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[marimorimo]

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.

I would still recommend you take a course, or lessons with a TEACHER. Feedback is valuable, and is something you won't get from self-study alone. And I don't see what's "slow" about a regular Japanese language course? Do people expect to learn how to speak the language in one or two semesters? (Unless you live in Japan, dream on...)

Anyway, you don't need to be bothered about the late introduction of kanji. You don't need a teacher for that. The writing system can be entirely self-taught. All you need is a good book. Now to actually learn to speak decent Japanese, I would recommend a teacher (or at the very least, a language partner).

 

[alekth]

We did first two Minna no nihongo books in my first college year, for grammar and vocabulary, and 500 kanji from another two books, since supposedly MNN kanji books were too easy. Hiragana and katakana were handled the first week. Overall it was pretty intensive.

Regarding kanji though, although we had tests on them, and obviously were expected to be able to understand the ones we'd learned in texts, quite a few times teachers made the point that while knowing kanji was a necessity for reading comprehension (and writing them has become less of a necessity), they were a really small part of what made you good at Japanese.

 

[CornBurrito]

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.

Thanks. An additional question. How would I say "X's return."

ie. We waited for X's return.

Xさんの帰りをまちました。?

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

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?

する in that case should still be transitive as action is implied on the part of the person being questioned. The difference drilled into my head was always お湯を沸かす vs お湯が沸く, or 電気をつける vs 電気がつく。

 

[alekth]

する in that case should still be transitive as action is implied on the part of the person being questioned. The difference drilled into my head was always お湯を沸かす vs お湯が沸く, or 電気をつける vs 電気がつく。

This is a separate matter of transitive verbs taking an object and intransitive not. Or rather, what is being hammered in are the transitive-intransitive verb pairs that can often be confused.

You can replace the が in the intransitive examples with は, if that's the topic, and replace the を in the transitive ones with は if it's a contrastive は, but yeah, that would be an entirely different thing. Any sentence can have a topic or be contrastive, regardless of whether the verbs in it are transitive or intransitive.

 

[Necromanti]

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.

Find a summer intensive course for a "fun" time. Learning all of "3rd year Japanese" within a period of 3 months (in which classes lasted 5 hours a day, 5 days a week) was one of the most exhausting things I have ever had to deal with terms of workload, but it was also equally rewarding. I hadn't taken any Japanese classes for about a year since I started that course last summer and was worried I would lag behind, but I felt that it almost instantly came back to me (and then some). The regular college classes are definitely too simplistic and slow-paced in general, but I've heard a lot of horror stories about 4th year Japanese from my fellow intensive course survivors in terms of it being anything but.

 

[Cranzor]

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.

I'm leaning toward not going for it. I appreciate the input.

I'm really interested in classes relating to Japan and studying in Japan, so I could still always minor in Japanese instead of majoring in it.

 

[I'm an expert]

I'm leaning toward not going for it. I appreciate the input.

I'm really interested in classes relating to Japan and studying in Japan, so I could still always minor in Japanese instead of majoring in it.

Sure, a minor is fine as I believe it will increase the amount of classes you have to take in it above your elective count. The point is, use a college class as:

1. Access to Japanese teachers/people to befriend and learn from
2. A basic foundation to try and ask dumb shit with no consequences
3. Network at local groups/clubs/consulate meetups

I'm still personal friends with professors from my school more than a decade later. I know their families, they know mine, and we offer services and opportunities to each other.

Absolutely none of that had anything to do with my Japanese language skill back then. That was all outside the classroom work. By my last few classes I basically went just to hang out with the cute transfer girls and listen to what anime question the nerd kid was gonna ask next. This was right around when the Naruto anime began.. oh god.. I still remember those questions..

 

[Tenck]

was right around when the Naruto anime began.. oh god.. I still remember those questions..

Why was Sakura useless throughout the story?

 

[I'm an expert]

No, shit like how to use dattebayo and whether attack names were real words. I hope life treated that kid well.

 

[Cranzor]

Sure, a minor is fine as I believe it will increase the amount of classes you have to take in it above your elective count. The point is, use a college class as:

1. Access to Japanese teachers/people to befriend and learn from
2. A basic foundation to try and ask dumb shit with no consequences
3. Network at local groups/clubs/consulate meetups

I'm still personal friends with professors from my school more than a decade later. I know their families, they know mine, and we offer services and opportunities to each other.

