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[elhav]

usually when i read something that i struggled with ages ago, or understand something properly on first pass, i get that little burst. you probably did something special, like understand what one of those dirty mags you were reading said

Yeah, I've had those moments myself.

Back when I started learning, it seemed impossible to understand all the small oddities of Japanese, but now that I actually got better it's much easier to pick up on certain expressions or grammer points that messed with your head before

 

[Splash Wave]

Can anyone translate this for me? I'm trying to figure out if a store is open today or not!

営業時間　AM11時〜PM８時　水/木定休

 

[Kurita]

Can anyone translate this for me? I'm trying to figure out if a store is open today or not!

営業時間　AM11時〜PM８時　水/木定休

Open from 11am to 8pm
Closed on Wednesday and Thursday

 

[elhav]

Can anyone translate this for me? I'm trying to figure out if a store is open today or not!

営業時間　AM11時〜PM８時　水/木定休

Well it says it's open between 11 AM to 8 PM

 

[Splash Wave]

Open from 11am to 8pm
Closed on Wednesday and Thursday

Thank you!

 

[Jintor]

usually when i read something that i struggled with ages ago, or understand something properly on first pass, i get that little burst. you probably did something special, like understand what one of those dirty mags you were reading said

heyyyyyyy!

 

[AmethystEnd]

heyyyyyyy!

Ohhh, so THAT'S why you're learning Japanese .

Any way, I got a huge burst in motivation myself recently. So much Japanese web radio.

 

[Kurita]

I also listen to radio shows, mostly The King's Place, hosted by musicians I love. Great way to train my oral comprhension.

 

[Gacha-pin]

Is there a functional difference between　ほど　and ぐらい　in contexts patterned after the following?:

Edit 1: It seems くらい is more common than ぐらい in this structure, so please consider that instead

毎日食べられるほど好きです。

毎日食べられるぐらい好きです。

If there is, can I get a detailed explanation please? Or is one just unnatural compared to the other (in conversation as opposed to online)?

Edit 2:

The reason I ask is both seem equally common online, going by google search results for the following (including quotes so the searches are for the exact wording):

"毎日食べられるくらい"; 24,400 results
vs
"毎日食べられるほど"; 26,600 results

Those numbers suggest to me that both are usable and correct, so I'd like to know if there's a difference in nuance or subtle difference in meaning/function.

This is how I've generally checked if my wording is natural: I'll see if there are several thousand uses of the same exact phrase if I search with quotes on google and then browse through Japanese-only sites to make sure I'm not just catching Japanese learners making mistakes.

Edit 3:

Giving an example context:

A: とんかつが好きですか。

B: はい、毎日食べられるくらい好きです。|| はい、毎日食べられるほど好きです。

違いは「くらい」の方が「ほど」に比べると少しくだけた感じに響くぐらいかな。「くらい」と「ぐらい」についてどちらを使えばいいか判断つかないときは「くらい」を使っておけばいいと思う。

Spoiler

A: とんかつが好きですか。
G: とんかつは年に1回くらい食べればそれで十分です。特にカツカレーなんてなんでカレーにカツを入れるのか意味不明にもほどがある。

 

[AmethystEnd]

違いは「くらい」の方が「ほど」に比べると少しくだけた感じに響くぐらいかな。「くらい」と「ぐらい」についてどちらを使えばいいか判断つかないときは「くらい 」を使っておけばいいと思う。

Spoiler

A: とんかつが好きですか。
G: とんかつは年に1回くらい食べればそれで十分です。特にカツカレーなんてなんでカレーにカツを入れるのか意味不明にもほどがある。

ありがとうございます！この質問をすっかり忘れたけど、答えてくれて助かります。

 

[Splash Wave]

I'm finding myself to be annoyingly ill-equipped when it comes to casual interactions. I've been frequenting a certain bar lately, and I never really know the right way to say goodbye to the owner. Some of the regulars recently said farewell, too, but I couldn't quite make out how they said it. What'd be appropriate in this case? I assume jaa mata would be overly casual, as they're all much older than me.

 

[sasimirobot]

some japanese girl ask me to marry her and move to saitama, what guys think? I am prettry pretty good at yoshi. im not joking btw.

 

[RangerBAD]

It will happen; just revise existing content or do flash cards till the books arrive or are in stock. That's the nature of learning a language. If you get desperate I'll try and scan you some stuff.

