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こんにちは、コックリー！
Do you enjoy creative writing, by chance? Also, what is it about Japanese that makes it so much more captivating than French, in your opinion? I’ve studied French for many years and I find it somewhat boring, linguistically. Too structured, not quirky enough to have personality, in my opinion.
Oh, right, my name is Eihiko! はじめまして！ I’ve tried learning Japanese many times and have usually given up because I would complete a tutorial/resource without feeling like I had learned how to speak Japanese. TextFugu is my most recent endeavor, and I’ve been sticking with it more consistently than in the past. To be honest, TextFugu isn’t really better than other guides (like Tae Kim), as it turns out, which was somewhat disappointing. But TextFugu gives a pretty big discount on WaniKani, which is TOTALLY AWESOME, in my opinion. Also, I like saying hi to all the people on TextFugu who want to learn. It inspires me to keep going, myself ^_^
As for your name, I would suggest Kokkurii (コックリー). ‘E’ sounds in Japanese are usually fully pronounced, whereas ‘U’ sounds are sometimes glided over or omitted entirely. Western speaking is a lot slower than Japanese speaking, which Japanese native speakers interpret as long vowels (vowels held out twice as long). In this case, holding out the last syllable twice as long makes sense because the second syllable of your name is emphasized. The kk is there because of the abrupt, bouncy ending in “coke” before you start saying LEE. (ie it’s Coke-LEE, not Co-klee)
Anyway, I hope to see you around the forums!
よろしくおねがいします！
-Eihiko-
This reply was modified 10 years, 6 months ago by
Eihiko.
Not from the desk of Eihiko. Eihiko's boss took his desk away from him.Hi Jess, nice to meet you! I’ve never been into anime per se- I never went to anime clubs and haven’t seen most of the mainstream series- but there’s some philosophical anime that I love (eg Serial Experiments Lain). I like philosophical US film as well, but it’s seemingly more rare.
I have a love/hate relationship with Japanese food because I don’t like fish, and fish is an important part of Japanese food, it seems. I keep hoping that someday I’ll acquire the taste, but I’m still waiting :T
Not from the desk of Eihiko. Eihiko's boss took his desk away from him.Hi Kai, welcome back to the forum and your Japanese studies! I think spreading kindness is probably one of the most noble reasons for learning Japanese that I’ve ever heard :o I just like the squiggly characters. Anyway, I hope to see you around!
And if you ever have trouble with motivation or problems in life and you need someone to talk to, feel free to shoot me a message (oeihiko at gmail). I like to help when I can ^_^
Not from the desk of Eihiko. Eihiko's boss took his desk away from him.Hi Alex, nice to meet you!
I almost took up learning Russian instead of Japanese, since I was also looking for a language that differed from the Latin-style writing system. I ended up choosing Japanese because I have a friend from high school who is fluent.
I look forward to seeing you around the forums; よろしくおねがいします！
Not from the desk of Eihiko. Eihiko's boss took his desk away from him.Hi Tobias!
I’m starting semester 6 of computer science. Are you just entering the world of computer science, or have you tinkered and programmed before?
Not from the desk of Eihiko. Eihiko's boss took his desk away from him.Nice to meet you, James! It is never too late to learn something new, so I wish you best of luck and hope to see you around the forums.
Not from the desk of Eihiko. Eihiko's boss took his desk away from him.Geography isn’t really taught in American schools. Our history courses are spotty as well. Also, it’s an expensive, many-hour flight to get to anywhere that isn’t America, so most Americans don’t leave the country, excepting Canada and Mexico. Our media almost exclusively covers American affairs, with the exception of our National Public Radio, which plays BBC news and Public Radio International broadcasts. But only some people listen to NPR
So yes, Americans can go their entire lives without understanding the distinction between the UK and England. But those of us that do figure it out do so through desire to be part of an international community while living in a country which frankly discourages it.
That being said, most of us know that Paris is in France and that Europe is not a country. The reason that clip is floating around is because it’s absurd, even to us.
Also, the triangle means that England has a fleet of ships off the coast of Scotland. Russia actually does have troops in Poland, but then Poland actually was occupied by Russia at the onset of WW1. It didn’t become an independent state until afterward.
… so I take it no one wants to play?
Not from the desk of Eihiko. Eihiko's boss took his desk away from him.Haha on behalf of the game’s creator, I apologize for all of the geographical errors and the underlying sociopolitical tensions which may have underlayed them in the 1950s!
@Justin- It has such a nice ring to it, how could I not?
@Joel Not today, but maybe someday soon. This will be good practice in the meantime c;
Not from the desk of Eihiko. Eihiko's boss took his desk away from him.I think あります means ‘to be’ or ‘to exist.’ It is used mainly when referring to inanimate objects. ありません is just the negative form: ‘to not exist’
As for the verb question, Japanese verbs have two parts. The first part is the root which says what the verb is. The second part describes when and how the verb actually happened. For example, the root of 入れる is 入れ, meaning ‘insert’ or ‘fill.’ ました is a verb ending meaning used to politely signify that something happened in the past. So when you put them together, 入れました means ‘inserted’ or ‘filled’ and is something you could say in front of your boss without being ashamed (since it’s a polite form).
