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[Kansoku]

Right now, I'm going through Genki and I keep thinking how glad I was to finish RTK since it really helps me remember vocabulary easier.

I had the same experience.

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

Even after studying for a couple of years and reading multiple books and articles on the subject, は and が still confuse the heck out of me sometimes.

If an intransitive verb takes が, how can this sentence in my text be correct?

テレビは消えています。

 

[Jintor]

I'm doing genki and RTK simultaneously. I find it's very helpful in retaining Genki vocab.

Also reading a book about reading common signs in Japan since that's where almost all of my reading is atm and you don't need too much grammar to read signs

 

[clem84]

I have a question. I'm currently going through Tae Kim's guide. He mentions the word:

おいしい

There is a way to write this word with 2 kanjis at the beginning. The thing is, when I searched this word in a dictionary it said that even though you can write it using kanjis, it is usually written just in hiragana, probably because it's faster. So should I bother learning the kanjis for this word or can I just skip over them? I mean, if I'm going to need them later on might as well learn them right?

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Even after studying for a couple of years and reading multiple books and articles on the subject, は and が still confuse the heck out of me sometimes.

If an intransitive verb takes が, how can this sentence in my text be correct?

テレビは消えています。

I'm still not sure は and が can be given a general explanation that makes sense in every situation.

So much of it is just feeling, it seems.

Anyway, in this case, it's a perfectly fine way to say the TV is off. One way to look at it is that when you use は, the verb that comes after is what's being emphasized, whereas when you use が, it's whatever comes before that's being emphasized.

If you were asked 「何が消えているの？」 then it would be correct to answer 「テレビが消えている。」and not 「テレビは消えている。」, because it's "what" is turned off that is important. However, let's say you were asked 「何か消えている？」 it would then probably be more appropriate to say 「テレビは消えている。」 because the act of being off is more important.

Hope that makes some kind of sense.

I have a question. I'm currently going through Tae Kim's guide. He mentions the word:

おいしい

There is a way to write this word with 2 kanjis at the beginning. The thing is, when I searched this word in a dictionary it said that even though you can write it using kanjis, it is usually written just in hiragana, probably because it's faster. So should I bother learning the kanjis for this word or can I just skip over them? I mean, if I'm going to need them later on might as well learn them right?

Might as well learn them, as there are both very common.

美味しい

However, this is a case of semantic "Ateji," since those two characters are never pronounced お and い outside of this case. If you took them alone, they could be a compound that is pronounced as びみ, for example.

 

[Jintor]

I just realised the kanji (might) mean 'beautiful flavour' lol'

I'm still not sure は and が can be given a general explanation that makes sense in every situation.

So much of it is just feeling, it seems.

Anyway, in this case, it's a perfectly fine way to say the TV is off. One way to look at it is that when you use は, the verb that comes after is what's being emphasized, whereas when you use が, it's whatever comes before that's being emphasized.

If you were asked 「何が消えているの？」 then it would be correct to answer 「テレビが消えている。」and not 「テレビは消えている。」, because it's "what" is turned off that is important. However, let's say you were asked 「何か消えている？」 it would then probably be more appropriate to say 「テレビは消えている。」 because the act of being off is more important.

Hope that makes some kind of sense.

I spent a while being confused about ga and wa too This helps!

 

[SolVanderlyn]

I'm trying to continue my studies on my own through Rosetta Stone and the like, and my listening comprehension is getting loads better than it used to be, but when it comes to reading I still read at like... a 3rd grade level. And then, of course, I really hit a wall when it comes to kanji.

I wish there was a way that I could take full blown classes as an adult. I missed the boat in college and really regret it. Studying on your own is possible and doable, but it's so much harder to motivate yourself without deadlines and class structure.

 

[urfe]

I forgot about this thread. Good stuff.

I know what it means, but something I could never wrap my head around is 〜ればと思います, like いただければと思います. Always feels like it's missing an いい or 幸い or something.

