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Blitzwing85 (Offline)
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Question about Grammer in Japanese - 03-30-2010, 02:38 PM

Well, i'm very new to learning Japanese. Started a few hours ago.
I've learnt a lot of the basics and to be honest it seems like a rather easy language to learn to speak. (i'm learning via audiobook)

However, i also want to learn to write it, which i find much harder.

The first thing i'm not sure about is when to use a space in a sentence?

For instance (keeping it simple):
Mainichi terebi o mimas, soshite tokidoki sushi o tabemas
Typing it as it's spoken would result in:
まいにち てれび お みまs そして ときどき す し お たべまs

However, when i scan through random Japanese writing on the net there do not appear to be as many spaces as i'd expect.
I'm going to guess that the 'o' should be added to the end of the verb for starters?
てれびお instead of てれび お ?


But any clarification on this would be appretiated.
I have other questions, but 1 at a time.
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Sashimister (Offline)
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03-30-2010, 03:17 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Blitzwing85 View Post
The first thing i'm not sure about is when to use a space in a sentence?
The only place you will see a space is at the beginning of a paragraph. This might shock you but it's the truth.

Quote:
For instance (keeping it simple):
Mainichi terebi o mimas, soshite tokidoki sushi o tabemas
Typing it as it's spoken would result in:
まいにち てれび お みまs そして ときどき す し お たべまs
Nice try for someone who has been studying only a few hours! You will probably learn rather quickly because you are using the real Japanese letters from the start. The earlier you abandon romaji, the faster you will learn Japanese. That's a promise. Besides, there 's nothing written in romaji for you to read in the future. No books, no magazines, no websites, no restaurant menus, nothing. There's a member here that pounces on me everytime I state this. But please ignore him if he does so here. He knows nothing about Japanese.

Your sentence まいにち てれび お みまs そして ときどき す し お たべまs has a few problems.

1. Spaces. There should be no spacing within the sentence.

2. The two s's. Did you not feel anything about them?
The parts you wrote as "s" in the romaji sentence should each be す. There is no "s" that isn't immediately followed by a vowel in Japanese. In conversation, however, す can often sound like "s" without a vowel, but in writing it's always す.

3. Have you learned katakana? If so, テレビ (TV) is a katakana word. You wrote it てれび in hiragana. If you haven't, you can write it in hiragana for now. Ideally, you shouldn't worry about writing sentences until you have learned both hiragana and katakana, which won't take more than a week or two.

4. The object particle is written を, not お. The pronunciation stays the same. 
So, writen correctly without using any kanji, it is: (It's actually two sentences.)

まいにちテレビみます。そしてときどきおすしたべます。

The "no spacing" rule may baffle you now, but as you learn kanji and start replacing the kana words by kanji, each word will pretty much visually stand out clearly as if there were spaces. Katakana words help in this direction as well.
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allhailhata (Offline)
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03-30-2010, 03:17 PM

No one can learn writing and reading Japanese and its grammer only from Audiobook.
Why do you believe spaces are used in Japanese?

毎日テレビを見ます。そして、時々、寿司を食べます。

Hiragana,Katakana,Kanji,Kutouten.
There are so many things you should learn to write and read Japanese.
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03-30-2010, 03:23 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by allhailhata View Post
 

毎日テレビを見ます。そして、時々、寿司を食べます。
OP has only been studying Japanese for a few hours...

日本語を初めてまだ数時間という方なのですが・・・
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Blitzwing85 (Offline)
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03-30-2010, 03:38 PM

Thanks for the reply.

I've only started using audiobook as i do primarily want to learn to speak Japanese first and foremost.
This will be more usseful during my visit which i am planning.

However i will go more in depth into the writing of Japanese soon.
I agree that using Romanji isn't a good way to go but i'm using it initially and then using my keyboard to type the pronunciation and it displays the symbols.
Just until i get used to seeing them.

I haven't looked at katakana yet. That is something i wasp lanning on going into tomorrow.
I am not very good at languages to be honest, but i excel at most other studies so it's my belief that i can do well at Japanese because i really want to learn mroe than anything and i think that will help me.