Absolutely none of that had anything to do with my Japanese language skill back then. That was all outside the classroom work. By my last few classes I basically went just to hang out with the cute transfer girls and listen to what anime question the nerd kid was gonna ask next. This was right around when the Naruto anime began.. oh god.. I still remember those questions..

I really appreciate all of the advice. All of this stuff is kind of overwhelming so it's nice to figure some of it out, as slow as that can take. But I guess progress is important.

Wait, you're saying I shouldn't ask Naruto questions in my classes?! All right, I guess I'll just join the work force after I graduate instead.

 

[I'm an expert]

No consequences..except for everyone being like dafuq is this kid talking about.

I don't think it's that much to digest. If you want to be a translator, you will need to do 100x more work outside the required ~5-10 hours a week a college class might require. Isn't that basically true for anything..? Even if your J-classes are top of the line (mine were ivy league so even that didn't matter), they'll always be at a deliberate pace with a set start and stop.

I guess the point is, while someone might expect someone who is a translator to have a degree in said language, it's really not necessary. It's kind of like the programming industry - having a degree or not, if you can code, you'll get the job. So in that case, get a degree that doesn't sort of trap you in a box you can't get out of.

 

[Cranzor]

No consequences..except for everyone being like dafuq is this kid talking about.

I don't think it's that much to digest. If you want to be a translator, you will need to do 100x more work outside the required ~5-10 hours a week a college class might require. Isn't that basically true for anything..? Even if your J-classes are top of the line (mine were ivy league so even that didn't matter), they'll always be at a deliberate pace with a set start and stop.

I guess the point is, while someone might expect someone who is a translator to have a degree in said language, it's really not necessary. It's kind of like the programming industry - having a degree or not, if you can code, you'll get the job. So in that case, get a degree that doesn't sort of trap you in a box you can't get out of.

Well, I just mean college stuff in general is overwhelming. Looking into schools and all of that. Now I have to figure out what I want to major in after really heavily considering Japanese. I'm sure I'll figure it all out but right now, it's a bit stressful.

You're right about having to do stuff outside of class -- I think that's true of everything. I fully expect that. I'm definitely glad that I started studying Japanese in high school because even though I'm not great by any means, I still feel like I have a head start.

Definitely, it seems like if you can do it, the degree doesn't matter too much. That's why I don't really want to major in Japanese at this point. Hopefully it all works out.

 

[marimorimo]

Well, I just mean college stuff in general is overwhelming. Looking into schools and all of that. Now I have to figure out what I want to major in after really heavily considering Japanese. I'm sure I'll figure it all out but right now, it's a bit stressful.

You're right about having to do stuff outside of class -- I think that's true of everything. I fully expect that. I'm definitely glad that I started studying Japanese in high school because even though I'm not great by any means, I still feel like I have a head start.

Definitely, it seems like if you can do it, the degree doesn't matter too much. That's why I don't really want to major in Japanese at this point. Hopefully it all works out.

I worked as an interpreter/translator at a Japanese company for 4 years and didn't have a degree in Japanese. I had JLPT certification, though. They're more likely to look for that rather than a degree.

If you really want to learn Japanese (enough to translate), look into getting into an exchange program. Stay a year at the very least. Make lots of Japanese friends.

I actually majored in Spanish during college and took Japanese on the side for fun. I ended up getting MUCH better in Japanese because it was more interesting for me. All I can say is, unless you plan to be a teacher or a linguistic researcher, studying a foreign language as your degree in college is not cost-effective at all. Why spend all that tuition money on learning another language when there are other, alternative ways you can learn it (many of them free)? Language skill cannot be measured with a degree. You can hire a private tutor or take a language class during the weekends. Heck, make friends who speak your target language and you wouldn't even need a book. Use the time and money to study something with more weight: accounting, economics, etc.

 

[eot]

About learning Kanji, is it a good idea to learn some/most of the radicals early on? I feel like you'd start to recognise those patterns on your own after a while. And the different readings, I haven't been learning them all, I've just been learning one word at a time. So for example I know two readings of 水 because I know 水 and 水曜日. Seems more natual to me but I'm not sure what's best. I looked at the book the OP recommended but using mnemonics is not my sort of thing. I'm sure it works well but eh.

Also, what's a realistic pace to learn them at? At ~6 a day it'd take a year to get to those 2000 recommended ones. That doesn't seem like a very long time at all (for such a dreaded task), so maybe that's setting my goal too high. I think they're quite fun to learn though.