I feel if I got the logic, I could use it more often in work emails etc.

Anyone have a good explanation?

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

I have a question. I'm currently going through Tae Kim's guide. He mentions the word:

おいしい

There is a way to write this word with 2 kanjis at the beginning. The thing is, when I searched this word in a dictionary it said that even though you can write it using kanjis, it is usually written just in hiragana, probably because it's faster. So should I bother learning the kanjis for this word or can I just skip over them? I mean, if I'm going to need them later on might as well learn them right?

Learn it. People write it in kana, but advertising materials and restaurant windows frequently use the kanji, for the optical reason you've already figured out. So you'll run into it fairly often. Plus, those kanji are as common as it gets, so you should learn them regardless even though that reading is not their most frequent.

I'm still not sure は and が can be given a general explanation that makes sense in every situation.

So much of it is just feeling, it seems.

Anyway, in this case, it's a perfectly fine way to say the TV is off. One way to look at it is that when you use は, the verb that comes after is what's being emphasized, whereas when you use が, it's whatever comes before that's being emphasized.

If you were asked 「何が消えているの？」 then it would be correct to answer 「テレビが消えている。」and not 「テレビは消えている。」, because it's "what" is turned off that is important. However, let's say you were asked 「何か消えている？」 it would then probably be more appropriate to say 「テレビは消えている。」 because the act of being off is more important.

Hope that makes some kind of sense.

It makes perfect sense and fits with my understanding of their function. My girlfriend also says it gives her the feeling of the contrastive は even though there's no other sentence, as though it's offering an unspoken comparison to other electronics in the room. But I ask because in school using は with an intransitive verb was always an instant batsu.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

It makes perfect sense and fits with my understanding of their function. My girlfriend also says it gives her the feeling of the contrastive は even though there's no other sentence, as though it's offering an unspoken comparison to other electronics in the room. But I ask because in school using は with an intransitive verb was always an instant batsu.

Interesting...

I've never studied the minutia of grammar that heavily (I really should someday...), but I can think of countless examples of は being used with intransitive verbs.

Wouldn't even super basic stuff like, 「今日は何するの？」, or「お前はどうする？」 be examples of that?

 

[Deleted member 17706]

I forgot about this thread. Good stuff.

I know what it means, but something I could never wrap my head around is 〜ればと思います, like いただければと思います. Always feels like it's missing an いい or 幸い or something.

I feel if I got the logic, I could use it more often in work emails etc.

Anyone have a good explanation?

I find myself using it quite often... I think it's just part of a trend to soften things more and more in polite Japanese (see other examples like: ○○の方になりま&#12377. You'll find that some people dislike it as not being direct enough and would prefer it be replaced with a simple 「ください」 or at least a 「頂ければ幸いです」.

 

[bigmit3737]

『ONE PIECE』ゲーム初の PS4 TM 対応でさらなる迫力と臨場感のある戦い

式会社バンダイナムコゲームス（本社：東京都品川区、代表取締役社長：大下聡）は、国民的人気作品『ONE PIECE（ワンピース）』と爽快感あふれるアクションが楽しめる『無双』シリーズとのコラボレーション最新作、｢ワンピース 海賊無双３｣を制作します。『ONE PIECE』ゲーム初の最新ハード機 PlayStation 4 への対応に加え、PlayStation 3/PlayStation Vita向けにマルチプラットフォームで展開します。開発は株式会社コーエーテクモゲームス（本社：神奈川県横浜市、代表取締役社長：襟川陽一）の開発チーム・ω-Force（オメガフォース）が手掛けます。


初 is used several times analogous with PS4.

What is the meaning of 初　here?

