Author Topic: Teach me Japanese!  (Read 28259 times)

Offline Chadwicke

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Teach me Japanese!
« on: October 04, 2011, 06:56:23 am »
Being exposed to the Japanese language every day, we learn bit by bit of it through the frequency of use of some words in anime. I have learned quite a number of words already, so I'm interested to know if the anime lovers out there, including the translators, has noticed some frequently used Japanese words in anime (also quite possibly in visual novels), and for non-translators, learned it that way.

I don't know if any quick learners out there agree, but in my case if you teach me some words that I don't encounter often, it'll be hard for me to remember. So, this thread might also serve as compilation of the frequently used Japanese words in anime.

So, I request you guys to teach me more Japanese! Yoroshuku negai shimasu! ;D

Oh yeah, the words I learned from my years of anime. I'm gonna be going by quick memory recall here, so I'm gonna have to post again later when I remember more. Please correct anything I got wrong:

Otoko - Boy/Man/Male
Onna - Girl/Woman/Female
Otouto - Younger brother
Imouto - Younger sister
Kyodai - Brothers (not sure!)
Aniki/Onii-san - Older brother
Aneki/Onee-san - Older sister
Haha/Okaa-san - Mother
Chichi/Otou-san - Father
Oji-san - Uncle
Oba-san - Aunt
Ojii-san - Grandfather
Obaa-san - Grandmother
Itoko - Cousin
Nakama - Comrade/Peer
Tomodachi - Friend
Koibito - Lover
Tensai - Genius/Prodigy
Megami - Goddess
Kami - God
Tenshi - Angel
Akuma - Demon
Kazoku - Family
Sensei - Teacher/Doctor/Any expert on a field

Uso - Lie/Not A Fact
Joudan - Joke
Motto - More
Majutsu - Magic
Kagaku - Science
Renkinjutsu - Alchemy
Hana - Flower
Seishun - Youth/Young
Sekai - World
Sora - Sky
Umi - Sea
Kaze - Wind
Suki - Moon/Like/Love
Kirai - Dislike/Hate
Ai - Love
Koi - Love (what's the difference with Ai?)
Kokoro - Heart / Feelings (Emotions)
Kimochi - Feelings (Physical)

Mega - Eyes

...tried to think about other words I know pertaining to body parts... nope, don't know any other. ^_^
...wait, oppai? Nah, that doesn't count.

Megane - Eyeglasses

...also tried to think about other clothes and accessories... nada.
...wait, pantsu? Nah.

Shiro - White
Kuro - Black
Ao - Blue
Akai - Red
Midori - Green

Ichi, Ni, San, Shi, Go, Roku, ...forgot the other 2 here... Kyu, Ju,
Ju Ichi, Ju Ni, so on...
Ni Ju Ichi, Ni Ju Ni, so on...
and so on...
(How do I use Hyaku?)
(Err, what about the thousands?)
(Millions?)
I'm also quite confused how to use Ika, Nana and Yon, and any other alternative to the numbers.

Tadaima - said when arriving home
Okaeri - said to the one arriving home (Welcome Home)
Itekimasu - said when leaving home
Iterashai - said to the one leaving home
Ohayou gozaimasu - Good Morning
Konbanwa - Greeting for the rest of the day and evening, I think
Oyasumi - Good Night

Kudasai - guessing here, rough word for please?
Onegai - Please
Negai - Wish/Desire
Warui - Bad/Horrible
Hidoi - Cruel (not really sure)
Sukoshi - A Bit
Yasashi - Kind
Ureshi - Happy
Oishi - Delicious - I also heard something that sounds like "umai", what's the difference?

The verbs... are my greatest challenge as of now. I haven't researched or studied anything about the Japanese language, so maybe that's why. I frequently hear some of the verbs but the usage and suffixes confuse me. I'm not sure if these are the root words. I've heard:

Kaeru - to go home
Mamoru - to protect
Tatakau - to fight
Nigeru - to run away
Hanase - to let go
Butei - to shoot/to fire

I've also heard characters say "-yoni" by the end of their sentences when they wish for something in a temple or during an occasion like New Year.
« Last Edit: October 05, 2011, 06:50:20 am by Chadwicke »

Offline Krozam

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Re: Teach me Japanese!
« Reply #1 on: October 04, 2011, 12:43:50 pm »
Oookay... First of all, it's "Yoroshiku onegai shimasu". ::)

It'd help if you started by listing some of those commonly used words that you've learned.