 

[alekth]

About learning Kanji, is it a good idea to learn some/most of the radicals early on? I feel like you'd start to recognise those patterns on your own after a while. And the different readings, I haven't been learning them all, I've just been learning one word at a time. So for example I know two readings of 水 because I know 水 and 水曜日. Seems more natual to me but I'm not sure what's best. I looked at the book the OP recommended but using mnemonics is not my sort of thing. I'm sure it works well but eh.

Also, what's a realistic pace to learn them at? At ~6 a day it'd take a year to get to those 2000 recommended ones. That doesn't seem like a very long time at all (for such a dreaded task), so maybe that's setting my goal too high. I think they're quite fun to learn though.

I've always thought learning the relevant vocabulary to be the best method indeed. Especially on-yomi is a pain learned on its own.
Radicals you do just pick up after you encounter them a couple of times, unless you want to learn their names for some reason.
~6 kanji by themselves are pretty doable if you're really dedicated, but you'll need 2~3 words for each at least just for the readings. Then for a lot of them it's actually better to get some more words to see the range of meanings, and you'll be looking at quite a bit, especially since you will have to revise or you'll forget.

If you want to read actual texts, you'll also need grammar, you'll probably also want to do some listening/watching from time to time etc, so everything together might become too much.

I guess I'd say that unless you must learn them within a year for some reason, going slower and branching out into more detail would be more productive overall, and likely more engaging.

 

[urfe]

About learning Kanji, is it a good idea to learn some/most of the radicals early on? I feel like you'd start to recognise those patterns on your own after a while. And the different readings, I haven't been learning them all, I've just been learning one word at a time. So for example I know two readings of 水 because I know 水 and 水曜日. Seems more natual to me but I'm not sure what's best. I looked at the book the OP recommended but using mnemonics is not my sort of thing. I'm sure it works well but eh.

Also, what's a realistic pace to learn them at? At ~6 a day it'd take a year to get to those 2000 recommended ones. That doesn't seem like a very long time at all (for such a dreaded task), so maybe that's setting my goal too high. I think they're quite fun to learn though.

Learning kanji is like exercise, it's easy to go strong for a week with motivation, but is it a pace you can keep up for months.

I'd say 6 a day 4 or 5 days a week, with review days sounds decent.

However honestly, if you really know 500 well, I'd say the rest can be learned through learning words and reading.

Some foreigners in Japan only focus on kanji, but it's easy to quantify and ignore actual Japanese learning, which leads to people thinking they are better at Japanese than they are, which can lead to bitterness towards Japanese who don't see their skill. Don't fall into that trap! (^_^)

 

[eot]

I'd say 6 a day 4 or 5 days a week, with review days sounds decent.

That's probably a much better idea. Thanks.

 

[eot]

Okay, I have an actual question. Sorry for the romaji:

sakana o tabete iru = eating fish (present tense)
sakana ga tabete aru = the fish has been eaten (by someone)

but for an intransitive verb:
inu ga sinde iru = the dog has died / the dog is dying (or is it only the former?)

Did I understand that right?

Can you use "iru" with inanimate objects in this construction? For example (I don't know how to say it) the car is burning:
kuruma ga (to burn, intransitive)-te iru

 

[RoyalFool]

Okay, I have an actual question. Sorry for the romaji:

sakana o tabete iru = eating fish (present tense)
sakana ga tabete aru = the fish has been eaten (by someone)

but for an intransitive verb:
inu ga sinde iru = the dog has died / the dog is dying (or is it only the former?)

Did I understand that right?

Can you use "iru" with inanimate objects in this construction? For example (I don't know how to say it) the car is burning:
kuruma ga (to burn, intransitive)-te iru

Wouldn't te-iru mean the dog was dying, if it's already dead I would say 死んだ (shinda)

Kuruma ga moeteiru / 車が燃えている is fine for saying the car is presently on fire.

The only time you can't use iru is in the sense of something existing, as it's arimasu for objects and imasu for the living - but if your doing a te-iru conjugation you can use iru for both objects and people to express them being in a state of something.

 

[bigmit3737]

福島県知事選挙をめぐり、県町村会などが立候補を要請している内堀雅雄副知事は、近く、態度を表明する考えを示した。


Hi. I need help with this part [近く、態度を表明する考えを示した]

If you need for context, the article can be found here:

http://www.fnn-news.com/localtime/fukushima/detail.html?id=FNNL00015977

Thanks!