 

[Deleted member 17706]

『ONE PIECE』ゲーム初の PS4 TM 対応でさらなる迫力と臨場感のある戦い

式会社バンダイナムコゲームス（本社：東京都品川区、代表取締役社長：大下聡）は、国民的人気作品『ONE PIECE（ワンピース）』と爽快感あふれるアクションが楽しめる『無双』シリーズとのコラボレーション最新作、｢ワンピース 海賊無双３｣を制作します。『ONE PIECE』ゲーム初の最新ハード機 PlayStation 4 への対応に加え、PlayStation 3/PlayStation Vita向けにマルチプラットフォームで展開します。開発は株式会社コーエーテクモゲームス（本社：神奈川県横浜市、代表取締役社長：襟川陽一）の開発チーム・ω-Force（オメガフォース）が手掛けます。


初 is used several times analogous with PS4.

What is the meaning of 初　here?

はつ

"for the first time"

 

[I'm an expert]

The real question is what is the meaning of the word analogous there..

 

[CornBurrito]

Japanese started back up this semester. I managed to slip pretty far back over the short summer break, though I'm very quickly regaining the things I lost. I'm mostly struggling with remembering traditional word order for some of the longer sentences. I don't think I've forgotten any of the cool grammatical forms.

 

[bigmit3737]

はつ

"for the first time"

So this is the first time a game from the "One Piece" series is going to be on the PS4?

Thanks!

he real question is what is the meaning of the word analogous there..

Sorry, I thought I used it correctly.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

So this is the first time a game from the "One Piece" series is going to be on the PS4?

Yup!

 

[EmiPrime]

Anyone got an opinion on what's the best e-reader solution? Is it still safe to just change my Kindle store to Japan on my UK Amazon account or is it safer to get a second Kindle for use with my Japanese Amazon account?

 

[clem84]

I'm currently going through Tae Kim's book. There is this sentence.

　値段が高いレストランはあまり好きじゃない。

Which is "don't like high price restaurants very much". Correct?

Now maybe he will get to that later on in the book but I'm really curious... How would you insert the I (&#31169 in a sentence like this? How would you say "I don't like high price restaurants." Would it be something like this?

値段が高いレストランは私あまり好きじゃない。

Is this correct? I suspect it isn't.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Anyone got an opinion on what's the best e-reader solution? Is it still safe to just change my Kindle store to Japan on my UK Amazon account or is it safer to get a second Kindle for use with my Japanese Amazon account?

Perfectly fine! I switch between accounts on my Paperwhite all the time. Anything you download to the device will still be accessible even if you change accounts, but obviously stuff like Whispersync won't work.

 

[KidA Seven]

I'm currently going through Tae Kim's book. There is this sentence.

　値段が高いレストランはあまり好きじゃない。

Which is "don't like high price restaurants very much". Correct?

Now maybe he will get to that later on in the book but I'm really curious... How would you insert the I (&#31169 in a sentence like this? How would you say "I don't like high price restaurants." Would it be something like this?

値段が高いレストランは私あまり好きじゃない。

Is this correct? I suspect it isn't.

You don't need 私 as people would know you're talking about your dislike of high priced restaurants.

 

[Zoe]

^ But to answer the question, it would go at the beginning of the sentence.

 

[clem84]

I just want to say a big ありがとう to everyone who replied to my posts, including Zefah, Livefromkyoto, Kida seven and Zoe. People like you are the reason this thread is kept alive and is such a great place to learn.

 

[EmiPrime]

Perfectly fine! I switch between accounts on my Paperwhite all the time. Anything you download to the device will still be accessible even if you change accounts, but obviously stuff like Whispersync won't work.

Great! I thought so, I just wanted confirmation from someone trustworthy like yourself.

Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

You don't need 私 as people would know you're talking about your dislike of high priced restaurants.

^ But to answer the question, it would go at the beginning of the sentence.

While KidA Seven's answer is correct, one of the coolest things about Japanese is how freely you can arrange the words in a sentence and still have it work.

私は値段が高いレストランはあまり好きじゃない。
値段が高いレストランは私はあまり好きじゃない。
値段が高いレストランはあまり好きじゃない、私は。

etc.