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Offline InfinityStream

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Re: Teach me Japanese!
« Reply #2 on: October 04, 2011, 02:14:57 pm »
Pronunciation and Basics

Pronunciation

Japanese words (obviously) have a different pronunciation as compared to English. However, if you know any Spanish, the vowels are pronounced almost exactly the same.

Basics

Japanese words are not made up of letters. They are made up of syllables. Take the following example.

O Ha Yo U Go Za I Ma Su

Good Morning.

(Typing from a computer without ability to type in Hiragana. I only know Hiragana.)

I'll teach you some greetings and goodbyes. Practice pronouncing the words slowly.

O Ha Yo U Go Za I Ma Su ~~ Good Morning.

Ko N Ni Chi Wa ~~ Hello / Good Afternoon.

Ko N Ba N Wa ~~ Good Evening.

Sa Yo U Na Ra ~~ Goodbye.

Ja , Ma Ta ~~ Well then, See you later. (In-Formal)

De Wa, Ma Ta ~~ Well then, See you later. (Formal)

Ja, Ma Ta A Shi Ta ~~ Well Then, See you tomorrow.

Ja, Ma Ta Ra I Shuu ~~ Well then, See You next week.

« Last Edit: October 04, 2011, 02:49:47 pm by InfinityStream »
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Offline Krozam

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Re: Teach me Japanese!
« Reply #3 on: October 04, 2011, 02:28:35 pm »
Ko N Ba Wa ~~ Good Evening.
You forgot the other "n". "Konbanwa".

Ja , Ma Ta ~~ Well then, See you later.

De Wa, Ma Ta ~~ Well then, See you later.
The difference between "ja" and "dewa" is that the latter is more formal.

Ja, Ma Ta Ra I Shi Yuu ~~ Well then, See You next week.
Actually, next week is "raishuu". らいしゅう <See the smaller "yu", it means it merges into the "shi", forming a "shuu".

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Offline InfinityStream

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Re: Teach me Japanese!
« Reply #4 on: October 04, 2011, 02:46:16 pm »
I'm going by how it was written in my notebook. xD

I didn't like all those pics in my sig...

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Offline Chadwicke

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Re: Teach me Japanese!
« Reply #5 on: October 05, 2011, 06:07:49 am »
I only guess how to write it because I always go by how they sound, so the sometimes-silent i and u I kinda mess up most of the time. Saying that though, even if I always go by how they sound, I still miss a lot of things, like when o goes after u or vice versa.

Any tips? :D

And... I'm Asian, so I more or less know how to pronounce when I see some romaji. Thinking about it, my country, the Philippines, is probably one of the most flexible towards English -and- Japanese because we write using the Roman alphabet and our own language's pronunciation is very much like the Japanese (though we have separate R and L).

Oh yeah, the words I learned from my years of anime. I'm gonna be going by quick memory recall here, so I'm gonna have to post again later when I remember more. Please correct anything I got wrong:

Otoko - Boy/Man/Male
Onna - Girl/Woman/Female
Otouto - Younger brother
Imouto - Younger sister
Kyodai - Brothers (not sure!)
Aniki/Onii-san - Older brother
Aneki/Onee-san - Older sister
Haha/Okaa-san - Mother
Chichi/Otou-san - Father
Oji-san - Uncle
Oba-san - Aunt
Ojii-san - Grandfather
Obaa-san - Grandmother
Itoko - Cousin
Nakama - Comrade/Peer
Tomodachi - Friend
Koibito - Lover
Tensai - Genius/Prodigy
Megami - Goddess
Kami - God
Tenshi - Angel
Akuma - Demon
Kazoku - Family
Sensei - Teacher/Doctor/Any expert on a field

Uso - Lie/Not A Fact
Joudan - Joke
Motto - More
Majutsu - Magic
Kagaku - Science
Renkinjutsu - Alchemy
Hana - Flower
Seishun - Youth/Young
Sekai - World
Sora - Sky
Umi - Sea
Kaze - Wind
Suki - Moon/Like/Love
Kirai - Dislike/Hate
Ai - Love
Koi - Love (what's the difference with Ai?)
Kokoro - Heart / Feelings (Emotions)
Kimochi - Feelings (Physical)

Mega - Eyes

...tried to think about other words I know pertaining to body parts... nope, don't know any other. ^_^
...wait, oppai? Nah, that doesn't count.