No spaces only for paragraphs. Thanks, i didn't realise that. I knew i was wrong to put spaces in but wasn't sure why.



Do you think it is worth studying Kanji at the beginning? Or leaving it until i've mastered Hiragana and Katakana first?
I've got a print out of the alphabets so i'm going to read it over and over every day until they stick in my head.

Also, i think if i actually write it out on paper everyday in full then it'll embed it in my memory. (hopefully)

I'll keep posing in this thread as i progress and require and information etc.
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03-30-2010, 03:58 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Blitzwing85 View Post
Do you think it is worth studying Kanji at the beginning? Or leaving it until i've mastered Hiragana and Katakana first?
I've got a print out of the alphabets so i'm going to read it over and over every day until they stick in my head.
Not at the beginning! If you do that, you will end up hating the language.

1. Master hiragana perfectly. Then,
2. Master katakana perfectly.

When you feel 100% comfortable with BOTH, you can start learning kanji. When learning kanji, always do so in context. DO NOT try to cram random kanji, please. Even Japanese kids don't do that. Start with the simplest ones and work your way up. Only you can decide what pace is suitable for you (like how many you should learn every week).

Quote:
Also, i think if i actually write it out on paper everyday in full then it'll embed it in my memory. (hopefully)
Using paper and pencil is the best method (and by far the funnest and most effectice). I feel too many people rely too much on the PC to learn Japanese (and other things).
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allhailhata (Offline)
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03-30-2010, 04:28 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sashimister View Post
OP has only been studying Japanese for a few hours...

日本語を初めてまだ数時間という方なのですが・・・
知ってましたがAudiobookというのが気になったのと、文法 以前に、この方が日本語の文章を見たことがあるんだろ うかという疑問があったので最終形を提示しました。ラ スボスを。
Newcastle ほどの都市でも教科書売ってないのかなぁ
too much on the PCの一例かも知れませんね。それでは
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Blitzwing85 (Offline)
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03-30-2010, 04:43 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by allhailhata View Post
知ってましたがAudiobookというのが気になったのと、文法 以前に、この方が日本語の文章を見たことがあるんだろ うかという疑問があったので最終形を提示しました。ラ スボスを。
Newcastle ほどの都市でも教科書売ってないのかなぁ
too much on the PCの一例かも知れませんね。それでは
I have no idea what you are saying. As i said, i've only just started learning today.

I started by audiobook, this does not mean i expect to learn everything this way. it is purely a way to get started with speaking Japanese.

However, i would also like to learn to write Japanese and understand the characters. This will take me a lot longer so for now i can't understand most responses if they are in Japanese.




@Sashimister - Noted. I'll make sure to leave Kanji alone for now.

I certainly thinkg writing them down is also the best method. That way i'll remember them much better because i have to actually sit and write them out time and time again. So i'll get used to the symbols and what each one means.
I see little point in using the keyboard to translate it other than to communicate some words across to see if i'm doing things correctly.
If i use it too much it's just doing the work for me and i won't have as much of an understanding.

Initially my plan is to learn the basics in speaking the language for about a week. In this time i expect to be able to describe hobbies, past times etc, order foods, drinks, greetings etc etc. The usual stuff required if i was visiting as a tourist.
After that week or so, i'll start on understanding the characters used in Hiragana and see how long it takes me to memorise those and go from there.
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03-30-2010, 05:23 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sashimister View Post
When learning kanji, always do so in context. DO NOT try to cram random kanji, please.
I'm going to second this. I realized that I can learn about 300 kanji with most of their readings with no context, but then I start losing some as I learn others. But with context, they all stay in, pretty much.

A great book for learning kanji is Kanji in Context because it gives you a lot of words that use the kanji, so you get context easily.

Also, OP, OH MY GOD you learned a lot in just a few hours!
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03-30-2010, 05:24 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Blitzwing85 View Post
I have no idea what you are saying. As i said, i've only just started learning today.
Don't worry about it. Allhailhata was talking to SashiMister (a native Japanese speaker).
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