You could say any of these and none would really be wrong. Of course, the most natural way in most cases would be to simply omit 私.

 

[I'm an expert]

I just want to say a big ありがとう to everyone who replied to my posts, including Zefah, Livefromkyoto, Kida seven and Zoe. People like you are the reason this thread is kept alive and is such a great place to learn.

Pretty sure you forgot someone.

 

[Kansoku]

While KidA Seven's answer is correct, one of the coolest things about Japanese is how freely you can arrange the words in a sentence and still have it work.

私は値段が高いレストランはあまり好きじゃない。
値段が高いレストランは私はあまり好きじゃない。
値段が高いレストランはあまり好きじゃない、私は。

etc.

You could say any of these and none would really be wrong. Of course, the most natural way in most cases would be to simply omit 私.

2 は? Shouldn't one of them be a も?

 

[Zoe]

2 は? Shouldn't one of them be a も?

No, that would be implying there's someone else.

 

[clem84]

Pretty sure you forgot someone.

Thanks to everyone I forgot.

Did you reply to one of my posts in the past? If so thank you.

 

[clem84]

While KidA Seven's answer is correct, one of the coolest things about Japanese is how freely you can arrange the words in a sentence and still have it work.

私は値段が高いレストランはあまり好きじゃない。
値段が高いレストランは私はあまり好きじゃない。
値段が高いレストランはあまり好きじゃない、私は。

etc.

You could say any of these and none would really be wrong. Of course, the most natural way in most cases would be to simply omit 私.

That's really interesting thank you. I was almost right with my first guess, I was only missing the は. I understand about not needing the 私 when I'm speaking about myself because it is implied, but I was curious about how the sentence would be structured if I'm speaking about you, or him, or us, or them. Today I learned 彼. So if I wanted to say he doesn't like high priced restaurants very much, it would be:

彼は値段が高いレストランはあまり好きじゃない。

Correct?

I'm also confused about the two は. I'm just a beginner and this is the first time I see this. So you can use the topic indicator twice to indicate 2 topics? Like, whatever happens in the rest of the sentence applies to both of these things? That's my understanding.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

That's really interesting thank you. I was almost right with my first guess, I was only missing the は. I understand about not needing the 私 when I'm speaking about myself because it is implied, but I was curious about how the sentence would be structured if I'm speaking about you, or him, or us, or them. Today I learned 彼. So if I wanted to say he doesn't like high priced restaurants very much, it would be:

彼は値段が高いレストランはあまり好きじゃない。

Correct?

I'm also confused about the two は. I'm just a beginner and this is the first time I see this. So you can use the topic indicator twice to indicate 2 topics? Like, whatever happens in the rest of the sentence applies to both of these things? That's my understanding.

Sure, that would work. One thing to note is that when you use は there, it seems to leave the implication that while the person may not like expensive restaurants, they do like other things (probably in a related category). Replacing it with が will make not leave that same impression. It's kind of hard for me to explain. Take these two sentences for example:

俺（おれ）は金（かね）がない。
俺（おれ）は金（かね）はない。

The first is just saying that "I don't have any money," while the second is implying that "while I may not have money, I have other things" and is often followed up by listing an example of those things.

Again, I don't have confidence that I can explain it well in grammatical terms, but having two はs in the same sentence doesn't seem like a huge problem. Obviously, it's often better to do avoid doing so if possible for clarity's sake, but that can't really be applied across the board. I like to put a comma after the first は to make it a bit easier to read in these cases, but it's not necessary. Something like this:

彼は、値段が高いレストランはあまり好きじゃない。

 

[Gacha-pin]

I'm still not sure は and が can be given a general explanation that makes sense in every situation.

So much of it is just feeling, it seems.

Anyway, in this case, it's a perfectly fine way to say the TV is off. One way to look at it is that when you use は, the verb that comes after is what's being emphasized, whereas when you use が, it's whatever comes before that's being emphasized.