Megane - Eyeglasses

...also tried to think about other clothes and accessories... nada.
...wait, pantsu? Nah.

Shiro - White
Kuro - Black
Ao - Blue
Akai - Red
Midori - Green

Ichi, Ni, San, Shi, Go, Roku, ...forgot the other 2 here... Kyu, Ju,
Ju Ichi, Ju Ni, so on...
Ni Ju Ichi, Ni Ju Ni, so on...
and so on...
(How do I use Hyaku?)
(Err, what about the thousands?)
(Millions?)
I'm also quite confused how to use Ika, Nana and Yon, and any other alternative to the numbers.

Tadaima - said when arriving home
Okaeri - said to the one arriving home (Welcome Home)
Itekimasu - said when leaving home
Iterashai - said to the one leaving home
Ohayou gozaimasu - Good Morning
Konbanwa - Greeting for the rest of the day and evening, I think
Oyasumi - Good Night

Kudasai - guessing here, rough word for please?
Onegai - Please
Negai - Wish/Desire
Warui - Bad/Horrible
Hidoi - Cruel (not really sure)
Sukoshi - A Bit
Yasashi - Kind
Ureshi - Happy
Oishi - Delicious - I also heard something that sounds like "umai", what's the difference?

The verbs... are my greatest challenge as of now. I haven't researched or studied anything about the Japanese language, so maybe that's why. I frequently hear some of the verbs but the usage and suffixes confuse me. I'm not sure if these are the root words. I've heard:

Kaeru - to go home
Mamoru - to protect
Tatakau - to fight
Nigeru - to run away
Hanase - to let go
Butei - to shoot/to fire

I've also heard characters say "-yoni" by the end of their sentences when they wish for something in a temple or during an occasion like New Year.

Argh! My head aches after that. Brain typhoon imminent. I missed a lot of what I've already encountered. I know I missed a lot. My guess is this is around 20-25% of the words I've somehow figured out - right spelling or not, I just know the pronunciation obviously because I learned it from anime.

Gonna post again later. So, care to teach me more?

Offline Krozam

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Re: Teach me Japanese!
« Reply #6 on: October 05, 2011, 02:37:19 pm »
I don't have much time, so I'll just correct whatever mistakes I notice with a quick glance...

Kyoudai - siblings

About the family words in general, when you're talking about your own family you use words like chichi, haha, ani, ane, otouto, imouto, sofu (grandfather), sobo (grandmother), shujin/otto (husband), tsuma (wife), musuko (son), musume (daughter)... When you're talking about someone else's family, you use more respectful words: otou-san, okaa-san, onii-san, onee-san, otouto-san, imouta-san, ojii-san, obaa-san, go-shujin, oku-san, musuko-san, musume-san...

Sensei is more of an honourific, like -san, than a word meaning the professions and such that it's connected with. For example, the word that actually means teacher is kyoushi.

The word for moon is tsuki, not suki. Also, a matter of technicality, suki/kirai are actually adjectives describing something you find likeable or hateable. I never knew this until last week's lesson. :P

Eye - me

All the colours are i-adjectives: shiroi, kuroi, aoi...

Numbers: ichi, ni, san, shi/yon, go, roku, shichi/nana, hachi, kyuu, juu
juu-ichi, juu-ni, juu-san... ni-juu
ni-juu-ichi, ni-juu-ni, ni-juu-san...
hyaku (100), sen/issen (1000), man (10000) (yes, 10000 is its own unit)

Gotta go now, more later...
« Last Edit: October 09, 2011, 08:22:41 pm by Krozam »

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Offline Chadwicke

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Re: Teach me Japanese!
« Reply #7 on: October 06, 2011, 03:19:04 am »
Thanks for the corrections, man. Short lesson but I learned a lot. I hope to learn more!

Oh, so that's why I found it weird when they use Kyoudai even when they mean sisters... I encountered Kyoudai mostly in FMA Brotherhood (Edo & Aru) so I thought it meant brothers.

I've also encountered Sensei as an honorific, but many times they also say the word independent of any names. How come? Is that considered impolite?

