Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Remember that は marks the topic of the sentence(s). Compare the following:
テレビは私のアパートにある。
This sentence is talking about a TV (The TV is in my apartment.) A response to the question “Where is the TV?”
私のアパートにはテレビがある。
This sentence is talking about my apartment (In my apartment, there is a TV.) A response to the question “What is in your apartment?”
私は（私の）アパートにさいテレビある。
This sentence is talking about me (I have a TV in (my) apartment.) A response to the question “What do you have in your apartment?”には just carries the meanings of both に and は.
A thread like this already exists.
If you’re having trouble remembering when to use which reading, that has been discussed on the forum before and I recommend checking other threads like this one.
If you know when to use which reading but simply can’t remember which reading is which, that’s a different story. I’m of the opinion that you shouldn’t bother learning readings specifically (especially not the kunyomi). Just start learning words, don’t think of 上 as a kanji that sounds like うえ、うわ、あ、しょう、じょう. Think of 上 as one word that means up/above and sounds like うえ. And think of 上手 as one word that sounds like じょうず.
Even if you do remember all the details of when to use which reading and which reading is which, it doesn’t prepare you for kanji that have multiple kun readings. If you think “When there are hiragana attached, I use the kun reading” you may well have trouble with things like 冷たい, 冷える, and 冷める all of which use kun readings, but they are different.
@Winter- Ah, southwest eh? I’m from the Flint area, never really been down to that area.
Sorry about your family. Whereabouts in MI are you?
Define “normally”. They are things I have said in conversations in the past that I don’t know how to say in Japanese. Most of them are sayings that express more complicated ideas simply so you don’t have to say things like “You are making things far more difficult than they need to be,” – “I’ll keep that in consideration but right now there are more pressing matters to be dealt with.”
@ missing (4/27) – “in fits and starts” – “beating around the bush” – “eating soup with a fork” – “putting the cart before the horse” – “on the other hand” – “when in Rome…” – “out of the frying pan, into the fire” – “fight fire with fire” – “86 it” – “put something on the back burner”
-
This reply was modified 12 years, 6 months ago by
thisiskyle.
Back in the saddle after a week trip to the States. On very little sleep and jet-lagged, the perfect conditions to take on the mountain of reviews I’ve been neglecting. The good news is that I now have a place to live this fall.
The two big ones are ので and から and they are used in pretty much the same way. As I understand it though, ので tends to be a bit softer whereas から carries the implication that A directly caused B. I usually think of ので being more like “since”.
明日はちょっと忙しいですので行けません。Since I’ll be a little busy tomorrow, I can’t go.
田中さんは死んだから行けません。Tanaka can’t go because he died.Without dedicated kanji study first, you have to learn your vocabulary with hiragana. This has one advantage: you can recognize spoken vocabulary faster. It has two disadvantages: 1) The words are harder to remember as a string of unrelated meaningless sounds and 2) you will essentially have to learn all your vocab over again when you do eventually get around to adding kanji.
In my opinion, it’s better to get the kanji out of the way first via RTK or a similar method. Then jump to vocab; real, full-on, not-watered-down vocab.
The readings are in the second book but I don’t know too many people who have used it and said it was worth the time. Use the first book, learn the “meanings” and how to write them. The most important thing you get out of this is the ability to easily recognize and differentiate between kanji. Learn the reading later through other means. Many people (myself included) say not to focus on learning the reading at all, just start learning vocabulary and you will pick up the readings.
The Anki app works well. I really recommend it if you take public transportation or often find yourself idle away from home (between classes at school, waiting room at the dentist, etc). It’s worth the price if you think of it as payment for the desktop and app versions.
I’m confused as to what you mean by “make a connection”. You said you can recognize them and know the translations; what do you think you are missing?
People with western names typically just use katakana. I put those kanji up there for me but they are not official. My alien registration card is all katakana and that’s what I write on any official documents. Unless you have a name that already exists in Japanese. Then you might use kanji (Manaka, Erika, Ken, etc).
I doubt there is one. What are you trying to say?
-
This reply was modified 12 years, 6 months ago by
