Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
So in my example, the reporter originally knew who bought the painting but gradually proceeded to the state of not knowing? Were they hit on the head maybe? :P
There must be some other nuance I’m not understanding because my example and the examples the Japanese commenter gave still don’t make sense to me with an interpretation like that. Your grammar dictionaries usually seem to be pretty comprehensive though, so I’m not sure…
誰が買ったのかは分からないようになっています。
This sentence was in an article on some paintings sold at auction. I’m not sure what 分からないようになっています。means. I’ve seen ～ようになる before but unsure what meaning it has when the verb is negative.
Here’s an explanation from a native I found through a little searching; I can’t quite understand exactly what he’s getting at:
『ようになっている』—->機械などがそのようにできている
このボタンを押さないと、ドアは開かないようになっている。
正しいパスワードを入力しないと、このシステムは動かないようになっている。He also said this in his answer but I understood it fine (just thought I’d include it out of interest):
『ようになる』
(1)能力の変化—->早く日本語が上手に話せるようになりたい。
(2)習慣の変化—->大きい病気をしてからは、お酒を飲まないようになった。Sometimes it’s better to look up a word in a different dictionary if the meaning in the first could be ambiguous (like in this case where the English given is just a single word). Looking up example sentences is also good; not all words have example sentences but the more common ones do and it can give you a good sense of the word’s intended usage/meaning.
http://eow.alc.co.jp/search?q=%E6%8B%98%E7%A6%81&ref=sa
Even without knowing exactly which meaning of “intern” you meant, I’m pretty sure it’s not 拘禁 you’re looking for :PSure is :D If I didn’t have the speaking skills of an infant, I might just wear one :P
Now how would you say “Speak Japanese with me!” in Japanese…? You see, I’m just not cut out to wear a t-shirt like that!But then what would ここで走らないでください and 冬に雪が多い (both sentences without the は) mean?
Benny the Irish Polyglot wears a shirt with that on it a lot ;)
“The vast majority of what I heard as a child was still British English. My parents and the vast majority of people I meet make the British English sounds.”
Well, it was the same for me; I’m British too (Scottish to be precise). What I meant is that there are so many American movies and TV shows and singers that make their way over hear that I assumed most Brits were at least *slightly* familiar with how Americans speak. Speaking as a Scot in particular, a similar thing happened with me and the English way of speaking: most media here that isn’t from the US is from England, so I grew up being accustomed to how the English speak even though I physically grew up in a place where everyone spoke Scottish English.
“Also, I have the secondary problem of not making friends, or even acquaintances, easily. ”
We’re really not that different :PAs for ““Make an L” sound, “Make a D” sound and it’s somewhere in-between”, I think they mean an exaggerated L sound, where you really try and flap your tongue i.e. put your tongue behind the aveolar ridge. What they’re trying to do is tell you where to place your tongue in a way that’s easier to understand than using terms like aveolar ridge that not everyone has heard of. If you’re a cunning linguist (I’m not really) the description on Wikipedia (“Japanese Phonology”) may help: “/r/ is an apical postalveolar flap undefined for laterality. That is, it is specified as neither a central nor a lateral flap, but may vary between the two.”
Like I said before though, you’ve been at this less than a week now, it’s really not something you should fret over too much. If you can pronounce everything else reasonably well, great; the R will come to you in time ;) Focus on learning lots of new words and kanji instead.
“All the examples I’ve seen of how to speak the “R” sounds seem focused on American English”
What’s wrong with that? Surely having lived in a non-US, English-speaking country for so long you’re used to American English via the inundation of US media through every channel? :P If someone describes Japanese ‘R’ as being like the ‘tt’ in some American pronunciations of “butter”, can you not imagine that in your head? Or, assuming you’re watching a video about it, just listen to the person saying it?Other than that, don’t get too hung up on it; it’s something that takes a lot of practice and you likely won’t get good at it until you’ve spoken a lot to Japanese people (which won’t be for a while).
“Ehh, shouldn’t you ask a Japanese person to help you instead?”
Exactly this. Try Lang-8 or something.
“[...]I’m considering making it its own product”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. Stop making new products without finishing the last. Unless he’s going to retire TextFugu once this new thing is done, that would be fine. As long as he doesn’t keep letting people sign up for it.
@Elenkis: Hello again, been a while since I’ve seen you here. Yeah, you’re right, it’s been forever since anything’s actually been updated; I think all his time is on Tofugu and WaniKani. I feel pretty bad for new users that are putting down $120 without realising how dead this place is, how different it is to how it’s described in the opening spiel.
You could know the readings for 50,000 kanji and it wouldn’t make a difference if you don’t know any of the actual vocab. Learn more words – once you do, it’s more a case of getting used to the grammar, getting lots and lots of input until it makes sense in your head. I’m currently about 2/3 through a vocab list called Core 6k and I’ve found it to be really helpful; unless you find a better way to learn words, I’d recommend Core 6k.
Also, a good way to get better at reading is to practise reading, especially more simple stuff. Here’s a great site: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/index.html
New news stories every day, each one shorter than the regular article, simplified words and grammar, highlighting of proper names, furigana, mouse-over of certain words with definitions in Japanese (which helps your reading even more), accompanying audio.I’ve been doing this for 3 years now and I still feel the way you do, even though there are times I notice I’m getting ever so slightly better :P
Not sure about anything *solely* for vocab but you could try jpod101.com: they have lots and lots of podcasts, some of which are quite good. Michel Thomas, Pimsleur, and Assimil are audio-based courses you could have a look into as well (can’t recommend any of them as I’ve not used them before).
“Coupon Applied TOFUGU: SAVE 50 % TODAY”
So it *was* applied. Also, jpod101 always seem to have a discount, so it’s not like they were being “nice”, it’s just what they always do :P
Another Brit here, 20 and from Edinburgh :) I too started learning Japanese while I was unemployed, though that was during my year out between high school and uni; I had little exposure to or interest in Japanese culture before starting so it was more just a case of pure chance that I stumbled into it. Koichi says to keep it a secret? You mean the fact that you’re learning Japanese? When I read TextFugu a few years ago, I’m sure his advice was the exact opposite, to tell lots of people :D
@underwater_wanderer: Yes, putting that I was self-teaching Japanese on my CV has definitely helped me out: granted it was for a temp job at ASDA, but the first thing the interviewer said to me was something like “Well there’s definitely something that stands out here, let’s talk about that first” with a big smile on his face (though I guess that was more his general expression). It might not be *as* important for maybe a grad job interview where they care more about your technical skill and relevant experience, but it’s definitely something you can say about yourself that probably not many of the other applicants can.
