HOW DO I SAY "…." THREAD

[MisterM2402 [Michael]Member]

@Devin: First thing that comes to my mind would be
「日本語がまだあまり上手じゃないんでしょう。」
（にほんご が まだ あまり じょうず じゃない ん でしょう。）
I’m still not that good/skilled at Japanese.

May not be the most natural (or even correct), so I’d stick around and wait for someone else more experienced at telling everyone they suck to answer. Just throwing in my 2 pennies hehe.

Would「まだ」be an ok word here? Should I have used「下手」instead of「上手じゃない」? Yeah, Devin, *definitely* get another opinion first XD

You could maybe also say
「まだ日本語であまり上手に話せません。」
（まだ にほんご で あまり じょうず に はなせません。）
I’m still not able to speak Japanese that well.

And I guess before anything you say, you could say「すみません」, which is kinda like “sorry/excuse me”.

Really, I think with a lot of Japanese people, you could just say「こんにちは」and they’ll say stuff like “:O you’re soooo fluent! I wish I could be as good as you! I’m amazed!” – it’s happened to me and I’ve heard of it happening quite a few times to others haha.

• This reply was modified 13 years, 4 months ago by  MisterM2402 [Michael].

[ArmandoMember]

How would you say
Begin (verb)… as in
I will begin to eat…
I will start to learn japanese tomorrow…
I began studying at 3…

[MisterM2402 [Michael]Member]

@Armando: There were a few posts on page 3 of this thread about that.

But basically, it’s 「～ます stem verb + 始める・始めます」
例文）りんごを食べ始めます。- Begin to eat an apple.
例文）明日は、日本語を習い始めます。- Start to learn Japanese tomorrow.

Also, the same rule can be used with「終わる」（おわる）[to finish] and「続ける」（つづける）[to continue]
例文）本を読み続けます。- Continue reading the book.
例文）勉強し終わります。- Finish studying.

*Sorry,「例文」（れいぶん）means “example sentence” – I see it so often in the grammar book I’m using that I just HAD to include it XD*

[ArmandoMember]

For some reason I thought it’d be something like that… Japanese really does have patterns ^.^ thanks mistah

[marth17Member]

Here’s something I keep forgetting, cause it’s kinda weird.

How do you say “How do you say” in Japanese?

Like if I wanted to ask in Japanese, “How do you say ‘bicycle’ in Japanese?”

Obviously ‘bicycle’ would be in English.

If I remember correctly there are 2 ways to say it.

[KiaiFighterMember]

日本語で「bicycle」は何ですか？
にほんごで「bicycle」はなんですか？
Lit. What is “bicycle” in Japanese?

[MisterM2402 [Michael]Member]

Could you also say:
日本語で「bicycle」という何ですか。
?

Am I using「という」properly? Not had much practice with it yet.

[KiaiFighterMember]

that gets the idea across, but I think you need to switch your sentence order a bit. as far as I know, it should be like this…

日本語で「bicycle」は、何と言いますか？
にほんごで「bicycle」は、なんといいますか？

or more casual would be …
日本語で「bicycle」は、何て言うの？
にほんごで「bicycle」は、なんていうの？

[MisterM2402 [Michael]Member]

Probably not *quite* the most appropriate thread to post this in, but here goes:

I have sitting in an Anki deck the sentence「大丈夫、払いますから。」, which is something like “Don’t worry, I’ll pay.”. Could I change it to「大丈夫、払うんです。」? Can you use ん like that? Would から actually be more appropriate? Should the verb maybe be in て-form?

Danke.

[ArmandoMember]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsiPMobkEIM

Don’t know if it goes in this thread, but what is the word said at 0:20-0:21
My first time shadowing and this is what I have (up until that point)
昭和５８年６月？
全てが。。。全ては違う。
この世界では入江も鷹野もいない。そして前原圭一もいない。
Word I don’t understandオヤシロさまの祟りが起こっていない。
骰子が振られるスタート地点から全てが違う世界。
ここはいったいどこなの？
English subtitles.
June of Showa 58?
Everything… Everything has changed.
Irie and Takano aren’t here, and Maebara Keiichi isn’t here either…!
Most importantly, Oyahirosama’s curse isn’t happening.
From the very start the dice were rolled and I ended up in a world where everything was different.
Where am I?
(BTW not my translation, WinDFS’s.)

[MisterM2402 [Michael]Member]

@Armando: Solely on first listen I’d say that was「何」（なに）[what], but then it doesn’t seem likely, because the subtitles in Spanish say “Pero sobre todo” (which Google translates to “But above all”). Definitely sounds like the kana な and に, but whether it’s “what” or some colloquial usage, I don’t know (though I’m betting it’s the latter – the former wouldn’t make any sense).

[ElenkisMember]

It clearly started with なに but there was more there that was barely audible, almost whispered.

After a quick search I found the line elsewhere:

『なによりも…オヤシロさまの祟りが起こっていない』

Which does indeed sound right.

[ArmandoMember]

Thanks to both of you :)

[MisterM2402 [Michael]Member]

“After a quick search…” – why didn’t *I* think of that?! :P

Guess I didn’t have my speaker volume up high enough.

[AndrewMember]

Hey guys, I’ve got an easy one for ya’s, as I’m still a newbie. I’m basically trying to string some longer sentecnces together with what I’ve learn’t so far. I’m trying to say “I like to eat Japanese sushi”. Have I done this correct?

私はすしの日本を食べた好きです

I don’t know where I picked up 食べた, but when writing the sentence it just made sense for some reason.

Google translator has told me i’ve writing I like to each sushi in Japan. Have I done something wrong?

Thanks for any help :)

• This reply was modified 13 years, 4 months ago by  Andrew.

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