Also, a while back I said I'd get some N4 content for people - my tutor wasn't able to source any, so that's why I wasn't able to pass it on to you all - apologies!

Hey, don't worry. There are so many other ways to study outside of textbooks. Just work on revising what you know, and try to study through other means. Look up vocabulary from tv shows / books / songs and learn grammar with that tae kim site. This is a great chance for you to use the language in context while you take a break from textbook study.

You might also want to check site like white rabbit press and kinokuniya, both of which have pretty big ranges and ship internationally as far as I know.

Revise in what way? Just finding alternative study methods? I can probably find scans of the books, but probably not workbooks.

 

[elhav]

I'm finding myself to be annoyingly ill-equipped when it comes to casual interactions. I've been frequenting a certain bar lately, and I never really know the right way to say goodbye to the owner. Some of the regulars recently said farewell, too, but I couldn't quite make out how they said it. What'd be appropriate in this case? I assume jaa mata would be overly casual, as they're all much older than me.

Maybe you can say: それでは,また
さよなら is quite formal but I guess it's okay to use it.
I think you can also simply say どうも if you wanna make a "thank you" goodbye, if that makes sense.

Revise in what way? Just finding alternative study methods? I can probably find scans of the books, but probably not workbooks.

Did you try Japanese pod 101? They're pretty good when it comes to grammer and vocabulary, but they suck at teaching Kanji.

 

[Porcile]

Past tense い and な adjectives along with negative conjugation totally kicked my arse today. Like usual, I understand the concept and rules as it's something I've been reading and writing for a while, but when it came to speaking it, I couldn't get my brain to whirring fast enough. Making sure to correctly use: くない、じゃない、かった、でした、くなかった、じゃなかった with the corresponding adjectives and also making a sentence out of it, with additional とても's and あまり's and adverbs determining tense. Damn, I know it's beginner level but it was still super hard!

 

[RoKKeR]

If I wanted to say "I've loved music since I was a child" or something to that effect, would I say 「私は子供の時から音楽が大好きです。」?　I'm inside my own head right now, but is there a continuous form of です akin to しています ?

 

[Kurita]

If I wanted to say "I've loved music since I was a child" or something to that effect, would I say 「私は子供の時から音楽が大好きです。」?　I'm inside my own head right now, but is there a continuous form of です akin to しています ?

No, the sentence you wrote is the correct way to say it

 

[RoKKeR]

No, the sentence you wrote is the correct way to say it

Got it, thanks!

I'm mostly a lurker to this thread but hop in from time to time. There is a strong chance I'll be studying abroad at 上智大学 next semester, so if that's the case I'll have to pop in here more often!

 

[AmethystEnd]

Past tense い and な adjectives along with negative conjugation totally kicked my arse today. [Snip]

In active conversation, I still sometimes slip and say something like 怖いでした instead of 怖かったです. Makes me wanna facepalm mid-conversation.

Got it, thanks!

I'm mostly a lurker to this thread but hop in from time to time. There is a strong chance I'll be studying abroad at 上智大学 next semester, so if that's the case I'll have to pop in here more often!

You should pop in more often regardless .

 

[Kurita]

Damn, that's a great university. Good luck

Speaking of studying abroad, we'll be getting some info about that tomorrow at my school. Really really want to study in Japan next year, I'll have to do my best. A reasonable number of students who are better than me also want to go and the amount of spots available is small so...
Rumor has it that if you're taking Interpreting classes (I am) you have more chances but I'm not so sure... haha (the teacher is the director of the Japanese department)

 

[AmethystEnd]

Damn, that's a great university. Good luck

Speaking of studying abroad, we'll be getting some info about that tomorrow at my school. Really really want to study in Japan next year, I'll have to do my best. A reasonable number of students who are better than me also want to go and the amount of spots available is small so...
Rumor has it that if you're taking Interpreting classes (I am) you have more chances but I'm not so sure... haha (the teacher is the director of the Japanese department)

My degree program (computer science) requires us to study abroad. When I first heard that, I was really excited... until I found out they literally offer nothing for Japan.

So I found a way to be exempted from the study abroad requirement because I really don't want to spend the exorbitant amount of money for studying abroad if I'm not even going somewhere I'm interested. I'll have to go to Japan some other way.