I don't mean to put you through so much work but it seems no one other than you is really interested in teaching me with the "kind of" advanced stuff. And I had to list this somewhere so I don't forget. ;)

Himitsu - Secret
Yakusoku - Promise
Tegami - Letter
Akari - Light
Hoshi - Star
Tameni - Sake (Christ no Tameni = For Christ's Sake)
Ashita - Tomorrow
Mahou - Magic/Magical
Denpa - Cell Signal
Ou - King (err... I don't know the one for Queen, they just say Queen like Freezing's "Burger Queen"...)
Hime - Princess (err... don't know the one for Prince either)
Ojou - Female Master/Lady
Goshijin - Male Master/Lord
Waka - Young Master
Musume - Daughter
Musuko - Son
Kaichou - President
Taichou - Captain
Shoi - Lieutenant
Shosa - Major
(Forgot the one for Colonel when my one of my fave characters Roy Mustang is a Colonel. Argh...)
Ningen - Human
Usotsuki - Liar
Kyouketsuki - Vampire
Shitsuji - Butler (that's hard to pronounce even for me)
Bakemono - Monster
Yokai - Monster/Demon
Ayakashi - Demon (way too many terms for Demons... what's the difference of Yokai, Ayakashi and Akuma?)
Yume - Dream
Yome - Wife
Itsumo - Always
Mizu - Water
Mizugi - Swimsuit!
Tanoshi - Fun
Yakimochi - Jealousy/Jealous
Seitokai - Student Council

Mimi - Ears (how can I forget this, it's another body part that I know aside from mega and oppai...)

Ringo - Apple
Ichigo - Strawberry
...thought hard about other fruits... and gave up.

Inu - Dog
Neko - Cat
Usagi - Rabbit
Tora - Tiger
Ryuu - Dragon
Ookami - Wolf
Kuma - Bear
...thought really hard about other animals... and gave up again.

Deka/Oki - Big
Kawaii - Cute
Kire - Beautiful/Pretty
Hajime - First
Saigo - Last/Final
Saikou - Best
Saitei - Worst
Samui - Cold
Atsui - Hot
Muda - Useless (not sure about this but it's pretty frequent in Bleach)
Baka - Idiot

Mata - to meet
Shinjiru - to believe
Taberu - to eat
Yurusu - to forgive
Wasureru - to forget
Miteru - to look/to see
Matteru - to wait
Yameru - to stop

Nani - What
Nande/Doushite - Why

Ore/Boku - I (male)
Watashi/Atashi - I (female)
Kimi/Anta - You
Anata - Dear
Tachi - suffix that pertains to a group (Kimi-tachi = You and your group/You and the people with you)

Hai! - Yes
Ie/Ia - No (Oookay, someone explain when to use which)
Ii - Okay/Fine (Gluttony's "Tabete ii?" - Is it okay to eat this?)
Itadakimasu! - No direct translation, I think. Said just before digging in to food.
Gokushousama deshita or something - said after eating
Gomenasai/Gomen - Sorry
Hajime mashite - Nice to Meet You
Yoroshiku Onegai Shimasu - No direct translation, I think. Something like "take care of me" or "I'll be in your care from now on"...
Sayonara - Good bye
Ja - So/Well Then (can be said when saying goodbye or when concluding something)
Dakara - That's Why
Wakata - I Understand
Youkai - Roger!
Chigau/Chigai - That's Wrong
Mada - There's More/That's Not All
Yamete - Stop! (one of the first expressions I learned... from hentai)
Urusai/Urusei - Urusai seems to be "shut up" (Shana) while Urusei seems to be something like "you're so noisy"

I'm now having trouble remembering other words. I think that's around 80% including the first ones I posted. The remaining 20%, most of those I probably won't remember 'til I encounter them again in anime. Once again, Yoroshiku Onegai Shimasu!

Offline Hanover Fist

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Re: Teach me Japanese!
« Reply #8 on: October 06, 2011, 04:38:58 am »
More fruits for you:

Anzu - Apricot
Kiichigo - Raspberry
Mikan - Tangerine/Mandarin Orange
Momo - Peach
Nashi - Pear (also Seiyounashi)
Orenji - Orange
Sakuranbou - Cherry (the fruit: Sakura is for the different species cherry blossom tree and for cherry blossoms)
Suika - Watermelon
Ume - Plum (also Puramu)
Umeboshi - Pickled Plum
Yuzu - Bitter Orange
Zakuro - Pomegranate

(I started listing ones I remembered from character names, then got to googling and discovered the Sakura/Sakuranbou difference. Some of this was shamelessly copied from the fruits category of jonsay.co.uk which looks very useful with some good categories.)

