Japanese study group

[Hydroblade]

12 minutes ago, sister555 said:

 

OKOK!!!

 

First of all, comparison of a) and b).

a)このプレゼントはだれにもらったか？

b)これはだれにもらったプレゼントですか？

 

b) is far better than a), especially the end of a): 「だれにもらったか？」 sounds like a Tarzan asking all of a sudden.

 

b) is gramatically correct and quite understandable, but is rather redundant.

 

We say,

a) In a polite situation:

これはどなたからのプレゼント（or贈り物）ですか？

 

b) In a casual conversation:

これは誰からのプレゼント？

 

Please note the difference of どなた and 誰.

どなた is far politer than 誰.

 

You might be interested in the origin of the word どなた.

The Kanji for どなた is 何方.

You might notice the contemporary Japanese phrase 「どのあたり」 has quite a similar sound.

 

In fact, in the old era, Japanese people used the words which denotes place or direction, because they (probably) felt calling someone directly was rather inpolite and not sophisticated.

 

So あなた comes from 彼方（かなた）, far place.

Ref.:  http://gogen-allguide.com/a/anata.html

 

So どなた most probably have meant "in what direction".

 

Some vestige of this beautiful culture still remains when one introduces someone, like:

「こちら、〇〇△△様です」

 

So much blabbering!

 

So please remember「誰からの（or more politely, どなたからの）プレゼント」 instead of lengthy「誰からもらったプレゼント」.  And never mingle "polite" words and "colloquial" words, because that would sound very strange. 

I asked this because we saw both in Japanese class today, both were written as acceptable answers but I wanted to know which one is better we're doing ふつう形 so we left politeness aside for the time being :D

Thanks for your answer!

[Murieleirum]

8 minutes ago, sister555 said:

 

OKOK!!!

 

First of all, comparison of a) and b).

a)このプレゼントはだれにもらったか？

b)これはだれにもらったプレゼントですか？

 

b) is far better than a), especially the end of a): 「だれにもらったか？」 sounds like a Tarzan asking all of a sudden.

 

b) is gramatically correct and quite understandable, but is rather redundant.

 

We say,

a) In a polite situation:

これはどなたからのプレゼント（or贈り物）ですか？

 

b) In a casual conversation:

これは誰からのプレゼント？

 

Please note the difference of どなた and 誰.

どなた is far politer than 誰.

 

You might be interested in the origin of the word どなた.

The Kanji for どなた is 何方.

You might notice the contemporary Japanese phrase 「どのあたり」 has quite a similar sound.

 

In fact, in the old era, Japanese people used the words which denotes place or direction, because they (probably) felt calling someone directly was rather inpolite and not sophisticated.

 

So あなた comes from 彼方（かなた）, far place.

Ref.:  http://gogen-allguide.com/a/anata.html

 

So どなた most probably have meant "in what direction".

 

Some vestige of this beautiful culture still remains when one introduces someone, like:

「こちら、〇〇△△様です」

 

So much blabbering!

 

So please remember「誰からの（or more politely, どなたからの）プレゼント」 instead of lengthy「誰からもらったプレゼント」.  And never mingle "polite" words and "colloquial" words, because that would sound very strange. 

 

Please, keep blabbering! I could read this for hours! 

 

And LOL, the Tarzan ending. I laughed so much. These kind of mistakes can only happen with Japanese 

 

*goes back into hiding after having stolen a free japanese lesson*

[kitsune]

8 hours ago, sister555 said:

 

Well, the answer is ALL.

The most popular way is Kanji, 椅子 .　This is especially so when combined with another Kanji.

Ex:  座椅子　（ざいす）

 

Then hiragana, いす。

 

Thirdly, イス。

I can't think of the situation where イス should be used now, but I've found a very interesting example:

Look at this page:  http://www.kaunet.com/rakuraku/category/0/1/005/005010/

 

This is from a very popular Japanese shopping site, Kaunet.

And they use all of "チェア／椅子／イス"!!! 

Apparently they are doing so just for SEO (= search engine optimization).

As they are an online site, they want to take the TOP place of the Google search result.

 

So I can say 「イス」 can be used, but in most cases we use 椅子 or いす.

（Generally いす is used by children.  Adults usually use 椅子.)

 

Thanks for the answer . I really wanted to use this new emoticon.

 

[Hydroblade]

I am so sad, i have my last test next week and after that we go on summer break until september i think...

I know i can study by myself and will probably study a ton of kanji but... I will miss the school, i love the place!

[sister555]

On 2017/5/23 at 午後8時51分, Murieleirum said:

I've searched for good tv shows, but never thought of looking for asadora! Any other title recommendation is welcomed! 

 

 

Hello!!

 

My recommendation and also my current biggest favourite TV drama series is "Quartet".

 

Luckily there's an English subbed version:  http://yuizaki-libra.livejournal.com/36318.html

 

Four people's conversation is not too formal and not too slangish, best for foreigners to learn a language.

And the script is so well weaved!!  You will be startled on every last five minutes of each episode.

 

And please watch and be enchanted by four actors, including my お気に入り Issei Takahashi!!

 

I'm deeply sorry if this title is already introduced here.

[Murieleirum]

2 hours ago, sister555 said:

 

Hello!!

 

My recommendation and also my current biggest favourite TV drama series is "Quartet".

 

Luckily there's an English subbed version:  http://yuizaki-libra.livejournal.com/36318.html

 

Four people's conversation is not too formal and not too slangish, best for foreigners to learn a language.

And the script is so well weaved!!  You will be startled on every last five minutes of each episode.

 

And please watch and be enchanted by four actors, including my お気に入り Issei Takahashi!!

 

I'm deeply sorry if this title is already introduced here.