 

[Darksol]

some japanese girl ask me to marry her and move to saitama, what guys think? I am prettry pretty good at yoshi. im not joking btw.

Saitama city, or somewhere in Saitama prefecture in general? I'm moving to Saitama prefecture in a few months!

(Do you know this girl? Is it a random marriage proposal out of nowhere or the result of something serious?)

If I wanted to say "I've loved music since I was a child" or something to that effect, would I say 「私は子供の時から音楽が大好きです。」?　I'm inside my own head right now, but is there a continuous form of です akin to しています ?

Nah, I think you have it right the first time.

EDIT: Oops. Already beaten.

 

[Porcile]

Someone posted this on the Wanikani forums. BBC have started a Japanese version of their website:

http://www.bbc.com/japanese

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-editors-34503423

 

[RoKKeR]

In active conversation, I still sometimes slip and say something like 怖いでした instead of 怖かったです. Makes me wanna facepalm mid-conversation.



You should pop in more often regardless .

Damn, that's a great university. Good luck

Thanks, and I'll try! I need to make a decision before the end of the month...

 

[Darksol]

Someone posted this on the Wanikani forums. BBC have started a Japanese version of their website:

http://www.bbc.com/japanese

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-editors-34503423

Damn that's awesome. Super useful.

 

[Grokbu]

no big deal. ppl get busy. have you been studying heaps? going well?

Hey again. Sorry for another late reply.

Well, I do have lots to do (in terms of studying), but I'll mention that I have been really bad at actually doing them and have been wasting time on other stuff instead of my studies, so I don't really have any reason to reply as late as I have.

As for my studies, I believe that I'm getting better, but a lot slower than I would want to. I really want to do better from now on though.

 

[Jintor]

JET's official stupid language program page is so fucking shit. Not only is it absolute rubbish at actually teaching the material (EVEN THE BEGINNING LEVEL COURSE LAST YEAR WAS MOSTLY IN JAPANESE, EVEN EXPLANATIONS OF THE GRAMMAR), it loads slow as hell and has a tendency to crash halfway through almost anything you do.

Fucking piece of shit why do i even bother

 

[AmethystEnd]

JET's official stupid language program page is so fucking shit. Not only is it absolute rubbish at actually teaching the material (EVEN THE BEGINNING LEVEL COURSE LAST YEAR WAS MOSTLY IN JAPANESE, EVEN EXPLANATIONS OF THE GRAMMAR), it loads slow as hell and has a tendency to crash halfway through almost anything you do.

Fucking piece of shit why do i even bother

Ahahaha, wow. I hadn't checked that out. Sounds awful.

 

[Jintor]

it's okay in conjunction with a good grammar dictionary or as a supplement to other programs but by itself it's practically worthless. Apart from anything else it's spaced out over the course of months where you could probably finish all of Genki 1 and 2 IN a month or two.

 

[Porcile]

Do you get some sort of incentive for completing it?

 

[Jintor]

Do you get some sort of incentive for completing it?

supposedly a certificate that is roughly equivalent to n2-n3 or something like that, at least at the intermediate level. I don't know how worthwhile it is. But it's free, so *shrug*

 

[TheSporkWithin]

You get a printable PDF which is worth about as much as the paper you print it on. But you should be able to pass the N4 pretty easily after "intermediate," or N3 for "advanced."

I took the intermediate course last year. It was whatever. It didn't eat up too much of my time, due to the drip feed they have it on, and it basically served as a review and refresher on a handful of grammar points and stuff. Apparently my supervisor registered me for the advanced course this year without my asking him to, and it's the same deal; it'll help me review stuff and see if there's anything I've forgotten or need to review more thoroughly.

I suppose that if I were trying to actually learn from it as my main teaching source I'd be more frustrated.

 

[AmethystEnd]

Just got back from the oral part of my Japanese midterm. Still focused heavily on 尊敬語 and 謙譲語.

It turned out to be a roleplay where I was an intern at Sony and I was going out to eat at a restaurant with my boss.

There were things like opening the door for him (「お入りください。&#12301, making sure to decline at first when he offers to pay, making sure I choose something on the menu that's cheaper than what he chose, offering to get him tissues when he spilled his drink (「ティッシュをお取りしましょうか&#12301, pointing out where the bathroom is (「あっちらでございます&#12301, and offering to show him when he was still confused (「ご案内しましょうか。&#12301. I had to hold back a laugh at that last one because he had taped a bathroom sign to the classroom wall and it was only about 10 feet away.