If you were asked 「何が消えているの？」 then it would be correct to answer 「テレビが消えている。」and not 「テレビは消えている。」, because it's "what" is turned off that is important. However, let's say you were asked 「何か消えている？」 it would then probably be more appropriate to say 「テレビは消えている。」 because the act of being off is more important.

Hope that makes some kind of sense.



Might as well learn them, as there are both very common.

美味しい

However, this is a case of semantic "Ateji," since those two characters are never pronounced お and い outside of this case. If you took them alone, they could be a compound that is pronounced as びみ, for example.

Sure, that would work. One thing to note is that when you use は there, it seems to leave the implication that while the person may not like expensive restaurants, they do like other things (probably in a related category). Replacing it with が will make not leave that same impression. It's kind of hard for me to explain. Take these two sentences for example:

俺（おれ）は金（かね）がない。
俺（おれ）は金（かね）はない。

The first is just saying that "I don't have any money," while the second is implying that "while I may not have money, I have other things" and is often followed up by listing an example of those things.

Again, I don't have confidence that I can explain it well in grammatical terms, but having two はs in the same sentence doesn't seem like a huge problem. Obviously, it's often better to do avoid doing so if possible for clarity's sake, but that can't really be applied across the board. I like to put a comma after the first は to make it a bit easier to read in these cases, but it's not necessary. Something like this:

彼は、値段が高いレストランはあまり好きじゃない。

Zefahスゲー、言語学者か何かなの？今まで「が」と「は」の違いを深く考えたことなんてなかった。今日は少し賢くなった気がする。

I'm also confused about the two は. I'm just a beginner and this is the first time I see this. So you can use the topic indicator twice to indicate 2 topics? Like, whatever happens in the rest of the sentence applies to both of these things? That's my understanding.

It's not a big problem but multiple は segments in a sentence might sound awkward. You can avoid it by rearranging segments in a different order or replace は with が.

値段が高いレストランは私はあまり好きじゃない。 は after は is hectic here

Using above method so that it will be more organized(?).
ex) 私は値段の高いレストランがあまり好きじゃない。

 

[urfe]

I find myself using it quite often... I think it's just part of a trend to soften things more and more in polite Japanese (see other examples like: ○○の方になりま&#12377. You'll find that some people dislike it as not being direct enough and would prefer it be replaced with a simple 「ください」 or at least a 「頂ければ幸いです」.

Yeah, the phrase actually annoys me when people use it to me. The indirectness seems rude to me.

But oh well, perhaps I'll try using it in a mail tomorrow, as the general public disagree.

 

[Jintor]

Just going through genki one. Is there an accepted place to put a frequency adverb (like yoku or amari, etc)? I'm sticking to before the subject of the o partical, but not sure.

Sorry for no characters, posting from phone.

 

[alekth]

Multiple はin a sentence isn't a problem, unless they are topical in a subordinate clause.
e.g. 値段は高いレストランが好きじゃない。 isn't done

Generally the first は is assumed to be topical, and the rest are contrastive. The topic is still only one, and it stays at one per sentence.
は is fairly common in negative sentences since it can emphasize specific words, often something that doesn't apply on this occasion although there was some expectation for it.

彼は今日は散歩はしない。 doesn't have a problem with the はs, but aside from the first one, they serve as contrast markers. So this person is not going to go on a walk today, but he usually goes for a walk on that day, or on most days. And he's not going on that walk because something else probably came up.
彼は今日散歩をしない。 is, compared to the above, just a statement of the facts.

Just going through genki one. Is there an accepted place to put a frequency adverb (like yoku or amari, etc)? I'm sticking to before the subject of the o partical, but not sure.

Sorry for no characters, posting from phone.

General principle is modifier before modified, but you can push it further back in some cases, e.g. where it's implied, but not written due to repetition or something else.

