Tofugu Comments - Latest Comments in Beginning Japanese II: Pronunciation is King

Re: Beginning Japanese II: Pronunciation is King

heartlessangel — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 01:31:32 -0000

I totally agree with you on that its way important and to many ppl do butcher the language by not understanding the concept or the culture itself this is another reason why i say learn with a partner because they can correct you on your pronunciation and such then you won't sound like John Myer lol though I'm not a native speaker or anything it bothers me when someone doesn't understand the true essence of the language just learning it to learn the words so you dnt have to watch sub titled anime which I get on my brother about all the time he'll go into it speaking like kakashi sensi or some ninja then i slap him on the head and he gets it right lol though i have to say it doesn't bother me when ppl butcher English because its really something of a butchered language in itself even english ppl speak def from how we do in America and we speak the same language but i also took french and a lil spanish,korean and hebrew ( I know to many at one time so I slimed it down to one at a time lol silly me) and dnt take this as bragging but as far as pronunciation goes Im fairly decent still got a long ways to go but understanding of a language first no matter which one it is is always top priority in learning to speak it.( on another note I dont think its far to look down on ppl for how they learn everyine has their own way of thinking as well as learning though I agree you shouldn't be learning frm anime we all learned and are learning different ways and its better to offer an alternative rather than just to degrade that person for the methods mainly because thats their main Japanese source so for those of you out there who are doing that if your serious in the lest go to the library and pick up the japanese for beginners and start off with the kanji hiragana first trust me it is important than you can start with the audio to help along with your pronunciation of the words well thats all im gonna type cause its alot hope it helps someone thanks!.

Re: Beginning Japanese II: Pronunciation is King

Peet ~ — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 04:29:52 -0000

Pronunciation isn't all that bothers me. WHile in school, I took French class and I was getting really sick of everyone around me saying all these french words without a french accent. Or the ones who would ask a question, but forget that tones remain pretty much the same to english in the fact that in French, people raise their voice at the end of a sentence to ask a question (like we do in English, if you don't believe me, pay attention the next time you ask a question to someone) and that'd bother me. I was like "Dude, it's a language, we are not trying to be robots here, if you can't even remember small things like that, I do not want to see you talking in front of the class ever again." - Then I found out I didn't have the accent, so I practiced hard and managed to pull off getting somewhat of one (Which is much beter than none at all). So yeah, pronunciation is very important, not just in pronuncing a word according to rythym and whatnot, but also accents.

Re: Beginning Japanese II: Pronunciation is King

Casey — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 00:03:00 -0000

Hahaha, this is exactly the reason why I hate the kids in my Japanese class. Okay, only a select few, but they are the obsessive otaku who learn everything from anime instead of actually doing their Japanese homework. Then their pronunciation is so American that they sound retarded. UGH! I hate it so much. These are also the people who watch anime during class and sing along to the high pitched theme songs.... kill me please.

One thing that I find frustrating is vowel length. Not the drawn out vowels like "kawaii" and stuff, but short ones. My teacher always gets me on that. "A tree" = "ki desu." I always unconsciously draw it out. "ki-- desu." And she always brings it to my attention, "It's not keys, it's a tree!" There isn't really any difference between the length of the vowels in English.... It's hard catching yourself on stuff that comes natural. Like saying McDonalds, it's hard to do because we automatically want to say it the usual way. I had to say Indianapolis in a speech once... and "atatakakunarimashita" is a bitch.

Okay, I'm done, haha

Re: Beginning Japanese II: Pronunciation is King

Chimiko — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 14:06:56 -0000

I feel that if you like Japanese the language enough, you'll know exactly how to learn it. I learned Hiragana through reading Japanese lyrics and am still learning some Kanji along the way. I wish there were to ways to interact with Japanese speakers more. Anyone please tell me how?

Re: Beginning Japanese II: Pronunciation is King

koichi — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 16:07:55 -0000

for example, using the verb "to go":
present: go
present negative: not to go
past: went
past negative: didn't go

Re: Beginning Japanese II: Pronunciation is King

Rock Martin — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 21:53:49 -0000

What do you mean by present or past negative?

Re: Beginning Japanese II: Pronunciation is King

animerika — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 20:38:58 -0000

my gawd I already hate that song with a passion, this just gives me more of a reason to be annoyed. OTL

Re: Beginning Japanese II: Pronunciation is King

ティファー — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 18:21:07 -0000

I taught myself in high school how to read the ひらがなHiragana/Katakanaかたかな and then began learning the pronounciations of each character and the accents that change their sounds such as 'Ke'け can turn into 'Ge'げ and so on. etc. I found it fun and although I am not fluent in speaking the language I can read fluently when Furiganaふりがな is present with all Kanji. Kanji漢字 I learn a little at a time as well as writing some. People get pretty surprised when I tell em I have never had classes on Japanese. LOL. This article is cool.
すごいね、ありがとう。

Re: Beginning Japanese II: Pronunciation is King

Chris — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 04:17:42 -0000

hey, Urking is not hawaiian, it's regular ol' english. But it's spelled "irking". Root word is irk. =)

Re: Beginning Japanese II: Pronunciation is King

Tiya — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 15:08:44 -0000

yeah,some people end up like that because they don't really practice speaking enough...they should practice outside of class too and whenever else they get a chance.
They can spend all day studying their reading,writing,and listen comprehension but when they don't actually practice speaking, they end up not sounding fluent and natural.
Instead they sound like robots that are just plugging words into grammar structures.