Offline Chadwicke

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Re: Teach me Japanese!
« Reply #9 on: October 06, 2011, 05:54:35 am »
Thanks. I wonder why I didn't notice Suika (Watermelon) in anime even though watermelon smashing events happen a lot.

Regarding fruits though, I didn't include Melon and Banana because what I hear is when characters actually say it in English. Melon becomes Meron and Banana is said as it is. Hmm... never encountered grapes anywhere...

Offline Krozam

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Re: Teach me Japanese!
« Reply #10 on: October 06, 2011, 02:41:59 pm »
I've also encountered Sensei as an honorific, but many times they also say the word independent of any names. How come? Is that considered impolite?
Nah, it's not impolite. Just like in English you can use "the general" to refer to a person who's a general and everyone knows who you're talking about, you can use "sensei" to refer to a person whose profession or position compared to you warrants the respectful title, and whom everyone knows you're talking about. The Japanese language leaves a lot to the context, they don't for example differentiate between singular and plural in their substantives.

To continue from yesterday...

Okaeri is a shortened form, Okaerinasai is the complete, and somewhat less intimate word.
Ittekimasu, itterasshai
Concerning the difference between konnichiwa and konbanwa, as a basic principle the latter is said after the sun goes down, rather than being tied to the clock.
Oyasumi is an intimate form of Oyasuminasai.

Kudasai - yes, translates roughly to "please". "Koohii to appurupai o kudasai" = "Coffee and (a slice of) apple pie, please"
Negai - wish, not so much a desire, as in a strong, selfish desire. "Motome" would be the word for "desire" (something I learned from Eien no Aselia ;D)
Yasashii - means "kind", yes, but also "easy"
Ureshii
Oishii

Kaeru, kaerimasu - to return, not just to home, but for example to your home country. The "masu" form is a more respectful form, used in normal conversation between people who're not very close. Safer to learn that instead of the basic form.
Hanase - no idea about this, really. If it's a verb, it's not in its basic form. I've heard it many times, I understand where your conception of its meaning comes from, but... Hanasu/hanashimasu means "to talk"... O.o
Butei - no idea about this either, where did you get this?

Akari - thins might be correct, but the most common word for light is "hikari"
Denpa - electromagnetic waves
Jo-ou - queen
Ouji - prince
Ojou - young lady/miss
Remember, in the three above, it's a norm to add the -sama, although in Ojou's case less respectful honourifics are used in some cases.
Goshujin - "go-" prefix, as well as the more common "o-" prefix basically means "honourable". Shujin means husband, but also lord. That's where "goshujin-sama" comes from. Goes to show how male-dominant the japanese culture was, and still is, even their language elevates the husband into the position of the lord and master. ::)
-chou - there are several possible prefixes to this, with minor tone differences. Basically they all mean "captain" or another leadership position.
Ningen - human as in a member of the human race in fantasy settings. Other words for man/person etc. are hito, jin, nin and some less common words...
Kyuuketsuki
Shitsuji - yes, butler... don't confuse this with "hitsuji", "sheep". :P
Youkai - technically, writing "yokai" isn't wrong, but it's a long vowel.
Ayakashi - quite synonymous to youkai, but in my understanding ayakashi is usually used on a spirit-like monster that normal humans can't see.
Akuma - "devil" is a translation I see more often than "demon", though of course it doesn't refer to the Devil. I connect "demon" with "youkai" or "oni" usually. "Oni" is also often translated "ogre"...
Tanoshii

Ookii
Kirei
Hajime - this is often part of words and extressions that translate to "first" something, for example "hajimete", "first time", but I think the actual translation for this word alone is "beginning" or something...

Mata - I think it means "again" or something...
Miru/mimasu - to look
Matsu/machimasu - to wait (matte is another form of this word, the -te form, used when asking or commanding)

Question words:
Nani/nan - what
Dare - who
Doko - where
Itsu - when
A question sentence always ends with a "ka"... and there's no question mark. Sometimes question marks are used in titles and such for enhanced effect, but technically they're unnecessary.