あまりお酒を飲まない seems better to me than お酒をあまり飲まない, but お酒に弱くてあまり[omitted お酒を]飲まない。

 

[hitsugi]

Is there a place you guys would recommend to pick up the Genki books+workbooks for cheap? Seems they'd come out to be around $180~ish for 1 & 2 through Amazon, which I feel is steep.. although it may be worth it, I just want to see if anyone's had experience picking them up for less than that or if that's typical.

 

[CornBurrito]

Is there a place you guys would recommend to pick up the Genki books+workbooks for cheap? Seems they'd come out to be around $180~ish for 1 & 2 through Amazon, which I feel is steep.. although it may be worth it, I just want to see if anyone's had experience picking them up for less than that or if that's typical.

I kinda feel they are worth it. At the very least structured lessons are extremely helpful for me.

 

[Cranzor]

I posted about something similar a while back I think, but did anyone in here major in Japanese? If you have a job that involves Japanese, what did you do in college (if you went)?

I've got to start applying to schools soon and I'm freaking out a bit. From what I've read, Japanese degrees are mostly useless. But if that's not what I'm majoring in, I don't really know what to do.

I want to go into translation, if that helps.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Zefahスゲー、言語学者か何かなの？今まで「が」と「は」の違いを深く考えたことなんてなかった。今日は少し賢くなった気がする。

いえいえ、言語学者だなんてとんでもない。日本語と英語が好きで文法もたまに勉強するのですが、まだまだ分からないことが多いですよ。ここでの説明も結構思いつきというか、自分の感覚で言っているだけというのが多いので、外れていることもあると思います。

I posted about something similar a while back I think, but did anyone in here major in Japanese? If you have a job that involves Japanese, what did you do in college (if you went)?

I've got to start applying to schools soon and I'm freaking out a bit. From what I've read, Japanese degrees are mostly useless. But if that's not what I'm majoring in, I don't really know what to do.

I want to go into translation, if that helps.

I use Japanese a lot at work. Many days, it's entirely Japanese. My major was International Studies, but I don't think it really matters that much. A Japanese degree won't necessarily help you find a translation gig, either. What really matters is whether or not you can actually use the language. Getting the JLPT certification is a good idea, too, and probably much more important than a Japanese degree when it comes to being considered for a bilingual position. I imagine a Japanese degree would be best if you were thinking about pursuing a career in teaching Japanese.

 

[urfe]

I posted about something similar a while back I think, but did anyone in here major in Japanese? If you have a job that involves Japanese, what did you do in college (if you went)?

I've got to start applying to schools soon and I'm freaking out a bit. From what I've read, Japanese degrees are mostly useless. But if that's not what I'm majoring in, I don't really know what to do.

I want to go into translation, if that helps.

I have many friends who majored in Japanese who they don't have an edge compared to people with N2/N1 and a different major. It becomes "just Japanese".

That being said, I know a guy who majored in Japanese, is incredibly proficient, and now works as a medical translator in Japan. So it's not cut and dry.

 

[Tenck]

Is there a place you guys would recommend to pick up the Genki books+workbooks for cheap? Seems they'd come out to be around $180~ish for 1 & 2 through Amazon, which I feel is steep.. although it may be worth it, I just want to see if anyone's had experience picking them up for less than that or if that's typical.

Do you really need them all right now?

Pick up the first one and the workbook. It's my number one recommendation for anyone serious about Japanese.

If you want something that's good and cheaper than Genki, I'd recommend Human Japanese. You can use it on either iOS, or android, and it's like $10 I believe. The desktop version (which I prefer cause it's much larger) is $20.

 

[CornBurrito]

How would I say the following in Japanese?

"At Cat Cafes, they have a lot of cats you can play with."

猫カフェでたくさん猫があって、あそんでもいいです。?

How do I express that I "can do X" in this context?

edit: I know there is a way to say you "can do X" by changing "u" sounds to "e" sounds. But that is, as far as I know, only used to generate the fact that you are physically able to do such actions. I am more looking for how to conjugate something to demonstrate that somebody else is giving you permission to do an action.