I mostly nailed the 尊敬語 but I missed a couple of opportunities to use 謙譲語. Like when he asked what I was going to eat, I said 「そばを食べます」　instead of 「そばをいただきます」, but I caught my mistake in time to say 「コーヒーをいただきます」 for the drinks.

All in all, it was kinda fun, actually.

Late edit: Crap, I just realized ご案内しましょうか should've been ご案内いたしましょうか。　Gah, 謙譲語 is killing me.

 

[TheSporkWithin]

Just got back from the oral part of my Japanese midterm. Still focused heavily on 尊敬語 and 謙譲語.

It turned out to be a roleplay where I was an intern at Sony and I was going out to eat at a restaurant with my boss.

There were things like opening the door for him (「お入りください。&#12301, making sure to decline at first when he offers to pay, making sure I choose something on the menu that's cheaper than what he chose, offering to get him tissues when he spilled his drink (「ティッシュをお取りしましょうか&#12301, pointing out where the bathroom is (「あっちらでございます&#12301, and offering to show him when he was still confused (「ご案内しましょうか。&#12301. I had to hold back a laugh at that last one because he had taped a bathroom sign to the classroom wall and it was only about 10 feet away.

I mostly nailed the 尊敬語 but I missed a couple of opportunities to use 謙譲語. Like when he asked what I was going to eat, I said 「そばを食べます」　instead of 「そばをいただきます」, but I caught my mistake in time to say 「コーヒーをいただきます」 for the drinks.

All in all, it was kinda fun, actually.

That sounds awesome, actually. My classroom studies ended before we got deep into 敬語 and I am never in a situation where it would be remotely appropriate to use, so it remains one of those topics that I can understand when I come across it (with a few extra seconds to process), but can't reproduce without taking quite a while to think about what I need to do.

 

[AmethystEnd]

That sounds awesome, actually. My classroom studies ended before we got deep into 敬語 and I am never in a situation where it would be remotely appropriate to use, so it remains one of those topics that I can understand when I come across it (with a few extra seconds to process), but can't reproduce without taking quite a while to think about what I need to do.

At this point, 尊敬語 comes fairly naturally in most cases (replacing -ている forms with -ていらっしゃる forms for example), but the equivalent 謙譲語 just eludes me (replacing -ている forms with -ておる I have to think much harder about the 謙譲語 cases for some reason and it bothers me because it doesn't seem like it's that different.

 

[urfe]

At this point, 尊敬語 comes fairly naturally in most cases (replacing -ている forms with -ていらっしゃる forms for example), but the equivalent 謙譲語 just eludes me (replacing -ている forms with -ておる I have to think much harder about the 謙譲語 cases for some reason and it bothers me because it doesn't seem like it's that different.

When I use 謙譲語 at work, it's mainly just お〜します or 伺う. I guess on the phone ただいま席を外しております is kind of set. Sometimes people go overboard and use お伺い致します when talking to students (I work in uni admin).

I think it's much easier to learn on the job, and most young Japanese folks don't know how to use it either.

 

[AmethystEnd]

When I use 謙譲語 at work, it's mainly just お〜します or 伺う. I guess on the phone ただいま席を外しております is kind of set. Sometimes people go overboard and use お伺い致します when talking to students (I work in uni admin).

I think it's much easier to learn on the job, and most young Japanese folks don't know how to use it either.

I see. Yeah, I have a guy in my class who has been speaking Japanese since he was 4 years old (his mother is Japanese) but only at home and he was raised in America. Up until 尊敬語 and 謙譲語 he was breezing through everything with no effort since he's totally fluent, but now even he's faltering in certain contexts.

 

[shanshan310]

Revise in what way? Just finding alternative study methods? I can probably find scans of the books, but probably not workbooks.

I was thinking revising with the books you already have.

 

[Jintor]

revise with tweets

Spoiler

tweets are actually not terrible study material in that they are very very very short stories. But they also contain a lot of slang

 

[RangerBAD]

revise with tweets

Spoiler

tweets are actually not terrible study material in that they are very very very short stories. But they also contain a lot of slang

Yup.

I was thinking revising with the books you already have.

Okay, how so?