Watashi - I (gender neutral, safe in all situations)
Boku - I (male, but soft, sometimes used by females)
Ore - I (male, strong, masculine, rough, assertive)
Atashi - I (female, very "cute" and soft)
Atai - I (the female version of "ore", very rough)
Anata - you (but they try to avoid using it, as it's considered somewhat rude - they prefer to call a person with their name instead, or leave it to the context), also a word with which a wife sometimes calls her husband, usually translated to "honey" or "dear".
Kimi - you (but like "anata", rarely used)
Kare/kanojo - he/she, also often used in situations where they're best translated to man/woman/girl
Watashi-tachi - us (yes, -tachi is a suffix often used to denote a group)
Anata-gata - you (plural)
Karera/kanojora - they (male/female - but it's "karera" if there's even one male in the group you're referring to)
Minna - everyone, everybody (often used with "-san", for example when speaking to a group of not very familiar people)

That's enough for now, more later...
« Last Edit: October 06, 2011, 03:50:07 pm by Krozam »

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Offline Chadwicke

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Re: Teach me Japanese!
« Reply #11 on: October 07, 2011, 08:51:20 am »
Learned a lot. Honto arigatou!

Hmm... it also puzzles me why they say coffee as koohii even though they have "f" in pronunciation.

"Motome" from Eien no Aselia wouldn't come from sexual "desire", would it? :D

Butei - I heard this in Aria (not the name of the school though, different usage), and then I heard it again in AoEx when Rin and Yukio had a fight in... episode 2, I think. Rin was telling Yukio, his gunslinger brother, to shoot.

Hanase - I also heard this used as Hanasanaide, so maybe the root word is hanasaru? Guessing again.

Wait... so all root word for verbs end with -ru?

Akari is actually a brand of light bulbs here in my country. And I think I remember from Sekirei about Hikari and Hibiki being Lightning and Thunder so I was convinced it was that. So, when to use which? Or is it really that Akari is rarely ever used?

Encountered Kimi as rough translation for "Hey You" in KamiMemo when the nurse was telling Narumi that visiting hours is over. The nurse kept repeating Kimi until Narumi finally notices her.

So, Anata-tachi and Kimi-tachi as You (plural) is incorrect or just never used? I never noticed -gata anywhere...

I've also encountered numerous times Kanojo being used as Girlfriend. Can Kare then also mean Boyfriend?



Ugh, the other words I'd need accuracy confirmation would come out slow now. I've pretty much almost drained what I know. Also, my PC seems to refuse to work, so no anime-reviewing allowed for me.

Namae - Name
Tamashi - Soul
Doki - holy crap how can I forget? Hehehe. Don't know the translation anyway, I just encounter it when a character means "my heart stopped" or "my heart skipped a beat", saying Doki-doki something.

Tasukeru - to save

Asoko - used to point to somewhere

Offline Krozam

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Re: Teach me Japanese!
« Reply #12 on: October 07, 2011, 10:13:52 am »
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Hmm... it also puzzles me why they say coffee as koohii even though they have "f" in pronunciation.
Yeah, their loan words are often quite strangely twisted... -.-' They're very carefree about that.

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"Motome" from Eien no Aselia wouldn't come from sexual "desire", would it?
Um, no. More like a desire to acquire something, like power.

According to an internet dictionary hanaseru means "to be understanding, to be sensible", so I suppose it could come from that, though it's a big leap... :-\

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Wait... so all root word for verbs end with -ru?
No, but many do. There are two (well, technically three, but the third only contains two words) different groups of verbs, and in one of them all end with -ru. In the other one there are various endings, but they as well seem to end with -u.

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Akari is actually a brand of light bulbs here in my country. And I think I remember from Sekirei about Hikari and Hibiki being Lightning and Thunder so I was convinced it was that. So, when to use which? Or is it really that Akari is rarely ever used?
Can't really help with that, akari is a new word to me so I don't know how it's used. According to an online dictionary, "akari" means "a light", while "hikari" is simply "light"...

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So, Anata-tachi and Kimi-tachi as You (plural) is incorrect or just never used? I never noticed -gata anywhere...
Likely not incorrect... -gata is how it's in my book, but I think I've heard -tachi being used with at least anata.

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I've also encountered numerous times Kanojo being used as Girlfriend. Can Kare then also mean Boyfriend?
Oh, yeah, "kanojo" is used that way a lot, too. Boyfriend is usually "kareshi".