EDIT:
I just found the answer.

態度を表明する 　seems to be a set phrase, meaning "one's intention?"

 

[AngryMoth]

I've been thinking getting into manga might be a good learning tool for me, but I have no idea where to start. Any recommendations? Something relatively accessible and with nice art would be good. Also if anyone knows a good ipad app that would be helpful

 

[Kansoku]

I've been thinking getting into manga might be a good learning tool for me, but I have no idea where to start. Any recommendations? Something relatively accessible and with nice art would be good. Also if anyone knows a good ipad app that would be helpful

Yotusba is a good manga to start with. It's funny, and it's great.

 

[AngryMoth]

Yotusba is a good manga to start with. It's funny, and it's great.

Ok thanks, I'll check it out

 

[marimorimo]

Wouldn't te-iru mean the dog was dying, if it's already dead I would say 死んだ (shinda)

Kuruma ga moeteiru / 車が燃えている is fine for saying the car is presently on fire.

The only time you can't use iru is in the sense of something existing, as it's arimasu for objects and imasu for the living - but if your doing a te-iru conjugation you can use iru for both objects and people to express them being in a state of something.

Nope, 死んでいる does not mean it's dying. It just means dead, as in the state of being dead.

There's a shade of difference though:
犬が死んでいる。The dog is dead (right now. The cadaver is on your porch).
犬が死んだ。The dog died. (Could have been yesterday or last year).

It's a peculiar verb like 知っている (shitteiru). It does not mean "I am knowing." It means "I know."

I've been thinking getting into manga might be a good learning tool for me, but I have no idea where to start. Any recommendations? Something relatively accessible and with nice art would be good. Also if anyone knows a good ipad app that would be helpful

I learned a lot of vocabulary and practiced grammar while reading manga so I highly recommend it. One thing I noticed is that a lot of shounen manga, especially those that are fight-heavy, tend to have extremely coarse language. I do not recommend learning this type of language if you have any plans of talking to real Japanese people, although it is useful to recognize it.

For useful phrases and vocabulary, I recommend mangas set in the modern era with "normal" characters. Shoujo manga tend to have these kinds of settings and characters, and the characters' speech is what regular Japanese people use.

 

[Kansoku]

Nope, 死んでいる does not mean it's dying. It just means dead, as in the state of being dead.

There's a shade of difference though:
犬が死んでいる。The dog is dead (right now. The cadaver is on your porch).
犬が死んだ。The dog died. (Could have been yesterday or last year).

It's a peculiar verb like 知っている (shitteiru). It does not mean "I am knowing." It means "I know."

How would you say dying then?

 

[alekth]

How would you say dying then?

死にかける or 瀕死の are some of the possibilities.

 

[CornBurrito]

How would you say dying then?

Couldn't you use a time modifier?

僕の犬は今死んでしまう。

I actually don't know so I'll ask someone else to confirm.

Wouldn't te-iru mean the dog was dying, if it's already dead I would say 死んだ (shinda)

Kuruma ga moeteiru / 車が燃えている is fine for saying the car is presently on fire.

The only time you can't use iru is in the sense of something existing, as it's arimasu for objects and imasu for the living - but if your doing a te-iru conjugation you can use iru for both objects and people to express them being in a state of something.

No. Te-iru does not always mean the action is currently being done. For many verbs, it means that there has been a change in state that is still being retained.

For example, to say that you are CURRENTLY married you say 結婚している. 結婚している does not mean that you are right now (at this moment) getting married.

 

[Zoe]

Wow, plugging "dying" into the dictionary returns a billion entries.

Anyway, 死にそう is the first thing that comes to my mind, although that's pretty imminent.

 

[marimorimo]

Couldn't you use a time modifier?

僕の犬は今死んでしまう。

I actually don't know so I'll ask someone else to confirm.
.

What you said means "My dog is going to die."

I agree with the poster above who said "死にかける"

My dog is dying.
僕の犬は死にかけてる。
Even better: 僕の犬は死にかけてる状態です。

 

[urfe]

Was having conversation (on LINE) with friend yesterday, and she said 他のお客さんに突然絡んで、一触即発

Does this mean have a fight with another customer, and the situation was really tense (could've gotten really bad)?

She tried to explain after, but I didn't want to derail the conversation.

