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Passive and intransitive are different things. Passive sentences are usually transitive. “The mango was cut by me” for example is passive transitive. In Japanese it would be マンゴーが私に切られる, using the passive form of 切る.
Post #3 in the following thread might help to understand the difference: http://forum.koohii.com/viewtopic.php?id=6903
Just to clarify a bit further. 切れる can’t be potential in このナイフはよく切れる because このナイフ cannot be the subject of a potential. If that sentence was using potential 切れる then it would mean “this knife can be cut well” (“one can cut this knife well”), which of course doesn’t make much sense.
It should usually be obvious from context and grammar whether or not it is the intransitive or potential. Another example of intransitive:
電話は切れた。
The phone call was cut off.切れる the intransitive verb is different from 切れる the potential of 切る. “The knife cuts well” isn’t potential, because potential form is used to describe the ability of a living subject to do something.
I have lots of highly recommended reference books and they are fantastic resources, but I’m still very glad that I purchased and went through the textbooks. Going through the reading exercises in them improved my reading comprehension more than anything else that I have done in my learning, much more so than the short example sentences you typically find in reference books.
But if money is a concern then perhaps it’s better to go with other options. The main negative of textbooks is that they aren’t cheap.
I also highly recommend the Dictionary of Basic/Intermediate/Advanced Japanese Grammar series.
If he wants to continue learning in the structured way that Textfugu provides, then a textbook is ideal, whether it’s an online or offline one (both have different advantages). I’m not sure what you mean by incorporating writing, the best thing about good textbooks are the way the reading exercises are structured so as to build up in complexity as you progress, introducing new grammatical points into them. Genki has reading comprehension exercises right from the beginning, because they’re designed for the appropriate level of each chapter.
Reading short articles and stories in Japanese that’s geared specifically towards the reader’s level, right from the beginning, provides an excellent sense of progression and was more useful to me then trying to jump straight into and struggle with native material. Though people learn in a lot of different ways.
Either buy a text book series such as Genki or use Tae Kim’s grammar guide: http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar – working your way through the Basic, Essential, Special and Advanced sections.
RTK is a good option if you want to work on kanji, it isn’t required but some find it very helpful. It doesn’t have anything to do with grammar though, so you’ll still want to be doing textbook study at the same time.
You can use the potential form to say that without needing two verbs. For example: この小包は送られますか。
Using できる it would be: この小包は送ることができますか。
Though I’m not sure that it would be particularly natural to ask such a question, instead of just saying: これ、郵便で送ってください。 Or: これ、郵便で送りたいのですが.
Maybe one of the posters who lives there can share their experience.
You may find this useful: http://www.maggiesensei.com/2010/09/16/%E9%83%B5%E4%BE%BFyuubin-postal-service/
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This reply was modified 13 years ago by
Elenkis.
>I was guessing that was supposed to be そういえば, which I understand to mean something like “so anyway…”
Ah yes, of course, can’t believe I didn’t think of that. Thanks.
My only question about this is, what is “そいうえば”?
“nope, i have no interest in helping anybody that hasn’t helped me on lang-8″
It’s a good thing that those who help you don’t have the same attitude then.
Big eyes are also a trait in a lot of western cartoons, just look at most Disney characters :)
Breaking into Japanese Literature is great. I’ve only read the first story as I had other projects going on at the same time, but the imagery of the Japanese is quite beautiful (though perhaps a little morbid). Like:
すると、黒い瞳のなかに鮮やかに見えた自分の姿が、ぼうっと崩れて来た。 静かな水が動いて写る影を乱したように、流れ出したと思ったら、女の眼がぱちりと閉じた。 長い睫の間から涙が頬へ垂れた。
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This reply was modified 13 years, 1 month ago by
I did 20 per day but only went through the RTK Lite method (the 1200 most frequently used Kanji). I no longer remember how long it took per day, but I don’t remember it ever taking long.
Once you’re done I would recommend moving straight onto vocab without any delay. Get yourself a good Core2000/6000 deck and either review the cards “kanji to kana” or “kana to kanji”. Kanji to kana is quicker and easier in my experience (recognising and reading kanji compounds is a lot easier than producing them), but I find doing kana to kanji works my brain much more and so is probably more effective at engraving the words into my memory.
After learning my first 2000-3000 words by doing kana to kanji, I then set up a second deck and now do it both ways. You’ll probably have to experiment and find what works best for you.
You’ll also want to get started on grammar if you aren’t already learning that.
As far as electronic dictionaries go, do you have a smartphone? Even an iPod Touch would probably serve you better as dictionary.
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This reply was modified 13 years ago by