You may be asking “how do you know what part is the root and what verb stuff to put at the end?” That’s a good question with a slightly less satisfying answer. There are many different categories of verbs and many different verb endings and a set of rules for combining different verb categories with different endings. These rules, like every set of language rules, have exceptions. Eventually, you will end up memorizing the categories and many of the endings and the exceptions, and by that point you will be a Japanese Master. But for now, I’ll walk you through this particular case, so you can see how it works.
1) Different categories of verbs have different “connectors” which you put between the root and the verb ending.
2) Each category of verbs has about 7 different connectors that can be used depending on the ending.
3) 入れる is a member of the Ichidan verb category. You can guess this because Ichidan verbs end in ‘iru’ or ‘eru.’ But some not-Ichidan verbs also end in iru or eru, so you have to memorize the exceptions.
4) ました is of the ‘masu’ verb form (masu, mashita, masen – very useful. You will see them a lot.)
5) Verb endings in the ‘masu’ form always use connector #2
6) You “build” the verb by chopping off the last character, adding the connector and adding the verb ending.
7) Ichidan verbs actually do not have a connector #2, so you just chop off the last character and add the verb ending right to the root.Thus: 入れる with the last character chopped off becomes 入れ、 then with the ending added becomes 入れました
Phew! Isn’t grammar fun? In any case, don’t worry if this is overwhelming. Japanese learning resources usually take this one step at a time, so you will be eased into it eventually. If you’re looking for an awesome resource about it, I’d recommend “Japanese Verbs & Essentials of Grammar” by Rita L. Lampkin. I have the 2nd edition c:
Not from the desk of Eihiko. Eihiko's boss took his desk away from him.For what it’s worth, the game setting is pre-WW1. The game itself was made in the 1950s.
Not from the desk of Eihiko. Eihiko's boss took his desk away from him.I have used Textfugu on an android phone multiple times, and it works pretty well.
Not from the desk of Eihiko. Eihiko's boss took his desk away from him.Ooh this conversation is getting complicated!
@Orcashark Helen-san: Wacom tablets are where it’s at! I have an old graphire 4 and GIMP because photoshop scares me. Ive never tried Maya, though if it’s even slightly more user-friendly than Blender, I might be willing to try it out ^-^ my current project is to rig a basic human character and use inverse kinematics to get his feet to stop going through the terrain when he climbs up hills. Rigging is not fun :c
@Aikibujin-san: MY BOSS TOOK IT FROM ME THE DIRTY TRAITOR. People in my office are getting moved around and I have been temporarily displaced. Rumour has it that my new desk will be 2, nay 3 times as fancy as the old one, with motorized height adjustment and a built-in drawer! Also, its sorta awesome that youre getting a PhD. Do they take an indeterminate amount of time at your university? Around here , phds can take 5-8 years. Also is there a Japanese honorific for doctors? Also also, have you considered integrating your japanese studies into your phd studies, perhaps by writing your dissertation in Japanese?
@igmdigm-san: (and helen) I’m totally down for skype, though you should be warned: I am painfully shy at times. Also, i will almost certainly try to convince you to join my game projects, all of which are doomed to fail ^o^
Also i dont fully understand what this teamspeak thing is/was, but ive got a dedicated server just chilling if we ever want a chat server again.
Not from the desk of Eihiko. Eihiko's boss took his desk away from him.Ooh that explains it! Thanks c: I’m surprised rock paper scissors is such an old, universal tradition. Fancy.
Not from the desk of Eihiko. Eihiko's boss took his desk away from him.@Aikibujin: nooooo, you can’t lapse anymore! It’s out of the question. You’re simply not allowed. I will make you read me Japanese children stories before bed if I must O_O
@Helen Orcashark: My dog is half Japanese, so maybe Manda is her long lost cousin. Where around Cleveland are you from? My family’s been living in the Cleveland area since the Mayflower ran aground on the shores of Lake Erie! Also… you don’t by any chance do any 3D modelling do you? Since your background is in art, I imagine you do 2D design, but if you happen to do 3D, I will love you forever ^o^
Not from the desk of Eihiko. Eihiko's boss took his desk away from him.こんにちは、Orcashark Helen-san! はじめまして!
Helen is a nice name, but Orcashark is epic. I will have trouble deciding. Hrm.
Anyway, my name is Eihiko (not really, but shh don’t tell anyone) and I am also an Ohioan, except of the Northern variety. The video game industry is a mess, and well-established educational programs are sparse. Many modern 3D games use technology that’s a decade old because there’s simply no way to learn how to use the new technology. I’m actually taking a computer graphics course (the programming kind) for my master’s this upcoming semester, and it’s centered around a version of OpenGL that was deprecated in 2003.
Anyway, my point is that if you really want to get into the world of game design, you’ve just gotta dig into it. Don’t worry too much about lacking formal education- you can fill the holes along the way. My focus is Artificial Intelligence, but I do a bit of game programming for fun, so if you’re ever looking for a game design discussion, I’d be happy to discuss ^_^
Of course if you want to abandon the videogame world and dedicate your life to a quiet study of the Japanese language, that’s completely understandable c:
Um um, what else… OH your dog looks just like my dog! I hope that it’s just the lighting or something, because my dog is hella ugly. But don’t worry, I’m sure the camera just caught it at a bad angle.
- Long, winding post: check!
- Frequent tangents and lame jokes: check!
- Insulted her dog: check!
Yay for dubious first impressions! D:
よろしくおねがいします
ーEihikoNot from the desk of Eihiko. Eihiko's boss took his desk away from him. -
This reply was modified 10 years, 6 months ago by
