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  • in reply to: The Coffee House #13403

    Elenkis
    Member

    It’s the Chinese kanji for biangbiang noodles. It isn’t used in Japanese, so no need to worry about writing it ;)

    However Japanese does have: http://akitakan.com/kanima.php?code=3209&jis=jis2

    Which is perhaps worse due to the lack of symmetry. Very rare though.

    in reply to: Learning Japanese Without Electronics #13020

    Elenkis
    Member

    How about picking up copies of The Japan Times’ Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar and Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar (which are indispensable for every learner of Japanese). Then when you have free time look up interesting grammar points and study the numerous example sentences for practice.

    • This reply was modified 13 years, 6 months ago by  Elenkis.
    in reply to: WHAT THE HECK DOES "…" MEAN THREAD #12785

    Elenkis
    Member

    I hope we can meet in San Francisco.

    あえる is the potential form of あう and といいです is meaning “I hope”.

    in reply to: difficult sentence — よう, i-form + といた #12266

    Elenkis
    Member

    ~とく is the casual/abbreviated form of ~ておく, meaning “to do in advance”.

    See “Using the 「~ておく」 form as preparation for the future” here:

    http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/teform

    in reply to: から #12070

    Elenkis
    Member

    You’re welcome. It’s a nice resource for learning grammar :)

    in reply to: Nikui/Yasui Question #12069

    Elenkis
    Member

    It’s not quite that straightforward. It could perhaps be more correct to say:

    彼はゆっくり食べるのが好き。

    Because it’s your own personal observation that he likes to eat slowly; it’s something that you’ve perceived and not a generally well known fact. Or perhaps you empathize with it.

    の is also more informal.

    It’s kind of a subtle difference from what I’ve seen and perhaps a more advanced learner than me can do a better job of explaining :)

    in reply to: から #12060

    Elenkis
    Member

    It’s also a very common particle used to connect two sentences to express a reason for something, in a similar way to the English word “because”.

    I suggest reading though the section ‘Expressing reason or causation using 「から」 and 「ので」’ on the following page:

    http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/compound

    in reply to: Nikui/Yasui Question #12052

    Elenkis
    Member

    They both work the same way, but こと tends to be used for objective statements that the speaker is not personally involved with. の tends to be more personal and used when the speaker relates to or empathizes with what they are saying (because they have experienced it themselves for example).

    Hope that makes sense!

    Btw, you got the verbs in your examples the wrong way around. 起きます is intransitive and 起こします transitive :)

    • This reply was modified 13 years, 6 months ago by  Elenkis.
    in reply to: Nikui/Yasui Question #12043

    Elenkis
    Member

    It’s not a verb anymore, by using にくい or やすい you’re turning it into an adjective. すし becomes the subject that the adjective is describing.

    Otherwise you would do:

    寿司を食べるのは難しい – (Eating sushi is difficult)

    in reply to: HOW DO I SAY "…." THREAD #11611

    Elenkis
    Member

    You can also use がる with たい formed verbs.

    子供は眠たがっている = The child wants to sleep (Lit. The child shows signs of wanting to sleep)

    I could be wrong but I believe that this is generally how you would say it when narrating a story, but that it might be considered a bit too “impersonal” to use in conversation. That’s what Tae Kim’s guide seems to say anyway.


    Elenkis
    Member

    Aside from Anki I also use the iKnow application in a similar way.

    For dictionaries I use:

    Japanese by codefromtokyo – Still my favourite EDict dictionary for layout and features.

    Midori – Another EDict dictionary. This one has custom Japanese handwriting recognition and I only use it when the default iPhone recognition fails me in other dictionary apps.

    EBPocket Pro – EPWING dictionary viewer which I have loaded with a variety of dictionaries.

    And for something a bit different:

    Ninja Words Adventure – A Kanji recognition game with light RPG elements. Fight strange enemies by earning and then using Kanji to damage them or heal yourself. Compounds are created to form more damaging attacks. Have fun while improving your Kanji recognition at the same time, what’s not to like?

    in reply to: HOW DO I SAY "…." THREAD #11531

    Elenkis
    Member

    From the 研究社 dictionary:

    髪を黒く[茶色に]染める
    dye one’s hair black[brown]

Viewing 12 posts - 256 through 267 (of 267 total)