HOW DO I SAY "…." THREAD

[thisiskyleMember]

If you remember that counting in Japanese rolls over at four digits instead of three, it makes a lot of sense. Notice where I put the commas in the numerals written below.

*1 = いち
10 = じゅう
100 = ひゃく
1000 = せん
*1,0000 = いちまん
10,0000 = じゅうまん
100,0000 = ひゃくまん
1000,0000 = せんまん
*1,0000,0000 = いちおく

You use “いち” whenever you start a new set: the “ones”, the “mans” and the “okus”.

[JoelMember]

You can use いっせん but I’ve never been able to work out when it’s not acceptable. I reckon it’s just like the difference between “one thousand” and “a thousand” in English. Maybe.

[Marcelo Ardon BolanosMember]

I have one weird question I might already know the answer to. My name is Marcelo and I’m currently going through the “Developing a Sense of Identity” lesson of season 2. My question is, would it be too strange for Japanese people to actually say my name?

I guess it’s pronounced Maruceru so the right thing to say would be: わたしはMaruceruです. It may just be me having a hard time introducing myself as Maruceru though. I guess that happens to a lot of people. Anyways, to be more specific, is that the right way to say my name?　And if it is, does it sound too weird to you? Anyways, thanks!

• This reply was modified 10 years, 8 months ago by  Marcelo Ardon Bolanos.

[JoelMember]

If you’ve got a fairly common name, one trick to finding the usual Japanese transliteration is to look up a famous person on Wikipedia with the same name as you, then look at the Japanese version of the page. Someone here taught me that trick, though I’ve forgotten who. In your case, it’s マルセロ. It does seem a little bit of a tongue-twister, but not really any more so that trying to say something like 食べさせられる. =P

[Marcelo Ardon BolanosMember]

Interesting, that’s kind of what I was expecting. I think it’s just a matter of getting used to saying my name that way when practicing my Japanese. I looked for it on Wikipedia and in fact that’s the closest translation. Thanks a lot for the reply. You helped a lot!

[クレイグMember]

I guess this is probably the place for this ^^

I’m using lang-8 at the moment, i suck at it :D

But yeah i posted 毎日、私は日本語りょうこします。 (attempt at “every day i study japanese”) I got back 2 corrections so far, one being 毎日、私は日本語をれんしゅうします (every day i practice japanese ?) and another saying he couldnt understand what i meant.. just wondering if my initial post was wildly wrong for some reason :x thought you guys might be able to help !

[JoelMember]

Not the slightest clue what りょうこ is supposed to mean, but “study” is 勉強 (べんきょう). 練習 works too. As does 復習.

You’ll want an を in there somewhere, too. And maybe a の depending on where you put the を.

[クレイグMember]

aha im an idiot T_T i meant to write べんきょう guess i just got my words wrong, ignore me :D

[ChibifreakMember]

II’d agree with joel, everything you said is correct (using 勉強します). りょうこします means “to travel” so that would be incorrect. Although if someone said they couldn’t understand 勉強します、then I’m not sure why it wouldn’t work…

[JoelMember]

“Travel” is りょこう. =P

[AikibujinMember]

りょうこ can = Imperial tomb guard, two mighty rivals (dragon and tiger), or hero, depending on the Kanji used.

陵戸
両虎
竜虎

So yes that would be weird. :P

[JoelMember]

Yes, I do the tomb guard every day. Hnuf hnuf. In Japanese. Hnuf hnuf blort.

[MariMember]

Hello!

I have a question and it has been on my mind for a long time now. I’m still very new to Japanese so I hope it is not a silly question.

I’m looking for the correct translation/kanji for origin or source. Specifically I want to translate the sentence ‘one source’. (there is only one source from which we originate). How do I correctly translate this into Japanese? Do I use 源 (みなもと) or 本 or 元？ or is it entirely something else? There are so many kanji out there for origin or source, that I really need some professional help. And Google wasn’t very helpful.

And do I translate it as, for example, 一つの源？

Thank you in advance!

[EihikoMember]

I don’t know if it’s any help, but “The origin of life” (when referring to the very first living creature) is translated as: 生命の起源

It seems to me that 元 is used in a few terms but is more archaic. 本　is much more frequently used to mean “real/true” than “origin.” 源 is your best bet for most sources/emitters, like a heat source, or a light source, or the source of a river. In the above example, 起源 is the source of a beginning, ie an origin.

Not from the desk of Eihiko. Eihiko's boss took his desk away from him.

[MariMember]

I was in the library yesterday and that was I found as well.

I think 生命の起原 is the best. But when I want to say one origin, will it be 一つの起原。or am I completely wrong here?

Thank you for your answer!

[Author]

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