 

[Green Card]

I am currently in Japan and looking to attend a Japanese language school. I am leaning toward a University run program but I am not sure what my options are. Otherwise KCP international and Kai look promising. I would like to go somewhere in Tokyo but there are so many it is a bit overwhelming. Finding reviews for schools is not very easy either. Can anyone with any experience help me out? So far I have looked into Kai (probably full), KCP International, Naganuma (which is full next 2 terms), and Coto/Iidabashi.

 

[Bassmastergeneral]

Any Canadian university students or former students in this thread? I'm looking for recommendations for a Canadian school with a good Japanese language program. We are finding a lot of schools offering Japanese in a east Asian department but it is difficult to find student course reviews.

 

[CornBurrito]

How would I say "My favorite thing to do on Christmas is..." ?

 

[Extollere]

I got a message from somebody! I'm terrible at Japanese, and online translations make no sense...

あれれ？おまんこ見えないようにしたはずなのにぃ（すっとぼけ

Can anybody translate for me? Would really appreciate it!

 

[CornBurrito]

I got a message from somebody! I'm terrible at Japanese, and online translations make no sense...

あれれ？おまんこ見えないようにしたはずなのにぃ（すっとぼけ

Can anybody translate for me? Would really appreciate it!

Umm well I can't tell most of it, but I am pretty sure "おまんこ" is a slang term for a woman's vagina, equivalent to "pussy."

 

[urfe]

I got a message from somebody! I'm terrible at Japanese, and online translations make no sense...

あれれ？おまんこ見えないようにしたはずなのにぃ（すっとぼけ

Can anybody translate for me? Would really appreciate it!

Hard to translate. Woman pretending like she doesn't realize her privates are visible, and being coy about it.

Porn spam?

 

[Jintor]

Hard to translate. Woman pretending like she doesn't realize her privates are visible, and being coy about it.

Porn spam?

It's extol, so...

Spoiler

 

[Extollere]

Hard to translate. Woman pretending like she doesn't realize her privates are visible, and being coy about it.

Porn spam?

Nah, it's a message from somebody on Pixiv. Google Translate be like: "Drats? The Nyi of such should have been so invisible pussy Suttoboke". I think I get the general message though.

 

[Fugu]

Any Canadian university students or former students in this thread? I'm looking for recommendations for a Canadian school with a good Japanese language program. We are finding a lot of schools offering Japanese in a east Asian department but it is difficult to find student course reviews.

York's is alright if you're ready to really throw yourself it. The program itself probably won't teach you Japanese very well, although this is true of almost any university Japanese course and what you get at York is probably as close to intensive as you can get in a full year course. The real advantage is that the faculty is well-connected and really does wonders for the handful of students that survive the program. The course director is some bigwig and has gotten a lot of students into a lot of jobs. You should seriously consider it if your plan at some point includes an exchange or a career in Japan.

YMMV taking virtually anything else at York, however. If you stay outside of the sciences it's a good school, but God help you if you need to take a math course.

 

[Bassmastergeneral]

York's is alright if you're ready to really throw yourself it. The program itself probably won't teach you Japanese very well, although this is true of almost any university Japanese course and what you get at York is probably as close to intensive as you can get in a full year course. The real advantage is that the faculty is well-connected and really does wonders for the handful of students that survive the program. The course director is some bigwig and has gotten a lot of students into a lot of jobs. You should seriously consider it if your plan at some point includes an exchange or a career in Japan.

YMMV taking virtually anything else at York, however. If you stay outside of the sciences it's a good school, but God help you if you need to take a math course.

Thanks for the reply, this is for my wifes cousin who we are trying to help out. It is really hard to find good info on the programs, she is leaning toward something in either AB or BC but I will definitely pass it on.

 

[Zoe]

Is salary usually talked about in the monthly or annual sense?

上原はＳＰＥＥＤ時代に稼ぎまくった所属事務所の功労者なので、現在も２００万円は下らない額の固定給をもらっているそうです。

Before this it says that life wouldn't be difficult for her, so that would lead me to believe that's either monthly or that's just a portion of her salary that's continuing from her past.

 

[urfe]

I'd say monthly. Fixed monthly salary.

Yearly income would be 年収. 給料 being monthly wage.

I've never seen the word before though, but that'd be my educated guess.

 

[Jintor]

Question: how would you say "I think she isn't married"? Or to put it more generally, how do you casualise te-form state-of-being verbs like 結婚して~ as part of a "~と　思います" structure? I came up with 彼女は　結構しらない　と　おもいます　but obviously that leaves out the -te form of marriage so I'm pretty sure it's wrong.