 

[Cranzor]

I use Japanese a lot at work. Many days, it's entirely Japanese. My major was International Studies, but I don't think it really matters that much. A Japanese degree won't necessarily help you find a translation gig, either. What really matters is whether or not you can actually use the language. Getting the JLPT certification is a good idea, too, and probably much more important than a Japanese degree when it comes to being considered for a bilingual position. I imagine a Japanese degree would be best if you were thinking about pursuing a career in teaching Japanese.

I have many friends who majored in Japanese who they don't have an edge compared to people with N2/N1 and a different major. It becomes "just Japanese".

That being said, I know a guy who majored in Japanese, is incredibly proficient, and now works as a medical translator in Japan. So it's not cut and dry.

Thanks, guys. It seems like most of the Japanese I learn would continue to be from learning on my own rather than classes, even if I major in it, so it's kind of hard to justify. I know majoring in something else may be a better idea, but I can't think of what I'd possibly major in.

It's kind of crazy to me that you can spend four years getting a degree or a few hours taking the JLPT, and ultimately the JLPT is more important. Logically it totally makes sense, as learning a language takes a long time and a test can allow someone to demonstrate that knowledge, but at first glance, it seems really weird.

I also want to do JET after school. If my Japanese isn't up to par for a job that utilizes it by the time I graduate, I should be able to use a lot of the free time I have to study more if I get accepted. But I don't want to lean on that too much because if I didn't get accepted, I wouldn't really know what to do.

It's a lot to mull over but I'll keep thinking about it.

 

[I'm an expert]

I guarantee if you majored in Japanese you still wouldn't be able to pass level 2. Do not waste a degree on that junk.

 

[Brawly Likes to Brawl]

I've heard so many horror stories about how slow most college courses for Japanese is, its kind of depressing since I would've loved to have a course to help augment my personal studies.

 

[CornBurrito]

I've heard so many horror stories about how slow most college courses for Japanese is, its kind of depressing since I would've loved to have a course to help augment my personal studies.

Hmm how slow would you consider slow?

 

[Brawly Likes to Brawl]

Hmm how slow would you consider slow?

Well based on impressions from friends/online its not unheard of for a class not to even start teaching kanji until the near end of the first semester. That's too slow for me to even use a refresher course since I started Kanji about two weeks into teaching myself back in Fall 2012. Taking a college course just seems like a bit of a crutch since it would have to go at a pace that prevents anybody from getting overwhelmed.

 

[urfe]

Well based on impressions from friends/online its not unheard of for a class not to even start teaching kanji until the near end of the first semester. That's too slow for me to even use a refresher course since I started Kanji about two weeks into teaching myself back in Fall 2012. Taking a college course just seems like a bit of a crutch since it would have to go at a pace that prevents anybody from getting overwhelmed.

There's many different philosophies, but I think learning kanji right away stunts speaking and listening, which should be focused on first.

Not sure if this is how it's done at schools though. I'm sell taught besides a few courses when I was doing my MA.

 

[Mik2121]

How would I say the following in Japanese?

"At Cat Cafes, they have a lot of cats you can play with."

猫カフェでたくさん猫があって、あそんでもいいです。?

How do I express that I "can do X" in this context?

edit: I know there is a way to say you "can do X" by changing "u" sounds to "e" sounds. But that is, as far as I know, only used to generate the fact that you are physically able to do such actions. I am more looking for how to conjugate something to demonstrate that somebody else is giving you permission to do an action.

猫カフェでは一緒に遊べる猫がたくさんいます。

Is what I'd say.

 

[GSR]

I've heard so many horror stories about how slow most college courses for Japanese is, its kind of depressing since I would've loved to have a course to help augment my personal studies.

#NotAllJapaneseCourses, but the program I took was pretty intensive - first four semesters were three lectures and five discussion sections a week. I still wouldn't call myself fluent, but it worked well for me.