Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
NHK World has instructions on their website for how to pick them up by satellite, but I don’t know how much of that channel is in Japanese (or, for that matter, whether you can pick up satellite =P ).
Welcome! I actually saw that blog recently, which is kind of a coincidence. I don’t really remember how I found it, though. Good luck in getting to Japan yourself.
There is a search function, but it’s a little hidden – if anyone knows a better way of getting to it, do let me know. =)
1. In the top-right corner, click “Account” then “Profile”
2. In the sidebar on the page that loads, click “Topics” or “Replies” (depending on how you want the results to be returned)
3. On that page, there should be a table showing a list of topics. Right above the table, on the right-hand side, there’s a search box. =DSorry, I’m a bit perplexed at the question. Which dictionary is this? Only nothing I’ve checked mentions anything about a prefix.
Looking at my dictionary, it seems the on reading (げん) is way more prevalent in vocabulary words, while the kun reading (はら) is more often seen in proper nouns.
Welcome. It’s great that you were able to visit Japan. Where did you go? What did you see?
Did you take any pictures? =D
With someone you’ve never met before, always start with -masu form and -san. You can shift down to casual as the conversation continues, but start polite. It’s similar in English – you wouldn’t start with “yo, how’s it hangin’?” with someone you’ve never met before. Only even more so in Japanese.
In work situations with someone who’s superior to you, you’d use polite language regardless of your relative ages. Outside of a work situation, though, he’d be expected to be polite to you, even though the reverse was true while at work.
Well, the easy rule of thumb is that the most common reading is the most likely. Otherwise, memorise on a case-by-case basis. You probably wouldn’t encounter any of the non-Joyo kanji very often. Have you got a specific list of names you’re looking at?
That said, thanks to Ian mentioning place names, I’ve remembered one of the real sneaky ones – 神戸. Unless you can recognise it, you’ll never be able to intuit the reading for that…
I don’t know how much thought is put into the meaning of names, but I’m sure that more is put in than Ian says in his post. 勇気 (ゆうき), meaning “courage”, is a common boy’s first name, to give an example. 一郎 (いちろう), meaning “first son”, and other similar names are also common. Then you could expand it to, say, 健一郎 (けんいちろう), healthy first son. Girls’ names quite often to end with 子 (こ), meaning “child”. 花子 (はなこ), flower child, or 雪子 (ゆきこ), snow child. Mind you, you can also have 花 and 雪 without the 子. I think 子-names might be getting less frequent in modern times.
As a matter of interest, here are the five most common boys’ names for children born in 1994: 健太 (けんた), 翔太 (しょうた), 拓也 (たくや), 翼 (つばさ), 翔 (しょう). And girls’ names: 美咲 (みさき), 愛 (あい), 萌 (もえ), 愛美 (あいみ), 遥 (はるか)
Not so much a different set as a bunch of extra kanji that may be used for names – otherwise people with long distinguished family lines may suddenly find themselves having to use kana, which wouldn’t really be fair. The most common names are all comprised of Joyo kanji, though. It’s not that people need to learn a whole new set of kanji, but that the might need to be able to recognize a few extras.
As a point of interest, the ten most common surnames are (or were, at the time this list was published): 佐藤 (さとう), 鈴木 (すずき), 高橋 (たかはし), 田中 (たなか), 伊藤 (いとう), 渡辺 (わたなべ), 小林 (こばやし), 中村 (なかむら), 山本 (やまもと) and 加藤 (かとう).
Single-character names do exist – the list of the top one hundred names includes 森 (もり) and 原 (はら) – as do three-character names – like 長谷川 (はせがわ).
To give fun examples of even commonly-spelt names that can have multiple readings, 吉田 can be read as both よしだ and きちだ, and the single-character name 林 can be read as both はやし and りん. Names can also contain implied particles – 木下, for example, despite being 木 (き) + 下 (した), is typically read as きのした.
Even native Japanese speakers can occasionally bump into a name that they might not be able to read, so don’t lose heart – it’s why furigana is often included on business cards. =)
Aye, the general rule of thumb is to reboot first, since that typically does the trick in Windows. Reinstalling comes way down the list of likely solutions, and I’ve never been at all sure of why people often try it first.
Ooo, yay. I’ll certainly be hanging on to your blog. =D
Oh, I do plan to get the intermediate and advanced volumes at some point. Not sure when. Guess I should just put my foot down and do it. =)
Intransitive verb, I choose you!
In any case, I’ve been reading the grammar dictionary from cover to cover, practicing my Japanese by covering over the translations of the example sentences. It’s actually quite an interesting read. I’m up to “~to ieba”. =)
And yeah, I guess the full-size version does sound a bit bigger than this one, Elenkis. Still, probably “abridged” is a better word to use than “pocket”. Maybe I’ll try reading it once I finish the grammar dictionary. =D
ルイ wrote:
> Did you know that Klingon is an actual language? Not that I intend to learn it. Anytime. Soon.Yes. Marc Okrand and James Doohan wrote it. James Doohan played Scotty. =)
Also, red panda! Squee! =D
It’s one o’ them weird exceptions, like how 今日 = きょう even though neither kanji has anything like that reading. Also, 二人 = ふたり. After that, it’s more normal. 三人 = さんにん, 四人 = よにん, et cetera. Unfortunately, when it comes to the weird exceptions, you’ve just gotta memorise each of them as they come.
I managed to pick up a Pocket Kenkyusha dictionary on sale from my university bookshop. Not too sure why it’s called a pocket dictionary, though, because it’s a ginormous brick. I’ve barely looked at it, though, because I’ve mostly been using Kotoba on my iPhone.
I’ve also got Spahn and Hadamitzky’s Learner’s Kanji Dictionary (i.e. the concise Joyo kanji version – the full dictionary is even bigger than the Kenkyusha) and the first volume of Makino and Tsutsui’s Dictionary of Japanese Grammar.
On an unrelated note, how was Japan? Did you take photos? Write a blog? Show us? =D
P.S. こんにちは =)
I’ve noticed that a few times myself, actually. More than just inflection changes and modifications for a more “natural” conversation flow, I’ve occasionally spotted times when the subtitles are just flat out wrong. Can’t think of any examples off the top of my head, though.
That said, I think listening is probably still my weakest area…
Dubbing changes, incidentally, are more often for reasons of matching lip-flaps rather than conversation flow.
