of us say them as gar gi gur gey gour. The mistake here it to have the trailing r at the end of ga gu and go and the trailing y at the end of ge. Not only does it sound weird, it also lengthens the duration you are saying the syllable. The duration of each syllable must be very uniform is Japanese. Any stress on a syllable conveys a a certain emotion or expression, and with culture, there are certain words which are stress and not. Also ga sounds closer to nga than gar. gi gu ge go just sound slightly different from ki ku ke ko, don't emphasize the g too much.

The best way is to listen to phonetic lessons offered by native Japanese. There are also on the web. You can see and pick up the correct sound better when it's spoken slowly and articulated well. The actors in dramas talk way to fast.

Hope this helps and have fun learning Japanese.

As long as I know, in Japanese , there is no word with la li lu le lo.
All are ら り る れ ろ, and romanized as ra ri ru re ro.

Only, when they pronounce it, some can not pronounce it properly, so it become la li lu le lo, as you may hear in dramas.

And I means japanese words, not borrowed foreign words.

Ninjamerahのことただしいだよ

Yes I mean Japanese words. I know your Japanese is much better than mine, but all the Japanese I've met, including the Japanese teachers(from Japan, who can hardly speak any English) that I had pronounce them la li lu le lo without any hint of the r sound. So I do believe that's the common way they pronounce it. Although, my point is the Japanese can hardly differentiate l from r, so they use l and r interchangeably, for those who are more able to make the r sound.

This post has been edited by mumeichan: Feb 10 2010, 11:16 PM

It's not a hard R: that's for sure.

it's between l and r and sounds abit like a d as in when one pronounces "better" or "betty". Again this differs from one individual to the other.

TS,jhcj.
Can you add smart.fm on the list for learning?
http://smart.fm/home

its good for learning kanji.

If anyone want to find me in smart.fm. search>users>milkyboon.Im there

This post has been edited by milkyboon: Feb 18 2010, 05:36 PM

物語のプロローグに繋がっていく
ありふれた言葉でもいい
真っ直ぐに伝えたいよ
君のもとへと羽ばたいていく
ずっと傍にいるから

what is the meaning or function of ていく in this context or in general?

It implies events or results moving forward from the present point in time.

mean while you do something or express something and u want to continue on it.

could someone guide me to website with audio on these vocab ?

say kono hito

hi
do u teach others japanese?

just wondering what is shitsuji desu/ shitsuji kara

i always hear when ppl say watashi wa xxx, shitsuhi desu ,etc

is name lah

u mean its someone's name??? arigato

You mean shinjitsu?

Shitsuji could mean servant. But that doesn't sound like the meaning you're looking for.

This post has been edited by mumeichan: Mar 5 2010, 09:52 PM

Sifus please help

If I were to translate "They like to play in the pool and in the sun(outside)" which is the correct translation

彼らはプールと外で遊ぶのが好きだ (subj - noun - conj part - noun - prepos part - action)

or

彼らはプールにと外で遊ぶのが好きだ (subj - noun - prepos part - conj part - noun - prepos part - action)

or

彼らはプールにと外で遊ぶのが好きだ (subj - [noun - possessive part - noun] - conj part - noun - prepos part - action)

I'm most confused whether I can or should use a double particle here. In cases like にも or には, it's simple because も and　は can take any kind of word or clause. But the particle to is constricted to nouns and I'm not sure if にと makes any sense. I don't remember hearing it either. Just to make it clear, I'm asking about double particle, not compound particle.

better use 彼らはプールと外で遊ぶのが好きだ

Can some1 help me translate the sentences below??

1)Due to not enough time, I will use English

2)Due to not enough time, I will use English to continue.

3)Due to not enough practice, I will use English.

4)Pls allow me to use English.

isit something liek this??

1) じかんがありませんから、えいごがはなします。

i think no1 and no2 should be same..no?

3)練習がありません、えいごがはなしる。

４）えいごがはなするおねがいします。


is this OK??