Also how do you get those cool box like quote things Japanese internet users seem to use a lot

 

[alekth]

Question: how would you say "I think she isn't married"? Or to put it more generally, how do you casualise te-form state-of-being verbs like 結婚して~ as part of a "~と　思います" structure? I came up with 彼女は　結構しらない　と　おもいます　but obviously that leaves out the -te form of marriage so I'm pretty sure it's wrong.

Also how do you get those cool box like quote things Japanese internet users seem to use a lot

There isn't anything special with the と思う phrase, you just stick it after the statement.
彼女は結婚していないと思います。 しらない　is the negative of 知る (know), so that doesn;t seem to fit here.
So it's ～していない, or (when informally speaking)　～してない

For that particular example just using 独身 is probably more common.

&#12300;&#12301; <- quotation marks like this? They are the normal Japanese quotation marks, you get them writing brackets and choosing from the list.

 

[Jintor]

Does the statement that precedes ~&#12392;&#24605;&#12356;&#12414;&#12377; need to be in casual, or is any form acceptable?

 

[alekth]

Does the statement that precedes ~&#12392;&#24605;&#12356;&#12414;&#12377; need to be in casual, or is any form acceptable?

It's always in the dictionary/normal form, even in polite speech. In polite speech &#24605;&#12358; is then in the&#12288;&#12414;&#12377; form.

V dictionary form/i-adj/na-adj (-&#12394 &#12384;/N &#12384; + &#12392;&#24605;&#12358;/&#12392;&#24605;&#12356;&#12414;&#12377;
&#26469;&#12427; / &#23506;&#12356; / &#38745;&#12363;&#12384; / &#23398;&#29983;&#12384;&#12288;&#65291;&#12392;&#24605;&#12356;&#12414;&#12377;&#12290;

 

[Jintor]

So dictionary form of a -te form ending would just be... straight up -te form, then? No additional conjugation?

Thanks a bunch.

 

[alekth]

So dictionary form of a -te form ending would just be... straight up -te form, then? No additional conjugation?

Thanks a bunch.

&#65374;&#12390; is a separate form of the verb (and i-adjectives), usually a connecting one (to other verbs or connecting simple sentences in a composite one). So every verb has a &#12390;form.

The dictionary form of the verb is the non-polite... well, normal form.

normal -> te
&#12377;&#12427;&#12288;&#8594;&#12288;&#12375;&#12390;
&#26469;&#12427;&#12288;&#8594;&#12288;&#26469;&#12390;
&#39135;&#12409;&#12427;&#12288;&#8594; &#39135;&#12409;&#12390;
&#24112;&#12427;&#12288;&#8594;&#12288;&#24112;&#12387;&#12390; etc, there are two main groups that differ in how &#12390; form of a verb is formed, and do/come are irregular (for some verbs the form is &#12391, &#12384; also becomes &#12391;

So in an &#12392;&#24605;&#12358; sentence you'd use the first column of the verb before the &#12392;&#24605;&#12358;. There can still be &#12390; forms in the sentence, just the last one will be the dictionary one.
Like in the sentence about her being single:

&#24444;&#22899;&#12364;&#32080;&#23130;&#12375;&#12390;&#12356;&#12394;&#12356;&#12392;&#24605;&#12356;&#12414;&#12377;&#12290;
The &#12390; form is used to connect to &#32080;&#23130;&#12377;&#12427;&#12288;to &#12356;&#12427; &#65288;&#12356;&#12394;&#12356; in this case), and &#12356;&#12427; is in its normal form because of the &#12392;&#24605;&#12358;.

&#12392;&#24605;&#12358; simply works by taking a sentence, making it non-polite and sticking &#12392;&#24605;&#12358; at the end.

&#24444;&#22899;&#12364;&#32080;&#23130;&#12375;&#12390;&#12356;&#12414;&#12379;&#12435; would be the sentence in polite speech, &#12356;&#12414;&#12379;&#12435; becomes &#12356;&#12394;&#12356; and &#12392;&#24605;&#12358; comes after it.

 

[urfe]

Does the statement that precedes ~&#12392;&#24605;&#12356;&#12414;&#12377; need to be in casual, or is any form acceptable?

As an aside, best to not consider it "casual form" in your head. As was mentioned, dictionary/normal is a little better.