 

Thank you for the suggestion and the link for the subbed version! I will definitely give it a look 

[sister555]

2 分ぐらい, Murieleirum said:

 

Thank you for the suggestion and the link for the subbed version! I will definitely give it a look 

 

Please do!!

And please let us all how you felt after watching "Quartet".

 

[axelnojutsu]

On 6.6.2017 at 22:00, Hydroblade said:

I tried duolingo's japanese course and the placement test put me a checkpoint away from finishing the course.

I took the checkpoint shortcut  and i am testing out the lessons instead of doing them. It was released 3 days ago i think.

The thing is, i can't really recommend it, which sucks because i love duolingo, but i feel like the course structure isn't newbie friendly

Check it out if you want but i don't like it that much...

Might be because of what Miyuki has been saying here, the grammar of japanese is hard to translate into a one size fits all learning model...

I also usually love Duolingo but I think I prefer the Memrise app over DL for Japanese (at least the way it is now)

[Hydroblade]

5 minutes ago, axelnojutsu said:

I also usually love Duolingo but I think I prefer the Memrise app over DL for Japanese (at least the way it is now)

Will you believe me if I tell you that I've never used memrise for Japanese? I've only used it for swedish and Faroese ._.

(I can use a lot of methods to study other languages but for Japanese it's been really difficult for me to use anything but immersion...)

[sister555]

On 2017/6/11 at 午前5時2分, Murieleirum said:

 

Please, keep blabbering! I could read this for hours! 

 

And LOL, the Tarzan ending. I laughed so much. These kind of mistakes can only happen with Japanese 

 

Thank you so much for allowing me to blabber!!

 

No, no, we ALL can be Tarzan when learning any foreign languages, but sadly these points are never taught at school ...

 

One must be so careful about using slangs, because native people LOVE to teach their slang words as soon as they know you are learning their language.

 

But beware of tones all the time.

It would be very strange if you say,

 

今日はとてもよい天気で気持ちがよいですね。（very polite)ところでその柄さ、ちょっとキモくない？（veeery colloquial JK (= Joshi Kosei) talk).

[sister555]

2 分ぐらい, Hydroblade said:

Will you believe me if I tell you that I've never used memrise for Japanese? I've only used it for swedish and Faroese ._.

(I can use a lot of methods to study other languages but for Japanese it's been really difficult for me to use anything but immersion...)

 

Wait Hydro, how many languages can you handle?

 

Immersion?  Immerse yourself in Japanese?

[axelnojutsu]

4 minutes ago, Hydroblade said:

Will you believe me if I tell you that I've never used memrise for Japanese? I've only used it for swedish and Faroese ._.

(I can use a lot of methods to study other languages but for Japanese it's been really difficult for me to use anything but immersion...)

I actually didn't even know about Memrise until I couldn't find Japanese on DL and I looked for alternatives so I don't know how good/bad it is for other languages, but for my level and way of learning it works really well 

(obviously you can't learn the language only from that or any app)

[sister555]

Hi!  My another suggestion for learning Japanese, aside watching Japanese TV drama series, is playing a Japanese game!!

 

My most favourite game has recently been introduced also as apli (both available on iPhone and Android).

I highly recommend this game to all of you, especially if you have a slight interest in modern Japanese literature:

 

文豪とアルケミスト（or "文アル）：  http://pc-play.games.dmm.com/play/bungo/

 

There is a very well made English wiki as well!!

 

文アル Japanese wiki:  http://bungo.wikiru.jp/

 

文アルEnglish wiki:  http://bungo.wikia.com/wiki/Bungo_to_Alchemist_Wiki

 

Have a try!!  

[Murieleirum]

29 minutes ago, sister555 said:

One must be so careful about using slangs, because native people LOVE to teach their slang words as soon as they know you are learning their language.

 

Oh, Japanese people too? I thought only us Italians did that xD And we also ASK for natives to tell us their slang (and slur) words as soon as possible!

 

31 minutes ago, sister555 said:

It would be very strange if you say,

 

今日はとてもよい天気で気持ちがよいですね。（very polite)ところでその柄さ、ちょっとキモくない？（veeery colloquial JK (= Joshi Kosei) talk).

 

I kind of feel like... because I am a foreigner, Japanese people would prefer for me to speak as polite as possible. But you are saying that there is something as 'too polite', right? Of course, always depending on context!

[sister555]

7 分ぐらい, Murieleirum said:

Oh, Japanese people too? I thought only us Italians did that xD And we also ASK for natives to tell us their slang (and slur) words as soon as possible!

 

Of course!!  Especially men loves teaching vulgar slangs to ladies.

 

BTW, what is the difference between slang and slur??

 

7 分ぐらい, Murieleirum said:

I kind of feel like... because I am a foreigner, Japanese people would prefer for me to speak as polite as possible. But you are saying that there is something as 'too polite', right? Of course, always depending on context!

 

Ahaha, I posted a rather extreme example!!

 

今日はとてもよい天気で気持ちがよいですね。

is a very good Japanese expression, as you see in a textbook.

 

We use those kinds of expression in some situations, like:

* Talking to someone you don't know.

* Talking to your boss, supervisor, master, "sensei", or anyone who ranks higher than you.

All those situations when we feel we must use a rather "polite" expression.

 

And 

ところでその柄さ、ちょっとキモくない？（veeery colloquial JK (= Joshi Kosei) talk).

Just as it is.  This is a style used by SOME highschool girls.

 

So if you say

今日はとてもよい天気で気持ちがよいですね。ところでその柄さ、ちょっとキモくない？

consecutively, you would sound "rather strange"

(Different level of politeness mixed in one).

 

Hope I could make everything clear!!