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Doki - holy crap how can I forget? Hehehe. Don't know the translation anyway, I just encounter it when a character means "my heart stopped" or "my heart skipped a beat", saying Doki-doki something.
They have a lot of onomatopoetic words, "doki" is the sound heart supposedly makes when it beats, and thus it has come to mean heartbeat. "Dokidoki" means basically fast heartbeat, being excited, such things.
Tamashii
Asoko - there (not near you or the one you're talking to)

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Ie/Ia - No (Oookay, someone explain when to use which)
This caused me some headache as well, until I finally figured it out. "Iie" is the usual word for "no". In spoken language, however, it's common to say "Iya". Don't confuse with "ie", which means "a house", sometimes "home".
Ii/yoi - good (the latter is more formal, and also used in inflections, for example "yokatta", the past tense, which you also often hear in anime)
Gochisousama deshita - basically "thanks for the food"
Hajimemashite (written without a space)
Wakatte - the -te form of "wakaru/wakarimasu", "to understand". The -te form is still something I've only seen in my book, we haven't actually covered it yet in class, so I'm not sure about all the ways how it can be used. At its most basic, it seems to be the equivalent of -ing in English, but it's also used when asking or even commanding someone to do something.
Chigau/chigaimasu - it means roughly that something is "different", used to reply negatively, to indicate that "it's not as you say".
Yamete - probably the -te form of "yameru/yamemasu", "to stop"
Urusai - yep, that's the rude word usually translated "shut up", means technically "noisy, loud". I believe it can be said in a softer way that sounds like they're saying "urusei", but it's probably the same word. No idea what it means in the manga title "Urusei Yatsura", though...

That's it for today...

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Offline Krozam

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Re: Teach me Japanese!
« Reply #13 on: October 09, 2011, 08:10:05 pm »
A little bit of basic grammar today.

Example sentence: わたしのなまえはジョン・スミスです。
= Watashi no namae wa Jon Sumisu desu.
= My name is John Smith.

Every character until the name (the first 8) are in hiragana, as well as the last two. Hiragana is the first writing system you usually learn for Japanese, you can express every sound in the language with these 46 characters and their variations. In normal use, particles, verb inflection suffixes and such are always written in hiragana. Notice the は, it's usually romanised "ha", but as an exception, the particle "wa" is written with that character. In the words "konnichiwa" and "konbanwa", as well as "dewa", it's also written with は.

The name is written in katakana. Katakana system has its own character for every sound in the hiragana system. Katakana is used mainly for loan words and foreign names. Western names are written in the western order, first name first, and ・ is used to separate the names.

The sentence ends with 。 - the equivalent of a full stop. There are no kanji characters in this sentence, that'd be advanced, and I dont know many kanji anyway.

There are a lot of particles in Japanese, and they all have multiple uses, so they're an extremely important part of the language. This sentence contains two of the three most common particles, "wa" and "no". "No", in this case, is a genitive, effectively changing "I" into "my". "Wa" indicates the "theme" of the sentence, in this case "watashi no namae", "my name".

In Japanese, it's not technically necessary to have a verb in a sentence. This one doesn't have one. Instead, there's "desu", which works together with "wa" and substitutes the verb (which is always the last word in the sentence). In practise, it usually acts like the verb "to be". In anime, you sometimes hear "de gozaru", the old formal form of desu, or something really weird, instead of desu. I haven't seen Ika Musume, but her famous "de geso" is probably an example of this. The negative form of "desu" is "ja arimasen", the less formal "ja nai" or the more formal "dewa arimasen".

In practise, when introducing yourself, it's usually enough to just say your name and "desu", you can leave the first part out completely. Or you can say "Watashi wa .... desu", "I am ...." Also, the family name is much more important than the first name, so it's prefectly fine to introduce yourself with just the surname.

Also, fixed a silly little mistake in an earlier post: the other word for "seven" besides "shichi" is of course "nana", not "yon", which I already listed as the other word for "four"...
« Last Edit: October 09, 2011, 08:33:23 pm by Krozam »

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Offline BilliumMoto

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Re: Teach me Japanese!
« Reply #14 on: October 09, 2011, 08:29:37 pm »
~~~~~~
<0014> I told them to escort the injured people.
<0015> The other deserted house became prettier, so people \nnow occasionally take a peek at it.
^ Worst lines ever edited.

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