I think I'll add another example to Koichi's 'John Mayer' point because this video sums up my point and his:
Speaking Japanese

Re: Beginning Japanese II: Pronunciation is King

Tiya — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 14:37:48 -0000

John Mayer is pretty clever
...but he needs to practice quite a bit more :/
his pronunciation and smoothness is really bad.
He makes it sound all choppy, and that makes you sound like a complete newbie ..and yeah,you do kinda look like an idiot :/

Re: Beginning Japanese II: Pronunciation is King

Sexy Beam — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 08:10:54 -0000

夫と娘が大好きです。

If you can't read Japanese, it's "otto to musume ga daisuki desu". That's what I can come up with as an equivalent of that last sentence, although there *are* other ways to say it - that's not the only right way. Just keep in mind that the verb is at the end of a sentence in correct Japanese grammar. Also, saying "I am me" just sounds weird to me personally, but it *is* a great album by Ashlee Simpson. (Sorry I just had to throw that in ^^)

The fun thing about the English-Japanese dictionaries is that they generally don't tell you how common the translated word is the other language, or any of the nuances of it. Don't trust them *too* much.

Re: Beginning Japanese II: Pronunciation is King

Titianna — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 02:46:14 -0000

Sorry it was suppose to have been "I am me, love is love. I love my husband and daughter....I couldnt remember what husband is so I found it on the english to japanese dictoinary that I know. http://rut.org/cgi-bin/j-e/fg=b/inline/pix/dict

Re: Beginning Japanese II: Pronunciation is King

Sexy Beam — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 18:59:02 -0000

When I saw that, the first thing I could think of wasHanzi Smatter ^^ Although this isn't really that bad compared to some of the stuff there, and the translation is correct.

Interestingly, tattoos aren't really widely accepted in Japan. A lot of public baths don't permit people with tattoos, and people who do have them often have small ones. I've heard that they're still associated with gangs, especially with older people.

That sentence on the end is um...well I don't really understand it. I've never heard this word "dantsuku" before, so I wonder - where did you hear this?

Re: Beginning Japanese II: Pronunciation is King

Titianna — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 05:43:42 -0000

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea...

Bah, it didnt post right. Here's the link again hopefully it works this time. Oh and thanks again for your help everyone.

Re: Beginning Japanese II: Pronunciation is King

Titianna — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 05:40:55 -0000

Thank you all. You were very helpful. And I probably SHOULD have started with Hiragana instead of Romajii :P oh well. But it was kinda funny when I got my first tattoo that the artist was SOOO insistant that I make sure I knew what the Kanjii was that I was getting. It's 'Ai' or Love. I really liked the stroke pattern that they used on Gaara in Naruto (What!? It was artfully done!) The guy said that they could do it like they had in the English to Japanese dictionary but it looked a little squished and ran together too much that I could barely recognise it. :P
http://a499.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/1...
This is what it looks like. I am very happy with it cause love is a driving force in my life.

Watashi wa watashi. Ai wa Ai. Watashi Aishteru dantsuku wo hitorimusume.

I think I said that right....I hope.

Re: Beginning Japanese II: Pronunciation is King

Sexy Beam — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 19:46:36 -0000

The basic conjugations for "masu" are:

ます ("masu") - present
ません ("masen") - present negative
ました ("mashita") - past
ませんでした ("masen deshita") - past negative

Just practice with them and you'll pick this up really fast.

Re: Beginning Japanese II: Pronunciation is King

Kurisutofa — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 13:26:17 -0000

From what I read and understand, “masu” is present tense and “mashita” is used for past tense.

Example: (Present/Past) Tabemasu/Tabemashita

Re: Beginning Japanese II: Pronunciation is King

Titianna — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 05:28:14 -0000

I saw the movie with Westlife and Wow, nihon-jin are really forgiving to idol's that cant speak Japanese worth beans. I have to admit that i'm guilty of the sin of learning some of my japanese from Anime. It wasnt from Naruto tho....It was, it was...sailor moon! Then I moved on to Juu ni kokki and Gokusen and GTO (live action and anime versions). T_T I'm SO sorry! lol
I was learning the words from anime but In the mean time I had been checking out books to learn pronounciaton (Even though I already learned it from my mom whom had taken Japanese 1 in College while I was growing up)

But anyhoo. I've been having a problem with trying to discern when a word is suppose to end with "Masu" or when I should use "shita" I already know that negatives for verbs I think it is is "Masen"...I think....oh gosh thinking about it now I'm confusing myself. Can anyone give me a little help to unknot my poor befuddled mind?
Watashi wa baka...mama.

Re: Beginning Japanese II: Pronunciation is King

koichi — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 03:00:28 -0000

nah, just playing with an iphone in the apple store here

Re: Beginning Japanese II: Pronunciation is King

Kurisutofa — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 01:05:10 -0000

Should of seen the lines forming around Hollywood, it looked like a tailgate party.

Re: Beginning Japanese II: Pronunciation is King

Fred — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 00:33:05 -0000

You bought one?!

Re: Beginning Japanese II: Pronunciation is King

Koichi — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 22:44:37 -0000

test from an apple iPhone

Re: Beginning Japanese II: Pronunciation is King

Goddess Carlie — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 19:08:51 -0000

just use it all the time as much as you can. When you are writing in english but know a word in japanese, write it!

Re: Beginning Japanese II: Pronunciation is King

Sexy Beam — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 15:36:36 -0000

I don't know if I'd tell someone their foods are NOT delicious though. =p But then again, there's not much I don't like.