 

[Hyrule Warrior]

I feel like I should have posted in this thread a lot sooner, especially this fall I started on my major in Japanese in college. I tried teaching myself a few years ago, but it was just too hard without some kind of structure for me, and I've been doing alright this past month and a half.

The problem where I am having trouble though is having anyone outside of class to help me, and work with. I do a lot of just repeating things to myself, or writing stuff down, but I almost wanna just find a friend I can practice with, and was wondering if anyone would be interested.

I need help using stuff in practice, and just having conversation. I'm too afraid to talk to any of my classmates, and they're all so much younger than me.

Oh, by the way:

はじめまして
Hyrule Warrior です
がくせいです
せんこうはにほんごです
よろしくおねがいします。＾＿＾

 

[Resilient]

Yup.

Okay, how so?

Redo content that you haven't gotten a handle on.

I would be lying if I said, that when I "completed" a text book on the first go, that I had fully understood everything it taught me. You should always go back after you're done and see how much stuck. I mean , it's better than nothing at this point.

 

[Resilient]

I feel like I should have posted in this thread a lot sooner, especially this fall I started on my major in Japanese in college. I tried teaching myself a few years ago, but it was just too hard without some kind of structure for me, and I've been doing alright this past month and a half.

The problem where I am having trouble though is having anyone outside of class to help me, and work with. I do a lot of just repeating things to myself, or writing stuff down, but I almost wanna just find a friend I can practice with, and was wondering if anyone would be interested.

I need help using stuff in practice, and just having conversation. I'm too afraid to talk to any of my classmates, and they're all so much younger than me.

Oh, by the way:

はじめまして
Hyrule Warrior です
がくせいです
せんこうはにほんごです
よろしくおねがいします。＾＿＾

You can add me as a friend on an IM service if you like and we can practice together? Let me know what you use and I'll make an account or give you my details. I'm always keen to practicing just general, everyday convo with people. I'm only around N3 level myself but I can hold a convo fairly well, especially in text.

 

[Hyrule Warrior]

You can add me as a friend on an IM service if you like and we can practice together? Let me know what you use and I'll make an account or give you my details. I'm always keen to practicing just general, everyday convo with people. I'm only around N3 level myself but I can hold a convo fairly well, especially in text.

ありがとうございます。

I mainly use steam these days to chat with others, although I too can probably use other IM programs if I wanted. If you use steam also though, if you would just like to send me your profile, I can add you.

I welcome anyone else who may still like to work together as well ^_^

 

[Resilient]

ありがとうございます。

I mainly use steam these days to chat with others, although I too can probably use other IM programs if I wanted. If you use steam also though, if you would just like to send me your profile, I can add you.

I welcome anyone else who may still like to work together as well ^_^

sent you a PM - you can copy and paste in Steam chat via mobile so all good (makes translating/defining words you don't know super easy if you use an electronic dictionary).

 

[Jintor]

Actually, do any of you suckers tweet in Japanese? The only one correcting my crappy tweets atm is cnet, who's cool, but I want multifeedback!

I guess I could just tweet to lang-8 or something but I prefer study checks integrated into my existing feeds

 

[Kurita]

Actually, do any of you suckers tweet in Japanese? The only one correcting my crappy tweets atm is cnet, who's cool, but I want multifeedback!

I guess I could just tweet to lang-8 or something but I prefer study checks integrated into my existing feeds

The only SNS where I post in Japanese is Instagram since 90% of my follows/followers are Japanese accounts.
I have a Twitter account where I tried to just use Japanese but it's just too bothersome to have two timelines to follow so I gave up.

 

[upandaway]

For what it's worth I read you both's japanese tweets but joining in is beyong me

 

[AmethystEnd]

I don't tweet much at all, in any language. The most I ever tweet is during tournaments like Evo. Beyond tweeting about things like that, I feel too odd just writing about stuff that happened to me, or about myself to no one in particular that anyone on the internet could read. I don't even have a facebook, lol.

 

[Resilient]

I don't tweet much at all, in any language. The most I ever tweet is during tournaments like Evo. Beyond tweeting about things like that, I feel too odd just writing about stuff that happened to me, or about myself to no one in particular that anyone on the internet could read. I don't even have a facebook, lol.

This.

Jintor what is your Twitter handle? I might make one and use it to tweet in Japanese and because you are top tier compared to me, you can actually correct me 😇